BGCT commission approves Buckner-requested change
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptist Communications
___WACO--The Baptist General Convention of Texas will elect one-third of the trustees of Buckner Baptist Benevolences under an agreement approved by both Buckner's board and the BGCT's Human Welfare Coordinating Board.
___In recent decades, the BGCT has elected all Buckner trustees, even though the benevolence agency originally was independent. Buckner's board approved the agreement at its July meeting. The Human Welfare Coordinating Board approved the plan in its Aug. 24 meeting at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco.
___Buckner's board already has approved changes in its articles of incorporation to reflect the agreement. The change now must be approved by two other BGCT bodies--the Administrative Committee and Executive Board--and by messengers to the BGCT annual session Oct. 29-30 in Dallas.
___Under the new relationship agreement, each of Buckner's 27 board members must be a member of a Baptist church, with the BGCT electing one-third of them.
___The two-thirds chosen by the Buckner board itself will be required to affirm a "commitment to carrying out the purposes and mission of Buckner Baptist Benevolences in cooperation with the BGCT," the agreement states.
___Also, "every trustee shall be a Christian, member of a local Baptist church and be willingly supportive of the Baptist principles upon which Buckner Baptist Benevolences was founded."
___BGCT bylaws call for the state convention to elect all trustees of its agencies, but in recent years a few institutions have come to relate to the convention through special agreements.
___Buckner President Ken Hall said state law probably would allow Buckner, a free-standing corporation, to make the change without cooperating with the BGCT, but the agency wanted to maintain the long-standing relationship.
___"We are autonomous, but we want the BGCT to be fully engaged," he said, explaining that Buckner did not want to take arbitrary action. "This is a relationship based on cooperation, not control. ... Our hearts beat together."
___Keith Bruce, coordinator of the BGCT's institutional ministries section, affirmed the process by which the change was made. "We feel we have an agreement here that certainly protects and affirms the interests of the BGCT" and gives Buckner "some latitude" in selecting its board, he said.
___The agreement also calls for the president of Buckner to "be a Christian, a member of a local Baptist church that positively supports the ministry of the BGCT and willingly supportive of Baptist principles by which Buckner Baptist Benevolences operates."
___Buckner will continue to provide reports to the BGCT and will cooperate with the Human Welfare Coordinating Board and the BGCT's business and audit committee, the plan states.
___And so long as Buckner is a recipient of Cooperative Program funding from the BGCT, it "shall not solicit funds directly from BGCT-affiliated churches," the agreement adds.
___Buckner sought the changes in its trustee election procedures for four reasons, Hall said: To increase cultural diversity, to be more representative of the national and international scope of its ministry, to help generate more funding and to eliminate some of the "cumbersome" aspects of the BGCT's board nominating process.
___Buckner formally requested the change a year ago, initiating months of "quite laborious and lengthy" negotiations, Hall said. Buckner's desire was that both entities be strengthened.
___"We need the BGCT," he said. Buckner wants to be a BGCT-affiliated agency, and "we're trying to abide by all of the basic policies" of the state convention.
___"We want our relationship with the BGCT to be our only affiliation," he added. Buckner's intention is to continue to try to find two-thirds of its board from BGCT churches.
___The change in trustee selection for Buckner differs from changes made by several other institutions in recent years because it was a mutually negotiated change from the beginning. Buckner's trustees at no time took unilateral action.
___At the August meeting, the Human Welfare Coordinating Board also heard an in-depth report on negotiations between Baptist Health System of San Antonio and Christus Santa Rosa Medical Center. Mike Williams, president of Community Health Corp., made the presentation.
___Baptist Health System has faced serious financial challenges in recent months. The Human Welfare Coordinating Board approved a resolution of "affirmation and prayer" for the Baptist Health System board.
___The coordinating board said goodbye to two members ineligible for re-election this year, Chairman Bob Hart, city manager of Huntsville, and Bill Sheehan, a retired district judge in Dallas. The board elected Bill Skaar, pastor of First Baptist Church in Grand Prairie, as the new chairman and Doug Diehl, pastor of Crossroads Baptist Church in San Antonio, as vice chairman.
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