nineteen hundred and forty-six - Amazon Web Services

THE ROMANCE OF A CENTURY 685
THE ROMANCE OF DEBT LIQUIDATION
The 75-Million Campaign subscriptions the first and second year were pai
splendidly. Then came hard times—the hardest Southern Baptists ever knew.
At first, decreases in payments; these disturbed our leaders, but they expected
things to get better. They got worse; decreases in receipts meant deficits. Our
agencies had to borrow. Times got still worse; receipts became so small that we
could not meet our obligations and carry on our work; and to lose our
work would be to lose our income. The result in many cases was defaults. It
reached the point where some of our agencies could not even pay interest upon
loans.
By 1933 Chorus. we had reached the point of desperation. We were $6,500,000 in
debt upon our Southwide causes, and our state causes were in the same condition.
GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU
Be not dismayed, whate'er betide,
God will take care of you;
Beneath His wings of love abide,
God will take care of you.
CHORUS
God will take care of you,
Thro' ev'ry day,
O'er all the way;
He will take care of you,
God will take care of you.
No matter what may be the test,
God will take care of you;
Lean, weary one, upon His breast,
God will take care of you.
—Copyright 1933, Hope Pub. Co.
OUT OF THE DEPTHS
Southern Baptists would not give up. -
In 1926 the Co-operative Program was worked out as the most feasible plan
for financing our enterprises..
In 1927 the Executive Committee was re-established. Dr. Austin Crouch was
elected executive secretary. The secretary and the committee gave themselves
to a thorough study of the debt situation, how to carry on our work while paying
our debts, and how to pay our debts while carrying on our work.
In 1933 the Baptist Hundred Thousand Club was started. This plan, devised
by Dr. Frank Tripp, was presented to the Executive Committee of the Convention
and to the W.M.U. in Washington, May, 1933. It was discussed all day and
at 2:00 A.M. the next day the vote was taken. It was unanimous. The Southern
Baptist Convention hilariously adopted it. The Sunday School Board agreed to
pay the cost of promoting it; the missionaries joined. Day began to dawn.
The plan called for a dollar a month "over and above" the regular offerings
in the church, this extra dollar to be paid upon the principal of the debt. Dr.
Tripp through the courtesy of his church, acted as Club leader for three years.
He was followed by Dr. J. E. Dillard of Birmingham, Alabama.
A slogan was adopted, "For a Debtless Denomination by 1945."
The receipts increased; all agencies helped.
The slogan was changed to read, "A Debtless Denomination Before 1945."
Again the slogan was changed. This time it was "Debt-Free in '43." All
boards and institutions helped in every way possible, the W.M.U. most of all.
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