NASHVILLE (BP) — Southern Baptists need to recommit to Cooperative Program (CP) giving that embraces shared theological beliefs while accepting various differences among fellow churches, Jeff Iorg told the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Executive Committee (EC) during its meeting Sept. 22-23 in Nashville.

Iorg, president and CEO of the SBC EC, said Cooperative Program giving is suffering from the cultural trend of “expressive individualism” seen in phenomena ranging from “obsessive sharing on social media to convincing children they can choose their gender,” although he acknowledged programmatic and political reasons for the shift as well.

“It is the worldview which demands mass customization and, at the same time, fuels aggressive tribalism,” Iorg said. “Southern Baptists live in this cultural milieu and are being influenced by it. This is troubling because expressive individualism is antithetical to cooperation — the theological and philosophical foundation of our combined efforts.”

Expressive individualism has resulted in the Executive Committee receiving gifts in 33 different alternate “Cooperative Program” configurations to date this year, Iorg said.

“These include all kinds of delineations, omitting certain entities and directing gifts to other entities. This is more than an accounting challenge,” he said. “It is redefining the Cooperative Program as a catch-all phrase masking a return to an old approach of societal giving. This approach has been rejected by previous generations of SBC leaders as inadequate to fund a vast global mission enterprise.”

He urged churches and state conventions to reaffirm cooperation instead of conformity as the best biblical methodology for working together.

“My dream tonight is that Southern Baptists will recommit to cooperation in all its messy splendor and focus on our overarching mission of getting the gospel to the nations rather than being preoccupied with lesser issues,” Iorg said. “In almost 50 years — in almost 50 years as a Southern Baptist ministry leader — there has never been a time when I have been happy with everything we were doing in every SBC entity, state convention, local association or church. And yet, despite my concerns, and yes, my occasional opposition to this initiative or that program, my commitment to cooperation has remained.”

He encouraged Southern Baptists to reaffirm what he called “the messiness of cooperation” as the SBC becomes “more geographically, racially, economically and politically diverse. We must reaffirm cooperation,” he said, “and then see funding it through one channel — the Cooperative Program — as its natural outflow.”

Iorg expressed appreciation for what he described as a renewed confidence in the EC among many Southern Baptists, as well as financial items 2025 SBC messengers approved that will enable the EC to rebuild its financial footing. He cited a $3 million priority allocation in the 2025-2026 fiscal year budget to pay SBC and Executive Committee legal bills, a $3 million loan the EC secured in 2024, and noted the EC’s decision to sell its Nashville headquarters as a strategic choice instead of a necessity.

“We are also asking God,” Iorg said, “if selling the building is not His plan, to meet these financial needs by some other dramatic and, frankly, unexpected means.”

Legal update

The Executive Committee remains a defendant in three notable cases brought by: Johnny Hunt, a past SBC president and former North American Mission Board vice president and senior pastor of Woodstock Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga.; David Sills, a former Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor; and former North Carolina worship pastor Preston Garner. Fourteen other lawsuits have been dropped against the EC in North Carolina and Oklahoma that alleged the EC failed to “supervise” member churches.

Additionally, the EC has filed motions to dismiss lawsuits against the entity in New York, Louisiana and Texas, Iorg said.

In other updates, Iorg:

• noted updates in the EC’s sex abuse prevention and response ministry, including: the launch in June of a new helpline moving away from Guidepost Solutions; a new website; the hosting of a training event at the 2025 SBC annual meeting; a planned training event at the 2026 SBC annual meeting in Orlando; and translations of materials in various languages to reach a wider audience.
• said the EC will consider recommendations in February to amend the national CP allocation budget to give 51% to the International Mission Board beginning in the 2026-2027 fiscal year. SBC messengers approved the change in 2024.
• noted the need for a record number of volunteers for SBC 2026 in Orlando, with an anticipated attendance of 20,000 messengers and guests, including 1,000 children.
• said the EC is working with entity leaders to ensure implementation of the revised Business and Financial Plan SBC messengers approved in 2025. The EC has partnered with chief financial officers of respective entities in implementing the plan and expects to publish the first versions of the new accountability letters in 2026.
• announced an online Trustee Training Course launching in January 2026, a generic orientation for trustees of all SBC entities. Produced by the EC, the publicly available course will have input from entity presidents, other executive officers and legal counsel.
• reiterated the success of the SBC as a “force for good,” mobilizing Southern Baptists in millions of volunteer hours, training tens of thousands of students in Southern Baptist universities and seminaries, deploying thousands of missionaries sharing the gospel globally and supporting hundreds of church planters across the U.S.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Diana Chandler is Baptist Press’ senior writer.)