AUSTIN, Texas (ABP) — The Austin Baptist Association is cutting off funding to the Baptist Student Ministry at the state's largest university in order to redirect money to starting churches.
The University of Texas student ministry will lose about $4,000 in monthly support from after the association at the end of the year — and would have lost it immediately if messengers to the association's meeting March 21 had not approved an amended motion.
The redirected funds will help enable the association to hire a strategist focused on church-starting, one of the association's long-range priorities, said Director of Missions David Smith. While the association has “tremendous love” for the student ministry, Smith said, “the decision was made that we couldn't fund everything.”
“This is not anything that just happened overnight,” said Pflugerville pastor Steve Washburn, who presented the motion to defund immediately. “Our [association's] focus is considerably narrowed. … We've been gradually weaning ourselves off all other activities.”
No other ministries in the associational budget were cut.
“We knew the direction the association has been going,” said Jimmy Daniel, director of the student ministry, “and we realized sometime in the future we'd lose funding. We understand student ministry just is not a [funding] priority of the association.”
About 250 University of Texas students — half of them internationals — are involved in ongoing programs on a weekly basis, Daniel said. Another 250 students a year are impacted in other ways at the 50,000-student school.
The BSM now will appeal directly to churches and alumni for funds, said Bruce McGowan, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Center for Collegiate Ministry.
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