The Mohler Amendment and SBC 2026

The Mohler Amendment and SBC 2026Heath LambertThe Truth and Unity AmendmentOn Monday, May 18, Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, weighed in on the ongoing Southern Baptist confusion regarding female pastors. He did it in a big way.For years now, the Southern Baptist Convention has been in a debate about female pastors. As I have made repeatedly clear, this debate has not been whether the SBC is in favor of female pastors. They are decidedly against it. The debate has been how best to remove churches from the SBC when they engage in this unbiblical practice.For years, most Southern Baptists have been in favor of an amendment to the SBC constitution that would instruct the convention and our committees that churches with female pastors should be removed from friendly cooperation. In spite of large majorities supporting such an action, Southern Baptists have failed to reach the requirement of two years of supermajority votes necessary to amend the constitution.Why Amendments Keep FailingThe reason for this failure has been a combination of messaging and activity on the part of a relatively small group of convention leaders. The messaging has been that Southern Baptists should not pass such amendments because it will incur legal liability for the convention, it could punish churches who agree with the SBC in principle but who apply the title pastor to women who do not function like a pastor, and because messengers can always vote on the convention floor to remove churches when necessary. Southern Baptists have been learning over the years that this messaging simply does not hold up. Regarding legal liability, Southern Baptists are already in print in our confessional documents declaring what we believe on this matter, and it has never been clear how repetition could increase our legal risk. Even if it did, the Southern Baptist commitment to the truth is not so weak that we will maintain our convictions until we are threatened with legal action. With regard to punishing churches that use the language of pastor for people who are not qualified to be pastor, this is exactly the point. While no one desires to punish people, this whole issue is about ensuring our use of the pastoral office, including the language used for that office, remains faithful to Scripture. Finally, regarding the proposal that Southern Baptists can just vote out churches from the floor, it is becoming clear that Southern Baptists are willing to do this every time it is necessary. It is also clear that there is no way for us to function as a healthy convention if we have to talk about this matter every year when we already know what we believe and can address it with an amendment.But the difficulty in getting an amendment has not only come down to messaging. The majority of Southern Baptists have also been thwarted from reaching the required supermajority because of a minority of leaders who have managed to maintain control of the platform at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. Platform control is no small thing. Those controlling the platform set the agenda for the meeting, decide who cannot speak, who can speak, and often how long they can speak. Southern Baptists have learned that we can win majorities without controlling the platform, but we cannot win supermajorities.That is why the announcement from Al Mohler this week is so important. Here is the motion he intends to make:Mohler video 2:00-1:22 (this is the countdown)Support for the Mohler AmendmentMohler referred to this action as the Truth and Unity Amendment. I’ll call it the Mohler Amendment for short. There have been other amendments named after other people, and Mohler has supported all of them. What is new about this amendment is that it comes after years of Southern Baptists learning hard lessons about our failure to get amendments like this passed. What is new this time around is that the amendment comes with a long list of supporters, including the current president of the SBC, Clint Pressley.Here is what Clint Pressley said (let’s put the visual of his X post up)“Thank you Dr Mohler! Looking forward to this year’s SBC in Orlando. Let’s get this thing done! Hope to see everyone in just a couple weeks!”It is not only the current president who has expressed his support for this amendment, but both of the announced candidates running for president this June in Orlando.Dr. Willy Rice is one of those candidates and, in his support of the amendment, he said something nobody else has said,Rice Video 1:02-:14Rice fully supports the Mohler amendment, but also reminds us of how hard it is to pass a constitutional amendment. That is why he is continuing to call for a presidential task force in addition to the effort to pass an amendment. This is important because task force recommendations do not require a supermajority but can pass with a simple majority vote of Southern Baptists. In addition to supporting Mohler’s action, Rice is giving us another way to solve this problem should the amendment fail. Rice’s statement, however, did even more than that. He specifically pledged his full support for the amendment this year and the next. That means that if Willy Rice is elected president of the SBC, he is pledging the support of the SBC platform. This platform support is what it will take to pass the amendment and finally get this thing done.A Generational Opportunity for Southern BaptistsI want to say to my fellow Southern Baptists that we have a remarkable opportunity waiting for us this year in Orlando. It is within our ability, finally, to address a problem we have been arguing about for years. Now is our chance to stand on conviction and to stand on clarity.Every generation has a few crucial moments to stand with God on his Word. There are a few situations when we have the privilege of standing in solidarity with our heroes in the faith from the past. In the 1970s and 80s, a generation of faithful Southern Baptists stood for the truth and saved our denomination. We stand on the shoulders of those great leaders. Now is the time to renew our resolve and square up our own shoulders so the generation after us can stand on something strong. This is our moment and our unique opportunity from God to be found faithful to him. God is calling you, me, and the churches we lead to stand on the faith once for all delivered to the saints. This is our time to answer that call. It is our time to say, not only, that we know what the Word of God says, but we really believe what it says and, and we are willing to do something about it.This June, the messengers to Orlando must make a bold stand for the truth that will make future Southern Baptists look back and be grateful to God for what we did.My Southern Baptist brothers and sisters, doing that requires getting to Orlando. You can’t fix this problem if you don’t vote. And you can’t vote if you stay home. I want to appeal to Southern Baptists who planned on missing the convention this year to change your plans. Adjust your calendar. Buy a plane ticket or get in the car. This June, we need every faithful Southern Baptist to fill the roads and the skies as we all cut a path to Orlando to answer God’s call to biblical fidelity.I am praying for God to be kind to our convention of churches. I am praying for God to shine his favor on us. I am praying that our Great God will raise us up as the leaders he has called us to be. I hope you will join me in this prayer and that we will join one another for this historic moment in Orlando.