Messengers gave initial approval for the Southern Baptist Annuity Board to change its name to GuideStone Financial Resources during the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting in Indianapolis.
A motion was also made to require the Annuity Board to sell its $14 million worth of Carnival Cruise Lines stock as quickly as possible.
This motion, which resulted from Carnival hosting a “Gay Days Cruise” May 30, was referred to the Annuity Board for action. A report on the action will come during the 2005 annual meeting in Nashville.
Messengers also approved amendments to the Annuity Board’s ministry statement that allow it to make retirement and insurance services available to evangelical ministry organizations outside the SBC.
Mitchell Jackson, a messenger from Miner Baptist Church in Sikeston, Mo., expressed concern that the amendments would allow the Annuity Board to serve groups not in sympathy with the SBC.
He said some churches affiliated with a breakaway convention in Missouri “literally hate the SBC and want it destroyed but they want the benefit of the Annuity Board.”
To serve or not to serve
Annuity Board President O.S. Hawkins responded, “When the Executive Committee takes issue with certain new state conventions, we don’t serve those folks.”
Citing the need to maintain and expand the Annuity Board’s asset base, Hawkins said the goal is to “serve the Southern Baptist pastors at the crossroads.”
“We’re trying to save an insurance program,” he added, noting that the only way to expand the asset base is to expand ministry opportunities.
(TAB)
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