IMB trustees plan for interim presidency
International Mission Board trustees meeting in Chicago May 4-5 made plans for an interim presidency if no candidate for president has been voted into office by July 31. If no candidate is brought forward and elected by the July date, when current president Jerry Rankin retires, trustees will name Clyde Meador interim president. Meador, current IMB executive vice president, has served IMB nearly seven years in that role and was under missionary appointment for more than 26 years prior to taking that position. He was appointed a missionary to Indonesia in October 1974.
CP giving 0.14% behind 2009 pace
Year-to-date contributions through the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program are 0.14 percent below the same time frame last year. As of April 30, the year-to-date total of $116,064,730.52 for Cooperative Program (CP) missions is $161,853.03 behind the $116,226,583.55 received at the end of April 2009. Designated giving of $134,390,008.94 for the same year-to-date period is 1.49 percent, or $1,977,708.25, ahead of gifts of $132,412,300.69 received at this point last year.
Traylor is 3rd SBC president nominee
Ted Traylor, pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla., will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention at the June 15-16 annual meeting in Orlando. Traylor is the third nominee to enter the SBC presidential race, joining Georgia pastor Bryant Wright and Alabama pastor Jimmy Jackson.
Kentucky board: Cooperative Program ‘essential’
One day after the release of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force’s final report, Kentucky Baptist Mission Board members passed a resolution reaffirming the Cooperative Program as “the essential avenue of support for missions and ministries.” The resolution was approved without opposition during the mission board’s annual spring meeting May 3-4. During the opening session, Kentucky Baptist Convention president Don Mathis cautioned board members to be wary of “any effort to place the Cooperative Program in a group of missions giving.”
Decision pending on how to present GCRTF report
No decision has been made whether the final report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force will be presented as a unit or as separate recommendations, the chairman of that group told a press conference May 4. The decision will be made by the presiding officer, said Ronnie Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church in Springdale, Ark., during a conference call with journalists. Later in the session, SBC president Johnny Hunt said he had yet to consult with the convention’s parliamentarian, C. Barry McCarty, about the matter and would weigh his advice strongly.
South Carolina Baptists serve on Committee on Committees
Appointments to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Committee on Committees, including two from South Carolina, have been announced by SBC president Johnny Hunt. The Committee on Committees will assemble in Orlando, Fla., prior to the SBC June 15-16 annual meeting to nominate members of the Committee on Nominations who, in turn, nominate trustees to serve on boards of the various entities of the SBC. The Committee on Committees has 70 members, two from each of the 35 state or regional conventions qualified for representation on boards of SBC entities. South Carolina appointees include Gale Hodson, Mid-Valley Baptist Church, Langley; and Fred Stone, First Baptist Church, Pickens.
Tellers Committee named for SBC
Members of the Tellers Committee for the June 15-16 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting have been named by SBC president Johnny Hunt. James Taylor of First Baptist Church in Sheffield, Ala., will serve as chairman. Eddie Bolin, Leawood Baptist Church, Greenville, will serve on the Tellers Committee.
Missouri convention drops paper from lawsuit
The Missouri Baptist Convention has dismissed its legal effort to recover the Word & Way, one of five corporations which broke from MBC control in 2001. Attorneys for the convention filed the “voluntary dismissal” in Cole County Circuit Court on April 23 pursuant to prior direction by the MBC executive board. The voluntary dismissal ends the convention’s legal action against the former MBC newspaper. The dismissal became effective immediately upon filing and did not require any action by the court. The MBC’s newsjournal is now The Pathway.
1 killed in Arkansas church bus crash
One woman was killed and more than 25 were injured when a bus carrying Hispanic Baptist pastors and church members crashed April 24 on Interstate 40 between Russellville and Clarksville, Ark. Anna Del Carmen Ortez, 56, of Rogers, Ark., died in the crash, which occurred at about 5 p.m. The group of about 35 people was returning from the Arkansas Baptist State Convention-sponsored Hispanic Family Conference at Lifeline Baptist Church in Little Rock.