DALLAS (BP) – Jeff Iorg will come to be the eighth chief of the SBC Government Committee. Iorg obtained a unanimous vote from 60 EC members at a specific-called EC assembly currently (March 21).
Iorg, 65, will provide as president-elect right until his tenure as president of Gateway Seminary formally concludes with graduation on Could 11. His initial formal day as EC president/CEO will be Could 13.
“Today’s unanimous vote marks a sizeable turning point for the SBC Government Committee and the SBC as a total,” mentioned EC Chairman Philip Robertson. “You cannot overstate the relevance of management, and Jeff Iorg is a chief among the leaders. The way Southern Baptists have united around this nomination is some thing we have not witnessed in a very long time. I am particularly grateful to God for that. It is a new working day at the EC.”
Iorg has led Gateway Seminary since 2004. The seminary announced a leadership succession plan in Oct that would culminate in Iorg’s retirement.
During his tenure at Gateway, he led the university to relocate its key campus to Southern California and to adjust the school’s identify from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary to Gateway Seminary of the Southern Baptist Conference.
Gateway serves 2,000 learners, which includes a present-day enrollment of 1,000 pupils researching in 15 languages by means of its Advance System. The university also has formal partnerships with seminaries in Mexico, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast.
The seminary’s endowments grew from $16 million to $60 million underneath Iorg’s management.
Lookup Workforce Chairman Neal Hughes informed Baptist Push he thinks the SBC “is going to see a potent chief, a variety leader, an efficient chief, an administrative leader and a spirit-filled chief.”
“We’ve occur now to this second in which we say like Psalms, the Lord has performed this and this is wonderful,” Hughes said.
Prior to coming to Gateway, Iorg led the Northwest Baptist Convention for approximately a ten years. He served the convention expand its Cooperative Method cash flow from $4 million to $5 million.
He also oversaw the completion of the Northwest Baptist Heart and led the employees to relocate to Vancouver, Clean.
“Jeff Iorg has already brought unity to the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention and to the Southern Baptist Conference, as evidenced by the acclaim from considerably and wide in reaction to the preliminary announcement and by today’s unanimous vote,” reported SBC President Bart Barber. “Jeff Iorg has explained these days that the SBC is a force for superior. I think that God will use Jeff Iorg as a pressure for excellent, and I will cheer him on and pray toward that stop.”
Iorg initially trustworthy in Christ in 1972. He was led to faith by an associate pastor at Elmcrest Baptist Church in Abilene, Texas, who was serving in an evangelism booth at the West Texas Regional Fair. He was referred to as to ministry for the duration of his senior year of higher faculty in 1977.
He went on to serve as a children’s minister at Elmcrest Baptist Church prior to getting to be pastor at Environmentally friendly Valley Baptist Church in St. Joseph, Mo., and Pathway Church in Gresham, Ore.
A magna cum laude graduate from Hardin-Simmons College with a Bachelor of Arts in Bible and a slight in psychology, Iorg ongoing his schooling at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, earning a Learn of Divinity degree. He been given a Medical professional of Ministry diploma from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, with a dissertation focused on creating powerful listening expertise for evangelism.
He and his wife Ann married in 1980 and have 3 little ones and five grandchildren. He is the author of eight guides on biblical management, character improvement, evangelism, marriage and top through adjust.
Iorg hosts a podcast named Lead On! which is out there on all major podcast platforms.
He follows Ronnie Floyd who stepped down from the EC presidency in October 2021.
(EDITOR’S Take note – Brandon Porter serves as Associate Vice President for Convention News at the SBC Executive Committee.)
