Update from Baptist Communicators Association 
February 24, 2000  

Greetings from Baptist Communicators Association! Your officers met in Atlanta last Friday, and I want to bring you an update on several things coming out of that meeting. Some of these impact discussions we'll have as a larger group during the annual workshop in Chicago. 

Website 

The new BCA website is nearing completion. Though this was not her primary responsibility when she signed on as membership vice president this year, Kim Burke has done an outstanding job leading development of the website. You may recall that she won top honors in the BCA awards competition last year for her work on the site for Tennesee Baptist Children's Home. Our BCA site should be up and running by the time of the workshop. Stay tuned for more. 

Speaking of Chicago ... 

We've got a good pre-registration for RCC2000 in Chicago. That's where we'll hold the annual BCA workshop as part of the Religion Communicators Congress 2000. You should have received a mailing on this recently that outlined all the unique BCA functions during RCC. But just for the sake of reinforcement, here's a quick review:

 We'll have roundtable discussions by affinity groups on Thursday and Saturday mornings. We'll have a BCA-only business session and breakfast (sponsored by LifeWay Christian Resources and featuring a presentation by Jimmy Draper) on Friday morning. Our annual awards banquet will be a Saturday luncheon with a Chicago theme. On Thursday night, we'll journey just a few short blocks from the hotel to the fabulous Rainforest Cafe for a dutch-treat meal together in a private room. If you haven't made reservations yet, please do so quickly! The block of hotel rooms will be released March 1, and there will be no guarantee of getting a room after that point.

Awards competition 

We had nearly 500 entries in this year's awards competition. That's a new record, and a whopping increase over last year. Stephanie Delgado, our awards chairwoman, and Keith Beene, BCA administrator, arranged the judging last Monday. I have no idea who entered or who won what; they are the only two members who know. We'll all find out soon in Chicago, though! Thanks to all who participated in this year's competition. And thanks to Stephanie and Keith for tons of hard work (and some still to come).

New members 

We've gained 31 new members in recent months. That's great. But there are lots more Baptist communicators out there who ought to be members of our association. Please help spread the word, and enlist your co-workers and friends. This year's membership drive is still going, and the membership committee will be giving out prizes in Chicago to the members who have done the best job in recruitment. 

2001 workshop 

Last year, members voted to conduct our 2001 workshop in South Carolina. Scott Vaughan of the South Carolina Baptist Convention is heading this effort. Plans are being made to hold the main sessions at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Columbia, S.C., where we will have access to outstanding program possibilities. The South Carolina communications staff is putting some really thoughtful work into planning, and I know you'll be pleased with the outcome. The workshop probably will be held on a Wednesday through Friday schedule, and then we plan to offer an optional Saturday add-on that will feature a trip to Charleston. We're tentatively planning to offer two options in Charleston, one a shopping and general sightseeing option, the other a Baptist history and heritage tour. There are several historic Baptist sites in the Charleston area, not the least of which is First Baptist Church of Charleston, the mother church of the Southern Baptist Convention. More details later.

Recommendations for business session At the Chicago meeting, members will be asked to consider several items of business. One of these involves a bylaws amendment. Here's a summary of what will be presented: 

(1) Creation of a missions vice president and missions committee. The idea behind this is to foster awareness of communications-specific opportunities in volunteer missions. The officers believe our members want to be involved in missions work personally and would appreciate knowing about places where their unique skills could be best used. This recommendation will require a bylaws amendment.

(2) Increase in member dues. A modest increase in dues will be recommended--from $60 currently to $75 next year. Remember that the dues help offset expenses for the annual workshops, provide scholarships for students and members alike and underwrite the administrative background that keeps the association running. 

(3) Joint summer workshop with ASBN. The Association of State Baptist Newspapers has invited BCA to cosponsor a summer journalism workshop in July 2001 at Samford University. This will be an excellent opportunity for intensive training in a Baptist-specific context. If approved by the membership, we'll begin joint planning of the program offerings. Your suggestions are encouraged. 

(4) Future workshops. As previously announced, we are recommending Louisville, Ky., as site for the 2002 workshop. Denise Withers, communications specialist with the Kentucky Baptist Convention and a convention planner of the first order, is spearheading this effort. 

(5) Anniversary celebration. After announcing last fall that we hoped to have BCA's 50th anniversary celebration in Fort Worth in 2003, we were sent back to the history books for further review. It seems the association has three possible dates that could be celebrated as anniversaries. Baptist Public Relations Association, as it was called then, was conceived in 1953 in Nashville. A constitutional meeting was held in 1954 in St. Louis. And the first workshop was held in 1955 in Fort Worth. A 25th anniversary workshop was held in Fort Worth in 1979. Given all the options at hand, the officers have decided to recommend marking the anniversary by the date of constitution. Therefore, we are recommending planning a 50th anniversary celebration in 2004 in St. Louis. In the coming weeks, I will be appointing a 50th anniversary task force to lead this project. 

(6) Lifetime membership. Two members will be nominated for lifetime membership, a special privilege reserved for those who are at least 55 years of age, are retired and have given active leadership in the association for 20 years or more. Nominees are Tom Brannon, recently retired director of communications for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, and Jim Newton, recently retired communications director for World Vision and former staff member at more Baptist agencies than I have room to list. Please let me know if you are aware of any other business items that need to come before the group when we meet in Chicago. I look forward to seeing you there!

Mark Wingfield 
BCA President 

P.S.: If you have Grapevine news (job changes, family developments, etc.) for a future newsletter, please e-mail them to Keith Beene (bca.office@att.net) or Sean Taylor (staylor@namb.net).