Texas Baptists recently announced a new partnership with WatersEdge, formally known as the Baptist Foundation of Oklahoma.
WatersEdge is a Christian financial services nonprofit connected to Baptist ministries, offering churches affordable accounting, payroll, contribution tracking, financial reporting, and online giving services designed to meet ministry needs.
Ward Hayes, Texas Baptists’ treasurer and chief financial officer, said churches have been inquiring “about accounting services for a couple of years.”
“We explored the possibility of establishing a church administration ministry, but in our research discovered WatersEdge. The sustained quality and value they were committed to deliver led us to partner with them for the benefit of Texas Baptist churches,” he said.
According to a Texas Baptists news release, some churches have reported seeing $5,000 in savings on employee and software costs by switching to WatersEdge Ministry Accounting.
WatersEdge does not require churches seeking their accounting services to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, according to Hayes.
Per the agreement, WatersEdge will not be competing with HighGround Advisors (formally Baptist Foundation of Texas), since HighGround does not offer accounting and payroll services.
The partnership aims to give church pastors and other ministry leaders more time to focus on advancing the gospel while expending less energy and resources on managing their church’s finances.
“We are thrilled that Texas Baptists is helping us bring our financial services to the thousands of Baptist churches within their convention,” WatersEdge Vice President Sarah Barham said in the news release.
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“We have already worked with a handful of Baptist churches in Texas [prior to the partnership] and found them all to be very solid churches with exceptional leadership. We look forward to expanding our reach even further in the great state of Texas.”
To learn more about the services WatersEdge offers and what Texas Baptist churches are involved in their accounting program, visit WatersEdge.com/accounting or call 800-949-9988.
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