July 1, 2002
Cynthia Holmes elected CBF moderator for 2003-2004;
Texan Phill Martin will lead this year
___By Bob Allen
___Associated Baptist Press
___FORT WORTH (ABP)--The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship elected a Missouri laywoman as moderator-elect at the organization's annual general assembly June 27-29 in Fort Worth.
___ Cynthia Holmes of Clayton, Mo., is a St. Louis-area attorney and a member of Overland Baptist Church. She has served several years on the CBF's Coordinating Council, currently as an at-large member and chairperson of the council's legal committee.
___Holmes will serve next year as moderator-elect before becoming the Fellowship's top elected leader in 2003-2004. Phill Martin of Richardson, elected last year as moderator-elect, takes over as moderator this year from Virginia pastor Jim Baucom.
___Holmes will be the sixth woman to assume leadership in the CBF since it organized in 1991. The 1,800-church Fellowship formed out of a dispute with the 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention, which in recent years has sparked controversy with stances against the ordination of women in Baptist churches and that wives should submit to their husbands in the home.
___At a pre-general assembly meeting of the Coordinating Council, the CBF's top paid administrator said he believes his
___"We are a laboratory of shared leadership between men and women," CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal said. "It's in our DNA to have leadership that is shared by men and women."
___"We don't have to argue about that," Vestal said. "It is in us. I don't mean to say we're perfect there, but I really do believe we have as one of our core values … a commitment to leadership that is shared by male and female."
___Martin, a clergyman who works for the National Association of Church Business Adminstrators, will preside over next year's General Assembly, as well as at meetings of the Coordinating Council during the next year. He is a member of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas.
___ Paul Kenley, pastor of First Baptist Church of Lampasas, was elected to a third term as recorder.
___In a business session, CBF registrants approved a $19.2 million budget for 2002-2003. Fifty-eight percent of that amount, $11.2 million, is earmarked for global missions. The budget anticipates $10.1 million in undesignated gifts and a $6.1 million goal for the CBF's global-missions offering. Other expenditures include $1.2 million in institutional support for 11 theology schools and partial support for several other "partner" organizations, including the Baptist Joint Committee, Associated Baptist Press, Baptists Today, the Baptist Center for Ethics, the Center for Christian Ethics and Passport, a youth camping ministry.
___About $7 million in the budget supports CBF strategic initiatives--broad program categories of faith formation, building community and networking and leadership development--plus communications and marketing, general assembly expenses and administration.
___Prior to the general assembly, the Coordinating Council filled two key positions for the CBF's Resource Center staff in Atlanta. North Carolina educator Bruce "Bo" Prosser becomes coordinator for congregational life. Priority areas for the job include evangelism and outreach, spiritual growth, congregational health, marriage and family, interfaith and ecumenical dialogue and reconciliation and justice.
___Veteran Baptist communicator Ben McDade becomes director for communications and marketing. He succeeds David Wilkinson, a long-time CBF employee who recently resigned.
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