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Mo. Baptist messengers will be asked to use CP for lawsuits

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by gb93433, Oct 13, 2009.

  1. gb93433

    gb93433 Active Member
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    In the face of tightened economic conditions, the Missouri Baptist Convention will seek convention messengers’ permission to direct Cooperative Program gifts to fund ongoing legal action against five formerly affiliated institutions. CP is the name of the unified budget of the Southern Baptist Convention and its affiliated state conventions. In April, MBC Executive Board members approved a $15.75 million CP allocations budget, which designates 3 percent of the total to the convention’s "agency restoration" fund.

    Messengers to the 2003 MBC annual meeting approved establishing the fund to encourage churches and individuals to give to cover legal fees incurred in the seven-plus-yearlong legal battle with The Baptist Home retirement-home system, the Word & Way newspaper, the Missouri Baptist Foundation, Missouri Baptist University in suburban St. Louis and Windermere Baptist Conference Center on the state's Lake of the Ozarks. However, convention leaders had resisted directing CP contributions -- designed to fund missions efforts -- to fund legal fees.

    In 2000 and 2001, the five entities approved changes in their articles of incorporation that would allow each to elect its own trustees. The MBC filed suit in 2002 in Cole County, where the convention is headquartered, against the five in an effort to bring them back under convention control.
    That case is still pending against The Baptist Home, Word & Way, the foundation and the university. The MBC lost its bid for Windermere after exhausting all appeal options. The Cole County case against the remaining four is on hold.

    The convention is also paying for a separate lawsuit it filed against Windermere in Camden County, where the center is located, in November 2006. The MBC is appealing that case to the Missouri Appeals Court, Southern District, following a ruling in Windermere’s favor in Camden County Circuit Court in April.

    Because the convention's lawsuit fund -- which had been accepting designated gifts from churches -- apparently has been unable to keep pace with mounting legal fees, the board considered the CP funding option. However, opposition to using CP gifts to fund the lawsuits surfaced after the board’s April decision. In an effort to make the option more palatable to Missouri Baptists, board members also agreed to an alternate giving plan at their July meeting.

    The rest of the story is at http://www.abpnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4483&Itemid=53
     
  2. Timsings

    Timsings Member
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    It has been a travesty that the MBC has continued to appeal rulings against them. They are just flushing money that could be used for better purposes. I hope their messengers put a stop to this. I recently read an old cowboy saying: "When your horse is dead, it's time to get off. :BangHead:

    Tim Reynolds
     
  3. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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    More importantly it is unscriptural
     
  4. Johnathon E

    Johnathon E New Member

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    Amen Revmitchell, Lawsuits such as this only damage our witness to the rest of the world. People pay more attention to what we could call "church business" than we realize. I still hear people use the Baptist Foundation of Arizona as an excuse for not giving to the church. I fear this will only add to their excuses.:(
     
  5. sag38

    sag38 Active Member

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    I still hear people use the Baptist Foundation of Arizona as an excuse for not giving to the church. I fear this will only add to their excuses.

    I would warrant a guess that these folks never gave to the church to begin with. They would find another excuse not to give.
     
  6. Johnathon E

    Johnathon E New Member

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    Very true, however I still hate it when we do something that adds to their list of excuses. I know they would find some reason to either not give or not trust, it is in their spirit. Still it saddens me.

    Thanks,
    Johnathon
     
  7. gb93433

    gb93433 Active Member
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    Would you give to a church or organization that invested the money you gave rather than use it for ministry? That is what the BFA did when churches trusted the agency with their entire bank account and lost all their money. The BFA was a repeat of an earlier event in the life of another SBC agency in another state.
     
  8. Johnathon E

    Johnathon E New Member

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    I wasn't justifying what the BFA did and no, I wouldn't give to a church or parachurch organization that did that. One of the things I like about my church is that everyone knows where every penny comes from and where every penny goes. However, many people do not make that distinction. They hear "Baptist - Money - Fraud" and lump us all in together without getting the facts.

    As the previous poster pointed out these people would probably not give to the church anyway, but I still do not like it when we within the church add to people's excuses not to trust us or give to us.
    Thanks,
    Johnathon
     
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