Ministries

Constitution and Bylaws

Constitution and Bylaws 
of 
Grayson Baptist Association 

ARTICLE 1-NAME

This association will be known as the Grayson Baptist Association, hereafter referred to as GBA.

ARTICLE 2-MISSION, VALUES, MINISTRY AREAS, AND VISION

Section 1—The mission of the GBA is to assist churches in fulfilling the Great Commission.

Section 2—The Articles of Faith of the GBA shall be that of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Section 3—The core values of the GBA are:

1. The Lordship of Christ--Our ultimate desire is to discover where God is working and join Him in His kingdom work, serving Him with excellence and integrity in all that we do.
2. The Local Church--We respect the autonomy and diversity of member churches.
3. The Great Commission—We hold fast the urgent work of reaching the lost and developing disciples.
4. Cooperation--We are committed to working together in a Spirit of love and trust.
5. Fellowship--We value community among churches, through which we actively live out Christ’s call to “love one another."

Section 4—The GBA carries out its mission through church strengthening, church support, and church strategy. 

Section 5—The vision of the Grayson Baptist Association is to see healthy, mature churches transform the world through the love of Christ by making disciples, developing Christ-like leaders, and birthing new churches.  We envision a network of churches connected together under the Lordship of Christ, where ministers and churches find support and experience the joy of working together as the body of Christ.  We desire a prayer saturated culture where the plans of God are seen and embraced and the work of God in fulfilling the Great Commission is met with faith and wisdom.

Section 6—The association is organized and operated primarily for the purpose of engaging in religious worship or promoting the spiritual development or well-being of individuals.  Understanding the nature of GBA, no substantial part of the activities of this corporation shall involve activities which are not permitted to be carried on:

1. by a corporation exempt from Federal Income Tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.
2. by a corporation, contributions to which are deductible under section 170(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.

ARTICLE 3-MEMBERSHIP

Section 1—The GBA shall be composed of its member churches and will be governed by elected messengers to the Annual Meeting and Executive Board. 

Section 2— Churches making application must be at least one year old, including the length of time it has been a mission.  The petitioning church shall present a written request to the Leadership Team at least 90 days prior to the annual meeting.  The Leadership Team (Article 7, Section 2) will interview the pastor of the petitioning church to determine its qualifications for membership and bring a recommendation and report to the association at the Annual Meeting.  Churches shall be received into watchcare status by a three-fourths vote.

Section 3— Watchcare status shall last for a period of one year.  During Watchcare status the church and pastor are invited to attend GBA meetings and send representatives to Executive Board meetings, in a cooperative manner, but as non-voting members.  The church is invited to cooperate with the association in every way looking forward to full membership.  At the end of the watchcare year both the church and association will vote on entrance into the association at the annual meeting.  Churches shall be received into membership by a three-fourths vote.

Section 4—Requirements of membership include:

1. Churches must be committed to working in fellowship with member churches whose best expression of theological identity is the Baptist Faith and Message.
2. Churches must affirm the core values of GBA and be committed to working with member churches to carry out GBA’s mission and vision. 
3. Churches must make an ongoing financial commitment to supporting GBA ministry.  (Member churches are encouraged to contribute 3% of undesignated receipts to the ministry of the GBA).  

Section 5—Neither the GBA or the Executive Board shall have authority over the local churches.   However, if a church engages in doctrinal discrepancies or ceases to cooperate with the Association, the Association reserves the right to withdraw from the church by a three-fourths vote of the messengers present at the Annual Meeting.  Questions concerning doctrinal discrepancy or associational cooperation shall be considered by the Leadership Team before being brought to the association. 

ARTICLE 4-OFFICERS AND TRUSTEES

Section 1—The General Officers of the GBA shall consist of a moderator, a vice-moderator, a clerk, parliamentarian, and a treasurer who shall be elected annually by the Annual Meeting. The elected officers shall assume the duties at the close of the Annual Meeting.

Section 2—The Association Moderator shall be moderator of the Executive Board and Annual Meeting.  In case of the absence of the moderator, the vice-moderator shall preside.  In the event that the moderator's office becomes vacant, the vice-moderator shall become moderator.  The Executive Board shall then elect a new vice-moderator.  In case the moderator and the vice-moderator are both absent for one board meeting the Executive Board shall elect a board member to moderate the meeting.

Section 3—The clerk and the treasurer shall be nominated by the Leadership Team.  The moderator and the vice-moderator shall be nominated from the floor.  The moderator shall be eligible for election for two successive years and shall not be eligible again until one year has passed.

Section 4—Each member church should submit an annual report to the Associational Clerk.  The clerk shall prepare and distribute minutes of Annual and Executive Board meetings, keeping a complete file of the minutes.

Section 5—The treasurer shall provide general oversight ensuring that bills are received and paid as set forth in the associational budget or items prescribed by the Executive Board.

Section 6—The parliamentarian shall act as a consultant advising the moderator, other officers, teams, and members on parliamentary procedure. 

Section 7—The GBA shall have not less than three trustees who shall serve until such times as the Executive Board shall by a majority vote designate a successor trustee.  The trustees shall have no management duties or powers except as expressly authorized by the Executive Board.  The trustees shall execute, file and sign such documents, minutes, reports, or other instruments as may be necessary to comply with all applicable state and federal statutes and regulations for non-profit corporations.

ARTICLE 5-ANNUAL MEETING AND MESSENGERS  

Section 1—The Annual Meeting of the GBA shall be composed of messengers properly elected from the membership of the cooperating churches.  Every church thus cooperating in its organized work shall be entitled to four messengers, and one additional messenger for each fifty resident members or major fractional part thereof over the first hundred resident members provided that no church have over twelve messengers.  The pastor of any cooperating church is an ex-officio messenger.  The pastor shall not be subtracted from the number of messengers authorized for each church.  The pastor shall have the same rights and privileges as the elected messengers.

Section 2—The Annual Meeting, when convened for business, shall be governed by regular and proper rules of decorum as set forth in Roberts Rules of Order Revised.

Section 3—No person shall be entitled to vote in the proceedings of this body but the messengers who have been duly elected by their respective churches and who have been received and seated in this body.  The GBA retains the power to exclude any disorderly members who refuse to comply with the constitution and who refuse to comply with Roberts Rules of Order Revised.

Section 4—The GBA when in session reserves the right to determine its own policies and to transact all business, including business normally assigned to the Executive Board.

Section 5—A quorum for the annual meeting shall consist of messengers in attendance.

ARTICLE 6-EXECUTIVE BOARD

Section 1—The Executive Board shall consist of all pastors, employed church staff ministers, associational officers and staff, and two members elected by each church from its membership and shall be authorized to transact all business for the GBA when the Annual Meeting is not in session.  Two alternates may be elected by each church to serve on the Executive Board in case the elected board members cannot attend the board meetings.

Section 2—The Executive Board shall meet quarterly for business. 

Section 3—Special sessions of the Executive Board may meet upon call of the moderator or upon the request of at least one board member from five churches.  In the event of a called meeting every church shall be notified.

Section 4—A quorum of the Executive Board shall consist of Executive Board members in attendance.

Section 5—The Executive Board, when in session, shall be governed by regular and proper rules of decorum as set forth in Roberts Rules of Order Revised. 

Section 6—During the year if it becomes necessary to make a change in the action of the Annual Meeting, it shall require a three-fourths vote of the Executive Board.

 ARTICLE 7-TEAMS

Section 1—The Association may have as many ministry teams as necessary to expedite the work.  The Moderator and the Director of Missions shall act in an advisory capacity to each of the teams. If for any reason teams do not carry out their assigned objective, the Annual Meeting or the Executive Board by a majority vote shall perform the functions of such teams.

Section 2—The Leadership Team is composed of the Moderator, Vice-Moderator, Treasurer, Clerk, Director of Missions, Baptist Student Ministries Director, and a “team-leader” from each GBA team. 

Section 3—The Leadership Team reports to the Annual Meeting and the Executive Board and is responsible for compiling and managing the GBA budget and calendar and enlisting team leaders.  The Leadership Team may propose adjustments to the organization as needed in order for the GBA to fulfill its mission. 

ARTICLE 8-EMPLOYEES  

Section 1—The election of employed personnel of the GBA shall be the responsibility of the Executive Board. 

Section 2—The Director of Missions shall be responsible to the Executive Board and shall have supervision of all employees of the Association. 

ARTICLE 9-CONDUCT OF BUSINESS

Section 1—The Association may own such property as it may deem necessary, may borrow money with the approval of the Executive Board or the Annual Meeting and may transact any business pertaining to the Association work.  Any transfer of title or exchange of money in relationship to such transfer of title shall require a three-fourths majority of the Association or the Executive Board members present.

Section 2—The Association is operated in a way that does not result in accrual of distributable profit, realization of private gain resulting from payment of compensation in excess of a reasonable allowance for salary or other compensation for services rendered, or realization of any other form of private gain.

Section 3—The assets of the Association are pledged for use in performing the Association's religious functions.  Upon discontinuance of the Association by dissolution or otherwise, the entire property plus improvements attached to the land at 2515 North Loy Lake, Road in Sherman, TX shall revert to Grantor (Trinity Baptist Church, Sherman) and Grantor shall pay to Grantee the appraised value of the improved value of the improved property less the value of the land without any improvements.  This payment, together with any other property or funds then owned by the GBA, will then be disbursed according the direction of the Executive Board.

Section 4--Changes in the by-laws must be submitted to the messengers at the Annual Meeting and require a three-fourths vote of the Annual Meeting or the Executive Board to pass.