ANAHEIM, Calif. — June 14, 2022 — Union University presented Willie McLaurin, interim president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, with its M.E. Dodd Denominational Service Award during a June 14 alumni dinner at the SBC annual meeting.
The Dodd Award is the highest denominational service award Union gives. It is named for the man who was a 1904 Union graduate, served as president of the SBC and who was the father of today’s Cooperative Program, the method by which Southern Baptists pool their resources to fund their mission efforts.
The award, voted on by Union trustees, is given to a leader within the SBC who displays excellence and leadership in Southern Baptist life, as well as friendship and commitment to Union University. Past recipients include such leaders as Jimmy Draper, Adrian Rogers, R. Albert Mohler Jr., Steve Gaines, Paul Chitwood, David S. Dockery and others.
“In a tenuous world where uncertainties and confusion abound, Union is glad to recognize McLaurin for his gracious, stable, competent and integrity-filled leadership in service to Southern Baptists,” said Todd E. Brady, Union’s vice president for university ministries.
McLaurin was elected as vice president for Great Commission relations and mobilization of the SBC Executive Committee in 2019 and named interim president and CEO earlier this year. He previously served as special assistant to the executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board and was the inaugural president of the African American Fellowship of the Tennessee Baptist Convention.
He is the author of two books and serves as a Union University trustee.
A native of North Carolina, McLaurin holds degrees from North Carolina Central University, Duke University School of Divinity and St. Thomas Theological Seminary. He and his wife Antonia have two daughters, Sierra and SiChanna.