William

The thing about an article like this is that those who care already know. Those who don't know the history and trends don't much care. But consider a few things.   These three offerings combined totaled about $682 million for the most recent year's data available. The CP, received by the states, was $463 million. Lottie was $157m. Annie, 62m. I'm rounding the numbers. The CP has been trending down for years as a percentage of church offerings, well below 5% and still going south. The CP at the Executive Committee level is flat, not declining, mainly because states have … [Read more...] about The SBC’s Big Three: Lottie, Annie, and the Cooperative Program

This makes three years running for record offerings to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions.  NAMB, our formerly beleaguered entity with not one but two meltdowns is doing fine. Southern Baptists have bought into what they are doing. I can think of a few reasons why this is so and may update this piece later.  (NAMB gives the best swag at the convention but I wouldn't be so crass to say that this has anything to do with the record offering). Congratulations.   … [Read more...] about No need to spin this: Annie Armstrong sets record, up over a million

A church was experiencing explosive growth. Attendance was skyrocketing. Giving was rapidly increasing. Building programs, outreach initiatives, staff additions, and baptisms were all going up year-after-year. Then, things leveled off. Attendance was no longer going up and other statistics no longer showed eye-popping rates of increase. The church dropped from their accustomed place on various "fastest growing" lists compiled by denominational staff. The church was still a great church being used by the Lord in their community and beyond. But the period of astonishing growth and exceptional … [Read more...] about Southern Baptists can manage bad news, hard facts, and serious missteps.

The IMB closed the books September 30th on the 2018-2019 Lottie Moon offering and the amount received was $156.6 million, down $2.3 million from last year. The drop was about 1.4%. This was expected and budgeting was done accordingly leaving the IMB comfortably within their budget spending. Still, it's a disappointment not to see IMB's main source of revenue increase, although $156.6 million is a huge sum. I understand positive spin, thus the lack of any mention of a decline in the offering. The press on the offering emphasized that giving was more than what was budgeted and that the … [Read more...] about Lottie Moon offering is down $2.3 million

CP exceeds budget for 5th year in a row, screameth the headline fromt he executive committee following the year-end report of the Cooperative Program year for 2018/2019. Budgets were conservative; thus, the point that CP revenues exceed budegary reuqirements. I like prudence in budgeting. Actual dollars from the churches through the state conventions to the executive committee for distribution to the entities are less than they were last fiscal year. While the budget total was exceeded, year-over-year gifts remained relatively flat with a slight decrease of $313,124.70, or 0.16 percent … [Read more...] about Cooperative Program receipts are down for the fiscal year just ended

Some of these have been in storage here for a while. Bruce Ashford: "How can Christians keep our sang-froid in America's vitriolic and effluvial public square?" I've no answer for him. Let's sang a syrupy hymn and see how that works. And again, the august provost rightly objects to the taste-bud insulting libationary experiences that come from pumpkin spiced latte...but then he trashes candy corn. He's batting .500. Atlanta Braves pitchers: Teheran, Soroka, Fried, Keuchel, Foltynewicz. I'd probably be batting .200 in first time pronunciations. Dee Parsons, indefatigable and now … [Read more...] about A Fall excursion into critical events of our day, and some not so critical

I'm on a brisk, five mile walk across the University of Georgia campus. Big game tomorrow: The Dawgs and high level, high class intersectional opponent Notre Dame. Biggest such game in decades. The photo is of the countdown clock on the set of ESPN's Game Day. I'm walking by. There are 50-60 workers setting it all up. It's Friday morning and I'm not sure what is 7 hours, 45 minutes, and 56 seconds away but it's not the ball game. This is Big Time college football. The stadium seats 92,746 and 500 additional bleacher seats have been put up to accommodate The Irish, since they were allotted … [Read more...] about Selectivity in our culture wars…and SEC football

Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. (NIV) The work of a pastor/elder/overseer is a noble task. Always has been. Is now. Always will be. Better paying and more prestigious clergy and church related tasks may abound. We have coaches, consultants, marketing experts, catalysts, specialists, and strategists. There are church-targeting authors who sell a lot of books, social media church specialists who have huge followings, and ugh, bloggers you have lots of page views. We have layer-upon-layer of denominational employees: CEOs, … [Read more...] about The work of an overseer is still a noble task

Southern Seminary is now "Trusted for Truth". Leaving Southeastern and others to be trusted for, what, something less than truth? Well, Al has that alliteration going for him. Southeastern is the original Great Commission Seminary, probably the better branding. I do hope seminaries stay as "seminaries," seed beds for ministers, pastors, and religious leaders. Or, maybe they've already moved beyond that to being seed beds for consultants, coaches, and impressive titles and degrees. No level of SBC life has had to be more creative and aggressive with titles and labels than associations. I … [Read more...] about No one is better than Southern Baptists at slogans, titles, and labels

Who's to say that we can't have some fun every now and again? Politics is a spectator sport and this is the political Cirque du la Comedie. _________________ Biden: Ol' bloody side-eye himself. Can he run the long race without stumbling? Well, not so far. He's going to overshadow Gerald Ford's reputation for bumbling and stumbling. Booker: I'm not votin' for anyone who's always angry. That went for Ted Cruz and goes the same for Booker. Buttigeg: Dude, stay away from the Bible. It cannot help you. Castro: Pretty smooth guy. VP. Harris: So far a nothingburger. Can't make a … [Read more...] about Politics is such fun: The Great Democratic Debate, Count ’em…10.