Lawton pastor defeated in Southern Baptist president race

A Lawton pastor has failed in his bid to become the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Mike Keahbone, Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church of Lawton Fort Sill, announced in January that he intended to seek the position at the denomination’s convention in Indianapolis. On Tuesday, Keahbone failed to receive enough votes to advance in the voting.

In an interview with The Lawton Constitution in January, Keahbone stated his reason for running is to get back to the basics, saying, “I want to unify us. … We are fractured into different entities and factions. The gospel is something that is incredibly unifying.”

Keahbone grew up in Elgin and studied at Cameron University. Prior to his position in Lawton, he was the Senior Pastor at Cherokee Hills Baptist Church in Oklahoma City for six years.

Keahbone was added to the race for SBC president when he was nominated by Victor Chayasirisobhon earlier this year. There were six nominees in this year’s race.

When the results were announced on Tuesday there was no majority vote, so a runoff election was held to decide between the top three candidates. After the first day, however, Keahbone was out of the running. Keahbone finished the race in sixth place with 868 votes.

The runoff election was settled between candidates David Allen, Dan Spencer, and Chris Pressley on Wednesday. The results of the runoff didn’t see a majority winner, so a second runoff election went into effect. According to an article from The Tennessean, after the second runoff Chris Pressley from Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte won over Spencer with 56.12% of the votes.

The Southern Baptist Convention, where members of the nation’s largest Protestant group gathered to vote on issues within the church and to appoint a new SBC president, was held this week.