Posted: 12/02/05
Kentucky approves Georgetown partnership
By Trennis Henderson
Kentucky Western Recorder
FRANKFORT, Ky. (ABP)–Kentucky Baptist Convention messengers voted overwhelmingly to approve a new ministry partnership with Georgetown College.
In other action, messengers meeting in Frankfort, Ky., elected conservative pastors to the convention's top three posts, including President Paul Chitwood, pastor of First Baptist Church of Mount Washington. The new officers defeated three moderate pastors endorsed by Mainstream Baptists of Kentucky.
The Georgetown agreement, which will be implemented over four years, came in response to Georgetown's decision in September to establish a self-perpetuating board.
A detailed “memorandum of understanding” about the new relationship was produced by a 14-member joint workgroup of convention and Georgetown representatives.
Major provisions of the agreement specify Georgetown will elect its own trustees beginning in 2006, and the convention will phase out Georgetown's $1.3 million Cooperative Program allocation over the next four years.
The plan also specifies 75 percent of Georgetown's trustees will be Kentucky Baptists, Georgetown students will remain eligible for state convention-funded scholarships and the convention and Georgetown will continue to jointly fund a campus minister position.
The action comes one year after messengers rejected a proposal to allow all four Kentucky Baptist college boards to include up to 25 percent of trustees not affiliated KBC churches. That was among recent decisions that prompted Georgetown's board to revert to its pre-1942 status of naming its own trustees.
Georgetown President Bill Crouch emphasized that during dialogue with convention leaders, “the Spirit of God was felt in our meetings together and prevails even today.”
While “some may view this agreement and proposal as a divorce,” Crouch said convention leaders “join me in viewing it as a relationship of love and respect going forward.”
In other business, messengers adopted resolutions opposing gambling and addressing the role of Christian parents in public education.
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