Resolutions Committee named for SBC meeting in Phoenix

by   Staff                                                                                                                                                  Vol. XVI, No. 5, May/June 2003

Appointments to the Resolutions Committee for the June 17-18 Southern Baptist Convention have been announced by SBC President Jack Graham. Graham, pastor of the Dallas-area Prestonwood Baptist Church, named Mike Hamlet, pastor of First Baptist Church, North Spartanburg, SC, as chairman for committee at the SBC annual meeting in Phoenix. Hamlet is a former president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.

The other members of the committee appointed by Graham, in alphabetical order, are:

-- Jim Butler, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, Southhaven, Miss.

-- Craig Christina, pastor of First Baptist Church, Duncan, Okla.

-- Penna Dexter, radio talk show host and member of Prestonwood Baptist Church.

-- Randy Hahn, pastor of Colonial Heights Baptist Church, Colonial Heights, VA.

-- Russell Moore, assistant professor of Christian theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY.

-- Brandon Thomas, minister to young couples, First Baptist Church, Euless, TX.

-- Dale Wallace, an attorney and member of The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, AL.

-- Calvin Wittman, pastor of Applewood Baptist Church, Wheat Ridge, CO.

One vacancy remains to be filled after the resignation of an initial appointee.

The naming of the Resolutions Committee in early April is in keeping with an amendment to SBC Bylaw 20 approved during the 2002 SBC annual meeting in St. Louis, which also entailed various changes to the resolution submission procedure. The changes include the following:

    -- Proposed resolutions may be submitted as early as April 15 but no later than 15 days prior to the SBC annual meeting, giving the Resolutions Committee a two-week period in which to consider submissions. Resolutions may no longer be submitted during the annual meeting.

    -- Proposed resolutions must be accompanied by a letter from a church qualified to send a messenger to the SBC annual meeting certifying that the individual submitting the resolution is a member in good standing.

    -- Proposed resolutions preferably should be submitted by e-mail or mailed to the Resolutions Committee in care of the SBC Executive Committee. The drafts must be typewritten, titled, dated and include complete contact information for the person and his or her church.

    -- No person will be allowed to submit more than three resolutions per year.

    -- If a properly submitted resolution is not forwarded by the Resolutions Committee to the SBC annual meeting, a two-thirds vote of messengers would be required to bring the proposed resolution to the convention floor.

    -- Committee composition must now include at least two members who served the previous year, with Hamlet and Moore meeting this requirement. Bylaw 20 has long required that the committee include at least three SBC Executive Committee members. This year they are Hamlet, Butler and Wittman. [BP]