2020 BCI Virtual Annual Meeting Report

By Chris Eller, BCI Associate Executive Director

Blessings of Going Virtual

Like most large events in 2020, the Baptist Convention of Iowa Executive Board decided to move our Annual Meeting to a virtual meeting this year. This proved to be a providential decision as COVID cases in Iowa surged in mid-November, new restrictive guidelines were issued by the governor, and many churches temporarily closed to in-person gatherings, including the host church for this year’s Annual Meeting.

Determined to avoid a live streamed meeting or Zoom call, the BCI staff opted to create four one-hour episodes featuring interviews with key SBC leaders, BCI pastors, and ministry partners.

BCI Executive Director Tim Lubinus conducted in-depth interviews with Ronnie Floyd, Ben Mandrell, Russell Moore, Kevin Ezell, Jason Allen, and Paul Chitwood. During these interviews we could dive deep into issues impacting Southern Baptists both in Iowa and across the nation including the pandemic, Critical Race Theory, NAMB’s future relationship with smaller state conventions, the IMB’s challenge to commission 500 new missions, plus many more relevant topics. The complete interviews with SBC entity heads and BCI pastors and partners are available at bciowa.org/annualmeeting.

Given the virtual aspect of this year’s Annual Meeting, much of the convention business was voted upon by the BCI Executive Board. In order to ensure pastors and members of BCI churches had input into these decisions, the Executive Board conducted virtual town hall meetings via Zoom during the last half of October.

Mission-Focused Budget Decisions

The Executive Board sought convention feedback on two important issues for the BCI: the decision to increase our state’s Cooperative Program giving to 60 percent and to approve the BCI 2021 Annual Budget.

During the town hall meetings, members of the Executive Board only received positive feedback and encouragement to move forward with these initiatives.

“This is moving the BCI in the right direction,” noted Tim Lubinus, BCI Executive Director. “Our convention has worked hard the last two years to increase our ministry support and service to Iowa pastors and churches while decreasing our operational overhead. We accomplished this by being strategic with the funds given to the BCI and being intentional to prioritize on-mission giving.”

In addition to increasing CP giving to 60 percent, the Baptist Convention of Iowa also gives an 10 percent of our regular undesignated giving to 10 Iowa nonprofit organizations through the Iowa Ministry Fund. Each year, BCI churches channel badly-needed funds to a broad range of ministries that help those who are most hurting in our state and offer help, hope, and the Good News of Jesus Christ.

The BCI Executive Board also voted to approve a budget of $1,537,850 for 2021, a decrease of 9.8 percent. (NOTE: the decrease is the BCI’s move to budget for NAMB-approved church planting funds rather than the maximum amount available from NAMB for church planting.) This budget anticipates $1,020,000 in giving from BCI churches and includes $195,500 for Church Planting, $152,000 for Church Development, $100,000 for the Iowa Ministry Fund, and $612,000 in anticipated giving through the Cooperative Program. The budget does not include any shared ministry expenses with the SBC.

New Officers Elected

The Executive Board elected new officers for 2021. These include President Michael Felkins, pastor of Grand Avenue Baptist Church in Ames; First Vice President Todd Stiles, pastor of First Family Church in Ankeny; Second Vice President Ricky Rohrig, pastor of Crossroads Community Church in Red Oak, and Secretary Jerome Risting, pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Mason City. All officers were unopposed and were elected by unanimous vote.

Elected as regional representative Executive Board members were Tim Trudeau, Central Region; Darin Ulmer, Northeast Region; Dave Miller, Northwest Region; Ben McKim, Southwest Region; and Paul Miller, Southeast Region.

Partnerships for Greater Ministry

The Baptist Convention of Iowa encompasses 119 churches in five states with more than 23,000 members and attendees who have organized together for greater ministry impact, focusing in the areas of church planting, church development and community transformation. The BCI pools resources for extending ministry into new areas and population segments within Iowa, across the nation, and around the world. The BCI prioritizes on-mission spending close partnerships that provides mutual support and develops the next generation of Baptist leaders.

New Church Plants and Affiliating Plants

The following churches were planted in Iowa in 2020 through our partnership with the Send Network:

Multiply Church in West Des Moines, IA, Adam Bailey pastor
Berean Bible Church in Manchester, IA, Jake Hahnemann pastor
Journey Church in Waterloo, IA, Rob Borkowitz pastor

The BCI welcomed the following churches into our convention during 2020:

Hope Church of Las Vegas, NV, Vance Pitman pastor
Walnut Creek Church of Des Moines, IA, Dan Rude pastor
Stonebrook Church of Ames, IA, Matt Heerema pastor

See You Next Year at the  2021 BCI Annual Meeting

The 2021 annual meeting of the Baptist Convention of Iowa will be Nov. 6 with the location to be determined.