March 3, 1999

Amarillo layman to head
BGCT search committee
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___DALLAS--Amarillo layman Bill Brian will chair an 18-member committee to nominate the next executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___Brian, an Amarillo attorney, has been active in Texas Baptist life, serving from 1989 to 1998 on the board of the Baptist Standard and currently serving as a

BILL BRIAN

Baylor University regent. He is a deacon and Sunday school teacher at First Baptist Church of Amarillo.
___Fourteen members of the committee were nominated by a process spelled out in the bylaws of the BGCT Executive Board. Four others were added by nominations from the floor at the Executive Board's Feb. 23 meeting in Dallas.
___The search committee will work to nominate a successor to Bill Pinson, who has announced plans to retire as BGCT executive director next January. The committee will present its candidate to the full Executive Board for election, presumably in time for that person to overlap with Pinson for a few months.
___In naming the committee to seek Pinson's successor, the Executive Board also noted that the suggested process for establishing an executive director search committee is vague and needs reworking. This decision will not affect the constitution of the current committee, but would be effective the next time a search committee is needed.
___A special study committee will be appointed by Executive Board Chairman Clyde Glazener, pastor of Gambrell Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth.
___The need for revision was brought to the Executive Board's attention by Pinson, who had consulted with the board's parliamentarian. The parliamentarian, Pinson said, ruled that the existing guidelines "need clarification" but such a need is "not serious enough to warrant delay" in the current process.
___Current bylaws state that the Executive Board is "instructed to consider functioning through" a search committee comprised of five Executive Board members appointed by the chairman and vice chairman of the board, five members of the convention at large appointed by the convention president and vice presidents and one member of each of the BGCT's two commissions and two coordinating boards.
___Pinson reported that the Executive Board's parliamentarian had made six rulings to interpret the practical application of this bylaw: (a) that the Executive Board has the right to determine its own procedure; (b) that the board may approve or disapprove the suggested process for naming a committee; (c) that it is appropriate for current guidelines to be followed; (d) that individuals presented to the board through the recommended process should be considered appointees and therefore no appointee could be considered for exclusion if the board affirms the process by which they were named; (e) that the board would be free to add others to the committee, even after affirming the stated process; and (f) that the board has the right to name a chair for the search committee.
___Without debate, the Executive Board voted to affirm the current process outlined in the bylaws for naming a search committee. That vote passed with only 10 hands out of 200 raised in opposition.
___BGCT President Russell Dilday then took the floor with a two-part motion. He recommended that the board name Brian chairman, as recommended by the BGCT officers and Executive Board officers, and that two others be added to the committee to ensure "a sense of fairness." He proposed adding to the committee David Keith, bivocational pastor of Carlton Baptist Church in Carlton, and John Hatch, pastor of First Baptist Church of Lake Jackson.
___Dilday said these two additions would represent "two constituencies in our convention that are very important to us." Hatch is a well-known conservative pastor, and Keith is a bivocational pastor.
___Phil Lineberger, pastor of Williams Trace Baptist Church in Sugar Land, then nominated Billy Ray Parmer as an additional member of the committee. Parmer is retired pastor of Valley Mills Baptist Church near Waco who has been active with the moderate group Texas Baptists Committed. He also is a former BGCT vice president.
___Al Flores, pastor of First Mexican Baptist Church of San Antonio, then suggested that the committee should include the president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention, Rudy Camacho. Camacho is a layman in Iglesia Bautista Calvaro in Fort Worth.
___After a small amount of debate, the recommendations of Dilday, Lineberger and Flores were rolled into one motion, which was approved with 12 dissenting votes.
___The other members of the search committee, and the source of their nominations, are:
___ Judy Battles, a layperson from First Baptist Church of Arlington, Executive Board.
___ Rudy Sanchez, pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in Dallas, Executive Board.
___ Billy Spencer, pastor of First Baptist Church of Brady, Executive Board.
___ Ruth Wilkerson, a layperson from First Baptist Church of Lubbock, Executive Board.
___ Sandra Womack, a layperson from South Main Baptist Church in Pasadena, Executive Board.
___ B.F. Risinger Jr., pastor of First Baptist Church of Corsicana, State Missions Commission.
___ Duane Brooks, pastor of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, Human Welfare Coordinating Board.
___ Rubye Henderson, layperson from First Baptist Church in Plainview, Christian Education Coordinating Board.
___ Bill Hillyer, a layperson from First Baptist Church in Tyler, Christian Life Commission.
___ Brian, at-large member.
___ Jerold McBride, pastor of First Baptist Church of San Angelo, at-large member. He is a former BGCT president.
___ Ellis Orozco, pastor of Corpus Christi Baptist Church in Corpus Christi, at-large member.
___ Paul Powell, retired president of the Southern Baptist Convention Annuity Board and member of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas. He also is a former BGCT president.
___ Herbert Reynolds, retired president of Baylor University and member of First Baptist Church in Waco.
___Brian said the committee "will seek to hear from the widest range of Texas Baptists" about the qualities needed in a new executive director. Since the committee has not met yet, it is premature to begin receiving resumes, he said, but noted that information on where to send resumes will be provided when appropriate.

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