Our Resolution for the 2012 BGCO Annual Meeting

Today is the deadline for Oklahoma Baptist clergy and laypeople to submit resolutions for the convention's consideration.  Fortunately for the BGCO, there is a Resolutions Committee to help make sure that resolutions like ours never see the light of day.  We thought of having someone submit a resolution so that when it got rejected, we could do a big story about it.  But in the end, we didn't want to put anyone in an adversarial position or get their pastor in trouble, especially since our resolution would have most likely been submitted by a member of a church that is dually aligned with the CBFO and the BGCO.

As you might expect, the BGCO already regards these people with suspicion.  Many people have advised me that it's an extraordinarily sensitive subject, and for their benefit I have avoided talking about it even though it is directly relevant to some of the problems at OBU in recent years.  Don't go from preachin' to meddlin', they say.

So don't get too excited.  Save OBU will not, after all, have a resolution at the 2012 convention.  But that's not to say our resolution is controversial in any way.  It's not.  And we fully expect that, if messengers actually had the chance to vote on it, it would pass with at least 80% support.  (Our soon-to-be-released survey reveals that fewer than 20% of Oklahoma pastors and church staff want to forcibly make OBU more fundamentalist.)

The last thing the BGCO wants is to draw attention to the problems with its relationship to OBU.  So the resolutions committee would have no choice but to kill our resolution.  Most of the resolutions are not controversial (at least no by Southern Baptist standards).  "We like puppies," "Apple pie is delicious," and "We are so not gay" are typical.  Here's ours:

We, the messengers of the 2012 Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, meeting at First Baptist Church, Moore, Oklahoma, November 12-13, 2012, affirm the vital importance of academic freedom, independent governance, and ethical administration for the continued flourishing of Oklahoma Baptist University.  To that end, we lament recent policy and personnel changes that have disrupted careers and harmed OBU's academic and professional standing.  We pledge our support for a legitimate university in the best of the distinctively Baptist, unapologetically Christian liberal arts tradition.  There is no desire on the part of this convention to transform OBU into a fundamentalist Bible academy, in which case it would alienate bright students, devoted faculty, generous donors, and accrediting bodies.  We call OBU trustees, administrators, students, and faculty to a new relationship of trust and mutuality in service to the ideals of the fearless quest for knowledge and wisdom, in the name of the one true God who is the Source of all Truth.

Rather than getting serious about addressing issues of fiscal equity and missional efficacy arising out of the BGCO's subsidy of OBU, the convention will discourage people from thinking too much about these problems.  Instead, it will take as given that it should contribute 20% of its Oklahoma Cooperative Program allotment to an institution that raises over $50 million a year on its own and has an endowment approaching 9 figures.  President Whitlock will give a brief report highlighting an enrollment boost, new master's programs, and the football team.  He will omit any information about OBU's decline in national rankings, persistently low faculty morale, or any of the problems caused by his provost, now basically a lame duck.  He will thank the BGCO for its financial support without acknowledging that OBU could get by just fine without it.  If he were pressed (which he won't be), he would insist that there have been no "changes" at OBU, even though OBU's theology dean and newest Bible professor admitted in The Bison that there have been.

As a relatively new movement, Save OBU isn't yet mobilized to affect BGCO processes.  But in the years to come, if things continue to get worse, we'll be ready to effectively advocate for academic freedom, independent governance, and ethical administration.

As Tuition Rises, Students Pay More and BGCO Pays Less

Last Friday, OBU's trustees met in Shawnee. We may have more to say later as we receive more information. But for now, we want to highlight that, unsurprisingly, the university is raising tuition for 2013-2014:

"OBU's tuition for full-time students will increase 4.95 percent, from $18,894 for the current academic year to $19,830 for the 2013-14 academic year.  The overall costs, which include tuition, fees, room and board, will increase by 4.47 percent, from $26,996 for 2012-13 to $28,202 for 2013-14."

To be clear, we're not protesting the tuition hike.  Presumably it's typical.  And as we all know, OBU is consistently recognized as a "best value" college in national publications.

We just want to point out that the BGCO will continue to provide a smaller and smaller proportion of OBU's annual budget.  In 2011, the convention pledged just under $2.5 million to OBU's support, which accounts for less than 5% of OBU's $53 million annual budget.  Another factor that further erodes the value of the BGCO's subsidy is the fact that enrollment is increasing.  The BGCO's subsidy amounts to about $1,250 per student.

Many people who haven't thought much about the issue probably assume that OBU is financially dependent on the BGCO.  It's not.  As recently as the early 1980s, the convention was providing 25% of OBU's operating funds.  That number has plummeted over the years to less than 5%.  For only slightly more than an average tuition increase, OBU could replace the BGCO's subsidy altogether.

What would OBU get in exchange for saying thanks-but-no-thanks to the convention's annual institutional welfare check?  For one thing, freedom.  OBU could elect its own trustees, and not have to have them elected by the BGCO.  Furthermore, OBU would certainly not continue down the path indicated by recent changes which suggest, among other problems, that being a fundamentalist is now a prerequisite for employment in the school's religion department.

For its part, the convention would instantaneously free up 24% of its annual Oklahoma Cooperative Program allocations for evangelism, church planting, missions, vital ministries, and especially campus ministries at the 3 dozen other Oklahoma colleges.  Those Baptist Collegiate Ministries are solely dependent on the BGCO's meager funding and are not even permitted to petition individual churches for support.

Alumni, please be aware that the BGCO is funding a much tinier fraction of students' education today than when you attended.  Students and parents, as you write checks and sign loan agreements, you can be grateful that the state convention nominally reduces your out-of-pocket expense.  But be aware of what it's going to cost in the long run.

Money Monday: The Cooperative Program and the Great Recession

As everyone knows, the economic contraction that began in 2007 has been the worst in generations.  Churches and denominations, like families and businesses, have been hit hard.  Budgets have shrunk, contributions are down, and tough decisions have to be made.

The Georgia Baptist Convention, situated in a state with above average unemployment, has particularly struggled to fund ministry priorities and meet obligations to the SBC.  Oklahoma's employment and housing valuation statistics are not as bad as most of the rest of the nation.  Thus, the BGCO has had a somewhat easier time funding ministries and missions.  Of course, state convention elites are under tremendous pressure from Nashville to fund the SBC at the highest possible level.

Yet whether states are struggling a lot or a little, Baptist leaders have thus far been unwilling to defund the colleges and universities they subsidize and control.  We have already discussed how the BGCO's huge OBU subsidy cuts into what it can spend on evangelism and collegiate ministries at 35 other colleges in Oklahoma.

Baptist state conventions operate 51 colleges, most of which have endowments running into the tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars.  These institutions raise, on average, close to 95% of their revenue on their own.  Yet because the conventions contribute 5 or 6% and control the colleges through the trustee selection process, these schools are descending headlong into fundamentalism.  OBU is not unique in this case.  But fundamentalists will never relinquish control, no matter how small their contribution and no matter how bad the economy gets.  In fact, they will only partner with organizations they can completely dominate and control.  (Note the SBC's withdrawal from the Baptist World Alliance, the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, and other interdenominational and ecumenical arrangements since the Fundamentalist Takeover.)

Even though academic freedom, open inquiry, and the liberty of the conscience are now at odds with Baptist elites' agenda, they still pay the price to maintain control of these schools.  Even though the economy is in a once-in-a-lifetime recession, they still happily throw millions and millions of dollars to institutions with eight and nine figure endowments.  Even as ministry professionals at state convention offices are laid off and budgets are drastically cut, fundamentalist leaders are still happy to subsidize Baptist colleges with huge annual institutional welfare checks.

Why?  Because it's a great deal for them.  They get 100% of the power for providing only 6 or 7% of the revenue!  Unfortunately, it's a horrible deal for everyone else, not least for the Baptist clergy and laypeople who care less about waging ideological warfare and more about impacting lostness.  I would argue that Baptist elites' continued insistence on buying institutional power and control on the cheap calls into question their professed concern about lostness.

(These Baptist universities, where 99% of students and 100% of faculty are already Christians, may be [to varying degrees] good training grounds, but they are not impacting lostness and they certainly are not doing so efficiently.  Here in Oklahoma, we already know that the robust Falls Creek program has much more to do with Oklahoma Baptists' contributions to the missionary ranks than OBU.  It's also fascinating to note that most of the pastors who please the BGCO elites are state school grads who went to Southwestern Seminary.  A startling proportion of OBU grads, on the other hand, went to moderate seminaries, are ministering outside Oklahoma, and/or comprise the moderate faction of Oklahoma Baptist life the BGCO leaders love to hate!  It's also interesting to note how few BCM leaders statewide came from OBU.)

In these difficult times, you couldn't blame Baptist leaders for saying to the colleges: "Look, you guys are sitting on huge endowments.  Our receipts are down.  We need to significantly cut back on our subsidies to you."  But instead, they are cutting staff, starving vital ministry areas, and doing whatever is necessary to keep institutional welfare flowing to the colleges.  Just remember, it's not about ministry, friends.  It's about control.  And even in the worst economic climate since the Great Depression, the price is so cheap they just can't help themselves.

Money Monday: OBU Subsidy Dwarfs the BGCO's Evangelism Budget

Previous "Money Monday" posts have pointed out that the BGCO's enormous OBU subsidy starves vital ministry areas (such as college ministries and Falls Creek) of needed funds.  Even though OBU generates $40 million of annual revenue on its own and has an $80 million endowment, the BGCO still pays $2.5 million per year in order to maintain control of OBU while other ministries make due with a fraction of the amount.

Lately, the BGCO has been promoting its annual evangelism conference, to be held later this month at Southern Hills Baptist Church, a fundamentalist megachurch.  Interestingly, since pastoral and executive leadership is almost completely off limits to women in Southern Baptist life, the Baptist Messenger notes that the evangelism conference offers special opportunities for women.  Notably, women can hear a heart-warming story about a boy who died and went to heaven, then came back to life to help his parents get rich off writing a book about the ordeal.  They can also hear from something called Redeemed Girl Ministries, which helps young women learn how much fun and liberating it is to be a submissive fundamentalist woman, a topic we covered last week.

Even though evangelism is arguably the most important imperative for Southern Baptist churches, the BGCO's 2011 Financial Plan indicates that the convention only spends less than 3% of its $14.5 million budget on evangelism:

Ethnic Evangelism................................................................................$35,814
Personal Evangelism...........................................................................$156,000
Student Evangelism............................................................................$220,000
Emerging Generation Evangelism........................................................$22,900

By comparison, the BGCO spends more than 17% of its budget to control OBU -- nearly six times what it spends on evangelism.  If you apply the "Student Evangelism" sum to collegiate ministries, you are left with only 1.5% of the BGCO's budget committed to evangelism, less than a tenth of what OBU gets.

Without OBU eating up 17% of the BGCO's budget (an investment with a shockingly low return for the convention), the BGCO could literally double its evangelism budget and its entire collegiate ministry budget!

BGCO leaders try to argue that subsidizing OBU is an important part of the convention's mission.  But the truth is, if OBU was a true liberal arts college that cherished academic freedom, open inquiry, and best practices in HR ethics, the BGCO would not give it a dime.  The only reason the BGCO is even interested in OBU is because, under the present arrangement, it is free to chip away at academic freedom, squelch open inquiry, and cheerlead for shameful, unethical HR practices.

It's long past time for OBU to tell the BGCO that it can keep its $2.5 million.  Focus on evangelism.  You're good at that, and could be great with adequate funding.  Sorry, but running a liberal arts university is just not going well for you.  We'll run our own university from now on.