Short Spots

2002 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering Breaks Record: Southern Baptists contributed a record $49.25 million to North American missions through the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering in 2002 -- representing a 2 percent increase over the amount contributed the previous year. Every penny goes to the field to support missionaries and missions work in the United States and Canada. The National AAEO Goal for 2003 is $53 million.

Nashville church faces ouster: A 26 Jan. article in The Tennessean, Nashville’s daily newspaper, reported that Glendale Baptist Church in Green Hills called April Baker, a professed lesbian, as associate pastor for children and families last May. According to the article, Glendale hired Baker out of a field of candidates of which all were women and two were lesbians. The church denied Baker’s hiring was an attempt to make a statement. According to Annette Sisson, who was on the search committee that presented Baker, members only wanted to find the best person for the job. But members of Nashville Baptist Association took exception to the church’s hiring of Baker. The association's executive board voted in 17 Feb. to recommend withdrawing fellowship from the congregation if Glendale fails to reverse its action by September.

Prior to the executive board meeting, three representatives of the Nashville association met with Glendale pastor Mark Caldwell and other leaders from the church. Association leaders asked if the church was approving a homosexual lifestyle by hiring Baker, according to Jim Freedman, the association's director of missions. Glendale leaders denied that hiring Baker constituted an endorsement of her lifestyle, Freedman said. The association advised Glendale leaders of the its position on homosexuality and told them if the church did not make a change, "the executive board would recommend that the association withdraw fellowship from the church."

Glendale likely will be booted from the Southern Baptist Convention as well, said Bill Merrill, an SBC spokesman. The SBC was unaware of Baker's hiring until the article appeared in the Tennessean. [ABP]

CP giving up in '03: Year-to-date contributions through the Southern Baptist Convention's Cooperative Program are up compared to this same time frame in 2002. As of 28 Feb. 2003, the year-to-date total of $78,915,285.32 for Cooperative Program (CP) Missions is 1.59%, or $1,237,089.84, ahead of the $77,678,195.48 received at this same point last year. For the month, receipts of $17,686,441.54 were 4.73% or $799,544.35, above the $16,886,897.19 received in February 2002.

Designated giving of $83,310,310.34 for the same year-to-date period is 1.46%, or $1,230,128.82, below receipts of $84,540,439.16 received at this point in 2002. The $50,087,771.36 in designated gifts received last month is $2,831,053.81 below the $52,918,825.17 total of February 2002, a 5.35% decrease. Designated contributions include the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions, Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund, and other special gifts.

The SBC operates on an Oct. 1-Sept. 30 fiscal year. [BP]