Baptist Briefs: Are pastors prepared to die?

Are Southern Baptist pastors prepared to die? While the majority of pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention have a will, nearly 40 percent possess no type of estate planning document. A recent survey conducted by LifeWay Research on behalf of the Southern Baptist Foundation found 37 percent of SBC pastors do not have a trust, will, living will, electronic will, legacy story or durable power of attorney with health care directives. According to the survey, pastors age 18-44 are the least likely to have durable power of attorney with health care directives (12 percent), a will (32 percent), or a living will (13 percent). Seventy-one percent of respondents have a child at least 18 years old and 35 percent are a parent of a child under age 18. Twelve percent have children below 18 and children 18 or older. Among pastors with a child under age 18, 58 percent do not have a will, and 96 percent do not have a trust. The questions were asked as part of a mail survey of SBC pastors conducted April 1-May 11, 2012, that included the option of completing it online. The mailing list was drawn randomly from a stratified list of all SBC churches. The 1,066 completed surveys were weighted to match the actual geographic distribution and worship attendance of SBC churches. The sample provides 95 percent confidence that the sampling error does not exceed plus or minus 3.0 percent. Margins of error are higher in subgroups.

BTSR plans to sell much of campus. Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond will sell a significant portion of its campus to a private secondary school by June 30 and is exploring options for a new location to hold classes in the fall. Trustees voted at a called meeting to sell two of BTSR’s four buildings to Veritas Classical Christian School for an undisclosed price, completing part of a process begun in 2011 to change its business model to adapt to changing trends in theological education. Veritas also has right of first refusal on an apartment facility for students, and another seminary building is on the market but not part of the sale to Veritas. BTSR enrolls about 100 students and has an operating budget of $3.4 million and endowment of $4.5 million. Earlier this year, the school successfully completed a $1 million matching gift fund-raising campaign and received another $1 million donation from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation of San Antonio, to be distributed over five years.