By Jennifer Davis Rash
The Alabama Baptist
Support for Southern Baptist’s primary funding source — the Cooperative Program — became a consistent theme of convention leaders speaking to members of the Association of State Baptist Publications during the group’s annual meeting Feb. 9–12.
The various Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) entity heads participating in the meeting, held in conjunction with the state executive directors’ annual meeting on Alabama’s Gulf coast, also stressed the importance of helping the International Mission Board (IMB) succeed.
Jason Allen, president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, said, “Our work will not supersede the work of the IMB. We need the IMB to succeed. Let’s labor for David Platt (IMB president) and the IMB’s success.
“Platt deserves our full support and prayers,” said Allen and echoed by Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board (NAMB).
Platt expressed his appreciation for the CP as part of the overall success of SBC ministries.
“I’ve been reminded in a needed way the responsibility of the stewardship of the SBC,” he said.
“When you realize what God has given to the SBC … associations and conventions … six strong seminaries raising up leaders every year, IMB and NAMB combined with ERLC (Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission), LifeWay and the CP as an engine that fuels all that … then take some of those networks out there and it would take 100 years to get what we have with the SBC,” Platt noted. And at that point “they would have similar challenges as we have in the SBC now.”
‘Not perfect but valuable’
“The CP … is not perfect, but it is extremely valuable,” Platt said, noting it is best to help work on the “not perfect” parts while continuing to support it.
Ezell and Allen urged Southern Baptists to stay positive.
“Everything has an underbelly but there’s so much good going on,” Ezell said. “Don’t get distracted with the underbelly. God is doing some incredible things. … We are not a perfect family but we are a very blessed people.”
Allen noted, “We’ve lost a sense of our imagination. … I’m not sure if our vision ran dry first or our funding, but I am sure that when your vision runs dry your funding will as well.
“We need to be willing to dream collectively and ambitiously,” he said. “We need to think beyond our individual entities or ministries and advance the [SBC] as a whole.”
SBC President Ronnie Floyd said the threats to cooperative giving are independent mindsets and “perhaps” disappointments with people and/or processes.
“We are [urging] increased CP giving and looking at ways we can further this,” he said.
Editors also heard from Warren Smith, vice president of WORLD News Group, and elected new officers. Terry Barone of California is the incoming president and Todd Deaton of Kentucky is president-elect.
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