The Executive Council of the Three Forks Baptist Association met on October 6, 2020. Those in attendance were David Cooper, Nancy Williams, Dianne Brown, Charlie Martin, Pat Dalton, Jenifer Waldorf, Chuck Campbell, Darrell Hobbs, Seth Norris, and Ben Bolick.

 

Seth Norris announced that the search team had found a candidate for DOM, who will be voted on by the Association at the Semi-Annual meeting on October 20. Seth then opened the meeting in prayer.

 

DOM Candidate: David Cooper, Search Team chair, gave a brief synopsis of the search process that resulted in Wesley Smith being chosen as the DOM candidate. The search team decided at the outset that they were not going to use a “shotgun approach” to finding a candidate.  Instead of a casting a wide net, through advertising for a candidate, they relied upon word of mouth and referrals by people who knew that the Association was ready to begin searching for a DOM. Although this led to fewer resumes being submitted, the team was in agreement that the man God would have them choose for the job was represented.

 

Upon review of the resumes, the resume of Wesley Smith immediately rose to the top.  He was contacted by members of the search team via Zoom for a preliminary meeting, and then had a Zoom call with the entire search team. His references were all contacted, and all those contacted were very positive with regards to his character and qualifications for the position. Upon further discussion, it was decided that Wesley would be offered the DOM position, which he accepted pending approval of the Three Forks Baptist Association at a Semi-Annual meeting.

 

Bud Russell, who was a member of the search team, will present the candidate for voting at the Semi-Annual meeting.

 

Semi-Annual Agenda: Due to COVID-19, the Semi-Annual meeting will have a shortened program this year, focusing on the business of the Association. The Executive Council determined the agenda for the evening would consist of voting on the nominating report and the 2021 budget, a finance and Treasurer’s report, and a sermon from DOM candidate Wesley Smith, followed by a vote on Wesley as the DOM candidate.

 

Prior to the selection of a DOM candidate there had been plans to vote on proposed changes to the Association by-laws.  It was determined that these changes would be tabled for the time being, to allow the new DOM, pending election, to have an input into the proposed changes, and to suggest any further changes he would recommend.

 

Due to COVID restraints, messengers to this year’s meeting will be allowed to attend and vote virtually.  The format for this virtual attendance will be a Facebook live stream on the First Baptist church of Blowing Rock Facebook page. Voting for the nominating report and budget approval have historically been by voice vote. These votes will be virtually submitted by commenting on the livestream. Because DOM candidate votes are typically conducted by a secret ballot, virtual votes for the DOM candidate will be via a Google form submitted to the Associational office.  These will be counted in real time and the vote will be announced at the Semi-Annual meeting.

 

The meeting was closed in prayer by Seth Norris and David Cooper.