KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee
Baptist Convention (TBC) messengers overwhelmingly adopted a recommendation
from the TBC Executive Board to begin moving toward a 50/50 distribution of
Cooperative Program funds with the Southern Baptist Convention.
Messengers also welcomed new
Executive Director Randy Davis, adopted a $36.5 million budget, authorized a
strategic planning team, extended two missions partnerships and a missions “connection”;
and approved a resolution affirming the Cooperative Program.
Attendance was up about 10
percent from last year to 1,283 messengers.
The TBC budget currently
provides 60 percent of Cooperative Program receipts for Tennessee Baptist
missions and ministry endeavors, while forwarding 40 percent to the Southern
Baptist Convention for national and international missions and ministries. The
recommendation approved by messengers begins the process of moving toward a
50/50 distribution to begin “no later than the 2012-2013 budget year and
continue in a manner and over a time frame so as to enhance, not inhibit, the
ministry of the TBC as well as the SBC.”
The six-part recommendation
said the specific plan for achieving the desired allocation would be determined
by a proposed strategic planning team. It also called on the convention’s
Budget and Ministry Committee to “monitor the giving of TBC churches and the
impact of adjusted percentage allocations through an appropriate subcommittee
or other means.”
The 2010-11 budget of $36.5
million was approved without opposition. The budget is $500,000 higher than the
budget for the past fiscal year, which ended Oct. 31. Cooperative Program
receipts for the past year were $1.46 million, 4.08 percent below budget.