“North Carolina pastor J.D. Greear will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Florida pastor Jimmy Scroggins announced today” reported the Baptist Press on March 2, 2016. Greear is the senior pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, a position he has held for the past 14 years.
Greear is well respected amongst Southern Baptists and especially well liked among millennials who desire to see the Church have a holistic understanding of the gospel proclamation. Greear has held a holistic vision for gospel witness, encouraging faithful gospel proclamation locally, domestically, and internationally; which is rightly Biblical. Under his leadership The Summit Church has seen a 47,000% increase in baptisms from 2002 to 2014. Currently, they have 149 individuals serving with the International Mission Board and have planted 26 churches in partnership with the North American Mission Board in the past 5 years. Additionally, throughout his 14 years of pastoring The Summit Church, attendance has increased by a staggering 2757% and has led his church in increasing their Cooperative Program giving which support SBC entities working for missions, education, and benevolence. And while numbers do not tell all, it is a good indication of where things are headed.
Jimmy Scroggins, pastor of Family Church in West Palm Beach, Florida, stated of Greear, “[he] is leading his generation to live out a passion for the SBC, missions and the local church.” Scroggins stated in a press release that he intends on nominating Greear at the upcoming SBC annual meeting June 14-15 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Personally, I am excited about Greear’s nomination for two main reasons.
First, I am encouraged by his emphasis on missions and church planting. As we Christians live in a world which is dead and dying, we must heed the Great Commission of Jesus Christ in Matthew 28. Greear has unashamedly led his congregation in proclaiming the gospel and seeing new churches planted. On The Summit Church’s website under their vision, they claim to desire to plant 1,000 churches in their generation (50 years). They state:
“We believe the most beneficial thing for every community is a church that can proclaim and live out the gospel of Jesus, so we are committed to planting churches in strategic cities all over the world.”
Secondly, he has rightly couched his emphasis on missions, evangelism, and church planting within the role and responsibility of the local church not simply the responsibility of the convention entities. Which, by God’s grace, is a trend among SBC leaders and churches to reaffirm the responsibility of local churches to be salt and light in the world (Matthew 5:13-16), and reestablish the responsibility of church members to their local churches (Ephesians 4:11-16). Greear expressed this to the Baptist Press:
“One of the things God has put on my heart is that my generation needs to take personal responsibility for the agencies and the mission boards of the SBC and not just think of them as the SBC’s, but think of them as ours.”
Greear holds a M.Div. and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and is the first to be nominated for the SBC annual meeting.
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