I recently wrote an article summarizing my time at the 2026 SBC Annual Meeting. The link to that article is here.
One of our faithful Kentucky Baptist pastors reached out sharing why he was unable to attend the SBC, and his reason for not going to the annual gathering of Southern Baptists highlights some of the challenges being faced by many of our Kentucky Baptists families. I found his feedback helpful and thought you might as well. I am sharing his email with his permission but without his name.
Dr. Gray,
I read your article on why pastors should consider attending the SBC Annual Meeting. I appreciate your heart for unity and cooperation. I’m 100% with you: we can do more together than alone.
I’m still pastoring here in KY. I haven’t attended the SBC while pastoring in KY, and I still don’t. Not from lack of support for the SBC — our church gives faithfully through the CP and to missions offerings, even when churches around us have NOT supported mission work. But the meeting itself isn’t something I can do.
I cannot justify leaving my family to attend. It’s a personal conviction. We have an autistic adult who needs us every moment of every day. Leaving my wife alone with that responsibility feels selfish, not sacrificial. I’m away enough doing the work here — training, equipping, building, loving others to make disciples of Jesus, in North America, Cuba, and Israel. My wife understands the seasons of ministry. There are busy blocks and slower blocks. But a week at the SBC isn’t a block I can steward in good conscience right now.
I’ve never been to the Annual Meeting. As long as our family dynamic is what it is, my conviction will stay that way.
Here’s the kickback I want you to hear: Many pastors who cannot attend often feel like an afterthought. The language around the SBC — “you should be here,” “your voice matters,” “we’re better together” — can unintentionally communicate that those who don’t come care less, or matter less. We don’t. We’re just called to a different front line.
We love the SBC. We give. We pray. We send. But we can’t leave. And when the only stories lifted up are airport meetings with Dr. Whitney and dinners with execs, it reinforces that the SBC is for those guys — the ones with margin, health, and family situations that allow it.
My request: Keep championing the meeting. It matters. But also, regularly acknowledge the men who can’t be there and why. Some of us are giving to the CP while neighboring churches give nothing, and we’re still viewed as less committed because we’re not in the convention hall. Remind the convention that the pastor who stays home to change adult diapers, administer meds, and keep the peace so his wife can sleep is just as much “all in” on the Great Commission as the man on the convention floor.
We’re with you.
Grateful for your leadership and for KBC. Praying for you, brother.
I found this brother’s respectful response to my article helpful in several ways:
1. Many of our pastors are facing challenging family dynamics and need regular prayer, support and encouragement. Kentucky Baptists are working together on an initiative called Pastoral Wellness because our desire is to see every church be a thriving church and every leader a cared for leader. We have a mutual responsibility to care for one another and understanding the challenges others are facing can help us provide greater and more caring support.
2. Kentucky Baptists must figure out together, by the grace of God, how we provide ministry to those with disabilities. In fact, the messengers at the 2026 SBC Annual Meeting passed a helpful resolution on that topic. Tom Stolle, executive director for the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware, chaired a Ministry Disability Task Force for the SBC and reminded us, “If you took all the people on our planet with disabilities and added them together, you would have the third largest country in the world, just behind India and China.” Stolle went on to say, in the context of ministering to those with disabilities, “We cannot leave them behind.”
3. In Kentucky Baptist life, we must continue to communicate our collective conviction that every church matters and every minister matters — whether or not they are able to participate in our state and national gatherings. There are a number of reasons why pastors, elders and ministry leaders cannot attend these meetings. These leaders continue to faithfully preach the gospel, share the gospel and serve their churches and communities in Jesus’ name. What matters most is not whether our leaders attend the SBC Annual Meeting, but that we all work together to reach Kentucky and the world for Christ.
May the Lord’s blessings abide on us as we earnestly, prayerfully and collectively pursue that mission.
Dr. Todd Gray 