May 3, 2024
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary professor David Allen will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention at the annual meeting in June.
“Dr. Allen is a dedicated follower of Jesus, husband, father and grandfather,” said Danny Forshee, the Texas pastor who announced Thursday he intends to make the nomination. “He is a leader in the SBC, having served our Lord faithfully as a local church pastor, professor of preaching, and mentor to literally thousands of pastors all over the world. I know that Dr. Allen will lead our convention to be unified and laser focused on reaching the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Allen said he agreed to allow his name to be submitted as a nominee “after much prayer and thought and at the urging of many.”
“For most of my life, the Southern Baptist Convention has been the arena in which my service to the Savior has been devoted,” he said in a statement released to newspapers Thursday. “I have nothing but deep and genuine gratitude for what Southern Baptists have meant to me and how Southern Baptists have invested in my life.”
In the statement, Allen said “a cloud hangs over our beloved convention.”
“Political rancor is tearing at our cooperation,” he said. “Trust seems to erode with each headline. Calls for greater financial transparency are met with debate. In recent years, Southern Baptists are known more for litigation than proclamation. I believe the SBC needs a president who is well-versed in the workings of the convention but is not overly connected to our current leadership,” he said. “We need a president who loves and respects our convention but understands the concerns of a growing number of grassroots Southern Baptists. With a trusted leader and a fresh set of eyes, God may yet prepare the way for something greater in the future than we can at present see. But we must value our integrity above our reputation. When we do that, God will take care of our reputation.”
Allen spelled out a three-point platform to strengthen the SBC’s focus on evangelism, to support passage of the so-called Law Amendment, an effort to change the SBC constitution to clarify that the only church in friendly cooperation with the SBC is one that affirms, appoints and employs men as pastors, and to seek to restore trust among Southern Baptists.
Allen has served as professor of practical theology and dean of the Adrian Rogers Center for Biblical Preaching at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary since 2022.
He began preaching at age 16 and has taught preaching since the late 1980s. He received a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he became dean of the School of Theology in 2004 and the founding dean of the School of Preaching in 2016.
Allen is also a graduate of The Criswell College, where he taught and held the W.A. Criswell hcair of preaching from 1998-2004. He earned his PhD in humanities from the University of Texas at Arlington where he majored in linguistics.
He has been senior pastor of two SBC churches in Texas from 1982-2004 and served as interim pastor of 13 SBC churches.
