Assessing Dr. Terry’s “Facts”

Dr. Terry wrote an op-ed that responded to my study. It can be read here.

First, it should be said that I do not understand how any long-time Southern Baptist can mention the late L. Russ Bush in the context of his proposals for the Southern Baptist Convention without at least acknowledging the great contender he was for the faith within our Convention. How one can blast the co-author of Baptists and the Bible, such a linchpin in the history of the Convention, without even noting Dr. Bush's contributions is bizarre. L. Russ Bush should be a hero of any Christ-exalting Southern Baptist.

Fact check number 1

Terry writes, "It should not be missed that Akin wanted more money for the seminaries, including Southeastern, and he wanted it at the expense of missions and ministries carried on in the various state conventions."

I am sure that Dr. Akin would like more resources for Southeastern, but this is not at all the thrust of his Axioms for a Great Commission Resurgence. Indeed, in the actual address, he declares that if Southeastern must be merged with another seminary or eliminated to make us more effective as a Convention for the gospel that he is willing for that to happen.

Fact check number 2

“The size of the state convention staff has decreased 20 percent in the last 10 years.”

While Dr. Terry would certainly know, his claim misses the point.

Let’s take a look at the distribution of receipts in Alabama for the past 10 years between the state convention and the SBC. The chart below is a little difficult to read. You can view the receipts and percentages for Alabama here as well. Scroll to the bottom to see the past 10 years if you visit the link.

Year CP Reciepts State % SBC %
1999 $ 35,857,235.12 57.7 42.3
2000 $ 37,444,267.21 57.7 42.3
2001 $ 38,675,161.00 57.7 42.3
2002 $ 39,344,546.00 57.7 42.3
2003 $ 40,567,575.61 57.7 42.3
2004 $ 40,835,283.00 57.04 42.96
2005 $ 41,140,217.00 57.71 42.29
2006 $ 42,633,104.00 56.70 43.30
2007 $ 44,115,402.00 56.13 43.87
2008 $ 44,983,974.00 58.02 41.98

To be sure, Alabama does better than many states in the south. They have not, however, moved a greater proportion of receipts out of the state in recent years.

Alabama’s contribution to the SBC national (not inclusive of special offerings Annie & Lottie) has not increased over the past two years. Gross receipts are 20 percent higher today than they were 10 years ago.

I wonder how the monies that were used to pay those 20 percent of state convention personnel are now used. They are not being sent to the SBC national.

Shedding positions while still spending money in state will not help us plant thriving churches to the ends of the earth.

Fact check number 3

Terry writes, “Our leaders are God-called ministers, not “bureaucrats.’”

This is a false dichotomy. Our leaders are not either God-called or bureaucrats. They are God-called bureaucrats. There’s nothing wrong with being a bureaucrat/administrator/leader for the glory of God.

As I write in my study, the vast majority of the men and women working in state conventions surely do so from a genuine heart for the Lord. The question is not about the motives of state convention personnel but about whether we are presently deploying our resources in a maximally effective way. Could God be calling some state bureaucrats to serve Him in another way so that more resources may go for establishing thriving churches among the nations? Psalm 67 suggests this is precisely right.

Fact check 4

Terry writes, “Even though Palmer is now backing off his use of the word “skimming,” the charge that state conventions are somehow breaking faith with their ministry partners regarding the CP is a serious charge.”

I am not backing off, I am apologizing and clarifying and have done so publicly in the Florida Baptist Witness. A link to the apology and clarification would have been appropriate. Fraud and “breaking faith” were never in view in my study.

While I should have chosen a better word than skim (and have, therefore, revised the study), the original study in its entirety should have been sufficient to clarify that a charge of “fraud” was not in view.

I write, “I do not wish to malign the men and women currently serving in state conventions or to impugn their motives.” If I had reason to believe people were being fraudulent, I would have been right to question motives. I did not believe that, and I did not intend to convey that meaning.

Fraud was never in my mind.

Better allocating God’s resources along with a theological rationale for appropriating those resources was in my mind, and it still is.

Fact check 5

Terry writes, “Churches decide what portion of their undesignated receipts they will share for missions outside their local area. Those funds are channeled through state convention offices, and in annual session, messengers from the contributing churches decide what portion of the funds received by the state convention will be used for missions in the state and what portion will be forwarded to national and worldwide missions causes through the SBC.

Messengers to the SBC annual meeting then decide how those funds will be used for missions and ministry causes.

It is a clearly delineated and open system. There is no fraud or skimming as Palmer charged.”

That I am keenly aware of this delineated and open system is clear when I make my recommendations. The first sentence in my recommendations reads, “First, we must vote at our state conventions.”

Fact check 6

Terry writes, “It also should be remembered that in 1925, when the SBC first urged a 50–50 split of CP funds, the total included special offerings as well. . . . Using the original standard, Alabama Baptists long ago surpassed the 50–50 goal.”

Is the way we spend convention money today more beholding to a formula in 1925 or to the need for the gospel to reach the ends of the earth? If it is the former, have we not placed tradition before theology? Status quo before Scripture?

The “original standard” is found in the heart of God not in the founding of the Cooperative Program.

We have been planting and sustaining churches in the Southeast for 85 years through the Cooperative Program. If we’ve been at all successful, should we not endeavor to send a greater proportion of our receipts to reach the countless billions who need to hear the Good News?

Spending 50 percent of proceeds in a state with many thriving churches and 50 percent on a world with few thriving churches is still an inversion of our mandate.

I appreciate the calls and e-mails of encouragement in recent days and I thank you for your fellowship in the gospel. I cannot change anything, but God can turn hearts.

There is a missionary couple I know from Alabama who is waiting to be commissioned as I write - waiting for enough funds to send them. Pray for them; perhaps Alabama will be the state who makes a way for them to go.

Forthcoming

Life is going to be very busy over the next several weeks. I plan to post a comprehensive response to Dr. Hankins's stated objections to my study around mid-October. I apologize for the delay, but family, work, and sermon preparation must come first.

If you are in search of the more comprehensive apology noted in the Florida Baptist Witness, please see this post. Thank you.

Encouragement

The last few days have been challenging. I have been called "young," "naive," "unappreciative," "uncooperative," and a few other things that I'll not type (no cursing, but close).

I have been asked three times, twice with a rather derisive tone, "how old are you?"

I have been addressed "man to boy."

I have been told that the only reason that I conducted a study of the breakdown of CP funds was so I would be mentioned on blogs and twitter. Little did this individual know that I had wanted my numbers to be released anonymously without providing any narrative or commentary. The Florida Baptist Witness, understandably, refused to release an anonymous study, and I decided, on balance, it was better for Southern Baptists in the pew to know how little we are getting to the ends of the earth than to remain silent.

To be sure, much of the angst I've received is due to the way the article on my study concluded. In retrospect, I should have simply said that states spend 2/3 of CP receipts. The study was about how we spend CP dollars relative to our Great Commission mandate. I should have just said that. So, in large part, I'm reaping what I sowed.

Nevertheless, I needed some encouragement.

Today it came.

I received some communication today from people who called to let me know they had no idea the allocation of CP funds was so heavily weighted toward state missions. One person thought the study was "meaningful," "insightful," and "undeniably connected to reality."

I stand behind the study. I believe the Lord is calling Southern Baptists to assess how we allocate CP funds and to begin making some difficult, but necessary changes.

Breaking Down the Southern Baptist Dollar

On average, about 1 cent of every undesignated dollar a Southern Baptist puts in the offering plate goes to support our collective efforts in international missions through the IMB. With the image below, I have tried to put the CP allocation budget in proper perspective. It remains the case that we spend approximately 1/2 of 1/3 of 3/50 of our undesignated offerings to reach the nations through the IMB . . . 1 penny out of every undesignated dollar.

God Has Blessed Us - Why

Psalm 67 (New American Standard Bible)

For the choir director; with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.

1God be gracious to us and bless us,
And cause His face to shine upon us.

Selah.

2That Your way may be known on the earth,
Your salvation among all nations.

3Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.

4Let the nations be glad and sing for joy;
For You will judge the peoples with uprightness
And guide the nations on the earth.

Selah.

5Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.

6The earth has yielded its produce;
God, our God, blesses us.

7God blesses us,
That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.

FBW Article - Day 2

Today, a state executive director told me that he had just told 140 pastors that I had called their churches weak. He clearly was misunderstanding and attempting to paraphrase this statement, "conventions exist because thriving local churches do not."

This statement does not suggest that our state conventions are full of weak churches. The statement is not descriptive but proscriptive. It is a proposed theological rationale for conventions.

In short, I was saying just the opposite of what the executive director had thought I was saying. So, please allow me take another stab at this.

To the extent that the Lord has blessed states with thriving churches, they should strive to get more and more funds to places where thriving churches do not exist(both within and without the state). The Lord has been very good to us in the south! We have many thriving churches.

We should rejoice and strive to send and allocate more for the establishment of thriving churches elsewhere.

My statement was inspired by Piper’s now famous dictum, “missions exists because worship does not.” Just as Piper was not saying that churches are not worshipping God. I am not saying that existing churches in the SBC are not thriving.

On the contrary, because there are successful churches in our states, the need to establish thriving churches is proportionately greater outside of our states than within them (particularly in the southern states).

We may have some minor disagreements on the way forward, but I believe we can all agree that the current allocations do not represent our best foot forward and that we can do more both at the church level and the state levels.

My desire is that more of our cooperating be directed at using the resources given by thriving churches for the establishment of more thriving churches. Resources should also be used to help assist churches who are struggling. The focus of the work of conventions should be establishing and maintaining thriving local churches because disciples are still made in local churches. This is true across town and around the world.

So far, no response that I have received to the FBW article has mentioned or interacted with this reality: we spend 1.31/person domestically and .038/person internationally.

Put another way, on average, less than .012 of every dollar given to an SBC church makes it to the nations (the IMB). Surely we are not pleased with the status quo. Surely we cannot ignore this fact at such a time as this. May God help us and give us the way forward.

Initial Thougts on FBW Article

On the whole, today has been a good day. The study of our CP giving was posted for all to read in its entirety. Hopefully many will read the study and not just the article.

In retrospect, I should have simply stated that states "spend" nearly 2/3 of the CP funding they receive. I did not mean to imply unethical or illegal activity. The states spend CP funds with the blessing of the messengers who bother to go and vote. My recommendation is that we change how we vote - that we urge conventions not to spend 2/3 of Southern Baptist's CP giving while billions who live outside our states continue sit in darkness. I called Dr. Hankins this morning and apologized for the unintended connotation of the word and asked for his forgiveness. He agreed, and also pledged to pass this apology along to his peers if my study comes up in conversation.

The other questionable word choice in the document was narcissistic. The response by a few Southern Baptists to Article IX did (and still does) seem to me to be self-serving or inward looking. I should have avoided "narcissistic" and gone with "inward looking." The point of the study is to get us looking where our great, missionary God is looking - to the ends of the earth. Anyhow, another poor word choice for which I would like to apologize - primarily because I had just a few individuals in mind but my study makes it seem like I had more people in view.

As for the claim that my study is "fatuous," "meaningless," and "not connected to reality," I am not sure how to take these critiques. The study is most certainly connected to reality - real money and real humans who have never heard the name of Jesus. It is really true that less than 1.5 cents of every dollar given to an SBC church goes to the IMB. I really have a friend serving with the IMB who is now living with the reality that one of their anticipated team members will not be joining the team. There's nothing more real than that.

Dr. Hankins and I spoke for quite some time. We had a very fruitful conversation. He agrees most states should send more to the SBC national, and he has some good ideas for getting there. He seemed a bit surprized to learn that it was reading his book, One Sacred Effort, that began to inspire me to move beyond my suspicions to conduct this study. He outlined a plan that I hope he will strive to get his other colleagues to sign onto. If he does, he will be my new best friend, though we still have some minor differences on the role of state conventions.

I will respond more comprehensively to the critiques by Dr. Hankins in the days to come.

Thank you for considering the study. Most importantly, I pray God uses it to light a fire in us for His gospel and His glory.