By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LBM) — The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention released its task force report about the impact of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission on the funding of cooperative missions and ministries of Southern Baptists. The yearlong investigation found that ERLC actions had caused a $1.5 million loss to the International Mission Board, $700,000 loss to the North American Mission Board, $700,000 loss to theological education at the six seminaries and $100,000 loss to the Executive Committee, according to Mike Stone, chairman of the seven-member task force, immediate past SBC Executive Committee chairman and pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, Georgia. But there was a loss of $4 million to state conventions, too, he said. Stone formally presented the report to the SBC Executive Committee during its Feb. 22-23 meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. The published report set the framework for Stone’s comments by sharing that 15 of the 41 state Baptist conventions had responded to a survey from the task force. “These 15 conventions serve 28,379 congregations, or 60 percent of the churches in friendly cooperation with the SBC,” the report … [Read more...]

By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LBM) —During executive session, Feb. 23, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee voted to remove four churches reported by the Credentials Committee to be “no longer in friendly cooperation” with the SBC. Meanwhile, the Executive Committee took no action against LifeWay regarding violation of SBC Bylaw 15.F. by a trustee but set up a task force in response to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s suspension of trustees elected by SBC messengers. OUT OF FELLOWSHIP Towne View Baptist Church, Kennesaw, Georgia, and St. Matthews Baptist Church, Louisville, Kentucky, were removed from fellowship with the SBC for affirming homosexuality. TVBC voted to admit a male homosexual couple as members and SMBC was disfellowshipped by the Kentucky Baptist Convention in 2018 because the congregation supported the homosexual-affirming Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Meanwhile, Antioch Baptist Church, Sevierville, Tennessee, and West Side Baptist Church, Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, were ousted for charges of indifference to addressing sexual abuse. The Credentials Committee said ABC employs a pastor who confessed to two counts of statutory rape and … [Read more...]