LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) -- Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptists' oldest seminary and spokesman for conservative social causes, will bow out of the race to head the nation's largest Protestant denomination, according to a Feb. 14 statement.

Mohler will undergo surgery for a pre-cancerous tumor in his colon, according to a release posted on the website of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Mohler, 48, has headed the institution since 1995.

Three other candidates for the SBC presidency have already been announced: Georgia pastor Frank Cox and Californians Wiley Drake and Bill Wagner.

Doctors discovered the tumor during a routine colonoscopy Feb. 11, and a subsequent biopsy revealed that it was pre-cancerous.

Mohler went through similar surgery in December 2006. That surgery was complicated by blood clots that formed in his lungs. The Southern Seminary statement said Mohler's physicians “will take special precautions to prevent a recurrence of the blood clots with this new surgery.”

It also said a date for the surgery had not yet been determined, but it will likely “require an extensive period for recuperation and recovery.”

Because of that, Mohler said, “I have decided to give my greatest attention right now to addressing this new challenge and to ministering to my wife and children. This is clearly not the right time for me to accept this nomination.”

He continued, “Frankly that decision is made much easier by my knowledge that there is at least one strongly conservative, committed pastor who intends to be nominated in Indianapolis.” He was presumably referring to Cox.

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