The Trustee Experience

Every Southern Baptist church member should really have an opportunity to see how the SBC entities operate under the Trustee system. Our convention is made up of several entities that carry on the business of completing the mission of the convention. The entities include:
The International Mission Board
The North American Mission Board
LifeWay Christian Resources
Guidestone Financial
Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission,
The Executive Committee
· Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, Kentucky)
· New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (New Orleans, Louisiana)
· Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (Fort Worth, Texas)
· Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Wake Forest, North Carolina)
· Mid-Western Baptist Theological Seminary (Kansas City, Missouri)
· Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (Mill Valley, California)
The “Convention” itself only exists two days a year when messengers from 43,000 local churches come together in their annual meeting. Our Convention’s mission of carrying out the Great Commission is placed into the hands of the entities listed above. The Convention messengers elect Trustees (representing the various State Convention churches) to oversee the operation of each entity. The Board of Trustees in turn, hires a president of the entity, formulate the budget, and set particular entity policies in regard to completing the assigned mission of the entity.

Individual Boards of Trustees are made up of as many as 40 members who serve in staggered five-year terms of office. If a Trustee’s service is faithful, he or she is eligible for election to a second five-year term. The genius of this system accomplishes several purposes. First, no institution comes under the control of one particular person. Each entity has a president who is a strong leader, but that president is elected by and answers to the Board of Trustees. Secondly, with Trustees who are pastors and lay people from all over the Convention, the local churches who make up the Convention, and each State Convention are represented in the decision making processes. Thirdly, the Trustees seek to carry out the mission of each Convention entity. Like the name suggests, the Convention messengers place each Trustee in a position of “trust” to be a good steward of the resources provided for each entity.

That is one of the beauties of the Southern Baptist Convention. Things aren’t done from “the top down” with a hierarchy telling local churches what to do. Rather, the local congregation is at the center of fulfilling the Great Commission. Local churches voluntarily join together in regional Associations, which make up State Conventions. The local churches give to the “Cooperative Program” which has proven to be the greatest mission-sending vehicle in the history of the church. The convention has broken down the task of completing that mission into those 12 entities and elected Trustees from the local churches govern the entities. The plan is beautiful in it’s simplicity.

I have just completed my first full year as a Trustee of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. It has already been an educational and fulfilling experience.
After being elected at the Greensboro Convention meeting two summers ago, we “new guys” were brought to the Seminary in September 2006 for an orientation of what is involved in Board membership. It was designed to familiarize the new Trustee to the entity. In our case we toured the campus (getting a first hand view and update of the post Katrina recovery work). We met the administration officials, and got to know one another as the new Trustees who would serve together until 2012. We got a two day crash course in how the Seminary works, it’s day to day operation, it’s finances, instruction and curriculum, and how it is presently seeking to fulfill it’s assigned mission. We new Trustees came from West Virginia, Missouri, Texas, North Carolina, New York, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

The importance of the September orientation session became apparent when we returned to New Orleans the following month for the Board’s semi annual meeting. Our Board of Trustees is internally broken down into four standing committees. These committees are Buildings and Grounds, Instruction and Curriculum, Finance and Investments, and the Executive Committee (which is made up of the Board Chairman, three members at large, and the Chairmen of the other three committees). These standing committees meet separately to hear reports and consider the business of their particular area of oversight. They in turn, make recommendations to the full Board of Trustees when it meets the second day in Plenary Sessions. It is in those sessions that any official actions of the Board are actually taken.

The first October meeting for the new Trustees is truly a hectic and exhausting one. The new members are not yet assigned to a standing committee. They attend each of the separate committee meetings and get a first hand view of the mechanics and substance of what each committee does. Seminary President Charles Kelley and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees sit in with the new members on each committee meeting. After the October meeting, the President and Board Chairman assign the new members to their respective committees. By that time, the President and Board Chairman have had opportunity to meet and get to know each new member. They have had opportunity to observe them and get a feel for where their interests lie and where their particular gifts might best be put to use. Once assigned to their particular committee, the new members are ready to “hit the ground running” when they arrive back on campus in April for the spring meeting.

I really didn’t have a particular choice as to which committee I would prefer. I was a little leery of the finance and investment committee. While that committee is charged with an extremely important task, I can tell you that a few hours of looking at budget lines, tables, charts, and financial reports tend to make my eyes glaze over. I was somewhat interested in Buildings and Grounds due to the daunting task of rebuilding after Katrina and I can relate to bricks and mortar issues. However, my assignment turned out to be to the Instruction committee. While I wasn’t necessarily hoping for that committee assignment, I was happy to get it. After all, instruction and education is really what Seminary is all about.
The Instruction committee works closely with Dr. Kelley and Seminary Provost, Dr. Steve Lemke. Our chief responsibilities are to elect faculty members, grant tenure and sabbaticals, explore and implement education delivery systems, approve curriculum changes, new courses of study, new certificate and degree programs, add extension centers and Hub Campuses, etc. In my opinion, election of faculty members is probably the most important of all our duties. After all, these are the men and women who will be ultimately responsible for educating the students of NOBTS and it’s undergraduate arm, Level College. These are the folks who will be delivering important theological education to the future pastors, missionaries, Christian education professionals and local church and convention leaders. This is an awesome responsibility. On the instruction committee, we understand that we cannot tell these people what to teach or how to teach, but we do have the task of making decisions about prospective faculty members. These must be folks who meet the educational requirements and hopefully have had practical ministry experience in their areas of expertise. They must hold a high view of scripture, be men and women of integrity, have a passion for evangelism, and serve as life examples and mentors for the students they will instruct.

We have had an excellent meeting this week and I am thankful for the opportunity to serve. My first responsibility, of course, is to the congregation of Westmoreland Baptist Church and I thank them for allowing me to serve our Convention in this small way. I appreciate Randy Spurgeon, our Associate Pastor and my good friend, who is willing to take on a few of my responsibilities while I am away. I hope to represent you well in this area of ministry.

Oh yes. One other thing you need to know about the instructors, administrators, and trustees of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. All of us have signed personal statement of belief in the infallibility of the scriptures, and a statement of our personal agreement with the Baptist Faith and Message. Each of the twelve entities of the Southern Baptist Convention have done the same.

We are all on the same page and seek to make the main thing, the main thing.