Southern Baptist Convention President Willy Rice is calling on pastors across the country to take a more active role in the political process as the midterm elections approach, urging them to speak boldly on issues such as immigration, abortion, and sexuality and gender identity.

Rice, who serves as pastor of Calvary Church in Clearwater, Florida, was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention — the largest Protestant denomination in the United States — at the denomination's annual meeting in June. His remarks about the political engagement of pastors and churchgoers came during a recent interview with Fox News Digital, as reported by ChurchLeaders.

"Throughout American history, pastors have had a strong voice at key moments in American political history, even in the revolutionary times — maybe especially in the founding of our country," Rice said.

He argued that in recent years, many theologically conservative, Bible-believing evangelicals were encouraged to grow quiet and withdraw from the political process. Some of that pressure came from outside voices telling Christians they should not mix religion and politics. But Rice said some of it also came from within the church itself, from those who argued that faithfulness to the church's mission required decoupling from controversial political issues.

What Rice called "interesting" is that those on the theological and political left never disengaged — and had no intention of doing so. Statistics, he said, show that people on the political and theological left are actually more politically engaged than those on the right. The result, in his view, was a kind of vacuum: a silence, with too few Christian leaders leaning in.

"Should pastors engage in the political process? They absolutely should," Rice said. "Because there are many political issues that are, at their heart, theological issues and moral issues that strike at the very center of what we believe to be true and what we believe people need to know in order to flourish personally and as a culture."

Rice's message is a reminder that the shepherd's call is not limited to what happens inside the sanctuary walls. When the Word of God speaks to the great moral questions of the day, pastors who preach it faithfully cannot help but shape the conscience of a nation — not as partisans, but as ambassadors of Christ, speaking truth without fear and leaving the results in the hands of God.