wfn.org | Agency executives elected, Nugent given additional year

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 31, 2001 News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.     10-21-71B{502}

MIAMI (UMNS) - The term of the Rev. Randolph Nugent, top staff executive of
the United Methodist Church's missions agency since 1981, has been extended
for one year by the denomination's General Council on Ministries (GCOM).

General secretaries of the church's eight program agencies are nominated by
their respective governing bodies but must be elected annually by the GCOM's
68 voting members. 

During their meeting here Oct. 26-30, some GCOM members argued against
Nugent's continuation at the Board of Global Ministries, pointing to a
statement in the church's Book of Discipline that says, "No elected general
program agency staff shall hold the same position more than 12 years."
Others supported the extension, pointing to another reference in the Book of
Discipline that says GCOM "may annually suspend this provision by a
two-thirds ballot vote."

Nugent has headed the New York-based agency since 1981, but the 12-year rule
did not apply to time served before Jan. 1, 1989.

The Rev. Andy Langford of Matthews, N.C., spoke against Nugent's
re-election. "I see this (extension) as a major capitulation of our
disciplinary job," he said.  

Mary Silva of San Marcos, Texas, affirmed the extension. "The church has
spoken about tenure, but it also allows us to be flexible by providing a
procedure whereby a two-thirds vote a general secretary can be re-elected." 

Larry Powell, chairperson of GCOM's General Secretaries Election Committee,
reported that the Board of Global Ministries has a search process under way,
headed by Bishop Joel Martinez of San Antonio. Deadline for applicants is
March 31. A nominee will be at the October 2002 GCOM meeting, he said.  

Aside from any arguments about the continuation of specific individuals,
many in the council and agency governing boards disagree with the policy
established by the General Conference.  GCOM member Burnham Robinson of Fort
Worth, Texas, captured that sentiment when he told his colleagues, "I have
problems with GCOM having oversight of another agency's personnel function."
He and others argued that nobody knows the needed qualifications of a
general secretary better than members of the individual agency.  

Dan Church, the GCOM's top staff executive, was even more emphatic: "In my
view, the election of general secretaries is a function given to the GCOM
not because it is a sensible or logical way in which to govern these
decisions, but because the makers of the legislation did not have sufficient
trust in each other to find an alternative." Commending the process to a
third party such as the GCOM is a "failed policy, and it must be changed,"
he said. 

Likewise, Church said the 12-year rule for general secretaries reflects a
lack of trust and a "lack of resolve to administer personnel performance
evaluation policies" across the church. "Now we place inordinate attention
on the tenure of a general secretary rather than her or his performance in
advancing the mission of the church and the cause of Christ." 

The Rev. Jerome Del Pino was elected as the new general secretary of the
Board of Higher Education and Ministry in Nashville, Tenn. The board's
governing body nominated Del Pino in June by mail ballot and asked the GCOM
to elect him by mail ballot. Council officers refused, saying they must
follow their interview procedures and would consider his election at their
fall meeting. Because clergy appointments are made at the time of the annual
conference, Del Pino moved from Boston to Nashville and served as "general
secretary nominee" until his election.

To avoid this awkwardness in the future, GCOM members approved a
recommendation that nominations be considered at both their semiannual
meetings. When a change is expected, the nominee could be introduced to GCOM
members for consideration in the spring.

GCOM members also voted to ask that a member of the agency be assigned as a
liaison to the personnel committees of each program board. Powell said the
individuals would not vote in the agency committees but would provide open
communications between their work and GCOM.  "Our vision is for our
committee to model a new relational style of doing the work," he said.  

GCOM members paid tribute to Cecelia Long, who is leaving the Commission on
the Status and Role of Women after 12 years as co-general secretary. The
commission, based in Evanston, Ill., is the only agency that has two general
secretaries. The Rev. Stephanie Hixon, the commission's other top executive,
was elected for another year, along with other general secretaries: the Rev.
Karen Greenwaldt, Nashville, Board of Discipleship; the Rev. Joe Harris,
Nashville, Commission on United Methodist Men; the Rev. Chester Jones,
Washington, Commission on Religion and Race; the Rev. Bruce Robbins, New
York, Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns; and Jim
Winkler, Washington, Board of Church and Society.  

During the GCOM meeting, the general secretaries were formally installed. In
roundtable sessions, they shared with the council some of the resources
provided following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. 
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United Methodist News Service
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