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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:
- 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.
- The
Local Church--We respect the autonomy and diversity of member
churches.
- The
Great Commission—We hold fast the urgent work of reaching the
lost and developing disciples.
- Cooperation--We
are committed to working together in a Spirit of love and trust.
- 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:
- by
a corporation exempt from Federal Income Tax under section
501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.
- 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:
- Churches
must be committed to working in fellowship with member churches
whose best expression of theological identity is the Baptist Faith
and Message.
- Churches
must affirm the core values of GBA and be committed to working
with member churches to carry out GBA’s mission and vision.
- 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.
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