SBC Short Spots
Vol. XI, No. 6, June/July 1998
On-Line with ERLC: The SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission has a web site at www.erlc.com which all Southern Baptists should find interesting and helpful. On it you can read current copies of their publications, find your Congressmen’s addresses, read ERLC’s president, Dr. Richard Land’s comments on current issues et cetera. Also, ERLC has begun to sponsor a new radio show, “Faith & Family.” So far it is only on two Virginia stations: Bristol FM-TRANS, 90.5 at 11:00 p.m. and Culpeper WARN-FM 91.5 at 11:00 p.m. New stations are signing on about one or two a week. You can access the full list of stations nationwide at www.erlc.com.
NAMB’s New Periodical: The North American Mission Board has initiated its new flagship periodical, On Mission. Nate Adams, NAMB VP of Media and Missions Education said, “God wants us to be involved in leading others to Christ. We want to help readers discover how God has uniquely shaped each of them to share Christ.” For a free one-year subscription to On Mission call 770-410-6000. [TCP]
Southern Seminary Enrollment Up: Southern Seminary supplies the second highest percentage of SBC pastors in Virginia, approximately 18%. In the fall 1997 semester Southern’s enrollment rose 9.7% to a total of 1,801 students, 158 more than fall 1996. Total enrollment for the SBC’s six seminaries rose 335 to 10,090, an increase of 3.4%. Enrollment at the six SBC seminaries accounts for about 14% of all students pursuing theological education in the United States and Canada. [The Tie, April 1998]
Lottie Moon Receipts Up: For the first time since 1981, Southern Baptists surpassed their goal for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions. When the books closed May 31, the 1997 offering totaled $100,064,318.10. The $7 million increase from 1996 was the second-largest in history and helped produce the offering's fifth straight record year. The increase alone was greater than any single Lottie Moon offering before 1960. The receipts will enable the board to use $1.45 million for "a long-overdue salary increase across the board to missionary personnel" and provide them with $2.5 million for "badly needed capital for strategic needs," Rankin added. In May, board trustees decided on raises ranging from $100 per month for career and associate couples to $33 a month for single International Service Corps and journeymen missionaries. The offering, generally collected in churches during December, will fund nearly half (47 percent) of this year's budget of $210.8 million. The rest will come from Southern Baptists' unified giving plan, the Cooperative Program, and other income, such as investments and hunger and relief receipts. [BP]
Millionth SBC Messenger Registers: At 8:45 a.m. on Monday, June 8, Jennette C. Briggs of Fort Worth, Texas, stepped into Southern Baptist Convention history as she became the 1 millionth registered messenger for annual SBC meetings. The annual SBC meeting held June 9-11 in Salt Lake City marked the 141st session in the 153-year history of the Southern Baptist Convention. The first meeting of Southern Baptists was held in 1845 in Augusta, Ga., when 293 messengers were registered. The three conventions with the largest messenger registrations are Dallas, 1985, 45,519; Atlanta, 1986, 40,987; New Orleans, 1990, 38,403. At last year’s convention 12,240 messengers registered. As of 4:00 p.m. 10 June, Wednesday, 8,555 had registered this year. [BP] Clearly the dramatic reduction in attendance from recent years results from conservative victory at the SBC level in the conservative resurgence. Liberals have stopped coming, preferring to channel their energies into non-Southern Baptist groups such as the CBF and the Alliance of Baptists and toward the still-vigorous competitions at state level (as in Virginia, Texas, and several other states), and many conservatives — knowing their votes are no longer critically important — are not making the effort, which often involved real sacrifice. [TCP]