A little late for the Cooperative Program and Ronnie Floyd

[William Thornton]

SBC Life is the slick mailout sent periodically to all churches and pastors. It is available online .

The current issue, June/July, must have been already finished because both the print and online versions fail to incorporate adopted by the SBC Executive Committee officers for the sole purpose of propping up Ronnie Floyd's dismal chances of being elected SBC president in light of his churchs' 0.27% Cooperative Program giving. Seems that the CP study committee called for election of state and national convention officers whose churches give at least 10% of their undesignated receipts.

Well, the change to drop the 10% in favor of a non-defined amount (the exact new wording is "leaders whose churches 'are committed to increasing systematically and enthusiastically the percentage of undesignated receipts given through the Cooperative Program'”) is too little, too late, too transparently partisan, and too silly to make the least difference.

Can we have a little enthusiastic commitment with that ZERO POINT TWO SEVEN PERCENT?

Morris Chapman should know better. The SBC in session in Greensboro will vote to approve this CP study and its recommendations...or not. I plan to vote not.

Which leaves us with our three SBC prez candidates:

Floyd: 0.27%
Sutton: 7% (according to reports...info a little scarce on the newcomer)
Page: 12%

Perhaps the SBC in session ought to apologize to the moderates of the 1980s who unsuccessfully pushed the 10% standard...nah, none would be around to hear it.

[T. D. Webb]

William. . .You go Guy! Thanks for the post leading this Okie to believe if 10% is good. . .then 12% is a tripper! Frank is on the right "Page" concerning this issue .


In His Grace and Peace,

[Sandy]

John Pierce at Baptists Today has quite an interesting editorial that visits this issue from a moderate Baptist perspective. It may be toned down a bit, but he seems to be calling for moderates to get off the fence once and for all, and the current controversy in the SBC, along with the mismanagement of missions enterprises, is the evidence he cites as reason enough.

The "young conservatives," represented by Wade Burleson, Frank Page, etc., are just now discovering what moderates experienced between 1979 and 1990, mainly that the fundamentalist leadership of the SBC can't tolerate even the slightest degree of disagreement with their leadership of the denomination. Pity that most of them weren't around to be involved in denominational life between 1979 and 1990--it might have been enough to have made a difference and I can't really see that the "young conservatives" and "pre-1979 moderate leadership of the SBC" have any real theological differences to speak of.

I've always struggled with the idea of using missions money and support of cooperative ministry enterprises for political pressure, but then, denying members of contributing churches, especially those who contribute a significantly higher percentage of their offerings to the enterprises, the opportunity to share their visions and ideas for ministry on trustee boards because of who else they might support, is far worse. Perhaps the time has come for moderate Baptists to reconsider their continued support for Southern Baptist mission enterprises, especially in light of the abuses that have recently been revealed.

On the other hand, I have to admit that I am still holding out hope that, even at this late hour, a change in leadership, represented by Page, Burleson and others who have openly identified with the "young conservative" movement, would also bring about an inclusive spirit that would truly "broaden the tent" and eventually get rid of the exclusive, cliquish, so-called "conservative resurgence" that has caused the current decline in the SBC.

[William Thornton]

[Billy]

[William Thornton]

[Sandy]