To Whom Much Has Been Given - Stewardship as Baptists

Much will be required of everyone who has been given much. And even more will be expected of the one who has been entrusted with more. Luke 12:48b

This passage in Luke ends a discussion between Christ and his disciples in which he emphasizes the need to always be ready for the Master’s return.  For those of us to whom much has been given, much will be required. Indeed Colorado Baptists have been given much.  Perhaps my biggest challenge as your Executive Director is to constantly be diligent in our stewardship of the people and finances that have been entrusted to our state convention’s care.  Because of the national spotlight being shined on how our Cooperative Program (CP) funding is used at different levels, I felt it timely to report back to you on how we have worked over the last eight years to best utilize the CP funds sent through the state convention office.

As I said in a letter mailed to our pastors earlier this month, those of you who keep up with national SBC happenings will know of the discussion surrounding the Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) being called for by SBC president Johnny Hunt.  In support of his initiative a GCR national taskforce has been appointed and will report their findings back to the SBC convention next year in Orlando. Part of what the GCR calls for is addressing what has been called by some as the bloated bureaucracy of the State Conventions.  Reference here is made perhaps to some of our mainline state conventions that indeed have large organizations which serve much larger conventions than those of us in new work states.  I want to take this opportunity to respond to some of the concerns coming out of this rather controversial discussion.  Colorado, like other western state conventions, is doing what I believe to be an excellent job of stewarding the CP dollars entrusted to us. 

We have two types of ministry positions at the state level.  One type is funded solely by CP dollars received from our churches.  The second are missionary positions mostly funded by dollars received from the North American Mission Board (NAMB).  I have now been with the convention for more than eight years.  During that time we have moved from five state-level ministerial positions supported solely by Colorado CP dollars to two.  We have eliminated the Communications Director and the Church Health Team Leader positions.  In addition we are in the process of changing the Director of Women’s Missions and Ministry position to an appointed missionary position funded mostly by the North American Mission Board.  These staff changes and reductions save us about $200,000 in CP funds per year. (The two remaining positions are the Executive Director and the Finance and Operations Director.  All other positions are missionary appointments.) 

The only bureaucratic layer we have added is the Western Colorado Office.  This was done in response to the felt need of bringing convention services closer to our churches on that side of the state.  This office costs us about $31,000/year in Colorado CP dollars with NAMB providing an additional $8700.  The bottom line is that we feel we are pretty “lean and mean” compared to several years ago. 

In an on going effort to insure that we are being as effective as possible with the funding entrusted to us, at our last Executive Board Meeting it was suggested that a new state task force be formed to take another critical look at our mission, strategy and structure to once again make sure that we are doing everything we can to achieve the vision God has given us to saturate the state with the Gospel. The first meeting of this task force will be on July 17^th.  If you should have any suggestions about how we can be better stewards of your resources please do not hesitate to contact me.  I will pass your suggestions on to the task force. 

We as Colorado Baptists have been given much.  Therefore much will be required.  May we all be diligent and well prepared for the Masters return!

Mark Edlund, Executive Director
Colorado Baptists

[Recently in my articles I’ve been highlighting the six “S’s” that provide structure to the ministry of Colorado Baptists.  However I believe it is timely to take a break from that series and use this issue to discuss state convention stewardship.]