October 2, 2026
DALLAS, Texas — Texas pastor Jared Wellman has emerged as the nominee to become the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee.
Wellman, an SBC insider who most recently served as chairman of the Executive Committee, is expected to be voted on Monday at a private meeting in Dallas.
Wellman, pastor of Tate Springs Baptist Church, has 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.
The Executive Committee’s news outlet, Baptist Press, posted an article Sunday unveiling the 39-year-old Wellman as the nominee.
“Jared’s demeanor and experience fit with both the candidate profile of the search team and with much of what we head heard from those we surveyed,” Adron Robinson, chairman of the search team, told Baptist Press.
Meanwhile, the Baptist and Reflector, the newspaper of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, published a commentary on Saturday 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.”
In the Baptist Press article, Robinson touted Wellman’s “ideas for the present and future of the Executive Committee.”
“His humility, administrative skill and pastoral sensibilities made him a strong candidate,” Robinson told Baptist Press.
Wellman 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 think that’s crucial,” he said. “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. I’m willing to follow through with this, regardless of the outcome, because I fear the Lord more than anything else.”
Baptist Press reported that Wellman has 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.
Wellman, who holds a Ph.D. from South Africa Seminary is currently working on another at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, is an adjunct professor at Southwestern, Criswell College, and Grand Canyon University.
California pastor A.B. Vines Sr. complained about a lack of transparency in the search process. In an open letter to Executive Committee members, he voiced concerns about the search committee recommending one of its own members for the job.
“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 well, 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.”
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