When I was in high school in the southeast corner of Kansas, our neighbor to the east, Missouri, implemented a state lottery. Apparently there was a law against advertising for the lottery, because the radio commercials I remember, which sounded pretty much like lottery commercials now, ended with the following disclaimer:
This announcement is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to induce any person to participate in the lottery or to purchase a lottery ticket.
Convincing, isn’t it?
Dr. Ronnie Floyd, who will be nominated to succeed Dr. Bobby Welch as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, has been the pastor at First Baptist Church in Springdale, Arkansas since 1986. What follows is the record of that church’s support of the Cooperative Program during his tenure.
|
Year |
Undesignated Receipts |
Cooperative Program |
Percentage |
| 1986 |
$1,398,075 |
$128,586 |
9.19% |
| 1987 |
$1,651,755 |
$146,929 |
8.89% |
| 1988 |
$1,882,105 |
$179,840 |
9.56% |
| 1989 |
$2,165,265 |
$200,000 |
9.24% |
| 1990 |
$2,434,105 |
$200,000 |
8.22% |
| 1991 |
$2,584,245 |
$200,000 |
7.74% |
| 1992 |
$2,955,735 |
$200,000 |
6.77% |
| 1993 |
$3,783,625 |
$220,000 |
5.81% |
| 1994 |
$4,323,764 |
$242,000 |
5.60% |
| 1995 |
$4,510,307 |
$250,000 |
5.54% |
| 1996 |
$4,915,860 |
$275,000 |
5.59% |
| 1997 |
$5,174,379 |
$219,000 |
4.23% |
| 1998 |
$5,386,436 |
$225,000 |
4.18% |
| 1999* |
$5,926,454 |
$486,800 |
8.21% |
| 2000* |
$7,392,331 |
$474,927 |
6.42% |
| 2001 |
$8,028,127 |
$174,992 |
2.18% |
| 2002 |
$8,278,618 |
$248,917 |
3.01% |
| 2003 |
$10,470,164 |
$204,992 |
1.96% |
| 2004 |
$10,881,867 |
$312,226 |
2.87% |
| 2005 |
$11,952,137 |
$32,000 |
0.27% |
CP participation from its total missions expenditure for the year
In a spirit intended to be directly opposite of the commercials I remember from high school, this post truly is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Whether you participate in the lottery or not is between you and God…
[UPDATE]
I copied the following bullet point from a list, which you can see here, that was published on First Baptist Church of Springdale’s website and which offers “Key information on Dr. Ronnie W. Floyd, his ministry, and our church”:
$489,862 given for Southern Baptist Causes which $221,000 was to the Cooperative Program (An average of over 8% improvement annually for the past five years to the Cooperative Program and the church continues with the conviction to review and improve annually)
The data in the above chart is data that the church reported.
Again, no analysis from me, just information and education.
Here is the chart detailing FBC Springdale’s mission offering participation. Readers should note that before 1994, these figures are for “Home Missions” and “Foreign Missions.” 1994 is the first year that Annie Armstrong and Lottie Moon are used. There was other mission giving in those years.
Year AAEO LMCO 1986 $7,971 $68,909 1987 $5,881 $59,853 1988 $8,566 $59,726 1989 $8,292 $70,209 1990 $7,589 $53,572 1991 $11,215 $78,695 1992 $7,094 $66,882 1993 $30,438 $99,152 1994 $7,795 $49,320 1995 $7,325 $44,800 1996 $13,998 $44,333 1997 $8,302 $35,965 1998 $11,213 $41,977 1999 n/a* n/a* 2000 n/a* n/a* 2001 $10,643 $30,795 2002 $11,486 $41,439 2003 $11,015 $102,412 2004 $10,812 $70,414 2005 $9,516 $54,261
*See above chart. Missions giving in these years was not separated.
on May 11th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
Dear Brother Wes,
Great research!
What gives? Why did he think it was right to reduce the church’s CP giving from 9% to 3% (roughly) gradually over his tenure?
Love in Christ,
Jeff
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on May 11th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
What grabs my attention is not so much that gradual reduction, but the massive one in 2005, the year he rotated off the SBC Executive Committee.
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on May 11th, 2006 at 6:57 pm
Astounding. Great research, Wes.
What can he do to make a case to churches that give more?
My church gives 15% – $60,000 out of $400,000 budget. That’s twice what FBC Springdale gives with about 170 in SS on a good day.
Even if you add in the money bypassing the Arkansas Baptist Convention, we give 1/3 of that.
In conjunction with the report of the Executive Committee this year that will call on the Convention to elect people at every level whose churches give at least 10%, it will be hard to elect him. He is in direct opposition with our Executive Committee and the vast majority of the rest of the Convention’s churches.
Can he be elected at this point?
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on May 11th, 2006 at 8:11 pm
Brother Wes,
Great Research. Is this from the ACP listed in Arkansas? I am astounded. I have had a concern with Dr. Floyd and while CP giving should not be a litmus test it does tell where your heart is according to convention causes. One other question; Is the Arkansas State Convention led by moderates or conservatives. If conservatives I have a serious problem with this chart. Expecially with the drop coming after he rotated off of the EC
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on May 11th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
Tim,
As an Arkansas Baptist I can tell you that the Arkansas Baptist State Convention has always been led by theological conservatives. There have been some years that the state convention president was a supporter of the Conservative Resurgence political organization and some years the president was not involved in the political activities of this organziation. However, all of our officers have been theological conservatives.
I don’t know if it is significant or not as far as CP giving through the Arkansas Baptist State Convention but about 16 years ago Floyd was nominated for president of the state convention but was defeated by a theological conservative named Mike Huckabee.
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on May 11th, 2006 at 9:40 pm
Wes,the money that you refer to as skipping ABC also skipped SBC budget and went directly to unnamed, specified convention causes is my understanding. Would you check? That would make a difference in some of the numbers wouldn’t it ?
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on May 11th, 2006 at 10:00 pm
Annie,
I didn’t refer to any money skipping anything. I have read on other blogs that they gave some amount directly to the Executive Committee of the SBC, which would have bypassed the Arkansas State Baptist Convention. The data in my post reflects only what was given to the Cooperative Program through the state convention, the normal channel for such giving (except for the two years noted with asterisks).
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on May 12th, 2006 at 2:41 am
It’s interesting that for 2005 their CP giving decreased by $280,000 even though their undesignated receipts increased by over $1 million.
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on May 12th, 2006 at 12:59 pm
At the very least, these numbers are troubling and should raise a few eyebrows. I wonder what kind of spin we’ll hear about them in the next few days?
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on May 12th, 2006 at 5:33 pm
Dear Brother Wes,
Have you read this article:
http://www.sbtexas.com/default.asp?action=article&aid=2820&issue=5/12/2006
Very interesting. Does it jive with your chart?
Love in Christ,
Jeff
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on May 12th, 2006 at 11:22 pm
I can only guess that figures are lumped together; all they spent on any mission endeavor was totalled, and called “cooperative program” for the purposes of this interview. The chart is based on what they themselves reported to have given to the Cooperative Program.
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on May 20th, 2006 at 11:05 pm
Can you point to where the information in your chart originated? As reported by Ben Mayes the financial guy at FBCS, FBCS is sending on the order of 4 Million dollars in the past year for SBC programs. This at the same time as they have 2 major building projects between the main campus and the church at pinnacle hills. As they are one church at locations, I doubt the numbers in your chart are accounting for CPH contributions.
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on May 20th, 2006 at 11:13 pm
The numbers in my chart are the numbers reported by FBC Springdale in their annual church profile. They do include the Church at Pinnacle Hill; they are, as you point out, one church, at least for reporting purposes.
Keep in mind that the numbers here (with the exception of 1999 and 2000) are only for Cooperative Program giving, that is, money given in the traditional way through the state convention. They don’t reflect the church’s own mission spending, money given directly to the Executive Committee, money spent on TV production and distribution, etc. Their spokesman apparently includes all these in his figures. Thus, he can be accurate and I can be accurate. It’s all about definitions.
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on May 22nd, 2006 at 10:51 am
If your torture the data long enough it will confess to anything. Be careful at looking at statistics as they can be used for both good and bad arguments.
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