SBCV Budget: Giant Steps!

by T. C. Pinckney                                                                                Vol. IX, No. 8, September 1996

The spirit of enthusiastic unity so strong at the SBCV annual meeting held at Grove Avenue BC, Richmond, on 16 September, prevailed also in the decisions on next year’s (1996-97) budget. But first a quick review of the current (1995-96) budget for comparison’s sake.

This year’s budget totals $221,000 with the SBCV retaining 65% of undesignated receipts and sending 35% to the Southern Baptist Convention. When we voted on this budget last year, the finance committee noted the intent (not commitment) to increase the SBC portion each year by 5% so that there would be a 50-50 split between the SBCV and the SBC in the 1998-99 fiscal year. Of course, churches also have the option of designing their own giving plans and informing the SBCV.

Receipts for the first nine months of the year (through the end of August) are $542,675 compared to a budget of $165,750 for the same period. That is, receipts are 3.27 times budget for the nine months. But that’s not all the good news. Those figures only reflect budget dollars. There were also considerable designated funds flowing to the SBCV so that total receipts amounted to $743,514.

The result of this financial blessing is that the Finance Committee, headed by Jim Pope, member of Pecks BC, Bedford, recommended and the body unanimously approved, a 1996-97 budget of $774,000 --- more than three times the current budget! Designated gifts will, of course, remain separate from the budget.

The second major change is one that will delight all loyal Southern Baptists: The committee moved and the body unanimously approved that the SBCV move immediately to a 50-50 division of budget receipts between the SBCV and the SBC. Of the other 39 state Baptist conventions not one has a fifty/fifty division. All the state conventions other than the SBCV keep more than 50% for themselves and send commensurately less to the SBC.

A comparison with the Baptist General Association of Virginia budget is difficult because the BGAV has three giving plans plus the self-designed option. However, the BGAV preferred plan, the one your church is on unless you have specifically instructed the BGAV treasurer otherwise, is WM2. Under all three tracks the BGAV spends 64% of the churches’ gifts and sends 36% elsewhere. In WM2 the 36% is divided according to the table on p. 39 of the 1995 Virginia Baptist Annual (each church receives a copy). This table shows that 27.92% (of the 36%) goes to non-SBC causes. When one runs the math (.2792 x .36 = .1005 or 10.05%; and then 36% - 10.05% = 25.95%), he finds that only 25.95% of a WM2 track church’s donations go to the Southern Baptist Convention budget. That is just slightly more than half the percentage which will flow to the SBC from churches donating to the SBCV budget.

We thank Jim Pope and the other Finance Committee members for their faithful and productive work. We thank the churches and individuals who have contributed to the SBCV. But most of all we praise the Lord for pouring out such a rich blessing upon us.