State convention CEOs usually stay for a long stretch, so in my 37 years as a pastor or semi-retired pastor I’ve only been around for three changeovers of state convention leadership. Yesterday I attended one of the “listening sessions” held by the new Executive Director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, W. Thomas Hammond, Jr., former NAMB staffer, big church pastor, former prez of the GBMB, and trustee of a bunch of significant SBC and GBMB entities.
“What do we call you,” one attendee asked.
“Call me Tommy,” he said with an avuncular and casual air. I like him already.
My state convention is one of the largest with over a billion dollars in church total receipts and over $16 million in gifts to both the Cooperative Program allocation budget and the special offerings and designated gifts through the Executive Committee.
We are also a state that saw a budget shortfall of over one million dollars in CP receipts for the last full year. More importantly baptisms in Georgia have declined for at least ten consecutive years and that at a time when the state’s population has grown significantly. I am uncertain if the state convention at its best can do much to change these trends.
There are a dozen of these “listening sessions” scheduled around the state this month and next where he can get an earfull and where he can offer some indication of his own personality and thinking.
It’s no secret that there’s a pot full of Georgia Baptist CP money being spent by the GBMB without much to show for it. Hammond did offer one eyebrow raiser when he said that “activity is not accomplishment.” Here in Georgia we are masters of the former while the latter is a bit of a stranger to us. I was a bit surprised, pleasantly so, by his candor and his wry sense of humor.
Let’s see where we go. Not that my humble opinion from the semi-reitred hinterlands counts for much around here but he has my prayers and support.
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That’s our building in the photo. I put it here because I don’t think you will find it on the GBMB website. It’s been somewhat of a trigger for critics but it is Muy Magnifico (Georgia has about a million hispanic residents now). First thing our new leader said, “We’re going to sell the building” repeating a commitment made a few years ago. No big fire sale rush about it, though. It is an appreciating asset and highly valuable. Pot full of money to be spent when it is sold.
It sounds like he is going to do what another Tommy – Tommy Green – in Florida has done! He sold our downtown Jacksonville building, gave 51% to CP and with the remainder bought a new building in a better location as well as funding other Florida ministries!
The proper metric for evaluating ministry effectiveness is Transformation not activity and not baptisms. Baptisms are glorious IF AND WHEN the candidate is truly redeemed. The SBC claims 15 million members but even the FBI cannot locate 8 million of them. This is a direct result of the focus on NUMBERS rather than Transformation since 1954 – – “a million more in 54”! Lord we pray that you bring genuine repentance for this charade and turn our hearts to the glorious privilege of making disciples fully formed in the image of Christ in character and conduct. AMEN!
Good word, Tom. I join you in prayer for our conventions that we will return to the biblical model of making disciples who make disciples. Our over-emphasis on easy to find metrics, like attendance and baptisms, seems to have influenced our lack of commitment to biblical discipleship. The question we need to ask is not how may members and attenders do we have, but how many disciples of Jesus Christ do we have? I believe “Tommy” will lead us in that direction!
I’ve met Tom Hammond, and I guarantee that he’ll emphasize evangelism and innovation. William, you did not mention that Tom Hammond, like you, is a graduate of Mid-America Baptist Seminary. I know the seminary is proud of both of you.
William, I live in Gwinnett, I will be enjoying dinner this evening at the Carraba’s Italian grill, not five minutes from the infamous building in your photo, with my pastor and our wives.
SBC churches in Gwinnett county by and large are struggling, snellville after Merritt left, struggling, lilburn FBC, renting out space to start ups to stay a float, on and on.
That building is a testament to pride, and comfort at an administration level.
It is so over the top ( the building ) that highly successful for profit corporations struggle to justify the price.
In the recent real estate recovery residential and commercial properties have been selling at a very nice steady clip since Trump took office, but alas the Gwinnett Taj is still waiting for a new buyer…..
Could you give me some background on why such an enormous, palatial state administration building was ever built in one of the most expensive zip codes in Georgia? I never have understood it. I visited it a couple times and was blown away by the commissioned paintings, opulence and the enormity of it all. Wasn’t the old building near Mercer paid for and this is quite a big cost? What is the history and rationale? On the face of it, it makes zero sense to me. I do not claim there was any evil motives but just asking to understand. Hope they sell it and the administrators take over an old empty large church building or work from home.
I cannot, John…water over the dam at this point. Don’t recall anyone defending it, actually.
Who doesn’t want to work in a nice building in a nice area with nice paintings and fixtures?
Mike- I can think of one ( although there could be millions more)
The apostle Paul
I know state convention executives can have a lot of influence and be inspirational leaders for pastors and churches. I see a few changes in state convention executive leadership where the exec was able to use his influence to do some restructuring and re-organization that led to a much more efficient operation of the headquarters itself, and saved money for ministry that was more productive in producing evangelistic results. But as far as actually having an effect on what the local churches do, which is the place where the discipleship and evangelism takes place and where the “numbers” consequently are produced, I can recall that I’ve ever really seen an example of that across the 30+ years I served in a Southern Baptist-related ministry.
I don’t know much about Georgia or the state convention, though the building does look impressive. In one state convention where I served for more than a decade, the building itself was a significant operational expense and when it was sold to a corporate entity to whom it was worth a considerable amount of money because of its design and location, it enabled the convention to settle all of its debts and cut its operational costs by moving to a much smaller, much more efficient to operate space. In my home state, the expense of operating a headquarters was offset by leasing the ground-floor office space to commercial enterprises but when the Baptist Foundation engaged in a costly scandal, they were forced to sell it. They relocated to the educational wing of a church that had declined and wasn’t using the space, benefitting both entities.
State conventions have always seemed to me to be more of a bureaucratic entity than they need to be. It sounds like the changes made in this one might have a hint of moving it away from that perspective.