Preliminary review of "'Texas First, Texas Only'--Not the Spirit of Southern Baptists in Texas"

Preliminary review of "'Texas First, Texas Only'--Not the Spirit of Southern Baptists in Texas"
by Wm. Robert Johnston
updated 4 June 2001

Summary:

Statistics presented are extremely selective and misleading; by comparing apples to oranges instead of comparing apples to apples, so to speak, the article sidesteps the issues raised by the BGCT.
Several statements use misleading wording.

David Hankins, Vice President of the SBC Cooperative Program, argues in this article that more than other state conventions, Texas needs to keep less funds in state and send more out of state. In particular he compares Texas to California and New York, arguing that Texas has more Southern Baptists than these other states and therefore has less need for state convention programs (and by extension, less need for NAMB support). His statistical argument is misleading, however: the cited statistics are selective and portray a very different picture than that from the complete statistics.

First, the article cites ratios of Southern Baptists to the general population and of Southern Baptist churches to the general population, suggesting an overwhelmingly greater need of ministry in California and New York versus Texas. Without citing figures, the article then states "The contrast is more striking when you take into consideration the large population of other evangelical Christians in Texas whose ratio against the population of Texas is also much greater than these groups' ratios against the populations of California or New York."

Unless Hankins is very narrowly defining "other evangelical Christians", the consideration of these groups actually weakens his argument. For example, in Texas Southern Baptists account for 77% of all Baptists and 36% of all Protestants. In California they are 42% of all Baptists and 13% of all Protestants, and in New York they are 2.6% of all Baptists and 0.5% of all Protestants. While these figures certainly include many non-evangelical groups, Hankins' above statement can only be true if less than one of every 200 New York Protestants is an "evangelical Christian"!

The table below gives figures from Hankins' article, plus comparable figures from independent sources:

	Texas	California	New York
population per Southern Baptist (Hankins)	8	100	667
population per Southern Baptist (1999)	7.4	99	674
non-Baptist population per Baptist (1990)	4.0	29.6	36.2
non-Protestant population per Protestant (1990)	1.4	8.3	5.7
population per Southern Baptist church (Hankins)	4,000	24,000	68,000
population per Southern Baptist church (1999)	4,000	23,900	68,900
population per Baptist church (1990)	2,030	8,500	11,500
total unchurched population (1990)	6,100,000	17,200,000	6,200,000

Second, Hankins declines to cite statistics from other strongly Southern Baptist states--states more directly comparable to Texas. Consider two such states: Georgia and Oklahoma.

	Texas	Georgia	Oklahoma
population per Southern Baptist (1993)	6.97	5.44	4.16
non-Baptist population per Baptist (1990)	4.0	2.6	2.5
population per Southern Baptist church (1993)	4,100	2,270	2,170
population per Baptist church (1990)	2,030	1,430	1,260
total non-Baptist population (1990)	13,600,000	4,700,000	2,200,000

Third, the significance of the comparison to strongly Southern Baptist states is that the SBC's North American Mission Board is disproportionately allocating resources in states other than Texas. As seen above, Georgia and Oklahoma have an even stronger Southern Baptist presence than does Texas. But look at the allocation of SBC mission resources:

	Texas	Georgia	Oklahoma
NAMB mission personnel (1998)	71	152	97
non-Baptist residents/NAMB mission personnel (est. 1998)	246,000	42,000	26,000
change in NAMB personnel (1991-1998)	-65%	+17%	-19%
change in population (1990-2000)	+23%	+26%	+10%
HMB funds (1994)	$1,089,495	$840,952	$819,850
HMB funds per non-Baptist resident (est. 1994)	$0.06	$0.13	$0.32

In spite of the stronger Southern Baptist presence in Oklahoma and Georgia, they still receive greater SBC missions attention than does Texas. The BGCT has raised this issue with the SBC for over seven years, with no resultant improvement. This is the reason cited by the BGCT in devoting greater Cooperative Program resources to missions in Texas.

The following two tables present the relevant data for all SBC state conventions.

Data on Baptists, population, and NAMB resource allocation by state convention

states by conventions	population 2000	SB members 1993	SBC churches 1993	population per Southern Baptist ~2000	population per SBC church ~2000	population per Baptist ~2000	% population change 1990-2000	% change in NAMB personnel 1991-1998	NAMB personnel 1998	HMB funds ($) 1994	non-Baptists/NAMB personnel ~1995	HMB funds per non-Baptist ($) ~1994
Alabama	4447100	1069758	3079	4.16	1444	2.51	10	-23	50	446307	53568	0.167
Alaska	626932	24602	62	25.48	10112	21.7	14	-64	25	977834	23922	1.635
Arizona	5130632	130539	282	39.3	18194	28.84	40	-5	122	1155682	40596	0.233
Arkansas	2673400	507182	1313	5.27	2036	3.46	14	7	65	343450	29237	0.181
California	33871648	404508	1146	83.74	29556	34.83	14	-26	269	2949014	122302	0.090
Colorado	4301261	67549	205	63.68	20982	34.41	31	-41	65	1175039	64250	0.281
Delaware/Maryland	6080086	113732	339	53.46	17935	18.3	12	-15	84	729410	68426	0.127
District of Columbia	572059	10612	32	53.91	17877	7.91	-6	50	12	305080	41648	0.610
Florida	15982378	992697	1809	16.1	8835	10.01	24	-71	73	1531091	197061	0.106
Georgia	8186453	1287237	3092	6.36	2648	4.51	26	17	152	840952	41924	0.132
Hawaii	1211537	16126	64	75.13	18930	70.06	9	-22	43	759220	27773	0.636
Idaho/Utah	3527122	24221	106	145.62	33275	86.96	29	23	86	917223	40541	0.263
Illinois	12419293	240498	941	51.64	13198	19.15	9	-16	85	1082615	138479	0.092
Indiana	6080485	98800	322	61.54	18883	12.85	10	-24	66	925458	84960	0.165
Iowa	2926324	11461	64	255.33	45724	44.81	5	-36	45	648633	63578	0.227
Kansas/Nebraska	4399681	88311	269	49.82	16356	20.21	8	-45	71	1250828	58901	0.299
Kentucky	4041769	774082	2297	5.22	1760	3.93	10	-34	37	320335	81453	0.106
Louisiana	4468976	598223	1361	7.47	3284	4.9	6	-37	74	907805	48062	0.255
Michigan	9938444	50382	254	197.26	39128	24.5	7	-34	66	1198583	144437	0.126
Minnesota/Wisconsin	10283154	14582	93	705.2	110572	61.81	11	-35	65	750515	155643	0.074
Mississippi	2844658	693293	1994	4.1	1427	2.5	11	-100	0	207267	2000000	0.121
Missouri	5595211	637328	1861	8.78	3007	7.53	9	-20	36	451722	134790	0.093
Montana	902195	10475	90	86.13	10024	49.73	13	23	64	587278	13813	0.664
Nevada	1998257	26856	83	74.41	24075	46.22	66	-4	76	956629	25724	0.489
New England	13922517	21306	133	653.46	104681	58.06	5	-25	129	1487435	106068	0.109
New Jersey/Pennsylvania	20695404	30909	202	669.56	102452	37.59	6	-31	100	1267179	201448	0.063
New Mexico	1819046	113088	272	16.09	6688	15.36	20	-32	63	844824	26994	0.497
New York	18976457	12400	178	1530.36	106609	39.25	5	-32	127	1820306	145614	0.098
North Carolina	8049313	1200711	3554	6.7	2265	4.68	21	-66	40	562492	158248	0.089
North Dakota/South Dakota	1397044	8528	50	163.82	27941	47.09	5	-50	29	603828	47151	0.442
Ohio	11353140	153343	506	74.04	22437	20.91	5	-3	148	913391	73041	0.084
Oklahoma	3450654	780675	1496	4.42	2307	3.84	10	-19	97	819850	26314	0.321
Oregon/Washington	9315520	77578	324	120.08	28752	43.58	21	-25	95	1320428	95808	0.145
South Carolina	4012012	726752	1799	5.52	2230	3.51	15	-24	38	351977	75485	0.123
Tennessee	5689283	1108739	2836	5.13	2006	4.21	17	-30	46	288446	94279	0.067
Texas	20851820	2609599	4435	7.99	4702	6.13	23	-65	71	1089495	245810	0.062
Virginia	7078515	606157	1535	11.68	4611	7.13	14	-20	74	296929	82239	0.049
West Virginia	1808344	38319	144	47.19	12558	10.37	1	-42	47	718445	34765	0.440
Wyoming	493782	15182	67	32.52	7370	19.48	9	4	47	53655	9967	0.115

Rankings for data on Baptists, population, and NAMB resource allocation by state convention

	RANK	RANK (1=smallest Southern Baptist presence)					RANK	RANK (1=greatest NAMB resources)
states by conventions	population 2000	SB members 1993	SBC churches 1993	population per Southern Baptist ~2000	population per SBC church ~2000	population per Baptist ~2000	% population change 1990-2000	% change in NAMB personnel 1991-1998	NAMB personnel 1998	HMB funds ($) 1994	non-Baptists/NAMB personnel ~1995	HMB funds per non-Baptist ($) ~1994
Alabama	21	35	36	38	38	38	22	16	26	31	16	17
Alaska	37	11	3	24	22	16	16	35	37	13	3	1
Arizona	19	22	19	22	16	14	2	9	6	10	11	14
Arkansas	30	26	26	34	35	37	13	5	23	33	8	16
California	1	25	25	11	8	12	15	21	1	1	29	32
Colorado	23	16	15	15	13	13	3	31	22	9	19	11
Delaware/Maryland	16	21	22	18	17	21	18	10	12	24	20	21
District of Columbia	38	3	1	17	18	26	39	1	38	35	12	4
Florida	5	34	31	25	24	25	6	38	16	3	36	28
Georgia	12	38	37	32	31	32	5	4	2	20	13	20
Hawaii	35	8	5	12	14	2	28	15	31	22	7	3
Idaho/Utah	26	10	10	8	7	1	4	3	10	16	10	12
Illinois	7	24	24	19	20	20	26	11	11	12	31	31
Indiana	15	19	20	16	15	23	23	17	20	15	25	18
Iowa	28	4	4	5	5	8	36	29	30	26	18	15
Kansas/Nebraska	22	18	17	20	19	18	29	33	17	7	17	10
Kentucky	24	32	34	35	37	34	24	27	34	34	23	27
Louisiana	20	27	27	30	29	30	32	30	15	18	15	13
Michigan	10	15	16	6	6	15	30	26	19	8	32	22
Minnesota/Wisconsin	9	6	9	2	1	3	19	28	21	23	34	35
Mississippi	29	30	33	39	39	39	20	39	39	38	39	24
Missouri	18	29	32	28	30	27	27	13	35	30	30	30
Montana	36	2	8	10	23	5	17	2	24	28	2	2
Nevada	31	12	7	13	11	7	1	8	13	14	4	6
New England	6	9	11	4	3	4	34	20	4	4	28	26
New Jersey/Pennsylvania	3	13	14	3	4	11	31	23	7	6	37	37
New Mexico	32	20	18	26	26	22	10	24	25	19	6	5
New York	4	5	13	1	2	10	35	25	5	2	33	29
North Carolina	13	37	38	31	33	31	9	37	32	29	35	33
North Dakota/South Dakota	34	1	2	7	10	6	37	34	36	27	14	7
Ohio	8	23	23	14	12	17	33	7	3	17	21	34
Oklahoma	27	33	28	37	32	35	21	12	8	21	5	9
Oregon/Washington	11	17	21	9	9	9	8	19	9	5	27	19
South Carolina	25	31	30	33	34	36	12	18	33	32	22	23
Tennessee	17	36	35	36	36	33	11	22	29	37	26	36
Texas	2	39	39	29	27	29	7	36	18	11	38	38
Virginia	14	28	29	27	28	28	14	14	14	36	24	39
West Virginia	33	14	12	21	21	24	38	32	28	25	9	8
Wyoming	39	7	6	23	25	19	25	6	27	39	1	25

Some specific inaccurate/misleading statements and flaws in reasoning (statements from the report are italicized, with page numbers from the original):

But those needs are not enough to justify cutting the gifts already allocated for missions outside of Texas.
This is a misstatement: no allocated funds were to be cut by the proposal. The proposal was to impact the future BGCT budget before its adoption; the cut occurred before allocation of the funds, not when they were "already allocated."

The average percentage that Baptist churches give to the Cooperative Program is about 8.3% of their undesignated contributions. This means that around 91.7% of Baptist money in Texas goes to local church ministries and missions, associational missions in Texas, and local projects.
Texas Baptist churches in 1996 gave 8.52% of undesignated contributions to the Cooperative Program, slightly better than the SBC average.

The Texas Baptist Standard recently printed an article (8-7-00) entitled "Funding debate questions equity of money sent to SBC vs. Texas needs." It noted anti-SBC leaders are making much of the fact that more Baptist money from Texas gets to Southern Seminary which has only 34 students from Texas than to the two new Texas Baptist divinity schools which have 300 students from Texas.
The Standard article makes no reference to "anti-SBC leaders." It cites "Texas Baptists," Ken Hall (president of Buckner Baptist Benevolences), Vernon David (dean of Logsdon Seminary), and Randall O'Brien (acting dean of Truett Seminary), and only the latter two individuals in regard to the specific objection cited. While "anti-SBC leaders" may represent Hankins' opinion regarding these individuals, it is inappropriate to imply that the Standard article adopted this characterization.

However, approximately 1,750 (14.5%) of the 12,000 students enrolled in the six SBC seminaries are from Texas and about 14% of the CP receipts for seminary education is from Texas churches. If equity is the goal, giving from Texas for theological education of Texas students is just a fraction low.
This may not be a fair comparison: most Texas students are enrolled at Southwestern Seminary, which (according to the SBC Book of Reports) has significantly lower expenditures per student than some of the other seminaries.

Last modified 4 June 2001.
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