Moran-backed effort wins again
in closely watched vote in Missouri
___By Bob Allen
___Associated Baptist Press
___OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (ABP) --Conservatives strengthened their control of the Missouri Baptist Convention Oct. 30-Nov. 1, sweeping officer elections for the third consecutive year and winning other contested votes.
___A record registration of 3,408 in Osage Beach shattered the previous record, 2,439, set just last year. Pre-convention campaigns by the conservative Project 1000 movement and the moderate Mainstream Missouri Baptists helped boost attendance.
___Candidates backed by conservatives won all four convention offices. Project 1000 has been fueled by the work of Roger Moran, a layman who has published reams of what he calls research but critics call guilt by association that seeks to link moderate Baptists to homosexuality and abortion rights.
___Bob Collins, pastor of Plaza Heights Baptist Church in Blue Springs, won the presidency, defeating Harlan Spurgeon, a former missionary backed by moderates, 61 percent to 39 percent.
___Other conservative-backed candidates who won contested elections were Bob Curtis, pastor of Ballwin Baptist Church, first vice president; Charlie Burnett, pastor of Harmony Heights Baptist Church in Joplin, second vice president; and John Martin, associate pastor of Hallsville Baptist Church recording secretary.
___Conservatives also succeeded in replacing committee nominations for the state's Christian Life Commission with a more conservative slate.
___A conservative-dominated resolutions committee brought statements that were passed by the convention.
___They included affirmation of the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message statement, which was approved by the Southern Baptist Convention last summer, and support for SBC seminaries and other national organizations.
___Other resolutions affirmed support for capital punishment; highlighted the importance of "life issues" in the upcoming general election; condemned use of the "abortion pill," RU-486, and expressed sympathy to the family of Gov. Mel Carnahan, a lifelong Southern Baptist and Democrat who died recently in a plane crash while campaigning for the U.S. Senate.
___A Cooperative Program unified budget of $19 million passed after failed attempts to amend it. One motion would have increased the percentage of funds going to the Southern Baptist Convention 1 percent, from the proposed 35.75 percent. Another would have designated funds from budget overages to Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City.
___A motion to escrow $397,000 in funding for the Baptist Home, a care facility for senior adults, was defeated. The home's trustees earlier voted to make their board self-perpetuating, meaning the state convention would no longer elect the agency's trustees.
___Attendance dropped off rapidly after a business-packed second day. While 3,264 people voted in the president's election that day, only 1,380 and 1,367 voted, respectively, for second vice president and recording secretary the following day.
___Compiled from reports written by the Missouri Baptist Convention communications office.



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