By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor ANCHORAGE, Alaska (LBM)—Messengers to the annual meeting of the Alaska Baptist Resource Network, Sept. 28-30, approved a motion that will remove the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention from its Cooperative Program budget in 2022 and retain those funds to support state missions and ministries “until such time there is a collaborative, cooperative and mutually agreed upon strategy” with that national entity. Alaska is one of six non-south Baptist state conventions (Alaska, California, Hawaii-Pacific, New Mexico, Northwest, Ohio) that have formally complained about NAMB’s new “Strategic Partnership Agreement,” saying it is not an agreement but a unilateral set of conditions being imposed upon smaller and mid-sized state conventions. In a recent exchange of letters, NAMB trustee officers dismissed the specific concerns, saying, “We’re not sure you could make a more complimentary accusation of us!” with regard to the situation being “centralized” and “directive.” The action by Alaska Baptists, which will impact 22.79 percent of $156,171 of their annual contributions to national causes through CP (based on 2019 numbers), is the most drastic step taken, … [Read more...]