It Matters to Them

By Dr. Matt Henslee

When I pastored Mayhill Baptist Church, we gave 6% to our local association and 15% through the Cooperative Program. Doing so took a lot of selling, to be frank, because, on the one hand, we needed all the money we could get as we grew about 400% in an isolated rural town. Another staff member would have been a big help to me!

On the other hand, we were an hour away from meaningful participation with our association, and our state only passed on 25% to fund missions we cared about, like the International Mission Board, North American Mission Board, and our Southern Baptist Convention seminaries.

Why not keep more money "in-house" to fund our own needs when the association "didn't do much" for us and our state convention didn't pass on churches' funds at a more generous split?

Let me tell you why, at least in regards to the local association...

"It matters to them," I told our finance committee, and by "them," I meant the more local pastors in dire need of connection, training, and help. By "them," I meant the ability our association could have to plant much-needed churches in our association, even if they were as far as an hour and a half away. By "them," I meant the association's ESL program that helped people not only learn English but learn about Jesus.

While it didn't necessarily help us, our giving helped them––and that mattered.

As many of us approach budget planning season (I know, I know...that's probably our least favorite part of ministry), I want you to know that your giving matters and is stewarded well. I also plead with you to remember Collin Baptist Association as you plan your budget.

As a pastor, I know money can go elsewhere. As a regular guy, I know the crunch of inflation, gas prices, and more. Coming out of a pandemic and into a recession has all of us looking for ways to steward well the finances God entrusts us.

Can I take a moment to ask you to remember your association as you do?

When you give oh so generously, Dr. Draper and I can take that pastor who is barely hanging on by the thread out to encourage him and help him persevere. When you give oh so generously, Dr. Draper and I can take a church through deacon training, bylaw updates, or church revitalization.

When you give oh so generously, we can host events to allow pastors all over our county to connect and network to build friendships, find mentors, and discover fellow pastors who can help them with a particular problem they are facing. When you give oh so generously, we can help church plants launch with the monies they need not just to survive but thrive.

In just the first week this month, I've met with several pastors or prospective church planters ready to make a dent in our need for more churches in Collin County. Since the Annual Meeting in Anaheim, I've met with nine pastors in our association facing a variety of crises.

Your generosity makes that possible! But the needs are growing exponentially.

I know you know; Collin County is growing...and fast. We don't have the churches we need today, let alone for the rapid growth of our county. I want our association to be able to help churches plant churches and help our current churches revitalize and grow. Your oh so generous giving makes that possible!

Back to Mayhill Baptist for a second; not only did we give over 20% to our association and state convention, we also set aside 4% for church planting and directly supported six missionaries. We were a normal church that could surely use some of the over 50% we were sending out of our church each month, but we knew it mattered. We knew the adage to be true, "we are better together."

We supported two church plants and six missionaries, which was only a fraction of what we could do when cooperating with our fellow Southern Baptist churches in our association, state convention, and beyond. What our tiny little church could do, while important, paled compared to what we could do––together––as Southern Baptists.

So, as you plan next year's budget, remember your association. Even if you may not particularly find yourself in need of the association, others do...and together, CBA, we can do much to advance the Kingdom in Collin County and beyond.