For the week of May 8, 2003
Cooperative Program
Gifts through the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program totaled
$14 million last month, an increase of $43,447 (0.3 percent) from the previous
April. For the fiscal year, gifts total $107,173,388, an increase of $1.4 million
(1.3 percent) from the same time last year. The total also stands more than
$3.9 million (3.8 percent) ahead of budget at this time. Meanwhile, designated
gifts totaled $10 million last month, a decrease of almost $2.3 million (18.5
percent) from the previous April. For the year, designated gifts total $111.8
million, a drop of more than $5.6 million (4.8 percent) from the same time last
year.
New Orleans Seminary
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary officials have announced plans to
pursue development of a graduate extension center program in Pensacola, Fla.
Currently, the closest graduate extension center is about 130 miles away in
Graceville, Fla. Seminary trustees also have approved expansion of the Jacksonville,
Fla., extension center program to include graduate-level courses. The seminary
operates graduate and undergraduate extension centers throughout the Southeast.
Graduate centers are located in Pineville; Shreveport; Clinton, Miss.; Birmingham,
Ala.; Decatur, Ga.; Albany, Ga.; Graceville, Fla.; Orlando; and Miami. Undergraduate
centers are located in 10 cities. The seminary supports teaching at the centers
through the use of modern technology, including Compressed Interactive Video.
This technology uses live, interactive video to allow a professor in New Orleans
to teach classes in several other cities at the same time. The professor and
the students are able to dialogue and interact with each other as well. Other
classes are taught by commuting or adjunct professors. For information, call
(800) 514-1175 or visit www.nobts.edu/extensions.
Missions budget shortfall
Southern Baptist International Mission Board officials have
confirmed they are seeking ways to address a $10 million budget shortfall in
the agencys budget this year. The shortfall represents less than 3 percent
of the agencys basic budget of $269 million. However, board leaders still
are outlining options to help avoid deficit spending if the 2002 Lottie Moon
Christmas Offering does not reach its $125 million goal when the books close
May 31. Projections indicate the offering will set a 10th consecutive record
but still leave the overall budget about $10 million short. Board President
Jerry Rankin praised God that Southern Baptists continue to give to missions
at record levels, but he challenged churches to move from generous support to
sacrificial giving for their Great Commission cause. “We allowed our missionary
force to grow at a faster rate than giving was increasing,” Rankin said.
“Incremental increases in giving cannot keep up with the amazing growth
of the missionary force.” Cancellation of some events, restrictions in
staff travel and delaying production of some materials are among the initial
steps board leaders are suggesting to help offset whatever shortfall may occur.
Trustees and staff planned to discuss options to deal with the situation during
a scheduled meeting this week.
Internet porn
Popular Internet services that allow computer users to swap
music and video clips also are an easy and free-flowing conduit for pornography,
reports released by the General Accounting Office and the U.S. House Committee
on Government Reform indicate. Teenagers represent an estimated 41 percent of
persons downloading music and might accidentally be exposed to pornographic
files because they often have innocuous labels that users seek, the reports
said. “We need to alert parents to this problem and learn what they can
do about it,” Rep. Thomas Davis III, R-Va., said. “Seemingly innocent
searches for files containing images of popular cartoon characters, singers
and actors produce thousands of graphic pornographic images.” In one test,
the General Accounting Office used a leading sharing software to search for
titles containing the names “Britney,” “the Olsen twins”
and “Pokemon.” Of the files identified, 56 percent included some form
of pornography. “Parents need to know the file-sharing world is a lot more
graphic than the Web,” Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said. “On the
Web, you generally need a credit card to access hard-core adult videos, but
on file-sharing programs, its all free.”
Hemphill response
Kenneth Hemphill has denied a report by the Texas Baptist Standard
that he was given an ultimatum by Southern Baptist Convention leaders to retire
as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. “I am appalled
and dismayed that the Standard would print speculation that borders on libel,”
Hemphill said. “No group of SBC leaders has ever met with me about a deal
to remain at or leave Southwestern.” The Standard cited unnamed sources
to report that Hemphill had been given several choices about his presidency
during a meeting in North Carolina a few years ago. However, Hemphill said the
only meeting in North Carolina was with a trio of mentors to pray with him about
his desire for a pastoral ministry. Others involved in the meeting confirmed
Hemphills assertion. Seminary trustee spokespersons also denied a claim
that Hemphill was forced to leave early. The Baptist Standard has stood by its
story, saying details were confirmed by several sources. Hemphill recently announced
plans to leave the seminary at the end of this academic year to become national
strategist for the SBCs Empowering Kingdom Growth initiative.
College transfer
Officials at Shorter College in Rome, Ga., have moved to break
ties with the Georgia Baptist Convention, transferring its assets to a new Shorter
College Foundation. The action comes after a judge ruled the college could proceed
with the transfer. In a two-part decision, the courts affirmed both that the
state convention has the right to elect Shorters trustees and that the
college could proceed with transferring its assets, estimated at nearly $50
million. With the transfer, the foundation will elect its own trustees, thus
ending the colleges official ties to the Georgia convention. The college
was founded in 1873 and affiliated with the Georgia convention since 1959. College
officials have said the transfer is needed to maintain the colleges accreditation.
Meanwhile, state convention officials decried the decision to proceed with the
transfer of assets when the legal issue still is unsettled. For one, the recent
ruling can be appealed to the state Supreme Court. Also, still in court is the
issue of $9 million in funding from Georgia Baptists frozen by action of the
convention. A college lawsuit to obtain the $9 million prompted a countersuit
by the convention, both of which are pending.
AIDS action
President George Bush urged Congress to pass his $15 billion
AIDS package because “time is not on our side.” Bush noted more than
760,000 people have died and 1.2 million have been infected with the HIV virus
since he unveiled his AIDS plan in January. “When we see the wounded traveler
on the road to Jericho, … America will not, pass to the other side of the
road,” he said. The presidents plan would provide $15 billion over
five years for prevention and treatment in the 14 Caribbean and African nations
hit hardest by the epidemic. The bill generally has been supported but closely
monitored by religious groups, especially those who want less money spent on
condoms and more spent on abstinence programs. However, a United States House
committee has rejected changes that would have favored abstinence programs,
provided a conscience clause for religious groups opposed to condoms and mandated
greater oversight of the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The fund will receive about $200 million a year under the Bush plan. Meanwhile,
Bush has angered some by indicating he will sign the bill even if those three
clauses are not put back into the measure.
Teenage needs
A recent Gallup poll found that teenagers identified their
top three needs as to be trusted and to have someone trust them in return (cited
by 78 percent of survey respondents), to be loved (77 percent) and to feel safe
and secure at home and at school (77 percent). In responding to the recent survey,
pollster George Gallup Jr. said, “Adults should listen anew to the cries
of todays teens … with a sense of urgency, for, as one social observer
has noted, teens make up one-fifth of the population but 100 percent of the
future.”