TAYLORS, S.C. — SBC presidential candidates Ronnie Floyd and Frank Page could almost be twins when it comes to their theological outlook. Both are conservatives, both are long-term participants in denominational life, and both are evangelistic.

But the one issue that might have separated them at birth is how they view missions and financial support of the denomination.

Next week’s presidential election in Greensboro, N.C. at the annual SBC gathering will most likely be a defining moment in the history of the convention, pitting the societal giving approach against the cooperative approach. How those two approaches fare in the near future could very well determine if the Southern Baptist Convention – or at least as it has been defined to date – even has a future.

The 161-year-old denomination could grow stronger and prosper or slowly die on the vine. Messengers will be sending a clear message about that future to whoever is listening as they cast their vote in the election.

For the first time in a couple of decades, the issue is not over theology but over polity; how the convention unofficially defines cooperating when it comes to their financial giving record. It might be the first truly democratic election in years where messengers are given the choice of more than one candidate – one unofficially representing the establishment, one unofficially a counter-candidate. If for only one election year, it could symbolize the growing voice of the loyal opposition.

Some mega-church pastors, as personified in the candidacy of Ronnie Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church of Springdale, Ark., favor a more independent missions approach where dollars are spread among a variety of church-based ministries with a token amount being channeled through the Cooperative Program. As a poster child in that scenario, First Springdale gives generously to a variety of missions causes but only supports the denomination’s funding program to the tune of .27 percent.

Slightly smaller churches, identified in the candidacy of former Georgia Baptist pastor Frank Page – now pastor of First Baptist Church of Taylors, S.C. – are far more generous in their support of the Cooperative Program and practice a both/and approach. Such churches unabashedly support their own ministries but do not penalize the denomination in the process; First Taylors, which proportionally has as active a missions outreach nationally and globally as First Springdale, has given as much as 15 percent to the CP and currently gives 12 percent.

“I am running for one reason – to get some issues on the table on how we operate as a denomination,” Page told the Index last week.

“The Greensboro election will decide how we do and define missions work. It will give a very clear picture of our future direction; it will help us see if we are going to splinter into a variety of groups and do missions on our own, independently of the denomination, or if we are going to pull together and return to our roots of cooperative support.”

And therein is where the battle lines are being drawn. The question messengers will be sending is should leadership – especially in the highest elected office – be tied to financial support of the denomination’s ministries?

In a story by Tammi Reed Ledbetter of the Southern Baptist Texan, Floyd largely dismisses that notion, once the bedrock of the denomination.

“I think in relationship to the Cooperative Program the number one issue people need to always understand is that it is a tool, it is a vehicle and that’s what it is,” he told the state newspaper. “It’s for churches to join together in our world missionary enterprise.”

He then cautioned against the denomination setting any level of support as a prerequisite for accepting a leadership role (See related story on page 3). Floyd pointed to the Conservative Resurgence as an example of where a threshold expectation of CP giving might have worked against the convention’s interests.

“If we had followed that principle, the very men who turned this denomination back to biblical inerrancy would not have been qualified to have served as president … or anything else in any leadership position whatsoever at all.”

He then continued by saying, “If we want people to give more money to the Cooperative Program, and we do … then we have to give them a vision that is so attractive that dollars and cents and resources and passion and personnel will only escalate it and elevate it to a brand new level.

“The strong conviction in my heart [is that the SBC is] the only way my church can help fund missionaries around the world and help churches of all sizes in America and around the world and educate our students to be preachers, proclaimers of biblical truth and many other matters of ministry life as well as training up other types of professions in our schools.

“That’s what motivates me,” he added. “That’s the heartbeat of knowing that I have someone in Washington, D.C., that is standing for the cause of the family, that I know is going to be biblically sound and consistent with what we believe, and I’ve got to have the accountability of the denomination.”

And yet the congregation gives barely one quarter of one percent to that cooperative missions enterprise. That is what disturbs many who are calling for a better role model. From the oldest to the youngest generations of Georgia Baptists, many are calling for a leader with stronger support – and that could throw the election in Page’s corner.

In a letter to the editor in this issue of the Index, Wilburn Hill of Centennial Baptist Church in Rutledge writes that the denomination’s top elected leader should practice what he preaches – if he preaches support for the Cooperative Program during his term. Hill, who has served as pastor of the Rutledge church for 26 years, says messengers should expect no less from their leaders.

He adds that his small rural church could have an even larger ministry if it cut back on its 20 percent giving to the funding program, but that is not what makes Baptists Baptists. And churches his size are the ones that make up the bulk of the denomination.

Marty Duren, pastor of New Bethany Baptist Church in Buford, one of Georgia’s younger leaders and an active blogger (www.sbcoutpost.com), views the issue of the Resurgence from a much different perspective.

“During the Resurgence, Southern Baptists were willing to overlook the lack of denominational support in order to elect leaders who were the most conservative. As a corporate body we willingly suspended what we had always practiced – electing strong financial supporters of the denomination – to assure the long-term theological viability of the convention. But now that we are beyond those battles we need to seek leaders who do a better job of supporting our cooperative missions enterprise.”

To some that may sound strange coming from a younger leader, many of whom seem to be loosely tied to the denomination of their spiritual fathers. But one thing everyone agrees on – older, younger, Floyd and Page – is that the denomination must do a better job of communicating what the Cooperative Program is all about.

In an interview with the Index, Page said, “We need to put a face on missions. The International Mission Board does a very good job of telling their story and explaining why we need to give sacrificially to their cause. On the other hand, I don’t feel that NAMB has done very well in that area. I think it has spread itself too thin and needs to return to its core values, and one of those values is missionary support.

“I’m not talking about turning up the volume of the message to ‘give, give, give;’ I’m talking about beefing up the content. If the denomination wants stronger Cooperative Program support, it needs to show us the value in giving. Today’s younger generation wants to know how its money is being spent and why they need to support an agency.”

Page said he would like to see NAMB return to being a leader in North American missions and evangelism. But it needs to work fast if it is to get beyond its low morale and questions about its overall effectiveness.

One of Page’s loves is to help declining and plateaued churches recapture the vision for their lost communities. Both his current and previous pastorate in Georgia fit that description, but with prayer and patience the congregations were able to turn the corner and grow again.

Since he came to First Taylors in February 2001 the church has seen a steady increase in missions involvement, both domestically and internationally. That first year the congregation sent one international team to Brazil. This year it will send 11 teams plus multiple teams within the U.S. During that same time period four families have been commissioned as IMB missionaries.

Although a strong missions-minded church, the congregation had not sponsored a new church start in its 130-plus-year history. But under Page’s leadership, First Taylors has been involved in five local church starts and is committed to at least one new start per year in its vision plan.

And the church accomplished it all without diverting funds from its Cooperative Program budget.

“I believe that you can have both a major missions outreach through your church while still being a strong advocate for the denomination’s (unified) missions programs,” Page told the Index.

“We do that, but not at the expense of our giving to the CP. We do both, and God makes it possible.”

 

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Both candidates for SBC president are similar in many ways theologically as well as in service on denominational committees. What sets them apart is their financial support of the denomination. Here is an overall look at each of their leadership styles and how they report their mission support through the 2005 Annual Church Profile.

Ronnie Floyd Ronnie Floyd General Current Membership: 16,160 Baptisms: *819   Missions Involvement Number of Annual International Mission Trips: 12 Number of churches planted in the U.S. and overseas: **17   Financials Undesignated Receipts: $11,952,137 Total Mission Expenditures: $1,637,503 Giving to national SBC causes through the allocation budget: $189,000 Cooperative Program: $32,000 Percent of overall budget: .27 Annie Armstrong: $9,516 Lottie Moon Offering: $54,261

Frank Page Frank Page General Current Membership: 4,300 Baptisms: *82   Missions Involvement Number of Annual International Mission Trips: 11 in 2006 Number of churches planted in the U.S. and overseas: ***5   Financials Undesignated Receipts: $4,297,861 Total Mission Expenditures: $1,461,950 Giving to SBC causes distributed through the allocation budget: See note, below**** Cooperative Program: $534,683 Percent of overall budget: 12.4 Annie Armstrong: $62,723 Lottie Moon Offering: $161,527

 

* 2005 calendar year from mother church only and not mission trips or other evangelistic encounters.

** Based on past 7 years

*** Based on past 5 years; First Taylors had never sponsored a church start in its 130-year history prior to the beginning of Page’s ministry in 2001. The congregation is now committed to starting at least one church per year. These are domestic starts where First Taylors served as the sponsoring church and do not include efforts of mission teams or where financial support was provided without First Taylors being the sponsoring church.

**** First Taylors does not bypass the channels established by the SBC in its gifts to missions causes; it gives directly to the Cooperative Program and to the denomination’s special mission offerings.