Restructure Progresses

                                                                                                                                                                 Vol. IX, No. 8, September 1996

          The SBC “Covenant for a New Century” restructuring plan was approved by the SBC in June 1995 and 1996. The new SBC structure, reducing the number of SBC agencies from 19 to 12, is to be in place at the end of the June 1997 annual meeting in Dallas. The article draws on a number of Baptist Press reports to bring Banner readers up to date on these very significant changes in SBC organization. The Implementation Task Force (ITF) is chaired by Rev Bob Reccord, pastor of First BC, Norfolk.

           Under the plan the Education Commission, created in 1915, is to be shut down. Although the commission was not required to close until 19 June 1997, in order to have funds to transfer to the Association of Southern Baptist Schools and Colleges which has agreed to assume some of the commission’s functions, the Education commission has decided to cease operations 31 December 1996. Released employees, totaling only seven, will receive four and a half months notice, a severance package, and retention pay dating back to July 1995.

           A major part of the restructure plan directs the disestablishment of the Home Mission Board, the Radio and Television Commission, and the Brotherhood Commission. Most of their functions will become the responsibility of a new agency, the North American Mission Board (NAMB, rhymes with lamb), with a few responsibilities shifting to the Sunday School Board or other agencies. The ITF reported 16 September that the NAMB’s radio-TV executive leadership team will be based in Alpharetta, GA, site of new facilities opened by the Home Mission Board in 1995, while radio-TV “operational facilities” will remain in Fort Worth, where the RTVC has been based since 1955.

           The Brotherhood Commission facility in Memphis, however, “has been officially listed for sale” with all its programs transferred either to NAMB or to the Sunday School Board.

           In the area of senior personnel, HMB president Larry Lewis has announced his retirement effective 31 December 1996. He will step down to work with Mission America, a network of 100 denominational and para-denominational evangelical organizations. Lewis will be a national facilitator for Celebrate Jesus 2000, an HMB initiative that involves prayer, sharing the gospel individually and in groups, and helping new Christians become disciples.

           Jack Johnson, president of the RTVC since 1990, said 9 September that he is not a candidate for president of the North American Mission Board. “My primary focus is to serve in any way I can in the transition that merges the Brotherhood Commission, Home Mission Board, and the RTVC into the new North American Mission Board,” Johnson said. “I think the NAMB presents the greatest opportunity in the history of the Southern Baptist Convention. It brings together unbelievable resources and focuses on evangelizing North America. With the NAMB, I think we now have the engine to drive evangelism in North America through the next millennium. and I think technology will play a major role in that evangelization.”