March 19, 2001

Annuity Board manager sacrifices
job rather than change churches
___Denominational identity can impact upper-level employees of the Southern Baptist Convention's Annuity Board, as well as churches that wish to utilize its retirement and insurance services.
___Jim Morrison, managing director of retirement services and an Annuity Board employee for more than a decade, chose to relinquish his job rather than give up his church membership when Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas dropped out of the SBC.
___"Leaders on the management team and employees involved with marketing are required to be members of churches that are supportive of the Southern Baptist Convention," Morrison acknowledged in a statement he prepared to explain his decision to the church. He and his wife, Jerolyn, chose to remain with Wilshire when the church voted to leave the SBC Dec. 6.
___"There was sadness in leaving the Annuity Board, but only praise for the way the employees and management team go about the opportunity to serve participants," he said. "They are good stewards of their responsibilities for their customers and are fiduciaries of the highest order."
___And although Morrison enjoyed more than 10 years with the board, the couple acted on the knowledge that "personal identity and integrity are of prime importance to living a meaningful life," he said. "Opportunities for employment, service and the flow of life come as a result."
___Ultimately, "we were reminded it is better to be free people and responsive to God's future without details than it is to be bound by certainty," he noted. "We have often confused our careers with personal identity and our lives with income, only to miss God's daily presence."

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