October 2, 2026
DALLAS, Texas — A recommendation to make Texas pastor Jared Wellman the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee failed overwhelmingly Monday in Dallas.
With 81 votes cast, Wellman, an SBC insider who most recently served as chairman of the Executive Committee, lost 50-31, forcing the appointment of a new search committee to begin the process anew.
Wellman, pastor of Tate Springs Baptist Church, had served on the Executive Committee since 2015 and had been chairman for the past year until he quietly resigned on April 17 in anticipation of Monday’s vote.
Wellman had also served as an ex-officio member on the presidential search committee that is recommending him, which triggered a storm of criticism.
California pastor A.B. Vines Sr. had voiced concerns about the search committee recommending one of its own members for the position.
“I’m calling on you to reject this nominee, develop a transparent process, and call for a new search committee,” said Vines, a former SBC first vice president and former president of the SBC’s National African American Fellowship. “If it is God’s will, then He will allow the newly appointed search committee to see the same person this committee has chosen, if the current nominee is God’s choice.”
Vines said in a tweet Monday afternoon, after hearing the vote had failed, that he is praying for Wellman and his family,
Mike Keahbone, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Lawton, Ok., said his "heart is grieved" over the decision not to make Wellman the Executive Committee president.
"I believe we made a mistake today," he wrote on Twitter.
The Executive Committee’s news outlet, Baptist Press, had posted an article Sunday touting the 39-year-old for the position.
“His humility, administrative skill and pastoral sensibilities made him a strong candidate,” Adron Robinson, chairman of the search committee, had told Baptist Press for the article.
Meanwhile, the Baptist and Reflector, the newspaper of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, published an article challenging the credibility of the search process, saying it "leaves the impression that a fix was in, a deal was brokered."
“That’s the perception,” the commentary said, “and unfortunately Southern Baptists have no real information about the process to inform them otherwise.”
Wellman had said in a statement given to the Executive Committee’s news outlet that the presidency isn’t just a job to him but a calling.
“I’ve sensed a strong call that has been confirmed through prayer, fasting, the Scriptures and wise counsel. It’s the only reason I’ve kept my ‘yes’ on the table,” he said. “I’m willing to follow through with this, regardless of the outcome, because I fear the Lord more than anything else.”
Wellman had served in numerous denominational roles, including as a member of the SBC Committee on Resolutions in 2019, 2021 and 2022, as an executive board member for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention from 2009 to 2013 and 2013 to 2017, a trustee at Criswell College in 2020 and 2021, and as a Land Center fellow at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
In a tweet Monday evening, Wellman said serving on the Executive Committee had been one of the greatest honors of his life.
"Our lives are in the hands of a sovereign God," he said. "We’re called simply to be faithful and put our ‘yes’ on the table."
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