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Rolland Slade, senior pastor of Meridian Baptist Church in El Cajon, California, has been elected as the first African American chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Execu­tive Committee, the group that runs the business of the nation’s largest Protes­tant denomination outside its annual meetings.

He was elected unanimously.

Slade was previously vice chairman of the Executive Committee and chair of its Cooperative Program Committee, which handles the denomination’s central funding mechanism.

In January 2021, Javier A. Viera will become the first person of color to head Garrett-Evangelical Theological Semi­nary. The native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, will succeed Lallene J. Rector, who has served as seminary president since 2013. Earlier this year, Rector announced her intention to step down in order to help care for loved ones with serious health conditions.