The Business of the Association
Following the president’s message on Tuesday night, and after preliminary introductions and business were taken care of, President Clif Johnson recognized Coordinating Council Chairman Richard Smith to present the recommended changes to the Principles of Cooperation from the Coordinating Council. Discussion of the recommendations began with approval from the body to consider the five recommendations separately (see the full recommendations at BaptistTrumpet.com/BMAA2024):
• Recommendation #1 — Remove “annually” and change to “when necessary” regarding electing the directors of all departments (Lifeword, Missions, Baptist Publishing House, BMA Financial Services, Moral Action and Daniel Springs Camp).
• Recommendation #2 — Remove the requirement that a member of the Coordinating Council be elected “from the floor” each year on a staggered basis to serve a three-year term. This recommendation would also allow the Nominating Committee to present nominees to serve on the Missions Advisory Committee by removing the “except the Missions Advisory Committee” from Section 2 under Article XX — Nominating Committee.
• Recommendation #3 — Remove the specific wording regarding the timing and required sessions under Section 2 under Article XXI — Meetings, and replace it with wording that allows more flexibility for scheduling and planning the national meeting.
• Recommendation #4 — Changing the board for BMA Financial Services to consist of nine (9) members instead of fifteen (15).
• Recommendation #5 — Regarding the duties of the Coordinating Council, in Section 3 of Article VII — Coordinating Council, add the duty that an orientation for the chairman of department and agency boards and committees be provided each year at the national meeting by the Coordinating Council chairman and the executive director of BMA Financial Services.
The first point of discussion began with a point of order, noting that the first recommendation “seemed to be beyond the scope of the instructions given to the Coordinating Council” to “determine a more efficient and effective plan to carry out the annual meetings” of the association. After consulting with the parliamentarians, the chair ruled that, according to Robert’s Rules of Order, an objection to consider a matter requires a 2/3 vote in favor of not considering the recommendation and there is no discussion allowed. The objection did not reach the threshold of 2/3 to pass, although it appeared as though a majority did agree with the objection.
The discussion on the first recommendation continued with some questions regarding what the wording “when necessary” meant and what situations that covered or did not cover. Other discussion revolved around how removing the annual election of the directors would not give the churches (associational body) the opportunity to approve or disapprove every year at the annual meeting. After over an hour of friendly discussion with varying opinions expressed, discussion was closed.
Discussion on Recommendation #2 then began. The discussion seemed to revolve around the same concern — that it would remove power from the churches (associational body) by not giving them the opportunity to elect members from the floor.
The remaining recommendations were presented and discussed very briefly before the meeting concluded for the night.
Following the Legacy Missionary and Commissioning Service on Wednesday afternoon, the business session was opened for the vote on the recommendations without discussion. Recommendations #1 (regarding annual election of directors) and #2 (regarding removal of “from the floor” for Coordinating Council) did not pass. Recommendations #3 (more flexibility for annual meetings), #4 (BMA Financial Services Board) and #5 (Chairman Orientation) passed.
After the annual sermon on Wednesday evening, the third business session took place for the election of officers and annual speaker for 2024-2025. Dr. Gary O’Neal, pastor of Oak Park Baptist Church in Little Rock, was elected to bring the message next year with Mike Goodwin, pastor Bethel #1 Baptist Church in Rison, to serve as the alternate. The officers elected are:
• Charles Johnson, pastor of Rosewood Baptist Church in Gilmer, Texas, was elected to serve as the president.
• Dr. Gary O’Neal, pastor of Oak Park Baptist Church in Little Rock, was elected to serve as the first vice-president.
• Dustin Wisely, pastor of First Baptist Church in Magnolia, was elected to serve as the second vice president.
• Greg Medenwald, pastor of Magnolia Baptist Church in Hattiesburg, Miss., was elected to serve as recording secretary (term to expire in 2027).
• Randy Murphy, pastor of First Baptist Church in Gurdon, was elected to fill the vacancy left by the death of long-time Recording Secretary Jerome Cooper (term to expire in 2026).
• Randy Shepherd, pastor of Spring Lake Baptist Church in Texarkana, continues to serve as recording secretary (term to expire in 2025).
The Thursday morning session consisted of each director sharing their reports with the association, followed by the approval of each department’s recommendations and the election of new board members for each department.
Executive Editor’s Note: We will have more coverage of the national meeting in next week’s issue, including an updated list of the officers and committees for 2024-2025.
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Jeff Herring
Baptist Trumpet Executive Editor Jeff Herring writes a regular column titled, Journey with Jeff, that talks about the ministry of the Baptist Trumpet. He also compiles a column titled, Trumpet Notes, which includes articles about various topics relevant to today’s Christian
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