Alabama Baptists will be among those serving during the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in Houston, Texas.
Chip Starnes, pastor of First Baptist Church, Bay Minette, and Derek Staples, pastor of First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, will serve on the Committee on Committees.
The Committee on Committees will meet in Houston, just prior to the SBC annual meeting, June 11–12, to nominate members of the Committee on Nominations who, in turn, nominate trustees to serve on boards of the various entities of the SBC. SBC Bylaw 19 also provides that the Committee on Committees “shall nominate all special committees authorized during the sessions of the Convention not otherwise provided for.”
The Committee on Committees encompasses 70 members, two from each of the areas served by the 35 state or regional conventions qualified for representation on boards of SBC entities.
SBC President Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, New Orleans, is responsible for naming the members of the Committee on Committees, as well as the members of the Credentials, Resolutions and Tellers committees.
Alabama Baptists are also among those nominated to serve on the SBC Executive Committee (EC), the four denominational boards — International Mission Board, North American Mission Board, LifeWay Christian Resources and GuideStone Financial Resources — the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), the six seminaries and the Committee on Order of Business.
Nominees will serve if elected by the messengers to the annual meeting. Those nominated from Alabama are:
Benjamin F. Kelley Jr., layperson and member of First Baptist Church, Montgomery, to serve on the EC with term to expire in 2017.
Trudie Beth Guffin, layperson and member of Liberty Park Baptist Church, Birmingham, to serve on LifeWay’s trustee board with term to expire in 2017.
John C. Thweatt, pastor of First Baptist Church, Pell City, nominated for second term on the board of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.
Mark Hindman, layperson and member of First Baptist Church, Prattville, to serve on the board of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, with term to expire in 2015.
Donald E. (Don) Setser, member of Dauphin Way Baptist Church, Mobile, nominated to serve a second term on the board of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
William R. (Bill) Morgan, director of missions for Autauga Baptist Association, to serve on the ERLC with term to expire in 2017.
At press time, Luter had not yet released the list of names of those appointed to serve on the Credentials Committee and the Tellers Committee.
The Credentials Committee functions during the registration timeframe of the SBC annual meeting and works with participants attempting to register without all the proper credentials in place.
SBC Bylaw 8 notes the “president of the Convention, in consultation with the vice president, shall appoint, at least thirty (30) days before the annual session, a Credentials Committee to serve at the forthcoming sessions of the Convention.”
There is no time requirement for the appointment of the Tellers Committee, whose responsibility is to tabulate votes during the SBC annual meeting.
Luter indicated that he and registration secretary Jim Wells had been working closely together to compile a list of names for the two committees but had run into difficulties getting a “critical mass,” Roger “Sing” Oldham, vice president for SBC communications and relations, told The Alabama Baptist.
Oldham said he anticipated a full list of appointees to the committees to be made available on Baptist Press sometime this week.
(BP, TAB)
To register or read more about the SBC annual meeting in Houston, visit www.sbcannualmeeting.net/sbc13/default.asp.
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