Missourian explains resolutions process
SAN ANTONIO – Robin Hadaway, associate professor of missions at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a member of Pleasant Valley Baptist Church in Liberty, served on the 2007 Resolutions Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention in San Antonio. This is the second year in a row for Hadaway to sit on the committee, being one of the mandated holdovers from the previous year.
What may not be known about the Resolutions Committee is the amount of work that is involved in being part of the group. They arrive in the Convention city on the Wednesday before the start of the Convention, and work from 7:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. for three consecutive days.
“There were more resolutions submitted this year than ever before since the Convention began the new format where resolutions have to be submitted prior to the Convention,” said Hadaway. “Altogether there were 36 resolutions submitted, with 8 of them being brought of the committee.
“When a resolution is submitted it becomes the property of the resolution committee. The committee can do one of three things – pass it along as is, combine resolutions together to form one new one, or decline a resolution altogether. The committee can also choose to write a resolution outright, such as I did last year in Greensboro regarding Darfur and North Korea.”
Hadaway said that sometimes people do not understand the purpose of a resolution. “Whereas a motion is a call for action, a resolution is for expressing the sentiment of the Convention,” said Hadaway. “Theological issues in need of definition are more proper for a motion. Furthermore, if a resolution is aimed at an agency of the Convention, we don’t pass that either.”
Although it meant living out of a suitcase for extra days, Hadaway considered it an honor to have served on the Resolutions Committee these past two years.