SBCV to Study Establishment of Separate State Convention

by T. C. Pinckney                                                                                    Vol. VII, No.10, December 1994

[Following is a press release issued by the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia upon the conclusion of its 8 December meeting.]

“The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia met at Grove Avenue Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia, on Thursday, 8 December 1994, and unanimously passed the following motion.

      ‘That the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia president, Bob R, Melvin, appoint a committee to study the procedures and requirements for the establishment of the Southern Baptist conservatives of Virginia as a separate state convention and to bring a report of its findings and a recommendation for action to the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia Executive Committee not later than its May 1995 meeting.’

SBCV president bob Melvin, pastor of Spotswood Baptist Church, Fredericksburg, will appoint the committee in the near future.

In addition, the SBCV Executive Committee invites churches who wish to do so to channel their Cooperative Program donations to the SBC budget through the SBCV. Churches should send any such gifts to:

                                        SBCV                                      [Note that the new SBCV address is

                                        P.O. Box 62000                            4101 Cox Rd, Suite 100

                                        Virginia Beach, VA 23466          Glen Allen, VA  23060-3320]

Churches should note that the SBCV is not yet a state convention and has no Church Annuity Plan agreement with the SBC Annuity Board. Consequently, ALL CHURCHES should continue to send $35 per month per Annuity Plan participant to the BGAV.” (End of press release.)

[Editorial Comment: All Virginia Baptists should clearly understand that this action represents a course of action forced upon conservatives, NOT a choice sought by most conservative leaders. As long as the BGAV constitution provided a level playing field where conservatives had a fair chance through education and inspiration to bring about change in Virginia through voting at the annual BGAV convention, conservatives around the state (including your editor) counselled that we should hang in there and work toward a voting majority. Achieving a majority vote is no longer possible.

    The BGAV constitutional amendment passed last month in Salem reduces messengers authorized to conservative churches and only to conservative churches. It does this by changing the historical provision that ALL money contributed by a church to the Cooperative Program counted toward authorizing messengers to the annual state convention. That is no longer the case as discussed below.

Another facet of the equation is that some years back as moderate-conservative matters began to be debated, the state constitution was wisely amended to permit those churches which could not in good conscience contribute to the official state budget to design their own giving plan, to decide for themselves what proportion of their Cooperative Program dollars should be kept by the state and what percentage should be sent on to Nashville for the SBC budget. That change permitted conservative churches to remain supportive of the BGAV to the extent compatible with their consciences.

As the BGAV moved year by year further and further away from the SBC and more and more toward an identity of policy, program, and action with the CBF and its affiliated organizations, increasing numbers of conservative churches adopted their own giving plans. Nat Kellum, the BGAV treasurer, reported that as of April of this year 202 conservative churches had availed themselves of this constitutional right. These represented 13.03% of the churches in the state, but they are faithful to the Cooperative Program, giving 18.78% of the CP dollars contributed in 1993. Of those 202 churches, 141 directed 20% or less to the state, 25 decided on 30% or 40% to the state, 29% gave 50% to the state, and the remaining 7 gave 60% to the state.

The constitutional amendment adopted in Salem does two things: First, it bases messengers ONLY upon dollars given to the state. Second, it reduces the "price" per messenger to $300 for the third messenger (vice $500) and the cost for each additional messenger to $600 (vice$1000). Under any of the state-designed "World Mission" giving tracks the state receives 62%. Consequently, no church choosing WM 1, WM 2, or WM 3 and no church using a self-designed plan giving 60% or more to the state will lose messengers. ONLY THOSE 195 CHURCHES GIVING LESS THAN 60% TO THE STATE WILL HAVE THEIR MESSENGERS CUT.

Let's illustrate the impact by considering a conservative church contributing $12,500 a year under the most popular conservative plan (17% to the state, 83% to the SBC. 89 of the 202 are 17-83). Before the amendment passed in November that church was authorized 15 messengers. Now its messengers will be based not on $12,500 but rather on $2,125, and whereas it previously received the maximum 15 messengers, now it could only send six. The messenger representation of that church is cut 60%. Multiply that reduction by 195 (or possibly more by now) churches with suitable adjustments for the varying percentages chosen by individual churches, and the overall impact is clear:

THERE IS NO POSSIBILITY FOR CONSERVATIVES TO EFFECT CHANGE IN VIRGINIA BY VOTING.

One conservative was recently in a neighboring state and had a conversation with one of the better known liberal pastors in that state. The liberal pastor had heard about the Virginia amendment but did not know the details and asked the Virginia conservative to explain it. When he did so, the liberal pastor had one comment, "My friend, they're telling you they don't want you."

Just so. Conservatives are now forced, NOT BY THEIR OWN, BUT BY "MODERATE" ACTIONS, TO SEEK ANOTHER COURSE. This is not what we desired. This is not what we have chosen. It is what we are forced to.

If we must go, let it be with prayer for God's leadership. Let it be with sorrow and regret. We loved the BGAV. At one time the Baptist General Association of Virginia was a great, a leading state convention. It is sad now to see it dwindling and atrophying under no doubt sincere but drastically misguided, divisive, anti-SBC, and counterproductive policies. So let us carefully and temperately seek a new way. With sorrow and regret. Without rancor or hard feelings. With best wishes and sincere prayers for those left behind. And with a commitment to welcome those who decide to join us wholeheartedly in the future.

And as we take this decisive step, let us focus on our certain hope that in the long run this action will result in a more effective and more rapid evangelization of the many lost in Virginia, greater and more dependable support of worldwide SBC missions and theological education, more faithful adherence to and teaching of God's inerrant Word, and less time and energy expended in bootless competition.

Administrative Notes: (1) Any church which has one or more staff members participating in the SBC Annuity Board's Church Annuity Plan should protect its staff by continuing to contribute $35 per month per participant to the BGAV. (2) Every church is unique. If the SBCV Executive Committee study results in the SBCV becoming a separate state convention, as is not unlikely, a number of churches may choose to be dually aligned with both the SBCV and the BGAV. Whatever is best for each individual church consistent with faithfulness to the Lord's leading is what should be done. Even quite solidly conservative churches may wish to maintain some level of contribution to the BGAV. If that is the church's informed decision, that is fine. Contrary to moderate charges, conservatives do not seek to regiment everyone's actions, do not want to make everyone clones of any one person or church. TCP]