ATLANTA (ABP) — Leaders of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship approved a $16.5 million budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year and heard of budget shortfalls during the CBF Coordinating Council's Feb. 7-8 meeting in Decatur, Ga.
The council's finance committee reported that, as of the end of January 2008, the CBF's revenue had reached only 89 percent of its projected 2007-2008 budget. Meanwhile, expenditures by the end of calendar year 2007 reached 91 percent of the projected budget. January expenditures are still being processed, said CBF spokesman Lance Wallace, although the term's total expenditures will probably parallel last year's figures.
“Obviously, I think they were hoping for 100 percent, and we're behind on revenues. But we are containing costs, keeping it down near 90 percent,” Wallace said.
December, January and February tend to be the CBF's most active months for revenue, he added.
“We'll know better after this three-month period as to where we stand on revenue. It's hard for us to draw any conclusions until we get past February.”
CBF supporters who attend the group's General Assembly, scheduled for June in Memphis, Tenn., will give final approval to the budget.
CBF moderator Harriett Harral said that while CBF leaders are “being practical” about spending, they continue to “leverage every resource we have, and that's dollars of course as well as everything else.”
They're able to do more work than the dollar figure would seem to imply, she said, especially considering that designated funds for specific projects and money given to regional CBF partners are not included in the 16-million figure.
“There are a lot of different ways to look at the finances, and one of the things that has become clear to me is that we are blessed in some ways that we don't acknowledge, in a way,” she said.
Harral said that instead of dwelling on the group's financial situation, she left the meeting thinking about “how wonderful it is to get to be a part of” the fellowship. There was a lot of excitement among council members because of the recent Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant meeting, she added.
In his coordinator's report, CBF executive coordinator Daniel Vestal discussed the covenant celebration, held in Atlanta the previous week.
“It had more of the feel of a revival,” Vestal said of the celebration. “There were several times when I literally sat in my chair and wept. The New Baptist Covenant was a gift. A gift of the people who gave money to make it happen, the people who gave leadership, the people who gave their gifts of preaching, teaching, music, platform leaders and volunteers. And most of all, God gave us a gift.”
The convocation highlighted efforts to reach across dividing lines to partner with others — and that's one of the things the CBF has done well throughout its history, Harral said.
Mercer University President Bill Underwood addressed the CBF group at lunch and similarly acknowledged the contributions of the CBF in the overall success of the meeting.
“The Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant could not have been a moving event for thousands of people like it was without the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship,” Underwood said.
Former President Jimmy Carter — one of the main organizers behind the historic gathering — has invited leaders of participating organizations to meet at the Carter Center March 12 to discuss possible follow-up ministries.
Both Vestal and Harral will attend the March meeting.
Other items discussed at the Coordinating Council meeting include:
• Emmanuel McCall, the CBF's past moderator, said the nominating committee has selected an individual to serve as the next moderator-elect, but that person has not yet accepted the nomination. The council will vote on the nomination by mail later this spring, he said. The general assembly gives final approval to new officers.
• Jack Glasglow, the CBF's moderator-elect, provided a report on the group's involvement with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The Coordinating Council endorsed the goals for global poverty reduction at its October meeting, and Glasglow said the U.N. has been notified of the endorsement.
Glasglow has worked with CBF staff to compile an inventory of Fellowship-sponsored ministries around the world that do work to meet the goals. As of Feb. 4, the inventory included 102 projects, representing the ministries of 67 CBF field personnel.
“Being the presence of Christ to the most neglected means being involved in the things the U.N. goals address,” Glasglow said. “We are doing this not because the U.N. is leading us, but because Christ is leading us, and it is important to partner with others in this work.”
• On recommendation of the legal committee, the council formally established the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship 403(b) Retirement Plan.
• The CBF has begun the partnership-application process for the Micah Challenge, a global campaign to mobilize Christians to end poverty.