Midwestern honors Graham for CP support
___KANSAS CITY, Mo.--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary honored Texas pastor Jack Graham Oct. 3 as a champion of the Cooperative Program and defender of Southern Baptist Convention seminaries.
___Some pastors and churches have tried "keeping peace and harmony by just not talking about the problems" in the SBC, said Michael Whitehead, interim president of Midwestern. However, he expressed appreciation for Graham and other pastors whom he said have demonstrated that "truth really does matter" as they inform Southern Baptists of the effective use of Cooperative Program funds around the world.
___Whitehead commended Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, for speaking out against Baptist General Convention of Texas proposals to dramatically reduce funding for SBC seminaries. Specifically, he lauded Graham for speaking up during a recent meeting of the SBC Executive Committee to insist that strong language be retained in a resolution protesting the BGCT funding changes.
___"I'm grateful for pastors who stood up and said truth really does matter and we're going to tell the truth about what good is going on in our seminaries and denomination," he said.
___Whitehead's comments were made while Graham was at Midwestern to preach in chapel.
___In response, Graham told Midwestern students and faculty: "I can assure you that by the hand and blessing of God the churches in Texas will continue to support all of our seminaries. We will find a way to accomplish that."
___Describing himself as a proud Texan, Graham said, "I'm disappointed in the arrogance of some Texas Baptists who would only desire to take care of Texas Baptist students and ministries rather than seeing the big picture and the needs of the world.
___"Our regionalism must not ever supplant our national and international understanding," Graham said, "What we're about is to be a world Christian--a denomination and convention of churches committed to the world."
___Graham also has been critical of the Baptist Standard, protesting earlier stories reporting that if his church leaves the BGCT as it has threatened to do, the state convention would lose only $6,050 a year in financial support. That is the amount the suburban Dallas church gave the BGCT in 1999.
___While Prestonwood has given larger sums to the BGCT in previous years--$86,425 in 1998 and $62,562 in 1997--those sums represent less than one-half of 1 percent of the church's total receipts.
___Prestonwood's gifts to the overall SBC Cooperative Program, as the church reported on its Annual Church Profiles and recorded in the BGCT Annual, averaged 1.32 percent of total receipts for the decade of the 1990s.
___The church's CP contributions ranged from 2.51 percent of total receipts in 1990 to 0.59 percent last year. Dollar contributions to the CP peaked at $244,088 in 1995 and were $150,000 last year.
___For the decade, the church contributed $1,903,739 to the Cooperative Program, from total receipts of $144,141,971.
___Graham has charged that the BGCT is engaged in a "campaign of misinformation" about the SBC.
___Whitehead commended Graham as someone who has taken a valiant stand for truth.
___"I urge our churches to take stands based on truth and not on politics, not just on peace, but on the truth of God's word and what goes on in our institutions to proclaim God's truth," he said.
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