WASHINGTON (ABP) — Emphasizing the need for a prominent “Center for Religious Liberty” on Capitol Hill, directors of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty kicked off a $5 million capital campaign during their annual meeting Oct. 3-4.
Gathering in Washington, directors of the religious-freedom advocacy group formally launched the campaign with an Oct. 3 banquet.
The yearlong campaign is themed “Our Challenge — Their Future: Securing Religious Liberty for Our Children and Grandchildren.” It is designed to mark the organization's 70th anniversary in 2006.
The project has a goal of raising as much as $5 million to purchase and renovate a property near the United States Capitol to serve as the BJC's offices. The center will also contain research space for visiting scholars, meeting space for the group's legislative coalition partners, and a training center for equipping supporters to relay BJC's message of defending religious liberty and church-state separation.
“If we really are serious about the idea about moving to a new level of education and communication, we need to consider the possibility of having a spot where we can say, 'This is where the Center for Religious Liberty is located,' and the people can see that,” said Reginald McDonough, chair of the campaign committee.
For decades, the organization has used a rented office suite on Capitol Hill in the Veterans of Foreign Wars building. Although conveniently located a block from the Capitol and across the street from both the Supreme Court and Senate office buildings, McDonough said the space is expensive and doesn't provide BJC with “a front door” or “a face on Main Street.”
Rent for the 3,548-square-foot office space is budgeted at $129,000 for BJC's fiscal year 2006.
BJC officials determined that they could purchase a historic townhouse in the same neighborhood and transform it into the envisioned 5,000-6,000-square-foot center for approximately $4 million. The $5 million goal is a “challenge goal,” McDonough said.
Several of BJC's peer organizations — such as the American Center for Law and Justice, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State — occupy spaces on Capitol Hill similar to the one proposed by the campaign.
Brent Walker, BJC's executive director, emphasized that the campaign is designed to gather gifts above and beyond the organization's regular budget. When asked by directors what he would ask for if he could increase that figure substantially, he said, “As good a staff as we have, we are understaffed.”
Board members heard a financial report that showed the organization operating with a much larger reserve fund than four years ago, when the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks caused significant dips in contributions to many non-profit organizations.
BJC directors adopted a budget of $1,126,000 for fiscal year 2006 — a slight increase over the 2005 budget of $1,096,100.
The board also welcomed seven new members at the meeting. They are Curtis Ramsey-Lucas and Steve Case, representing the American Baptist Churches USA; Kay Shurden and Pam Durso, representing the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship; and Bob Beckerle, Bob Stephenson and John Heflin, representing the Religious Liberty Council.
The meeting marked the end of Jeffrey Haggray's two-year tenure as the board's chairman. Haggray is executive director-treasurer of the District of Columbia Baptist Convention and a member of Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church in Washington.
The directors elected a slate of four officers. Chair Mark Wiggs is an attorney in Jackson, Miss., where he is a member of Northminster Baptist Church. Vice chair Dwight Jessup is a retired professor at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana. Secretary Glenn Howie is an attorney and pastor of Mowata Baptist Church in Eunice, La. Treasurer Valoria Cheek is president of the American Baptist Extension Corporation in Valley Forge, Pa.