Cooperative Program set 6thRecord

                                                                                                                                                                  Vol. XII, No. 10, Nov/Dec 1999

For the sixth consecutive year, the Southern Baptist Convention ended its fiscal year with record Cooperative Program gifts, nearly $168 million, surpassing last year's record by more than $8 million and the yearly budget by nearly $13 million. For the SBC's fiscal year, Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, the $167,996,385 total for 1998-99 is $8,412,641, or 5.27 percent, above last year's record. The increase in total gifts for the sixth year in a row means the remaining $3.1 million of the SBC's Capital Needs Budget will be paid, finishing a 10-year capital needs budget a year ahead of schedule. All gifts over the regular budget have been distributed 50% to the capital needs budget and 50% according to the regular percentage of the allocation budget. Now that the capital needs budget has been completed, all gifts over the regular budget will be forwarded to convention agencies according to the regular CP funding formula, which entails, for example, a 50% allocation to the International Mission Board and 22.79% to the North American Mission Board.

Designated receipts also set another record, topping last year's $150,593,868 by $1,143,328, or .76 percent. The 1998-99 designated gifts total of $151,737,197 set a record also for the sixth year in a row.

Adding the record Cooperative Program and designated gifts for the year 1998-99, Southern Baptists gave $320 million, nearly $10 million more than last year, through regular channels for the mission and education enterprise of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The SBC's upcoming 75th anniversary celebration of the Cooperative Program -- "Partners in the Harvest," with a goal of $750 million in giving for all Baptist causes during the 2000-2001 fiscal year -- can be reached, said Morris H. Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee, "with God's help and the cooperation of loyal Southern Baptist leaders everywhere" -- to "literally launch our witness into the next millennium."

Three goals have been set for the anniversary celebration:

     -- Baptize 1 million people in the year 2000.

     -- Sign up a record number of Baptists for volunteer missions projects.

      -- Give $750 million in 2000-2001 through CP and special offerings for international, North American and state missions, which would entail an additional $60 million in CP gifts through local churches across the country. [BP]