Pastor Emeritus, Cross Church

Dr. Ronnie Floyd served as the Senior Pastor of Cross Church, a multi-campus church in Northwest Arkansas, for over thirty-two years. He was elected Pastor Emeritus of Cross Church upon his calling to serve as the President and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee. Since January 2022, he has been preaching in churches across America, consulting with ministries and organizations, coaching pastors, and leaders, and writing two significant books that will be released in the years 2024 and 2025.

In his thirty-two years of serving as Senior Pastor of Cross Church, over 25,000 people were baptized, and membership grew from 3,700 to over 20,000.  While at Cross Church, he led the church to begin a national television ministry, the Cross Church School of Ministry, and the Compassion Center. In 2001, he led the church to become a multi-campus church and founded the Northwest Arkansas Business Persons Luncheon, with an attendance of over 130,000 since its inception. Under his leadership, Cross Church planted over 150 new churches regionally, nationally, and internationally. Simultaneously, Cross Church became the number two giving church through the Southern Baptist Convention Cooperative Program, giving $1.3 million in his final year as pastor. Additionally, Cross Church has three large campuses located strategically in Northwest Arkansas and the church is debt-free. With his compelling call and strategic vision to take Good News to the whole world, Dr. Floyd has a deep commitment to developing leaders from all walks of life to change the world.

Due to his commitment to spiritual leadership and faithfulness to the Great Commission, he was called to become the President and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee in May 2019. In his tenure through 2021, Dr. Floyd advanced the Cooperative Program, which funds the Great Commission ministries of the SBC statewide, nationally, and globally. He also led Southern Baptists to adopt a unified Great Commission vision called Vision 2025, adopt two significant amendments to the SBC Constitution, and other changes to the bylaws. In his role, he was also responsible for forwarding and advancing the annual convention meetings, and the 2021 SBC was the largest annual convention in twenty-five years, with messengers and guests surpassing 20,000. He provided biblical, balanced, and forward-thinking leadership to the denomination in all his assigned responsibilities through the challenging COVID-19 global pandemic.

While serving as Senior Pastor of Cross Church, he also served in the following ways: 1997 President of the SBC Pastors’ Conference; SBC Executive Committee 1988-1998, serving as Chairman 1995-1997; 2001-2009 SBC Guidestone Trustee; and 2014-2016 Elected President of the SBC. He also served as a Trustee of Liberty University from 2002-2009, the 2017-2019 President of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, and served on the Board of Directors of the Family Research Council of Washington D.C. from 2016-2019, serving as Chairman of their board in 2018-2019.

As a preacher of the gospel, he spoke at Promise Keepers rallies from 1997–2001, and in 1997, he preached to an estimated 1.3 million men in Washington, D.C., at the historic Promise Keepers Stand in the Gap Rally. As an author of twenty-four books, he has also been interviewed by major media outlets and even featured in a Sunday edition of the New York Times for his work on racial unity. In 2024, his twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth books will be published and released. First in May 2024, Day by Day and Night by Night: 365 Morning and Evening Devotions for Leaders. The second, in January 2025, The Supernatural Power of Prayer and Fasting, 12 Ways God Will Change Your Life.  

Floyd received three degrees from two institutions: his bachelor’s degree from Howard Payne University and his master’s and doctoral degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has also received The Distinguished Alumni Award from these educational institutions.

In 2022, The Global Church Network presented to Dr. Ronnie Floyd their Global Synergize Award, For Decades of Synergizing Efforts to Help Fulfill The Great Commission.

In 2023, the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem, Israel, presented Dr. Ronnie Floyd with their Medallion of Jerusalem Award and added him to their museum's Hall of Fame.

However, his most fulfilling accomplishments come from his personal life and family. He and his wife, Jeana, have been married since 1976. They have two sons, Josh, the Head Football Coach of the Hewitt Trussville High School in Trussville, Alabama, and Nick, the Senior Pastor of Cross Church. Josh and his wife, Kate, have three sons: Peyton, Parker, and Jack. Nick and his wife, Meredith, have four children: Reese, Beckham, Norah, and Maya.