The nation’s largest non-Catholic religious denomination is set to elect a new leader at its convention in Nashville, Tennessee today.

The 14.5 million-member Southern Baptist Convention represents the largest number of Baptists in the country.  Southern Baptist make up the largest denomination in Georgia and in Chattooga County as well.

Southern Baptists elect a new president every two years, and this year, the decision is a hotly-contested one.  One of the candidates is a Georgia pastor.  Rev. Mike Stone pastors Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, Georgia.

The other two candidates are Rev. Ed Linton, a Birmingham, Alabama-area pastor and Rev. Al Mohler, a well-known Southern Baptist theologian.

There are twenty-nine Southern Baptist-affiliated churches in Chattooga County.