American Indian elected Baptist leader

INDIANAPOLIS, June 11 (UPI) -- Southern Baptist members meeting in Indianapolis have elected an American Indian to lead the nation's largest Protestant church.

Johnny Hunt, a member of the North Carolina-based Lumbee Indian tribe who is also pastor of a Georgia megachurch, was elected by a majority on the first ballot over five other candidates. His choice by about 7,000 delegates comes as the denomination struggles with declining membership and baptisms, the measure of number of converts, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported Wednesday.

"We've been declining as a denomination," Hunt acknowledged. "If our denomination were to become a byword in the years to come, I would hate for it to be on my watch."