McALLEN, Texas (ABP) — Messengers to opening business session of the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting rejected a proposal that would have allowed Houston Baptist University to elect non-Baptist trustees, and they approved — with two amendments from the floor — a massive overhaul of Texas Baptists’ annual meeting.
Messengers on Nov. 8 turned aside a BGCT Executive Board recommendation that the state convention revise its agreement with Houston Baptist University, allowing HBU to elect a minority of non-Baptist Christian trustees.
HBU has related to the convention by special agreement since 2001. That agreement allows HBU to elect 75 percent of its own trustees, with the BGCT electing the remaining 25 percent. All trustees HBU elects must be Baptist but not necessarily from BGCT-affiliated churches.
The revised agreement would have allowed up to one third of the trustees elected by the university — one-fourth of the total board — to be non-Baptist Christians.
Ed Seay, chair of the trustee board and pastor of First Baptist Church in Magnolia, Texas, noted HBU is the only evangelical university in Houston — soon to be the nation’s third-largest city. Seay emphasized the diverse population of Houston and the need to reach out to evangelical Christians in the city by providing them a minority voice on the school’s governing board.
Clyde Glazener, pastor of Gambrell Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth and a BGCT past president, expressed concern that denominations historically have lost institutions after they allowed similar moves.
“They never take the step without eventually losing” the school, he said. “It’s like a flat roof. It’s not a question of if it’s going to leak. It’s a question of when.”
Bob Fowler, a messenger from South Main Baptist Church in Houston and a past chair of the BGCT Executive Board, characterized the recommended change as “well-reasoned and appropriate.”
He emphasized the need for HBU to be able to relate effectively to other evangelical Christians, and he expressed appreciation for the way the school’s trustees came to the BGCT “with no demands, only a request” that non-Baptists be allowed a presence on the board.
In other business, messengers approved an extreme makeover of the BGCT annual meeting focus and format — but not quite as extreme as a study committee recommended.
Kyle Henderson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Athens, Texas, chaired the committee appointed to study ways to increase participation at the annual event. He compared the annual meeting to a Thanksgiving family dinner that fewer and fewer people were participating in each year.
“Look around. There are a lot of empty seats around the family table,” he said, noting only 8.5 percent of the churches eligible to send messengers to the annual meeting attended the McAllen gathering. At mid-afternoon on the opening day, only 754 messengers had registered, along with 775 visitors.
The study committee recommended two measurable goals focused on the number of churches participating in the annual meeting rather than the number of people in attendance — double the percentage of participating churches by 2013 and involve every Texas Baptist church at least once every five years.
Key recommendations included:
• Showcase one area of ministry each year. Focus on a different theme annually, rotating between five key areas — evangelism/missions, education/discipleship, advocacy/care, Baptist identity and Baptist community. Every fifth year, schedule “The Gathering”—a three-day summer event that would bring together Texas Baptist ethnic groups and interest groups. The committee also recommended a multi-site event in 2017 using video-simulcast technology, involving as many Texas Baptist institutions as possible.
• Plan beyond the current year. Coordinate and plan the annual meeting starting 18 months in advance of the event to secure speakers, gather resources, facilitate institutional cooperation and build momentum.
• Adopt a planning matrix with a clear purpose statement and values. The committee expressed its belief the purpose of the annual meeting should be “mobilizing, encouraging, informing and uniting Texas Baptists to accomplish the Great Commission.”
Several of the value statements — lengthen the meeting to three days, include a service project and schedule plenty of time for fellowship — sparked little discussion.
However, messengers rejected two proposals included in the list of values, turning aside proposals to limit business discussion to targeted breakout sessions and eliminating resolutions.
In other business, messengers:
• Elected Victor Rodriguez, pastor of South San Filadelfia Church in San Antonio as president and Jerry Carlisle, pastor of First Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, as first vice president.
• Approved a revised unification agreement with the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas.
• Granted recognized status to the Vietnamese Baptist Fellowship of Texas.
• Approved recommendations from a committee on border violence. They included a day of prayer and other prayer initiatives, retreats for Mexican pastors and spouses to offer them encouragement, and a partnership with the group No Mas Violencia that sponsors programs for schools, churches, civic officials and law enforcement.
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Ken Camp is managing editor of the Texas Baptist Standard. John Hall of Texas Baptist Communications contributed to this article.