OK, to heck with the schedule. I had extra time today, so I wrote up the officer election post ahead of my intended time. What can I say? I’m an over-achiever.

The election of officers is crucial for a unique reason. The Conservatives of the resurgence recognized just how crucial it was and marked it as the key to winning the “Battle for the Bible.” The President of the Convention appoints nominators who nominate key individuals to certain posts – such as Trustees, etc.

This is not that. You have noted, probably, the distinct lack of people clamoring or maneuvering to run an opposition candidate over these issues. I think this is because we are all conservatives and are willing to work together to move forward. Things are not now like they were in the 80′s.

There was some early flap about running an opposition candidate to Johnny Hunt, but political back room appointments were never the real problem, although many expressed distaste in the “Kingmakers” still picking the president. The first issue I saw raised was that Dr. Hunt has been openly critical of “Calvinists,” or “Reformed Theologians,” and there are a significant number of those holding to this theology within the convention. Mark what I said, here. Dr. Hunt was perceived as publicly critical of the people, not just the theology. The question was raised as to whether or not he could lead the convention after being so disparaging in his comments toward many Southern Baptists. This was discussed at length at Dr. Tom Ascol’s Founder’s Ministry blog. In fact, the brothers Cainer joined in the discussion and became quite disparaging themselves, which boggled the minds of many.

Several at Founder’s put forward the name of Dr. Mark Dever as a potential rival for the Presidency and it was picked up across the internet. Dr. Dever is known as a Reformed Theologian and was seen as a rebuttal to what was offensive to many in the Reformed camp. Peace seemed to be the mindset as Dr. Dever’s name was quickly added to the ballot, as 1st VP. Some, I think, felt robbed of their candidate, but others seemed to take it as an olive branch.

The other question raised was that FBC Woodstock, whose pastor is Dr. Hunt, had given an amount to the Cooperative Program that was much smaller than the 10% for which the leadership of the convention has been asking. Some have speculated that this may be somewhat embarrassing to Dr. Hunt. I recently read in the comment section of a post at Founder’s that the speculation had reached the point of thinking that Dr. Hunt will withdraw his name over it.

While Dr. Hunt may or may not be on the ballot, the question of additional nominees is still looming. If the ballot is swamped with nominees, most will rally to the identifiable name that was endorsed by the “Kingmakers” of old – at this point Johnny Hunt, or their next appointment should he withdraw. If the ballot has two names, there could be some degree of uncertainty as to the outcome of the vote before the tally is reported. I think the SBC is somewhat divided culturally and generationally. This could be evidenced in a split ballot, but I hope not.

We should prayerfully approach this issue over the next two months. This president will not begin to serve until we adjourn the convention, so will not have any say as to the business in the front of most of our minds at Greensboro. However, we also need to wisely discern if the man for whom we vote is a “political appointment” who owes allegiances to his appointers, or if he is a fair minded and independent visionary leader like Bobby Welch has been. (I know not everyone has been head over heels for Dr. Welch’s leadership – but I am going to defend him here. He has attempted to focus us outward toward the lost – off the petty cultural bickering in which we have often been mired – and he has been fair in moderating the convention. He should be set apart as a fine President in the annuls of our Convention.)

Here is a breakdown of the By Laws #8 – the election of officers.

The President, the 2 VP’s and the secretaries are elected at the convention and start their service after we adjourn. The President is the key elected official.

When you register, you get a book of ballots and this election is by ballot. Not all elections are by ballot, but this is a crucial vote. Don’t lose your ballots! If there is one nominee, the chair can declare the election of that nominee without messing with the ballots. I’m betting somebody will nominate more than one candidate. I hope we don’t have more than two, or at the most three, but the way things are spinning now, who knows? If officers do not receive 50% or more of the votes, we have a run off. Been a while since that happened, huh?

A nominee can only be put forward by one person. The speech given in that nomination is limited to 3 minutes. You have a brief time to convince the convention your man is THE MAN, and you will be the only one allowed to speak on his behalf.

The ballots are tabulated by tellers who are appointed by the current President. This is a pretty trusted deal and I think there is a lot of accountability there. Remember, the resurgence really put this to the test with huge conventions and closely contested elections. It has been a while since they needed to do much of this, but I think Dr. Welch has his eye on it and will appoint capable people.

Please remember to put, “Primer – Officer Election” at the top of your comments so I will know where they are when I get the email notice. I can respond more quickly that way. Thanks!

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