Earlier this week, in one of our team meetings, I asked members to share prayer petitions so we could pray for each other. I shared mine with the group with some hesitation. While mine was a legitimate request, I thought about the hashtag #firstworldproblems.

While the reference to the “first world” is an outdated phrase left over from the Cold War, I understand what people mean by it. There are problems we experience in our part of the world that in other parts of the world people may never experience, or perhaps think of as normal.

The nature of the challenges we face is often a matter of perspective. Someone’s perceived scarcity might be another’s abundance and vice versa. Our perspective may change when we learn about the difficulties others face.

Perspective also changes when we understand the seasons of time and the cycles of life. During these incredibly hot days, a cool front may mean highs in the mid-90s°F!

I have been reading through Ecclesiastes in my morning devotionals. Among other things, the teacher’s discourse offers perspective. Particularly his poetic recognition of “a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die.”

This week the finance committee of the Texas Baptists executive board met to review the proposed budget for 2027. The proposed Cooperative Program Ministries budget reflects an approximate $3.7 million reduction. This is a significant decrease!

This budget right-sizing is in keeping with Cooperative Program giving from churches. We recognize a multi-decade decline in Cooperative Program giving. That is why we have assigned a task force to study this matter, better understand its root causes and help us determine our strategy for increasing Cooperative Program support.

There has been mention of churches in decline, ministries that no longer exist, diminished denominational support and participation, and other signs of the lack of vitality in some segments of Baptist life and the church in North America, Texas Baptists churches included.

These trends are real. We lament when it seems like we are losing ground. We are saddened when things we loved no longer seem to have the same vitality they once did. There is a time to reflect and to grieve. Reducing a ministry budget is one of those occasions.

Yet, these times are also good opportunities to gain perspective. Just like the seasons of the year and the cycle of life on which the author of Ecclesiastes reflects, churches, associations and conventions also have life cycles.

The time of birth is an exciting time. New life. It is fragile, and it requires much care. The adolescent season of a church or religious organization is a time of growth and vitality while still vulnerable. With adulthood comes maturity and stability. And then comes a season of decline in strength. If left to its own devices, the church or religious organization could die.

But there is an option during seasons of decline: there is the opportunity for rebirth! When the people of God found themselves in periods of scarcity, and even judgment, prophets like Habakkuk prayed, “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy” (3:2).

Times of decline should call us to prayer. We pray for a Great Commandment, Great Commission awakening among Texas Baptists. When the Spirit of God revives our love for God, our love for people and our passion for making disciples of all nations, new life springs forth!

We can also be encouraged by the advance of the global church. The church in the Majority World (Latin America, Asia and Africa) is growing strong and sending missionaries to other parts of the world. When we look with nostalgia at the years when Baptists in North America were at the peak of their growth, they were investing the most in international missions.

As we look at what God is doing in other parts of the world, we can rejoice that the investment in missions of previous generations has borne fruit! It worked! Furthermore, I believe that when we rediscover our passion for cooperating together for God’s mission, we can collaborate with Baptists in those regions of the world and experience our own spiritual awakening.

Much of the world's mission advances today comes from churches and conventions that have far fewer financial resources than we do as Texas Baptists. Yes, it is true that we have had to reduce our 2027 budget by $3.7 million. Yet, we are still counting on investing over $43 million in ministries and missions in Texas and beyond this next year. That is no small thing!

That is a bigger budget than many state conventions and even many national conventions! As a matter of example, the Texas Baptists budget includes approximately $10 million for Baptist Student Ministries and about $5 million for our Texas Baptists Universities and seminaries. That is a $15 million investment in the next generation! What a unique stewardship opportunity!

I know of no other convention with collegiate ministry on 137 college campuses, touching the lives of over 142,000 students. Even multiple conventions combined may not reach this number. This is just one example of the many ministries Texas Baptists lead and support.

We do not mention this to diminish the decline in CP giving or the budget reduction. We don’t point this out as a matter of pride. We highlight it as an expression of gratitude for what God has entrusted to us. We share it because we need an abundance mentality, not a scarcity one.

As we launch our GC2 Strong Pilot project this fall, my hope is that, rather than helping churches identify what they don’t have or what they've lost, we can ultimately help them discover what they do have and the opportunities God has placed before them to be GC2 faithful.

It is a time for rebirth! This is his time!

A time for rebirth