New IMB board chair raises conflict of interest question; Lottie Moon dollars may break record

New IMB board chair raises conflict of interest question; Lottie Moon dollars may break record

Trustees of the International Mission Board (IMB), meeting May 22–24 in Albuquerque, elected a former top administrator of the Southern Baptist agency as trustee chairman — raising questions about a possible conflict of interest.

In other action, trustees tabled a motion calling for a special task force to study doctrinal qualifications for missionary candidates and appointed 95 new missionaries.

Trustees also heard that the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering had topped the $135 million mark.

David Steverson, IMB vice president for finance, said, “We continue to believe that … the 2005 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering will be the largest offering in our history.”

John Floyd, administrative vice president of the Memphis-area Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, was elected trustee chairman   39–34 over Wayne Marshall of Mississippi. Sixteen trustees were absent or abstained from the vote.

His election as chairman could signal further division on the board, which has experienced conflict in recent months over missionary policies and Oklahoma trustee Wade Burleson. Floyd is a retired IMB regional leader for Central and Eastern Europe.

Burleson said because Floyd receives a pension administered by the IMB, his role as trustee chairman could be a violation of a SBC bylaw, which states: “No person shall be eligible to serve on any one of the above entities from which he/she receives any part of his/her salary, directly or indirectly, or, which provides funds for which he/she has a duty of administration.”

IMB officials had not released information on the conflict of interest question as of press time.

Outgoing trustee chairman Tom Hatley concluded his final report to the board with a note about Burleson. He said Burleson had breached trustee confidentiality in his blog — the blog that led to a motion requesting that Burleson be removed from the IMB trustee board. While that motion was rescinded, the “no blogging” during trustee meetings restriction remains.

Hatley told trustees the board’s executive committee agreed to continue the restriction placed on Burleson during the March board meeting, barring him from serving on committees. However, after Burleson reportedly posted confidential information from the May 22 trustee forum on his personal blog site, Hatley said he was extending the restrictions to bar Burleson’s attendance at upcoming forums and in specially called executive sessions during board meetings.

Trustees also tabled a motion that would have reopened discussion of the two controversial policies adopted in November 2005 — private prayer language and a policy on baptism. The executive committee recommended that Hatley appoint a task force to determine what Southern Baptists expect in the way of doctrinal qualifications for future missionary candidates.

The proposed committee — nine to 11 people, including non-trustees — would be charged “to discover, contextualize and report back to us” on matters of a further doctrinal statement or parameters, Hatley said.

Alabama trustee Herman Pair of Oneonta pointed out he serves on an ad hoc committee as part of the trustees’ personnel committee to study such issues. He said the motion would “go beyond our committee in research to find a biblical, doctrinal position … to clarify what has happened. … We’ve got a committee together to do this, and we’re functioning. … I don’t see where this is going to help any.”

After much deliberation, the motion was tabled until July.

A second motion, to create a six-member team of current and former trustees to relate to staff and missionaries when they felt the system had failed their needs, was referred to the executive committee. It will announce its recommendation at a later date. (BP, ABP)