May 26, 1999
North Carolina shared
leadership plan moves ahead
___ASHEBORO, N.C. (ABP) --North Carolina Baptists' General Board has overwhelmingly approved a shared-leadership plan intended to depoliticize the 1.2 million-member state convention.
___The plan was proposed by a 36-member "summit on balanced leadership." It calls for alternating the convention's presidency between conservatives and moderates and seeks to balance appointments on key committees.
___Approved in concept by the General Board May 18, the plan now goes to a constitution committee, which will refine language for constitutional amendments that must be approved in order to implement the plan. Those changes will come as recommendations at the convention's annual meeting this fall.
___If it succeeds, North Carolina would be the first Southern Baptist state convention to take a shared-leadership approach. Backers of the plan say they hope it will prevent what happened in Virginia and Texas, where conservatives split off from moderate-controlled state groups to form separate state conventions.
___The plan would replace annual presidential elections with a vote every other year in which the top two vote-getters would serve one year as president in turn. Based on recent patterns, it is likely the two candidates receiving the most votes would represent the convention's two main factions.
___Two vice presidents would be elected in a similar fashion. The four officers would serve together as a nominating committee to recommend a 15-member committee on committees, which in turn is elected by the General Board. The committee on committees appoints other committees, including the nominating committee. That group recommends nominees for convention boards, including the General Board, to the state convention.
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