Rice also praised SBC President Clint Pressley for his quick response.
“He probably was quicker than I was. He’s done a great job,” Rice said. As a possible candidate for the next SBC president, Rice said he reflected on what he would do in Pressley’s position.
“I was sitting there that Sunday night going, ‘Okay, what would I do if I’m in this situation?’” Rice said. “Instinctively I thought, ‘Man, do we need to go to Minneapolis? Do we need leaders there on the ground?’”
He explained that such a response would not be to “sensationalize a moment beyond what is necessary,” but rather to “gather some some leaders and let’s stand with this brother in this church and let’s make a statement [that] we stand together. An attack on one is like an attack on all.”
He continued:
It really is an attack on all American Christians, evangelicals around the world. You know, to barge into a service, to interrupt one of our most sacred freedoms as Americans to worship. Not only one of our greatest duties and privileges as Christians to worship, but one of the most sacred freedoms we have as Americans. To interrupt that, you know, I think we need to send a clear signal that is absolutely unacceptable and you need to create as much attention as you can. The federal government has said some good things from the attorney general’s office. As you and I are recording this, I don’t yet know of anything that has happened…I’m not a lawyer…but what I’ve been told is they violated federal law. And if they did, then hopefully the federal government will step in and and send the message, “You cannot impede on the right of Americans to freely gather in worship. We are not going to tolerate that.” It’s a bullying tactic. It’s a terrorist tactic. You can call it what it is, but it’s designed the way they do it. Bullhorns, yelling, profanity, screaming at children. It’s terrorism. Let’s call it what it is. You’re trying to instill fear in people and so that they will back down from a movement or back down from ICE enforcing the law. You’re trying to frighten people so that you can create leverage to gain your outcome, and we cannot be bullied in that way.
The ERLC Released a Statement Calling the Cities Church Protest a ‘Gross Violation of the First Amendment’
According to its website, the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) “exists to assist your church by helping you understand the moral demands of the gospel, apply Christian principles to moral and social problems and questions of public policy, and to promote religious liberty in cooperation with churches and other Southern Baptist entities.”
During the SBC’s 2025 Annual Meeting, Rice made a motion to abolish the ERLC in an attempt to “save it.”
“But make no mistake, this motion is a wake-up call,” Rice said while speaking in support of the motion. “For too long, the ERLC has caused division and confusion among our churches. What was designed to be a prophetic voice in the public square has too often become a conduit for the culture to speak back to us.”
Rice said his intention was not to “erase” the ERLC, but to “restore it” and “reforge it to a voice unencumbered by outside interests and uncorrupted by political agendas.”
“Send the message: This Southern Baptist division is not for sale,” he said.
RELATED: Despite Urgent Plea By Willy Rice, Vote To Abolish the ERLC Fails
The motion failed, with 3,774 voting to retain the ERLC and 2,819 voting to abolish it.
