We're number 23!

Imagine my surprise when I opened the March 30, 2006 issue of the Religious Herald and discovered that JPBC was number 23 among some 1,000 BGAV churches in VA in per capita cooperative program giving. My buddy Travis Hilton’s Parkview church in Bluefield is no. 91, but who’s counting? :)

This is ironic for several reasons. First, we have cut considerably what we give to the BGAV. We opted out of the giving tracks and created our own plan that designates most of our mission dollars to the SBC. We cut out completely all the educational institutions in VA and various other causes. We no longer give to the Alma Hunt offering (state missions offering) or the CVBA, our local association –at least on paper. Obviously, our SBC giving counted in the mix.

My guess is the main reason we showed up on the list at all is because we also reduced our membership list a few years back and removed several hundred "inactive members" to create a more accurate accounting of who we are. Though we gave less, we also had fewer members to divide into that number for per capita figuring. Ergo, "We’re number 23!"

Of well, we can bask in the glory of being a leading Virginia Baptist Church for a moment at least. "What I speak, I speak not according to the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting" (2 Cor 11:17).