Baptists worry if enough spent on evangelism

Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

Geoff Hammond, head of the denomination’s North American Mission Board, based in Alpharetta, told Southern Baptists at its national convention last summer of the launch of a long-range evangelism program with $1 million in initial funding, according to a Baptist Press report. But the budget presented in late 2008 showed zero dollars for that program.

A national missions committee leader resigned his chairmanship in protest over the new budget, and the mission board scrambled to say it was all a misunderstanding.

The Baptists will spend $750,000 on the program in 2009 on training and advertising in five states, including Georgia, mission board spokesman Brandon Pickett said. The money was not on the budget because it is left over from a 2006 program.

Still, that is less than the $1 million announced by Hammond, and some Southern Baptists think they see less emphasis on the evangelism that helped them add members and grow churches for decades.

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