Frank Page and the Cooperative Program

Frank Page and the Cooperative Program

[UPDATED]See below
When it was publicly announced that Dr. Ronnie Floyd would be a nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention, I posted a chart detailing the Cooperative Program giving of First Baptist Church of Springdale, Arkansas, during Dr. Floyd's tenure as their pastor.

In the interest of fairness, I now provide a similar chart for First Baptist Church in Taylors, South Carolina, during the tenure of their pastor, Dr. Frank Page. In a Baptist Press article today, Dr. Page confirmed that he will be nominated for president at the SBC annual meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina. This chart is somewhat shorter than that for Dr. Floyd, as each only details Cooperative Program giving during that pastor's tenure.

Year

Undesignated Receipts

Cooperative Program

Percentage

2001

$2,975,030

$464,747

15.62%

2002

$3,433,961

$535,649

15.60%

2003

$3,600,839

$512,455

14.23%

2004

$3,995,364

$536,961

13.44%

2005

$4,297,861

$534,683

12.44%

As with the previous chart, I offer no analysis, only data. All concerned Southern Baptists should continue in prayer for both of these men as we seek God's direction in this decision.

[UPDATE]At the request of several of you, below is a chart that shows FBC Taylors giving to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering during Dr. Page's tenure:

Year

AAEO

LMCO

2001

$33,099

$84,266

2002

$44,492

$44,956

2003

$42,017

$110,606

2004

$57,229

$162,387

2005

$62,726

$161,527

I have also added a similar chart to the post on FBC Springdale below.

Technorati: , , , ,

About the Author
Author

Wes Kenney

Comments (13)
  • Avatar

    Dorcas May 19 2006 - 7:24 pm

    It looks like they budget a specific dollar amount of $535,000 instead of a percentage.

    Reply

  • Avatar
  • Avatar

    Tim Batchelor May 19 2006 - 9:08 pm

    Brother Wes,

    I’d imagine that the guys at the State Conventions and in Nashville are cheering us on while there are a few who might give us a dirty look if they recognize us at the convention. If the result is that folks notice that folks notice what they are giving and are shamed into giving more then good for the cp and the Kingdom Work it represents!

    Reply

  • Avatar

    CW May 19 2006 - 11:26 pm

    I had hoped for an alternative candidate that was 1) not always the center of controvery, 2) a strong supporter of the Cooperative program, 3) lacking the sacred annointing of the ruling elite. I hope that Frank is this man and he seems to be.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Anonymous May 20 2006 - 7:10 am

    Wes
    Any idea what their Lottie Moon and AA gifts were?

    Reply

  • Avatar

    flounder May 20 2006 - 9:55 am

    the first thought that popped into my head when seeing the chart….
    if Page stayed at that church 20 years (like floyd), what percent would their CP giving be. Looks like a downward trend.

    I am thankful for their support of CP, they are great improvement on Floyd’s %

    Reply

  • Avatar

    CW May 20 2006 - 1:50 pm

    Thanks for the added info. Even when you compare Annie Armstrong and Lottie Moon offering for 2005, Frank is still the Great Cooperator.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Jeff Richard Young May 20 2006 - 5:14 pm

    Dear Brother Wes,

    I’m with Flounder. Sure, 12% is great, but why have they allowed the % to slip steadily every year? If we looked at this chart next to Dr. Floyd’s chart for his first five years, they would look similar.

    “I’m slowly reducing my church’s CP giving, but thankfully it’s not as low as Dr. Floyd’s yet, so I am more qualified to be SBC President.”

    Love in Christ,

    Jeff

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Anonymous May 20 2006 - 6:03 pm

    I am confused. How many SB churches are there in the USA? And how many ACTIVE members? (for example, the SB church we attend has 700 members on the roll but only 350 active.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Wes Kenney May 20 2006 - 7:17 pm

    Jeff,

    This was my subject in Riddle Me This, Batman! It’s a trend I’ve noticed in most of these charts I’ve done. Taylors’ average drop is a little over 1/2% per year. At this rate, in 25 years, they’ll be taking money out of the CP plate as it passes…

    Anonymous,

    There are over 40,000 churches in the US that call themselves Southern Baptist. As for active membership, it’s anybody’s guess. Officially, there are 16+ million members. The church you describe is typical (less that half participating), so figure something like 8 million.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Micah May 20 2006 - 9:17 pm

    ^wes & anonymous, if it’s any help, according to the 2005 Annual Church Profile, SBC churches in 2005 had 6.5 million in primary church attendance. Of course, figured into that would be visitors, members of other churches, etc. That would mean that active attendance (involvement) is probably in the 5.5-6 million range. That still makes us the largest evangelical denomination in the US, but it certainly deflates our 16.5 million number. You can see the results for yourself by going here.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Wes Kenney May 20 2006 - 10:44 pm

    Hard facts beat a (semi)educated guess any day.

    Thanks, Micah!

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Anonymous May 21 2006 - 4:35 pm

    Micah
    So, undesignated receipts were $7,842,000,000. Mission expenditures were $1,233,000,000 or about 14%! How much was the total CP, LMC and AA offering for 2005?

    Reply

Leave a reply

Name (required)

Website