New Orleans trustees vote on sole membership

NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary trustees agreed Oct. 13 to adopt proposed charter amendments designed to tie it securely to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), but with some reservations.

Spending 90 minutes in a closed-door session, seminary trustees essentially acceded to the request of messengers to the 2004 national convention to adopt a “sole membership” model of corporate organization proposed by the SBC Executive Committee.

However, trustees asked seminary President Chuck Kelley to report concerns regarding the sole membership model to convention messengers who must give final approval to the changes at the 2005 annual meeting in June 2005. The model makes the convention the “sole member” of the seminary corporation and outlines the specific rights entitled. Its intention is to prevent the seminary and other convention entities from arbitrarily distancing themselves from the denomination.