In its Sept. 19–20 meeting, the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) Executive Committee voted to approve a three-year freeze in the calculation of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s (NOBTS) enrollment. The committee also debated the openness of its own salary structure.
The New Orleans decision will allow the seminary’s 2003–2004 enrollment figures to apply to Cooperative Program (CP) funding formulas for the next three budget years. The freeze will apply through the 2008–2009 budget year and will allow the seminary to recover from any loss in enrollment from Hurricane Katrina.
The campus was badly flooded and suffered several million dollars in damages, and its offices have been moved temporarily to Decatur, Ga., near Atlanta.
Southern Baptists’ six seminaries receive levels of funding based on a rolling three-year average of their enrollment. For 2003–2004, New Orleans Seminary had 1,823 students based on the “full-time equivalent” formula.
In other action during the meeting in Nashville, the Executive Committee voted to raise the salaries for some of its upper-level employees as questions continue about the openness of its salary structure.
The vote came after members discussed a consultant’s report that showed that higher-level employees’ salaries were about 22 percent lower than similar positions at comparable organizations.
Roger Moran, an Executive Committee member from Missouri, asked why the salary of Morris Chapman, the committee’s chief executive officer, was not included in the study.
Rob Zinn, chair of the committee, said it was because Chapman’s salary was not part of the organization’s salary structure. Zinn said a separate study found Chapman’s salary was just below comparable positions in other organizations.
Moran said the issue boils down to members not knowing Chapman’s salary.
In other business, the Executive Committee voted to suspend a convention bylaw in order to allow one SBC entity — the International Mission Board (IMB) — to give money to other SBC entities.
The IMB will give $2.5 million to North American Mission Board (NAMB) efforts and the Baptist state conventions in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. A portion also will go to New Orleans Seminary for recovery and rebuilding.
The Executive Committee also unanimously elected a vice president for convention relations — Kenyn M. Cureton, a pastor of nearly 20 years who has been at the forefront of the voter values movement.
Cureton, 42, senior pastor of the Nashville-area First Baptist Church, Lebanon, Tenn., will begin his new duties Nov. 1.
Committee members also approved Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s acquisition of a controlling interest in a corporation to be known as Southwestern Seminary Foundation, formerly the Harold E. Riley Southwestern Foundation.
LifeWay Christian Resources also presented a check to NAMB for $541,206.81 collected through offerings from students at various LifeWay summer camps. (BP, ABP)
Share with others: