CBF surpasses $12 million fund-raising goal

ATLANTA—The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship surpassed its $12 million fund-raising goal for an endowment campaign the group launched last June.

CBF Executive Coordinator Suzii Paynter announced the achievement at the Fellowship’s 25th anniversary celebration dinner in Atlanta.

Total gifts and pledges for the campaign, which is focused on the long-term sustainability of CBF missions and ministries, has reached $12,103,062.98, she said.

Nearly 80 percent of the campaign goal will increase CBF’s endowments, which will help sustain CBF ministry the next 25 years. Additional funds will support block grants to the Fellowship’s 18 state and regional organizations for ministry in their areas.

On the state and regional level, the grants will support church starts and young leadership development, theological education, ministry to the nation’s poorest counties, clergy wellness, asset-based community development, and retreats and camps for clergy, laity and students.

Lead contributors included the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation, Christ is Our Salvation Foundation, Patricia and Robert Ayres, and John and Jeanette Cothran. CBF congregations, partner organizations, theological schools, foundations and many more individuals also contributed.

Of the $12 million, half will support CBF Global Missions. Specifically, that portion of the campaign will help sustain the long-term presence of field personnel ministering in 30 countries, reinstate a two-year mission apprenticeship program and impact the poorest counties in the United States through the Fellowship’s rural poverty initiative, Together for Hope.

At the 25th anniversary event, CBF named the mission apprenticeship program, called the CBF Global Service Corps, after Dick and Jesmarie Hurst of First Baptist Church in Tyler for their commitment to volunteer medical missions alongside CBF field personnel. Dick Hurst died in 2014, and an estate gift given by the Hursts formed the foundation of an endowment fund, the earnings of which will help fund the work of Global Service Corps missionaries.

CBF’s ministries that help form healthy congregations will receive $4 million from. The campaign will support an intentional congregational renewal process, advocacy work that assists others in finding their voice, church starting initiatives and financial literacy programs for congregations and pastoral leaders.

The campaign also will help equip and nurture young Baptists by adding $2 million in endowment support for theological education, scholarships, retreat experiences and church internships.

“Christ’s love is compelling us to greater ministry near and far to ‘unleash heaven’s kingdom here on earth,’” Paynter said, quoting from the Fellowship’s commissioned anniversary anthem called “Christ’s Love Compels Us.”

“Celebrating our 25th anniversary has been an opportunity to invest in the future of CBF. It has been opportunity to invest in missions, in ministry, in our identity and in our young Baptists. It has been an opportunity to partner with other people and with other churches in support of the great multiplication of God’s work in the world.”




Christ-likeness and excellence key, Paynter tells CBF board

ATLANTA—The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is living into the same attributes its founders instilled more than 25 years ago, striving to be Christ-like, innovative, authentic, global, diverse and excellent, CBF Executive Coordinator Suzii Paynter told the organization’s governing board.

“I want to bring our attention back to our Fellowship’s attributes,” Paynter said. “We desire to raise the bar on excellence in an organization that strives to be Christ-like, innovative, authentic and global.

“In those categories, one of the things that we are focused on right now is this quality of excellence. How are we Christ-like and is there a more excellent way for us? How are we innovative? What about our authentic faith?”

Global in nature

These attributes are clear expressions of how the leaders of the Fellowship function, pointing to the global nature of CBF’s work within the last year, Paynter said.

“If there has ever been a year where I felt the pulse of being global, it was this one,” she said. “This stewardship of our global commitment and partnership is so beautiful, and I think is called for from every congregation. If there is one gift that CBF has to give back to every congregation, it is to be a global partner, and it is to be cognizant that God has called us into all the world.

“This global nature is reflected in our striving for excellence, as is the Fellowship’s ongoing commitment to being diverse—implementing initiatives to intentionally increase diversity and create space for the Latino and African-American communities,” Paynter said.

The Fellowship ecosystem

With the foundation of these attributes, Paynter pointed to the cyclical nature of CBF as an ecosystem.

“We are in a living cycle as a Fellowship. Things grow, and things flourish, and things decline, and things change,” Paynter said, citing the initiatives, programs, changes and strategies that have been points of focus the past year.

“If there is one thing for sure, we understand what it means to lead an organization that is alive,” she said. “We are nothing more than the people gathered together in congregations, congregations gathered together in a Fellowship. It is the call that brings us together in this living organism.”

Successes and challenges

CBF Moderator Doug Dortch reflected on successes and challenges in the life of the Fellowship since the 2016 General Assembly in Greensboro, N.C.

“These times are complicated, and there are many challenges that we are confronted with and have been confronted with,” said Dortch, who serves as senior minister of Mountain Brook Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. “As we come to this last meeting of the (fiscal) year, I am pleased to say it’s been a very productive year. We have accomplished much, we’ve been loving in the process, and we have walked in humility.”

Citing the success of the 25th Anniversary Endowment Campaign, the launch of Fellowship Southwest and the completion of restructuring efforts, Dortch emphasized CBF is positioned well for the future.

“The Fellowship is in a position where we can seize the future and look at it as a growth opportunity,” Dortch noted. “There are a host of partnerships that are coming online and other initiatives that will put us in a better place to fulfill the mission that God has for this community. This is a very exciting time, and I’m encouraged about the future of our Fellowship.”

Maria Monteiro, assistant professor of music at Baptist University of the Américas in San Antonio, was among the governing board nominees recognized at the board meeting. Other nominees, who were on June 30 during a business session of the CBF general assembly, were Carol McEntyre, senior minister at First Baptist Church in Columbia, Mo.; Stephen Cook, senior minister at Second Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn.; and Bill Coates, senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Ga.

“Momentum is on our side,” Dortch told the new board members. “And it’s going to be a great journey for those of you who have the privilege to serve in this capacity.”

Other Business

The board adopted a motion to require covenant agreements with CBF’s 60-plus partners to be finalized by the 2019 general assembly.

The board also heard from Illumination Project committee chair Charlie Fuller, who reported the committee would provide an update on its ongoing work during the general assembly in Atlanta.

The board also heard reports on the work of the nominating committee, ministries council and missions council. Mark Wingfield, chair of the missions council’s sustainability committee, spoke to the board about ongoing efforts to promote and recruit advocates for the CBF Offering for Global Missions.

The governing board meeting concluded with remarks from CBF Moderator-Elect Shauw Chin Capps, who transitioned to the role of CBF moderator at the conclusion of the 2017 General Assembly.

“I feel honored and humbled to be able to serve with all of you,” Capps said. “I am appreciative of the friendships we’ve developed and what I have learned, and know I will continue to learn from all of you.”




Nonprofit leader and former executive nominated as CBF moderator-elect

DECATUR, Ga.—The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship nominating committee recommended Gary Dollar, a nationally recognized nonprofit leader and former executive, as the organization’s next moderator-elect.

Fellowship members will vote during the June 30 morning business session at the CBF general assembly on the moderator-elect, along with a slate of nominees for the organization’s governing board and various councils.

gary dollar 200Gary Dollar Dollar is a partner with St. Louis-based EMD Consulting, which assists nonprofit groups in fund-raising, leadership development and building organizational strength.

He retired in 2013 as CEO of the United Way of Greater St. Louis after leading the organization 12 years and building it into the nation’s fifth-largest United Way chapter. During Dollar’s tenure, the United Way of Greater St. Louis raised more than $1 billion and grew its annual revenue to more than $70 million.

Dollar is a graduate of North Central College in Naperville, Ill., and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. For more than 20 years, Dollar has served both as a full-time and bivocational pastor and associate pastor for CBF churches in the Midwest.

He has served on numerous boards of faith-based and other nonprofit organizations. Dollar is a former member of the CBF governing board and an adjunct professor at Washington University’s Brown School of Social Work in St. Louis, where he teaches a graduate course in marketing, resource development and community relations.

Dollar lives in Glen Carbon, Ill., with his wife, Gale, a CBF-endorsed chaplain serving at St. Luke’s Hospital in St. Louis. The Dollars are members of Dayspring Baptist Church in St. Louis, and have two adult sons—Jordan, a CBF-endorsed hospice chaplain, and Nathanael, an adjunct professor of anthropology—and two grandchildren, Callum, age 5, and Aidan, age 3.

‘Exhilarating, dynamic and challenging time’

Dollar expressed his excitement to begin his anticipated term as moderator-elect.

“This is an exhilarating, dynamic and challenging time for CBF as we seek how God will use our unique Baptist witness in the 21st century,” Dollar said. “CBF can be and should be a leading, clear voice as we share the broad and all-encompassing love of God with a diverse and rapidly changing world. I look forward to working with (Executive Coordinator) Suzii Paynter and her team. Suzii’s energy and passion offers the leadership CBF needs to move us forward in fulfilling our mission.”

The CBF governing board also is recommending Katie Sciba, a medical social worker in Stafford, to serve alongside CBF officers for a third one-year term as recorder.

At the conclusion of the June 26-30 annual general assembly, CBF Moderator-Elect Shauw Chin Capps will assume the role of moderator, the Fellowship’s highest-ranking office. Capps will succeed Dortch, who will transition to the position of past moderator and serve as an ex-officio member of the nominating committee in 2017-18.




African-American leader offers to help churches overcome racism

PHOENIX (BP)—Calling the Southern Baptist Convention’s resolution denouncing “alt-right white supremacy” the convention’s “strongest statement to date” condemning racism, the president of the SBC’s fellowship of African American pastors offered to help Baptists overcome the evil.

Byron Day 150Byron DayByron Day, president of the SBC National African American Fellowship of 4,000 churches, extended help to churches and other organizations just one day after the resolution passed by a near unanimous vote.

“NAAF stands ready to assist our churches and entities in pursuing the elimination of any remaining forms of intentional or unintentional racism among us,” said Day, senior pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Laurel, Md. “I am confident by the grace of God that the Southern Baptist Convention will be a true picture of the kingdom of God that consists of every tribe and language and people and every nation.”

First step

Day expressed hope that the resolution was only a first step, “because words are just words without action that make those words reality,” he said.

The resolution was an amended version of a document submitted by Dwight McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, and was approved after two failed attempts June 13 to bring it to the convention floor. Following an outcry by some messengers and widespread publicity, the Resolutions Committee gained approval to submit the resolution June 14.

“The confusion in getting the resolution to a vote caused an uproar in the African-American community,” Day said. “The decision by the committee not to recommend the resolution in its original form was perceived by many that Southern Baptists did not value this important issue, not just for African Americans, but for all those who claim to be followers of Christ.

“Nevertheless, it was encouraging to see Southern Baptists demand a vote and pass overwhelmingly this strong statement against racism and those who advocate such ideologies,” Day said.

Complete statement

Here is Day’s complete statement:

“Today is a great day for all Southern Baptists. The resolution to denounce racism and white supremacy is in my view the strongest statement to date by the Southern Baptist Convention. Although there have been prior resolutions apologizing for the sins of the past, it was important for the convention to condemn the sins of the present. At a time when our country continues to see racial prejudice and injustice, I believe the body of Christ must lead the way for peace and unity.

“The passage of resolution #10 affirms that Southern Baptists are going to continue to move forward on the issue of racial reconciliation and sufficiently denounce any form of racism, particularly those like the alt-right white supremacy movement.

“The passage of this resolution also recognizes racism for what it is, a scheme of the devil to divide the church of Jesus Christ. But today Southern Baptists said that they will no longer allow the enemy to divide us and thus hinder the cause of Christ and the furtherance of the Gospel.

“The confusion in getting the resolution to a vote caused an uproar in the African American community. The decision by the committee not to recommend the resolution in its original form was perceived by many that Southern Baptists did not value this important issue, not just for African Americans but for all those who claim to be followers of Christ. Nevertheless, it was encouraging to see Southern Baptists demand a vote and pass overwhelmingly this strong statement against racism and those who advocate such ideologies.

“Today we celebrate a great victory, but I hope that it is only the beginning. Because words are just words without action that make those words reality.

“NAAF stands ready to assist our churches and entities in pursuing the elimination of any remaining forms of intentional or unintentional racism among us. I am confident by the grace of God that the Southern Baptist Convention will be a true picture of the Kingdom of God that consists of every tribe and language and people and every nation.”




WMU celebrates 20 years of Christian Women’s Job Corps

PHOENIX (BP)—Linda Cooper, president of national Woman’s Missionary Union, and Sandy Wisdom-Martin, WMU executive director, highlighted 20 years of ministry through Christian Women’s Job Corps during their report to the Southern Baptist Convention.

“Twenty years ago, WMU began a dream that has grown into a nationally recognized program for helping women in poverty become equipped for life and employment in a Christian context,” Cooper said June 14 in Phoenix.

CWJC “is about courageous women fighting for their families and their futures,” Cooper said. “It is about godly people sacrificing themselves to make a difference in someone’s life.”

Since CWJC started in 1997, 40,000 women have been touched through the program in nearly 200 sites, and 160,000 volunteers have served 200 million ministry hours, Cooper reported.

‘Came in broken and left whole’

Wisdom-Martin told of a woman named Flo who has served as a site coordinator of a CWJC site since 2005. Wisdom-Martin recounted that Flo said of CWJC: “Looking at the women who came in broken and left whole, I knew this was where I was meant to be. I fell in love with them and knew this was where I could make a difference.”

In 2004, WMU started Christian Men’s Job Corps, which operates in much the same way as its sister organization, in that each participant is paired with a mentor and is engaged in Bible study. In CWJC, women mentor women; in CMJC, men mentor men.

“It is our honor and privilege to be coworkers in the gospel with you, taking Jesus to the nations,” Cooper told messengers. “Our commitment is to help your church members learn about missions, pray for missions, support missions, do ministry, develop spiritually toward a missions lifestyle and support the work of your church and this denomination.”

Cooper, a member of Forest Park Baptist Church in Bowling Green, Ky., was re-elected to a third term as national WMU president at the organization’s missions celebration and annual meeting prior to the SBC annual meeting. Jackie Hardy of First Baptist Church in Social Circle, Ga., was elected as recording secretary.




Moments of restoration recalled at WMU annual meeting

PHOENIX (BP)—Speakers recounted “Defining Moments”—dramatic, life-changing experiences that make an eternal difference in the hearts and minds of a Christian— during the Woman’s Missionary Union missions celebration and annual meeting.

Defining moments that shape and change

Participants at the two-day meeting explored defining moments in the Bible and in the lives of missionaries, national WMU leaders, Acteens panelists and Southern Baptist leaders.

Sandy 300Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director and treasurer of the Woman’s Missionary Union, addresses the group’s annual meeting June 11 in Phoenix. (BP Photo/Van Payne)“Every moment has a series of defining moments—moments that shape us and change and make us the person we are today,” WMU Executive Director Sandy Wisdom-Martin said.

Brandi Parrish, a native Texan, described when God called her and husband, Kelly, out of their comfort zones to serve as North American Mission Board church planters in Colorado.

“A defining moment in our lives was when we discovered, even though where we lived was good, and life was great, we had a holy discontent inside of us,” she said. “We could not sleep peacefully at night knowing that there was something more that God had for us.

“Not knowing what that was, we began to pray, ‘Yes, Lord.’ We didn’t know what we were praying yes to.”

They prayed 12 months and saw God begin to lay a foundation for them to become church planters in Fort Collins, Colo. The community where they live has a population of more than 300,000, and more than 70 percent of the people have no religious affiliation whatsoever, the couple reported.

“We were scared to death,” he said. “We do know that God doesn’t always call the equipped, but he equips the called. When he called us, we stepped into the ‘Yes, Lord.’ … We believe that when we live in the ‘Yes, Lord,’ we see miracles with our eyes that we would never see if we did not live in the ‘Yes, Lord.’”

The couple saw the fruits of their labor as their Bible study group grew to around 80 in attendance, overflowing their home, and becoming a church.

“God has continued to bless. God has continued to do the miracle of bringing the dead to life and we get to be a part of that. You get to be a part of that,” he said. 

‘God revealed a lost world to me’

In the annual president’s Address, Linda Cooper, a member of Forest Park Baptist Church in Bowling Green, Ky., said the first of many defining moments in her life occurred when as a 12-year-old in a revival service in a small country church she accepted Jesus as Savior.

Linda Cooper 300Linda Cooper, national president of Woman’s Missionary Union, addressed the group’s annual meeting, with the theme “Defining Moments.” Cooper talked about defining moments from her own life, including accepting Jesus as a 12-year-old in a revival service. (BP Photo/ Van Payne)These moments continued throughout her life as “God revealed a lost world to me and led me to today where I represent an organization that is literally changing the world,” she said.

Cooper recalled meeting Skeeter, a kitchen manager at a Nashville mission. The formerly homeless man had been beaten and thrown over a bridge. At the mission, he “learned about grace and experienced God’s saving grace,” she said.

She also recounted the story of a Rwandan woman who came to know Christ after she was freed from the bonds of sex trafficking by producing crafts through WMU’s WorldCrafts fair-trade initiative to earn a sustainable living. 

Cooper, who was elected to her third term as WMU president, reminded the women they, too, are providing defining moments in the lives of men, women, boys and girls in WMU.

‘God is still at work around the world’

Ross and Dena Frierson told the missions celebration participants they have seen God’s redemptive hand through history while ministering to the Udmurt people of Russia.

God’s plan for this previously unreached and unengaged people group can be traced back to a 2007 prayer emphasis—the 2007 Day of Prayer and Fasting for World Evangelization that focused on the Udmurt people group, said the Friersons, who began serving in Russia in 2009. The couple helped plant churches in Udmurtia, located about 700 miles east of Moscow.

“God is still at work around the world to accomplish his redemptive purpose for all of the people groups on the earth,” Dena Frierson said.  The family soon will serve in Wales.

North American Mission Board appointees Jacob and Jessica Dahl serve as church planters in Ellensburg, Wash., home to 11,000 college students at Central Washington University. In their church plant, the missionary couple has seen more than 103 persons baptized, 98 salvations and their core group of believers grow to 250.

As an International Mission Board worker in Thailand since 1992, Cheryl Derbyshire directs Thai Country Trim, a ministry that provides income for more than 200 rural village women who use their talents and gifts to produce WorldCraft products. As their handiwork is sold across the world, the women are being led to Christ and become leaders in their local churches.

Gordon Fort, senior ambassador for the president of the International Mission Board, delivered a sermon based on Luke 14:16-24, saying the spiritually lost are waiting for invitations to join the feast and sit at the right hand of the Master.

“The invitation to this wedding feast is in your hand,” Fort said. “This is not just ‘a defining moment.’ This is ‘the defining moment.’”

WMU presented the 2017 Dellanna West O’Brien Award to Becky Sumrall, executive director of Begin Anew, Christian Women’s Job Corps of Middle Tennessee, in recognition of her work with CWJC as well as investment of her time in developing outstanding leadership skills in the women she works with.

The next WMU annual meeting is set for June 10-11, 2018, in Dallas.




WorldCrafts partners with Mully movie ministry movement

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—WorldCrafts, the fair-trade division of national Woman’s Missionary Union, is partnering with Mully Children’s Family, a nonprofit organization in Kenya that seeks to transform the lives of street children and youth living in poverty.

In the process of promoting Mully, a movie about the life of Charles Mulli and his vision of “changing the world one child at a time,” the fair-trade enterprise also hopes to expand WorldCrafts’ impact among impoverished artisan groups globally. 

The different spelling of the individual’s name and the name of the nonprofit organization and the movie is intentional.

Charles and Esther Mulli devote their lives to caring for children

Mulli was the firstborn in a family of eight, living in poverty in Kenya. At age 6, his parents abandoned him when they left in search of a better living. He grew up begging on the streets and became a Christian as a teenager.

When Mulli was 17, he walked more than 40 miles to Nairobi to seek employment. He found work and met his future wife, Esther. He became a wealthy entrepreneur and respected community leader, and the couple had eight biological children.

In 1989, Mulli felt God laid it on his heart to help other children living in poverty in Africa. He sold all his property and businesses in order to provide street children in Africa with shelter, medical care, education and more. Since then, Charles and Esther Mulli have taken guardianship of more than 12,000 abandoned children.

Natural fit for WMU

“We are delighted to be a part of sharing this life-changing story about how one man’s obedience to God has transformed a nation,” said Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director of national WMU.

“Beyond a gripping storyline, watching this movie will inspire Southern Baptists to examine ways God is calling them to personally serve and minister to others.”

Wisdom-Martin describes this project as a natural fit with WMU’s vision of challenging Christian believers to understand and be radically involved in the mission of God and WMU’s existing ministries. 

“This partnership will bring more visibility and support for WorldCrafts’ artisan groups in poverty and coming out of sex trafficking so we can minister to exponentially more artisans and their families,” Wisdom-Martin said. “It will also underscore the kingdom impact Christians can make through orphan care and adoption.”

Mully will be shown in about 800 theaters around the country Oct. 3–5. See locations and purchase tickets here after June 23. 

Churches interested in scheduling a pre-theatrical showing of the movie between June 25 and Sept. 24 can request more information here

World Crafts also has developed a host kit for congregations, small groups and families, as well as a viewer kit for individuals.

WorldCrafts markets artisans’ handiwork

Mully Children’s Family operates six facilities in Kenya. One location, the Yatta Vocational Training School, employs artisans who are young, impoverished women seeking to rebuild their lives after being trafficked. 

“When we learned more about how the Yatta Vocational Training School helps young women out of trafficking and teaches them skills such as sewing and making jewelry, we knew we wanted to invite them to be an artisan group of WorldCrafts,” Wisdom-Martin said.

WMU wanted to help them market the necklaces and purses they create, but upfront funding to place a significant order was going to be a challenge, she noted.

“We prayed, and God provided $115,000 through the WMU Foundation so we could increase our orders not only to this group, but also to other WorldCrafts artisan groups,” Wisdom-Martin said. “We are so grateful for the WMU Foundation and generous donors that made this possible so quickly.”

Sylvia DeLoach of Richardson, who also serves on the WMU Foundation board, saw the value in the Mully project.

“The Mully partnership struck a chord in me from the first time I heard about it. What a perfect opportunity to partner with a project that’s meeting needs and providing opportunities congruent with WMU’s ongoing purpose,” she said.




After initial refusal, SBC denounces ‘alt-right white supremacy’

PHOENIX (BP)—Messengers to the 2017 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting denounced “alt-right white supremacy” in a nearly unanimous vote after a tumultuous day of refusing to address the issue.

In the June 14 Wednesday afternoon session at the Phoenix Convention Center, only a handful of messengers voted against a resolution on “the anti-gospel of alt-right white supremacy.” The alt-right, a movement that includes people who advocate white nationalism, has gained increasing attention in the last 18 months.

The action came after a wave of protests on social media from black and white Southern Baptists and other evangelical Christians greeted the failure of the resolutions committee and messengers to bring an alt-right resolution to the floor the previous day.

The resolutions committee asked Tuesday evening for an opportunity to bring such a resolution to the convention Wednesday, and the committee on order of business and messengers approved its request.

The resolution messengers approved said they:

  • “Decry every form of racism, including alt-right white supremacy, as antithetical to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
  • “Denounce and repudiate white supremacy and every form of racial and ethnic hatred as a scheme of the devil intended to bring suffering and division to our society.
  • “Acknowledge that we still must make progress in rooting out any remaining forms of intentional or unintentional racism in our midst.
  • “Earnestly pray, both for those who advocate racist ideologies and those who are thereby deceived, that they may see their error through the light of the gospel, repent of these hatreds, and come to know the peace and love of Christ through redeemed fellowship in the kingdom of God, which is established from every nation, tribe, people and language.”

After the vote, most messengers stood to applaud the result.

Moore speaks in support of resolution

Russell Moore, president of the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, spoke in support of the resolution from the floor.

“Southern Baptists were right to speak clearly and definitely that alt-right white nationalism is not just a sociological movement but a work of the devil,” he said.

“Racism and white supremacy are not merely social issues. Racism and white supremacy attack the gospel itself and the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

McKissic expresses appreciation

Dwight McKissic, who submitted the original resolution on the “alt-right,” expressed gratitude for approval of the final version after the resolutions committee and messengers initially failed to bring his proposal to the floor.

McKissic 350William Dwight McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, speaks with reporters after a resolution similar to one he submitted June 13 on racism was unanimously approved by SBC messengers June 14. Messengers adopted a resolution “on the anti-Gospel of alt-right white supremacy.” (BP Photo/Van Payne)“I’m grateful that things have ended up like they have, I think, for the kingdom of God’s sake,” McKissic told reporters after the vote. “I think we’re back to a good place after a 24-hour roller-coaster ride.”

McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, said he was “very pleased” the final resolution—which was markedly different from his version—addressed the alt-right and white supremacy.

“I think we’re unified around that,” he said.

‘Painful to watch’

The fact it took nearly 24 hours to pass such a resolution clearly disturbed McKissic, however.

“I think that today’s vote will help to mitigate some of the hurt and some of the pain, because it’s painful to watch people who tout biblical inerrancy and who tout the centrality of the gospel have to deliberate over denouncing white supremacy,” he said.

He was encouraged “to see so many Southern Baptists take a courageous stand” and for a generation of them to say, “We will not take this sitting down,” McKissic said.

McKissic found himself begging many black pastors not to leave after Tuesday’s inaction, he told reporters.

“This convention still has a future,” McKissic said, while acknowledging much work remains to be done. “I think Southern Baptists want to get it right.”

Regrets and apologies for ‘the pain and confusion’

In bringing the resolution to messengers Wednesday, Resolutions Committee Chairman Barrett Duke apologized to the convention on behalf of the panel.

“We regret and apologize for the pain and the confusion that we created for you and a watching world when we decided not to report out a resolution on alt-right racism,” he said.

“Please know it wasn’t because we don’t share your abhorrence of racism and especially, particularly the vicious form of racism that has manifested itself in the alt-right movement. We do share your abhorrence.”

A reporter asked Duke at a post-vote news conference if he would like to say anything additionally to the African-American Southern Baptists who expressed their dismay Tuesday evening on social media regarding the refusal to act on an alt-right resolution.

Duke again offered an apology, adding: “We come alongside you as our brothers and sisters in Christ. We believe that we are all together in the gospel as Southern Baptists, and we want to do everything we can to eliminate” barriers and any racism that exists.

Long and winding road

The torturous path the resolution took to passage began Tuesday afternoon when the resolutions committee offered nine resolutions—all that gained unanimous or nearly unanimous approval—but did not report out a resolution on the alt-right from McKissic.

In explaining Tuesday afternoon why the committee did not report out McKissic’s resolution, Duke told reporters the committee agreed with the resolution’s point on racism, but thought it and other “elements in the proposal already had been addressed recently” in Southern Baptist life.

At the close of the committee’s report, McKissic sought to bring his resolution to the floor for a vote. He asked that the SBC “would go on record to abate darkness that’s invading our nation right now.”

Many alt-right members claim to be Southern Baptists, he said.

His motion clearly failed to gain the two-thirds majority required in a raised ballot vote. In the evening session, a similar motion from the floor fell short again, gathering only 58 percent in a vote taken by marked ballot.

The resolutions committee reconvened Tuesday evening, however, and asked the committee on order of business for time Wednesday to present a new alt-right resolution. After the committee on order of business approved the request, messengers endorsed unanimously or nearly unanimously a scheduled vote on the resolution Wednesday. The resolutions committee worked on a final version into the earlier hours Wednesday morning, said Duke, a member of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Billings, Mont., and executive director of the Montana Southern Baptist Convention.

SBC President Steve Gaines spoke to messengers late Tuesday night before they voted on bringing an alt-right resolution to the floor.

“I want to encourage you: Let’s make sure before we leave Phoenix, everyone knows we have spoken forthrightly that God loves everyone and we love everyone, and the whole world knows that we, in Christ …, come against every kind of racism that there is,” Gaines said.




SBC approves process to sell Nashville building

PHOENIX (BP)—Flanked by more than two-dozen Florida pastors, Tommy Green of the Florida Baptist Convention presented a $3,136,500 gift to the Southern Baptist Convention during the Executive Committee report in Phoenix.

Presentation of the gift, from the sale of the Florida convention’s former building, was part of a report that also included convention adoption of an Executive Committee recommendation to establish a process to sell the SBC Building in Nashville in the event of a significant offer.

The Florida convention’s gift to the Cooperative Program was 51 percent of $6.15 million received from the sale of the former Baptist Building in downtown Jacksonville, which was completed June 7.

The allocation is in keeping with the convention’s Cooperative Program budget that sends 51 percent to the Cooperative Program and retains 49 percent for Florida Baptist ministries.

Process put in place to sell downtown Nashville building

Messengers approved a process for the sale of the SBC Building in Nashville if a favorable offer is received. Acting on a recommendation by the Executive Committee, messengers authorized it “to continue studying the advisability of a sale of the SBC Building, and to sell the property upon such terms and conditions, and at such a time, if any, as the Executive Committee may hereafter approve.”

Should a sale occur, various costs such as the current feasibility study would be deducted from the proceeds, which would then be distributed according to agreed-upon percentages based on those in place when the building opened in the mid-1980s:

  • The Executive Committee would receive a 56 percent share, including the original interests of the former Education Commission and Stewardship Commission, which were closed as part of the 1990s Covenant for a New Century SBC reorganization.
  • The Council of Seminary Presidents would have a 26 percent share, encompassing the original interests of the former Historical Commission, which also was closed in the SBC reorganization, and Seminary Extension. The seminary presidents’ council now operates the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives.
  • The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission would receive a 14 percent share, reflecting the original interest of the former Christian Life Commission.
  • The Southern Baptist Foundation would have a 4 percent share.

Cooperative Program budget approved

Messengers approved a 2017-18 Cooperative Program allocation budget of $192 million.

The budget maintains current allocations to the convention’s ministries, including 50.41 percent of receipts to the International Mission Board and 22.79 percent to the North American Mission Board, for a total of 73.20 percent allocated for world missions ministries.

The convention’s six seminaries will receive 22.16 percent. The seminary enrollment formula for funding will be: Gateway Seminary, 2.11 percent; Midwestern Seminary, 2.93 percent; New Orleans Seminary, 3.72 percent; Southeastern Seminary, 4.03 percent; Southern Seminary, 5.17 percent; Southwestern Seminary, 3.96 percent; and .24 percent to the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, a ministry overseen by the seminary presidents.

The budget designates 1.65 percent to the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. The SBC operating budget, the only Cooperative Program-funded facilitating ministry, encompassing SBC annual meeting costs and the work of the Executive Committee, will receive 2.99 percent of the budget.

Additionally, messengers amended the formula for distributing any overage of gifts above the Cooperative Program allocation budget to increase the IMB’s portion from 51 percent to 53.4 percent and decrease the SBC Operating Budget portion from 2.4 percent to 0 percent.

Messengers also approved an SBC operating budget of $7.45 million for the 2017-18 fiscal year.

Resolution of appreciation for registration secretary

At the Executive Committee’s recommendation, messengers also approved a resolution of appreciation for Jim Wells, the SBC’s outgoing registration secretary for 15 years, who is battling cancer.

Wells most recently had been the Missouri Baptist Convention’s strategic partners catalyst after serving as director of missions for the Tri-County Baptist Association and pastor of nine churches in nearly 50 years of ministry.

Frank Page, president of the SBC Executive Committee, recognized the work of the Women’s Advisory Council, which he appointed two years ago to address his conviction that women were under-involved in SBC processes. Women make up 52 percent to 53 percent of the Southern Baptist population, he said.

“God gifts women according to his biblical roles, but those gifts that he has given them must be utilized in his kingdom,” Page said. “We know women can minister so beautifully to each other, and we wanted to find a way to find out what were the best practices and just encourage women in their involvement of ministry to each other and in the kingdom of God.”

The Women’s Advisory Council, chaired by Rhonda Kelley of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, presented its report to Page June 12 at the Many Faces of the SBC booth in the convention’s exhibit hall.

The report, which includes the council’s findings, suggestions and action steps, will be posted online at sbc.net for all Southern Baptists to read and “to hold us accountable for the implementation of these suggestions,” Page said.

Messengers approved additional recommendations from the Executive Committee to:

  • Provide representation to four states or territories on the Executive Committee, although they do not have the number of church members stipulated by SBC bylaws. The recommendation amended a bylaw to list the Dakotas, Iowa, Minnesota-Wisconsin and Montana as each being entitled to a single representative on the Executive Committee. All other states and defined territories have Executive Committee representation.
  • Select three cities for upcoming SBC annual meetings—Salt Lake City in 2025, the site of the SBC’s 1998 meeting; Orlando, Fla., site of the 1994 and 2000 annual meetings; and Indianapolis, site of the 1992, 2004 and 2008 annual meetings.
  • Streamline a section of the SBC business and financial plan concerning publishing and merchandising to read in part: “All entities of the Convention should give priority to using the services of LifeWay Christian Resources for editing, publishing, and distributing published materials that are to be sold. Entities may publish their own materials in print or digital form promoting their assigned ministries.”
  • Authorize the International Mission Board to move to an Oct. 1-Sept. 30 fiscal year, responding to an IMB trustee request that would enable the mission board “to conduct their finances more efficiently and more effectively evaluate and project the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.” The Executive Committee, LifeWay Christian Resources and North American Mission Board use an Oct. 1-Sept. 30 fiscal year, while GuideStone Financial Resources utilizes the calendar year and the six SBC seminaries utilize an Aug. 1-July 31 fiscal year.



Southern Baptists grapple with morality, white nationalism

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was edited after it originally was posted to reflect a late-breaking development. Read the follow-up story here.

PHOENIX (RNS)—Southern Baptists, grappling with the country’s political realities, adopted a statement on the importance of public officials who display “consistent moral character.”

With minutes of that action at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting, they agreed with a committee’s decision not to bring forth a proposed resolution condemning the “alt-right movement,” whose members include proponents that call themselves white nationalists.

Barrett Duke 300Barrett Duke, president of the 2017 Resolutions Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, discussed the statements considered by his committee and by Southern Baptists at their annual meeting. (RNS photo by Adelle M. Banks)“Our decision not to report that resolution out is not an endorsement of the alt-right,” said Barrett Duke, chairman of the SBC Resolutions Committee, in an interview after the committee’s report. “There are aspects of people who identify as the alt-right, certainly, a lot of their views and their intentions, we would adamantly, aggressively oppose.”

However, the resolutions committee reconvened Tuesday evening and subsequently asked the committee on order of business for time Wednesday to present a new resolution. The committee on order of business approved, and messengers agreed to vote on the resolution Wednesday.

Messengers affirmed a statement decrying “every form of racism, including alt-right white supremacy, as antithetical to the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

The resolutions, five months into the presidency of Donald Trump, highlight divisions among Southern Baptists. White evangelicals voted overwhelmingly for Trump, and many of the denomination’s top leaders have become advisers to the president. Still, at least one Southern Baptist leader, Russell Moore, president of the denomination’s public policy arm, strongly opposed his candidacy.

Dwight McKissic, an African-American pastor from Arlington whose resolution last year repudiating the Confederate flag was amended before passage, requested that the alt-right resolution be brought to the messengers for consideration. He called the separatist movement “darkness that’s invading our nation right now.”

Duke responded that the committee spent “considerable time” mulling the proposed statement but decided it was “too open-ended” and could be misinterpreted. 

The predominantly white SBC has made pointed efforts in recent years to apologize for its history—founded in the defense of missionaries who owned slaves—and to attract African-Americans.

Importance of moral leadership

The resolution “On the Importance of Moral Leadership,” rewritten by the committee, originally was proposed by Tennessee pastor Micah Fries with exactly the same language as a 1998 resolution adopted during the time when President Clinton was being questioned about an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. 

“This resolution was originally approved by the SBC during a Democratic presidency, and now we have an opportunity to remain clear and consistent in our convictions during a Republican presidency,” Fries said in an interview.

But the committee added language commending “those leaders who choose not to meet privately with members of the opposite sex who are not their spouse.”  The added language is intended to ensure that leaders leave no room for temptation and “to avoid any suspicion of wrongdoing.”

Just as the committee two decades ago opted not to include Clinton’s name in the statement, the 2017 committee did not include either the names of President Trump, or Vice President Mike Pence, who has said he never eats alone with a woman other than his wife.

Other resolutions, all of which passed with no discussion:

  • Called for Congress to defund Planned Parenthood and urged the Justice Department to pursue criminal changes against it and its affiliates “for actions that may be in violation of federal law.”
  • Marked the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation by promoting its emphasis on “the sufficiency of Scripture.”
  • Condemned the “deceptive sin of gambling” and urged the end of state-sponsored gambling.
  • Reaffirmed the biblical doctrine of “penal substitutionary atonement,” the idea that Jesus took the place of sinners on the cross.
  • Called for Southern Baptists to pray for the next 21 days for God’s mercy on Southern Baptists and to commit to spend at least 15 minutes a day in prayer.



Southern Baptists seek to reverse decline with focus on evangelism

PHOENIX (RNS)—Faced with continuing declines in membership and baptisms, Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines implored messengers to the denomination’s yearly meeting to turn to God and put their emphasis on evangelism.

Steve Gaines 350Steve Gaines, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, speaks at the Pastors’ Conference at the Phoenix Convention Center. (SBC Photo via RNS/Courtesy of Matt Miller)“I want to encourage you to be a soul-winner. I want to encourage you to be evangelistic,” said Gaines, who plans to appoint a task force for more effective personal evangelism.

Gaines, a Memphis, Tenn., pastor who easily won re-election June 13 as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, said he would emphasize spreading the gospel in his second one-year term.

The SBC, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, with 15.2 million members, has lost members 10 years in a row and has baptized fewer people nine out of the last 10 years.

About 4,892 messengers attended the meeting at the Phoenix Convention Center. All but one of the last 10 annual gatherings had fewer than 10,000 messengers. That’s compared with attendance that peaked at 45,000 in the 1980s, when the denomination was immersed in deep theological battles that ended in what victors called a “conservative resurgence.”

Crossover yields more than 3,500 professions of faith

The regular meeting usually is preceded by an evangelistic Crossover event, and this year it included a Harvest America Crusade at a University of Phoenix stadium. The crusade featured Greg Laurie, an evangelist who announced his church has joined the Southern Baptist Convention but will continue its association with the Calvary Chapel church network.

Southern Baptist leaders said they were praying more than 5,000 people would profess faith in Christ during the campaign. Officials announced June 13 3,549 people had made professions of faith during the Crossover events. Crusade officials said a similar number of additional people made commitments during events that hosted simulcasts of the event.

Some experts say mass evangelism—stadium events such as those once led by evangelist Billy Graham—are not as popular as they once were.

“People still are converted, and they still have this strong spiritual emphasis, but the culture has changed so that that message attracts the attention of fewer and fewer people,” said Bill Leonard, professor of church history and Baptist studies at Wake Forest University School of Divinity.

At a pastors’ conference held during the two days before the annual meeting, speakers talked about “encouraging intentional gospel conversations,” one-on-one with people who might not go to church.

Some are convinced long-standing methods still can work, perhaps with a new twist of technology.

J.T. Roberts, 27, a student pastor at Laveen Baptist Church in Laveen, Ariz., worked with his church on 1,000 door-to-door visits in its neighborhood, and said “15 people come to know Jesus as Savior.” His church carried a simulcast of the Harvest America Crusade, and three people who attended committed or recommitted their lives to Jesus.

“God still works—whatever method, whatever means of getting the gospel out there,” he said. “But I see the old ways are still working. God is still building his church.”




CBF leaders defend pastor/judge who protested death penalty

LITTLE ROCK—A North Texas pastor joined leaders of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in publicly defending a pastor’s right to participate in a religiously motivated protest against the death penalty while also serving as a judge.

George Mason, pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, joined other faith leaders in a June 9 rally on the steps of Arkansas capitol to defend Wendell Griffen.

Wendell Griffen 200Wendell Griffen Griffen, pastor of New Millennium Church in Little Rock and Pulaski County circuit judge, joined a Good Friday protest against capital punishment—the same day he ruled against some state executions.

The Arkansas Supreme Court subsequently vacated his order and affirmed a request by Attorney General Leslie Rutledge to remove Griffen from any capital cases.

He faces disciplinary action from the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission for participating in the anti-death penalty protest, in which he lay strapped to a cot outside the governor’s mansion to symbolize an executed prisoner.

“In solidarity with Jesus, the leader of our religion who was put to death by crucifixion by the Roman Empire, I lay on a cot as a dead man for an hour and a half,” Griffen wrote later.

‘This is how democracy works’

At the June 9 rally on the state capitol steps, Mason and other faith leaders defended Griffen’s right to express his faith freely and exercise free speech.

“Religious liberty is good for everyone, but it is easier in theory than in practice,” Mason said. “When Judge Griffen exercised his religious freedom to protest the death penalty in a nonviolent way, he modeled for us precisely the kind of dissent we must protect. That protest was his right, and the manner in which he protested was also right.

“Religiously motivated moral dissent should provoke reflection, not reaction or retaliation. This is how democracy works. When any subject is off limits or any citizen is limited in exercising free speech, democracy does not work.”

Stephen Reeves, associate coordinator of partnerships and advocacy at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, affirmed Griffen’s willingness to serve in public office and maintain his Christian calling to ministry.

“Thanks to our Constitution, Judge Griffen need not sacrifice his faith in order to be a dedicated public servant, nor should he be asked to give up his calling as pastor to New Millennium,” said Reeves, former director of public policy for the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission. “In fact, we need more Christians and more elected officials that understand this distinction and live with similar dedication.”

‘Freedom of conscience is not a luxury’

Suzii Paynter, executive coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, pointed to religious liberty—as enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution—as the “first freedom” that “provides protection for all.”

“Freedom of conscience isn’t a luxury. It is a bedrock,” said Paynter, former director of the Texas CLC.

“Those who serve in government are not disqualified from having religious beliefs and exercising their religious beliefs in ways that are protected by law. … Judge Griffen was entitled to practice his religion on Good Friday. He was entitled to practice his religion as a follower of Jesus with other members of New Millennium Church. He was entitled to practice his religion, even if others disapprove of the way he practices it.”