In a little over a month, Southern Baptists from across the nation will converge in Dallas for the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. If you put any stock in the latest social media posts, there likely will be several attempts to make significant changes to the convention, ranging from adjustments to the business plan to the first step in abolishing the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
Derek Crawford
And, if I know Southern Baptists, additional surprises will emerge from the floor.
Yet, despite the significant items listed above, there also will be the usual business of electing leaders and approving reports. While it doesn’t appear there will be a contested presidential election this year, the annual meeting provides Southern Baptists an opportunity to reflect on the qualifications needed for someone to serve in leadership at the denominational level.
In recent years, the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 has been the obvious litmus test for an individual’s right to serve. But financial support through the Cooperative Program also should be an important factor.
“Financial support through the Cooperative Program also should be an important factor.”
I had the honor of serving on the Committee on Committees in recent years. I found it a challenging job — partly because more and more people are reluctant to serve at the national level given rising tensions. One of the crucial questions we asked each person was their position on the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. However, a second question was, “Does your church support the Cooperative Program?”
This never was a make-or-break moment in the process. If a person attended a church that did not give a high percentage to the CP, but the qualified person would be an obvious asset to an entity’s trustee board based on their skill set, they still could be considered. But the financial element always was a concern.
The financial concerns are relevant not only at the national level. When meeting with a group of associational leaders from our region a few weeks ago, the topic of finances came up. It is no secret that more and more churches are experiencing declines in giving, and when giving decreases at the local church, that means giving is also down for the local Baptist association.
While discussing financial options for denominational groups, someone in the room introduced me to a group I had not heard of: the Association of Churches for Missions and Evangelism, ACME for short. While this is not the same organization that supplied Coyote with dynamite to capture Roadrunner, it could do some damage to the SBC cause.
ACME’s website provides the following mission statement: “ACME exists to unite and mobilize like-minded churches to fund pastors, church planters, missionaries and other projects around the world.”
“This is eerily similar to the original purpose for creating the SBC.”
Does that sound familiar? It should. This is eerily similar to the original purpose for creating the SBC.
It gets more interesting, though. In order to carry out the goals listed above, financial support must be provided for ACME. The website clarifies this matter: “Ideally, ACME churches would give between 2% and 4% of their budget to support this work.”
Once again, this sounds very familiar to a program in place for Southern Baptist churches. Investigating the website further, you find ACME is a place for Reformed churches to gather and share common goals. Still, it is worth noting that most of the approximately 80 churches appear to be affiliated with the SBC.
But there is another twist when you look at the leaders. All Southern Baptists should note the leadership of ACME.
Sebastian Trager
Sebastian Trager serves as executive director of ACME. Trager is familiar to SBC churches as he was the executive vice president of the International Mission Board during the David Platt administration.
We also should consider a few of the gentlemen serving on the board of directors:
- Geoff Chang is assistant professor of church history and historical theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City. He also serves as curator of the Spurgeon Library.
- Juan Sanchez serves as pastor of High Point Baptist Church in Austin, Texas. Additionally, he is an associate professor of theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He preached the convention sermon at the SBC annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif.
- Greg Gilbert serves as pastor at Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., which is Al Mohler’s home church.
- Almost all board members have strong ties to Mark Dever and Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.
To be clear, I am a traditional Baptist. Each church is autonomous and free to decide how every penny collected is spent. While I am not a Calvinist, I have no reason to doubt the motives of ACME are pure and their ultimate desire is to serve Jesus Christ and invest in the local church.
My concern is that high-profile churches and individuals involved in the SBC are influencing other churches to contribute to an organization that competes with the SBC Cooperative Program. The issue is that this group is being led by individuals actively serving SBC entities, including a church directly connected to the president’s office at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. It is hard to believe this could be accomplished without Mohler’s blessing.
An argument can be made that they are simply providing another alternative. However, current trends demonstrate that most churches do not have the financial capacity to add another ministry. More often than not, they would need to cut one line item to fund another.
“If you want to know someone’s priorities in life, look at their checkbook register.”
As a child, I remember our pastor declaring from the pulpit, “If you want to know someone’s priorities in life, look at their checkbook register.” He was right. We spend money on what is essential, and the truth is that Southern Baptists should expect their leaders to personally support their church and attend churches that support the Cooperative Program.
This principle was made evident during the Baptist wars of the 1980s. Moderates lost the presidential gavel following Jimmy Allen’s tenure in 1979 and conservatives have held office since the election of Adrian Rogers in Houston. Moderates sought to reclaim the presidency, and to achieve this they sought men who represented two major categories: those with strong traditional Baptist roots and those who led churches that financially supported the SBC.
Daniel Vestal of First Baptist Church in Midland, Texas, and Winfred Moore of First Baptist Church of Amarillo are two examples. Under Vestal’s leadership, FBC Midland gave more than 30% to the CP and another 14% to mission offerings. The generosity of this church is legendary. FBC Amarillo was, and continues to be, a pillar church in the Baptist General Convention of Texas and also had a history of stellar support for SBC causes. In 1985, Moore’s presence in SBC life proved a significant challenge to Charles Stanley’s track record, as he rarely attended SBC annual meetings, let alone participated in SBC life.
This principle also was a point of contention in recent years, such as during the 2006 SBC annual meeting. Ronny Floyd’s first attempt to become president was thwarted when it emerged that FBC Springdale, Ark., the church Floyd served as pastor at the time, gave about 1% of its undesignated income to the SBC. Frank Page of South Carolina went on to be elected president, a result no one would have guessed heading into the Greensboro meeting. Financial support may not be the ultimate issue, but history demonstrates that it matters.
As Southern Baptists prepare for this year’s Dallas meeting, it may be worth considering the involvement of the person standing on the platform or at the microphone. Vestal and Moore may have lost the elections, but no one in the room could deny their love and support for the SBC and its mission at the time. While they eventually moved on, they continued to serve with integrity in their respective churches and ministries.
We should ask if our leaders are supporting the Cooperative Program, but we also should ask if they are supporting organizations seeking to draw away from it. How can we expect the SBC to stay strong if we put people in leadership who aren’t doing their part to help it stay strong themselves?
As we move forward, the old wisdom still holds true: Consider their character, and follow the money. That is where the heart lies.
Derek Crawford serves as director of missions for Enon Baptist Association in Ardmore, Okla.