BP1.0 Comprehensive Boundary Statement
The executive minister shall not cause or allow any practice, activity, decision, or
organizational circumstance that is unlawful, unethical, or unbiblical.
BP1.1 Biblical and Moral Integrity
With regard to teaching and leadership the executive minister shall not fail
to uphold high standards of biblical teaching and morality.
BP1.2 Financial Planning and Budgeting
Financial planning for any fiscal year or the remaining part of any fiscal
year shall not deviate materially from the board's Mission Objective or
risk financial jeopardy.
BP1.2.1 Sufficient Information
The executive minister shall not allow budgeting that contains
too little information to enable credible projection of revenues
and expenses, separation of capital and operational items,
relation of expenditures to Mission Objective, and disclosure of
multiyear planning assumptions.
BP1.2.2 Expenditures within Projected Funds
The executive minister shall not allow budgeting that plans to
spend in any fiscal year more funds than are conservatively
projected to be received in that period, unless special
circumstances are adequately described including a realistic
plan to make up the deficit.
BP1.2.3 Asset and Cash Margins
The executive minister shall not allow budgeting that at any time reduces the current assets to less than 150% of current
liabilities. Neither shall the executive minister allow cash to
drop below a safety reserve of less than two month's expenses,
without having given the Board of Overseers notice of such
event.
BP1.2.4 Board Funding
The executive minister shall not allow budgeting that provides
less for board activities during the year than is set forth in the
Cost of Governance Principle, AP1.2.7.
BP1.3 Financial Condition and Activities
With respect to the actual, ongoing financial conditions and activities, the
executive minister shall not allow the development of fiscal jeopardy or a
material deviation of actual expenditures from board priorities established
in the Mission Objective.
BP1.3.1 Expenditures
The executive minister shall not expend more funds than have
been received in the fiscal year to date unless the following
debt guideline, BP1.3.2, is met.
BP1.3.2 Debt
The executive minister shall not indebt the District in an amount
greater than can be repaid by reliable, otherwise unencumbered
revenues within ninety days.
BP1.3.3 Long-Term Reserves
The executive minister shall not use any long-term reserves.
BP1.3.4 Inter-fund Shifting
The executive minister shall not conduct inter-fund shifting in
amounts greater than can be restored to a condition of discrete
fund balances by reliable, otherwise unencumbered revenue
within ninety days.
BP1.3.5 Payroll and Debt Settlement
The executive minister shall not fail to settle payroll and debts
in a timely manner.
BP1.3.6 Government Payments and Filings
The executive minister shall not allow tax payments, if any, or
other government-ordered payments or filings to be overdue or
inaccurately filed.
BP1.3.7 Purchase Cap
The Executive Minister shall not make or authorize a single
purchase or expenditure of greater than $5,000.00, except as
specifically authorized by the Board of Overseers and/or the
annual budget.
BP1.3.8 Real Property
The executive minister shall not acquire, encumber, or dispose
of real property.
BP1.4 Asset Protection
The executive minister shall not allow the assets to be unprotected,
inadequately maintained, or unnecessarily risked.
BP1.4.1 Insurance
The executive minister shall not fail to insure against theft and
casualty losses at replacement value and against liability losses
to board members, staff, and the District itself in an amount at
or greater than the average for comparable organizations.
BP1.4.2 Bonding
The executive minister shall not allow un-bonded personnel
access to material amounts of funds.
BP1.4.3 Facilities and Equipment
The executive minister shall not subject facilities and
equipment to improper wear and tear or insufficient
maintenance.
BP1.4.4 Liability
The executive minister shall not unnecessarily expose the
organization, its board, or its staff to claims of liability.
BP1.4.5 Purchases
The executive minister shall not make any purchase 1) wherein
there is a direct or indirect conflict of interest which has not
been made known to the Board of Overseers and subsequently
authorized by the Board of Overseers [For reference see Article
VI, Section 19 of the HBD By-Laws]; 2) of over $1,000
without having obtained comparative prices and quality; and 3)
of over $5,000 without a stringent method of assuring the
balance of long-term quality and cost.
BP1.4.6 Information Protection
The executive minister shall not fail to protect intellectual
property, information, and files from loss or significant
damage.
BP1.4.7 Auditor
The executive minister shall not receive, process, or disburse
funds under controls that are insufficient to meet the boardappointed
auditor's standards.
BP1.4.8 Secure Instruments
The executive minister shall not invest or hold operating
capital in insecure instruments, including uninsured checking
accounts and bonds of less than AA rating, or in non-interest
bearing accounts except when necessary to facilitate ease in
operational transactions.
BP1.4.9 Public Reputation
The executive minister shall not endanger the organization's
public image or credibility, particularly in ways that would
hinder its accomplishment of mission.
BP1.5 Compensation and Benefits
With respect to employment, compensation, and benefits to employees,
consultants, contract worker, and volunteers, the executive minister shall
not cause or allow jeopardy to fiscal integrity or public image.
BP1.5.1 Executive Minister Compensation
The executive minister shall not change his or her own
compensation and benefits.
BP1.5.2 Creation of New Positions
The executive minister shall not create or fill a new position
without prior approval of board and/or delegates.
BP1.5.3 Promise of Employment
The executive minister shall not promise or imply permanent
or guaranteed employment.
BP1.5.4 Market Value
The executive minister shall not establish current compensation
and benefits that deviate materially from the geographic or
professional market for the skills employed.
BP1.5.5 Term of Compensation
The executive minister shall not create compensation
obligations over a longer term than revenues can be safely
projected, in no event longer than one year, and in all events
subject to losses in revenue.
BP1.5.6 Fairness of Benefits
The executive minister shall not establish or change health,
pension and other employee benefits so as to cause
unpredictable or inequitable situations.
BP1.6 Treatment of Staff
With respect to the treatment of paid and volunteer staff, the executive
minister may not cause or allow conditions that are unfair or illegal.
BP1.6.1 Grievances
The executive minister shall resolve all bona fide personnel
grievances at the lowest level possible, but shall not prevent staff
from forwarding a written grievance to the Board.
BP1.7 Communication with and Support to the Board
The executive minister shall not permit the board to receive incomplete or
selected information or to be unsupported in its work.
BP1.8 Responsive to Need
The executive minister will not leave the expressed or observed needs of
lay leaders, pastors or churches to go unaddressed.
AP1.0 Comprehensive Accountability Statement
The accountability of the board before God, on behalf of the member churches of
the HBD is to see that District staff, through the leadership of its executive
minister, (1) achieves the fulfillment of its Mission Objective, and (2) avoids
violation of its Boundary Principles.
AP1.1 Stewardship to Christ for Those He Calls Us to Serve
The board shall maintain an active connection to the “moral ownership” of
the District: Christ and the churches he has called this District to serve.
AP1.1.1 Devotion to Prayer and the Word of God
Under the teaching and guidance of the executive minister, the
board will continually seek the wisdom and leading of Christ as
the Lord of His church. To this end, time will be given to
prayer and study of Scripture at regularly scheduled meetings.
AP1.1.2 Constituent Input and Feedback
The board will receive input and feedback from member
churches to better understand their needs. Periodically the
board will arrange an objective assessment by a competent
consulting group.
AP1.1.3 Demographic and Cultural Research
The board will gather data each year to enhance its
understanding of the needs of people in the communities and
cultures where it is planting, revitalizing, and resourcing
churches.
AP1.2 Maintaining the Process of the Board
The board shall conduct itself with discipline and integrity with regard to its own
process of governance. The board shall not cause or allow any practice, activity,
decision, or organizational circumstance that is unlawful, unethical, or unbiblical.
AP1.2.1 Board Style
The board will govern with an emphasis on (1) outward vision
rather than internal preoccupation, (2) encouragement of
diversity in viewpoints, (3) strategic leadership more than
administrative detail, (4) clear distinction of board and staff
roles, (5) collective rather than individual decisions, (6) future
rather than past or present, and (7) proactivity rather than
reactivity.
AP1.2.2 Board Job Responsibilities
The essential responsibilities of the board are linkage to the
moral owners, the creation of and compliance to the guiding
principles, and the monitoring of executive minister
performance. In addition to these three essentials, the board
shall exercise authority granted to it by state and federal law,
and in the constitution and bylaws not delegating them to the
executive minister.
AP1.2.3 Board Member Code of Conduct
The board commits itself and its members to the following
code of conduct:
a. Members of the board must represent unconflicted loyalty
to the interests of Christ regarding those whom he has
called the District to serve (Matt. 28:18-20). This loyalty
supersedes any personal or group interest among or outside
consumers of the District's services. A member must
disclose any conflict of interest, fiduciary or otherwise, and
withdraw from any decision-making affected by it.
b. Members of the board must honor the principles and
decisions of the board acting as a whole. They may not
foster dissent or attempt to exercise individual authority
over the staff or the organization except as explicitly stated
in the guiding principles.
c. Members of the board must respect the confidentiality of
sensitive board issues and must avoid facilitating gossip or
other "triangulation" against the practice of direct, biblical
resolution.
AP1.2.4 Responsibility of the Chairperson for Integrity of Process
The chairperson holds the board accountable for abiding by the
Accountability Principles both in terms of process and outcomes.
The chair will lead the board by example, personally honoring
and abiding by the Accountability Principles.
AP1.2.5 Responsibility of the Executive Minister for Visionary
Leadership
The executive minister has the responsibility, authority, and
accountability to serve as the primary leader of the District at
every level: constituents, board, and staff. With respect to the
board, the executive minister will envision the board on all
actions except for monitoring of executive minister
performance. If a question of process arises with regard to the
bylaws or guiding principles of the District, the executive
minister will defer to the judgment of the chairperson.
AP1.2.6 Use of Board Committees
Board committees, if used, will be assigned so as to reinforce
the wholeness of the board's job and never to interfere with the
delegation from the board to the executive minister or with the
work of the staff.
AP1.2.7 Cost of Governance
The board will invest annually in its own governance capacity
through training, outside expertise, research mechanisms, and
meeting costs.
AP1.3 Monitoring the Performance of the Executive Minister
The board's sole official connection to the operating organization of the
District, its achievement, and conduct shall be through the executive
minister.
AP1.3.1 Unity of Control
Only decisions of the board acting as a whole are binding on the
executive minister. To be binding they must be stated in
writing and recorded in the board minutes.
AP1.3.2 Accountability of the Executive Minister
The executive minister is the board's only link to operational
achievement and conduct, so that all authority and accountability
of staff, as far as the board is concerned, is considered the
authority and accountability of the executive minister.
AP1.3.3 Delegation to the Executive Minister
The board will instruct the executive minister through written
principles that prescribe the mission to be achieved and establish
the boundaries to be respected, allowing the executive minister to
use any reasonable interpretation of these principles.
AP1.3.4 Performance of the Executive Minister
The monitoring of the Executive Minister will be systematic,
objective and done collectively by the board. The Executive
Minister's job performance will be evaluated only in
relationship to the District accomplishment of the board's
Mission Objective and District operation within the board's
Boundary Principles.
a. The executive minister will be required to write measurable
goals each year that correspond to the board's Mission
Objective. The board will review and approve these goals.
b. Each year the board shall review the results achieved by the
executive minister on each of the annual goals, as the basis
of either a raise or corrective action.
