For the first time in its history, the Southern Baptist Convention may elect a former missionary to the presidency. It sounds strange, doesn’t it- but no President has been elected who has served a small church, as a former missionary! Stranger still since the vast majority of SBC Churches are “small”.

Baptist Press reports

William L. (Bill) Wagner, a former Southern Baptist missionary and seminary professor and current president of Olivet University International in San Francisco, says he will allow his name to be placed in nomination for Southern Baptist Convention president when messengers meet in Indianapolis next year.

“It is hard to believe that the Southern Baptist Convention, historically and currently bound together in their desire to introduce others to the Gospel all over the world, have never had an International Mission Board missionary as their president, never had someone from a pioneer context (west of Texas or north of Maryland) as its president, never had a pastor of a small church as its president, and never had a trained missional strategist at its helm,” Wagner said in a statement to Baptist Press.

It is hard to believe.

Wagner has written a “Contract with Southern Baptists,” which consists of 10 points he hopes to implement if elected. Among them, he says he would seek:

1 — “to help SBC churches become more missional in lifestyle and outreach” and to “support the Cooperative Program and work to make it a priority for all Southern Baptists.”

2 — “to help Southern Baptists find a method to use our … university and college students in world evangelism.”

3 — “to support the Conservative Resurgence and encourage Southern Baptist schools and universities to continue to retain and to teach biblical basics to their students.”

4 — “to address the current perception held by many young Baptist leader[s] and future Baptist leaders that participating in the creation and structure of the policies of the Southern Baptist Convention is not a valuable investment of their time.” He proposes to create a program where Baptist colleges and universities will teach about denominational policies and explain “why current practices exist within the SBC.”

5 — “to help make Southern Baptists aware of the current issues and religions that pose significant obstacles to the advancement of the Gospel, especially in the Western World.”

6 — “to emphasize the importance of the small church in Southern Baptist life.”

The first and the last are the most important.

And, speaking of the fact that no Pastor of a small church has ever been elected President, his really is a small church!

The 2006 Annual Church Profile lists four baptisms for the previous year for Snyder Lane Baptist, located in Rohnert Park, Calif., and primary worship service attendance of 30. The church gave $670 through the Cooperative Program. It did not list its total undesignated receipts or total mission expenditures. The church gave $23 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and $73 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

I hope he is elected. It’s time for the mega-church Pastors (a gross minority of SBC Churches) step aside and we elect a normal Pastor as President.