CBF missions funds nearly one-third below budget

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) will be forced to recall missionaries from the field if donations to its annual Offering for Global Missions do not increase next year, CBF Executive Coordinator Daniel Vestal told the CBF Coordinating Council on June 23.

“People are always saying ‘Why don’t you appoint more funded missionaries?’ The fact is we don’t have the money,” he said on the eve of CBF’s General Assembly June 23–26 in Charlotte, N.C.

Vestal said CBF would have already reduced its missionary force had it not been for several generous designated gifts to global missions. His comments followed a financial report showing contributions to the missions offering running 29 percent behind budget eight months into the fiscal year. Total CBF revenues through May were $8.6 million, 73 percent of projected receipts of $11.9 million year-to-date toward an annual 2009–10 budget of $16.1 million.