When the computer opened the e-mail document, the financial report contained far more red than black. The file was an end-of-the-month snapshot of mission giving through the Cooperative Program.

The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention sends a monthly report to convention officers, executive committee members and state convention executives. The report compares 2008 to 2009 Cooperative Program giving and also measures the level of Cooperative Program giving from the state conventions.

Years of church business meetings, board meetings with non-profit organizations and convention meetings have taught me that red ink is not good. You do not want to personally experience the effects of negative cash flow. A church (or church related ministry) never wants to end the month with more going out than coming in.

In February, an island in the sea of red ink, the Louisiana Baptist Convention was one of only a handful of state conventions sending an increased amount toward missions. Louisiana Baptists gave more than $479,000 over the previous year at the close of February to national and international cooperative ministries.

Commentators could say the reason for the increase is because the Louisiana economy is often slower to feel the impact of global recession. However, in some parts of our state, unemployment and industrial change have crafted a disastrous blow to the local economies and the churches in those communities are already feeling the pinch.

Another reason could be that the rebuilding efforts by the government, churches and industry along the coasts in the aftermath of Katrina, Rita, Gustov and Ike have created a temporary economic bubble in our state. While there is some validity to this rationale, all that work does not necessarily translate into giving to our local churches.

Here is what we know to be so.

Like no other people in the nation, Louisiana Baptists understand the power of cooperative ministry. In this decade, no other state has experienced the level of cooperative ministry like Louisiana Baptists. Because of the storms this decade, we know firsthand the Cooperative Program works. It is God’s gift to Southern Baptists to support the Acts 1:8 command of Jesus to reach the lost at every sphere of influence local, state, national and international. Many of our churches have caught the vision of what we can do together to be conduits of God’s resources for his Kingdom purposes.

Thank you Louisiana Baptists for your faithfulness to cooperative missions. Pray for our sister churches as many realign their priorities to make reaching the lost and equipping new believers the main reason to exist.