Programs & Structure Committee to Report

by Keith Hinson                                                                                                               Vol. VIII, No. 2, February 1995

The seven-member study committee looking at the programs and structure of the Southern Baptist Convention has a unanimous recommendation it will present at the Executive Committee meeting Feb. 20 in Nashville, TN. However, what that recommendation is and what changes are proposed for the nation' s largest evangelical denomination are questions the committee does not want to answer until the Feb. 20 release date.

"The Program and Structure Study Committee has worked prayerfully and carefully, considering how the SBC might best help the churches to reach the world for Christ," said Mark Brister, pastor of Broadmoor Baptist Church, Shreveport, LA, and chairman of the committee, in a release to Baptist Press Jan. 27. "Through a long series of productive meetings, the committee has moved toward consensus and closure. We are now prepared and eager to bring a unanimous report and recommendation to the Executive Committee ... . We thank Southern Baptists for all their prayers and look forward to sharing our vision in the days ahead," Brister said.

The study committee was appointed by the chairman of the Executive Committee in September 1993 in response to a motion referred from the 1993 SBC annual meeting. That SBC motion, made by now-retired California state convention executive C. B. Hogue, asked that the SBC president appoint a seven-member study committee with three from the Executive Committee, three from the convention at-large, and a chairman from either group. Hogue's motion was referred to the Executive Committee by messengers in that SBC annual meeting in Houston, June 1517,1993.

Under SBC bylaw 20(5)(m), the Executive Committee "shall present to the convention recommendations required to clarify the responsibilities of the agencies for programs and other functions, to eliminate overlapping assignments of responsibility, and to authorize the assignment of new responsibilities for programs or functions to agencies."

Hogue's proposal said the purpose was to "study the program statements of SBC agencies and institutions, and evaluate existing structures which are required to effectively implement such programs."

The Executive Committee appointed the study committee, with the same purpose as Hogue's proposal, and included four Executive Committee members and three members, including the chairman, from the convention at-large. The study committee was to report its findings to the Executive Committee.

If the recommendations of the study committee are approved by the 80-member Executive Committee, they will be recommended to the messengers at the June annual meeting of the SBC in Atlanta, celebrating the SBC's 150thanniversary. Any constitutional changes would require a two-thirds approval vote from two consecutive annual meetings.

Bylaw changes do not require two annual meetings and could be made and approved at the Atlanta meeting with the exception of bylaw 15 which lists the agencies, institutions, commissions, and auxiliary of the convention. It can be changed by a simple majority vote but requires two consecutive convention meetings.

There are 19 agencies, institutions and commissions-including the SBC Executive Committee - and one auxiliary, Woman's Missionary Union, of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Members of the study committee are Brister, chairman; Ronnie Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church, Springdale, AR; William Hall, registered investments advisor, San Clemente, CA; Robert Sorrell, associate pastor, Bellevue Baptist Church, Cordova (Memphis), TN.; Rex Terry, attorney, Fort Smith, AR.; Greg Horton, corporate executive, Simpsonville, SC; and R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY. Floyd, Hall, Sorrell, and Terry are members of the SBC Executive Committee. [BP]

[Editorial Comment: As reported above, the report is being held very closely. Though I am secretary of the Executive Committee, I have seen and heard none of the committee's recommendations. Nevertheless, there is an air of expectation and excitement surrounding it. If properly framed, this report's recommendations may establish the framework under which the Southern Baptist Convention can be revitalized to minister more efficiently and effectively for the growth of God's kingdom in the 21st century. Because the report will be released within two weeks (these remarks are being written on the tenth), the March Banner will carry information on the report's specifics.]