(RNS) After a contentious election process, the Rev. Julius R. Scruggs was elected in September as the new president of the National Baptist Convention, USA. By a vote of 4,108 to 924, Scruggs defeated the Rev. Henry J. Lyons, a former president of the NBCUSA who had served time in prison for embezzlement.

In the days before the election, Lyons sued the NBCUSA over its election process but the case was dismissed shortly after the meeting. Scruggs, 67, the pastor of First Missionary Baptist Church in Huntsville, Ala., talked about the meaning behind his presidential win and his plans for one of the nation’s historic African-American denominations.

Some answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Q: You won overwhelmingly against your challenger, Henry Lyons. What do you think that says about your denomination?

A: I think that the people of our denomination spoke in a very decisive way and their speaking, I think, was inspired by God because they wanted credible leadership for the National Baptist Convention, USA.

Q: Does it demonstrate that, though church members may be able to forgive Lyons for grand theft and fraud, there is a limit to redemption and he couldn’t be viewed as a denominational leader again?

A: I think you are correct. I put it this way when we were speaking at the convention: I think that all of us are willing to forgive former President Lyons and we have forgiven him. But the issue in the election was not about forgiveness. The issue was about trust. They needed a leader in whom they could trust and they didn’t believe they could trust — I don’t believe — Dr. Henry Lyons.

Q: You’ve been pastor of your church in Huntsville for 32 years, and you’ll continue in that pulpit while leading the NBCUSA. How will you juggle those roles?

A: It is going to take some superb time management on my part. Others have done it before me so I believe I can do it as well.

Q: What are your primary goals as president?

A: Initially I want to work on unifying our convention because of the nature of the campaign and election. We have some healing that needs to take place. I want to address that. Then I want to go on to seek to unify the convention by bringing churches in that have been on the fringes. That will give us more strength fiscally and financially. We can do more ministry when we are stronger.

Q: During your campaign, you mentioned an interest in forming a public policy commission that would address public education and health care. Is that still on your list?

A: Yes. We certainly want to address public health care, socioeconomic and political issues … and I would like to address them under the umbrella of our public policy committee. We are addressing them to some degree already but I would like to see that increased and strengthened. I’d like for us to be able to help President Obama as he advocates for the health care program that he’s trying to get through Congress right now.

Q: What do you see as the biggest challenges ahead for your denomination?

A: We have so many important ministries that are ongoing that we need to support, and revenue is going to be one of our largest challenges. We support American Baptist College in Nashville, Tenn., which is the only college that is owned lock, stock and barrel by the National Baptist Convention, USA. That’s one of our challenges is to increase our giving to American Baptist College because it is the institution that produces a lot of our pastors.

Q: Any other final goals ahead?

A: I really want to see young pastors embraced and mentored and recruited and integrated into leadership roles in our convention in an intentional way. I want to do everything that I can to embrace them, to help them understand that they are part of the convention, bring them into the mainstream of the convention and integrate them into leadership roles.