Golden Gate plans budget cut
___MILL VALLEY, Calif. (ABP)--Texas Baptists haven't yet voted on proposed reductions in funding to the six Southern Baptist Convention seminaries, but one of those seminaries already is planning budget cuts in anticipation of the Texas action.
___Trustees of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in suburban San Francisco on Oct. 10 authorized President Bill Crews to begin budget adjustments to reflect the anticipated loss of about $500,000 in annual funding from the BGCT beginning in January.
___Crews told trustees the reduction likely will require the seminary to lay off some members of the administrative and support staff.
___Meanwhile, the chairman of a Baptist General Convention of Texas Seminary Study Committee that recommended reducing funding for SBC seminaries by $4.3 million next year called the Golden Gate action premature.
___"I think it clearly is a political move to do this before it comes to a vote at the BGCT," said Bob Campbell, pastor of Westbury Baptist Church in Houston. "It is terribly premature. The seminary doesn't know how the SBC Executive Committee may react. There may be some shifting of funds from other sources.
___"More importantly, they are basing this action on something that hasn't happened yet," Campbell said, noting the BGCT annual session is scheduled for Oct. 30-31. "They are moving before a vote is taken, acting on a matter that is not yet decided.
___"I think this is a political alarmist move," he said. "It is an attempt to try to sway votes based on something that hasn't happened yet."
___Crews, however, said the seminary cannot afford to wait to implement budgetary precautions.
___The California seminary last year received about $514,000 from Texas Baptists through the SBC Cooperative Program, Crews said. He predicts that Golden Gate's share of Texas funding next year, if the proposal to change Texas funding is approved, would drop to less than $19,000.
___In addition to cutting costs, Crews said the seminary will consider lifting a cap on tuition fees for some students.
___He stressed that no faculty positions will be cut in the revised budget. However, the seminary will delay hiring new professors, he added.
___Ironically, at the same meeting where Golden Gate trustees authorized the budget cuts, they welcomed a new dean of student life who hails from Texas. Mark Tichenor came to Golden Gate from a similar position at Criswell College in Dallas.
___Trustees also said they will require seminary employees to endorse the newly revised Baptist Faith & Message. Revisions in that faith statement--and requiring seminary professors to sign it--were a major point of concern for the BGCT Seminary Study Committee.
___Golden Gate's anticipation of Texas funding cuts differs from the reaction of other SBC seminaries, most of which also are holding trustee meetings this fall. No other SBC seminary trustee board has authorized budget cuts based on what might happen to Texas funding.
___Leaders of some of the schools, notably Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., have told their boards they expect Texas churches loyal to the SBC to make up the slack for any lost funding from the BGCT.
The Baptist Standard
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