The program faces growing challenges as it approaches its 100th anniversary.
Feuds over politics, race and the role of women in the church — which parallel the polarization of American culture — have dominated recent denominational meetings and caused some churches to withhold their mission giving.
For three minutes last summer, a call to investigate how Southern Baptist leaders have dealt with sexual abuse was dead in the water. Then a little-known denominational bylaw and a pastor from Indiana saved it.