Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Litton announced this week that he will not be seeking a second term as the SBC president.
According to ChurchLeaders.com, Litton said he felt he needed to “bridge our divides and bring about a Gospel-driven unity and reconciliation.” He said he would best do that in a pastoral role “rather than from the office of the president.
“God is calling me to devote the next five to 10 years of my life” to pursuing racial reconciliation through the church, Litton, the pastor of Redemption Church in Mobile, Alabama, said in a video announcing his decision.
He said he would discuss the full details of the “locally-based strategy” for local churches at the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting in June.
Litton said he had been a “difficult year” in his role as president and said he made “mistakes in the preparation and delivery of particular sermons.”
Previously, Litton was accused of plagiarizing a sermon from his predecessor J.D. Greear, but later, Litton said he had received permission from Greear to use parts of his sermon. He apologized for not crediting Greear appropriately. Greear also later confirmed that Litton had received permission to use the sermon.
“I told him whatever bullets of mine worked in his gun, to use them,” Greear said.
During his term, he also appointed a task force to oversee an investigation of the SBC Executive Committee for accusations that the committee did not appropriately handle claims of sex abuse in the SBC. The report from the task force is expected this spring.
Litton was elected as the SBC’s 46th president in June 2021.
“We are a family, and at times we may seem dysfunctional,” Litton said after his election. “But we love each other. … This is a family, and sometimes families argue in a way that the neighbors get to see it, and that’s kind of what you [the media] have been witnessing. But the reality is we’re going to leave this place focused. We’ll leave this place with a direction – and I believe a better direction – for the future.”
Related:
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What to Expect at this Week’s Southern Baptist Executive Committee Meeting
Willie McLaurin, Interim Executive Committee Leader, Is SBC’s First Black Entity Head
Photo courtesy: ©Southern Baptist Convention Facebook
Video courtesy: ©Redemption Church
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
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