Cooperative Program Sunday on the beloved denominational calendar was April 10th, last Sunday. Some churches observed it. Some didn’t. It should have been observed. It still can be observed, since there is no denominational calendar enforcement squad afoot catching violators.
Here are some straight talk observations about our primary denominational giving plan.
- CP revenues are up this year. The SBC Executive Committee is six months, half-way, through the fiscal year and are able to report that CP receipts at the SBC level are 3.09% above the same period for last year. This is an indication that this fiscal year will show a CP increase, good news for all of us. The six month report also showed designated giving (almost all of it Lottie Moon offering receipts) up a robust 8.41% meaning that we almost certainly are justified in expecting a record Lottie Moon offering when it is reported by IMB in June.
- The Cooperative Program is still our main denominational support program. It may not yield quite what it used to but it still generates $479 million to state and national SBC causes. No one except the federal government sniffs at almost half a billion dollars in revenue.
- The Cooperative Program is mostly a state convention program – always has been, probably always will be. State conventions keep about 62% of every CP dollar. This is roughly the historical level of state/national proportions, although the states are slightly decreasing the percentage they keep.
- While critically important to NAMB and IMB, the CP contributes a little over one-third to the annual budget of each.
- At the SBC level most giving is designated giving, not CP giving. This line was passed several years ago. We have always had a mixed system, cooperative and societal, and the long-running trend has been CP revenues slightly decreasing and mission offerings slightly increasing.
- Lottie Moon alone will exceed CP giving (at the SBC level) by the CP’s centennial in 2025, unless trends change.
- Most of the energy at the state convention level is expended these days on reducing the state CP percentage. If the main thrust is in reducing organizational revenues, it’s hard to see a vision for a more vibrant future for state conventions but, let’s be optimistic that they can do more with less.
- The state convention that leads in total CP dollars, average CP percentage of the churches and per capita CP giving is….[hint: the state’s main football program generates about four times as much revenue as the budget of the state convention]
Roll Tide!
Sir, I try to be kind to people, but the use of profanity on this blog is forbidden. Continued sin in this vein will be dealt with harshly.
HA! Couldn’t resist.
Kevin,
I remember speaking with you at the state convention about my son, Tyler, possibly going to Samford’s Law School. I just wanted to let you know he will be starting in the Fall, at the same time my other son, Evan, will be starting at the University of Mobile. (If I had a daughter, I suppose she would go to Judson.)
I am one Pastor who is extremely thankful for Alabama’s Baptist Universities. Go Rams AND Bulldogs!
Samford University is the best Baptist institution of higher learning in the country, under the presidency of a fine Christian gentleman, Dr. Andrew Westmoreland, along with other excellent administrators such as Dr. Kevin Blackwell.
My youngest son, Stephen, is there in the McWhorter School of Pharmacy.
Rick, your son will do well to go to Samford’s Cumberland School of Law.
It is my opinion that the Alabama Baptist universities and college are the best in all the SBC, all three having presidents of honor and integrity in service to the Lord Jesus. They are the real deal.
However, as you all will have to admit, the finest FOOTBALL Nation on earth is the University of Alabama.
ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!!
May God love you both, and may He bless Samford University, but there’s no way on earth I would rank any school that wouldn’t adopt the BF&M 2000 over those that have.
Well Bart, I love you also. However I must make an observation based on experience.
It is one thing to adopt the BF&M and then live as if you have never heard of it and quite another to not take a formal action on the BF&M but live daily, openly, and without hypocrisy the kind of life as an administrator of a Baptist institution reflected not only in the BF&M, but more importantly, the Word of God.
BTW, lest any person would read this my comment here and think I am referring to Bart Barber, you would be wrong.
I believe Bart to be a man of honor and integrity who seeks to be like Jesus in his daily life. Bart has my highest regards of a man of God.
With mutual admiration and respect, I would simply say this: Unless the negative situation that you have suggested is true of EVERY institution that has adopted the BF&M, the top slot is still denied to Samford.
I’ve long ranked my church choices this way:
1. Baptists
2. Crypto-Baptists
3. Pseudo-Baptists
I’ll happily apply the same ranking to educational institutions:
1. BF&M-2000 Institutions
2. Crypto-BF&M-2000 Institutions
3. Pseudo-BF&M-2000 Institutions
Thus, with you, I would gladly rank a pseudo (says it affirms the BF&M 2000, but it does not) below a crypto (has not said that it affirms the BF&M 2000, but it does). I’m simply asserting that category 1 is not an empty set.
But in the case of Samford, it’s got to mean something that the school is so explicit in stating that the confessional authority of the school is “The Statement of Baptist Faith and Message of 1963, without amendment” (underline mine). There’s not merely a lack of “formal action on the BF&M”; there’s an explicit rejection of the amendments. If that’s not “formal action,” I don’t know what constitutes formal action. It’s just that it is formal rejection rather than formal embrace.
I’ve no dog in that hunt. My church doesn’t support Samford financially. My kids don’t go to Samford. I’m not on their board. I’ve never been there, never sent anyone there from my church, and never expect any of those things to happen. Neither the rise nor the fall of Samford would hold any implications for me whatsoever.
I’ll finally say that Samford may yet indeed affirm the BF&M 2000. After all, Alabama has only recently done so. These chapters have not finally been sent to the press yet. But surely we can all agree that it would be a significant step for Samford to do so, and consequently, that it is a significant omission that they have not.
Bart,
Thanks. Your statement of mutual respect means much, for I do consider you to be a true Baptist Statesman. I have been most serious when I have stated I would like for you to be president of the SBC.
First, let me clarify that my comment has no reference whatsoever to our six Southern Baptist seminaries or the few state convention supported Bible colleges among our ranks. I have lived as a Southern Baptist long enough and been involved long enough to know those institutions are so greatly improved from what they were before 1979 there can be no explanation other than a miracle from God.
My comment is specific to universities and colleges within state conventions (9) wherein I have worked in some type of ministry and have some degree of knowledge about the universities or colleges supported by those state conventions. With that disclaimer I continue:
It is true, as you have stated, that ALSBOM, the parent state convention of the three institutions to which I am in reference, has only recently adopted the BF&M 2000. That of itself may have an influence as to why Samford has yet to adopt the BF&M 2000. Of course, there may be and probably are additional reasons.
However, it is still (and I am going to make my position very specific here) my strong contention, based on just my personal observation, experience, and interaction that the chief administrators of the two universities and one college supported by ALSBOM are godly men who live in accord with the principles of the BF&M 2000 in their daily lives while there are some chief administrators leading state Baptist institutions who, although the entities they lead have adopted the BF&M 2000, do not live in accord to the principles of that document in their daily lives.
I realize that is a strong statement. However, I stand by it based on my personal experience.
I will add this: Dr. Andrew Westmoreland, president of Samford University, is one of the most humble and godly chief administrators of a Baptist institution I have ever known. He is a true man of God.
Yes Sir!! ROLL TIDE!!!! and GO Samford BULLDOGS!!!