For the first time in decades, the Virginia Baptist Mission Board held its fall meeting away from Richmond as members traveled to Eagle Eyrie Baptist Conference Center Oct. 10-11 to transact business and fellowship with fellow board members and staff.
Board leaders said meeting at Eagle Eyrie gave members an opportunity to see recent renovations and additions at the conference center—funding for most of which they had authorized in earlier meetings.
Focusing on the theme, “We Can Do More Together than We Can Do Alone,” the board heard reports from its executive director and treasurer, adopted bylaw changes and a board budget for 2007, and got a glimpse of the 2007 budget for the Baptist General Association of Virginia.
Next year's proposed BGAV budget of $14.2 million is $100,000 higher than the current $14.1 million. Although the BGAV's fiscal year has been Dec. 1-Nov. 30, a proposal to be considered at next month's BGAV meeting would make the fiscal year coincide with the calendar year. If that proposal is adoped, the 2007 budget would go into effect Jan. 1 and this December's contributions and allocations would follow the 2006 budget.
The larger 2007 budget will fund increases for several line items, including the Virginia Baptist Mission Board ($6,589,078, up from $6,274,072), Fork Union Military Academy ($110,000, up from $100,000), Hargrave Military Academy ($75,000, up from $65,000), Oak Hill Academy ($110,000, up from $100,000), John Leland Center for Theological Studies ($165,000, up from $140,000) the Religious Herald ($320,000, up from $300,000) and the Virginia Baptist Historical Society ($56,500, up from $49,948).
Also increased is an allocation for retirement support ($381,000, up from $311,000), which provides funds for the Mission Board to match BGAV churches' retirement contributions for its ministerial staff. GuideStone Financial Resources—the pension provider for most BGAV churches—has funded that matching donation in the past. However, it has announced that it will no longer do so after 2008, and state Baptist conventions will either provide it themselves or ask churches to cover all or part of it. The BGAV has chosen to pick up the matching amount.
A new item in the proposed budget (at $45,282) will fund stewardship education, a task assigned to the Mission Board. Budget committee chair Timothy Madison said committee members felt strongly that stewardship education is essential to increasing financial contributions from churches.
Several items in the budget will receive reduced allocations, in part due to a policy decision made by this year's budget committee—any entity which receives 5 percent or less of its budget from the BGAV may not receive a BGAV allocation of more than 1 percent of the BGAV's budget.
Entities impacted by the decision—each of which will receive $142,000—include Bluefield College (down from $300,000), Virginia Intermont College (down from $200,000), Virginia Baptist Children's Home and Family Services (down from $254,923) and Virginia Baptist Homes (down from $254,923).
Other entities receiving reduced allocations are the Virginia Baptist Foundation ($100,000, down from $117,494) and the Baptist Extension Board ($10,000, down from $16,000).
The Children's Home of Virginia Baptists will receive no funding in the proposed budget. The agency has been struggling for several years with licensing issues and was retained in last year's budget at $5,000, which leaders said was to “hold its place” in the event the issues were resolved. Earlier this year the Mission Board learned they had not been and it elected to eliminate funding for the homes.
The Mission Board does not vote on the BGAV budget. However, it did approve a 2007 budget for its own ministries. The $7,679,721 budget (up from this year's $7,412,740) anticipates income from the BGAV of $6,589,078, as well as funds from the Alma Hunt Offering for Virginia Missions, interest on investments and contributions from three Southern Baptist Convention entities: the North American Mission Board, GuideStone Financial Resources and LifeWay Christian Resources.
The Mission Board also adopted a bylaw change to clarify who may be elected as a member. The change stipulates that no person or that person's spouse or dependent children who is employed by an agency that receives funds from the BGAV may serve on the Mission Board. Exempted from this restriction are members or pastors of churches which receive financial assistance from the Mission Board or those who serve on the Mission Board ex officio. The bylaw change also restricts a person receiving VBMB financial assistance or a member of a church receiving VBMB financial assistance from serving on the Mission Board committee which allocates funds to that person or church.
The BGAV also must approve the change.
Also presented for information was a proposed BGAV constitutional amendment, which will be offered for discussion at next month's BGAV meeting, though a vote will not occur until November 2007.
The amendment creates categories of BGAV churches, depending on their financial contributions, which determine the level of services the church receives from the Mission Board and whether the church may be listed on the BGAV's tax exemption roster. Although a church may receive tax exempt status from the IRS on its own, most churches find it more convenient to be included in a denominational roster.
The proposed categories are participating (full benefits and inclusion in the tax exempt roster), watch care (limited benefits and inclusion in the tax exempt roster) and affiliate (no benefits and removal from the roster after five years of no contributions).
In other business, Mission Board executive director John Upton asked members to think how the board can expand the boundaries of its Kingdom Advance ministry strategy.
“I want to invite the board to move the stake,” said Upton. “We thought as far into Kingdom Advance as we could four years ago. But you never leave a stake where it is. It's time to think deeper into Kingdom Advance than we even knew to do back then.”
“It's time to move from Kingdom Advance to Kingdom Advance 2.0,” he continued. “You have the wisdom and experience to think deeper than we have in the past and take us to that place. … Our purpose on this board is to stretch our visions longer, our thoughts higher, our character taller, our compassion wider, our soulfulness deeper and our purpose for serving more expansive.”
“This is our moment to move the stake,” he said. “Now, I don't know what that means. I'm not going to tell you. I can't wait to hear what you think that means.”
Treasurer Eddie Stratton reported that contributions from churches at the end of September were up by 1.67 percent over last year, but still about $313,000 under the $14.1 million budget.
In other action, the board:
• Approved a study committee to look at providing grants and scholarships for emerging leaders planning to enter career ministry.
• Allocated mission relief and development funds, including $10,000 to rebuild a church in Egerszolat, Hungary; $20,000 to repair churches in the Caribbean; $5,000 to assist hunger relief initiatives in Congo; $10,000 to renovate a church in Genoa, Italy; $25,000 to assist seminary students in Jamaica; and $15,000 for materials to build a church in Krems, Austria.