Last month, the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting was held in Dallas with about 10,600 registered messengers in attendance. I was pleased to see so many Oklahoma Baptists at the meeting. In fact, there were almost 700 Oklahoma Baptists churches who pre-registered messengers. That is a fantastic number! I am encouraged that our pastors and churches care about what is going on in the convention and want to be involved in the process of how the SBC is operated.

Some highlights of the meeting included a celebration of 100 years of the Cooperative Program (CP). We were reminded of all that God has done and continues to do for the Kingdom through the CP. SBC churches over the last century have given $20 billion through the CP to advance the gospel throughout the world. We also celebrated 100 years of the Baptist Faith and Message. This confession has kept our convention rooted and grounded in the Word of God and has served as the theological guardrails that safeguard our cooperation among like-minded churches.

Perhaps the greatest highlight of the meeting was the International Mission Board (IMB) sending celebration. We commissioned 58 men and women to serve as international missionaries, some from Oklahoma, to join the almost 4,000 IMB missionaries already on the field. IMB President Paul Chitwood also announced that over 1,600 people are currently in the IMB application pipeline—the largest number in many years.

This is a primary reason why Southern Baptist and Oklahoma Baptists churches cooperate together—to send fully funded missionaries to take the Gospel of Jesus to some of the most spiritually dark places in the world. The greatest problem in the world is lostness and we do more together than apart in taking the only solution to that problem, the Gospel of Jesus, to
the nations.

As always, messengers did not agree on every issue that was raised in the meeting. Some issues were passionately debated and the outcome of the vote on these issues have left some discouraged and concerned. However, I am confident that Southern Baptists continue to have a unified commitment to the authority of Scripture and the Great Commission. We never do anything perfectly as a convention and sometimes in our history we have gotten things very wrong, but we tend to eventually get things right and honor the Lord’s Word and stay focused on our mission. I am praying that for our convention.

SBC President Clint Pressley reminded us in the annual meeting what has often been said, “If the SBC were a train, it would run on two rails: The Cooperative Program and the Baptist Faith and Message.” May God continue to give our churches a unified passion to stand on the Word of God and reach the nations with the Gospel of Jesus!

Serving Jesus with You,
Todd Fisher
Oklahoma Baptists
Executive Director-Treasurer