Tennessee Baptist Convention's Gambling Budget

I must be reading something wrong in the Baptist and Reflector (print copy only). There is a line item in the Tennessee Baptist Convention's proposed Cooperative Program Budget for something called the Belmont Study Committee. Last year, this line item was three quarters of a million dollars ($750,000). This year's Budget Committee Recommendation is Three Quarters of a Million Dollars ($750,000). I am not the best mathematician in the pew, but that sounds a lot like 1.5 MILLION Dollars in Cooperative Program funds from the people sitting in the pews of our TBC churches.

Before my blood pressure gets the best of me, I want to get the following off my chest just to get some perspective on the Study Committee's allocation:

1. We have yet to see anything that resembles accountability or an accounting of where those mission dollars for the Belmont Study Committee have gone. We do not know if the $750,000 allocated last year was fully expended or if some of those funds have been carried over. Just how much studying does $750,000 buy a Baptist convention, anyway? I think we have a right to know.

2. At the last gathering where the Belmont University situation was railroaded discussed, we were told by Clay Austin that the chances of winning the case against Belmont University were something like 50-75%. The committee has had a year+ to study the situation. From what I am hearing, the odds have changed significantly. Are we as a convention ready to gamble with another $750,000 if the odds have worsened? And do not let anyone sugar-coat this, or lie to you...this is a gamble.

3. Our statewide Golden Mission Offering goal for 2007 is $ 1,640,000. The amount allocated this year to the Belmont Study Committee is 45.7%, nearly 50%, of the total goal amount for the statewide mission offering. I may be the only Tennessee Baptist who is having a problem with that... but I am not willing to stand by and let it happen repeatedly without letting someone understand that I believe there are "liars and thieves" among us, and they aren't on the Belmont side of the aisle.

4. I believe you can get a sense of an institution's purpose, mission, and priorities by looking at where they choose to invest the gifts that they receive. The chart below lists selected budget line items from the proposed 2007-2008 TBC budget:

Belmont Study Committee	$750,000
TN Missions/Ministry Worship	$620,082
TN Missions/Ministry Prayer	$488,224
TN Missions/Ministry Fellowship	$583,207
Harrison Chilhowee Academy	$483,618
TN Baptist Adult Homes	$267,466
TBC Meeting & Committees	$360,511

From that chart, I am not seeing priorities that match up with my concept of putting my money where my heart is. Is the Belmont Study Committee a higher priority than our total budget allocation for TN Missions and Ministries Prayer??

There was a day when Tennessee Baptists fought against those in our state house who wanted to bring gambling to Tennessee in the name of supporting education for our students. I never thought that I would see the day when Baptist infighting would distract us from stopping gambling from becoming legal in Tennessee. Now, we appear to be willing to gamble with $1.5 Million Dollars of Cooperative Program dollars in hopes of winning the Belmont Lottery. I find that utterly disgusting. I am counting on the fired-up bunch of conservatives who will rule the convention after this year to demonstrate how Bible-believing men will correct this error in our ways. Surely the new and improved, conservative resurgent budget will be void of gambling dollars and focused on missions and ministry.

One last thing... In light of my personal annoyance with the name "Belmont Study Committee", can we simplify that to just "BS Committee?"