Jack Graham Has Every Right to Withhold Cooperative Program Giving

Jack Graham, pastor of Dallas megachurch Prestonwood Baptist Church and contributor of $1 million annually to the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program has come under withering fire in recent weeks in response to announcement that Prestonwood plans to escrow their Cooperative Program contributions because of concerns with Baptist entities, most notably the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (headed by Russell Moore, who came out strongly against Trump in the general election while 80% of evangelicals voted for him).

Over the past few weeks, most of the online religious vitriol has been spewed towards Jack Graham for having the audacity of even thinking of cutting Cooperative Program giving. For Southern Baptists, the Cooperative Program is the fund that keeps most denominational entities running, turning it into a sacred cow that cannot be touched.

What caused me to finally jump in was an article stating that New Orleans Baptist Seminary students (from where I received two degrees) plan on protesting an upcoming chapel where Graham is scheduled to speak. No pickets are expected, but rather an open letter from the students announcing their disagreement with Graham and numerous t-shirts worn that day that will say “I (heart) CP.” This article isn’t pro-Trump or pro-Moore, but rather pro-Graham.

Ultimately, Jack Graham is being thrown under the bus for something he has every right to do. Jack Graham has successfully pastored Prestonwood Baptist Church for decades and has been a vocal supporter of the SBC throughout that time. As important as the Cooperative Program might be, it is subordinate to the ultimate task of fulfilling the Great Commission. The Cooperative Program is a tool towards that end, and that is all. Southern Baptists tread into dangerous waters when we mistake the tool for the end. I’ve sat through numerous meetings where denominational leaders made it clear that the litmus test for pastors was how much we gave to the Cooperative Program. We weren’t expected to ask questions about how that money was being spent. Just trust the denominational leaders, keep giving money and stop asking questions. Now Jack Graham is being crucified for asking questions and not blindly handing over $1 million a year to organizations with which he has legitimate concerns.

Jack Graham pastors the people who give the $1 million a year. They entrust it to his leadership with the understanding that the leadership of Prestonwood will steward that money in a way that best fulfills the Great Commission. If the Southern Baptist Convention had everything figured out about how to fulfill the Great Commission, then the denomination wouldn’t have been steadily decreasing for the past several decades. Cooperative Program continues to increase overall, yet our denomination continues to decline. That should demand questions.

Jack Graham shouldn’t be ostracized for his decision to withhold Cooperative Program funding. Rather, he should be applauded for being the first to ask some important questions about the overall direction of the Southern Baptist Convention.