Pastor born without arms to be nominated for SBC's first vice president

North Carolina Pastor Daniel Ritchie | Screen Shot/Vimeo

A pastor and author who was born without arms is set to be nominated for the position of first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Daniel Ritchie, an evangelist and author of the books My Affliction for His Glory: Living Out Your Identity in Christ and Endure: Building Faith for the Long Run, will be nominated for the first vice president position at the SBC's Annual Meeting in June.

Matt Capps, lead pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Apex, North Carolina, explained his plan to nominate Ritchie in comments to the Biblical Recorder.

“Ritchie is among the most faithful, consistent, and passionate witnesses for Christ that Southern Baptists have seen raised up in this generation,” Capps told the Biblical Recorder.

“I am eager to see our convention recognize this gospel servant and unapologetically champion the vital ministries of vocational evangelists like Daniel by electing him to serve as first vice president.”

For his part, Ritchie took to his Instagram account on Wednesday to thank Capps for the proposed nomination, and briefly talked about his hopes should he be elected.

“I hope to shine a light on personal evangelism in the church and the need to raise up a young generation of ministry leaders — with the Great Commission continuing to be the driving force and focus of Southern Baptists,” he posted.

After coming to faith in Christ as a teenager, Ritchie earned a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies from Judson College and is presently studying for a Master of Divinity degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Ritchie previously served as a student pastor at congregations in North Carolina and Arizona. He has spent the past 20 years speaking to various churches, camps, schools and other groups.

Ritchie preached at the 2022 SBC Pastors’ Conference in Anaheim, California, and is a member of The Summit Church, a multisite megachurch based in the Raleigh-Durham area. He is married with two children.

Ritchie has often spoken about his disability, the stigma he faced from people around him, and his overcoming many challenges associated with living a life without arms.

In an op-ed piece published by The Christian Post 2022 titled “How I came to love myself,” Ritchie warned against “microwave mentality,” which he described as “if something cannot be done in five minutes or less, it is not worth doing.”

“The Father does not work at the pace of our man-made culture. He does not count time like we count days,” wrote Ritchie. “The Father does not conform His work to our broken perspective of time. He is not in a hurry; we are.”

“We must be faithful to take a step back from our busy lives to consider what we have in our loving Father. We need to give ourselves the space to soak in the fact that our Creator and Savior love us dearly. We must carve out pockets in the day to stop and commune with the eternal God beyond the space of our Sundays.”