The Texas convention fears the board may dry up that seed money, said Dale Gore, director of the Austin Baptist Association. The Texas convention is controlled by moderates, and taking away money to start churches is one way conservatives couldput pressure on the state group to conform to national standards. In 1996, the Texas convention voted to withhold some of its contributions to the national Cooperative Program, the Southern Baptist Convention's collective pool of money from which the mission board is funded, to create a safety net if national funds are cut off, Gore said. The Home Mission Board is one of several Southern Baptist agencies being consolidated under an umbrella organization, the North American Mission Board, that will be launched at the Dallas meeting. The consolidation is the first major restructuring of the Southern Baptist Convention in more than half a century.
Conservatives say it's needed to streamline the convention's operation.
Moderate critics charge the consolidation effort is a way for conservatives to centralize their power and ensure continued control of the convention. Whatever the reason, the downsizing hasn't been pretty. To create the streamlined North American Mission Board, the Southern Baptist Convention laid off 150 employees. We've tried to get leaner and meaner. That philosophy has led some pastors, including the Rev. Larry Bethune of University Baptist Church, to question whether the corporate model should be the Christian model for leadership.