November 3, 1999

Conservative push pays off in Missouri
___LIBERTY, Mo.--For the second year in a row, conservatives were elected to the top four offices of the Missouri Baptist Convention, currently one of the most strenuously fought state battlegrounds between Baptist moderates and conservatives.
___After consolidating control of the Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist conservatives in recent years have focused on gaining control of state Baptist conventions, attempting to draw them into closer alignment with the SBC's new direction.
___In Missouri, both moderates and conservatives have formed political action groups to advance their causes.
___The conservative group entered the fray first, last year launching what it called Project 1000, an effort to get 1,000 conservative-voting messengers to the state convention. That strategy paid off last year, with the election of a conservative as convention president.
___It paid off again this year, with Jay Scribner, pastor of First Baptist Church of Branson, winning re-election by a 58 percent to 42 percent margin. He received 1,275 votes over Jimmy Albright, pastor of Wyatt Park Baptist Church in St. Joseph, who received 894 votes.
___Project 1000 is led by Roger Moran, a layman who has gained national notoriety for publishing harsh allegations against individuals involved with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a national association of Baptist moderates. Moran's work through the Missouri Laymen's Association has spread into Texas, where his allegations have been used to question the leadership of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___The BGCT Executive Board formed a Baptist Integrity Committee in response, which has labeled Moran's accusations as similar to bathroom graffiti and "guilt by association."
___Missouri moderates formed an organization called Mainstream Missouri Baptists to counter Moran's influence on the home front.
___This moderate group supported Albright as a presidential nominee and placed two ads in the Missouri Word & Way newspaper promoting a slate of moderate candidates.
___All other state convention officers elected during the Oct. 25-27 annual meeting were supported by the conservative movement as well:
___ Bob Collins, pastor of Plaza Heights Baptist Church in Blue Springs, won the race for first vice president over E.M. Hay, pastor of Noland Road Baptist Church in Independence.
___ Paul Pope, pastor of Sonrise Baptist Church in Bonne Terre, was elected second vice president over Dawn Phillips of Chillicothe, a former president of Missouri Woman's Missionary Union.
___ Richard Stone, a member of First Baptist Church of Winfield, was named recording secretary, defeating Martin Barker, pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Marceline.
___Scribner said the vote sends a message that "Missouri Baptists are a conservative people who love the Lord, love his word and have a heart for missions and evangelism," according to a report in one newspaper.
___Mainstream Missouri Baptists' leader, Doyle Sager, pastor of First Baptist Church of Jefferson City, was quoted as saying that many Missouri Baptists "don't really grasp what's going on. They want to pretend that there's no division and no takeover."
___Based on a Baptist Press report

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