Texas Baptist Men take 'step of faith' with '02 budget
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___The Texas Baptist Men missions organization is taking "a step of faith" by budgeting almost $300,000 more for next year than the group expects to receive through the Baptist General Convention of Texas Cooperative Program budget, according to Jim Furgerson, executive director-treasurer.
___However, Texas Baptist Men would continue to rely on BGCT Cooperative Program funds for more than two-thirds of its budget, he noted.
___Texas Baptist Men will ask Baptist laymen to make up the difference between the requested $641,888 in BGCT Cooperative Program funds in 2002 and the $938,204 budget approved by the missions agency's finance committee May 15.
___"Our finance committee has taken a step of faith knowing the men of Texas," Furgerson said. "We're going to trust the Lord and tell the men of Texas what the need is. We are saying to Baptist men in Texas: 'We need your prayers. We need your gifts. We need your commitment.'"
___The $938,204 budget for 2002 is an increase of about $75,000 over the total approved budget for 2001. It is an increase of $161,316 over the projected actual 2001 budget goal, based on $641,888 from Cooperative Program and $135,000 from endowment and investment income.
___The requested $641,888 in Cooperative Program funding for 2002 is based on 90 percent of the $713,209 Cooperative Program amount budgeted for 2001. Like other program areas in the BGCT budget, Texas Baptist Men has been asked to base its requests for next year at 90 percent of the approved 2001 budget.
___In addition to Cooperative Program funding, in recent years Texas Baptist Men has been able to anticipate about $150,000 annually from investment and endowment income. That money cannot be counted on in the current climate of economic uncertainty and stock market volatility, Furgerson noted.
___He strongly emphasized that Texas Baptist Men appreciates the support provided by the BGCT.
___"The Baptist General Convention of Texas already has been as generous as it can be," he said. "We are indebted to the BGCT for the longstanding, unconditional support the convention has provided to Texas Baptist Men for more than 30 years. We don't want to do anything to change that."
___While Texas Baptist Men will appeal for funds beyond those available through the BGCT Cooperative Program, Furgerson said that does not mean Texas Baptist Men is moving away from the BGCT.
___Several months ago, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, a group that broke away from the established state convention in 1998, contacted Texas Baptist Men--along with BGCT-related institutions such as universities and child care ministries--to seek a "fraternal relationship."
___"Texas Baptist Men is not seeking a financial relationship with Southern Baptists of Texas," Furgerson said.
___"At the same time, the mission of Texas Baptist Men is to assist all Texas Baptist churches--regardless with whom they are affiliated--as they lead men into a love relationship with Jesus Christ."
___On the basis of ministries such as disaster relief and retiree builders, Texas Baptist Men has received gifts in the past from individuals in churches not affiliated with the BGCT.
___"We want to include in our ministries men from all Baptist churches in Texas, and we would welcome the support of those men," Furgerson said.
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