We Can Do Better: Reflections on the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting

Hey Guys,

The 2025 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas, is now behind us. Like many others who love this convention, I left with a heavy heart — not just because of how certain votes turned out, but because of the tone, the laughter, and the moments that revealed something deeper and more troubling than mere disagreement. They revealed a spiritual sickness that can’t be fixed with a ballot.

Let me be clear: I supported the proposed amendment to place our biblical conviction — that the office of pastor/elder/overseer is reserved for qualified men, as taught in Scripture and affirmed in our Baptist Faith & Message — into the SBC Constitution. That amendment fell short of the two-thirds threshold, and I grieve what that means for our identity and clarity going forward.

I also supported the motion to abolish the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission — not because I want to see it destroyed, but because I believe it may be the only way to save it. Reform rarely comes from within an entrenched system. Sometimes you have to hit "reset" to get it right.

I was encouraged to see efforts toward financial transparency — motions that reflect the heart of stewardship, accountability, and integrity. These are not just institutional housekeeping; they are gospel issues. If we cannot be trusted with earthly finances, how can we be trusted with heavenly things?

But One Moment Broke My Heart
More than any vote, one moment still echoes in my soul.
A woman — a Southern Baptist sister in Christ — approached the microphone. She made a heartfelt motion to provide care and resources for pastors’ wives. But instead of receiving her with respect and Christian charity, a joke was made at her expense. And the room laughed.

It was not a passing chuckle. It was the kind of laugh that reveals the mood of a room — and it revealed something ugly.

That moment grieved me more than any failed vote, because it showed that we have become skilled at procedure and poor at compassion. Here was someone asking for help, and we chose mockery over mercy. We had an opportunity to say, “We see you. We value you. We will help.” Instead, we laughed.

This Is a Symptom — And It Must Be Addressed
That laugh encapsulates where we are as a convention. We are quicker to critique than to comfort. Quicker to belittle than to bear burdens. We defend doctrine — and rightly so — but too often abandon the character that should accompany it.

This is not who we are called to be.
“Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” — Ephesians 4:32

“Weep with those who weep.” — Romans 12:15b

“Let all that you do be done in love.” — 1 Corinthians 16:14

We cannot fulfill the Great Commission while ignoring the Great Commandment.

Where Do We Go From Here?
If the Southern Baptist Convention is to move forward with credibility, clarity, and unity, then:

1. We must repent of pride and cruelty. Laughter at the expense of the brokenhearted is not boldness — it’s bullying. We need brokenness before the Lord.
2. We must reaffirm compassion as a convention virtue. Truth and love are not enemies. We do not have to choose between being biblical and being kind.
3. We must protect and support pastors’ wives. Yes, we have resources for this, but this lady must not have known that. For that reason, the motion made was right. The way it was treated was wrong. Now is the time to make good on what we failed to do that day.
4. We must press for transparency and reform. Whether it's the ERLC, our institutions, or our financial practices, integrity must not be negotiable.
5. We must seek unity — not uniformity. Disagreement is inevitable. Disrespect is not. We can be convictional and charitable at the same time.

A Closing Plea
My heart still beats for this convention. I haven’t given up on the SBC — not because everything is healthy, but because I believe God still works through humble, obedient people. The question is: Will we be those people?

We can do better. We must do better.

Let us be the people who cling to biblical truth, walk in personal humility, and speak with gospel grace. Let us be the people who see the hurting, hear the broken, and respond not with a joke, but with the love of Christ.

May Dallas 2025 not be remembered as a turning point of division, but as a wake-up call — a call to be the church again.

Serving Him,

Bro. Joey