Great Commission equals greater stewardship – this summarizes the heart of the GCR report. Like most South Carolina Baptist Convention pastors, I say amen to that. Our institutions have been called to give. Our churches have been called to give. Our pastors have been called to action. Again, amen to that.
But one key area has been off limits to greater stewardship and accountability: SCBC leadership compensation. SCBC salaries come from all giving churches. We want to see our SCBC staff well taken care of. We don’t want people to have to take a vow of poverty to work for the SCBC. But a compensation cap of $100,000, as I suggested at our annual meeting, is hardly a vow of poverty. It gives plenty of leeway for rewarding God’s people for their education, experience, and responsibilities. I am convinced that this in no way will curtail the opportunity for the best people to serve the SCBC.
We don’t have the specifics on these salaries. For most pastors, our salaries and compensation packages are out there for anyone to see at our church business meetings. Leaving this information only to the SCBC Executive Committee is no more right than the deacon board keeping the pastor’s salary secret from the tithing congregation.
Please understand, I am not accusing either the personnel committee or these fine employees of any unethical practices. These salaries may be commensurate with the world’s way of doing things, even keeping up with salaries in corporations or other non-profits of equal size. However, the SCBC is not a secular non-profit. As the GCR showed, our values and mission are different.
Our SCBC leaders don’t want our churches to wait another year or more before we increase our CP giving, therefore they must not wait to correct any possible out-of-balance compensation packages. Then we can call God’s people not just to give a little bit more but to sacrifice for the Great Commission and the glory of our Savior.
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