FRANKLIN — In efforts to keep the focus of the 2024 annual meeting on celebrating the Tennessee Baptist Convention’s 150th anniversary, the TBC Resolutions Committee affirmed the following recommendations for the 2024 Summit:
• A request that resolutions come to the committee no later than 15 days before the meeting.
• A request that only resolutions regarding thanks and appreciation be submitted.
The Committee also notes a limited time in the business session when resolutions might be considered.
Dennis Trull, pastor of First Baptist Church, McKenzie, serves as chair of the Resolutions Committee. Trull led the recent committee meeting, which was held via Zoom, and said the recommendations were made to reflect the spirit of celebration that TBC leadership is desiring.
“I think everything at Summit is going to be hinging on — or at least connecting back to — the 150-year celebration,” said Trull. “So, we just want this (the recommendations segment of the meeting) to be a season of being positive and being grateful for the 150 years of ministry and the history of the TBC. … It’s really a unifying thing we’re trying to promote. That’s the focus, the intention, of what we were going for.”
Trull said he believes two purposes will be served — the resolutions segment will be a time of reflection and also a time of looking ahead.
“We want to use this time to voice our gratitude for those opportunities from the Lord,” he said, “and yet still be looking to the future as we continue to share the gospel of Christ in word deed.”
Trull added: “We’re not trying to stifle or prohibit anybody from sharing. We’re just trying to make sure that our focus is on celebrating what God has done in the past and being grateful for those things.”
Trull said essengers will have opportunities to have their voices heard.
“We want this to be a season of thanksgiving, but if anybody wants to bring something from the floor or wants to submit something, it will be dealt with in a very faithful way by the committee,” he said.
Trull noted that all committee members who were able to attend the recent online meeting were in favor of the recommendations for this year’s session.
“Everybody — to a person — was on board with what we were proposing,” Trull said. “We were unanimous on that. Now, granted, we didn’t have everybody (from the committee on the call), because it was just hard to find a time when all of us could get together. But the ones who were there all agreed that this was the right thing for this year’s meeting.”
Trull said he believes the recommedations will help facilitate a spirit of togetherness and harmony — which is a vibe that the annual meeting actually should have every year.
“Resolutions really are supposed to bring us all together, anyway,” he said. “So, what could be a better way of bringing us all together than celebrating the remarkable century-and-a-half of ministry that God has used Tennessee Baptists and looking to the future as He continues to use us.” B&R
