JEFFERSON CITY — When John Yeats became executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) in October 2011, he examined the organization’s fiscal structure to its very core.
As recording secretary for the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), he knew that more and more state conventions were going with a “legacy” approach to budgeting that involved placing up to six items into a “shared” funding category. He saw this as good for the MBC, as long as it was done prudently and with great discipline. As such he began the process of designating two items—The Pathway and protection benefits/matching benefits –in this manner.
With the MBC going to this new budgetary method for 2013, it means that the church retirement plan is being highlighted like never before. Most of the new legacy/shared receipts, a total of around $435,000, go straight to ministers who are cooperating with local churches in the plan. With consistent and cooperative promotion of the idea that undergirds it, aided by word of mouth, the amount could easily jump by a large amount of money in the years to come.
The fundamental idea that Yeats is advancing with this change is that ministry should always be flowing from the Baptist Building back to the churches. Resources from Jefferson City—in this case, tangible dollars—should be applied directly to the ministers and ministry of the local church.
“Part of our role is to assist the guys who are serving on the front lines of ministry,” Yeats said. “Part of that assistance is not what they need immediately but for their protection for their families. Every man feels responsible for his family, and this is a small step that we can take in assisting them in that area of responsibility that every man has.”
In the past, a direct promotional campaign calling for more pastors in Missouri Baptist life to join the retirement plan was not attempted. The prospect of the MBC incurring a greater cost may have played a role. Yeats has turned that type of thinking on its head.
“Wouldn’t that be worth it to invest in our pastors?” he said. “These are called men of God. They’re on the front lines of ministry. They are touching communities with the gospel. They are the Great Commission witness in their communities. It is proper for us to do that. It’s part of our function as a state convention to assist them in their work.”
Yeats is driven by the idea that ministry starts in the local church. Ministry to him does not revolve around Jefferson City. State missionaries are not there to crank out one-size-fits-all programs that are to be dumped into local settings. Rather MBC personnel are servants who are there to go to where the spiritual battle is being fought so they can listen to the pastor and his lay leaders, help them think through the best possible solutions, and ultimately resource them for victory. The money in this type of system is often better spent for the kingdom when local field commanders believe that their authority is being respected by MBC staffers.
“It flows back to the shepherd of that congregation,” Yeats said. “It is our being able to collectively work together to assist one another to accomplish the common goal of making Great Commission disciples in cooperative Great Commission churches transforming communities. That’s part of our mission, to invest in those local church leaders.”
Finding more church retirement plan participants among the ranks of rural church pastors, bi-vocational ministers, and even larger church pastors is what the MBC wants to do. A special emphasis is on finding bi-vocational pastors who are self-employed or contract workers in their vocational jobs. By the church participating in GuideStone, Yeats said, there is a level of protection available to the bi-vocational pastor and his family. The fact that this is an option is what the MBC wants to be made known.
“Of course, our forefathers saw it as a priority, and perhaps I see the value in their thinking process,” Yeats said. “It’s just something that needs to be a part of our thinking—protecting one another, caring for one another. That’s the heart of GuideStone, and we partner with GuideStone, so why shouldn’t it be a part of our heart? We serve those who serve the Lord.
“When I was a very young pastor, my state convention in Kansas-Nebraska encouraged my church to participate at the base level with GuideStone so that I could receive those retirement benefits as well as those protection benefits. That was huge. My church could barely meet salary obligations, but they kept the GuideStone obligation.”
Gene Foster, MBC human resources/GuideStone specialist, is prepared to recruit as many pastors as he can into the retirement plan.
“I think Dr. Yeats sees the value in our pastors and helping them every time we can,” Foster said. “We want our ministers to know that this is something that the Missouri Baptist Convention wants to help with. We want to take those Cooperative Program dollars and help all the ministers we can.”