Leadership's Commitment to Evangelism Challenged By Parker T. Williamson The Layman Online Tuesday, June 12, 2001 LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Declared the denomination's number one priority by numerous General Assemblies, evangelism programs took center stage during June 11 hearings conducted by the General Assembly Committee on Mission Coordination and Budgets. Commissioners wanted to know if the denomination is putting its money where its mouth is. Describing a "painful" priority setting process conducted by the General Assembly Council, staff members Kathy Luckert and Joey Bailey said that, consistent with the General Assembly's priority, money and staff resources are being moved in evangelism's direction. But when examining General Assembly budgets, commissioners found little evidence to support that claim. In a budget that exceeds $136 million, they discovered only $590,000 in "new money" for evangelism programs. Shell Game General Assembly Council program evaluations revealed that new church development and redevelopment programs received the highest priorities, while social activist programs like the Washington lobby and Church & Society Magazine landed on the bottom. But the loser programs were not dropped. Instead, staff designed a formula to draw money away from the high priority programs in order to keep the low ones alive. One scheme reduced all program budgets by one percent in order to create a funding pool for evangelism. Another reassigned social activist personnel to tasks that bear an evangelism label. Luckert cited Church & Society Magazine, as an example of the reassignment procedure. This low-priority publication has promoted homosexual activism, re-imagining god themes, and staff involvement in partisan political activities. But instead of terminating it, staff directors have directed it to devote one of its issues to "evangelism." This justifies using money from the evangelism pool to keep Church & Society Magazine alive. Who Will Do the Work? Despite assurances that the Louisville office is committed to implementing the evangelism priority, commissioners continued to raise questions. Commissioner Mark Stunder asked why the new church development staff position at denominational headquarters has been vacant for almost three years. "If this is such a high priority, what's the problem here?" he asked. Rev. Curtis Kearns, Director of the Division of National Ministries, replied, "We have been trying to find someone, but it just hasn't worked out." "Is it a salary problem?" asked Commissioner Russ Ritchel. "How much are you offering?" "I don't know exactly," replied Kearns. "I would guess somewhere between $20,000 and $60,000." "If money is the issue, then let's elevate the salary grade for this staff position," suggested Ritchel. That brought a chorus of negatives from staff members Kearns, Luckert and Bailey, who suggested that changing the salary grade would upset the entire staff's pay scale. "I don't know what the problem is here," said Mark Stunder, "but a three-year vacancy in a top priority office is just not acceptable. I hate to say this, but I think we are dancing around the issue here." The Mission Coordination and Budgets committee voted to "direct the General Assembly Council to fill the position within nine months with an appropriately salaried and qualified individual."

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