COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Heartland will continue its partnership with CBF Global, the Midwest affiliate confirmed.
Members of the CBF Heartland Coordinating Council approved a memorandum of understanding with the national body at their March 14 meeting at First Baptist Church in Columbia.
The memo is an “agreement of cooperation and partnership” that “serves as an initial step towards a more complete Covenant Agreement,” according to the document. CBF Heartland Coordinator Harold Phillips noted the national entity has asked the 18 state and regional CBF entities to affirm their partnership.
In addition, council members approved the nominating committee’s report for 2015-16. They also approved bringing a recommendation to their September meeting for a bylaw change to lower the minimum number of at-large members on the council from 10 to eight. The current bylaws call from 10 to 15 at-large members.
Jordan Dollar of Edwardsville, Ill., is proposed as vice moderator for 2015-16, with Karen Rogers of Kansas City, Mo., as a new at-large member. Brian Ford of Columbia and Kia Swan-Moore of Woodriver, Ill., who had already been named, also will serve.
Connie McNeill of Kansas City, Mo., and Allen York of Overland Park, Kan., were named to the endowment board.
The entire slate must be approved at the annual business session in September.
In other action, the council agreed to shift the entity’s checking account from UMB to BankLiberty.
CBF Heartland also will contribute $1,000 annually for the next few years to a CBF Foundation shared pool to assist representatives from each affiliated state or regional body to attend the national ministry council. The fund is being developed because someone from each affiliate serves on that council, but not everyone can afford the travel expense.
On March 14, Heartland council members also developed a policy to formalize the current practice of providing a small annual bonus to the entity’s staff. They agreed to designate $500 to be divided and distributed at the end of each year, with the moderator as overseer.
The council discussed CBF Heartland’s upcoming Celebration of Excellence set for April 30 at Missouri Baptist University. National Moderator Kasey Jones, pastor of National Memorial Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., will be the keynote speaker.
The annual regional event will be held in Kansas City in 2016.
Leaders of the Midwest entity see the Celebration of Excellence and church-based Fellowship Sundays as a transition from hosting an annual General Assembly. Fellowship Sundays offer the opportunity for churches to invite CBF Heartland staff and leaders to bring the “community of the General Assembly” to the local area, Phillips said.
