First Woodstock's Johnny Hunt elected SBC president

Matt Miller/BP

Johnny Hunt, pastor First Baptist Woodstock, was elected June 10 as president of the 16.4 million member Southern Baptist Convention in the 151st session of its two-day annual meeting. Hunt was elected president when he received 52.94 percent of the vote over five other nominees at the meeting in the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis.

INDIANAPOLIS — Johnny Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention on the first ballot at last week’s annual meeting in Indianapolis. Frank Cox, pastor of North Metro First Baptist Church in Lawrenceville, came in second in a field of six candidates.

The two Georgia pastors garnered 74.8 percent of the votes cast by 5,856 messengers out of 7,196 registered messengers.

Hunt received 3,100 votes, or 52.94 percent, of the votes cast. Cox received 1,286 votes (21.96 percent); Avery Willis, 962 votes (16.43 percent); William Wagner, 255 votes (4.35 percent); Les Puryear, 188 votes (3.21 percent); and Wiley Drake, 45 votes (.77 percent).

Although 7,249 messengers had registered by Wednesday morning, only the 2003 convention in Phoenix had fewer messengers in the past 57 years. The 1951 SBC convention in San Francisco had less than 7,000 messengers registered. Some contended that travel to Indiana was hampered by floodwaters that covered the southern part of the state. Record high gasoline prices of more than $4 a gallon prevented others from driving to the Hoosier state.

However, the opportunity to elect a new president was sufficient motivation for many to attend the convention. More than 600 Georgia messengers took a keen interest in the election due to the two Georgia pastors who were vying for the top elected spot in the denomination.

Ted Traylor, pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, nominated Hunt, hailing him as a man with a “heart for the nations” and a man with a “heart for the next generation.” In a humorous impersonation of the convention registration secretary, Traylor concluded his persuasive nominating speech with the appeal, “Take your ballot and only your ballot and elect Johnny Hunt as the president of the Southern Baptist Convention.”

In a personal interview with The Index following the election Hunt praised fellow Georgia pastor Cox for his integrity and leadership ability stating, “I don’t know Wiley Drake, Bill Wagner, or Les Puryear, but there is not a better pastor in the Southern Baptist Convention than Frank Cox.”

Although Hunt led his church to be a leader among Georgia Baptist churches in the total amount of money his church gives to the Cooperative Program, he has sometimes been criticized for not giving a higher percentage. In response to an inquiry about that Hunt said, “I intend to lead my church to give more to the Cooperative Program. I believe we can increase our CP giving by 25 percent next year.

“I also want to approach some of my friends who are pastors of mega churches and say, ‘We need to lead the way in Cooperative Program giving.’

“And I want to be able to say to Dr. White (GBC Executive Director), ‘I want to help lead the charge in increasing CP giving. I don’t want us to use legalism to promote it, but I think we can increase it by just telling the story of what Southern Baptists are doing around the world.’”

Hunt, who became pastor of First Baptist Woodstock when there were 200 in attendance for their Sunday morning worship services, has been used of the Lord to grow the church to become one of the largest churches in the denomination. He will employ the same gifts he has used as a pastor to help Southern Baptists reach new heights for Christ.

“We had better join hands to do what we must do while there is time,” he stated. “I just want to be a conciliator to make His (Christ’s) name famous.” Most believe he will do just that.