ASHEBORO, N.C. (ABP) — North Carolina Baptist leaders endorsed a plan to grant agencies of that Baptist convention more control over who is nominated as their trustees and directors — an issue that has prompted a lot of controversy in recent months.
Meanwhile, Milton Hollifield, the convention's new executive director, challenged those leaders to work more cooperatively and trust each other again, despite several years of deep division between moderates and conservatives. “Let's try it one more time,” he said.
The executive committee and board of directors of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina capped two days of meetings May 23-24 by taking steps toward a uniform method for selecting trustees and directors of all North Carolina Baptist agencies and institutions.
The movement toward a uniform nomination process began with the approval of committee reports for Christian higher education institutions and for the North Carolina Baptist Foundation. Both reports called for the agencies to present a list of nominees to the committee on nominations each year. The committee would then research the candidates and could reject persons from the list but not substitute anyone without getting additional names from the entity head.
Don Warren, president of the board of directors and chair of the executive committee, said he thought it would be fair to have a single process for all entities, and he pledged to develop a proposal to that end. Warren's proposal was approved by both the executive committee and the board of directors.
The study process began last fall, after several months of controversy over the way the committee on nominations handled some proposed trustees.
On September 27, the five convention-related colleges and universities asked the executive committee to direct the Council on Christian Higher Education to study the relationship between the state convention and the schools. Both committees presented their reports to the executive committee April 11. The committee heard and discussed the reports then but voted to defer action until the May meeting.
At the May meeting, some members continued to express opposition to the North Carolina Baptist Foundation proposal, saying it would effectively turn the nominating committee into a rubber stamp and grant the foundation a self-perpetuating board.
In reply, John Butler, former president of the board of directors, pointed out that the foundation had been self-perpetuating for a number of years before it voluntarily changed its charter to draw closer to the state convention. The new proposal would add some distance but not as much separation as there was originally, he said.
The proposal was initially defeated 10-9 in a morning session, but board members reconsidered the motion in a late afternoon session and approved it 14-4.
In re-presenting the proposal, Butler said, “This has nothing to do with politics … It really is a liability issue. We think it is a wise move and an appropriate time to act.”
Hollifield, in the midst of the meetings, urged directors to avoid politics altogether and lead North Carolina Baptists in working cooperatively and trusting each other. Conflict between theological conservatives and moderates has characterized the convention for more than a decade.
“It's no secret, I feel that I am very conservative in my theology,” Hollifield said. “Some things are non-negotiable.” But he added, concerning the new nominations plan and other proposals, “we're working with agencies and institutions. This is a new day. Let's try it one more time. Let's try to cooperate together.”
Neither the state's Baptist colleges nor its churches are perfect, Hollifield said, but he was confident the college presidents want their schools to be closer to the churches. Part of that closeness, Hollifield said, must come from sensitivity on the part of universities to the needs and desires of North Carolina Baptists, and he urged the directors to support them as well.
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— Hannah Elliott contributed to this story.