The following unedited letter was submitted by Louisiana Baptist Convention
Executive Director Dean Doster in response to a request by a group of associational
moderators during a March meeting. During the meeting, moderators expressed
a need for information and public relations efforts regarding the decision to
discontinue funding for associational directors of missions in 2005.
The following unedited letter was submitted by Louisiana Baptist Convention
Executive Director Dean Doster in response to a request by a group of associational
moderators during a March meeting. During the meeting, moderators expressed
a need for information and public relations efforts regarding the decision to
discontinue funding for associational directors of missions in 2005.
The decision to recommend to the Executive Board of the Louisiana Baptist Convention
the change in funding and management of the Directors of Missions may have left
someone with unanswered questions. As most Louisiana Baptists know, my policy
as your Executive Director has always been to follow administrative protocol,
give as much information as possible and do what I believe is in the best interest
of all Louisiana Baptists.
Since LBC leaders sometimes have information that doesnt always reach
all our church members, I want to share information, which will help inform
all our LBC church members about why the Executive Board voted to endorse my
recommendation and appoint a committee to assist in the transition of the Directors
of Missions employment from the LBC to the association.
Let me address why and how I chose to make the recommendation. The Director
of Missions Study Committee meetings two years ago resulted in the adoption
of an option for each association to request the LBC to fund a Director of Missions.
It was understood the Louisiana Baptist Convention budget could only maintain
funding of 19 DOMs. The 19 DOMs served all 47 associations, by each Director
of Missions serving clusters from one to five associations. When associations
began to break the clusters into smaller units, requesting funding for additional
DOMs, this placed the Louisiana Baptist Convention budget in jeopardy.
Associations had every right to make the request based on the provision made
by the DOM Study Committee and approved by the Convention. The LBC approval
was for the associations right to request funding, not to mandate funding.
However, when a request came to my office to sign the contract, it became immediately
obvious that we had a crisis in the making. If the LBC rejected the request,
the association had many options, including requesting the churches increase
their gifts to the association or redirect Cooperative Program funds to pay
the DOM. For associations to arbitrarily take this step of redirecting cooperative
program funds would result in confusion among the associations churches
and between the association and LBC. It also posed a sure shortfall in the LBC
budget.
Knowing this was only the beginning, since additional associations were considering
the same thing, I called the President of the LBC at that time, Steve James.
I told him the problem. He and I met, and he called a meeting of five former
Presidents, the Chairman of the Program Committee of the LBC and the only person
who had been mentioned to be nominated for President of the LBC for 2004.
Before meeting with this Ad Hoc Committee, I met with Mike Canady, LBC Missions
and Ministries Division Director, to discuss the Director of Missions situation.
Mike and I, through prayer and deliberation, came to the conclusion that the
only solution, to be fair and at the same time responsibly maintain the LBC
budget, was to remove the DOMs from the LBC budget. I took this step, not in
defiance of the LBC, but because my job description assigns responsibility for
total and prudent budget and staff management to the Executive Office. I consulted
with our attorney to be sure I wasnt doing anything improper before making
my recommendation to our Executive Board for their endorsement.
Before meeting with Steve James Ad Hoc Advisory Committee, I informed
President James of my decision and asked him to present it to the Ad Hoc Committee.
He did so. There was a three-hour discussion, debate, and explanation. The committee
ultimately agreed that it would not be easy but would solve the problem and
voted unanimously to give moral support of my recommendation for taking it to
the LBC Executive Board.
In retrospect some have suggested that I should have recommended that the LBC
limit funding to pay only 19 Directors of Missions, and this would have solved
the problem. However, that was already agreed upon by common consent, and recorded
in the minutes of the Executive Board when we made the changes two years earlier,
but that was largely ignored by those who wanted their own Director of Missions.
The problem with limiting funding to only 19 DOMs in the LBC state budget and
some other associations funding their own DOM, created an inequitable system
requiring the associations who would fund their own DOM to dually fund Directors
of Missions salaries since they also would be funding the other 19 DOM
salaries through the giving of their Cooperative Program funds to the LBC. Also
to suggest another study committee would be perceived by Louisiana Baptists
as a political effort to implement what was attempted two years earlier when
it was suggested that the DOMs be phased into the associations over a five-year
period. So I did not think there was any likelihood for that. Thus, I made the
only recommendation I felt I could to legitimately resolve the problem before
it got out of hand for funding and relationships. This would still allow a year
for final implementation.
Someone has said our plan now is still to request reallocation of some Cooperative
Program funding to the association to fund the Directors of Missions. That is
true, but this is a universal plan for all associations recommended by the Executive
Office and endorsed by the LBC Exec-utive Board. We now have a uniform plan
to treat every association the same, placing all future decisions into the hands
of the association.
The Executive Director has met with the Transition Committee appointed by the
LBC Executive Board with a very large, enthusiastic majority vote of endorsement
for the plan. Acting with the Committee, made up of the President of the Louisiana
Baptist Convention, President of the LBC Executive Board, Chairman of the Operating
and Program Committee of the LBC Executive Board, the State Director of Missions
representative and the Business Director of the LBC, a plan was put into place
to help the LBC and the associations make the transition by January, 2005 with
as little hardship on all parties as possible.
Care has been taken to keep every Director of Missions employed by the cluster
of associations with all benefits that are ethically and legally due him. Associations
having difficulty assuming full financial responsibility by 2005 have the option,
as explained in information provided every Pastor, Associational Moderator and
Director of Missions from the Transition Committee, to negotiate for assistance
through the state office by contacting Mike Canady, Jack Ready or the Executive
Directors office. There is no intent to gain funding for the LBC at the
expense of the DOM or the association.
I have written this letter in keeping with the spirit by which I have always
served all of you and our churches of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. “People
are not down on what they are up on.” Every effort has been made to appropriately
inform and involve all leaders at every level in this process.
I truly hope this information will help dispel any suppositions or misunderstanding
anyone may have received. There has been no political pressure, not even any
conversation from any group to pressure me to make this recommendation. It was
merely my best effort to do the job you called me to do, using my best judgment
to manage and supervise under the job description provided by our churches of
the Louisiana Baptist Convention.
I hope you will continue to work to support the transition, calling on me and
the Transition Committee, if we can help. Join me in praying that we can work
this out and work cooperatively to plan and partner effectively because both
the associations and the Louisiana Baptist Convention are owned by you, the
churches of the LBC. We exist to serve you and at your pleasure. May God grant
us wisdom and peace.