State Board of Missions (SBOM) members approved keeping the 2004 Cooperative Program (CP) budget the same as 2003 — $40,427,480.
Meeting Feb. 4 in Montgomery, the 85 members of the state board in attendance also approved maintaining the 2003 allocation formula of 57.7 percent for state convention causes and 42.3 percent for SBC causes for the 2004 budget. The CP state causes goal was set at $500,000.
Maintaining the status quo rather than projecting an increase comes from anticipated modest giving for 2003 and 2004, according to SBOM Executive Director Rick Lance.
Lance, who also serves as treasurer of the Alabama Baptist State Convention, said that while Alabama Baptists met their budget for the 10th consecutive year, it was by a slim margin in 2002.
“That may well be unequalled by other state conventions,” Lance said. “But last year was the closest call we’ve had.”
Because of the weak national economy, the amount of increase in contributions last year was about $600,000, he noted. And the previous year’s increase had been only $700,000. For those two years, the average increase was 1.75 percent, compared to increases of 2.5 to 4.5 percent in previous years.
“To make our budget this year, we will need the same amount of increase that we’ve had over the past two years,” he pointed out. “If we don’t do that, we’ll miss the budget.”
Still, Lance noted that during 2002 Baptists in Alabama gave $60,496,698 through the CP and designated gifts, with 54–55 percent going to missions causes outside the state. “That is very healthy,” Lance said.
“Our realistic budgeting has served us well. We budget by dollars and allocate by percentage,” he said.
“For 2003, we have told our people to operate on 90 percent of the budget. I want to be positive. It is doable, but we are in a different climate post-9/11,” Lance said.
“We must be good stewards and plan more cautiously. If we are faithful we can be fruitful. But we must be faithful.”
Lance also noted that the SBOM is in the early planning stages of the Strategic Initiative Task Force for Great Commission Ministries for the years 2005–2011.
“We will organize ourselves around the theme Healthy Leaders, Healthy Churches. It is a God-given theme,” he said.
“You can’t have growth if you don’t have healthy churches. And you can’t have healthy churches if you don’t have healthy leaders. We all have some kind of health issues we need to focus on,” Lance said.
He pointed out the necessity of health in the spiritual life of the individual Christian, the local church, the association, the state convention and the denomination.
Lance asked, “How do we gain and/or maintain health in these areas of Christian ministry? By emphasizing our five core values: We value biblical truth, … a personal relationship with God in Christ, … the local church, … cooperation in missions endeavors, … servant leadership.
“These are characteristics that will help Alabama Baptists stay focused on the mission of the Great Commission. If we do these things, I believe Alabama Baptists can be the model state convention for the Southern Baptist Convention.”
Lance said the recent Great Commission Prayer Conference held at Cottage Hill Baptist Church in Mobile under the auspices of the North American Mission Board “went very well.”
A second conference is set at First Baptist Church, Jasper, in September and a third in 2004 in Birmingham.
“The most under-used resource we have is prayer,” Lance said. “It is the oxygen of the soul.”
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