May 26, 1999

Search committee aims
for nomination before Pinson retires
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___DALLAS--The search committee seeking a successor to Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Director Bill Pinson is not working against a firm deadline but hopes to have someone in place before Pinson's Jan. 31 retirement.
___Committee Chairman Bill Brian of Amarillo gave this message to the BGCT Executive Board May 12 in what he described as an "interim report" to the board. The committee's eventual recommendation of a candidate will be presented to the Executive Board, which is charged by the convention with responsibility for hiring the convention's top staff leader.
___The committee's recommendation likely will come in a called meeting of the Executive

BILL PINSON will retire Jan. 31, 2000.

Board, Brian said, rather than at the one other regular meeting scheduled between now and Pinson's retirement date. The board is scheduled to hold its fall meeting in Dallas Sept. 28.
___Handling the nomination in a called meeting will allow the time needed for considering such a weighty matter, Brian said. Regular board meetings normally cover about three hours of tightly packed presentations from standing committees and BGCT commissions.
___Brian, an Amarillo attorney, outlined a process the search committee has used to listen to comments from a wide range of Texas Baptists in recent weeks. In addition to these "listening sessions" with key constituencies, the committee has written to pastors of all Texas Baptist churches requesting input.
___"We've taken to heart the admonition in Proverbs that there is wisdom in much counsel," he said.
___To date, 20 individuals have been recommended to the committee as candidates, he said.
___Brian encouraged Texas Baptists to write the committee at P.O. Box 30131, Amarillo 79120.
___During his next-to-last report as executive director, Pinson told the Executive Board the BGCT is doing well by nearly every measure.
___"Texas Baptists, through the blessings of God, are doing better today than they did last year," he said as evidence of one measure.
___Texas Baptists also are doing well in comparison to other Baptist bodies, Pinson said, noting that in 1998 the BGCT registered gains in key areas such as total churches and total baptisms, when even the national Southern Baptist Convention registered losses.
___But on a third measure, Texas Baptists must push harder, he said. "Compared to population growth, we have not kept up."
___The state's population has increased 15 percent in recent years, while the number of Baptist churches serving Texans has increased only 11 percent, he reported.
___Keeping pace with population growth is a goal Texas Baptists can accomplish, Pinson suggested. "I believe we have been blessed by God with the resources to catch up."
___In its business session, the Executive Board:
___ Allocated $433,200 in unspent, unrestricted funds from 1998 to a variety of causes, including church starting, campus ministry, volunteer missions and theological education.
___ Approved extending the BGCT's partnership with the Northwest Baptist Convention through 2002.
___ Approved BGCT participation in a multi-state partnership with Baptists in the Northeast called "Impact Northeast."
___The board also heard from a special committee appointed to study two motions made at last November's BGCT annual session in Houston. The motions, by Allan Lane of Fort Graham Baptist Church in Whitney, asked the convention to create a way for smaller churches that give large amounts to the Cooperative Program unified budget to gain additional messenger representation at annual sessions and for the convention to study the feasibility of holding annual sessions in multiple locations via satellite link.
___The committee recommended no action on either motion.
___On the issue of messenger representation, the committee said the BGCT's current method of allotting convention messengers based on a church's membership and contributions "has been designed to be inclusive of bivocational/smaller membership churches."
___Further, altering the criteria only on the basis of financial contributions "might favor some more economically advantaged churches," the committee said, resulting in disproportionate representation.
___On the issue of satellite meetings, the committee noted this issue has been studied before and rejected. The committee cited a number of reasons, including the potential for creating division, factions and more politics in the convention; the loss of statewide alumni contact with BGCT schools; increased costs; difficulty in controlling registration and balloting; and legal requirements.
___Lane said he was disappointed in the decisions.
___"The motions I presented asked for study of the issues, and I was dismayed that the interpretation was that I was calling for some sort of action, which gave grounds for the recommendation for no action," he said. "I would have preferred to see a study committee take a reasonable amount of time to survey our smaller churches ... or look out way into the future."
___Nevertheless, Lane said, there will be additional opportunities in the future to address changing technologies and the needs of smaller churches. "I'll be here, and I'll try it again."

---

Frontpage/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!