'My job is to represent Jesus Christ': 6 things to know about SBC President Ed Litton

By Leah MarieAnn Klett, Assistant Editor Thursday, June 17, 2021

Newly elected Southern Baptist Convention president Ed Litton and outgoing president J.D. Greear take a selfie after Greear pounded the gavel for the last time June 16, 2021, to close the SBC Annual Meeting. Litton will open the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim, Ca., with the pound of the gavel. | Robin Jackson

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Alabama Pastor Ed Litton was elected as the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention on Tuesday, narrowly beating Pastor Mike Stone, the former executive committee chairman.

Litton, the senior pastor of Redemption Church (formerly First Baptist North Mobile), won the runoff election by 556 votes. He received 6,834 votes in the runoff, while Stone, senior pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, Georgia, received 6,278 votes.

The Alabama native was nominated by Pastor Fred Luter, the first black president of the SBC and head of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, Louisiana, lauded the 62 year old for his long history of promoting racial reconciliation.

Litton holds a bachelor's degree in religion and theater from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, a master of divinity from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and a doctorate of divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

Here are six things to know about Litton and his views on hot-button issues, including race relations, accusations of sexual abuse in the church, and the role of women in the church.