GRAPEVINE, Texas (ABP) — Meeting during their annual general assembly in Grapevine, Texas, June 30, members of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship elected a female pastor from San Francisco and an African-American retired pastor and denominational leader to the organization's top offices.
General Assembly participants elected Joy Yee, pastor of New Covenant Baptist Church in San Francisco, as moderator and Emmanuel McCall, retired pastor of Christian Fellowship Baptist Church in Atlanta, as moderator-elect.
McCall, who served 25 years with the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board prior to his pastorate at Christian Fellowship, is vice president of the Baptist World Alliance.
Susan Crumpler of Mason, Ohio, was re-elected recorder and Bob Setzer, pastor of First Baptist Church in Macon, Ga., as immediate past-moderator.
Jack Snell, acting coordinator of CBF Global Missions, reported close to $2.5 million had been contributed to disaster relief in the wake of the tsunami that hit southeast Asia last December.
Relief is moving into the “transformational development stage,” Snell said, with plans through 2007 to build homes, schools, community centers and possibly churches in the region.
Hardy Clemons of Greenville, S.C., vice chair of CBF's Baptist World Alliance task force, reported on the growing relationship between the Fellowship and the global Baptist umbrella group — a relationship that led the Southern Baptist Convention to withdraw its membership and funding from the BWA.
“We are world Baptists who believe in unity in diversity rather than coerced conformity,” Clemons said. “When others withdraw, we engage. When others defund, we fund. When others back up, we step up.”
Motions introduced during the open business session for discussion at afternoon business breakouts were:
* A recommended $16.47 million operating budget for 2005-2006. The proposed total $21.58 million budget includes more than $5.11 million in expenditures from designated gifts.
* Committee recommendations regarding funding and relationships involving “partner” institutions and agencies, as well as two related motions introduced by assembly participants.
* Revisions in the organization's constitution and bylaws.
In other business, Elizabeth Barnes of First Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C., was elected as the Fellowship's representative to the Baptist World Alliance, filling the post left open when McCall was elected as BWA vice president.
Participants also elected Pam Durso of Immanuel Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn., and Kay Shurden of First Baptist Church in Macon, Ga., as CBF representatives to the board of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.
Assembly participants also affirmed CBF Coordinating Council members elected by CBF regional fellowships.