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Greear elected SBC president
Biblical Recorder staff
June 12, 2018
3 MIN READ TIME

Greear elected SBC president

Greear elected SBC president
Biblical Recorder staff
June 12, 2018

Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) annual meeting elected J.D. Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., as president of the SBC today (June 12). Greear received more than two-thirds of ballots cast (5,410), while Ken Hemphill took 31 percent of the vote (2,459). Fifteen ballots were improperly filled out and ruled invalid.

Photo by Marc Ira Hooks

J.D. Greear, pastor of The Summit Church, Raleigh-Durham, N.C., speaks during the Pastor's Conference June 11 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas.

“J.D. Greear has proven to be an effective pastor and leader that God is using in a mighty way at the Summit Church,” said Milton Hollifield, executive director-treasurer of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. “As a former missionary, J.D. is committed to taking the gospel to the ends of the earth through an emphasis on personal evangelism, discipleship, missions and church planting. As a North Carolina Baptist, I am thankful that God has given me a front row seat to see how He is working in J.D.’s life and ministry. My prayer is that all Southern Baptists can come together in a spirit of unity and commit to pray for J.D. and support him as he begins his tenure as our SBC president.”

Ken Whitten, pastor of Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Fla., nominated Greear for the position during the meeting in Dallas, Texas.

“J.D. walks the walk and talks the talk when it comes to evangelism and missions,” Whitten told the Biblical Recorder Jan. 29, when he first announced he would make the nomination. “The tongue in his mouth, and the tongue in his shoe go the same direction.”

The Summit has been applauded for its evangelistic and church planting emphasis. It led North Carolina churches for the past two years in Cooperative Program giving, contributing more than half a million dollars each year, according to the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

Greear and his wife, Veronica, have four children. He served as an International Mission Board missionary in 1997-1998, and earned master of divinity and doctor of philosophy degrees from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of multiple books, including Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart, Gaining by Losing and Not God Enough: Why Your Small God Leads to Big Problems.

Greear’s responsibilities as SBC president will include, but are not limited to, presiding as chair of the next annual meeting and selecting various committees for service.