“His humble yet firm leadership is not only worthy of applause from us but I believe that he moved under the leadership of God’s Holy Spirit in helping us as people deal with some very disturbing and sensitive matters within our convention,” said the Rev. Frank Williams.
As Slade departs his committee responsibilities, he probably still won’t have much free time. He’s on the advisory board of Little League International — and missed its international congress because it was occurring while he was in Anaheim. And he serves on a regional homelessness task force subcommittee that has a plan to reduce the disproportionately high percentage of homeless people in San Diego County who are Black. He also is in the midst of a project to complete six microhouses on his church’s property to provide temporary shelter to women and children.
Still with two credentials dangling from lanyards around his neck — one as a representative of Meridian Baptist Church and the other an all-access pass as Executive Committee chair, Slade was almost ready to pack up and drive home with the farewell tokens he’d received, including the committee’s “humble servant” award.
But he said neither his work addressing sexual abuse nor the efforts of other Southern Baptists are anywhere near over. He’ll be working with his local Baptists association, for which he is a moderator, seeking to fulfill the new recommendations for it from the task force.
“I moved the ball down, a little bit down the field, but we’ve got a long way to go to make all the churches safe,” he said.
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This article originally appeared on ReligionNews.com.
