A few years ago, I was involved as a staff member in surveys and focus groups as the Baptist State Convention (BSC) was researching its image among constituents for the rebranding effort that resulted in the new logo and “Caring. Sharing. Daring.”identity tag.

A great surprise in that process was to learn that one of the issues among North Carolina Baptists in their relationship to the BSC was trust. I’m not talking about agreement or disagreement, but about trust that BSC procedures related to money would be carried out precisely as stated; that missions gifts sent to the BSC offices were distributed according to the donor church’s wishes.

That surprised me because I know every person involved in handling that money, and I know they would rather give you their paycheck than to err in carrying out your wishes with your mission gifts.

I mention that survey and result because trust is going to play a large role in the decisions of messengers at the annual meeting Nov. 10-12 in Greensboro. This meeting is extra-ordinarily important because the BSC Board of Directors is bringing recommendations for your consideration that will move the Convention forward but will implement change.

The year-long work of four task forces will be placed before you for your consideration. Two will start ministries birthed from reactions to negative events in our collective life; two will help define our collective work and identity. Don’t sit this one out.

Our current Articles and Bylaws require that proposed changes to the Articles and Bylaws be printed twice in the Biblical Recorder. That requirement is a good thing because it promotes trust and transparency. The first printing is included in a special pull-out section in this issue (Oct. 25). It will be printed again in the Nov. 8 issue.

Because many changes are being proposed, and because the committee and BSC staff wants to be completely transparent, they have introduced the changes with three summary articles preceded by an introduction to the summaries. The summaries and detail of current reading and proposed reading present in near mind-numbing detail the proposed changes. You may not agree with every proposal, but each is clearly enumerated and presented. You can trust there is nothing hidden.

Most proposals are simply to consolidate, synthesize and clarify the Articles and Bylaws, which became the Articles and Bylaws from the original constitution when the Convention incorporated in 2004. This is the first opportunity the Articles and Bylaws Committee has taken to go over them in detail, to remove redundancies and to group appropriate material under similar headings, etc. You won’t have to go to several different articles to find all the information related to duties of the Board of Directors, for instance.

Several items merit your specific attention.

Only North Carolina Baptist Men will be identified as an auxiliary of the BSC.

Under the proposed changes Woman’s Missionary Union of North Carolina (WMU-NC) will lose its seat on the Executive Committee. It will no longer be an “auxiliary” of the Convention, and its president will be a non-voting member of the Board of Directors. That’s a significant case of laryngitis for WMU-NC because it loses its voice in the decision-making apparatus of the BSC.

This is the second and final vote to release the colleges to name their own trustees and to keep their promises to stay Christian in purpose, Baptist in character and to stay in tune with North Carolina Baptist churches. It is the second and final vote to snip the Cooperative Program umbilical cord. Campbell, Wingate, Mars Hill, Chowan and Gardner-Webb will be identified as “affiliated educational institutions,” and not directly related schools of which the Convention has “control” through election of trustees.

Baptist Retirement Homes (BRH) will be deleted as a member of the Council on Christian Social Services, although its status as an institution does not change until official action is initiated and taken. A separate recommendation will come to begin the process to officially sever the relationship of BRH to the BSC. That recommendation will initiate a committee study to determine a future relationship.

In a nod to communications technology, changes would allow committees to meet via teleconferencing or videoconferencing. Members of the Board of Directors must meet in person.

The Board of Directors is composed of persons representing geographical areas of the state, from as diverse a population of laity and ordained, male and female, large and small churches as is possible to assemble, given the paucity of nominations that come in to the committee.

An important factor to keep in mind is that board seats are based on church membership in regions. When churches do not fill out their annual church profiles their membership is not reflected in totals and their region may become underrepresented on the board.

Two things will be especially helpful as you ponder and pray about your support of the proposed changes. First, the summaries beginning on page B1 will help you understand the proposals.

Two, I’ve read the summaries and the documents, talked with the principals, and sat through multiple presentations at Executive Committee and Board of Directors meetings. You can trust that all parties have been transparent, that these proposals contain no hidden surprises and that their passage will advance the work of the Convention.

Although their reports have been extensively covered in the Recorder, I will discuss the task forces in the next issue.