A change to the SBC constitution requires a two-thirds vote by messengers at two consecutive annual meetings. SBC messengers affirmed the amendment at the 2023 meeting, but it failed to receive the required two-thirds vote at the 2024 meeting.
During the 2025 SBC annual meeting, Juan Sanchez, pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, proposed a similar motion that, despite receiving more than 61% of the vote, also failed to gather the required two-thirds support needed to pass.
Mohler States the Need for Clarity Has Been Made ‘Abundantly Clear’
Mohler believes the need for clarity on the SBC’s definition of who can hold the office of pastor has been made “abundantly clear.”
He said, “That need has been building in recent years and the Southern Baptist Convention has always risen to the occasion and met the need of this kind of challenge with a statement of conviction.”
“That’s true of our confession of faith,” he added. “It’s true of other actions the SBC has taken.”
“A generation ago, the SBC took this kind of action in the constitution by making very clear that our cooperation is not extended to those who would endorse or affirm LGBTQ lifestyles and activities,” Mohler continued. “And so that has clarified the SBC’s conviction. It has created even deeper unity in the truth, and that kind of language in the constitution has served the SBC very, very well.”
“One of the greatest testimonies to that is that this is not an issue of open debate at the SBC year by year and it hasn’t been for a generation,” Mohler said. “That’s exactly what we need on the issue of the office of pastor.”
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Mohler told SBC messengers it is time to make the convention’s constitution clear.
“We we need to be very clear about this in order that we don’t have to debate and discuss this and have floor action necessary every single year,” he said. “This is an issue in which Southern Baptists stand together, our unity is clear, our commitment to the truth is clear, let’s make our constitution equally clear.”
