LAWRENCEVILLE — Since Johnny Hunt decided last month not to allow his name to be placed in nomination for president of the Southern Baptist Convention, speculation has been increasing about the possible nomination of another Georgia Baptist pastor for SBC president. Frank Cox, pastor of North Metro First Baptist Church here, has been mentioned not only in Georgia, but also across the nation as a worthy and viable candidate for the SBC’s highest elected office.

Ronnie Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church of Springfield, Ark., is to be nominated for SBC president by Hunt, but some see the Springfield church’s low support of the Cooperative Program as a liability to Floyd’s candidacy.

Frank Page, pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C., is also a candidate for Convention president as recently announced by Baptist Press, but some fear that his lack of national exposure may hurt his chances of election.

Meanwhile, Cox is viewed as an attractive candidate because he is a Cooperative Program champion, an inerrantist, the pastor of a growing, evangelistic church and a man who has been involved in Southern Baptist life on the national level.

 

Other responsibilities

Close friends and denominational leaders have asked Cox to pray about making himself available for the office of SBC president, and pray he did. At one point this editor heard that he was very close to saying “yes” to the entreaties of those wanted to see him as a candidate.

However, in a telephone conversation late Saturday night Cox indicated that he was going to put his family and church ahead of the notion of accepting a nomination for the Convention presidency. Frank and Mary Cox have a son, Jonathan, graduating from high school next year and a daughter, Kristen, graduating from high school the following year.

North Metro First Baptist will move into a new worship center on Aug. 6, and Cox has concluded that his responsibilities at home and at church transcend other responsibilities, though important they may be.

In the eyes of this editor, the fact remains that Frank Cox’s stature looms large in Southern Baptist life and is a man of integrity and great leadership ability and will make a great presidential candidate – if not this year, just over the near horizon.