‘Hold Fast’: SBC President Commends Faith And Missions At Annual Meeting
DALLAS — Calling SBC messengers at the 2025 annual meeting in Dallas to recognize God’s grace this past year, SBC President Clint Pressley said he is “glad to be Southern Baptist” and invited listeners to join in the celebration.
“In the time we have together [this week], I want us to spend time celebrating that which makes us strong and unique and useful to the larger kingdom of God,” Pressley said.
Southern Baptists are distinctive in their confession of faith, The Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M), and in their method for funding mission, the Cooperative Program, Pressley said. Both mark a 100-year anniversary this year.
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“If the Southern Baptist Convention were a train, the two rails we run on are the Baptist Faith and Message and the Cooperative Program,” Pressley said.
Pressley touched on points to celebrate that he had outlined in a June 6 “First-Person” article in Baptist Press. In that article, Pressley drew from Lifeway’s 2024 Annual Church Profile report and noted that worship attendance in SBC churches is up more than 6 percent; baptisms up 10 percent; 767 new churches were planted; the Lottie Moon Christmas offering reported three record years of giving; and the missionary candidate pipeline reached a 20-year high count of 1,600.
Pressley recounted that after attending and joining a Southern Baptist church for the first time at age 16, he never wanted to be anything other than Southern Baptist.
“I love the Southern Baptist Convention. I love being the president of the Southern Baptist Convention,” Pressley said. “It has been, this year, a tremendous honor to be president.”
Lessons Pressley learned this year made him grateful that the SBC still holds to the Gospel while others have strayed from it, he said. Pressley praised Southern Baptists saying that the closer he got “to the people,” the more respect he has “for who they are and what they do.”
Drawing from the annual meeting theme of “Hold Fast,” taken from Hebrews 10:23-24, Pressley said Southern Baptists have remained true to that scriptural admonition.
Holding fast to the confession of faith
Pointing back to the Conservative Resurgence, Pressley said he is thankful that the SBC is settled on the issue of biblical inerrancy and that every avenue of SBC ministry rests on that conviction.
Pressley said he thanks God for the “renaissance” of expositional preaching in the convention and praised the SBC Pastors’ Conference for its emphasis on explaining Scripture, and the six SBC seminaries for training pastors in expositional preaching.
“We see the Bible as light for our path, we see the Bible as food for our souls, we see the Bible as the ground we stand on, and you and I as Southern Baptists hold fast to the confession of our faith,” Pressley said. “We should celebrate that.”
Noting that the Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M) marks its 100th anniversary this year, Pressley said that confession provides clarity on what Southern Baptists believe regarding doctrine and the Bible, and addresses current cultural issues from a conviction that God’s creation and plan is good.
Pressley explained that the BF&M speaks “with joyful clarity” on issues such as marriage, gender issues, religious freedom, the right to life and the dignity of every person.
“With love in our hearts, we point people to the goodness of God in sexuality,” Pressley said. “We don’t do so hiding in a corner, we do so joyfully because we believe this is how God created us.”
Pressley said Southern Baptists can hold fast “without wavering” to the BF&M because it is grounded in the Gospel, “the great hope of the world.”
The uniqueness of the Cooperative Program
Pointing to verse 24 and the admonition to “stir up one another to love and good works,” Pressley reminded listeners that the SBC confession of faith “must lead to doing something” – that something is missions and education, Pressley said.
Pressley called the formation of the CP “absolute genius” in that it brings together today’s almost 50,000 Southern Baptist churches to support and fund a common cause. It is a distinctive that sets the SBC apart, Pressley said.
As well as supporting missions, the CP also strengthens local churches because it multiplies their evangelistic and mission efforts beyond geographical boundaries, Pressley explained.
“The Cooperative Program reminds us we are actually better together,” Pressley said.
Pressley noted that the CP preserves distinctives that Southern Baptist value most.
“The Cooperative Program is the superior way for all of us to preserve our autonomy, our congregationalism, while we cooperate to advance the kingdom of God … ultimately, our business is advancing the kingdom of God, advancing the Gospel, sending missionaries and building the kingdom.”
Pressley concluded with “Let us keep believing that it is good to be Southern Baptist.”
This article has been republished with permission from Baptist Press.
Marilyn Stewart is a regional reporter for The Baptist Message, the newsjournal of Louisiana Southern Baptists.