June 11, 2001
Annuity Board wants to empower volunteer missions
___By Tony W. Cartledge
___North Carolina Biblical Recorder
___NEW ORLEANS--The Annuity Board wants to help develop the greatest force of mission volunteers ever seen, O.S. Hawkins told messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting June 12.
___The next two generations of ministers will live longer than anyone in history, and will be capable of many more years of active service after vocational retirement, predicted Hawkins, president of the Dallas-based SBC agency. Helping ministers be financially secure in retirement will make it possible for them to do more volunteer mission work and continue to be "partners in the harvest," he said.
___Hawkins noted that the stock market downturn in 2000 had led to a down year for Annuity Board funds, but he said 10 of 13 funds exceeded their benchmarks and thus lost less money than the national average. The Annuity Board had a banner year in enrolling new members, he reported.
___With a new "ministry assignment" approved at the 2000 annual meeting, the Annuity Board has become a full-service provider of retirement services, including personal investment options through the purchase of shares in the newly created "AB Funds Trust." Participants may set up Individual Retirement Accounts and Personal Investment Accounts, Hawkins said.
___Responding to an earlier motion asking the Annuity Board to provide group insurance coverage for small churches, Hawkins said federal law prevented the formation of any groups that do not receive paychecks from a common employer.
___Hawkins introduced a video featuring two annuitants who receive supplemental benefits through the "Adopt an Annuitant" program and encouraged messengers to observe "Adopt an Annuitant Day" June 24 and to receive an offering for the benevolent program.
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