January 15, 2001
Texas Baptists Committed urges
BGCT to divest income from SBC
___By Marv Knox
___Editor
___DALLAS---The Baptist General Convention of Texas should "divest" itself of funds received from Southern Baptist Convention agencies, the state's moderate political organization has urged.
___Texas Baptists Committed's executive board voted overwhelmingly to urge the BGCT to "immediately begin to divest itself of funds from the North American Mission Board and LifeWay Christian Resources" Jan. 9 at its annual winter meeting in Dallas.
___In the 2001 budget, the BGCT is expected to receive $96,076 from LifeWay and $1,303,888 from the mission board.
___The LifeWay funds are budgeted for the state convention's Bible study/discipleship division. The mission funds are allocated to a variety of causes, primarily church ministries, creative church development, church starting and ethnic missions.
___LifeWay raises its funds through sales of literature, materials and services to Baptist churches and on the open market. It historically has provided some funds to the state Baptist conventions, primarily as staff support for programs that utilize and promote the publishing house's materials.
___The North American Mission Board receives its funds primarily from the Cooperative Program unified budget and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. Through the Cooperative Program alone, the BGCT is expected to provide the mission board more than $5.5 million this year.
___NAMB funds traditionally are channeled to the states through contracts for services. For example, a church starter might receive funding from both the BGCT and NAMB, as well as the local association and sponsoring church. States with large Baptist populations, like Texas, typically provide NAMB with much more money than they receive in return.
___Supporters of divestiture stressed the step should be taken for the sake of "ethics and integrity."
___For example, since the BGCT now publishes its own Bible study material, it should not accept money from LifeWay, whose historic financial base is built upon curriculum sales. The money potentially presents a conflict of interest for BGCT Bible study/discipleship staff members, who help produce the Texas literature but also subsequently feel bound to promote the LifeWay materials, one participant noted.
___An opponent of divestiture noted that, with the departure of some churches to the new Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, the BGCT Executive Board staff is operating this year on 90 percent of budget. "If our budget is so tight, why should we refuse to accept this money?" she asked.
___Another opponent suggested Texas Baptists Committed has no right to tell the BGCT what to do.
___However, the TBC executive board members voted by a count of about 60-3 to request the BGCT to begin the divestiture process. It asked BGCT President Clyde Glazener to present the request to the appropriate convention staff and committees.
___Renegotiating the way a state convention works with NAMB in funding missions work is not without precedent. Several years ago, the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board began retaining from its contribution to NAMB the amount NAMB would have channeled back into Mississippi. The argument was made that such an arrangement allowed the state missions board greater latitude in funding mission work in the state.
___The Texas Baptist Committed group also elected a new slate of officers last week.
___Herbert Reynolds of Waco, retired chancellor and president of Baylor University, was elected chairman. The new vice chairman is Ron Cook, pastor of First Baptist Church in Brownwood.
___The other two officers were re-elected---Ed Hogan, treasurer, pastor of Jersey Village Baptist Church in Houston, and Ron Ellison, recording secretary, a historian from Beaumont.
___Baptist identity is unclear for many Baptists today, Reynolds told the group shortly after his election.
___"We're dealing with a number of different organizations, and people continue to confuse them," he said.
___From 1845, when the Southern Baptist Convention was organized, until about 20 years ago, when controversy began to divide the national convention, Baptists generally understood how they were organized, he recalled.
___"There was the local church, the association, the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Southern Baptist Convention. That was it," he explained. "But today there is the Southern Baptist Convention, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the Alliance of Baptists, the Baptist General Convention of Texas, Southern Baptists of Texas, the Network of Mainstream Baptists, the local association and the local church."
___Despite the confusion, the good news is simple, he said: "The gospel is totally unaware of our state borders, our national borders and, of course, international borders."
___Many moderate Baptists in Texas look to three primary organizations--the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Network of Mainstream Baptists, he said.
___The Fellowship is a 10-year-old organization of Baptists who became disaffected by what they called the "takeover" of the Southern Baptist Convention by theological/political conservatives. It primarily exists to support missionaries, help underwrite training of ministers, channel support to a variety of smaller organizations that provide services to churches and offer an outlet for fellowship among like-minded Baptists.
___The Network of Mainstream Baptists, formed less than a year ago, is a loose coalition of about 10 state organizations similar to Texas Baptists Committed. They generally work to support their state conventions from what they term the "fundamentalist takeover" that has happened in the SBC.
___While membership of the groups largely is intermingled, the structure and purpose of the Fellowship and the Mainstream groups are not the same, organizers have said.
___Reynolds noted he has received many questions about the Baptist Convention of the Americas, a concept he proposed slightly more than two years ago. As he suggested, the Baptist Convention of the Americas would provide a hemisphere-wide opportunity for like-minded moderate Baptists to work together on missions and many other common interests.
___However, such a convention is not imminent, Reynolds said.
___"This does not happen overnight," he said. "It requires a great deal of study. The worst thing that could happen would be to have an abortive attempt. We must think systematically, carefully and strategically.
___"In November 1998, we said to fundamentalists: 'We have options as a people. We want to move into the future positively--embracing something that is new and positive.
___"I do believe that in due course there will be some new thing for Baptists who want to embrace freedom. I'm most concerned about our grandchildren and their children--that they might know freedom as we have known it."
___Executive board members unanimously approved Reynolds' motion that Texas Baptists Committed study changing its name to Mainstream Texas Baptists, which would make the name similar to Mainstream groups in most other states, as well as the new national network.
___The board also ratified six organizational priorities outlined by Executive Director David Currie:
___Continue to provide assistance to the BGCT.
___"We must remain the rock of support that enables (BGCT Executive Director) Charles Wade to take risks and move forward," Currie said. He also urged support for the convention's special missions-sending study committee, which is examining the work of the mission boards with which the convention affiliates.
___
___"The emphasis is on service," Currie insisted. He particularly called for supporting the initiatives proposed by the BGCT Effectiveness & Efficiency Committee, which were approved by the convention in 1997.
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___"We're perceived as a political organization only," Currie said. "We must clearly define our vision--politics grows out of theology. Our understanding of missions, evangelism and ethics shape who we are."
___
___"There would be no hope for many Baptists without the Baptist General Convention of Texas," he claimed. "And there would be no hope for the BGCT without a healthy Texas Baptists Committed."
___
___Texas Baptists Committed needs to bolster its administrative, operational and fund-raising efforts, he explained.
___
___Moderates in numerous state conventions have patterned their in-state efforts on Texas Baptists Committed, noted Currie, who has traveled across the country helping them set up similar organizations.
___"We must not provide leadership alone or with arrogance," he said. "We must be team players."
___The board also bid farewell to Charles McLaughlin, associate executive director for the past five years, who recently was called as pastor of Western Hills Baptist Church in Fort Worth.
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