(ANALYSIS) The Orange County Convention Center in Orlando will be buzzing when 20,000 Southern Baptists gather for their annual national meeting, rushing between forums, worship, reunions, business sessions and politicking about their elections and resolutions.
But there will be an upstairs room set aside June 8 and 9, divided into spaces for one-on-one encounters, while a white-noise machine creates as much privacy as possible. For the second time, leaders connected to a network of Southern Baptist women will meet with pastors’ wives who applied, in advance, for counseling.
One 2025 participant offered confidential feedback: “On top of church ministry concerns, I was broken over my relationship with our prodigal daughter and burdened by the time-consuming caregiving responsibilities with my aging mother. Though I had never gone to counseling, I knew its value. … I was given the freedom to be completely honest, without fear of damaging our family or my testimony.”…