May 13, 2024
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Georgia pastor Frank Cox is a late entry in the race for president of the Southern Baptist Convention, making it a four-man contest to lead the nation’s largest Protestant denomination through a time of turmoil and scandal.
Widely known as a unifier and consensus builder, Cox said he made the decision at the behest of Southern Baptist leaders from across the country who have reached out to him in recent days asking him to run.
“I think everyone in Southern Baptist life realizes we’re at a crossroads,” Cox said Tuesday morning. “We’ve got challenges we have to deal with. If I can be of help to Southern Baptists right now, I’m willing to. I’ve always loved our convention. We’re the greatest evangelistic, mission sending convention ever known to the world, and right now we’re struggling. I’m running out of obedience. And that’s it.”
Cox will face Tom Ascol, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Florida and president of Founders Ministries; Bart Barber, pastor of First Baptist Church in Farmersville, Texas; and Robin Hadaway, a former pastor and International Mission Board missionary to Africa and South America.
Nearly 8,000 Southern Baptist messengers are in Anaheim for this year’s annual meeting, which is being overshadowed by scandal involving the SBC Executive Committee’s handling of sexual abuse complaints.
A seven-month probe by outside investigators from the secular firm Guidepost Solutions found sexual abuse survivors had been “met, time and time again, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility” from the Executive Committee.
SBC President Ed Litton, who finishes his term in office on Wednesday, has pledged to deal with the “scourge of sexual abuse,” but a resolution to the issue is likely to take years.
Cox has served in a number of high-level denominational roles, including as first vice president of the SBC, a member of the SBC Executive Committee, and president of the Georgia Baptist Convention.
He announced his candidacy only hours in advance of the election slated for Tuesday afternoon at the SBC annual meeting at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Ted Traylor, pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla., will make the nomination.
Cox has been pastor of North Metro Baptist Church in Lawrenceville, Ga., since 1980.
Cox received his undergraduate degree from Mercer University, a master’s from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and a doctorate from Luther Rice Seminary.
