By Will Hall NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LBM)—Trustees and the embattled president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission issued separate comments in a joint “Seeking Unity in the Southern Baptist Convention” statement published by Baptist Press, March 20. The combined official release, meant to sooth “tensions in our denomination over the state of American politics and the role of religion,” comes about three months after Moore issued an online article, “Election year thoughts at Christmastime,” to address criticisms; and, follows by about a month the actions taken by the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention to form two committees -- one from members of the Cooperative Program committee and the other composed of the trustee officers -- to study actions by national entities that are causing churches to withhold support for national causes. THEN In the December statement issued just by Moore, he urged “after a divisive election” that readers “try to see where there are misunderstandings,” and he confessed to “one situation” when he was “pointed in my criticisms,” and described the target of his harsh words “a handful of political operatives” and apologized to “pastors and friends” who thought he was … [Read more...]

By Will Hall, Baptist Message Editor RICHMOND (LBM)—The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has released data showing relatively stable Cooperative Program giving but a flagging Lottie Moon Christmas Offering that is trending toward a record single-year fall. Comparing receipts from Oct. 2016 through March 2017 with totals for the same period a year ago, gifts through the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists’ primary channel for funding all national causes, are down less than one percent, or about $967,597 below last year. By contrast, contributions to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, which benefits only the International Mission Board, Southern Baptists’ overseas-missionary-sending entity, have tumbled almost $13.5 million, a nearly 12 percent drop, for the same time frame. Importantly, these figures reflect only funds received through the SBC Executive Committee -- some LMCO gifts are donated directly to the IMB. Also, the accounting year for the LMCO is June 1 through May 31, but the difference with the SBC Executive Committee fiscal year does not change the negative trend in LMCO giving. According to past reports out of Nashville, March is the third month in a row for the special offering to … [Read more...]