Colleen Burroughs, CBF moderator

This comes from CBF Moderator Colleen Burroughs. To keep up to date with Colleen’s comings and goings, you should “like” her on Facebook at “CBF Moderator.”

CBF Moderator  Mid-term Report

June 2011 – January 2012

Coordinating Council Responsibilities:

• Assign Committee Chairs (who then make-up the Advisory Council)
• Assign Council members to Committees
• Oversee the creation of all meeting agendas in conversation with the Executive Coordinator

Responsibilities Distinctive to 2011-12

• Steering Committee: New Baptist Covenant II
• Officers appoint the Executive Coordinator Search Committee
• Officers appoint Transition Team

Representative Invitations Accepted:

• CBF Virginia Fall Gathering              Central Baptist– Richmond, VA                September
• BTSR Student Dialogue                      BTSR campus – Richmond, VA                September
• New Baptist Covenant II            Second-Ponce de Leon BC – Atlanta, GA       November
• CBF Offering for Global Missions Speaker    Providence BC, Charlotte, NC    December
• Installation of new Bishop of Alabama’s Archdiocese   Birmingham, AL           January

Meetings:

• Movement Leadership Team Gathering  (MLT)             FBC Decatur,  GA             August
• Transition meeting with officers and Dr. Vestal                 Atlanta, GA                   August
• Advisory Council Meeting                                         FBC Decatur, GA                   September

— Dr. Daniel Vestal announces his retirement

• General Assembly Steering Committee     Ft. Worth Convention Center, TX    October
• Former National Moderators Conference Call                                                          October
• Coordinating Council                                    FBC Tucker – Atlanta, GA                  October
• Officers Meeting                                               Advisory Council

— Formation of Executive Search Committee

• Search Committee Meeting   #1            Wilshire BC – Dallas, TX                       January
• Transition Team Meeting #1                       CBF Resource Center                           January
• Advisory Council – Conference Call  Officers with staff at Resource Center   January

The Coordinating Council at Work:

Each state or region was tasked to bring a small sound bite report (think USA Today national news at a glance) to our first meeting in October. Each of the (eight) committee chairs has a very specific list of tasks to meet this year.  These reports were compiled and are available on the CBF Moderator Facebook page.

While state and regional information is available in every newsletter and on every state or regional website.  It is not uniformly available and is hard to compile into one place.  This  leaves us all a little in the dark about what we are accomplishing together on a national scale.  While this is not an ideal solution, it is an attempt to help us see at a glimpse some of the cooperative work we are doing together.  It might even inspire further creative and collaborative thinking across geographical lines.  At the very least it shines light on our limited capacity to know what is happening more evenly across the fellowship.
I am thankful for the hard work and dedication of the National Coordinating Council members for their work thus far.

Observation:

The council, while working extremely hard this year, is too big.  The non-standard nature of our state and regional meetings make receiving, updating contact information and assigning council members to committees cumbersome and very hard to keep current.  Logistically speaking, hosting a meeting of this size as it relates to transportation, meals, hotel and meeting space has been and will continue to be costly.  It is my understanding (and hope) that council structure is an issue that could be addressed in the recommendations from the 2012 Task Force.

Search Committee:

The work of the Executive Search Committee began in earnest during the first week of January.   Committee Chair George Mason will offer reports on behalf of this group.  We do, however, solicit your input, thoughts, questions and especially your recommendations.  Names and resumes must be submitted electronically and will be received at one secure location:  cbfsearchcommittee@gmail.com

Transition Team Named:

While the thoughtful work of the CBF continues locally and around the globe, the officers named a Transition Team to help coordinate the internal events of the year. Specifically the goal for this team is to coordinate the work of the 2012 Task Force recommendations, expected to come to the Coordinating Council in February, with the work of the Executive Search process, now under way.  The Transition Team includes representatives from The Center for Congregational Health, center President Dr. Bill Wilson and colleague Dr. Les Robinson.  The team also includes 2012 Task Force Chair Dr. David Hull, Search Committee Chair Dr. George Mason, and current officers Colleen Burroughs, Rev. Christy McMillin-Goodwin, Dr. Keith Heron and Ms. Renee Bennett.  The team had a very positive meeting at the CBF Resource Center during the first week of January, which included conversation with the Atlanta staff.

Observation:  Just as healthy churches understand the value of inviting an objective perspective during periods of leadership transition, your Officers determined that it would be wise to follow suit.  As a Fellowship of Cooperating Baptists we are part of an intentional network designed to offer resources among ourselves.  Inviting the Center for Congregational Health to professionally advise our organization during transition is a wonderful example of partnering within our fellowship!