The Committee on Nominations (the “Committee”) is presenting a separate motion to address a problem with the current rotation of the members of the Board of Directors of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (the “Convention”).
This motion is in addition to its normal work to recommend individuals to serve as members of the Convention’s Board of Directors, the committees of the Convention, and the Boards of the Convention’s institutions and agencies.
Based on the number of members in the various regions as shown on the current submissions to the Annual Church Profile made by the cooperating churches, the number of members that will rotate off the Board of Directors and will need to be replaced for each of the next four years follows:
- 2018 – 45 members rotate off
- 2019 – 15 members rotate off
- 2020 – 9 members rotate off
- 2021 – 24 members rotate off
The actual number for any one year may vary slightly depending upon the increase or decrease in members of the Convention as reported in the Annual Church Profile.
Based on Article II.B.3. of the Convention’s Bylaws, the messengers are to elect the members of the Board of Directors for the Convention for four-year terms with “as nearly as possible” one-quarter elected each year.
Obviously, the Committee cannot meet both the requirements of four-year terms and approximately one-fourth elected each year based on the current rotation. The skewed distribution of election of members to the Board of Directors has created challenges concerning the leadership on various committees and the Board with almost one-half of the members being elected in a single year rather than being spread out evenly over the four years.
The Committee is recommending that the messengers approve a temporary amendment to Article II.B.3. to enable it to set one-year terms and two-year terms for some members of the Board to be elected in 2018.
The remaining members of the Board to be elected in 2018 will serve four-year terms. Such action will enable a more normal distribution with more than 15 members rotating off in 2019 and more than nine members rotating off in 2020. The actual number of members of the Board who will have one-year or two-year terms will be based on the number of the members reported by the cooperating churches submitting the Annual Church Profile in accordance with the Bylaws. The goal will be to even out the members to approximately one-quarter rotating off each year.
Because the current Bylaws permit members who serve less than two years filling an unexpired term to be re-elected for a full four-year term, the proposed amendment likewise permits the Committee on Nominations to nominate anyone who has served only a one-year term to be elected to a full four-year term thereafter. Just as an individual who fills a two-year unexpired term cannot be nominated to serve a four-year term until a full term has elapsed, members serving two-year terms will not be eligible to be immediately nominated to fill a full four-year term.
The proposed amendment provides that the new language will be terminated at the end of 2019.
At that time, the current language for the election and terms of Board members will be effective again. This temporary amendment is designed to correct what is viewed as an anomaly in the distribution of the election of members of the Board.
If you have any questions concerning this motion or the impact of the current imbalance in election of members of the Board of Directors, please contact Brian Davis at (800) 395-5102, ext. 5506, or [email protected].