Fruitland Baptist Bible
Institute will begin three satellite campuses by October President David Horton
told the Baptist State Convention (BSC) board of directors May 26.
Other business of the board,
meeting on its regular schedule at Caraway Conference Center, was routine until
the closing minutes. Austin Rammell, pastor of Venture, moved that the board
ask its executive committee to study the feasibility of replacing “non-priority
missions items” in the Cooperative Program budget with items “we say are our
priority” that are now funded primarily through the North Carolina Missions
Offering (NCMO).
Before he made his motion
Rammell apologized to BSC Executive Director-Treasurer Milton Hollifield Jr.,
saying “God had to grow me up some” in his four years on the board and his “passion
sometimes gets ahead of me and I’ve sometimes been over critical and that can
come off as arrogant.”
During his board term
Rammell has often pushed in discussions for the budget to fund the priorities
currently included in the North Carolina Missions Offering. He feels that will
both diminish the need for special offerings and increase the eagerness of
churches like his to support the Cooperative Program (CP).
The NCMO’s priority items
are church planting and Baptist Men, which coordinates two of the highest
profile ministries under the Convention’s umbrella: partnerships and disaster
relief. If those are truly Convention priorities, Rammell reasons, they should
be fully funded through the Cooperative Program and not dependent on a special
offering.
“The problem is not
marketing for the Cooperative Program,” Rammell said. “GenX pastors get it. The
problem is CP itself … changing how we spend our money is the key, not just
changing how we market how we spend our money.”
John Butler, BSC executive
leader for business services, said because all entities share the rise or fall
of Cooperative Program giving, the priorities in the NCMO would have received
less money had they been in the CP budget last year than they received through
the special offering.
Board member Don Greene said
such a change would require a reeducation process for everyone and “there would
be chaos in all the churches” because “it takes years to do that, to reeducate
everybody.”
After a clarification that
the motion’s only intent is to ask the executive committee to examine the
feasibility of such a move, the motion passed on a raised hand vote with many
abstentions. The executive committee’s findings are due back to the board in
September.
Fruitland satellites
Horton, making his report
one year after starting as president of the Bible Institute, said satellite campuses were a
clear dream from his first days.
BR photo by Norman Jameson David Phelps, left, director of missions in Atlantic Baptist Association, lobbies Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute President David Horton for a satellite campus in New Bern. |
He learned when he took
office that directors of missions had advocated for Fruitland satellites for
years.
Two hispanic satellites will
open in July, one in Winston-Salem and one in Warsaw at Eastern Baptist
Association. A third satellite, to open by October, will be in Union Baptist
Association in Monroe.
Horton anticipates as many
as five new satellites starting in 2011.
“We want to move slowly but
methodically, to make sure the campuses we start will be done right to assure
long-term success,” Horton said.
He anticipates costs to be
just $150 per course, including textbooks.
Acknowledging the “difficult
days for all of us,” Horton said, “I’m just a firm believer that we’ve got to
put something out there in front of people so they have something they want to
give to and be a part of … We’re gearing up to move forward. We’re not crying
retreat.”
Chaplaincy
Three soldiers in uniform
received a standing ovation when they came to report on chaplaincy ministries
in which North Carolina Baptists are involved.
Larry Jones, who works with
military/chaplaincy ministries in BSC’s congregational services, is a colonel
in the National Guard about to begin a four-month leave of absence from the BSC
to direct a government funded study to determine ways faith communities can be
more effectively utilized in helping soldiers deal with the stresses of
returning from the battlefield.
Chaplain Capt. Tommy Watson,
who just returned from Iraq, said chaplains have an opportunity to minister to
the “subgroup” that is soldiers.
“We have a group of people
who want to put their lives on the line, literally, to serve their country and
to serve you,” Watson said.
“Many are in our churches.
If they’re not in your church, they’re probably in your neighborhood.”
The chaplains want to see
churches rally around soldiers and soldiers’ families even those outside the
church family.
Watson said when that happens,
both the military family and the church will be strengthened.
When soldiers tell him about
a problem at home Watson said his best resource is always to call a church at
home and ask them to go see the family.
Watson said he hears so many
stories for which he has no answer other than Jesus. But churches can fill in
gaps at home that will make a real difference.
Military families are real
workers, Watson said. Their involvement in a local church will strengthen that
church.
“They want to get in there and do something,” he said.
“They need to be invited.
They’re probably not going to come to you first unless it’s like they come to
me with a bank account that’s empty or a home torn apart.”
Other reports
With CP income through April
9 percent below the same period last year, budget committee chair Steve Hardy
said he anticipates a lower budget for 2011.
Cameron McGill, chairman of
the social services committee, reported enthusiastically about the 125th
anniversary activities of Baptist Children’s Homes, the thousands of persons
receiving counseling through Baptist CareNet and of the new senior adult
ministries through North Carolina Baptist Aging Ministries, which receives an
average of 30 calls per day asking for help connecting to services.
“These are great days in
spite of a few bumps along the road because of the ministries that are being
done, and I’m thankful for that,” said McGill, pastor of First Baptist Church,
Dublin.
Dana Hall, president of N.C.
Baptist Men said the older of two widely used medical/dental buses is worn out
and must be replaced. A new vehicle will cost as much as $400,000.
The Church Planting and Missions Development Committee reported 112 churches in the funding cycle for the first quarter of 2010.
Embrace women’s ministry is
taking its first international mission trip — to Argentina. They plan to hold
teas to host locals, prayer walk, visit in the schools and do evangelism
activities.
Fifteen teams are scheduled
to help Baptists in the Metropolitan New York Baptist Association this summer,
including two construction teams and 13 evangelism teams.
Fruitland students will
participate in an Urban Plunge in New York, as well.