Morris H. Chapman has passed away on Monday, October 20, in Nashville following a brief illness. He was 84.
Last Updated on 1 week by Vijay Kumar
Morris H. Chapman, a longtime leader of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the most influential figures in the denomination’s modern history, passed away on Monday, October 20 2025, in Nashville following a brief illness. He was 84.
His son Chris Chapman announced his death on X and wrote, “My dad peacefully stepped into Heaven this morning. He was not just my dad, but my hero, my teacher and my pastor. I miss him already, but he’ll always be a part of who I am and someday we’ll meet again.”
Chapman served as president and chief executive officer of the SBC Executive Committee from 1992 to 2010, guiding the denomination through years of internal conflict and organizational change. He was the first person to lead the committee following the SBC’s “conservative resurgence,” a movement that reshaped the denomination’s leadership and theology.
He succeeded Harold Bennett, who had become a central figure in the power struggle between conservatives and moderates in the late 1980s. When Chapman took over, the Executive Committee became the hub of a denomination in transition, tasked with managing budgets, distributing mission funds, and organizing annual meetings.
Colleagues often described Chapman as a calming and unifying presence at a time when the nation’s largest Protestant denomination faced deep division. Even as many moderate and liberal congregations withdrew to form new Baptist groups, Chapman called on churches to focus on cooperation and missions.
“He believed the Cooperative Program was the glue that held the SBC together,” said Benjamin Cole, a friend of the Chapman family and co-host of Baptist News Global’s Stuck in the Middle with You podcast. “He will be remembered as a man of integrity who led with humility and conviction.”
However, his record was not without controversy. Critics later questioned his handling of early reports of sexual abuse within SBC churches, particularly over the role of one of his top deputies, Augie Boto, who was accused of downplaying the issue while maintaining a confidential list of known offenders. Survivors and advocates said Chapman could have done more to respond to those allegations while in office.
Under Chapman’s leadership, all six SBC seminaries, two mission boards, and several agencies underwent leadership and policy changes as conservative leadership took control. He also oversaw a major restructuring of the denomination in 1995, one of the largest administrative overhauls in SBC history.
After retiring in 2010, Chapman became a vocal critic of what he viewed as a growing culture of confrontation and division within the denomination. The unity he once championed gradually deteriorated in the decade that followed, as the Executive Committee faced new internal crises and financial instability.
In 2024, Chapman publicly offered to return as interim president of the Executive Committee to help “right the ship.”
“I believe we’re very close to the cooperative nature of the SBC collapsing in front of our eyes,” he warned in an interview that year.
Born in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1940, Chapman began his ministry in 1959 as a youth minister and later pastored seven churches in New Mexico and Texas, where he was known for his emphasis on evangelism and missions. Before joining the Executive Committee, he served as pastor of First Baptist Church of Wichita Falls, Texas, and completed two one-year terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Chapman is survived by his wife, Jodi, who recently revealed on BNG’s podcast that her husband had been diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia. He also is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Chris and Renee Chapman; daughter and son-in-law, Stephanie and Scott Evans; eight grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
“Morris Chapman never saw himself as a commanding officer,” Cole added. “He was a ballast of stability in seasons of theological conflict and institutional realignment. The closer you got to him, the more he looked like Jesus.”
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