State Wrap 2006
by T. C. Pinckney Vol. XIX, No. 1, January 2007
Five Focus States
Arkansas: AR has deteriorated over the past year. Conservative strength has eroded. The state Executive Director controls things and moderates are running the show. Many conservatives have retired or moved to other states. All officers go along with whatever the state office says. Still, there is one bit of good news: Beginning with the 2008 budget in each year of the five-year budget formula the SBC portion will increase by 0.2% from the present 41.77%.
Louisiana: Continues to have problems, though there have been some important improvements during the past year. The president is an inerrantist and was re-elected by acclamation. 1VP an unknown, elected by acclamation. 2VP conservative, by acclamation. The new president of Louisiana College is an excellent administrator and biblical conservative; the freshman class is up 10%, making it the largest in 20 years. Liberals about the same strength as last year. The LA state paper, The Baptist Message, has a new, more conservative editor. And, of course, their capable committed state Executive Director has been a major help since his arrival in January 2004.
Mississippi: All officers elected by acclamation. President is conservative but not one to buck the system. 1VP is MS’s first Hispanic officer. 2VP is an unknown. Messengers also voted to permanently close the convention’s multi-million-dollar Gulfshore Baptist Assembly and sell the property, after it was completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Restoring the facility was financially unfeasible. Intention is to sell the coastal property and relocate the conference facility.
The Executive Director largely runs things and denies conservative concerns. He is in his upper 60s, so the key question is who replaces him. Conservatives have formed a statewide group to reduce funding to a state office they cannot in good conscience support. Majority of New Orleans Seminary graduates are not helpful. For example, three recent grads voted against endorsing the Baptist Faith & Message 2000. Two of them said they had never heard of it! There are reported to be 65 CBF churches in MS, some having women pastors and/or deacons.
North Carolina: Improving. There are 4,080 SBC churches in NC; more than 100 churches were started last year. The 2,662 messengers were the fewest in more than 25 years, perhaps partly due to a change of location but also because “moderates” realize the state convention has largely gone conservative and therefore far fewer of them attend. A number of moderate churches have left the state convention. The convention is definitely more conservative than last year.
The president and 1VP are very conservative and were re-elected by acclamation. 2VP is middle of the road; re-elected over a nominee backed by Conservative Carolina Baptists.
Messengers voted by nearly a three-fourths majority to change the convention’s articles of incorporation, as proposed in the “Sanderson Motion.” The addition to the article states, “Among churches not in friendly cooperation with the Convention are churches which knowingly act to affirm, approve, endorse, promote, support or bless homosexual behavior. The Board of Directors shall apply this provision. A church has a right to appeal any adverse action taken by the Board of Directors.” The action needed a two-thirds vote during two consecutive annual meetings. About 20 BSCNC churches are members of the Alliance of Baptists, a Washington, DC-based group which does not exclude homosexuals as church members or “same-sex marriages.” Several liberal churches are leaving as a result of this change.
NC gives some $6 million a year to the colleges, possibly the largest institutional support of any SBC state convention. But the colleges are not conservative. Another issue remaining to be finalized.
While much pre-convention attention centered on the “Sanderson Motion” on homosexuality, the longest discussion during the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina’s Nov. 13-15 annual meeting involved the strained relationship between the BSCNC and the Baptist Retirement Homes. The relationship also will be tested because messengers elected trustees to the BRH, but they may not be recognized. No one representing the BRH spoke at the annual meeting.
Discussions and votes by the messengers involved reversing the BSCNC board of directors’ action to escrow money from the 2006 budget targeted for the BRH for the last four months of the year – about $160,000 of the $938,500 allotted in the 2006 budget – after the BRH told the convention that it would appoint five new trustees starting in January 2007 and phase out BSCNC funding over a four-year period.
On the final day of the convention, messengers voted – on a recommendation by the budget committee – to escrow 2007 BRH funding and not promote the 2007 North Carolina Offering for Older Adults, which is held each February, until the relationship between the convention and BRH has been resolved.
The BRH, which operates five retirement homes throughout the state, was founded in 1951 and has a historical relationship with the convention. However, it is a separate corporate entity. According to its website, last year the BRH received approximately $1.6 million from the BSCNC’s Cooperative Program, the annual offering, and local Baptist churches.
BRH bylaws give the convention control over naming trustees, but in 2005 the retirement entity approved a plan to name its own trustees. The BSCNC executive committee originally approved the request but reversed its decision after convention lawyers deemed that the change would violate the bylaws concerning the BSCNC-BRH relationship.
BSCNC President Stan Welch appointed an 11-member study committee to look into the issue. The committee will attempt to meet with BRH officials and report back to the convention at next year’s annual meeting.
Messengers also approved a three-year partnership with eastern Canadian Baptists.
In other business, messengers voted to allow BSCNC-affiliated educational institutions to select up to one-third of their trustees who are active Christians but not Baptists. The convention nominating committee can still reject any nominee. In the past, trustees had to be Baptist residents of North Carolina. This was an issue because some candidates were members of churches affiliated with the Alliance of Baptists, which has endorsed “same-sex marriage.”
Tennessee: TN remains a state facing many challenges, but things are slowly improving. The new president is a strong conservative. He won 58% to 42% over a moderate. Another strong conservative won 1VP 62% to 38% over another moderate. For 2VP a moderate defeated a conservative by 15 votes.
You will recall that Belmont University is seeking to sever its ties with the Tennessee Baptist Convention because Belmont is liberal and the TBC is moving increasingly conservative. But late last year it came to light that there is a 1951 letter of agreement between the two entities which stipulates that, if Belmont leaves the arrangement, it must repay all the money given to it by the TBC. That amounts to some $51 million. At this year’s meeting TBC messengers voted to escrow the approximately $2.3 million in the ‘07 budget for Belmont and distribute that money according to percentages used in the 2005-06 budget for SBC causes and TBC entities. Exception: $750,000 will be held to cover possible legal expenses.
A second problem is the Executive Director. He is reportedly a loyal CBF man about 65 and is getting pressure to retire. However, he has said he plans to retire at 70. Prior to this year TN had not affirmed the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 because the Executive Director opposed such action.
Two actions were taken this year re the BFM. During the morning miscellaneous business session Nov. 14, Jerry Sutton, pastor of Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville, moved that the following question be added to the seven questions currently on the information form required of potential nominees to state boards and committees: “Do you affirm your belief in the Baptist Faith and Message 2000?” Sutton noted that when decisions are made about who is appointed to Tennessee Baptist boards and committees there is a “tacit assumption” that Tennessee Baptists are “vitally connected” to the Southern Baptist Convention. “In the past 20-25 years we have a group that’s not loyal to Southern Baptists, and yet these people go on the executive board and make Cooperative Program allocation decisions for those of us who are committed to the Southern Baptist Convention.” He compared it to “foxes guarding the hen house.”
Messenger Chris Francis of New Sevier Home Baptist Church in Knoxville offered an amendment to Sutton’s motion to add that messengers be informed of the nominee’s response to the question “with a simple yes or no answer.”
The amendment passed with a strong majority.
The BFM again became a topic of discussion during the Tuesday afternoon session when messenger Paul Brown of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova moved that the “Tennessee Baptist Convention, meeting in this annual session, go on record as affirming the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message.”
Bill Sherman, well known liberal, active CBF pastor, proposed an amendment to the motion to include any of the three statements of faith that Southern Baptists have adopted (1925, 1963, or 2000). “We are not here to tell each other what to believe,” Sherman said.
Messengers voted the amendment down and later approved the motion, affirming the 2000 BFM by a large majority of votes.
When the Nominations Committee report came to the floor, Larry Reagan, 2VP of the TBC and stalwart conservative, made a motion to amend the report by nominating Ken Polk from Northside Baptist Church in Murfreesboro in the place of Steve Durham of Radnor Baptist Church in Nashville, to serve on the TBC Executive Board. Polk is conservative, Durham liberal. The amendment passed by nearly 53% of the vote.
There are 3,187 SBC churches in TN.
State Budgets:
Twenty-eight states increased their budgets for 2007. The 3 smallest percentage increases were: 0.2% MT, 0.7% VA-BGAV, and TN 0.8%. The 3 with the largest percentage increases were: NM 11.07%, FL 6.69%, and IL 6.0%. Six states reduced their budgets, compared to 8 last year: CA -0.2%, DK -0.1%, IA -4.2%, KN -1.8%, MN-WS -1.25%, and MO -3.23%.
Re contributions to the SBC, 24 states made no change. No states decreased the SBC’s portion. Fourteen states increased the SBC percentage (compared to five last year): IN +0.2%, KY +0.35%, MD-DE +1%, MI +0.5%, MO +0.25%, NV +0.5%, NE +0.25%, NY +0.25%, NW +6.6%, OH +0.25%, PA-SJ +0.1%, TX-SBTC +1%, UT-ID +0.5%, and WV +0.5%.
Those states giving 40% or more to the SBC are: TX-SBTC 54%, VA-SBCV 50%, GA 50% except some “preferred” items are taken off the top, AL 42.3%, IL 42.25%, AR 41.77%, MD-DE 41%, OH 40.25%, FL 40%, SC 40%, TN 40%, and OK 40% except some “preferred” items are taken off the top. In CA and LA, if CP contributions are more than expected, the overage will be divided 50-50 between the state and SBC. The long-range plan for IL & NM is to gradually move to a 50-50 allotment. NE intends to continue its increases in the SBC percentage.
NC still has its four giving plans: A & D give 32% to the SBC, B 10%, and C nothing. In C all out of state money goes to the CBF. Pressure is growing in NC to eliminate one or more of these plans, especially C.
VA-BGAV has three plans: In World Missions1 34% goes to the SBC, WM2 28%, and WM3 nothing to SBC.
TX-BGCT sends a form to churches on which each can choose to send 21% of undesignated offerings to the SBC, CBF, BGCT missions, or other causes the church can specify.
Resolution Roundup:
Below is a summary of resolutions passed by at least three state conventions, starting with the topics most often addressed.
Homosexuality 13: These resolutions addressed several aspects of the homosexual offensive: pro-heterosexual marriage, oppose corporate support of homosexuality, oppose sad couples as foster parents: AL, AZ, CO, DK, IN, IA, LA, MO, NM, NW, OK, TN, SBTC.
Oppose abortion/pro-life 9: AL, CA, DK, IN, LA, MO, MS, NM, NW.
Urge prayer for troops & families 6: AK, FL, LA, NW, OK, U-I.
Parents ensure children’s physical, moral, emotional, & spiritual development 6: DK, IA, LA, NW, OK, SC.
Affirm CP & move of state toward 50% to state convention, 50% to SBC 5: AL, LA, OH. OK, SBTC.
Discourage alcohol & tobacco use 4: AL, AR, LA, SBTC.
Oppose gambling 4: AZ, DK, IL, NM.
Oppose public school moral issues, encourage Baptists to work within public school system 4: CA, CO, IN, MI.
The immigration crisis 3: LA, SC, SBTC.
Against persecution in Sudan 3: AL, SBTC, BGAV.
Pro-evangelization 3: AK, AZ, KY.
State Roster
Remember that in this article the terms “conservative”, “moderate”, and “liberal” refer to the individual’s denominational stance, not necessarily to his theology. Someone who is theologically conservative may cooperate with liberals organizationally, though it is rare if not unheard of for one with liberal theology to cooperate with conservatives organizationally.
AL: Continues to improve. The new state Executive Director, Rick Lance, is very pro-SBC, is theologically conservative, and enjoys the strong support of conservatives. Dr. Lance is a Gospel preacher and very evangelistic and mission minded. The new president of Samford is a sound conservative. No funds flow through the state convention to CBF. Liberals are now on outside and seem to have given up, but significant problems remain: All 3 Baptist schools teach evolution exclusively; and a theologically conservative but let’s not rock the boat group is in control. Also, the state newspaper, The Alabama Baptist, remains moderate with no changes on the board yet.
AK: A small convention with just 102 churches and missions. Officers appear to be good guys but not willing to be labelled. Two positive signs: Attendance this year was up from 111 in 2005 to 156 messengers and guests, and more native Alaskans are being reached with some evincing God’s call to become Christian leaders.
AZ: Jim Loui, a lay member of First Chinese BC, is the first non-Anglo to be elected state convention president in Arizona. All officers conservatives.
AR: See Focus States.
CA: Potentially a problem state. One or more associations are maneuvering to control local churches and acquire their property. This seems to be done with the acquiescence and knowledge of the state office. Local Baptists are not likely to accept this for long. We may see some development on this during the coming year. Officers follow the state office lead.
CO: All officers are conservatives and were re-elected by acclamation. No known liberal activity. There are a total of 426 congregations in CO: 257 constituted churches and 169 seed congregations. Notice the healthy growth.
DK: A very small state convention with only 90 churches and about 3,400 members. There were 7 church starts in 2006, and the goal is 14 in ‘07. The conservative officers were re-elected by acclamation. Messengers approved a new partnership with Russia, DK’s first international partnership.
DC: 144 churches, down one from last year. The DCBC is aligned not just with the SBC, but also with the American Baptist Convention and National Baptists. As noted last year, NAMB stopped supporting the DCBC budget with $500,000 annually.
FL: New president is conservative. The two VPs are unknowns. Approved a partnership with Kentucky to help reach Hispanics in the Bluegrass State. Out-going president Hayes Wicker decried the “sharp left turn” taken recently in American politics as a “slippery slope” and challenged Florida Baptists to stand against embryonic stem cell research and abortions. FL Executive Director Sullivan urged Florida Baptists to sign the state constitutional amendment petition that defines marriage as between a man and a woman, noting that only 40,000 signatures are needed to get the amendment on the 2008 state ballot. He also promised to ensure that only board members committed to total abstinence of alcohol will be elected to serve in convention-related positions; pledged to have the Cooperative Program as the centerpiece of the 2007 convention meeting; and planned to make theological education in Haiti a priority.
GA: All officers strong conservatives. In the second of two required annual meeting votes, messengers finalized the split with liberal Mercer University by an estimated 98% vote. They also approved partnerships with the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and with the western regions of Canada. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is headquartered in Atlanta but shows no signs of energy.
HW: The president is conservative, the 1VP theologically conservative but not involved, and the 2VP is unknown. Baptisms almost doubled this year from 454 to 802 with many of them occurring in Samoa and of those quite a few being Chinese and Vietnamese fishermen who return to Communist China or Viet Nam. This bodes well for evangelism in those two countries.
IL: Just over 500 messengers and visitors gathered for the 100th annual meeting of the Illinois Baptist State Convention. The solid conservative president was re-elected by acclamation. The VP is unknown. The budget was increased 6%, but more preferred items were added which decreases the amount flowing to the SBC. IL has a new Executive Director, Nate Adams, a strong, biblical conservative with a strategic focus. No known CBF churches.
IN: The president is a theological conservative, the 1VP strongly conservative, but the 2VP is moderate. There is perhaps one CBF church in the state. The budget was increased 2.4% and the SBC portion was raised from 32.8% to 33%. IN has 428 churches and missions with 95,430 members.
IA: Southern Baptists have worked in Iowa for 51 years, and this was Iowa’s eleventh year as a state convention. There are some 100 churches and missions in the state. The new president and 1VP are solidly conservative, the 2VP unknown. Of the approximately 100 SBC churches, one is CBF and one dually CBF & SBC.
KN: The president and 1VP were re-elected by acclamation. P is very strong. 1VP nice guy but not strong conservative. No visible CBF activity. State office reputedly moderate.
KY: Continuing to move more conservative. New president, strong conservative, elected 792-403 over an active liberal. 1VP, an assistant professor at Southern Seminary and strong conservative, elected 423-208 over a strong liberal. The 1VP is only the second Afro-American to elected to a statewide KY Baptist office. 2VP PhD student at Southern and strong conservative, elected by acclamation. Conservatives are winning a war of attrition. State trending conservative. Many moderates have left the KBC scene, doing their own thing, & ignoring KBC. Middle of the roaders are more comfortable with conservatives. Strong CP emphasis. State convention messengers voted earlier in the day to approve CP-related recommendations adopted in June by SBC messengers. The nine-point proposal includes calling for the election of convention officers “whose churches systematically and enthusiastically lead by example in giving sacrificially and proportionally through the Cooperative Program.”
LA: See Focus States.
MD-DE: A little CBF activity but not much. President and 2VP are known conservatives. 1VP unknown. Messengers approved extending the convention’s partnership with Scotland for three years. In 2006 mission teams visited seven churches in Scotland.
MI: Two pastors nominated for president, both solid conservatives. The winner was elected with a one vote margin! 1VP & 2VP elected by acclamation, both conservatives. Two constitutional amendments were read that will be addressed in 2007. One dealt with not seating messengers from churches who endorse or affirm homosexuality. The second would add a messenger for each $1,000 the church gives to the Cooperative Program. (Obviously there will have to be a maximum number of allowed messengers to prevent one large church dominating proceedings.)
MN-WS: Of the 157 churches and missions in the convention (12 more than last year), 30 were represented by 81 messengers and 43 visitors. No known CBF activity. All officers are theological conservatives and were re-elected by acclamation. Important change is coming to M/W. The Baptist General Convention of Texas agreed in 1956 to form a new association of 7 chs in M/W. M/W became a fellowship in 1967 and a two-state convention in 1983. M/W has received as much as $200,000 annually from BGCT, but in 2006 BGCT informed M/W that these gifts will end in 2010. Executive Director Leo Endel listed “10 things I think can happen by 2010" if M/W Baptists would give their best. These include: 200 churches, an increase of 10/yr; 1,465 baptisms, increase of 100 per year from present 1,000; financial stability of the M/W convention, which stands to lose as much as $700,000 per year through declining CP giving and loss of BGCT support; 50% of churches taking a missions trip, up from 16% now.
MO: All officers were endorsed by the Missouri Baptist Laymen’s Association (the active conservative organization in the state) and were elected by acclamation. This is the 10th consecutive year for theologically conservative officers. Messengers disqualified 19 churches under the convention’s single-alignment stipulation (SBC only) approved at last year’s annual meeting. Among the disqualified churches were four First Baptist Churches each of which have ties with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship or the rival, liberal Baptist General Convention of Missouri. Missouri is unique in its approach to single alignment in that no other state convention in the SBC has passed such a definite statement articulating its ties to the SBC. The MBC remains locked in a five-year legal battle with five entities whose trustees voted to make their boards self-perpetuating by amending their charters. The status of Windermere Baptist Conference Center, Missouri Baptist College, the Baptist Home retirement center, the Missouri Baptist Foundation, and Word & Way newsjournal remains uncertain as the legal maneuvering continues. Messengers approved a new three-year partnership to plant churches with the Baptist Association of El Salvador beginning 1 January. (Also see “MO Baptist board forms investigating committee” in this Banner.)
MS: See Focus States.
MT: Montana was constituted as a state convention in 2002. No known liberals in the state. President is a conservative, 1VP unknown. Both were re-elected by acclamation. The Executive Director has given notice that he is going to China as a missionary. MT had a larger number of baptisms in 2006.
NV: 700 messengers, the largest in NV’s 28-year Baptist history. The new president and VPs are unknowns. The work is as healthy as it has ever been. Nevada Baptists received recognition from the North American Mission Board for achieving second place in NAMB’s Region IV for the ratio of new church starts to existing churches, and fourth place in North America. Nevada also ranked fifth nationally for percentage increase in giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering during the past year, with an increase of 17.4%.
NE: In ‘06 5 churches and 12 missions were started for a total of 250 churches and missions. NE re-elected by acclamation the first non-Anglo president and first Korean president of a state convention. 1VP also re-elected. Both conservatives. Only a couple of CBF churches. No change from last year.
NM: 321 churches and 25 missions with approximately 62,000 members. President and VPs are all conservative. NM is a very unified and loyal SBC state. A few individual liberals but no organized effort. The Executive Director, new as of January 2006 is a very loyal Southern Baptist.
NY: 427 churches and plants. Perhaps one or two CBF-leaning churches in the state. President is theological conservative but not an activist. 1VP is an active conservative. 2VP unknown. Executive Director is focussed on soul-winning and church planting.
NC: See Focus States.
NW: All officers by acclamation. President is conservative. 1VP & 2VP unknown. Almost no CBF activity.
OH: Over 600 SBC churches in Ohio. No known CBFers. All officers are conservative. Messengers responded to the action of the 2006 Southern Baptist Convention which encouraged increased support of the Cooperative Program in order to reach more people for Christ all over the world. Their call for increased support included encouragement for all Southern Baptists to tithe, all Southern Baptist churches to give more to the Cooperative Program, and all state conventions to increase the percentage of the Cooperative Mission Program distribution for worldwide missions beyond the state convention borders. Therefore, messengers to the 53d annual meeting of the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio responded by increasing the percentage for missions beyond the borders of Ohio from 40% to 40.25%. Goal is to reach a 50/50 distribution of Cooperative Mission Program funds.
OK: 1,009 messengers attended the 100th annual BGCO meeting. The new president, a conservative, was elected over a five point Calvinist. The two VPs are unknowns. 2VP is an Hispanic pastor. CBF is hardly mentioned in OK. Endorsed partnership agreements for Bangladesh and Utah-Idaho. Problem: some 280 churches in OK are without pastors, 20 more than last year. It seems that fewer OK men are going into ministry.
PA-SJersey: Growing enthusiasm for church planting. No noticeable CBF activity. All officers are theological conservatives. President and 2VP are Afro-American pastors. Messengers were told of a plan being formulated to regionalize the BCPSJ. The new structure could be presented to messengers for implementation by November 2008.
SC: New president, elected 550 to 271, is conservative as is the new 1VP. 2VP unknown. CBF is following its own agenda, and “moderates” not attending the BCSC convention. Carlyle Driggers, Executive Director for the last 15 years, announced his resignation effective in February. The search committee is solid.
TN: See Focus States.
TX-BGCT: All three officers elected by acclamation. 2VP is Hispanic pastor. The 1,900 messengers comprised the smallest BGCT convention in some 30 years. Major problem: Three pastors in the Rio Grande valley claimed to have planted 258 of the BGCT’s 357 church starts from 1999 to 2005. In actuality, only five of those “churches” are still in existence and those five are home Bible studies, small groups, or children’s groups. The three pastors allegedly embezzled $1.3 million from the BGCT over six years.
The FBI looked into allegations of fraud surrounding the pastors in 2000 but did not proceed with the investigation because the BGCT’s leadership declined further investigation of the matter. In October 2006, however, a special internal BGCT investigative panel submitted a report to the convention’s leadership stating that the funds likely were misappropriated for churches that existed only on paper.
The submission of the report prompted the resignation of two members of the BGCT’s church-starting staff on Oct. 25, the day after the report was handed to the BGCT leadership. Another staffer resigned last year and currently is executive director of Arango’s Piper Institute. (Arango is one of the accused pastors.)
David Montoya, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Mineral Wells, has written about the disappearance of BGCT funds in the Rio Grande Valley on his blog. He wrote Nov. 12 that he has been pushing for an investigation of church-starting activity in the Rio Grande Valley since 2003. He also has called for BGCT Executive Director Wade’s resignation, claiming that the convention should feel shame that its leader “is entitled to lead us with the string of failures trailing behind him like the chains of Marley’s ghost.”
Moments after the general session ended, Montoya posted his version of the events in the convention hall, writing that his microphone was purposefully silenced and that people were seated around him to “intimidate” him. Montoya described the executive board’s presentation as “a bunch of attorney double-talk.”
Wade said no vote of confidence would be necessary if he didn’t fix the problem by February. Wade did not indicate explicitly if his statement reflected the possibility of his resignation.
TX-SBTC: Contrary to the major problem(s) facing the BGCT, wonderful things are happening in the SBTC. In such a large and active state it’s hard to track the numbers of churches and their alignments, but the latest figures I have show 5,509 total SBC churches in TX. Of these, 1,824 are aligned with the SBTC; 4,206 with the BGCT; 521 dually. Over the last four years the SBTC has averaged a new church joining every other day! Of course all SBTC officers are strong conservatives.
Messengers approved an agreement with the Baptist Missionary Association of Texas to partner in some evangelistic and ministry endeavors. There are approximately 450 BMA churches in TX; the five largest have joined the SBTC. The BMA originally formed in the 1920s because some churches did not trust the then new Cooperative Program (established in 1925). But in recent years the SBTC and BMA of Texas have made strides in cooperation on shared ministry concerns, including Christian higher education.
In 2004, the BMA-owned Jacksonville College affiliated with the SBTC, and in 2005 the Texas Baptist Home for Children in Waxahachie, another BMA of Texas ministry, affiliated as well. Both the college and the children’s home continue to be predominately governed by the BMA of Texas but also receive SBTC budgeted funds.
UT-ID: No CBF activity. All officers conservatives. Added five churches from Idaho and one from Utah. Approved a two-year partnership between Utah-Idaho Baptists and the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.
VA-SBTC: See November/December 2006 Baptist Banner.
VA-BGAV: New president is a layman from FBC, Waynesboro. FBC is a long-term CBF church whose previous (NOT current) pastor stated at one CBF state meeting, the CBF is “more interested in freedom than in theological precision.” In fact, all three presidential officers belong to CBF churches and were endorsed by Virginia Baptists Committed, the state’s liberal network, whose slate of nominees for BGAV offices has been unopposed for nearly a decade. This year, for the first time since 1997, a candidate not on VBC’s slate was nominated – Ken Barnes, pastor of Woodland Heights Baptist Church in Chesapeake, who was nominated for first vice president. Barnes lost 275-386 (41% to 58%).
Messengers commissioned the first group of Venturers, a new Virginia Baptist mission service program which offers opportunities for persons age 18 and older to serve in mission settings around the nation and the world for six months to two years. Messengers also approved a constitutional amendment that stipulates no person employed by an agency that receives funds from the BGAV, and no spouse or dependent children of that person, may serve as a member of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board.; and welcomed messengers from First Baptist Church in Dalton, GA, the second Georgia Baptist church to affiliate with the BGAV in the past two years. First Baptist Church in Rome, GA, also is a BGAV member.
WV: West Virginia has a total of 195 churches including six new ones welcomed this year. “A couple” of American Baptist churches have joined because they were unhappy with the ABC position on homosexuals, also inquiries from a couple more. All officers are conservative and were re-elected by acclamation. CP receipts are running 9-10% ahead of last year. WV is emphasizing CP growth and churches increasing the percent contributed. The near term state goal is to send 40% of undesignated receipts to the SBC, eventually 50%. A second emphasis is volunteers, especially disaster relief responders. There are no CBF churches; some are dually aligned with the ABC.
WY: 93 churches in the state. No CBF. The conservative resurgence is not a factor there; liberals typically do not start works but rather infiltrate prospering churches and other organizations. All officers theological conservatives. God is moving across WY: new ch plants, new types of ministries such as prison, oil field, Hispanic. There were 6 or 7 church plants this past year with opportunities for 20 more within the next two years. Twenty may not sound large but in Wyoming that would be 21.5% growth.