The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) approved changes to the Annuity Board’s mission statement and expansion of its ministry assignments to include personal investing for Southern Baptist ministers and church employees.
The proposed changes must be approved by messengers at the SBC annual meeting in June in Orlando, Fla. Executive Committee approval came during its Feb. 21-22 meeting in Nashville.
Changes to the Annuity Board’s mission statement, which also include institutional investment management services for southern Baptist organizations, clarifies the board’s responsibilities “to assist churches and other denominational entities by making available retirement plan services, life and health coverage, risk management programs and personal and institutional investment programs.”
Personal investing opportunities for participants refers to the ability of a Southern Baptist pastor, staff member or denominational worker (or spouse) to invest over and above the amounts that can go into a traditional retirement plan, board officials explained.
The investment funds for personal investing will use the same investment guidelines adopted by the Annuity Board trustees.
The other new ministry assignment offers the Annuity Board’s institutional investment management services to the Southern Baptist Foundation and state Baptist foundations (or state Baptist conventions where no foundation exists).
“The Annuity Board would like the opportunity to work in cooperation with Baptist foundations,” said Roddy Cummins, executive officer for investments.
“We believe this cooperation could enhance the ministries of Baptist foundations as they utilize our investment services and see us as a viable alternative to secular investment providers.”
The Annuity Board would not offer estate planning services or assume any roles currently held by foundations, officials said.
“The Annuity Board is not proposing to overlap any of the ministries of the Baptist foundations and will only offer its services after reaching a cooperative agreement with each foundation,” Cummins said.
In other business, the Executive Committee approved a SBC Cooperative Program Allocation Budget for fiscal year 2000-01 of $167,996,385 which will be recommended for consideration by messengers to the SBC annual meeting in June. All the percentages for SBC entities included in the budget will remain the same as the current fiscal year, including 50 percent of the receipts for the International Mission Board for overseas missions. Keeping the same percentages for two years, although the dollar amounts may fluctuate according to the previous fiscal year’s receipts, is a policy the Executive Committee adopted with last year’s budget. (BP)
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