Welch considers others' request to place his name in nomination for 2004 SBC presidency

by   Joni B. Hannigan & Michael Foust                                                                                                    Vol. XVI, No. 7, August 2003

Florida Baptist Convention executive director-treasurer John Sullivan has confirmed Florida pastor Bobby Welch has been asked to allow his name to be placed in nomination for the presidency at the 2004 Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis. In an interview with the Florida Baptist Witness, Sullivan confirmed Welch, pastor of First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, FL, had been asked to consider the nomination. Sullivan said he believes Welch "will make a great president for Southern Baptists."

"In conversations with Bobby, I have encouraged him to do this, and I support him," Sullivan said. "He has been a great supporter in Florida of the Cooperative Program and in baptisms and the FAITH ministry. He has been supportive of all of the programs of the Florida Baptist Convention.

"I am delighted he that he is going to run," Sullivan continued. "He is uniquely qualified because he has been all over the convention doing the FAITH ministry. He's been in small churches and large churches. He has broad-based exposure in ministry."

Welch, a co-creator of the FAITH evangelism strategy, told Baptist Press that he was "flattered, humbled, and encouraged" that anyone would consider nominating him as SBC president. "I promised that I would pray about it and see what the Lord would have me do," he told Baptist Press. "If the convention were to want me to do that, I would always try to do everything I could do to help the Kingdom's cause."

Welch told the Witness that he has been praying about the prospective nomination since before the 2002 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in St. Louis, and believes he is just one of several in the same position.

Welch has been at First Baptist in Daytona since 1974. A Vietnam veteran and a graduate of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Welch and Doug Williams, retired minister of evangelism at First Baptist Church, Daytona Beach, FL, created the FAITH evangelism strategy that has since grown into an international form of outreach. It is available through LifeWay Christian Resources. He frequently travels the country, sharing with pastors how they can implement the strategy in their church.

Welch's election would make him the first Floridian to hold the denomination's top elected post since Jim Henry, pastor of First Baptist Church, Orlando, was elected president in 1995 and again in 1996. He would be the first Floridian SBC officer since Ted Traylor was elected first vice president in 2000. Traylor, the pastor of Olive Baptist Church, Pensacola, FL, is president of the Southern Baptist Pastors' Conference for the 2004 Indianapolis meeting. [BP]