Response to the N.C. Retirement Homes article by ABP
Steven
R. Jones, President of The Baptist Home
The
following statement by Tony Cartledge needs explanation. “In 2000, trustees of
the Missouri Baptist Home removed themselves from the
Associated
Baptist Press
By
Tony Cartledge
Previously
the bylaws called for trustees to be elected by the Baptist State Convention of
North Carolina, which also had the power to remove trustees.
Some
observers expect other agencies to distance themselves from the convention as
conservatives gain increasing control of the country's second largest state
Baptist convention.
The
move echoes those taken by other agencies related to Baptist state conventions
whose leadership has begun to move rightward. In 2000, trustees of the Missouri
Baptist Home removed themselves from the control of the Missouri Baptist
Convention as a fundamentalist group began gaining control of that body. Four
other Missouri Baptist agencies followed suit in 2001, and the convention sued
to regain control of all of them in 2002. The lawsuit remains unresolved.
A letter
in
“I
deeply regret to see this action taken, and I hope there will be opportunity for
us to have some important dialogue with [BRH president] Bill [Stillerman] and
his board in regard to this decision,” Cummings said.
Convention
president Stan Welch also learned about the decision Jan. 18. “We will need to
get our legal counsel to look at the legality of what they want to do,” he
said, noting that the matter would be discussed during the upcoming convention
Executive Committee and Board of Directors meetings Jan. 24-25.
“I
don’t think North Carolina Baptists are going to let them just break away in
this particular way after having invested so much in them over so many years,”
Welch said.
But
Stillerman told the Biblical Recorder
of
Baptist
Retirement Homes, founded in 1951, operates retirement communities in
The
convention did not contribute funds or participate in choosing trustees until
1957, Stillerman said. The corporation has always raised its own funds and
borrowed money in its own name, he said.
And,
Stillerman said, trustees do not consider the action to constitute a break from
the convention. In a Jan. 18 press release, Stillerman insisted, “The changes
made to our organization’s bylaws document have no theological overtones but
are related strictly to matters of governance and finance.”
“We
have every intention to continue to maintain significant ties with the Baptist
State Convention of North Carolina,” Stillerman said, “and our long-standing
tradition of offering long-term care services to North Carolina Baptist older
adults.”
“An
autonomous, stable governing board is essential” to ensure the financial
viability of the organization in the future, he said.
A letter
mailed to more than 9,000 Baptist leaders, Homes residents, and others said the
criteria for choosing trustees has not changed: they still must be Baptists,
with at least three-fourths holding membership in North Carolina Baptist
churches.
The
changes were approved during a December meeting of the Baptist Retirement Homes
trustees, after earlier efforts to accomplish the same goal were sidetracked by
convention attorney John Small.
On August
16, Stillerman asked the convention's Executive Committee to approve a plan by
which Baptist Retirement Homes would begin electing its own trustees in 2006 and
phase out convention funding. Baptist Retirement Homes would continue to receive
the annual offering for the aged and make an annual report to the convention.
At the
time, Small said the change was not allowed because it would constitute a
severance of the relationship. Stillerman then asked the Executive Committee to
table the earlier request.
Baptist
Retirement Homes was scheduled to receive $938,500 in 2005, all slated for
benevolent care. About 40 percent of the Homes’ 700 residents do pay for their
care.
Stillerman
said a change was needed because banks and financial institutions are
increasingly unwilling to invest in organizations that do not have independent
boards that ensure future stability, and the inability to borrow money at good
interest rates could compromise care of the elderly.
BRH was
not asking for a severance from the BSC, he said, only a change of relationship
in which the Homes would remain affiliated as before, with the exception of
choosing its own directors and forgoing direct convention funding.
The
December action by BRH trustees effectively bypassed the need for convention
approval.
According
to documents posted on a Web site hosted by the N.C. Secretary of State, in May
1994 BRH trustees amended the corporation’s governing documents to move
provisions for the election of trustees from its articles of incorporation to
its bylaws.
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