May 26, 1999
Fifth Texas giving plan approved
___By Marv Knox
___Editor
___The Baptist General Convention of Texas has added a fifth option for giving to its Cooperative Program unified budget.
___The BGCT Executive Board solidly approved the new giving option at its spring meeting May 18 in Dallas.
___The new proposal would enable churches to channel about 73 percent of their cooperative-giving dollars to BGCT ministries. The remainder would be allocated to the Southern Baptist Convention's International and North American mission boards, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth and Annuity Board in Dallas, along with the Baptist World Alliance.
___The option would not allocate funds to the other traditional SBC recipients of the Cooperative Program--five SBC seminaries, the Executive Committee and the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
___The BGCT Effectiveness/Efficiency Funding Committee recommended the proposal. The BGCT Administrative Committee approved the plan in late April and referred it to the Executive Board.
___For about seven decades, Texas Baptists had only one ministry-support option. Contributions to the Cooperative Program were divided, with the greater portion staying in Texas to support BGCT causes and the remainder allocated to the SBC without designation.
___In 1994, the BGCT broadened the Cooperative Program, offering churches four options.
___One allows churches to earmark funds solely for Texas Baptist ministries. Another follows the traditional pattern, with Texas receiving 67 percent of these receipts and the SBC getting 33 percent. The third is similar to the 67/33 split, except that churches are allowed to exclude up to five BGCT or SBC entities. The fourth enables churches to define the percentage of the BGCT/SBC division and also include other Texas ministries and up to eight other "worldwide" ministries.
___The new option simplifies the cooperative giving process for churches that want to customize their support for Texas Baptist causes, Southern Baptist missions and Southwestern Seminary, noted Mateo Rendon, chairman of the Administrative Committee and pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in Corpus Christi.
___A church can give to these same recipients through another option, but the process is complicated, Rendon noted, adding, "This makes it easier to understand."
___The new option was initiated at the request of numerous Texas Baptists, reported Leroy Fenton, chairman of the E/E Funding Committee and pastor of First Baptist Church in Waxahachie.
___"There have been some very loud cries for this kind of opportunity," he said. Responding to charges that the new option has been forced upon Texas Baptists, he pointed out: "This still must be a church initiative. It applies to a 'church first' philosophy of relating to our congregations."
___Churches that support the new option will make a greater percentage of their contributions available to Texas Baptist causes by giving to them the funds traditionally earmarked for the five non-included SBC seminaries, the Executive Committee and the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Fenton explained.
___Support for the new option grew last fall, when a rival state convention--Southern Baptists of Texas--formed, he added. Some Texas Baptists were concerned the new convention would siphon funds from the BGCT, particularly money needed to fund the Effectiveness/Efficiency initiatives. Those new projects cost $800,000 in 1998 and $3 million this year, he said.
___The proposal drew some opposition during debate.
___The new giving option will prove to be divisive, predicted Robert Carter, pastor of Pinecrest Baptist Church in Silsbee.
___"We're handing (opponents) a stick to beat us who are trying to be cooperative," Carter said. "We're trying to major on the things we agree on. Let's not major on the things we disagree on."
___The four other giving plans provide plenty of options for giving to Baptist causes, added Bill Jones, pastor of First Baptist Church in Newton.
___"This is a movement away from certain SBC entities--all but one SBC seminary and certain other SBC agencies," said John Hatch, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lake Jackson.
___However, the proposal recognizes reality, stressed Bobby Broyles, pastor of First Baptist Church in Earth.
___Broyles expressed frustration that some Texas Baptists deny the new option will "move Texas away" from the SBC.
___"I agree they have moved away from us," he said of the SBC. "But ... yes, this allows churches that want to be less cooperative with the SBC than they have been to be less cooperative.
___"We're not one big, happyfamily anymore. We'll earn a lot more credibility from churches out there if we admit it. ... This is moving away from the SBC."
___That was the essence of criticism of the plan leveled by Morris Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee in the May 12 Baptist Standard.
___The option comprises an attempt "to drive a wedge between Texas Southern Baptist churches and the SBC," Chapman said. He accused BGCT leaders of "systematically" pushing "folks farther away from the SBC" through new giving options.
___"Leaders of the BGCT are attempting to erode support for the Cooperative Program as it has been defined for many, many years," he said.
___Two BGCT leaders countered Chapman's remarks in prepared statements.
___Chapman's claim "shows a lack of understanding of what Baptists in Texas are doing to increase Cooperative Program mission giving," countered BGCT President Russell Dilday.
___"Dr. Chapman implies this approach is a scheme being 'systematically pushed' on Texas Baptists by BGCT leaders, when in fact the new flexibility in Texas Cooperative Program mission giving is a response to requests from local congregations," Dilday said.
___"The BGCT is being sensitive to the Baptist conviction that authority flows from the local church to the convention rather than handed down from denominational headquarters. The Texas Baptist Cooperative Program is a church-directed program, not something imposed on local congregations."
___Rather than driving a "wedge" between the BGCT and SBC, "this new option is intended for those churches that might otherwise be reluctant to give at all," Dilday added. "It actually encourages those churches to continue their support of major SBC mission causes. This plan is not a 'wedge' but a bridge for cooperation."
___Further, the BGCT is not trying to erode Cooperative Program support, Dilday contended. "It should not go unnoticed that Texas churches still contribute a major percentage of the SBC budget, and by providing our churches choices, the dollars flowing to SBC mission causes continue to increase."
___Fenton noted the concern for "cooperation on the SBC level."
___"Cooperation is reciprocal," he said. "It is a matter of mutual respect and trust.
___"The SBC leadership continues a process of partisan appointments to boards and agencies, a misuse of power and a political exclusiveness. ... The SBC wants our money for their programs without providing appropriate appointment participation. The responsibility for having to initiate this type of giving pattern falls as much, if not more, upon the continued pattern and direction of the leadership of the SBC."
___The Executive Board's approval authorizes implementation of the new giving option. Material explaining the new option should be fully operational by Jan. 1, 2000, said Roger Hall, the convention's chief financial officer.
___However, churches desiring to contribute to the organizations listed in the new option may do so through the current giving option that channels funds to Texas-adopted BGCT ministries and other worldwide ministries, Hall noted.
___The board voted down a proposal to present the option to the full convention for action in annual session this November.
___Burlie Taylor, pastor of First Baptist Church in Pearsall, recommended that the BGCT "decide on this." His motion failed with only four favorable votes.
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