As is my habit, I’ve compiled below two charts containing data detailing the Cooperative Program and mission offering participation for Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee. The data goes back to 1986, the year Dr. Jerry Sutton became their pastor. It has been announced that Dr. Sutton will be nominated for the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting next week in Greensboro, North Carolina.
|
Year |
Undesignated Receipts |
Cooperative Program |
Percentage |
| 1986 |
$1,653,445 |
Not reported |
% |
| 1987 |
$1,873,785 |
$224,526 |
11.98% |
| 1988 |
$2,092,705 |
$259,825 |
12.42% |
| 1989 |
$2,140,095 |
$246,691 |
11.53% |
| 1990 |
$2,349,835 |
$305,156 |
12.99% |
| 1991 |
$2,374,285 |
$237,428 |
10.00% |
| 1992 |
$2,472,785 |
$206,037 |
8.33% |
| 1993 |
$2,625,555 |
$275,398 |
10.49% |
| 1994 |
$3,102,073 |
$191,969 |
6.19% |
| 1995 |
$3,251,494 |
$203,980 |
6.27% |
| 1996 |
$3,662,175 |
$195,551 |
5.34% |
| 1997 |
$3,913,677 |
$214,167 |
5.47% |
| 1998 |
$4,174,343 |
$128,500 |
3.08% |
| 1999* |
$4,400,388 |
$422,168 |
9.59% |
| 2000* |
$4,432,604 |
$498,747 |
11.25% |
| 2001 |
No data |
No data |
% |
| 2002 |
No data |
No data |
% |
| 2003 |
$4,286,775 |
$49,116 |
1.15% |
| 2004 |
$4,165,837 |
$177,000 |
4.25% |
| 2005┼ |
$4,104,377 |
$0 |
0.00% |
*Data for these years does not separate CP giving. Figure is total mission expenditures.
┼CP giving was reported as $0 for this year in an otherwise complete ACP report.
| Year | LMCO | AAEO |
| 1986 |
No data |
$30,459 |
| 1987 |
$55,000 |
$2 |
| 1988 |
$60,000 |
$15,000 |
| 1989 |
$90,000 |
$2 |
| 1990 |
$60,000 |
$35,000 |
| 1991 |
$57,445 |
$29,343 |
| 1992 |
$65,559 |
$43,002 |
| 1993 |
$63,875 |
$37,725 |
| 1994 |
$117,270 |
$47,624 |
| 1995 |
$80,000 |
$44,000 |
| 1996 |
$64,000 |
$34,500 |
| 1997 |
$110,000 |
$55,500 |
| 1998 |
$110,000 |
$50,000 |
| 1999 |
* |
* |
| 2000 |
* |
* |
| 2001 |
No data |
No data |
| 2002 |
No data |
No data |
| 2003 |
$221,126 |
$68,730 |
| 2004 |
$68,162 |
$27,265 |
| 2005 |
$86,273 |
$34,357 |
1987 and 1989 are interesting in the missions offering table, as the data reported by Two Rivers showed Annie Armstrong Easter Offering contributions of $2 in each year. The likelihood of a typo is lessened in my opinion because it occurs in non-consecutive years, but I am at a loss to explain this number otherwise.
And now, a personal request. If you are feeling led of God to nominate yet another candidate for SBC president, please do your best to see to it that He supernaturally drafts someone who has been at their present church for somewhere in the three- to five-year range. These twenty-year charts become rather tedious…
on Jun 5th, 2006 at 9:56 pm
If this is correct, it seems that CP giving is not really that important to our Convention. When you consider that the vast majority of members in our large churches have come from smaller churches who do give 10% or more to the CP, the blow to the SBC is even greater. These churches grow at the expense of smaller churches, and then their leadership decides to defund the CP. I know NOTHING about Jerry Sutton personally, but just looking at those numbers, it makes it really hard to take seriously any future push by SBC Leadership for us smaller churches to give more to the Cooperative Program.
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on Jun 6th, 2006 at 12:53 am
Alan, you are certainly right. Anthony Jordan and others have mentioned that CP giving was not all that important during the struggle of the Bible. It was overlooked. I think CP giving was not all that important to many of these guys. Smaller churches are footing the missions bill and all the entities of the love bloat. I wonder what some churches could do if they cut their CP giving like some of the megachurches?
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on Jun 6th, 2006 at 9:00 am
Okay, Wes…
That last paragraph made me crack up. “Supernaturally drafted” and all.
Too funny. Hang in there, and see you in Greensboro.
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on Jun 6th, 2006 at 9:22 am
Wes,
Keep this up and the Executive Committee will be offering you a job!
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on Jun 6th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Dear Brother Wes,
You are shining a bright light, brother! So far we have three announced nominees for Prez. All three have a long record of helping their churches reduce CP percentage giving.
I DO NOT APPROVE OF THIS!
I think I’m going to write in someone for President, maybe Kevin Bussey. He could have a bus tour and challenge the SBC to eat 1,000,000 barbeque sandwiches.
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on Jun 6th, 2006 at 5:14 pm
You’d just be dooming several hundred thousand pigs. What a waste…
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on Jun 6th, 2006 at 10:33 pm
Don’t drag my name into this! I’m running for President of Starbucks!
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on Jun 6th, 2006 at 11:14 pm
Brother Wes,
I had a comment from you on my blog and now cannot find it. (I think it was from you) My email is gtrrogers123@aol.com
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on Jun 6th, 2006 at 11:44 pm
Can we have a Man Rule, please? I do not know what to officially call 7% giving. I know that .27% is a nano-tithe, but what should 7% be called? A wannabe tithe? An almost tithe? Two thirds tithe? Anyone?
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on Jun 7th, 2006 at 1:32 am
I have read on other blogs that Two Rivers’ CP giving is good. That dog won’t hunt according to your records. What gives?
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on Jun 7th, 2006 at 7:16 am
One of the revelations I am getting from all the CP giving records is a great thankfulness for the 42,000 smaller churches as opposed to the 1,000 larger churches.
They are the ones – and I’m thankful our church is among the 42,000 – who are carrying the responsibility of financing missions.
Maybe it’s time, we also carried the authority
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on Jun 9th, 2006 at 2:29 pm
Sutton’s church has averaged giving over seven percent to the CP. Last year his church decided no to go through the TBC because the money would go to support the large number of CBF people in the TBC, as well as to institutions such as Liberty and Carson Newman, which any conservative Southern baptist would be hesitant to support. Because of this Two Rivers gave money directly to the Executive committee, SBC, and TBC, but did not give the TBC complete control over where the church’s money would go. This is why it appears in the reports that the CP giving was 0. This information is available in the article on Sutton posted on http://www.sbtexas.com
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