The Southern Baptist Convention has no liberal drift, they say. There is no problem with wokeness, corruption, or compromised theology. Yet, the Southern Baptist establishment recycles the same people every year through the speaking circuit, committees, and entity leadership positions. It is a rare occurrence to even find a conservative on the ballot for any of the leadership positions in the denomination and when it does happen, just like last year with the presidential candidate, Mike Stone, they are opposed with fierce and lasting damage.

Conservatives beware, you’re entering a den of hungry lions.

Prior to the annual meeting, there is a pastors’ conference. The SBC Pastors’ Conference is supposed to be two days of solid, biblical preaching and renewing of the mind for Southern Baptist pastors who are attending the meeting. Pastors are always the ones doing the preaching in their own churches, so it’s good to be able to take some time to sit under the preaching of other solid preachers. Hearing the Word of God preached is always beneficial.

But this year’s line-up is indicative of where we are as a denomination. On the list, you will find scarce conservative preaching and instead, mostly the same, woke garbage that conservatives have been fighting against for the last decade or so. Making the top of the woke preacher list is Marcus Hayes.

You may remember Marcus Hayes from a debacle in 2019 at First Baptist Church in Naples, FL. In 2019, Hayes was brought before the congregation for a vote to affirm him as the senior pastor. Hayes, a Black man married to a White woman, did not receive enough votes and was not affirmed as the senior pastor. After the failed vote, the church leadership—as well as the regular Southern Baptist Convention establishment including Danny Akin—chalked the failed vote up to “racism” and “white supremacy.” How dare they not affirm a black man as their senior pastor; it could only be RACISM!

Of course, that turned out to be patently false, and, instead, it turns out that a large portion of the congregation took issue with many of Hayes’s unbiblical positions. In a leaked email sent out by the dissenting group in the vote, and reviewed by The Dissenter (formerly Reformation Charlotte), those who voted against Hayes were concerned about:

• A tweet in positive support of pro-late term abortion, pro-LGBTQ Democrat, Kamala Harris,
• His endorsement of Eric Mason’s “Woke Church” and concerns about his support of intersectionality, Critical Race Theory, and worldly vain philosophies,
• His support for race-driven slave reparations,
• Concerns about his plan for discipleship,
• Concerns over his position and who he will be accountable to,
• How he planned to bring reconciliation to the church body.

To make matters worse, during a Q&A session with that church, Marcus Hayes said that homosexual desires were not sinful.

Further, on the Pastors’ Conference speaking line-up are various woke social justice warriors including Adam Greenway, who repeatedly gave cover to current SBC president and serial plagiarist, Ed Litton. Litton was invited by Adam Greenway to preach the chapel sermon at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary last year and as part of that chapel service, Litton was asked to explain his plagiarism. Of course, Litton lied and made excuses while Adam Greenway, the seminary president, simply praised him for his lies and allowed him to knowingly say things that are untrue.

Other woke and racially-obsessed pastors and speakers include Vance Pitman, president of the North American Mission Board’s SEND Network, Mark Clifton, and pastor of Linwood Baptist in Linwood, KS, and others. It should not be expected that anything will change, ever. Even if conservative pastor, Tom Ascol, happens to pull off an upset win over establishment candidate, Bart Barber, the best he could do is stave off total apostasy for a year or two.