Texas Baptist Men loyal to BGCT;
will continue to serve all churches
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___DENTON--Texas Baptist Men will continue to honor its 33-year-old "gentlemen's agreement" with the Baptist General Convention of Texas and not establish a formal relationship with any group, but will serve men from all Baptist churches in Texas, according to the group's board of directors.
___Meeting Feb. 15-17 at the North Texas Baptist Conference Center, the Texas Baptist Men board showed no desire to enter into a formal fraternal relationship with any convention.
___At the same time, the board recommended a bylaw change that potentially could open the missions organization's membership to men in churches not affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___But members of the board's policy committee indicated those changes to the bylaws will be revisited, and a revised document will be presented to the board at its October meeting before any action is considered at the Texas Baptist Men Convention.
___Recently, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Executive Director Jim Richards invited Texas Baptist Men--along with BGCT-affiliated educational and benevolent institutions--to establish a formal "fraternal relationship" with the rival state convention.
___The breakaway convention, formed as an alternative to the BGCT, offered a proposed fraternal relationship agreement that stated: "Funding from churches, special offerings and even the budget of the SBTC is possible for entities in a fraternal relationship. After January 1, 2002, no funds will be forwarded through the SBTC to entities that do not have a fraternal relationship or affiliation."
___In opening remarks to the board, Texas Baptist Men Executive Director-Treasurer Jim Furgerson emphasized the mission of Texas Baptist Men and addressed the issue of relationships with Baptist conventions.
___"We choose to be affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas," Furgerson said. "Since 1968, we have operated on a handshake agreement with the BGCT, ... a gentlemen's agreement that says we will serve all the men of Texas, period. I want to keep it that way."
___The board's policy committee did not bring any recommendation regarding a fraternal relationship with SBTC, and the board did not raise the issue.
___Instead, the policy committee recommended a series of amendments to the organization's bylaws designed to make Texas Baptist Men "more inclusive," according to committee chairman George Crews of North Richland Hills.
___"We want to be all-inclusive of every Baptist man in Texas who wants to find a way to use his spiritual gifts in ministry," Crews said.
___The board gave initial approval to a series of committee-recommended changes to the Texas Baptist Men bylaws, including:
___ Opening membership to men from non-BGCT affiliated churches.
___ Reducing the size of the governing board from up to 400 members to about 160.
___ Dropping the provision allowing the chairman of the BGCT Administrative Committee and director of the State Missions Commission to serve as ex-officio members of the board.
___However, after discussing concerns with board members, several members of the policy committee said they would offer significant revisions at the board's Oct. 29 meeting in Dallas. Amendments to the bylaws require approval by the Texas Baptist Men Convention in annual session.
___"It's not going to the convention like this," said Andy Andreason of McGregor, immediate past president of Texas Baptist Men and a member of the policy committee. "We're going to make changes."
___One matter of concern was the revised article on membership. As approved by the board, it states: "Members of Baptist Men's groups in churches in Texas affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the Southern Baptist Convention, and/or the Baptist associations in Texas shall comprise the membership of Texas Baptist Men."
___Previously, the article restricted membership to Baptist men in churches affiliated with the BGCT.
___The purpose, Crews said, was to retain Texas Baptist Men who are members of Southern Baptist churches that have pulled out of the BGCT. However, in discussion during the board meeting, several individuals raised concerns that the article as revised also would open Texas Baptist Men to members of Baptist Missionary Association churches, independent fundamental Baptist churches and National Baptist churches.
___Others expressed concern that Texas Baptist Men officers and board members could come from churches that give nothing to support the organization's ministries.
___But before those issues could be resolved, a member of the board called for the question, ending debate on the matter. The board approved the recommended changes with only a few dissenting votes.
___After the vote, members of the policy committee said eliminating the chairman of the BGCT Administrative Committee as an ex-officio board member was an oversight.
___The committee's desire was to strike the director of the State Missions Commission, to bring the bylaws in line with restructuring of the BGCT Executive Board staff. In the process, they deleted the entire article on BGCT board representation, explained Texas Baptist Men President Bob Dixon.
___Dixon, Andreason and Crews all said the committee needed to revisit that issue, to make sure the bylaws provided direct representation of the BGCT on the board.
___"We have had a nearly perfect relationship with the BGCT for 33 years, and nearly all of the funding for Texas Baptist Men comes through the BGCT Cooperative Program," Crews said. "Our allegiances are still to the BGCT."
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The Baptist Standard
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