Ronnie Floyd

Ronald Wayne Floyd is an American religious leader, former pastor, and Southern Baptist executive. Ronnie was the Senior Pastor of Cross Church, formerly called First Baptist Springdale, a Southern Baptist megachurch in Arkansas, also serving as the 61st president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2014 to 2016. In 2019, he stepped down from his post as Senior Pastor to become the full-time CEO of the Southern Baptist Executive Committee, which runs the day-to-day operations of the denominations. He resigned from that position in October of 2019.

Early Life and Career

Floyd was born on November 11, 1955, in Gonzales, Texas. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Howard Payne University in 1978, then attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and obtained a Master of Divinity in 1980 and a Doctor of Ministry in 1983. Floyd was a pastor at First Baptist churches, starting in Cherokee, Texas, where he served for about two years. He moved to Milford, Texas, from 1978 to 1981, then Palacios, Texas, from 1981 to 1984. Afterward, he served in Nederland, Texas, from 1984 to 1986.

A strong advocate of evangelism and discipleship, Floyd was part of the conservative resurgence that retook control of the Southern Baptist Convention during the 1980s. In 1989, he was a candidate to become president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, but he lost to Mike Huckabee. Floyd became Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Springdale in northwestern Arkansas in 1986. In 2001, Floyd led his congregation to open a second campus, The Church at Pinnacle Hills in Rogers, Arkansas. In 2010, he led the two churches in adopting the unifying name Cross Church.

Since that time, Cross Church has added three more locations (Neosho, Rogers, and Fayetteville), with a combined weekly attendance in the thousands. Additionally, Floyd maintains a blog, podcast, and television ministry. Floyd is also the founder of the Cross Church School of Ministry, a one-year residential ministry school that prepares students for life, ministry, and global evangelism. Floyd is the founder and host of the Summit, a weekly lunch seminar for Northwest Arkansas businesspersons which hosts renowned guest speakers. In 2017, Cross Church opened Heart for the city, which feeds the homeless, ministers to those in need, and advances a ministry to children in its primary location in Fayetteville.

SBC Leadership

Floyd was chairman of the SBC Executive Committee from 1995to 1997 and president of the SBC Pastors Conference in 1997. He led the SBC's Great Commission Resurgence Task Force (GCRTF) to generate its 2010 report resulting in "dramatic efforts to penetrate lostness in America and across the globe."

In 2013, he started leading, along with other pastors, a national Call to Pray initiative. Hundreds of Southern Baptist pastors attended Call to Pray events to pray for spiritual awakening in our churches and revival in our nation. On June 10, 2014, Dr. Floyd was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention at the SBC's annual gathering held in Baltimore. Upon the close of the meeting, he became the 61st president of the SBC, succeeding the Rev. Fred Luter. Dr. Floyd served as SBC President until June 15, 2016, when Dr. Steve Gaines was elected.

In April 2019, Dr. Floyd was elected President and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee. On April 7, he announced his resignation as Senior Pastor of Cross Church to devote full time to the SBC EC position.

Political Involvement

In June 2016, Floyd was tapped by then-candidate Donald Trump to serve on an advisory board of evangelical leaders. Floyd had previously announced that he would not endorse Trump for President and had concerns about some of the candidate's comments. Still, he believed there was "too much at stake" to refrain from voting or to turn down the opportunity to attempt to influence a possible future president.

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