Messengers to the Alabama Baptist State Convention (ABSC) annual meeting Nov. 17–18 approved a 2016 Cooperative Program (CP) budget that brought state and national ministry allocations closer to parity. They also adopted a new offering aimed at helping fund in-state Baptist missions work and expanded the role of the State Board of Missions (SBOM) executive committee.
The $40 million Alabama Baptist CP budget, 53 percent of which is appropriated to state missions and ministries and 47 percent that is committed to Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) causes, is a $500,000 reduction from 2015.
The $500,000 reduction for Alabama Baptist ministries in the 2016 budget recommendation will come from an across-the-board cut of SBOM and convention entities’ budgets.
The increase in SBC ministries in the 2016 budget recommendation will come from the allocations for Samford University in Birmingham, The Baptist Foundation of Alabama (TBFA) and SBOM. SBOM also previously absorbed a $700,000 reduction from the North American Mission Board.
The goal in Alabama will be to increase the SBC allocation by 1 percent annually, assuming CP receipts coming into the state office hit the $40 million-budget mark. Any amount over the budgeted amount will go to SBC until the equitable distribution is met.
Funding ministries
State convention leaders have a goal of parity with SBC and began moving in that direction about five years ago, SBOM Executive Director Rick Lance reported in August.
ABSC is currently at a 45–45–10 split when ministries that are shared between the national and state conventions are considered.
And while shared ministries are supported at all levels of Southern Baptist life, the phrase itself and the concept in general are no longer communicating the allocation of funds clearly, Lance explained.
So going forward, the budget language in Alabama will deal only with state and national percentages.
State convention ministries include all SBOM ministries, state convention entities — the colleges, The Alabama Baptist, Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries, Alabama Baptist Historical Commission, Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center, TBFA, etc. — as well as Alabama Woman’s Missionary Union and Alabama Citizens Action Program.
National convention ministries include all SBC ministries — International Mission Board, North American Mission Board, the six seminaries, etc. — as well as the SBC Executive Committee, GuideStone Financial Resources and SBC CP Advance.
The new offering — the Myers-Mallory State Missions Offering — takes the existing Kathleen Mallory State Mission Offering, which helped fund the ministry of Alabama Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) and expands it to include other aspects of Alabama Baptist work.
“The offering will be an effort to foster annual financial support for Alabama WMU, disaster relief, missions partnerships and church planting and church revitalization ministries,” said Mike McLemore, executive director of missions of Birmingham Baptist Association, who presented the recommendation to convention messengers.
The expansion also allows for a new namesake — Martha Myers, an Alabama missionary doctor who was killed by an extremist in Yemen in 2002.
She joins the legacy of namesake Selma native Kathleen Mallory, who served as leader of Alabama Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) from 1909 to 1912 and then head of national WMU for 36 years (1912–1948).
“It’s a legacy that honestly inspires Alabama Baptists decades later to live devotedly and pray intentionally and give sacrificially,” said Candace McIntosh, executive director of Alabama WMU.
Another way Alabama Baptists voted to redirect their missions money was to stop resourcing new mobile chapels for disaster relief and church planting purposes starting Jan. 1.
The growing expense of new mobile chapels became cost prohibitive, said Rex Kent, pastor of First Baptist Church, Jemison, who presented the recommendation. So instead of purchasing new chapels, SBOM will instead provide monthly stipends for disaster-affected congregations and new church plants to rent nearby facilities.
The recommendations related to the executive committee authorized its members to serve as representatives of the convention in declaring when a church is no longer in like-minded fellowship and friendly with the convention and as the bylaws review committee of the state convention.
Messengers also passed the following recommendations:
- That convention messengers agree with the decision of Madison Baptist Association to disfellowship Weatherly Heights Baptist Church, Huntsville, and consider them no longer in friendly cooperation with ABSC.
- To approve the printed 2014 SBOM audit prepared by Jackson Thornton & Co. PC.
In other news, messengers voted to set the following special offering goals for 2016:
- Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, $12 million
- Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, $6.1 million
- Children’s Homes and Family Ministries, $2,814,700
- World Hunger Offering, $800,000
- Myers-Mallory State Missions Offering, $750,000
Leadership awards
During the SBOM report, three pastors were presented with the Troy L. Morrison Leadership/Church Health Award (see story, page 7).
Two missions volunteers also were honored and will be featured in upcoming issues of The Alabama Baptist.
In an earlier presentation, Jim Swedenburg presented the convention’s top three Cooperative Program-giving churches:
- Largest amount given per resident member — Benton Baptist Church in Selma Baptist Association — $414.20 per person. Lee Tate is pastor.
- Highest percentage of undesignated receipts — Poplar Springs Baptist Church, Webb, in Columbia Baptist Association — 26.4 percent. Jeff Ross is interim pastor.
- Largest amount given overall — Shades Mountain Baptist Church, Vestavia Hills, in Birmingham Baptist Association — $760,800. Danny Wood is pastor.
Immediately following the annual meeting Chip Starnes was re-elected SBOM chairman and Morgan Bailey was re-elected vice chairman.
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