September 30, 2002

World missions network wins favor
of BGCT Executive Board members
___By Mark Wingfield
___tive
___DALLAS--Creation of a new world missions network won strong support from the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board Sept. 24, although some board members expressed reservations about funding and potential duplication of service.
___In three separate votes, board members affirmed the report and recommendations of the Missions Review & Initiatives Committee. Those recommendations included forming the missions network to facilitate requests from churches and 10 other points of affirmation or concern. (Full text of report)
___The proposals now go to the BGCT annual session in Waco Nov. 11-12.
___Clyde Glazener, pastor of Gambrell Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth, chaired the missions review committee. He introduced the report to the Executive Board b

EXECUTIVE BOARD members at their Sept. 24 meeting handled multiple items requiring extended debate. George McCain, pastor of First Baptist Church of Royse City, addresses one of the issues.(Photos by Ferrell Foster/BGCT)

y addressing what he called "spin" about the recommendations put out by critics of the BGCT.
___Specifically, he addressed concerns that the BGCT would duplicate services already provided by the Southern Baptist Convention and that Texas Baptists should trust the SBC's mission boards as they have in the past.
___"One of those spins is that the International Mission Board has not changed," he said. "That's not terribly candid."
___The missions review committee's report highlights several areas of concern with the IMB. These include President Jerry Rankin's request of missionaries to sign an affirmation of the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message and the board's New Directions policy, which Glazener characterized as a "church-planting-only policy" that is crippling institutional ministries and alienating Baptist leadership in other countries.
___Texas trustees of the IMB signed a full-page ad in the Sept. 23 issue of the Baptist Standard urging "undiminished support" for IMB missionaries by all "missions-loving Southern Baptists."
___Glazener said the missions review committee's report, while not calling for changes in relationship with the IMB, did point out areas of significant concern. And examples given in the report represent only what could be thoroughly documented without jeopardizing the careers of missionaries on the field, he added.
___"Not half the story is told here," he said. "We can tell you some war stories and show you some blood."
___Several Executive Board members pressed Glazener and other BGCT leaders about whether the proposed missions network would turn into a missionary-sending agency.
___"If we're going to become a missions-sending agency, ... we need to say so," said Bobby Worsham

RELATED STORIES: World missions network wins favor of BGCT Executive Board members Executive Board removes BF&M reference from agreement with SBC Sale of San Antonio hospitals moves on

of Second Baptist Church in La Porte.
___That is not the intent at this time, Glazener explained at one point. The world missions network proposed by the report "is not a missions-sending agency per se," he said.
___Later, he added: "I'm not saying we never will, but we have not formed a typical missions-sending agency."
___Stephen Hatfield, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lewisville and chairman of the BGCT Administrative Committee, also fielded questions on this subject. He acknowledged that the committee's recommendation "opens possibilities," but he added there is no mechanism at this time for the BGCT to appoint missionaries.
___"The Missions Review & Initiatives Committee developed no strategy beyond this report," added E.B. Brooks, coordinator of church missions and evangelism for the BGCT.
___Executive Board Chairman Brian Harbour, pastor of First Baptist Church of Richardson, added: "The difficulty is for this Executive Board to make decisions about what will happen in the future."
___Other Executive Board members questioned the funding that will be required for the new missions network, which will be administered by a non-profit agency distinct from the Executive Board staff.
___Hatfield explained that next year's BGCT budget includes only start-up money for the new agency. Those funds will come from church donations, earnings from endowment and unspent funds from prior years, he said.
___The study committee's 16 recommendations were divided into three groups for consideration. The six recommendations related to forming the world missions network were approved with five dissenting votes. Nine recommendations relating to other concerns and commendations were approved with three dissenting votes. A single recommendation related to adopting a new "cooperative agreement" with the SBC's North American Mission Board passed with a clear majority but more opposition than the other two items. (See related story.)
___In other business, Executive Board members:
___ Re-elected by acclamation Harbour as chairman and John Ogletree of Houston as vice chairman.
___ Learned the convention has engaged the services of the accounting firm Grant Thornton as auditors, replacing Arthur Andersen.
___ Approved without opposition a 2003 Cooperative Program budget of $46.2 million for Texas ministries, with a total Texas ministry budget of $50.9 million when other sources of income are added.
___During the budget presentation, Administrative Committee Chairman Hatfield addressed that committee's proposal to change the adopted budget allotment so that 79 percent of contributions go to the BGCT and 21 percent to worldwide causes. That is a shift of about 7 percent from worldwide to Texas.
___The primary reason for the shift is easy to explain, he said: The BGCT must fund vital Texas ministries.
___"We have lost 1,000 churches," Hatfield said. "I don't know any other way to say it. We have lost 1,000 churches, and we need to keep funding the work of the BGCT."
___ Approved with six dissenting votes a recommendation from the Human Welfare Coordinating Board and Christian Education Coordinating Board that would allow BGCT institutions to elect up to 25 percent of their own board members. To be enacted, this constitutional change must be approved by messengers to BGCT annual sessions in 2002 and 2003.
___ Approved sale of the Baptist Student Center building at Stephen F. Austin University. A new, larger facility will be built one block away in cooperation with three Baptist associations.
___ Approved a recommendation from the Administrative Committee to provide $500 scholarships for certain individuals to attend the BGCT annual session. The scholarships will be available to bivocational ministers or lay leaders from churches with fewer than 100 people in Sunday School attendance.
___ Heard from Chief Financial Officer David Nabors that the BGCT expects to finish 2002 with receipts equaling 90 percent to 95 percent of budget, a better finish than last year.
___ Approved a recommendation from the convention's order of business committee that the current policy prohibiting convention-related meetings immediately prior to the BGCT annual session be amended. Under the new policy, BGCT-related ministries may apply to the order of business committee to schedule pre-session events.
___

Get printer-friendly version of this story


Send this story to a friend



News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

---

Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!/ Signup for FirstLook