Southern Baptists Elect Willy Rice With 57.6% as Right-Wing Faction Wins First Major Victory
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 10
Southern Baptists Elect Willy Rice With 57.6% as Right-Wing Faction Wins First Major Victory
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 10
Summary
Willy Rice, 62, won the Southern Baptist Convention presidency with 57.6% of just over 9,000 in-person votes at the group’s annual meeting in Orlando.
The result handed a yearslong insurgent conservative faction its first major win inside the nation’s largest Protestant denomination after repeated failed attempts to pull it further right.
Rice, pastor of Calvary Church in Clearwater, Florida, defeated South Carolina pastor Josh Powell, who had campaigned as a defender of the denomination’s status quo.
Rice said he wants to challenge “the system” and tighten control over Baptist seminaries and convention entities, including its embattled public policy arm.
He cast the vote as proof that many rank-and-file pastors believe denominational leaders no longer reflect their values, signaling a sharper ideological fight ahead.