[1]GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (BP) — Colorado Baptists will operate on a smaller budget next year but give more money to national and world missions, messengers voted at the 2013 annual meeting.
The Colorado Baptist General Convention 2014 budget of $3,770,496 falls short of the $3.81 million 2013 budget by 2.08 percent. But Colorado Baptists voted to give $603,348 in Cooperative Program funds to national and world missions, representing a 0.5 percent or $13,348 increase over the 2013 allocation of $590,000.
The CBGC expects to receive $1,954,208 in CP funds from cooperating churches, an increase of $25,460 over the $1,928,748 received this year. Of 2014 receipts, $156,201 will be used to cover Colorado/Southern Baptist Convention shared expenses.
“Borderless,” based on Ephesians 3:14-21, was the theme for the 58th Annual Meeting of Colorado Baptists, held Oct. 14-16 at the Doubletree Hotel & Convention Center in Grand Junction, Colo. Bob Babcox, pastor of Orchard Mesa Baptist Church (also in Grand Junction), hosted the event.
Messengers honored churches with the highest number of baptisms and congregations that led in CP giving in per capita, dollar amount and percentage categories.
Recognized as the top 10 churches in baptisms were Fellowship of the Rockies, Pueblo, which recorded 152 baptisms; The Edge Church, Aurora,70 baptisms; Bear Valley Church, Lakewood, 67; Community of Grace, Aurora, 50; Calvary Baptist Church, Englewood, 35; Cornerstone Church, Boulder Valley, 30; First Baptist Church of Black Forest, Colorado Springs, 29; Circle Drive Baptist Church, Colorado Springs, 26; Mississippi Avenue Baptist Church, Aurora, 26, and Grace Christian Center, Wheat Ridge, 25.
[2]Messengers recognized 10 churches for the highest CP giving per capita, based on amounts received by CBGC from July, 2012 through June, 2013. Honorees were Estes Park Baptist Church, Estes Park; Trinity Baptist Church, Naturita; Hillside Baptist Church, Greeley; Arapahoe Road Baptist Church, Centennial; Cornerstone Church, Lone Tree; Foothills Baptist Church, Lyons; Calvary Baptist Church, Fort Morgan; East Boulder Baptist Church, Boulder; Bookcliff Baptist Church, Grand Junction, and Community of Faith, Broomfield.
Similarly, messengers recognized the following churches as the top 10 CP contributors by dollar amounts: First Baptist Church of Black Forest; Riverside Baptist Church, Denver; Cornerstone Church; Arapahoe Road Baptist Church; Circle Drive Baptist Church; Majestic Baptist Church, Pueblo West; Applewood Baptist Church, Wheat Ridge; Vista Grande Baptist Church, Colorado Springs; Bookcliff Baptist, and Emmanuel Baptist Church, Sterling.
Honored for giving to the CP at least 10 percent of the church’s undesignated receipts were Aberdeen Baptist Church, Pueblo; Arapahoe Road Baptist Church; Colorado Plains Roundup, SBC, in Flagler; Cornerstone Church; Country Gospel Cowboy Church, Evans; Estes Park Baptist Church; First Baptist Church Black Forest; First Southern Baptist Church, La Junta; Foothills Baptist Church; Grand Mesa Southern Baptist Church, Cedaredge; Hillside Baptist Church, Greeley; Hope Valley Church, Denver; Majestic Baptist Church; Monument Baptist Church, Grand Junction; Mountain Heights Baptist Church, Buena Vista; Pueblo West Baptist Church, Pueblo West; Springfield Baptist Chapel, Springfield; Trinity Baptist Church, Gunnison, and Ward Road Baptist Church, Arvada.
Newly elected 2014 officers are president Mike Atherton, pastor of Cornerstone Church; first vice president Ray Shirley, pastor of Monument Baptist Church, Grand Junction; second vice president Mike Hensley, pastor of Heart of the Springs Church, Colorado Springs; and recording secretary Ginger LeBlanc, a member of Arapahoe Road Baptist Church.
The third installment in a four-piece painting series Colorado Baptists commissioned from artist Richard Marks, based on Nicy Murphy’s 1959 poem “Colorado Missions,” was received. The painting, “The Good Shepherd,” depicts those who “shepherd the sheep on a thousand grassy hillsides but who do not know the Good Shepherd.”
In other business, messengers adopted a resolution of appreciation and thanks, honoring Tree Cooper for his service as CBGC president in 2012 and 2013.
Attendance included 145 messengers representing 68 churches, who voted to hold the 2014 annual meeting Oct. 14-15 at Community of Grace in Centennial. Joel Bundick, pastor of the church, will give the annual sermon.
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Compiled by Baptist Press staff writer Diana Chandler, with reporting by Ginger LeBlanc of the Colorado Baptist General Convention. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress [3]), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress [4]) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp [5]).