Executive Committee rejects motions on Baptist Press, messenger seating

NASHVILLE, Tenn.?The Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee, meeting Sept. 20-21 in Nashville, Tenn., rejected two notable motions from last June's annual meeting in Orlando: one that would have made Baptist Press news service a separate entity and another that would have disallowed the seating of messengers from churches perceived as racist.

The latter is expected to be addressed in a 2009 motion the committee plans to report on at the 2011 convention in Phoenix, committee members said.

The committee also celebrated the tenure of retiring Executive Committee president and former Texas pastor Morris H. Chapman, who began his service leading the SBC administrative entity in 1991 after serving 12 years as pastor of First Baptist Church of Wichita Falls.

Baptist Press motion

An effort by the editor of the Illinois Baptist to separate Baptist Press from direct supervision by the SBC Executive Committee president was rejected after it was added late to the agenda.

EC members affirmed earlier findings of a 1981 public relations advisory committee study during the tenure of Wilmer C. Fields, who led BP at that time. The earlier study examined a similar proposal by Tennessee messenger Jimmy Stroud, who appealed to the 1981 SBC meeting in Los Angeles to distance the Southern Baptist news agency from "control and intimidation."

Affirming the reasoning of the 1981 panel, which was comprised of editors, communications professionals and SBC entity employees, the current EC communications workgroup concluded that it is best to keep Baptist Press under the accountability of the Executive Committee through the supervision of the EC president.

While the maker of this year's motion, Marty King, said he had been assured by EC staff and its chairman that his proposal would not be considered until February 2011, Chapman added it for consideration at the fall meeting about 10 days after the proposed agenda was mailed out, according to numerous sources.

King's original motion asked the Executive Committee to consider establishing Baptist Press as an entity of the SBC, with a board of directors elected by the SBC, utilizing currently allocated funds. In a subsequent defense, King suggested the foundation model using EC members as overseers who would meet in the same time frame, requiring "a very small financial footprint, overhead and bureaucracy while broadening and strengthening BP's accountability."

Workgroup members rejected King's argument, stating that the cost of any change was prohibitive at a time when the EC is being asked to cut its budget in order to shift more Cooperative Program dollars to missions.

Several EC members praised Chapman's desire to see the matter handled before Frank Page succeeded him as EC president, calling it "a gracious act." Another member concluded that the matter had received "a good, thorough and open debate."

Much of the half-hour discussion by the communications workgroup centered on whether BP had shown bias rather than King's contention of undue pressure by Chapman, an allegation publicly denied by EC Convention News Vice President Will Hall.

Missouri Baptist Pathway Editor Don Hinkle offered unqualified support of Hall and the entire BP staff and challenged the conclusions of an editorial published in the June 12 Florida Baptist Witness in which King, James A. Smith Sr. of Florida, and Gary Ledbetter of Texas noted concern over "perceived lopsided coverage of the GCR Task Force."

Missouri Baptist Pathway Editor Don Hinkle offered unqualified support of Hall and the entire BP staff and challenged the conclusions of an editorial published in the June 12 Florida Baptist Witness in which King, James A. Smith Sr.of Florida, and Gary