Theology School Dean to Replace Land as SBC Commission Chief

Russell Moore, the dean of theology at the leading seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention, is the new president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the denomination.

Moore, 41, succeeded Richard Land, who is retiring after leading the commission for nearly 25 years, Religion News Service reported on Tuesday.

Land, 66, was one of several prominent denominational leaders who supported the election last year of Fred Luter as the Southern Baptist Convention’s first African-American president.

The convention is the largest Protestant body in the United States, with more than 16 million members.

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The commission serves as the Southern Baptists’ top public policy voice, according to Religion News Service, and its president is often more visible than those who serve the two one-year terms as president.

“I am honored and humbled to be asked to serve Southern Baptists as ERLC president,” Moore said in a statement published by Religion News Service. “I pray for God’s grace to lead the ERLC to be a catalyst to connect the agenda of the kingdom of Christ to the cultures of local congregations for the sake of the mission of the gospel in the world.”

According to Religion News Service, Moore will start his position on June 1, when Land becomes president emeritus.

A native of Biloxi, Miss., Moore has been dean of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., since 2004 and also is senior vice president for academic administration and a professor of Christian theology and ethics, Religion News Service reports.