This article was updated Dec. 28 to reflect the correct name of the church pastored by Tom Tucker. We regret the error.
At its final meeting of 2011, held Dec. 8 in Columbia, the Executive Board of the South Carolina Baptist Convention elected its 2012 officers; gave final approval to altering its standing rules for board committees; and postponed a report reviewing the work of executive director-treasurer Jim Austin.
SCBC officers and committee chairmen for 2012: (front row, from left) Keith Davis, chairman; Tom Tucker, vice chairman; David Dinkins, administrative committee; (back row) Steve Cartin, budget, finance and audit committee; Benjamin Smoak, scholarship committee; Naveen Balakrishnan, planning and ministries committee; and Kent Smith, secretary. (Not pictured: Rick Caldwell, properties committee).Keith Davis, pastor of Zion Hill Baptist Church, Spartanburg, was elected to a second one-year term as chairman of the Executive Board. Tom Tucker, pastor of Sisk Memorial Baptist Church, Fort Mill, was reelected vice chairman; and Ken Smith, pastor of River Hills Baptist Church, Moore, was elected secretary.
Executive Board members approved, on recommendation from the board’s nominations committee, the appointment of David Dinkins as chairman of the administrative committee; and Steve Cartin as chairman and Marshall Blalock as vice chairman of the budget, finance and audit committee. Other 2012 committee chairmen will include Naveen Balakrishnan (planning and ministries committee), Rick Caldwell (properties committee), and Benjamin Smoak (scholarship committee).
Board members approved a change to the way church gifts to the SCBC budget will be published. Acting on a recommendation from the budget, finance and audit committee, the board approved a change to its “Business and Financial Plan” to allow a record of each church’s giving to the SCBC budget to be published annually on the convention’s website (www.scbaptist.org); in FOCUS, the convention’s magazine; and in The Baptist Courier. (The giving reports previously were published quarterly in the Courier.)
Acting on a recommendation from the administrative committee, Executive Board members approved changes to their standing rules regarding the appointment of members to board committees. Board committees now must reflect percentages of board members rather than a fixed number of board members. The rules were also edited to reflect appropriate working relationships between committees and convention staff teams and personnel.
Chairman Keith Davis acknowledged the receipt and referral of three motions from the convention during the recent SCBC annual meeting in Columbia, including:
– A motion from Patrick Dye, pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church, Blythewood, regarding staff compensation (referred to the administrative committee);
– A motion from board member Hans Wunch, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Ware Shoals, that the “Executive Board study the effectiveness of the 60-40 split of church staff and lay people [serving on] the [convention] nominations committee, then report findings and any recommendations back to us at our next annual meeting” (referred to the nominations committee);
– A motion from Bobby Eubanks, pastor of Ridge Baptist Church, Summerville, that “Dr. Austin and the Executive Board do a cost analysis of the operation of the Baptist building and take the proper action to reduce the $600,000 operating expense in lieu of the current staff reductions and program changes” (referred to an ad hoc committee to include members of the properties and budget, finance and audit committees, with Davis appointing the ad hoc committee).
In other business, the board approved, on recommendation from the properties committee, the appointment of Cliff Satterwhite as director emeritus at McCall Royal Ambassador Camp. Satterwhite, who retired from the convention staff in 2010 after 35 years of service, served the camp in 2011 as its contracted administrative director. In 2012, longtime McCall manager Eddie Pettit will assume both the manager and director positions at McCall. Satterwhite will continue to serve as the contracted director for South Carolina Baptist Disaster Relief.
Finally, board members heard a report from executive director-treasurer Jim Austin regarding international missions service. Austin reported that while international missionaries had dropped to 5,000 in 2010 (down from a high of 5,600), reports are that SBC international missionaries now total 5,200. In promoting the International Mission Board’s Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, Austin reminded the board that 65,000 people die each day across the globe without hearing the gospel. He also reported that while the global population increases at 1.3 percent each day, worldwide Christianity is growing at 4.7 percent each year. – SCBC