May 29, 2000

Seven committees at work for BGCT
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___DALLAS--Seven ad hoc planning committees currently are working on issues that will shape the future of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___BGCT Associate Executive Director Dick Maples reported on the makeup and progress of several of these committees during the BGCT Executive Board meeting May 24.
___Also during the meeting, the Executive Board authorized creation of the seventh committee, which will be charged with studying the relationship between the BGCT and Houston Baptist University.
___Of the remaining six committees, four were approved by messengers to the BGCT annual session in El Paso last November. These are charged with studying:
___ The missions-sending agencies with which the BGCT has relationships, which are the Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board, SBC North American Mission Board and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
___ The theological education institutions supported by the BGCT, which are the six SBC seminaries, Truett Seminary at Baylor University and Logsdon School of Theology at Hardin-Simmons University.
___ The basis of associational formation, including the BGCT's relationship to non-geographic and ethnic associations.
___ How the BGCT should relate to churches that are aligned with more than one state convention.
___Two of these committees will report at the Executive Board's September meeting, Maples said. They are the committees studying the basis of associational formation and the relationship of the BGCT to dually aligned churches.
___The theological education study committee "is working but may not be able to report in September" because of the large scope of its task, Maples said.
___The committee studying missions-sending agencies will not be ready to report its findings until sometime in 2001, he said.
___The fifth committee currently working will recommend a restructuring of the BGCT staff. This committee is working closely with BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade and will bring recommendations to the September Executive Board meeting, Wade told the board.
___The sixth committee, which was to be appointed by the end of the month, will recommend a new five-year strategic plan for the BGCT. It will be coordinated by Phil Strickland, director of the BGCT Christian Life Commission. Wade explained this role normally would be filled by Maples, but the assignment was shifted because Maples is engaged with helping so many other committees and because Maples has said he intends to retire next year.
___Whatever strategic plan is proposed would be the successor to Texas 2000, which has emphasized missions, evangelism and church starting.
___Strickland encouraged Executive Board members and all Texas Baptists to communicate with the committee their ideas of where Texas Baptists should focus their attention in the years ahead. Correspondence to the committee should be addressed to Strickland at the BGCT, 333 N. Washington, Dallas 75246-1798.
___In other business, Executive Board members learned that:
___ The BGCT received a clean audit of its books for 1999, with commendations from the firm of Arthur Andersen for the convention's integrity and accountability.
___ A communications audit will be conducted in the coming months to assess the effectiveness of all areas of BGCT communications and make recommendations for the future.

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