The Baptist Retirement Homes of North Carolina has adopted bylaw amendments that allow the corporation's trustees to elect their own successors.
Previously the bylaws called for trustees to be elected by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, which also had the power to remove trustees.
A letter informing the North Carolina convention of the changes was delivered to acting executive director-treasurer Mike Cummings Jan. 18. Convention president Stan Welch said, “I don't think North Carolina Baptists are going to let them just break away in this particular way after having invested so much in them over so many years,” Welch said.
But BRH president Bill Stillerman told the Biblical Recorder of North Carolina that the Baptist Retirement Homes have always used the funds received from the convention for benevolent care only.
When founder Jimmy Hayes petitioned the convention in 1950 for aid in beginning a ministry to the elderly, he was given encouragement but no money, Stillerman said.
The convention did not contribute funds or participate in choosing trustees until 1957, Stillerman said. The corporation has always raised its own funds and borrowed money in its own name, he said.
And, Stillerman said, trustees do not consider the action to constitute a break from the convention. In a Jan. 18 press release, Stillerman insisted, “The changes made to our organization's bylaws document have no theological overtones but are related strictly to matters of governance and finance.”
“We have every intention to continue to maintain significant ties with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.”
Stillerman said a change was needed because banks and financial institutions are increasingly unwilling to invest in organizations that do not have independent boards that ensure future stability.
Associated Baptist Press