To my brothers who are serving as I am in a beautiful local church that our Lord and Savior created: I am writing this to confess with every bone that is within me that I am a “young, disillusioned” yet very passionate pastor.
My new identity came from one of my fellow pastors who came to the floor one morning of the convention and tried to make an amendment to the proposed budget. I was almost asleep when I heard our chairman of the Executive Board mention something about a 50/50 plan. I listened intently, not knowing that not even half of my church’s money that we sent to the state actually made it to the mission field where people could hear about my Jesus.
Then one of my fellow pastors came to the microphone on the floor and made a statement that gave me my new identity. He said we have seen a decrease in support over the years, and it is estimated that some of this decrease is coming from young, disillusioned pastors who are not satisfied with how they are seeing the convention handle money, therefore they are by-passing the state convention and sending their churches’ money straight to the Cooperative Program. I sat there for a second and thought, this man is talking about me. I asked myself after the discussions finally ended, “Why does what you just heard bother you as it does?
I am concerned with who I perceived to be the majority concerning this 50/50 issue. Please don’t get me wrong. I like the fact that we are a democracy by which the majority rules. I am just trying to understand the mindset of what seemed to be the majority. I heard a fellow pastor address a proposed amendment by saying he would not oppose keeping 90 percent of our monies in the state and sending 10 percent to the Cooperative Program.
A good, obedient Southern Baptist church tries to send at least 10 percent, or better, to the state to be split in whatever way we as a body see fit. Well, not even half of that 10 percent our churches are sending in goes to the CP, so according to my math 95 percent or better stays in the state, through the local church and the state convention.
Do we not have Southern Baptist missionaries waiting to go on the foreign mission field, but cannot go due to lack of funding? If this is true, I cannot believe that anyone or any institution would want to receive any monies that prevent missionaries from spreading the gospel. I would rather pay a little more for my school, my Baptist newspapers, and do things for myself instead of asking the state convention for help, and know that our missionaries were where God wanted them to be.
In conclusion, I feel it necessary to ask what scriptures are we referencing when we as a whole body at the convention are voting how to spend God’s money? Should we not be thinking of Matthew 28:18-20 or Mark 16:15-16, where Christ is telling us plainly how we should be conducting every part of our lives, families and especially our ministries? Or maybe we should today reflect on Acts 5 and see what happens when we hold back that which belongs to God.
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