Should institutions historically affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention – three universities, two retirement complexes, a children’s home, a denominational newspaper and a charitable foundation – have a stronger voice in the process by which their boards of trustees are chosen? Moreover, should SCBC institutions be allowed to seat as trustees Southern Baptists who don’t reside in South Carolina?
Both questions are at the center of a debate surrounding recommendations 8 and 9 of the report of the SCBC’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force – recommendations that, if adopted by messengers at the SCBC annual meeting in November, would grant the institutions (also called “ministry partners” in the GCR report) more influence in the trustee-nomination process, including the option to seat up to one-fifth of their board members from out of state. (Read the full report.)
Recommendation 8 of the GCR report calls for trustees to be nominated through a process of mutual agreement between institution CEOs and the SCBC Nominations Committee. Recommendation 9 would allow institutions to nominate as trustees qualified Southern Baptists from outside South Carolina. In both cases, trustees would ultimately still be elected by vote of SCBC messengers at the convention’s annual fall meeting.
The debate has played out in recent weeks (along with discussions of the other recommendations of the GCR report) on a dedicated Facebook group page and elsewhere on the Internet, as well as in the letters and op-ed sections of The Baptist Courier.
The CEOs of the seven institutions – Anderson University, The Baptist Courier, the Baptist Foundation of South Carolina, Charleston Southern University, North Greenville University and South Carolina Baptist Ministries for the Aging – say they support recommendations that would grant them more input and greater latitude in the selection of trustees. The university presidents, in particular, point to the adoption of the trustee-selection recommendations as critical to their ability to respond to a third consecutive year of Cooperative Program funding cuts.
With recent Cooperative Program giving from churches in decline, the schools (along with the other SCBC institutions) absorbed 6-percent cuts to their CP allocations during each of the last two years. The GCR task force, in a move to direct more funds to international missions and to church planting and revitalization, is recommending that CP funding to all SCBC-affiliated institutions (as well as the ministries of the Baptist building) be reduced by varying degrees beginning in 2012. For the universities, the proposed cut would be 10 percent of current funding levels, to be locked in for five years.
For that reason, Evans Whitaker, president of Anderson University, said adoption of recommendations that would modify the trustee-selection process are “not just important, but – essential” for the school’s future. The related recommendations “are the only things in the GCR proposal that make it possible for the university to take a monetary cut and continue to flourish,” he said.
The trustee-selection proposals would give his institution a “fighting chance to not only replace the money we’ll lose from the convention, but to also develop a strong giving and fund-raising capacity on our board that the current process does not adequately facilitate,” Whitaker said.
“We understand that not every trustee has the gift to solicit funds, and not every trustee can make major gifts,” he said, “but a university that has been as loyal to its convention as Anderson should not be denied spiritually qualified Southern Baptists who can help us in this area.”
Jimmy Epting, president of North Greenville University, said that South Carolina Baptists’ adoption of the GCR report with recommendations 8 and 9 intact would allow the school “to have trustees who will keep us true to our mission as well as support it in every way.”
“After all, no one can identify those individuals better than our current trustees and the president,” Epting said. “We know those individuals who are passionate about our university and committed to a high level of involvement.”
As for electing trustees from out of state, Epting said there are “outstanding men and women” who don’t live in South Carolina but “have a high view of Scripture, possess the abilities and resources needed by us and are actively involved in a cooperating Southern Baptist church,” and many of them are alumni of the school, he added.
Charleston Southern University president Jairy Hunter said the inclusion of Baptists from outside of South Carolina on the school’s board of trustees would be “pivotal” to the university’s ability to “engage non-resident alumni and friends – who can provide significant leadership and financial assistance” for funding scholarships and campus facilities.
“It makes logical sense that if a person loves the Lord, values God’s word, is recommended by a pastor of a cooperating Southern Baptist church, and has the skill set, qualifications and resources vital to furthering the work that is important to Southern Baptists, he or she should be able to serve,” Hunter said.
Hunter said an example of a non-South Carolinian who might be able to help the school as a trustee is youth evangelist Jay Strack, a CSU alumnus who lives in Florida and is a member of a Southern Baptist church in Orlando. Hunter also pointed to Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy, who lives in Georgia, as someone who could “provide important connections and valuable resources to our institution” if permitted to serve on the university’s board of trustees.
Like the university presidents, the other ministry partner CEOs said they are supportive of the recommendation granting them more input in the trustee-nomination process, but being able to have out-of-state trustees wasn’t seen as equally important.
Connie Maxwell Children’s Home president Ben Davis said having “better input” in the selection of trustees would “be helpful and is needed.” While he doesn’t think having trustees from out of state would be beneficial to his institution, he said he supports the recommendation’s adoption “because it could be helpful to our other colleagues, especially the universities.”
South Carolina Baptist Ministries for the Aging president Tom Turner said adoption of recommendation 8 is “important” because “increased communication with the nominations committee will enable a more beneficial outcome.” He also said the option to include Baptists from outside South Carolina on his board would provide “more flexibility” in the nominating process.
Barry Edwards, president of the Baptist Foundation of South Carolina, said having input in the trustee-selection process is “important, but [we] feel we already have great input.” He said the foundation “likely would not ask someone from outside South Carolina to serve as a trustee.”
Baptist Courier editor Don Kirkland said the state’s denominational paper “has little to gain” from the election of out-of-state trustees because board members do not typically contribute financially to a denominational publication. However, he said it would be beneficial for the Courier to have greater input into the selection of trustees.
“The advantage – is that it allows what I believe is necessary give-and-take to finally arrive at a choice which is acceptable to both the Courier and the convention,” Kirkland said. “This would give the Courier the opportunity to make the case for a potential trustee that the nominations committee may not even know, and vice versa.
“This [GCR task force] recommendation puts a premium on open discussion that leads to agreement for the benefit of the ministry partners and the mission of the South Carolina Baptist Convention,” Kirkland said.