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NASHVILLE (BP)—Twenty-three state conventions voted to increase the portion of Cooperative Program receipts being forwarded to Southern Baptist Convention missions and ministries in the coming year, continuing a trend inspired by passage of the Great Commission Task Force recommendations five years ago. This year, Florida Baptists made the largest shift, moving from 41 to 51 percent allocated to SBC causes.
“This epic, pacesetting decision will set a precedent in the Southern Baptist Convention,” said Michael Tatem, president of Florida’s State Board of Missions. “We are doing what the Southern Baptist Convention was called to do in 1845—to take the gospel to the nations.”
Iowa Baptists celebrated an 11 percent increase in giving to the Cooperative Program after messengers voted last year to boost the SBC portion from 20 to 50 percent, while Nevada Baptists reported a 13 percent increase after moving from 35 to 50 percent for SBC causes last year.
“Several Iowa churches have significantly increased their financial support to missions through the Cooperative Program,” Tim Lubinus, Baptist Convention of Iowa’s executive director/treasurer, said. “I think it is likely that our decision last year to increase our giving to the Executive Committee from 20 percent to 50 percent provided us with momentum and incentive to give through the Cooperative Program.”
In addition to Florida, other state conventions voting to increase by more than 1 percent the portion of their budgets sent beyond their borders include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Maryland-Delaware, Michigan, Minnesota-Wisconsin, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee and Utah-Idaho.
Meanwhile, state conventions in Arkansas, California, Dakotas, Kansas-Nebraska, Mississippi, New England, New Mexico, Northwest, Pennsylvania-South Jersey and West Virginia voted to increase the SBC portion in amounts ranging from .005 to 1 percent.
The four conventions that forward half or more to the SBC without a “shared ministries” calculation are Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (55/45), Florida (51/49), Iowa (50/50) and Nevada (50/50). State conventions in Florida and New England quit designating any items providing dual benefit to the state and national convention. While 15 state conventions continue to use the classification, five reduced the portion designated as shared.
Two state conventions—the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Baptist General Association of Virginia—let churches customize what they label Texas Cooperative Program or Cooperative Missions Giving. BGCT’s preferred giving plan retains 79 percent of undesignated receipts from affiliated churches for in-state use and 21 percent for one of three worldwide partners—the Southern Baptist Convention, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship or BGCT Worldwide. Churches may customize further by specifying the portions for in-state and out-of-state allocations. BGAV has pre-set giving tracks that a church can customize to fund causes of the SBC and/or CBF. The BGAV giving plan World Mission 1 allocates 34 percent of gifts given through this plan to SBC worldwide missions and ministries.
The actual dollar amount of a state convention’s allocation fluctuates annually depending on how well cooperating churches in the state are able to fund their respective budgets. On the positive side, more than 4,400 Southern Baptist churches met or exceeded the 1% CP Challenge last year, increasing their CP giving by at least 1 percentage point of their budgets from undesignated gifts by their members and visitors.
The total undesignated CP receipts received by the state conventions are projected to decrease by $5 million as total giving to churches remains in decline, and yet, with more than half of the state conventions increasing the SBC portion, the national allocation is likely to increase by more than $5 million.
Analysis of financial data is based on information supplied by Baptist Press and state convention reports with projections for 2015 calculated or in some cases estimated by SBC Executive Committee staff.
Each state convention elected officers to leadership for 2016. Those serving as president are:
ALABAMA—Travis Coleman Jr., pastor of First Baptist Church, Prattville
ALASKA—Todd Burgess, pastor of First Baptist Church, Eagle River
ARIZONA—Bret Burnett, pastor of Mountain View Baptist Church, Tucson
ARKANSAS—Gary Hollingsworth, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church, Little Rock
CALIFORNIA—Randy Bennett, a member of Daybreak Baptist Church, Bakersfield
COLORADO—Mike Routt, pastor of Circle Drive Baptist Church, Colorado Springs
DAKOTAS—Doug Hixson, pastor of Connection Church, Spearfish, S.D.
FLORIDA—James Peoples, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, Keystone Heights
GEORGIA—Thomas Hammond, pastor of First Baptist Church, Alpharetta
HAWAII/PACIFIC—John Endriss, pastor of Engage Church, Hilo, Hawaii
ILLINOIS—Kevin Carrothers, pastor of Rochester First Baptist Church, Rochester
INDIANA—Darin Garton, pastor of Oak Creek Church, Mishawaka
IOWA—Ken Livingston, pastor of First Grace Baptist Church, Sheffield
KANSAS/NEBRASKA—Joe Stiles, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church, Lawrence, Kan.
KENTUCKY—Kevin Smith, teaching pastor of Highview Baptist Church, Louisville
LOUISIANA—Gevan Spinney, pastor of First Baptist Church, Haughton
MARYLAND/DELAWARE—Bill Warren, pastor of Allen Memorial Baptist Church, Salisbury, Md.
MICHIGAN—Charles Turner, a member of Kaleo Church, Lansing
MINNESOTA/WISCONSIN—Paul Fries, pastor of Blue River Valley Church, Muscoda, Wis.
MISSISSIPPI—Doug Broome, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Natchez
MISSOURI—Neil Franks, pastor of First Baptist Church, Branson
MONTANA—Darren Hales, pastor of Big Sky Fellowship, Helena
NEVADA—Greg Fields, pastor of Nellis Baptist Church, Las Vegas
NEW ENGLAND—Gary Rowe, member of Island Pond Baptist Church, Hampstead, N.H.
NEW MEXICO—Jonathan Richard, pastor of First Baptist Church, Estancia
NEW YORK—Scott Gillette, pastor of Amherst Baptist Church, Amherst
NORTH CAROLINA—Timmy Blair, pastor of Piney Grove Chapel Baptist Church, Angier
NORTHWEST—Steve Bryant, member of Highland Baptist Church, Redmond, Ore.
OHIO—Jeremy Westbrook, pastor of Living Hope Baptist Church, Marysville
OKLAHOMA—Hance Dilbeck, pastor of Quail Springs Baptist Church, Oklahoma City
PENN/SOUTH JERSEY—Brian King, pastor of Ezekiel Baptist Church, Philadelphia, Pa.
SOUTH CAROLINA—Tom Tucker, pastor of Sisk Memorial Baptist Church, Fort Mill
TENNESSEE—Roc Collins, pastor of Indian Springs Baptist Church, Kingsport
TEXAS (BGCT)—René Maciel, president of the Baptist University of the Américas, San Antonio
TEXAS (SBTC)—Nathan Lino, pastor of Northeast Baptist Church, Humble
UTAH-IDAHO—David Kite, pastor of four cowboy churches in Idaho
VIRGINIA (BGAV)—Nancy Stanton McDaniel, pastor of Rhoadesville Baptist Church, Rhoadesville
VIRGINIA (SBCV)—Bryan Smith, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Roanoke
WEST VIRGINIA—Ron McCoy, director of missions for the Upper Ohio Valley Baptist Association, Moundsville
WYOMING—David Grace, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, Laramie.
