January 27, 1999

More funding changes likely, Dilday predicts
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___Motions to further reduce funds flowing from Texas Baptists to certain Southern Baptist Convention causes likely will be presented to messengers attending next November's Baptist General Convention of Texas annual session in El Paso, according to President Russell Dilday.
___Dilday first made the prediction in an interview with the Abilene Reporter-News Jan. 19. He explained his

RUSSELL DILDAY

comments further in an interview with the Baptist Standard Jan. 22.
___Dilday told the Standard he did not intend to give the impression that he was advocating such changes. Rather, he honestly predicted what he believes is likely to happen, in response to a reporter's direct question, he said.
___"It is inevitable that in El Paso there will be some votes on the way Texas Baptists share resources," Dilday said. He suggested such recommendations could come from the convention floor if not put forward by a BGCT committee.
___Currently, the convention has a committee studying how to fully fund recommendations of an Effectiveness/Efficiency Committee report adopted in 1997. The next BGCT allocation currently is in development, but neither the E/E funding committee nor the BGCT Administrative Committee has received a proposal to defund national agencies in favor of Texas initiatives.
___The other possible source of recommendations on funding changes would be the BGCT Executive Board, although no proposal for change currently is before the board.
___Dilday said he has heard strong sentiment expressed for decreasing funding for certain SBC causes flowing through the Texas Baptist Cooperative Program unified budget. Specifically, those causes for which some Texans have the strongest distaste, he said, include Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.; Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.; Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo.; and the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission in Nashville, Tenn.
___In 1994, the BGCT altered its definition of what constitutes a Cooperative Program gift. Since that time, churches have been able to give to Texas causes without being required to share part of that giving with causes outside the state. They also may direct non-Texas causes to receive a greater distribution of their CP contributions than the traditional 67/33 percent Texas/worldwide split.
___Churches are given several options for the disbursement of the "world missions" portion of their gifts, including supporting the SBC, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Baptist World Alliance. Churches also have been given the option to designate their funds away from up to five entities among the Texas or SBC causes and still have their gifts counted as part of the Cooperative Program.
___Any further changes in Texas giving options would "allow churches to divide funds between the BGCT and SBC with more selectivity," Dilday predicted.
___Although not cited by Dilday, that might mean creating additional tailored giving plans from which churches could choose the mix of Texas and worldwide causes they prefer. Similar arrangements already have been adopted by state Baptist conventions in Virginia and North Carolina.
___Another possibility would be for the BGCT to adopt a list of preferred "partners" in worldwide ministry which could include, for example, the SBC International Mission Board and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth but no other SBC entities.
___Whatever is proposed, Dilday said he hopes all Texas Baptist churches will be given room to make "reasoned and informed decisions" about their giving.
___"I want our convention in its decisions to follow an often-overlooked Baptist ideal that those who have the majority ought to give great consideration to the minority," he said. Just because those who dislike the conservative direction the SBC has taken in recent years may constitute a voting majority in Texas, those of other convictions should not be shut out, he explained.
___If a proposal for further funding changes comes to the floor in El Paso, it likely will be adopted, Dilday predicted, provided it still allows room for a variety of options.
___David Currie, executive director of Texas Baptists Committed, said he favors the type of changes Dilday has predicted but hopes they will originate within BGCT committees rather than from the convention floor.
___"Before making a more definitive comment, I want to wait and see what BGCT committees recommend," he said. "It is obvious we are looking toward the future and how to be more effective and how to partner with people who share our vision and values."
___Since conservatives gained control of the SBC, the six SBC seminaries have become "fundamentalist institutions that don't share our vision and values," Currie said. Thus it is "fair for questions to be asked" about how those schools are funded, he added.
___Morris Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee, could not be reached for comment before press time.
___Last year, the BGCT forwarded $22.66 million in Cooperative Program gifts to the SBC Executive Committee, in addition to more than $20 million given to the SBC's two mission boards through special offerings. Those were the largest contributions from any state.
___According to the SBC's distribution formula last year, the undesignated SBC Cooperative Program gifts of Texas Baptists provided $11.33 million to the International Mission Board, $5.16 million to the North American Mission Board, $1.38 million to Southwestern Seminary, $92,434 to Southern Seminary, $788,568 to Southeastern Seminary, $401,082 to Midwestern Seminary and $337,634 to the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

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