NASHVILLE (BP) – A search committee has been named to find a successor to Russell Moore as president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) in Nashville.
David Prince, pastor of preaching and vision at Ashland Avenue Church, Lexington, Ky., and chairman of the commission’s trustees, announced the search committee July 6 on behalf of the ERLC Executive Committee:
— Todd Howard, pastor of Watson Chapel Church in Pine Bluff, Ark. He will serve as chairman.
— Lori Bova, founder of Veritas Classical Christian Academy in Hobbs, N.M., and member of Taylor Memorial Church in Hobbs.
— Traci Griggs, communications/public policy specialist, radio show host, and member of Fairview Church, Apex, N.C.
— Christine Hoover, author, Bible teacher, and member of Charlottesville Community Church in Charlottesville, Va.
— Juan Sanchez, senior pastor of High Pointe Church, Austin, Texas.
— A.B. Vines, senior pastor of New Seasons Church in Spring Valley, Ca.
— Prince, who also serves on the faculty of Southern Seminary in Louisville, Ky., will serve as an ex-officio member of the committee.
The search committee is charged with bringing a candidate to the ERLC trustee board to recommend as a successor to Moore, whose resignation took effect June 1 after eight years as the commission’s president.
Moore announced his departure in May to become public theologian for Christianity Today and lead the evangelical magazine’s new Public Theology Project.
The search committee will meet in the weeks ahead to create guidelines, a presidential profile, and the process for submitting names for consideration, according to an ERLC news release. Information will then be released to assist those who would like to recommend a candidate.
As with other recent Southern Baptist Convention entity searches, the election of a new ERLC president is expected to require “many months,” Prince said during the commission’s report to the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting in June in Nashville.
He asked messengers at the meeting to pray for the trustees’ search for a president and for the ERLC staff during the transition.
