The 179th annual meeting of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina came and went with all pre-convention anxieties proven without foundation.

The main business was to elect officers, pass a budget and approve changes to the Articles and Bylaws.

None of these issues evoked much discussion.

No motions were introduced in miscellaneous business. No one could remember that happening before. Candidates for the top two offices were unchallenged. I feel for Ray Davis of Forbush who was unaware that the slate had been determined when he offered himself last spring for second vice president.

With a push from those wanting to see a small church pastor in office, he made a good showing, garnering 47 percent of the vote.

Ed Yount, Mark Harris and C.J. Bordeaux all announced to the Biblical Recorder on the same day in May that they would be nominated for office. Announcing early is a good preemptive strategy. That puts anyone else considering seeking office in the position of running “against” an announced candidate, rather than “for” the office.

It all makes for a smooth convention and a quick election. I just wonder if having only single candidates for office indicates unity or apathy. Perhaps another option to consider at this stage is trust; people in the pews trusting leadership to do the right thing and they’re leaving it to them.

During limited budget discussion Tommy Tripp wanted to know why Baptist student scholarships could not be increased in size if more money was budgeted than was applied for. Several asked about the size of reserves held by the BSC and were told a complete audit would be sent them upon request.

One person asked why institutions that “don’t believe like we do” continue to receive money. The obvious reference was to the colleges and Jerry Wallace, president of Campbell University, was applauded when he said, “The beliefs of this Convention and of Campbell University and the other schools are compatible and have been that way for 123 years.”

There’s no more fussing about the colleges. A wise and mutually beneficial process is in place by which their Cooperative Program (CP) funds diminish to zero over a four-year period in exchange for being able to name their own trustees.

Is that working well for the colleges? Ask any president and you’ll hear, “Yes.” Is it working well for the BSC? That’s a resounding yes as the decreasing allocation to the colleges saved the BSC $1.2 million in the next budget.

When the college allocation reaches zero in 2012 qualified Baptist students going to our colleges who apply will still get a scholarship. That amount will vary with the number of applicants and income. This year it was $1,500.

The Council on Christian Higher Education — issuing its last report as a council — said it would like to expand the scholarships to award North Carolina Baptist students attending at least some other Christian schools.

That is a bad idea from conception and should be dropped before it breathes.

Missions money that follows a student to one of the schools North Carolina Baptists nurtured to adulthood continues the nurture.

But sending CP dollars with students to other schools validates the criticism that we spend our missions dollars on ourselves. More on this later.

In the Executive Committee meeting before the annual meeting started, a report was made of the survey taken among all North Carolina Baptist churches concerning their preferred source for missions offering and education materials.

Eight hundred churches had responded. Of those, 75 percent said they preferred to continue their relationship with Woman’s Missionary Union of North Carolina (WMU-NC). Good for them.

Ashley Allen, who leads the new Embrace women’s ministry started by the BSC when it fell out with WMU-NC, says there is no competition between Embrace and WMU-NC and that both are needed. Good for her.

There may be apathy on the edges, but a strong leadership core in our state is focusing on mission and hoping that will be enough to rally renewed commitment to the cooperative effort of our churches.

Kudos to planners

Few who attend the annual meeting have a clue about what it takes to pull off such an event without a hitch. Of course, few of the people who plop into the pew on Sunday morning have a real idea about what it takes to plan and execute a worship service and the Bible study classes that go along with it each week.

I’ve been involved in planning and executing such meetings with the Southern Baptist Convention and with the BSC and the details are massive. This meeting went off beautifully and planners deserve kudos. Timmy Blair, pastor of Piney Grove Chapel in Angier, chaired the Program, Place and Preacher Committee which is responsible for putting it together.

The event was beautifully constructed around a theme that program personalities actually addressed. The Koury Center venue in Greensboro was outstanding for the main program and breakout sessions … not so much for venders in the exhibit area, which was on a separate floor from the main meeting hall.

This was still light years ahead of the situation we endured in Winston-Salem with the exhibit hall in a separate building across a large parking lot. The Greensboro Coliseum of the past three years had great exhibit hall proximity to the main floor, but breakout space and auxiliary meeting places were an issue.

Attendance was down again this year, by 13 percent over last year, making it the smallest attendance since 1952.

North Carolina’s annual meeting is still the largest of any state convention, more than double Florida’s for instance and half again the attendance in Georgia. No one knows how much attendance decline to attribute to travel costs, economy, disinterest, aging membership or the fact that peace reigns and there are no competing banners to rally around.

But declining attendance does portend a two-day meeting in the near future. It was tried before but at weird days of the week. If the Pastors’ Conference can work out arrangements with the BSC and Koury to meet in the BSC space, that would boost hotel room nights and positively affect costs.

The Pastors’ Conference has started electing officers two years out, to help planners secure speakers who often have packed schedules. It’s working as the lineup this year was outstanding.

After 2011 when the contract with Koury is up, the BSC may be in a position to meet in a church. That would accommodate the business and worship sessions, but would be a royal pain for exhibitors and for messengers who like to scoop up vendor goodies for their grandchildren.