Posted by Dave Samples

El Presidente …

You surely know by know that Johnny Hunt was elected president of the SBC on the first ballot.  Following each of the nomination speeches there was polite applause given by the messengers.  Dr. Hunt clearly received the most applause but again it was given in a subtle polite manner.  I did make a note that he received stronger applause than any of the other candidates.  At the time of the vote there were 7196 registered messengers.  5856 votes were actually cast for president.  That means that 1340 messengers did not vote for president for one reason or another.  (Geoff posted the vote totals in the previous post.)

Now a little evaluation….Johnny Hunt was clearly the choice of more than half of the convention.  Give any of the other candidates all of the rest of the votes and they still lose.  Just as clearly–Wiley Drake has no support.  I am absolutely certain that anyone could have beaten Dr. Drake today.  So how did he lead the convention to boycott Disney anyway?  (By the way…the SBC family is just two years away from another Disney vacation in Orlando.  Start making your vacation plans now).  The messengers were not swayed by the “missionary” appeal of Wagner and Willis or the “small church” appeal of Puryear.  The two potential “insiders” were very much the top vote getters.  Avery Willis is highly respected and carries quite a bit of name recognition as the mastermind of “Masterlife”.  Arguably, Bill Wagner worked the hardest for the least result.

Is it possible that the bloggers had no effect on the election this year?  Quite a few had openly endorsed Frank Cox and still others had endorsed Les Puryear.  Bill Wagner was able to have Wade Burleson nominate him in what I considered one of the best nominations (I was pulling for Wagner).  Well, to end it, let me just say that I am very pleased with Dr. Hunt and I believe that he will lead us well.  Go back and read his responses on the BP questions and I think most of us will see some hope for the near future.

Blessings!

Dave