Tenn. Baptists file suit against Belmont University

The Tennessee Baptist Convention has filed a lawsuit against Belmont University, citing breach of contract and seeking damages in the amount of all past contributions the convention has made to the school since 1951, an amount that exceeds $58 million without consideration of inflation. The TBC’s executive board filed the complaint Sept. 29 with the Davidson County Chancery Court in Nashville, pointing to an official repayment agreement reached by the convention and the school in 1951 which said that if Belmont ever passed from Baptist control, the school would repay the TBC the value of any assets transferred to it. The move comes after Belmont’s trustees last November filed a request with the state of Tennessee to change the school’s charter without approval from the convention. The restated charter made the trustees a self-perpetuating board with 40 percent of its members being non-Baptist, as opposed to the previous agreement giving the TBC the right to elect all trustees.

 

2005-06 gifts through CP up 2.37 percent

Contributions through the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program were 2.37 percent above the previous fiscal year, topping the $200-million mark for the first time. As of Sept. 30, 2006, the final total for the SBC Cooperative Program’s 2005-06 fiscal year stood at $200,601,536 — $4,653,113 above the $195,948,422 received during the 2004-05 fiscal year, for a gain of 2.37 percent. For the month, receipts of $17,477,916 were 5.90 percent, or $973,043, above the $16,504,872 received in September 2005. Designated giving of $191,428,618 for the fiscal year was 0.90 percent, or $1,698,784, above gifts of $189,729,833 received last year. The $3,876,404 in designated gifts received last month were $2,562,201 below the $6,438,605 received in September 2005, a decrease of 39.79 percent. For the SBC Cooperative Program allocation budget, the fiscal year total of $200,601,536 was 105.65 percent of the $189,865,254 budgeted to support Southern Baptist ministries globally and across North America.