Churches to be recognized for faithful cooperative program giving at 2017 Annual Meeting

As Texas Baptists are called to live “Compelled” at this years’ Annual Meeting, nine churches were recognized for their Cooperative Program giving. Since 1925, the Cooperative Program has provided the fuel to fund mission work in Texas, the United States and all around the world.

“The Cooperative Program is effective because of the generosity of thousands of Texas Baptists churches working together,” said Chris Liebrum, director of the Office of Cooperative Program Ministry. “The churches we recognize at Annual Meeting represent giving among nine categories of church size and ethnicity, all exemplary in their commitment to mission support through the Cooperative Program.”

The five recognized for top giving based upon church size include Green Acres Baptist Church, Tyler; Pioneer Drive Baptist Church, Abilene; Field Street Baptist Church, Cleburne; Central Baptist Church, Carthage; and South Seminole Baptist Church, Seminole.

“To His glory, God has enabled Field Street Baptist Church to excel in the grace of giving,” said John Hall, pastor of Field Street Baptist Church. “2 Corinthians 9 challenges us to make giving and stewardship a part of the church’s identity. We are grateful to cooperate with other Texas Baptists churches in giving, which helps to make Christ known through missions and the meeting of needs of people, especially in human care ministries.”

He continued, “While we are humbled and greatly encouraged by the recognition, our goal was simply to be obedient to Scripture.”

An additional four churches were recognized for top giving among ethnic congregations. These churches include Church Without Walls-Brookhollow, Houston; Chinese Baptist Church, Houston; Northside Community Church, San Antonio; and Christ the King Vietnamese Baptist Church, Hewitt.

In 2016, Texas Baptists churches contributed more than $29 million to the Cooperative Program for causes such as Texas Baptist Men, Baptist Student Ministries, Christian Life Commission, education & human care ministries, missions, ministerial scholarships and other distinct ministries including evangelism, church starting and church architecture.

To learn more about the Cooperative Program, visit texasbaptists.org/cp or call (214) 887-5477.