In Acts 1:8, Jesus says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This verse has continued to be fulfilled through Empowering Kingdom Growth (EKG), which started in South Carolina under the leadership of Dr. Carlisle Driggers and spread throughout the Southern Baptist Convention. EKG is successful because of the Cooperative Program.
Jimmy EptingIn 2009 churches gave through the Cooperative Program toward an approved budget of $34,250,000. Since many of our South Carolina Baptists have no idea how these funds were used, perhaps it is time to share about the Program, which is at the heart of evangelism, discipleship and missions.
The 2010 budget is $32,180,000, which is a 6 percent decrease from the previous year. The Cooperative Program section of the budget for 2010 is $32,000,000. The Southern Baptist Convention will receive $12,941,489 (40.44 percent) of Cooperative Program funding, and the South Carolina Baptist Convention retains $19,058,511 (59.56 percent) for our ministries. Some of the state ministries are: Church and Vitalization, Adult Ministry, Childhood Ministry, Worship and Music, Youth Ministry, Evangelism, Missions Mobilization, Disaster Relief, Association and Pastoral Ministries, McCall RA Camp, Church Multiplication Group, Multi-Ethnic Work, Collegiate Ministry, Cooperative Program and Stewardship, White Oak Conference Center, Woman’s Missionary Union, The Baptist Courier, Baptist Foundation, Connie Maxwell Children’s Home, Ministries for the Aging, Anderson University, North Greenville University and Charleston Southern University.
Each year, the budget and the support of the above ministries are determined and recommended by the budget, finance, and audit committee to the Executive Board and then to the convention messengers for approval. There are three funds controlled by the Executive Board of the convention: Executive Board Contingent Reserve, Executive Board Contingent-Excess Reserve, and the Executive Board Fund Balance.
The Executive Board Contingent Reserve was established around 1976. Initially the funds for the reserve came from unexpended funds in the operations of the convention staff and Executive Board ministries. The Contingent Reserve is limited to 25 percent of the annual South Carolina Baptist Convention budget. The reserve was fully funded for the first time by the early 1980s. Since then, investment income from the reserve has been adequate to fund increases in the reserve in a year that the budget increased over the previous year. The reserve is invested in a diversified portfolio that includes socially screened stocks, bonds and cash equivalents. In years where there has been a significant decline in stocks, the reserve has dropped below the 25 percent maximum. The Executive Board Business and Financial Plan defines the purpose of the reserve as follows: “The Executive Board Contingent Reserve is to be utilized only to provide emergency funds for operations of the convention’s overall program during a period of drastically decreased church gifts which may occur during a general economic recession or depression, or through other unusual emergencies.” To utilize the reserve, the following process applies: “The Executive Board must approve the utilization of the Executive Board Contingent Reserve based on a recommendation from the budget, finance, and audit committee.”
The Executive Board Contingent Reserve is invested to provide a reasonable rate of return with reasonable investment risk. If the Contingent Reserve is fully funded at 25 percent of the budget, then the investment income during the year will be transferred to the Executive Board Contingent-Excess Reserve. The Business and Financial Plan states the following: “During the year, the budget, finance, and audit committee may utilize the funds in the Executive Board Contingent-Excess Reserve for unexpected expenses or unbudgeted items of the Executive Board.” There have been two times that the Executive Board has utilized the Executive Board Contingent-Excess Reserve. In the mid 1980s, the excess for one year was given to Charleston Southern during its financial crisis. In the early 2000s, the excess for one year was allocated to South Carolina Baptist Ministries for the Aging during its financial crisis. The Business and Financial Plan also states the following: “After the close of the year, any funds in the Executive Board Contingent-Excess Reserve will be used to meet the new year’s reserve requirement. Any funds in excess of the Contingent Reserve requirement will be transferred to the Executive Board Fund Balance.” It has been several years since the investment income on the Contingent Reserve and the balance in the Contingent Reserve-Excess has exceeded the Contingent Reserve limit of 25 percent of the budget.
In the for-profit world, the Executive Board Fund Balance would be referred to as retained earnings. The money in the Executive Board Fund Balance is simply the difference in revenue and expenses in the operation of the convention staff and Executive Board ministries from previous financial years. The Business and Financial Plan states the following: “At the close of each fiscal year, any undesignated, unexpended funds in the Executive Board budget shall be transferred to the Executive Board’s Fund Balance.” Fund Balance is the only resource of the Executive Board for financial needs of the Executive Board ministries operations. The budget, finance, and audit committee of the Executive Board must approve utilization of the Fund Balance for any expenditure of more than $20,000. Generally, Fund Balance is used for non-recurring expenses such as replacement of carpet, heating and air conditioning equipment, video equipment, computer networks and phone systems. During 2009, there was an allocation of $1 million from Executive Board Fund Balance for development and renovations at the White Oak Conference Center.
Now, some points of interest involving our funding processes and other matters in 2009 and 2010:
1. In 2009 the South Carolina Baptist Convention (SCBC) had approximately $2.6 million deficit in the budget because of a decrease in Cooperative Program gifts by South Carolina Baptist churches. The Executive Board Contingent Reserve had nearly $8 million, but only 90 percent of the budget shortfall was distributed from the Contingent Reserve to the convention ministries. Also, the convention staff and Executive Board ministries were cut by 10 percent and they received no distribution from the Contingent Reserve.
2. In the 2010 budget, as stated by the chairman of the budget committee at the 2009 convention, all convention ministries funding was reduced permanently by 6 percent regardless of any future increases in the convention budget.
3. Any SCBC budget surplus will send 80 percent to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and 20 percent for missions scholarships for South Carolina participants.
4. The Executive Board Contingent Reserve was built from unexpended funds generated by the convention staff and Executive Board ministries.
5. The Executive Board Fund Balance provides the cash flow for paying the SCBC operating expenses each month.
6. In 2009, $1 million was allocated for new facilities and renovations at the White Oak Conference Center from the Executive Board Fund Balance and another $600,000 from White Oak funds.
7. In April 2010, an additional $530,000 was approved by the Executive Board for new beds at White Oak Conference Center from the Executive Board Fund Balance.
8. In 1 years, over $2 million will have been spent on renovations and improvements at White Oak Conference Center.
9. In 2009, the convention distributed only 90 percent of the budget shortfall to meet the budget commitment to the Southern Baptist Convention from the Executive Board Contingent Reserve. Over the years, when the South Carolina Baptist Convention had a deficit it had never taken this action. It had always funded 100 percent of the shortfall in the past.
The Southern Baptist Great Commission Resurgence Task Force proposals will greatly hurt our state budget and the Cooperative Program. First, each state convention has a cooperative agreement with the North American Mission Board (NAMB). In South Carolina, the primary use of funds received from NAMB go into church planting through financial support to approved church starts, and for jointly funded missionaries serving in South Carolina – with most of these missionaries serving in a local association. Over $500,000 from NAMB comes each year to South Carolina Baptists, and the loss of these funds as proposed by the task force will be devastating to the convention budget as well as our associations, with many of them already struggling.
Second, the task force wants the responsibility of the Cooperative Program promotion and stewardship education ministry to be moved to the state conventions from the SBC Executive Committee. At a time when our state convention funding continues to decrease, it will be very difficult for the SCBC to provide adequate promotions without the support of the SBC Executive Committee.
Third, and most important of all, the task force is basically proposing new terminology for missions giving, which includes designated causes. It is obvious that the task force wants designated or special gifts to be a substitute for the Cooperative Program, but we must insist that the Cooperative Program, as we know it, remain the primary means of missions giving for Southern Baptists. After all, it is the hub that brings 46,000 Southern Baptist churches together for the purpose of advancing the gospel around the world.
In conclusion, there are some possible solutions:
We encourage the SBC Great Commission Task Force to develop a unique strategy, which would challenge all Southern Baptists to increase their support of the Cooperative Program. In South Carolina, and other states, if only the top 100 churches in membership would give 10 percent (tithe) of their budget through the Cooperative Program, we could easily achieve our budget goals. Additionally, if each SBC church increased its budget by 1 percent, the Cooperative Program would exceed all expectations!
The 80 percent of any budget surplus going from the SCBC budget to the SBC and 20 percent used for missions scholarships were approved at a time of budget increases. This formula was not established for a period of budget decreases. Over the past two years, our convention budget has decreased from nearly $34 million to $32 million. Therefore, any time in the future that our Cooperative Program gifts exceed our budget goal, it should be used to restore the budget proportionately to $34 million, which will return the 6 percent decrease of all South Carolina Baptist Convention ministries.
The SCBC may experience another year or two of budget shortfalls, which will necessitate the need to tap the Executive Board Contingent Reserve. If so, the convention should use the Reserve to fund 100 percent of the shortfall for SCBC ministries only. With the percentage giving by South Carolina Baptist churches of undesignated receipts declining almost every year, we must consider whether or not more funds should be going to the Southern Baptist Convention each year.
As we Southern Baptists continue with Empowering Kingdom Growth by being witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth, we must do all at the same time without neglecting any of them. The task force and others are recommending the reallocation of the pie for kingdom growth by changing the size of the slices. This is not the right way. A better process is to enlarge the size of the pie, which will give more resources to accomplish the spreading of the gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. There is no question that international missions (or “ends of the earth”) is the engine that pulls the Cooperative Program train, but the train must begin at the church level and not the convention level.
The chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force wants the local church to focus on taking the gospel to those who have yet to hear, which is a tremendous challenge. But it can, and should, be done without new ministries being dependent on the reduction of existing ministries. After all, it is indeed God’s vision and He owns all the cattle on a thousand hills, He will demand the stock be sold and the needed funds will be there for South Carolina and Southern Baptists.
– Epting is president of North Greenville University.