GREENSBORO, N.C. (BP)–Responsibility for stewardship education within the Southern Baptist Convention was transferred to the Executive Committee from LifeWay Christian Resources June 13, as messengers approved the consolidation of stewardship with SBC Cooperative Program promotion.
The Executive Committee, which houses the Cooperative Program offices in the Southern Baptist Convention Building in Nashville, Tenn., now will add a stewardship arm to “produce, develop, publish and distribute products that help Southern Baptists to grow in commitment to Jesus Christ by applying biblical principles of stewardship.”
“I can’t tell you how excited we are about receiving and accepting this responsibility,” Bob Rodgers, vice president for Cooperative Program, told the messengers. “We’ve been preparing for this moment for several months.”
Rodgers announced a collaborative relationship with Crown Financial Ministries, which will serve as the core of a national stewardship initiative called “It’s a New Day.”
“The average American spends $1.20 for every dollar earned,” Rodgers said in a written statement. “As a result, many families and individuals are living under bondage to debt. Unresolved lordship decisions often lead to mismanagement in financial matters and result in a never-ending cycle of despair, defeat and more debt.”
It’s a New Day is meant to bring financial freedom, help and resources to individuals, families and churches by teaching about the lordship of Christ and how to make Him Lord of every area of life, including finances.
“The Executive Committee, in coordination with Crown Financial Ministries, will work with our state conventions, associations, churches and pastors to bring the best financial resources, at affordable prices, to individuals and families,” Rodgers said. “It is our goal to offer a plan to free people from the bondage of debt, making it possible for every Southern Baptist to fulfill the unique ministry and purpose for which God has called them.”
This fall, pastors and churches will be challenged to implement It’s a New Day in their personal lives and in their churches, and two-day pastor training workshops are planned for Orlando, Atlanta, Dallas and San Diego.
“Imagine what churches could do for the Kingdom if their members were not burdened with debt,” Rodgers said. “Imagine what could be done if church members were free to do the ministry that God has called each of us to fulfill.”
Morris H. Chapman, president of the Executive Committee, expressed his support of the transfer of the stewardship ministry assignment during the committee’s February meeting.
“If we are right with the Lord in the area of stewardship, we will be right with the Lord in the area of the Cooperative Program, and we will become a giving people by biblical standards,” Chapman said.
Crown Financial Ministries, based in Gainesville, Ga., is a Christ-centered, Bible-based ministry formed by the merger of the late Larry Burkett’s Christian Financial Concepts and Howard Dayton’s Crown Ministries.
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