Thursday, July 3, 2003

CBF raises profile of poverty initiative with $175,000 offering, workshops

From contributed reports

CHARLOTTE - The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) raised more than $175,000 for a campaign against poverty, agreed to a partnership to help start 400 Hispanic churches and talked about various ministry opportunities during the 2003 CBF General Assembly June 26-28.

Partners in Hope, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's rural poverty initiative got a financial boost of $175,210 at the meeting. The campaign was the featured ministry offering for the assembly.

The amount of the offering, significantly more than the goal of $100,000, means the program will be fully funded this year, said Tom Prevost, coordinator of the initiative.

Partners in Hope is a 20-year commitment to partner with 20 of the nation's poorest counties to work alongside local residents to improve the quality of life. There is currently active work in Perry County, Ala.; the Rio Grande River Valley of Texas; the Mississippi River Delta in Arkansas and Mississippi; and Appalachian mountain areas in Kentucky. Initiatives are being developed for Louisiana and South Dakota.

"This initiative fits CBF's commitment to reach the most neglected," said Prevost. "And we're doing that through local assets-based community transformation. We're going to these communities and asking them what they need then finding ways to meet those needs."

Partners in Hope was launched at the 2001 General Assembly and has gained momentum, thanks to the research, grant resources, volunteer support, strategy consultation and partnership grants provided by state, regional and national Fellowship organizations. "Significant partnerships have emerged with state and regional CBFs as well as with other organizations," Prevost said.

In addition to the financial boost from the ministry offering, the assembly also increased the public profile of Partners in Hope among Fellowship members. Two workshops attracted more than 100 people each.

The day after being chided by evangelical social activist Tony Campolo for being "too white," CBF signed onto a far-reaching partnership to start 400 Hispanic churches.

The Fellowship approved the partnership June 27 on the heels of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas (HBCT), which approved the agreement at its annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas, the week before. The signing ceremony concluded a year of discussion and planning about the eight-year partnership.

"We are amigos in the same boat," HBCT president Antonio Estrada told the Fellowship assembly before the formal signing ceremony. "Together we are fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus. The HBCT is excited because we are aware of CBF's commitment to partnership and its desire to share the Gospel with Hispanics."

The covenant stipulates that both groups will identify churches to link in one-to-one partnerships. Additionally, the HBCT will provide training on Hispanic evangelism at national and regional Fellowship events. The Hispanic ministries department of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, which partners with both the HBCT and CBF, has offered to provide training for Fellowship groups anywhere in the United States.

With 1,200 member churches, HBCT is the third-largest Hispanic Baptist convention in the world.

"The future of Christianity lies with southern Baptists ... the Baptists of South America, Southeast Asia, Southern Africa and south of the border said CBF networking coordinator Bill Bruster.

He noted that one-half of all immigrants to the United States in the past two years have been Hispanic.

A discussion session about the partnership attracted an overflow crowd, Bruster said. "Except no one had any questions about the covenant - they all wanted to know when they could get on with it," he said.

Those attending the CBF General Assembly elected all nominees without opposition on June 27.

Prior to the election, the question was raised from the floor about the apparent disparity between Fellowship's commitment to an even representation by men and women and by laity and clergy on the Coordinating Council and the slate of nominees that heavily favored male clergy. Fourteen of the nominees were men and seven were women.

The three coordinating council members from North Carolina, Gail Coulter, Mary Anne Croom and Irma Duke, are all female. After the election, 44 men and 25 women serve on the council.

Nominating committee chairman Jim Baucom gave a two-part response to the question.

He said the nominations are the result of staggered terms. The nominees of any one year do not accurately reflect the composition of the entire board, he said.

More importantly, earlier CBF General Assemblies had declined to give the national leadership more input on nominees and left in place the system that state and regional organizations chose their own nominees and "we take what you send us," Baucom said.

Moderator Phill Martin asked the questioner for permission to refer the question to the state and regional coordinating committee to fully address the issues raised.

The assembly also elected Bob Setzer, pastor of First Baptist Church of Macon, Ga., as moderator-elect, and Susan Crumpler, an engineer and lay church leader from Cincinnati, Ohio, as recorder. Cynthia Holmes, an attorney and lay leader from St. Louis, Mo., rose from moderator-elect to moderator at the conclusion of the assembly.

The assembly also elected trustees of the CBF Foundation and members of the Church Benefits Board.

Robert Randolph, a chaplain with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services in Swannanoa, will serve on the CBF Council on Endorsement.

Gary Skeen, president of the Church Benefits Board reported that it had received a $500,000 gift for endowment and operational expenses which will allow it to begin moving toward self-sufficiency. That gift was a designated portion of the $5 million anonymous gift made in April. Major benchmarks reached during 2002 included passing $10 million in assets; receiving $2 million in accounts rolled over from other retirement funds and having monthly billings exceed $2 million. In the first quarter of 2003 the gain from rollover accounts was $1.3 million.

Skeen also read a thank you letter from a six-staff member church that switched to CBF's medical insurance coverage and saved $25,000 "which was then used in vital ministries."

Don Durham, president of the CBF Foundation, reported its assets have passed $25 million, and that it is managing the endowments of 10 of the 18 state and regional organizations. Last year, for the first time, the foundation received no funding from the Fellowship and was fully self-sufficient.

Two Fellowship partners, Baptists Today and Baptist Women in Ministry were recognized for celebrating their 20th anniversaries.

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