CONSTITUTION

(Revised 2014)

ARTICLE I - NAME

 Bayou Baptist Association

ARTICLE II – OBJECT

The Object of the Bayou Baptist Association shall be a family of Southern Baptist churches and its missions, working together in harmony, to evangelize, disciple, and develop strong, healthy churches.

ARTICLE III – MEMBERSHIP

A. The Association’s affiliates shall be composed of cooperating Southern Baptist Churches and Missions in good standing with the Southern Baptist Convention. An affiliated church or mission in good standing is a cooperating church or mission participating financially to the work of the Association annually by giving a minimum of one hundred dollars. 

B. Each church and mission affiliating with the Association shall be entitled to five messengers for the first fifty resident members or fraction thereof and one messenger for each additional fifty resident members provided that no church shall be entitled to more than ten messengers. Resident members shall be determined from the Annual Church Profile. All messengers shall be elected/appointed by their churches.

C. This Association shall recognize the absolute independence of its churches. The Association shall be at liberty to advise churches or to withdraw from churches that the Association considers not friendly, uncooperative, disorderly, heretical, unethical, immoral and unsympathetic with the association’s purposes and work. The Association may restore to fellowship any church from which it may have withdrawn.

D. Any church which has taken action affirming, approving, or endorsing the practice of homosexuality shall not be considered as cooperating with the Bayou Baptist Association. Such actions include but are not limited to the licensure or ordination of homosexuals, marriage or blessing of homosexual relationships, and endorsing homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle.

ARTICLE IV – NEW CHURCHES

New churches desiring to affiliate with the Association shall adopt a formal resolution in business meeting, which shall be presented in a business meeting of the Association by a committee of at least three members of the church. The request shall be automatically referred to the Executive Board for study, which shall bring recommendations at the next annual business meeting concerning appropriate action on the part of the Association, except when the church has been constituted from a mission sponsored by a church already affiliated with the Association.  In such case, the church may be received into fellowship with the Association at the time the request is made, provided it is accompanied by a recommendation of the previously sponsoring church, adopted by that church in business session.  Churches making applications shall be expected to present proof of eligibility in accordance with Article Three: Membership of this Constitution.

ARTICLE V – OFFICERS

A. General Officers of the Bayou Baptist Association shall be: Moderator, Vice-Moderator, Clerk, and Treasurer.

B. The term of office of Moderator and Vice-Moderator shall be limited to two (2) years in succession.

C. Representatives from the Bayou Baptist Association to the Baptist Collegiate Ministries, Baptist Message, Acadian Baptist Center, Louisiana College, and the Baptist Children’s Home may attend the Executive Board meetings to report on the status of the entity for which they represent.

D.  All associational representatives, Team members, and officers will be voted on at an August Annual Meeting.  Upon ratification of the Team members, representatives and officers at this Annual Meeting, these elected persons will assume office and serve until their successors are elected.

ARTICLE VI-METHODS OF ELECTION

A. The standing Committee on Nominations shall nominate all General Officers, Team members and representatives. These nominations shall be recommend to an August Annual Meeting for approval.  The nominations will be ratified at this Annual Meeting.

B. When the Nomination Committee presents its reports in the August Annual Meeting, all officers and members may be considered in block for election. Further nominations may be permitted by amendment to the motion to elect.

C. The duties of all Officers shall begin at the close of the Annual Meeting. The outgoing clerk shall be responsible for compiling and publishing the minutes for the year in which they served, unless otherwise relieved by the Executive Board or the Association.

ARTICLE VII - MEETING

A. The Annual Business Meeting of the Association shall be held in August. This August meeting shall be the primary business session of the Association.

B. OTHER MEETINGS: The Association shall sponsor other meetings for inspiration, planning, or training, as may be authorized in the associational calendar.

ARTICLE VIII - EXECUTIVE BOARD

1. Authority: The Executive Board shall have the authority to transact all Associational business during the intervals between meetings, with the exception of changing the Constitution and By Laws.
2. Composition: The Executive Board shall be composed of all the General Officers of the Association, pastors of the churches and missions, all elected Team members (Administrative, Discipleship, and Strategic) and one layperson from the membership of each church and mission. Final election of these members shall be by the Association. The Moderator shall be chairman of the Executive Board.  The Director of Missions shall be an ex-officio member of the Executive Board.
3. Meetings:  The Executive Board shall meet in January, April, and October. A quorum shall consist of the elected members in attendance at any calendared meeting. In the event of a SPECIAL CALLED meeting, a representation of one-third of the Associational Churches and Missions shall constitute a quorum. Any SPECIAL CALLED meeting shall require a minimum of 14 day written notification of said meeting.

ARTICLE IX – ADMENDMENTS

This Constitution and its By-Laws may be amended at the Annual meeting of the Association by two-thirds vote of the messengers attending such meeting. Any Amendment proposal should be given to the Associational Clerk no less than 45 days prior to the meeting in which it will be presented. Proposed Amendments to the Constitution and its By-Laws will be announced by a 30 day written notice to the Associations Cooperating churches.

BY-LAWS

1. 1. The Association shall be governed in all its deliberations by the most recent edition of Robert’s Rules of Order.
   2. Visitors, after they have been accepted by the association and enrolled as such, may have the privilege of speaking.
   3. All speakers must avoid unbrotherly remarks and personal reflections, and anyone judged as guilty of such offense shall be required by the moderator to be seated or removed from the meeting.
   4. The Director of Missions shall choose or approve speakers for all associational meetings or programs sponsored by their organizations or committees. In the absence of the DOM, the Moderator shall approve any speaker.
   5. The Policies and Procedures Manual are subject to the Constitution and By-Laws.