BaptistsTexas Committed December 1994 LOCAL CHURCH AUTONOMY WINS BIG Texas Baptists proved once again that approved budgets of the BGCT and the SBC tion, or fellowship. the majority of them are REAL Baptists. were being counted as Cooperative Pro- It was simply a vote on whether Texas They understand and believe in the his- gram gifts. Baptists were going to recognize the gifts of toric Baptist doctrines of local church au- This vote expanded the definition of the local congregations to Baptist causes in an tonomy and the priesthood of every be- Cooperative Program to include other Bap- equal and fair manner. Are we as Texas liever. tist causes chosen by the local church. Baptists going to be inclusive or exclusive? By an overwhelming margin (estimated The entire issue revolved around Notice an important point. Not a single by most observers to be between 2–1 or 3– whether Texas Baptists were going to treat person who voted against the Cooperative 1), they approved the Cooperative Missions the mission giving decisions of local Missions Study Committee recommenda- Giving Study Committee report. The report churches in the same manner and count all tions is affected in any manner whatsoever. recommended that all local church gifts to their gifts equally. Every one of them may support the SBC as the budget of the BGCT, the budget of the LOCAL CHURCH AUTONOMY WON they have always done and their gifts will SBC, any institution related to the BGCT or BIG! All gifts from a local church will be be counted as Cooperative Program gifts. SBC, or any other Baptist organization, in- treated with the same respect and no con- In fact, they now have freedom to send cluding the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, gregations gift will be treated in a second more to the SBC and less to the BGCT, if the Baptist World Alliance, and the Woman’s class manner. they choose, and it will still all count as Missionary Union, would be considered by Many people tried to claim this vote was Cooperative Program gifts. the BGCT as a Cooperative Program gift. something it was not. All the vote did was say that others who This was a vote as to whether Texas —It was not a vote on whether to finan- give differently, to a large or small extent, Baptists were going to respect the autonomy cially support or not support the Southern will have their gifts count equally. No one is of the local church or not. Nothing more, Baptist Convention. excluded. nothing less. They overwhelming said yes! —It was not a vote on whether to finan- Texas Baptists have gone on record say- Because of the takeover of the Southern cially support or not support the Coopera- ing they want to emphasize our historic Baptist Convention by the fundamentalist tive Baptist Fellowship. doctrine of autonomy. Let us hope and pray faction within the SBC, and the resulting —It was not a vote on whether to finan- all Texas Baptists will respect this doctrine division caused by the takeover, local Texas cially support or not support missionaries and put their emphasis on what unites us as Baptist churches are giving their money in in the field. free autonomous congregations rather that various ways to various Baptist causes. —It was not a vote instructing local what divides us. We have said we believe in Because of the definition of the Coopera- churches to financially support any par- freedom. Now let us respect each others tive Program, only the gifts that went to the ticular mission cause, institution, conven- choices. SUPPORT THE BAPTIST GENERAL CONVENTION OF TEXAS By David R. Currie, Coordinator being done by the BGCT. WE EXIST TO PRO- grams. In order to be fair, the report had to TECT THAT GREAT WORK FROM A FUNDA- allow them the same freedom to give around The Baptist General Convention of Texas, MENTALIST TAKEOVER! Our reason to be is the BGCT and not be treated like “second its elected leaders, and its program staff in the to encourage Texas Baptists to not follow the class” citizens. Baptist building are doing a wonderful job in divisive path of fundamentalism taken by the As Texas Baptists we could not support helping Texas Baptists do mission and minis- Southern Baptist Convention. Allow our lead- anything that tried to force fundamentalists try. At Texas Baptists Committed, we urge all ers the freedom to lead. Allow our professors in Texas to support the BGCT budget. That Texas Baptist churches to support the BGCT the freedom to teach. Allow our physicians would be as wrong as the SBC, which is trying budget as adopted at the convention. the freedom to heal. Our mission statement is to force local churches to support their bud- It is often interesting how many people do about supporting the BGCT and its related get. The SBC is saying give a certain way or get not seem to understand Baptist polity and institutions and programs! out. As Texas Baptists, we must never have believe the Cooperative Missions vote was The Cooperative Missions Study Commit- that attitude. about Texas missions. It was not. tee Report vote was a vote about fairness for We support the BGCT and encourage ev- A recent “Letter to the Editor” in our local all Texas Baptists churches in their giving. It ery Texas Baptist church to support the BGCT paper stated that I was wrong that this vote was about funds sent outside Texas. budget. Sure some things are not perfect (an was “a victory for Texas Baptist and foreign We supported the Report because it cre- Evangelism Conference this year with nearly missions.” He added that I obviously didn’t ated fairness for all Texas Baptist churches in all fundamentalist speakers quickly comes to “know anything about the great work the Texas relation to their giving beyond the BGCT those mind), but we can work with our leaders in Baptist Convention is doing in missions,” and who appreciate the fundamentalist takeover good faith and support them. that my “statements are an indictment against of the SBC, and those who do not. Support the BGCT because it is staying Dr. Bill Pinson, Dr. James Semple and other Since some of the fundamentalist do not true to our Baptist heritage and principles. convention leaders.” like the fact that Texas is refusing to follow the Beyond Texas, support your convictions. We Friends, I know full well the great work SBC path, they dislike some of the BGCT pro- will respect those choices. — 1 — LOOKING BACK AT TEXAS BAPTISTS COMMITTED MISSION AND GOALS The time after the annual convention is clean up time in our office. The months lead- ing up to the BGCT annual meeting are in- sanely busy - update meetings, newsletters, breakfast details, etc. Things end up in piles all over the floor. In cleaning up the office we found the original mission statement of Texas Baptists Committed and our goals. They date back to 1990. They are worth sharing as we pray we have been true to this mission statement and these goals. Mission statement: Our mission is to main- tain Texas Baptists as a voluntary family of BREAKFAST WAS WONDERFUL believers cooperating together to evangelize our state, educate our children, heal our sick The 1994 TBC annual breakfast had an The fact is, we are encountering a wonder- and minister to our needy; and to function incredible turn out. The crowd was estimated ful problem. Our breakfast is the largest event under the historic Baptist principles of the at 1,400 people. Dr. Russell Dilday brought a at the BGCT each year except for the conven- priesthood of the believer, the autonomy of wonderful, inspirational message. You will tion itself. Since Texas Baptists Committed is the local church and the separation of church want a copy of his sermon and we will offer not an official part of the BGCT (although the and state with the Bible as our final authority them at a special price of $3.00 per tape. reason we exist is to support the BGCT) we in matters of faith and practice. Notice the tape order form on page 00. cannot use space blocked by the BGCT. TBC Goals: A few folks seemed shocked we did not Since the BGCT blocks most of the space in - maintain peace and harmony in our con- have our usual seated, full course breakfast. the city we are meeting in, we have trouble vention. They failed to notice it was advertised as a finding locations large enough to accommo- -promote the resolution of conflict in a continental breakfast in our September news- date us. Our crowd is larger than most hotel Christian manner whenever it occurs. letter due to limited space. A seated breakfast meeting facilities can accommodate, even in -emphasize our historic Baptist principles would have only allowed us to accommodate our states largest cities. and practices. only 900 people. Next year in San Antonio, we are in excel- -seek new avenues of cooperation when- We appreciate your patience and under- lent shape. We have a place that can accom- ever old avenues have been destroyed. standing regarding the breakfast being a dif- modate 1,800 people to sit down and eat. We -keep radical fundamentalism from gain- ferent format this year. look forward to seeing you then. ing control of our state convention. CONSERVATIVE FELLOWSHIP/BAPTISTS COMMITTED GIFTS SHOULD NOT BE COUNTED IN COOPERATIVE PROGRAM Miles Seaborn, pastor of Birchman Baptist Miles Seaborn’s vote to fire Russell Dilday was Baptists to remember our heritage and stay Church, Fort Worth, is chairman of the Texas much more divisive that the vote in Amarillo the traditional Baptist course.