Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) approved a pared down budget for 2010–11 and honored two agency presidents who are retiring this year.
They approved a $199,822,090 Cooperative Program (CP) Allocation Budget recommended by the SBC Executive Committee (EC) — down 1.21 percent from the previous year’s budget — with 50 percent directed to the International Mission Board (IMB) and 22.79 percent to the North American Mission Board (NAMB).
The budget earmarks $44,280,576, or 22.16 percent, for the SBC’s six seminaries and its historical archives, while setting aside $3,397,064, or 1.65 percent, for The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
Messengers also adopted an SBC Operating Budget of $8,643,951, a decrease of approximately 5.5 percent from last year’s budget. The operating budget includes the EC, the annual meeting and committees, special programs, building maintenance and administration.
Messengers adopted resolutions of appreciation for EC President Morris Chapman and Jerry Rankin, who retires July 31 as president of the IMB.
Praising his contributions to Southern Baptist life as “enduring, extensive and extraordinary” in helping to change and shape its course, the resolution for Chapman noted that he “has distinguished himself as a consummate statesman.”
Under Chapman’s leadership, the EC and the SBC adopted the Covenant for a New Century, which called for a restructuring of the SBC’s entities, reducing them from 19 to 12 and redirecting significant funds into “frontline ministry.” The EC also approved establishment of the Council on Family Life, and the SBC adopted Empowering Kingdom Growth, a vision calling churches and members to pursue the kingdom of God.
In expressing the gratitude of Southern Baptists, a resolution honoring Rankin pointed not only to his 17-year tenure as IMB president but also to his 23 years of service with the former Foreign Mission Board, starting with his appointment as a missionary in 1970.
In other business, Darrell Orman, chairman of the EC’s communications subcommittee, requested an extension of one year for a study of greater SBC involvement for ethnic churches.
Convention messengers also
• Changed their 2013 meeting site from Nashville to Houston.
• Approved holding their 2015 meeting in Columbus, Ohio.
• Revised the ministry statement of the Southern Baptist Foundation, broadening its scope to serve all Baptist bodies and entities.
The M.E. Dodd Cooperative Program Award was presented to First Baptist Church, Sparkman, Ark., a 103-member congregation that averages 60 to 75 in Sunday worship but has contributed an average of 32.8 percent in CP giving over the past 30 years, with a high of 43.4 percent. The award is presented annually to the person, congregation or organization that has demonstrated continuous long-term excellence in supporting the principles, practice and spirit of the CP, Chapman noted.
During the EC meeting, Roger Spradlin, co-pastor of Valley Baptist Church, Bakersfield, Calif., who served as vice chairman this past year, was elected chairman for 2010–11. Spradlin received 40 votes of 71 cast, while Doug Melton, of Oklahoma City, garnered 31.
Earnest Easley, pastor of Roswell Street Baptist Church, Marietta, Ga., was elected vice chairman, and Joe Wright, director of missions for Dyer Baptist Association in Tennessee, was chosen as secretary, defeating Carol Yarber, of Athens, Texas. (Editor’s Network)
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