February 24, 2003
SBC redirects partial funding from BWA
___Continued from page 3
___in the procedure used by the BWA membership committee in considering the CBF request. In July 2002, the membership committee reported to the BWA executive committee that it was considering approval of the request if the CBF would distinguish itself as "separate" from the SBC, which the CBF did last September.
___Chapman said the usual procedure for membership was not followed during the July discussion. The membership committee "seemed determined to report their recommendation before they made a formal recommendation," he charged. That action made the "300-member body a membership committee of the whole" and seemed to turn the process "on its head."
___The issue is not so much that there was a "glitch" in the process but in the procedure, Chapman said. "It caused us to stop and rethink that maybe we'd been spinning our wheels rather than making progress" in relationships with BWA.
___He also expressed concern about who would monitor whether or not the conditions are being followed. "If (CBF) separates from the SBC, does that mean that from now on they will build churches from the historical perspective of starting new churches rather than soliciting funds from existing Southern Baptist churches?" Chapman asked.
___The new SBC-led worldwide emphasis "won't be a duplication of the BWA," Chapman said. Initiatives might include Bible conferences and church-growth conferences that would involve "primarily Southern Baptist entities" around the world. He emphasized that Empowering Kingdom Growth is "not a formal organization with formal membership" and the focus would be "on relationships, not organization."
___It will take 18 to 24 months to "determine how that will evolve," he added.
___Members of the SBC task force that made the recommendation are Chapman, chairman; Jimmy Draper, president of LifeWay Christian Resources; Jerry Rankin, president of the International Mission Board; Paige Patterson, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; Tom Elliff, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Del City, Okla., and a former SBC president; Gary Smith, chairman of the SBC Executive Committee and pastor of Fielder Road Baptist Church in Arlington; retired Texas appellate Judge Paul Pressler of Houston; Houston attorney Joe Reynolds; and R.L. "Bob" Sorrell, a staff member of Bellevue Baptist Church in suburban Memphis, Tenn.
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