I just returned from a mission trip to the Mississippi coast (the eighth for our disaster relief team) so I am somewhat behind on all the information concerning the candidates for president for the Southern Baptist Convention. It is amazing how doing mission work will keep one away from controversy, but that is another message for another day.
In short, I am for the candidate who supports the Cooperative Program (by word and deed). I am in my seventh year as a director of missions, and now, as in my previous 20 years as a pastor, I believe it is a matter of integrity to practice what we preach as Southern Baptists.
The Cooperative Program is the lifeblood of the Southern Baptist Convention. When mega-church, high-profile pastors or small-church, low-profile pastors lead their churches to give small percentage amounts of their budget toward that cause, I wonder what it says about their commitment to missions as a Southern Baptist. I strongly believe that those who influence how our Cooperative dollars are spent should lead their churches to give more than 0.27 percent of their annual budget to the Cooperative Program and associational missions.
As a former pastor in the association I now serve as director of missions, I once served as chairman of the finance committee. When I stood before the association at the annual meeting and encouraged support of the associational budget, I stood as the pastor of the church that led the association in percentage giving. I felt it was a matter of integrity to strongly support the budget that I was influencing. I believe that the president of the Southern Baptist Convention should share that same integrity.
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Page candidacy ‘defining moment’ for Southern Baptists
Florida pastor to nominate South Carolina’s Frank Page for SBC president
CP support takes center stage in SBC presidential race
Commentary: Page best choice for president of the SBC – by Don Kirkland
First Person: CP support is one of many issues – by Frank Page
Related letters:
Dr. Frank Page has a heart for pastors and staffs of small churches
Recent events are counterproductive to support of the Cooperative Program
Why I wll nominate Frank Page for Southern Baptist Convention president
President, as pastors, should lead by example
Page actually meets criteria of Executive Committee’s recommendations
Support for CP should be platform for any SBC presidential candidate