CP down 3.37%; off ’09 budget by 3.15%
Year-to-date contributions through the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program are 3.37 percent below the same time frame last year and 3.15 percent off budget for 2009. As of April 30, the year-to-date total of $116,226,583 for CP missions is $4,051,927 below the $120,278,510 received at the end of April 2008. Designated giving of $132,412,300 for the same year-to-date period is 7.00 percent, or $9,964,535, below gifts of $142,376,836 received at this point last year. For the first six months of the fiscal year, the SBC Cooperative Program allocation budget year-to-date total of $116,226,583 is 96.85 percent (or 3.15 percent off) of the $120,001,486 budgeted to support Southern Baptist ministries globally and across North America. The SBC operates on an Oct. 1-Sept. 30 fiscal year. The 2008-09 allocation budget was based on CP receipts given in fiscal year 2006-07.
Golden Gate Seminary budget reduced
Trustees of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary adopted a reduced 2009-10 budget during their April 27-28 meeting at the seminary’s Northern California campus in Mill Valley. The $10,028,000 budget for the coming academic year is 4.7 percent – or nearly a half-million dollars – less than the seminary’s 2008-09 budget. The budget was developed without resorting to layoffs, although a few vacant positions will be left open. “Despite these difficult financial times, Golden Gate Seminary is standing strong,” president Jeff Iorg said. “We continue to thrive in a down economy by protecting our academic programs, expanding our faculty and maintaining a strong financial base while continuing our forward direction.”
Dove Awards highlight cultural diversity
The 40th annual Gospel Music Association Dove Awards highlighted musical and cultural diversity as 38 of the evening’s 43 awards went to different recipients April 23 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tenn. “Many different artists have obviously connected with people in powerful ways this year, as evidenced by the impressive number of singular honorees,” GMA president John W. Styll said. Singer/songwriter Brandon Heath and Casting Crowns won the most awards, each winning three. Heath received the Male Vocalist of the Year honor, and his song, “Give Me Your Eyes,” won Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year, as well as the Song of the Year award. Casting Crowns won its fifth consecutive Group of the Year award, as well as awards for Christmas Album of the Year and Short Form Music Video.
Pat Robertson to retire as Regent president
Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson plans to retire next summer as president of Regent University, the private Christian college he founded in 1978. The 79-year-old, who became the university’s sixth president in 2000, will retire from the position effective July 1, 2010. He will continue to serve as chancellor and on the board of trustees at the school. When it was founded, Regent started as a Christian graduate school with 77 students and seven faculty members. It now has more than 4,500 students studying on its campus and online, and offers more than 30 graduate and undergraduate programs.
Two Anderson churches merging
Two Anderson churches affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention – Boulevard Baptist Church on the Boulevard near Anderson University and Clearview Baptist Church on Highway 81 at Hopewell Road – voted on April 26 to merge, according to the Anderson Independent-Mail newspaper. Neither congregation is a member of Saluda Baptist Association and each is affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Johnny McKinney is pastor at Boulevard. Clearview’s pastor is Jack Couch.