By Michael Gryboski, Editor Tuesday, June 09, 2026Willy Rice delivers a sermon at the Southern Baptist Convention Pastors' Conference on Monday, June 8, 2026. | live.sbcannualmeeting.net

Florida Pastor Willy Rice was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention on Tuesday, succeeding Pastor Clint Pressley as leader of the nation's largest Protestant denomination.

Messengers to the SBC Annual Meeting elected Rice on the first ballot, giving him 5,217 votes, or 57.56% of the total cast.

Rice, senior pastor of Calvary Church in Clearwater, Florida, defeated Josh Powell, lead pastor of Taylors First Baptist Church in Taylors, South Carolina, who received 3,821 votes, or 42.16%.

The election came during the SBC Annual Meeting in Orlando, where thousands of Southern Baptists gathered to vote on leadership positions and debate issues ranging from women's roles in ministry to denominational priorities.

Rice, 62, announced his candidacy last October, framing his campaign around the need for spiritual renewal within the convention, referencing the Protestant Reformation.

“The Church is always reforming,” Rice said in his announcement last year. “We receive correction, adjust course and embrace renewal. And it is to that end today that I want to share with my Southern Baptist family my desire for renewal in our time.”

Powell was nominated earlier this year by Tennessee Pastor Jay Hardwick, who described him as “a man of integrity” who is “humble, approachable and wise.”

Although the two candidates differed in style and emphasis, they largely agreed on many of the major issues facing the denomination. Both men expressed support for a proposed constitutional amendment that would strengthen the SBC's ban on women serving as pastors, elders or overseers.

On Monday, Rice preached a sermon at the SBC Pastors’ Conference, stressing that “it is not enough to affirm right doctrine,” warning that “if we seek the favor of the world more than the approval of Heaven, if we fear the rejection of men more than we fear the judgment of God, we are already on a dangerous slide.”

“It is not enough for us to engage in religious ritual,” Rice said. “Saul had lost sight of what mattered most: to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.”

“I want a Southern Baptist Convention that is successful, but I want one that is faithful even more … Faithfulness today will bring fruitfulness tomorrow.”

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