Messengers to the annual North Carolina Baptist state convention meeting struck down proposed bylaw changes that would have given convention-related institutions more influence over the appointment of trustees and directors.
The proposed amendments, more than a year in the making and supported by convention officials, received just 38 percent of the 2,198 ballots cast in the Nov. 14 meeting.
Some observers say the move could trigger an exodus of N.C. Baptist colleges and other convention-related entities, which have sought more control over selection of trustees.
Even before the convention, one institution signaled it will exercise more autonomy over trustee elections. Wingate University in Wingate, N.C., announced a plan to use an option in convention and university bylaws that allows it to appoint up to 50 percent of its trustees.
In a letter dated Oct. 26 but announced to the Executive Committee Nov. 13, board chair Donald Taft and school president Jerry McGee said Wingate's trustees voted to appoint all of the trustees due to be elected in 2007 and 2008. The decision would not affect trustees to be approved at the 2006 meeting.
The proposed bylaw changes, which would have benefited Wingate and other institutions, gave convention-related entities the power to nominate some of their own trustees, while giving the convention's nominating committee limited authority to replace those nominees.
Jeff Long, pastor of Parkwood Baptist Church in Gastonia and chair of the committee on nominations for the past three years, spoke against the proposed amendment. Under the amendment, he said, entity CEOs would have authority to name replacements for any candidates rejected by the committee.
“That makes us a committee of affirmations, not nominations,” he said, because it would not be possible for the committee to add to the names suggested by entity leaders. “Let it function by its name, or change the name,” he said.
The motion's demise, despite the support of convention officials and elected leaders, appeared to have come from an unlikely combination of opposition from conservatives who thought the amendment gave away too much freedom, and some moderates—particularly supporters of the colleges—who thought it did not give enough freedom. Some parts of the proposal negotiated in May were deleted before the convention started, which doomed the changes in the eyes of some.
Tim Rogers, pastor of Yadkin Baptist Church in Statesville, N.C., said the bylaw change giving institutions more freedom was an effort to appease the institutions and would tie the nominating committee's hands and leave the institutions and agencies without accountability.
“We don't own the institutions but do elect trustees to look after the best interests of North Carolina Baptists,” he said.
Both Clay Warf, president of the North Carolina Baptist Foundation, and Michael Blackwell, president of Baptist Children's Homes, spoke in favor of the motion. Warf said the amendments would allow entity presidents more flexibility in meeting the various requirements for trustee diversity, such as geographical distribution and church size.
Also in the Nov. 14 meeting, a study committee was appointed to meet with Baptist Retirement Homes officials in the hopes of resolving a standoff between the convention and the non-profit, Baptist-affiliated retirement home providers.
In September 2005, Baptist Retirement Homes trustees requested permission to begin appointing trustees and phase out convention funding over a four-year period. The convention's Executive Committee approved the request initially but reversed course after convention attorney John Small determined that the change in trustee election would amount to a severance of relationships with the institutions, which is not allowable under the bylaw provision being used.
After unsuccessful attempts at resolving the matter, the convention Executive Committee and General Board voted in September to begin escrowing funds for the retirement homes for the last four months of the year. During the November meeting, escrowed funds for 2006 were reinstated to the Retirement Homes group.