DECATUR, Ga. (ABP) — A blue-ribbon task force assigned to study and recommend changes to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's structure has begun its work with a series of listening sessions for various stakeholders in the 20-year-old moderate Baptist organization.
David Hull
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"There is no way to understand the beginning of this movement or this organization without acknowledging that we were all about guarding something," David Hull, chairman of a "2012 Task Force" appointed this summer, said in a listening session during the CBF Coordinating Council's regularly scheduled meeting Oct. 14-15 at First Baptist Church in Decatur, Ga.
"Guarding is something that is important," said Hull, who served as a member of the interim steering committee that helped form the Atlanta-based CBF in the context of controversy in the Southern Baptist Convention in 1991. "We need to protect those principles and the things that we hold dear in our heritage, but that looks to the past."
"As we approach this 20th anniversary it's a great time to celebrate and look back, but it's also a wonderful time to look forward," said Hull, pastor of First Baptist Church in Huntsville, Ala.
CBF Executive Coordinator Daniel Vestal initiated the 14-member task force after an invitation-only retreat of leaders of more than 20 Fellowship-affiliated organizations (including Associated Baptist Press) in April. The Coordinating Council endorsed the process in June, amid questions from some members about the composition of the task force and the scope of its authority.
In his initial report to the council, Hull said the group understood its task to be "to listen to the Fellowship community and to recommend ways to align our organizational structure with the vision, mission and values of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship."
"We don't come with any preconceived notions of what needs to happen, what needs to change, what needs to stay the same," Hull said. "We're all involved and have been involved in CBF life, but we're coming to listen to many different groups, many different kind of folks who are involved in the CBF community, to hear from you what's working, what's not working, what needs to change, what doesn't."
The other task, Hull noted, is to "recommend."
"We have no power to implement anything," he said. "We are not anybody's governing body. We're just a group of folks who will commit time and energy and our best thoughts and resources to listen and then to try to shape some recommendations."
Between now and next year's General Assembly in Tampa, Fla., Hull said the task force would be in a "listening mode," meeting with groups such as state CBF coordinating councils and gatherings of state coordinators.
"We want to be listening where CBF folks are already gathering; for example, state meetings, where they are already coming together," he said. "Let's go to places like that and listen." The first listening session took place at a recent Alabama CBF gathering.
National Coordinating Council members broke into groups Oct. 15 to discuss questions on a provided worksheet. One task force member moderated each group, while another took notes.
Hull said no single listening session would be able to cover every issue, but he asked the Coordinating Council to give special attention to one question regarding suggested changes to the structure of the Coordinating Council, since that is something most directly related to their function.
Hull said the task force has a long list of CBF constituency groups to ask for input. He mentioned young ministers just getting started in CBF churches, current students in CBF-related seminaries and divinity schools and partner groups that work under the Fellowship movement's umbrella but function independently of the organization.
Hull said in an interview that the task force doesn't have a particular number of listening sessions in mind, but they want to do as many as possible between now and the June 22-25 General Assembly.
After the Tampa assembly, Hull said, the task force plans to work about six months turning information from the listening sessions into concrete recommendations. In response to a question from one Coordinating Council member about how that group would handle inevitable differences of opinion, Hull used an analogy of a funnel, where the large volume of information at the top naturally narrows into common themes.
Hull said the task force expects to bring recommendations to the Coordinating Council in February. After that, the Coordinating Council will determine what recommendations to bring to the General Assembly.
"It is a huge assignment," Hull said. "One reason we have a separate group working on this is so that a smaller group can devote time and energy. We don't have other CBF assignments like you do as a Coordinating Council or like other groups do or staff does. This is going to be our main assignment."
CBF supporters with questions about the task force's process can submit them directly through a form on the CBF website.
Hull said this wouldn't be the only time that the Coordinating Council would have access to the task force. "We will come alongside you, work with you on this, and we want to hear from you today and in the days to come," Hull said.
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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.