In addition to accepting a $2 million gift from Hobby Lobby and the Green family, the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma board of directors also adopted a 2013 budget, established a volunteer missions award and authorized an expansion of Baptist Village Communities facilities.

Meeting at Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center, board members approved a 2013 Cooperative Program objective of $25.6 million to be distributed 54 percent BGCO and 46 percent Southern Baptist Convention.

Anthony L. Jordan, BGCO executive director-treasurer, announced that 2012 receipts are currently 2 percent over budget, but 2 percent behind last year.

The board also approved the establishment of the Norman Wagoner Volunteer in Mission Award to be given to a missions volunteer who “has a deep love of Jesus, is determined to live on mission with God, is a vibrant witness to a lost world and is a faithful servant to fellow man.”

Wagoner, who died in June, served as volunteer missions coordinator for the BGCO, and trained more than 5,000 mission volunteers.

Board members also authorized Baptist Village Communities to construct a 50 private room Medicare rehabilitation center, expected to cost approximately $8 million, on the campus of Baptist Village of Oklahoma City.

In other action, the board

  • approved registration at Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center for 2013 continue to be $10 per night, or $50 per week, for summer camps; that the rate for individuals attending evening services who register after 5 p.m. be $3, and that non-summer camp registration be $5 per night.
  • agreed that registration rates at CrossTimbers Missions Adventure Camp remain the same for 2013.
  • approved the establishment of a Falls Creek Conference Center centennial fundraising campaign beginning 2014 through 2017, and the appointment of a Falls Creek Building and Master Plan Review Committee as well as a Falls Creek 100th Anniversary Celebration Committee.

Speaking to the board were BGCO affiliate presidents Tony Kennedy, Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children; Robert Kellogg, Baptist Foundation of Oklahoma; Bill Pierce, Baptist Village Communities, and David Whitlock, Oklahoma Baptist University.

Andy Harrison, BGCO student ministry and education specialist, showed a video that students at Falls Creek see about what God does through the Cooperative Program. Harrison announced that students this year have given $137,000 to mission endeavors, including a record $78,000 at Falls Creek, which goes to Go Students.