CBF names Truett as identity partner

Posted: 10/27/06

CBF names Truett as identity partner

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

ATLANTA (ABP)—The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship coordinating council has approved four schools—including Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary—as identity partners eligible for significant financial support.

At its annual meeting, coordinating council members unanimously approved Truett Seminary, Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond and the Campbell University Divinity School as identity partners. The relationship allows selected schools to receive high levels of institutional funding, scholarships and initiative support from the Fellowship.

Terry Hamrick, CBF's coordinator for leadership development, said the organization fills a different role in the lives of theological schools than it has in the past. He called the partnerships “more than just an exchange of dollars.”

“One of the things we’ve come to see … is that our role has gone from funding schools to training leaders,” he said. “We are very committed to finding ways to fund and effectively train leaders for the 21st century.”

The council approved nine schools—including Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon School of Theology—as leadership partners, which may allow students to apply for CBF leadership scholarships. The Baptist Studies program at Texas Christian University’s Brite Divinity School also was named a leadership partner.

Other schools in that category include the M. Christopher White School of Divinity at Gardner-Webb University, Central Baptist Theological Seminary, the Baptist House of Studies at Duke Divinity School, the Baptist Studies Program at Candler School of Theology, Wake Forest University’s Divinity School; Baptist Seminary of Kentucky and the Baptist Studies Program at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary.

Baptist University of the Americas and International Baptist Theological Seminary were recognized as global partners of CBF.

Guy Sayles, chair of the leadership development team, said his committee evaluated the nine schools that applied for identity partnership based on geographic location, historical connection with CBF, the number of students at the school, the amount of graduates serving in congregations connected to the Fellowship and the strength of the application.

Sayles, pastor of First Baptist Church in Asheville, N.C., said the decision to form identity partnerships with four schools came after much deliberation. The committee could have chosen up to six schools for the partnership.

“We want the support we have for them and the partnership we share with them to be meaningful,” Sayles said. “In my view, we will still regard all (the) schools as strategic partners with us.”

The changes will be implemented over the next three years. Each partnership will be reevaluated after five years.

In other business, finance committee members reported a budget deficit for the first three months of the financial year starting July 1. The Fellowship reported $2.6 million in receipts against a projected $3.1 million, or 86 percent of the projection for total revenue for the first quarter. And while projected revenue for the year’s total operating budget for initiatives and support functions is $17,050,000, the likely budget will be closer to $15,915,000, officials said.

For the Global Missions fund, the finance committee reported a shortfall of more than one million dollars for the year ending June 30, 2006. Actual receipts of undesignated funds for the mission fund were $5.29 million, although planners had projected a total of $6.32 million.

To counteract the shortfall, the CBF staff has implemented a 90-percent spending plan for the 2006-2007 year. The Fellowship also has money in reserves to ease the deficit, according to the report.

“This is a cause for concern but not panic,” Finance Committee Chairman Doyle Sager said. “The organization is healthy, and we are addressing these challenges head-on.”

In other action, CBF’s Global Missions initiative unanimously approved continued relationships with Buckner Baptist Benevolences and Kentucky Baptist Fellowship in the Together for Hope rural poverty initiative.

The council also unanimously committed to continue partnerships with Associated Baptist Press, Baptist Center for Ethics, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, Baptist World Alliance, Baptists Today, Bread for the World, the Center for Congregational Health, the Center for Family and Community Ministries at Baylor University and Passport.

The council’s next meeting will be Feb. 15-16, 2007, in Decatur, Ga.