Missouri demands loyalty to SBC
___JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.--Loyalty to the Southern Baptist Convention is now a requirement for serving as a trustee of Missouri Baptist Convention agencies and institutions or on the state convention's Executive Board.
___The Missouri Baptist Convention nominating committee announced March 30 that it has established three criteria for selecting prospective trustees of state convention agencies.
___The criteria were adopted on a 10-8 vote, according to the Word & Way newspaper.
___One new criterion for service is for candidates to be "supportive of both the Missouri Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention."
___The two other criteria limit any individual from serving on more than one board simultaneously and limit any church from having more than two members serving on state convention boards simultaneously.
___Currently, 23 Missouri churches have more than three members serving on state convention boards, Purvis reported.
___Word & Way reported that Jeff Purvis, chairman of the nominating committee, acknowledged the new guidelines go beyond requirements for service spelled out in the state convention's constitution and bylaws.
___The new requirements have not been voted on by convention messengers, but the nominating committee apparently has the ability to set its own parameters.
___Conservatives who favor recent changes in the SBC have been locked in an intense battle with moderates, who oppose the new direction of the SBC, for control of the Missouri Baptist Convention. Conservatives have won the last two presidential elections in Missouri and have begun to consolidate power.
___The new policy in Missouri runs counter to the way the Baptist General Convention of Texas and many other state Baptist conventions select trustees.
___The BGCT, for example, does not require loyalty to any body beyond the state convention for service on state boards.
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