NASHVILLE (BP) — Missiologist and researcher Ed Stetzer has been named chairman of the 2020 Southern Baptist Convention Resolutions Committee, SBC President J.D. Greear announced today (Feb. 11).
Greear also announced his appointment of Angela Suh Um of Cambridge, Mass., as vice chair. Um will be only the second woman to serve in a leadership role on the committee, according to Baptist Press’ review of SBC records.
“Ed Stetzer has planted, revitalized, and pastored churches across the country in a variety of settings,” Greear told Baptist Press. “Additionally, his vast experience as a researcher makes him uniquely qualified to understand the questions and concerns that the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention face. He is a strong leader who can guide the committee as they help the messengers express their positions on issues that matter to them.”
Greear continued: “Ed has planted a church in Buffalo among the urban poor, served as interim pastor of a traditional SBC megachurch in Tennessee, and ministered to pastors in between, including just two weeks ago at the Oklahoma Baptist pastors conference. He is committed to unity around the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, and seeks the Gospel above all.”
Stetzer is a professor at Wheaton College, where he also serves as executive director of the Billy Graham Center and dean of the School of Missions, Ministry, and Leadership. Prior to that, he was vice president at LifeWay Christian Resources, and has served as director of research and missiologist-in-residence for the North American Mission Board.
“Resolutions offer the messengers an opportunity to express their collective opinion on the issues that matter to them,” Stetzer said in written comments. “My hope is that in Orlando, Southern Baptists can pass statements that bring us together, make clear what we believe, and reflect broad consensus. It is my goal that our committee will work to serve the messengers and honor Christ as we consider the issues that are of utmost importance.”
Um, who served on the 2019 Resolutions Committee, is founder and chief consultant at Boston Academic Consulting Group. She also serves as a young adult director at Antioch Baptist Church in Cambridge, where her husband David is senior pastor.
The only other woman appointed to a leadership role on the committee was Nancy Victory of Louisiana, who was appointed by president Jim Henry to chair the committee in 1996.
Greear’s other appointments to the Resolutions Committee will be announced later this month.
