ALEXANDRIA, La. (ABP) — Just 14 weeks after rejecting the idea, trustees of the Baptist Message of Louisiana voted 6-1 Aug. 30 to dissolve their board and move the newspaper under the control of the Executive Board of the Louisiana Baptist Convention.
Meanwhile, convention leaders set the stage for Oklahoma conservative John Yeats to become editor of the Baptist Message Jan. 1 after current editor Lynn Clayton retires.
Yeats, editor of the Baptist Messenger of Oklahoma, is scheduled to be elected director of communications for the Louisiana Baptist Convention at the September meeting of the state Executive Board. In that role, he would become editor of the Baptist Message if the transfer is approved.
In May the newspaper's trustees voted 8-4 against moving the newspaper under convention control. But after hearing a presentation from Yeats and debating the proposal in executive session, they voted overwhelmingly to approve the transfer, which was proposed in May by the convention's new executive director, David Hankins.
The move must be approved by two thirds of the messengers to the Louisiana Baptist Convention in November.
The plan calls for the Baptist Message to become part of the convention's communications division. “The vast majority of states are moving to a state paper published by the state convention…,” Yeats said in his presentation to Baptist Message trustees.
Trustees approved resolutions calling for the convention to dissolve the newspaper's corporate status and to elect Yeats to the combined post. The current newspaper trustees would serve as a transitional advisory committee until 2007.
In his presentation, Yeats emphasized the value of a coordinated approach to the convention's communications. While Louisiana Baptists do not want a “public relations rag” but a genuine news publication, he said, they also want a wise use of resources, which can be accomplished with a coordinated approach.
“For the sake of its future, the Baptist Message must see its larger role in the kingdom fulfilled as part of a cohesive communications team of the Louisiana Baptist Convention…” Yeats insisted.
Baptist Message trustee Randy McGee of Monroe, La., asked members of the editor search committee what happened to change the committee's direction after trustees voted 8-4 in May against moving the newspaper under the convention staff.
Trustee chair Larry Thompson of Westlake responded that the search committee met with Yeats, who expressed support for a coordinated approach. Thompson said he was willing to revisit the idea of transferring the newspaper in order to get Yeats as editor.
Search committee chair Nathan Luce of Prairieville said Yeats' approach to moving the newspaper was different enough from the earlier one to merit reconsideration. The new proposal gives authority to hire and fire the editor to the convention's Executive Board, rather than the executive director alone.
Luce noted the latest proposal would restore the structure of the Baptist Message to the one in effect in the 1960s, before the newspaper was moved from convention control to a separate board.
Search committee member Floyd Davis of Shreveport said he is not in support of transferring control of the newspaper. “I think we're moving too quickly,” he said. “This is a major change.”
Naida Sexton of Shreveport said she supports Yeats as editor but wants assurances the newspaper will remain fair and balanced. “We have a job to do, and that's my heart. I want to see us get it done in a way that makes our people proud,” she said.
Jim Ingram of Bastrop added, “I feel that we're rushing things too much.”
“The search committee is not pushing to do it one particular way,” Luce responded. “We just have a man we'd love to get on board.”
As trustees began asking Hankins if there was a way to adjust the timeline, the executive director noted that the discussion was beginning to touch on sensitive personnel matters. He requested a move to executive session — and trustees agreed.
Following a discussion of about 45 minutes, trustees opened the doors and spent little time in approving the action.
Prior to the vote, trustees asked Clayton, the retiring editor, if he had any comments. “One, my opinion has not changed from the [May] meeting,” he said. “Two, the search committee and the board have not sought my input prior to this point, so I will respect that and decline to speak.”
Trustees voted without further discussion of the matter.
Later, Hankins said he expects messengers to be enthusiastic about the proposed changed. He said he will present Yeats to the Executive Board in September as planned.
Yeats, recording secretary of the Southern Baptist Convention, is a former pastor. He served as director of communications for the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana before becoming editor of the Oklahoma newspaper in 1997.
A native of Oklahoma, he is a graduate of Dallas Baptist University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and American Christian College and Seminary in Bethany, Okla.
— Lacy Thompson is associate editor of the Baptist Message.