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Friday, Feb. 8, 2002
From staff and wire reports
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A pastor with close ties to the breakaway conservative state convention in Texas is expected to be nominated in June for the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).
Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, "very likely" will be nominated for SBC president, former SBC president Jerry Vines said Feb. 4.
Vines made the announcement at the annual Pastor's Conference at First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., where he is pastor. The conference has been a launching point for previously successful conservative presidential nominations during the last decade.
Graham's church was one of the first mega-churches to join the new Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC), while maintaining nominal membership in the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT).
The SBTC was formed by conservatives unhappy with the moderate leadership of the BGCT.
Graham has been critical of the BGCT, saying the convention should be closer to the conservative-dominated SBC.
Graham co-chaired SBTC's Partners in the Harvest offering that netted about $1.3 million for SBC agencies that received less funding from the BGCT last year.
SBTC Executive Director Jim Richards praised Graham's leadership and friendship with the new convention.
"The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention has no better friend than Jack Graham," Richards told the Florida Baptist Witness, "It is exciting to know of his nomination for president of the Southern Baptist Convention."
Prestonwood gave $90,000 to the SBTC adopted budget and $5,000 to the BGCT last year, a total of less than 1 percent of the church's $17.16 million budget. The church designated gifts of about $900,000 to the SBC through the SBTC, a total of about 5.2 percent of the church's budget.
James Merritt, pastor of First Baptist Church of Snellville, Ga., is completing a second term as SBC president in June and is ineligible for re-election.
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