National Baptists have their man

By Dr. Karanja A. Ajanaku

Rev. Julius R. Scruggs of Huntsville, Ala., overwhelmingly was chosen as the next president of the National Baptist Convention during the group’s 129th Annual Convention held in Memphis Sept. 5-11. Rev. Scruggs turned back a high-profile challenge by former president, Rev. Henry Lyons, who was seeking to regain the presidency after having been convicted on charges associated with bilking the church’s corporate partners out of several million dollars. 

Rev. Scruggs takes over as president in February. Here is an excerpt from his press conference following his election:

Q: What is going to be your main goal as the new president?â€



A: One of our main goals is to strengthen our unification in our convention. We’ve had some splintering from time to time in our convention and we want to bring all groups together in oneness so that we can all gather under one main vision for our convention and move together …to bring that vision to fruition.

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