The Executive Board of the South Carolina Baptist Convention met Dec. 1 in Columbia to conduct year-end business. Chair Steve Hogg presided over the session that included an update from the Executive Director-Treasurer Search Team and greetings from an international missions partner.
EDT Search Team Chair Ian Geimer gave an update on the group’s work, saying he is thankful “the Lord is going before us and providing wisdom and discernment as we are going through this process.” The team is currently conducting interviews and hopes to identify a candidate to present to the convention before current EDT Gary Hollingsworth’s retirement on April 30.
In related news, Hogg announced that Convention President Albert Allen requested to be excused of his responsibilities as a member of the EDT Search Team. According to bylaws, when a convention session is called to present the EDT candidate, the president moderates the session. Allen asserted this could be seen as a conflict if he remained on the team. The board affirmed the decision.
Board members heard administrative and Cooperative Program updates from Chief Financial Officer Bryan Holley, including that 18 new churches affiliated with the state convention in 2022.
Operations Committee Chair Tim Coker said approval was given for several SCBC ministry requests totaling roughly $47,000. Budget, Finance & Audit Committee Chair Talmadge Tobias reported routine institutional audits were all positive, and that Cooperative Program giving was down 1.9 percent compared to this time last year.
Talmadge reminded board members of their previous decision to set aside $1 million for ongoing missions allocations.
Hollingsworth introduced a partner serving in East Asia through the International Mission Board who shared how financial support from the SCBC is being used in work with national partners, saying, “South Carolina Baptist ‘seed money’ has gone to train 40 national partners in cross-cultural Great Commission tasks, and now they are serving on four continents.”
Hollingsworth announced a $10,000 SCBC gift has been given to the Baptist Educational & Missionary Convention of South Carolina for its development of the upcoming “Out of the Balcony” documentary project telling historical stories of African-American believers in South Carolina.
The board re-elected Hogg and Geimer to serve another year in their respective roles, and elected Roland Dry to serve as secretary.
The board will reconvene April 25.
— Julia Bell is a writer for South Carolina Baptist Convention Communications.