May 22, 2000
Houston Baptist University trustees
circumvent BGCT control of board
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___HOUSTON--Trustees of Houston Baptist University voted without opposition May 16 to end the Baptist General Convention of Texas' role in appointing the university's entire trustee board, offering instead for the state convention to name one-fourth of the board.
___The trustees themselves would name the remaining three-fourths of the board.
___BGCT officials received no advance notice of the proposal, were not present at the meeting and were taken by surprise when notified late that day.
___HBU President E.D. Hodo and trustee Chairman Charles Wisdom explained in separate interviews May 17 that the action was necessary to preserve the autonomy of the institution. It was precipitated, they said, by the possibility that the BGCT would not renominate some current trustees or not nominate other desired individuals as trustees because those individuals are members of churches which do not financially support the work of the BGCT.
___BGCT bylaws require that all individuals nominated to serve on boards of convention agencies and institutions must be members of churches in cooperation with the convention. That traditionally has been understood to mean, among other things, that the church gives financial support to the BGCT. Such an expectation was clarified last September when the BGCT Executive Board adopted a nominating committee guideline that defines a cooperating church as one that "positively supports the ministry, mission and budget of the BGCT."
___The BGCT's committee on nominations to institution boards earlier this year informed institutional executives that the formalized definition would be followed in making nominations to this year's convention in Corpus Christi in November.
___Trustee candidates are nominated through a lengthy process in which subcommittees of the committee on nominations to institution boards are formed for each institution. These subcommittees include both current members of the institution's trustee board and current members of the committee on nominations to institution boards.
___Hodo said HBU trustees had been concerned about this year's nomination process due to the stricter interpretation of what constitutes a cooperating church but grew most alarmed after a May 12 subcommittee meeting in Houston.
___"Information was iterated and reiterated that certain trustees on our board were at risk not to be continued," Hodo said. "Some nominees that were brought forward were eliminated because their membership is in a BGCT non-cooperating church."
___Although Hodo did not identify the churches involved, he said the current situation involved "at least three churches, and we were led to believe it will be broader than that."
___Mark Bumpus, pastor of First Baptist Church of Mineral Wells and chairman of the BGCT committee on nominations for institution boards, confirmed that concerns had been expressed about some existing HBU trustees who were due for renomination but who are members of churches that did not contribute to the BGCT last year.
___He also confirmed Hodo's reference to a candidate suggested for nomination to the HBU board who was rejected by the nominating subcommittee because the candidate's church did not financially support the BGCT last year. That candidate was not named.
___To his knowledge, Bumpus said, only two HBU trustees up for renomination this year are members of a church that did not financially support the BGCT in 1999. Both Diane Williams and Allene Lucas are members of Second Baptist Church of Houston.
___Second Baptist, one of the largest churches in the state, has demonstrated an up-and-down track record of Cooperative Program contributions. The megachurch gave nothing to the Cooperative Program through the BGCT in 1999 and has posted contributions ranging from $140 to $78,000 in other recent years.
___Because of the number of trustees from Second Baptist on the HBU board--15 percent of the board and a larger contingent than any other church--and because of the high profile of the church, that church's giving record has been the focus of attention in the past.
___A third board member up for renomination this year, Peter Leong of Southwest Chinese Baptist Church in Houston, at one time was thought to be in a similar situation because the BGCT's published financial reports did not show any contributions from that church for 1999. However, Bumpus said, the nominating committee checked with BGCT Treasurer Roger Hall and discovered the church had contributed $21.
___Despite the lack of contributions from Second Baptist last year, the two trustees from Second Baptist "were not in jeopardy," Bumpus insisted. He explained that BGCT Executive
___Director Charles Wade had urged the nominating committee to extend a year of grace to candidates up for renomination this year. That message was conveyed to HBU representatives at the May 12 subcommittee meeting in Houston, he said.
___"I thought Dr. Wade was being very fair, very gracious," Bumpus said.
___Further, another Second Baptist member up for renomination to HBU's board next year would not have been in jeopardy either, Bumpus said, because the Houston church already has made a contribution to the BGCT in 2000.
___The case of the other individual suggested for a first-time nomination to HBU's board this year is different, Bumpus said. This individual, who has not been identified, is a member of a church that did not support the work of the BGCT in 1999, he explained.
___He said the nominating committee told HBU representatives there is a substantial difference between renominating an existing trustee from a church that has lapsed in its cooperation with the BGCT and putting a new trustee on from a church that has not supported the BGCT.
___While a grace period was offered to the existing trustees, the nominating committee would not set a new precedent by putting a first-time trustee on a board from a non-cooperating church, he explained.
___Further, Bumpus said, every person nominated to HBU's board this year is someone suggested by Hodo himself.
___Hodo insisted the stance of the BGCT threatened the integrity of the university. "It's very simple," he said. "The study committee and the board felt that the autonomy of the institution was at risk and that position needed to be firmly nailed down.
___"There were no political overtones, no theological overtones, no discussion of relationship to other institutions, no discussion of similarities to other actions," he added. "It was simply an internal issue."
___And while the board found it necessary to change its trustee appointment process, that does not mean the cooperative relationship between the BGCT and HBU has to change, Hodo said.
___"We do not see or anticipate a change in our relationship with the BGCT," he said. "We recognize there will be a response. We are amicable and ready to visit with those people and hear a proposal they would lay on the table."
___BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade issued a brief statement in response to the HBU action, in which he noted the convention "has enjoyed a mutually beneficial affiliation with Houston Baptist University for more than 40 years."
___"Texas Baptists have across the years elected to the university capable trustees," he said. "These Texas Baptist men and women have provided the leadership that has enabled Houston Baptist University to excel beyond the highest dreams of its founders."
___The BGCT has given the university about $8 million in the last five years alone, Wade noted. The current budget year's allocation for HBU is $1.5 million, which constitutes about 5 percent of the university's operating income.
___Wade characterized the HBU trustees' action as "unilateral" and a violation of the BGCT's constitution and the principles by which the university and convention have worked together.
___"It seriously challenges the trust, cooperation and understanding that for more than 40 years has existed between the university and the BGCT," he said. "The convention had no prior knowledge that this action was forthcoming and can offer no further comment or explanation as to underlying reasons for this step."
___The Christian Education Coordinating Board, the mechanism by which the BGCT relates to its nine educational institutions, was to convene by conference call May 22 to consider its response.
___That response could include escrowing further contributions to the university until the matter is resolved. Such an action was taken in 1990 when Baylor University's board of regents unilaterally amended the university's charter to create a self-perpetuating board.
___Through a year of negotiations, the relationship between Baylor and the BGCT was mended with a compromise that allows the convention to nominate 25 percent of Baylor's board.
___The compromise also resulted in decreased contributions from the BGCT to Baylor.
___Hodo said the HBU trustees acted with full knowledge that their decision could result in reduced or eliminated funding from the BGCT.
___"Their assessment is that this is not a money issue, this is an autonomy issue," Hodo said.
___Trustee Chairman Wisdom said he spoke by telephone with Christian Education Coordinating Board Director Keith Bruce May 17.
___"Both Keith and I committed to keeping the door open to talking freely with each other," said Wisdom, pastor of First Baptist Church of Katy. "We're eager to communicate what our motive is, and that is just to put the university in a position of strength. I'm hoping the path that some other institutions have followed along these lines will be the path we'll get to follow. We want to be a BGCT institution."
___Both Hodo and Wisdom strongly denied any link between the trustee action and the formation last year of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention by conservatives disgruntled with the BGCT.
___"In all our discussions, Southern Baptists of Texas never once came up," Wisdom said. "When we met with the faculty to advise them of the decision of the board, a question was asked by one of the professors, 'Is this the beginning of a movement to affiliate with some other group?' Each of us said no."
___Of the 33 current members of the trustee board, none are members of churches that have formally associated with Southern Baptists of Texas.
___Changes adopted by HBU trustees came to the board as part of a larger report from a blue-ribbon study committee that had been working since February to "clean up" the institution's articles of incorporation and bylaws. The committee's role later was expanded to handle the trustee selection issue.
___Among other changes made in the university's bylaws:
___The size of the board was increased from 33 members to 36.
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___HBU, which opened in 1963, had about 2,500 students enrolled this year in undergraduate and graduate programs. The university employs 115 full-time faculty members.
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