Southern Baptist Convention Presidents
The president of the Southern Baptist Convention heads the denomination and is elected at the yearly convention. The term is for one year, and a candidate can serve a maximum of two consecutive terms, after which he must sit out a year before standing for re-election.
In the early days of the SBC, presidents could serve more than two terms and frequently did: P.H. Mell served a total of 16 years, the most of any president. Since the advent of the current two year limitation, the custom has been for the president to serve two consecutive terms and not run again after the one-year stand-down period. However, one person has served as president for more than the customary two terms since that time: Adrian Rogers served as president for a single term in 1979–1980 and then again for two consecutive terms in 1987–1988 and 1988–1989.
| # | President | Years in Office | State |
| 1 | William Bullein Johnson | 1845–1851 | South Carolina |
| 2 | 1851–1859 | Virginia and Tennessee | |
| 3 | Richard Fuller | 1859–1863 | South Carolina |
| 4 | P.H. Mell | 1863–1871 | Georgia |
| 5 | James P. Boyce | 1872–1879 | South Carolina and Kentucky |
| 6 | P.H. Mell | 1880–1887 | Georgia |
| 7 | James P. Boyce | 1888 | Kentucky |
| 8 | Jonathan Haralson | 1889–1898 | Alabama |
| 9 | William J. Northen | 1899–1901 | Georgia |
| 10 | James Philip Eagle | 1902–1904 | Arkansas |
| 11 | E.W. Stephens | 1905–1907 | Missouri |
| 12 | Joshua Levering | 1908–1910 | Maryland |
| 13 | Edwin C. Dargan | 1911–1913 | Georgia |
| 14 | Lansing Burrows | 1914–1916 | Georgia |
| 15 | James Bruton Gambrell | 1917–1920 | Texas |
| 16 | Edgar Young Mullins | 1921–1923 | Kentucky |
| 17 | George W. McDaniel | 1924–1926 | Virginia |
| 18 | George W. Truett | 1927–1929 | Texas |
| 19 | W.J. McGlothin | 1930–1932 | South Carolina |
| 20 | F.F. Brown | 1933 | Tennessee |
| 21 | Monroe E. Dodd | 1934–1935 | Louisiana |
| 22 | John R. Sampey | 1936–1938 | Kentucky |
| 23 | Lee Rutland Scarborough | 1939–1940 | Texas |
| 24 | W.W. Hamilton | 1941–1942 | Louisiana |
| 25 | Pat Morris Neff | 1944–1946 | Texas |
| 26 | Louie D. Newton | 1947–1948 | Georgia |
| 27 | Robert G. Lee | 1949–1951 | Tennessee |
| 28 | J. D. Grey | 1952–1953 | Louisiana |
| 29 | J.W. Storer | 1954–1955 | Oklahoma |
| 30 | C.C. Warren | 1956–1957 | North Carolina |
| 31 | Brooks Hays | 1958–1959 | Arkansas |
| 32 | Ramsey Pollard | 1960–1961 | Tennessee |
| 33 | Herschel H. Hobbs | 1962–1963 | Oklahoma |
| 34 | K. Owen White | 1964 | Texas |
| 35 | W. Wayne Dehoney | 1965–1966 | Tennessee |
| 36 | H. Franklin Paschall | 1967–1968 | Tennessee |
| 37 | W. A. Criswell | 1969–1970 | Texas |
| 38 | Carl Bates | 1971–1972 | North Carolina |
| 39 | Lawrence Owen Cooper | 1973–1974 | Mississippi |
| 40 | Jaroy Weber | 1975–1976 | Alabama |
| 41 | James L. Sullivan | 1976–1977 | Tennessee |
| 42 | Jimmy Allen | 1977–1978 | Texas |
| 43 | Adrian Rogers | 1979–1980 | Tennessee |
| 44 | Bailey Smith | 1981–1982 | Oklahoma |
| 45 | James T. Draper, Jr. | 1983–1984 | Texas |
| 46 | Charles Stanley | 1985–1986 | Georgia |
| 47 | Adrian Rogers | 1987–1988 | Tennessee |
| 48 | Jerry Vines | 1989–1990 | Florida |
| 49 | Morris Chapman | 1991–1992 | Texas |
| 50 | Homer Edwin Young | 1993–1994 | Texas |
| 51 | Jim Henry | 1995–1996 | Florida |
| 52 | Tom Elliff | 1997–1998 | Oklahoma |
| 53 | Paige Patterson | 1999–2000 | Texas |
| 54 | James Merritt | 2000–2002 | Georgia |
| 55 | Jack Graham | 2002–2004 | Texas |
| 56 | Bobby Welch | 2004-2006 | Florida |
| 57 | Frank S. Page | 2006–2008 | South Carolina |
| 58 | Johnny M. Hunt | 2008–2010 | Georgia |
| 59 | Bryant Wright | 2010–2012 | Georgia |
| 60 | Fred Luter | 2012–2014 | Louisiana |
| 61 | Ronnie Floyd | 2014–2016 | Arkansas |
| 62 | Steve Gaines | 2016–2018 | Tennessee |
| 63 | J. D. Greear | 2018- | North Carolina |