By Ken Camp
The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board voted Feb. 26 to create a committee to study the potential sale of the Baptist Building in Dallas.
“The executive director has been approached about the possibility of selling the Baptist Building,” according to a report by the board’s administration support committee. “The potential buyer seems to have a serious interest. Based on this, the formation of an ad hoc committee to study any offer and to study possible relocation possibilities seems advisable at this time.”
Executive Director David Hardage said Baylor University had expressed interest in the BGCT property as a possible site for its expanded Louise Herrington School of Nursing.
The $11.5 million Baptist Building was constructed in 1988 at 333 N. Washington on land leased from Baylor Health Care System. The BGCT Executive Board used proceeds from the sale of the property in downtown Dallas, combined with trust funds, to finance construction without using any Cooperative Program mission money. Ten years later, the health care system’s board of directors voted to give the land, valued at $2.5 million, to the state convention.
In other business, the Executive Board approved a plan to forgive debt that Baptist University of the Américas owes the BGCT. Pointing to BUA’s primary mission to train Hispanic Baptist pastors and church leaders, Richard Rogers of Huntsville, chair of the administration support committee, called the debt-forgiveness plan “a chance to invest in the future of a changing Texas.”
BUA carries $9.8 million in debt, with more than $3 million owed to the BGCT. The plan offers a dollar-for-dollar forgiveness of every dollar BUA raises from donors toward debt the school owes the BGCT.
The BGCT Executive Board anticipates BUA should be able to retire loans from the BGCT in three to four years.
The board also honored Suzii Paynter for her service as director of the Christian Life Commission, director of public policy and leader of the BGCT Advocacy/Care Center. She recently was elected executive coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in Atlanta.