October 29, 2001
Motions on 2000 BF&M, giving forms fail
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___DALLAS--For the second year in a row, messengers to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual session affirmed the convention's Adopted Budget and declined to affirm the 2000 version of the Baptist Faith & Message.
___In a meeting marked by little dissent, the 3,142 messengers present in the Dallas Convention Center Monday afternoon, Oct. 29, quickly dispensed with business. Discussion of business items took so much less time than anticipated that the convention's opening session ran 45 minutes ahead of schedule at one point.
___After dealing with several recommendations from committees, messengers considered three motions made from the floor.
___One motion by Lynn Teague of First Baptist Church of Mount Vernon asked the convention to affirm the Southern Baptist Convention's 2000 Baptist Faith & Message. BGCT messengers last year reaffirmed the 1963 Baptist Faith & Message and declined to affirm the 2000 version.
___Teague said he made the motion in an effort to create unity amon
___His own church is considering becoming dually aligned with the alternative Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, and "this could be a big help to us," he said.
___Teague noted that the SBTC was meeting "across the river" in Fort Worth, drawing many "friends" who have left the BGCT or become dually aligned.
___The BGCT should affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message because it "speaks very clearly to issues in our culture" that were not so prevalent in 1963, Teague argued. As examples, he cited language on racism, the sanctity of life and the family.
___But Anthony Sisemore of First Baptist Church in Floydada said these issues, while important, are overshadowed by the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message's article on the Scriptures, "which is a complete heresy."
___"Jesus Christ is God's full revelation, and we should love him and serve him," Sisemore said, referring to the 2000 document's removal of a phrase that said Jesus Christ is "the criterion by which Scripture should be interpreted."
___The language on Scripture has been a major dividing point between SBC leaders and BGCT leaders, who claim the SBC's revised faith statement elevates the Bible above Jesus.
___Sisemore urged messengers not to "paste over the issues at hand" and not to "cave to the pressures of what may happen across the river."
___"This is the time like no other for us to stand on the conviction that Jesus Christ is the full revelation of God, not the Bible," he said.
___Phil Barton of First Baptist Church in Pottsboro spoke in favor of Teague's motion. He referred to an earlier report in which differences were noted between what is required of missionary candidates by the BGCT and the SBC's North American Mission Board and International Mission Board.
___If the BGCT would affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, it "would take care of a lot of differences with NAMB and IMB," Barton said.
___Jim Fuller of Calder Baptist Church in Beaumont spoke against the motion, claiming "it does not seek to unify, it seeks to divide."
___Messengers overwhelmingly defeated Teague's motion by a show-of-ballots vote, with only a smattering of votes in favor.
___Another motion, by L.A. Murr of First Baptist Church of Sunnyvale, would have directed that changes made to the 2002 gift remittance form used by BGCT churches be rescinded. Murr asked that the form church treasurers use to send cooperative missions gifts through the BGCT be returned to the design used in 2001.
___The primary difference between the 2001 form and 2002 form, both approved by the BGCT's Administrative Committee, is the number of giving options listed. The 2001 form lists three options, and the 2002 form lists two.
___In previous years, BGCT remittance forms have listed up to five options. That number was reduced last year after messengers at the annual session in El Paso voted to simplify the form and create a Texas Adopted Budget that would be given primary emphasis. The Texas Adopted Budget redirects some funding to Texas schools and ministries that previously would have gone to SBC causes.
___Last year, Murr offered a motion to create a Plan A and Plan B on the remittance form, with the first plan being the Texas Adopted Budget and the second plan being the previous pattern that split gifts 67 percent to Texas causes and 33 percent to SBC causes.
___Murr's motion last year was defeated.
___The remittance form that was developed by BGCT staff and later approved by the Administrative Committee for 2001 offered three options, however. The first two were essentially what Murr had proposed, a Texas Adopted Budget option that include redirected funds from SBC causes and a traditional 67 percent/33 percent split option that continued to give full funding to SBC causes. The third option on the form was a fill-in-the-blank option for churches to indicate their own formulas.
___Some moderate leadership in the convention said the 2001 form did not accurately reflect the vote of the convention in El Paso. That vote, they said, was to give churches a remittance form with only two options, the Texas Adopted Budget option and a freeform option.
___This view prevailed in the Administrative Committee this fall as the remittance form for 2002 was developed. The second line that continued the 67 percent/33 percent between the BGCT and SBC was collapsed into the freeform option.
___The intent of Murr's motion at this year's convention was to restore the explicit description of the 67/33 option.
___Having the 67/33 split explicitly listed on the 2001 form allowed pastors to avoid facing conflict in their churches, Murr argued.
___To remove this option "will lead to more decrease" in giving through the BGCT, he predicted.
___Steve McMeans of Coggin Avenue Baptist Church in Brownwood spoke in favor of Murr's motion, noting that 46 percent of money given through the BGCT this year went through the 67/33 plan.
___Removing a separate listing of this option "says to those people, 'We don’t think you were very wise,'" he said.
___No one else spoke in favor of Murr's motion.
___Three people spoke against it, however.
___Bill Turner, pastor of South Main Baptist Church in Houston and a former member of the Administrative Committee, said the goal was to create a "simpler form."
___"We're hearing an awful lot in this convention about churches determining their destiny," he said. "The new giving form gives churches as many options as they might want. It highlights the giving plan we have adopted as a convention. … It gives plenty of latitude to any church. I think simpler is better in this case."
___Ed Hogan, pastor of Jersey Village Baptist Church in Houston, said the simplified form was indicative of a unified convention. "No other Baptist agency has a divided budget."
___The form as proposed by Murr promotes "two different budgets," Hogan said. "We're a unified convention; let's adopt a unified budget."
___Howard Batson, pastor of First Baptist Church of Amarillo and a member of the Administrative Committee, asserted the new giving form "is fair to absolutely everyone."
___"It is simple. It is clear," he said. "Any church can do anything they want with their money. They can direct their money as they want. The new form does not redirect a single dollar. Also reflects the will of the convention in defeating a similar motion by Mr. Murr at a previous convention."
___In a show-of-ballots vote, messengers overwhelmingly defeated Murr's motion.
___The third motion was made by Tom Henderson of Ridglea West Baptist Church in Fort Worth. He wanted the BGCT to provide scholarships for 25 pastors from smaller-membership churches to attend the annual session.
___His motion was referred to the Administrative Committee.
___The budget adopted by messengers represents an 8.8 percent decrease over the current year.
___In presenting the budget, Stephen Hatfield of First Baptist Church in Lewisville listed three reasons for the decrease--restructuring of Executive Board staff, the nation's troubled economy and the reality that "some churches have left us" because of denominational conflict.
___Despite the decrease, the budget as adopted will allow the BGCT to fulfill its ministry priorities, Hatfield said.
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