By Bob Allen
State and regional Cooperative Baptist Fellowship coordinators will comprise the bulk of a committee to begin the process of nominating three new leadership groups to replace the current Coordinating Council in a restructuring approved by the CBF General Assembly last June.
After discussing how best to populate a transitional nominating committee during implementation of recommendations from a two-year study by a 2012 Task Force, Fellowship officers decided to utilize knowledge of the Movement Leadership Team, which represents Fellowship Baptists from different parts of the country, CBF Moderator Keith Herron said in a press release.
In addition to state and regional coordinators, the transitional nominating committee includes two past moderators. Harriet Harral, a leadership consultant from Fort Worth, Texas, who led the Fellowship in 2007-2008, will chair the nominating committee. Colleen Burroughs, the immediate past moderator, still serves as a CBF officer. She is also the vice president of CBF partner Passport Inc.
The group, approved by the full Coordinating Council Jan. 17 in a conference call, will recommend members of a 16-member Governing Board to oversee day-to-day administration now handled by the 60-member Coordinating Council.
The committee also will nominate chairpersons for two newly created councils – one on missions and another on ministries – designed to bring a narrower focus to tasks also assigned in the past to the Coordinating Council.
Finally, the group will recommend to officers a list of persons to serve as an ongoing Nominating Committee. All nominations will be presented to the General Assembly for approval in a business session June 27 in Greensboro, N.C.
“These decisions will allow us to continue an accelerated transition, which will complete our move to the new model as outlined by the 2012 Task Force,” said Bill McConnell, CBF moderator-elect and a Tennessee businessman. “By working with the state and regional coordinators we will have access to the Fellowship people with the needed skills. After this, the system that was voted on by the 2012 General Assembly will be in place.”
— Based on reporting by Emily Holladay of CBF communications.