Christian Life Commission OKs hunger offering goal, policy priorities

DALLAS—The Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission approved a $650,000 goal for the 2017 Texas Baptist Hunger Offering and ratified its priorities for next year’s state legislative session during its fall meeting in Dallas Sept. 26.

The 2017 hunger offering goal is $650,000, and it will support ministries across the state and around the world.

Next year’s goal reflects a drop of $50,000 from the current target, and a decline of $150,000 from the 2015 goal—all due to lower receipts.

This year’s hunger offering had received $471,726 through August—virtually even with last year’s totals. But $50,000 is designated, so the overall offering is down by that amount, reported Ferrell Foster, director of ethics and justice.

“This means cutting some good ministries,” Foster said. “We don’t have bad ministry requests, but we don’t have adequate funds.”

For 2017, the commission received $3.5 million in requests for the $650,000 goal, he added.

The funding breakdown for next year’s offering will channel funds in three project categories:

• Texas—sponsored by Texas Baptists in Texas.
• Texas-International—operated by Texas Baptists in other countries.
• Beyond Texas-International—sponsored by other groups in other countries.

Next year, the offering will not fund projects in the United States outside Texas, Foster said.

Fortunately, additional funds will support hunger projects not covered by the 2017 offering, noted Ali Hearon, hunger and care ministries specialist.

Grants from the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation, other foundations and congregations will help underwrite hunger ministry proposals that could not be accommodated by the 2017 offering, Hearon said.

Public policy priorities for 2017 Texas Legislature

The CLC’s public policy priorities—a roadmap for its advocacy work during the 2017 Texas legislative session—cover five major topics, explained Kathryn Freeman, director of public policy. They include:

• Children and families—initiatives in education, hunger and poverty, and foster care.
• “The Stranger Among Us”—efforts to combat human trafficking and to shape border security, law-enforcement and immigration policy.
• Religious liberty—protecting and preserving a range of religious rights and practices.
• The poor and vulnerable—opposing expansion of gambling, strengthening curbs against predatory lending and addressing a range of issues related to criminal justice.
• Human life—supporting efforts to reduce the number of abortions and expand access to prenatal care, expand access to affordable healthcare for all Texans, and reduce the ongoing effects of systemic racism in the state’s criminal justice, child welfare, mental health, education and health systems.

The CLC also expressed appreciation to two commissioners whose terms of service ended—Homer Rockmore, pastor of Red Oak Baptist Church in Longview, and Rod Taylor, assistant professor of theology at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene.