January 28, 2002

'Show Me' state Baptists preparing a second act for convention drama
___SEDALIA, Mo.--About 350 Missouri Baptists representing more than 100 churches met Jan. 17 in Sedalia to lay groundwork for a new state convention.
___They agreed to formally launch what is being called the Baptist Convention of Missouri either April 18-19 or 19-20 at Fee Fee Baptist Church in suburban St. Louis.
___Saying they had grown weary of factional strife in the Missouri Baptist Convention, speakers declared the time had come to consider something new.
___Plans call for the new convention to relate to the Southern Baptist Convention and commit to the welfare of all nine Missouri Baptist agencies, with particular attention to supporting five entities defunded by messengers to the Missouri Baptist Convention annual meeting last October.
___Those five include the Baptist Home, Missouri Baptist College, Windermere Baptist Conference Center, the Missouri Baptist Foundation and Word & Way newspaper, whose decisions to elect their own trustees drew the ire of a strong majority of messengers last fall.
___A second state convention in Missouri would bring to three the number of states with separate organizations relating to the SBC. Conservatives formed breakaway conventions in Virginia and Texas, both moderate strongholds. The alternative Missouri convention would be the first for moderates in a state controlled by conservatives.
___Speakers described what they view as a growing exclusiveness in Missouri Baptist Convention life. They also criticized recent actions to seek legal opinions in an effort that could result in lawsuits against one or more of the five institutions with self-perpetuating boards.
___Other grievances include the state convention's decision to escrow Cooperative Program and missions offering funds budgeted for those agencies in 2002 and unseating messengers from Second Baptist Church in Liberty, both during the 2001 annual meeting.
___The Sedalia gathering, which included five breakout discussion sessions, featured presentations by host pastor Drew Hill and his brother, Jim Hill. Jim Hill resigned as executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention last year, saying he opposed defunding the institutions and would not be a part of proposed legal action against them.
___Hill said the 104 churches represented at the Jan. 17 meeting gave more than $4 million to the Cooperative Program in 2000. Should all those churches follow through and become part of a new convention, their aggregate membership would be 109,927.
___A convention that size would be larger than 21 of the 41 existing Baptist state conventions, Hill said.
___Hill said he had been in touch with Morris Chapman, chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Convention, and that Chapman would advise the new convention on setting up appropriately to send funds to the SBC.
___But Hill cautioned, "The only reason Baptists should form a new convention in Missouri is if they believe it is the will of God."
___Three other speakers who described themselves as lifelong Missouri Baptists gave testimonies under the title "Why I would consider becoming a part of a new Baptist state convention."
___Randy Fullerton, pastor of Fee Fee Baptist Church in Bridgeton, lamented the rancor at the Missouri Baptist Convention annual meeting. "The world looked at us last fall," he said, and couldn't see any difference between messengers and themselves.
___"I don't recognize the Missouri Baptist Convention anymore," Fullerton said. "That's why we must begin a new convention."
___H.K. Neely, vice president for denominational relations at Southwest Baptist University, said he was not representing the college but spoke as a product of Southern Baptist life and a long-term Missouri Baptist.
___Neely called for a convention "that is willing to represent all Missouri Baptists, ... understands the nature of Baptist cooperation, ... recognizes the nature of Baptist confessions of faith, ... understands the relationship between conventions and agencies and ... just to do the work."
___"If we are going to do this thing, let's do it and do it well," he said. "Every friend I have talked with, I have asked for $1,000." He challenged each person present to do the same by sending a check designated toward expenses for starting a new convention to First Baptist Church of Sedalia.
___Bill Miller, pastor of First Baptist Church of Farmington, said he was concerned that if a church sends funds to the Missouri Baptist Convention with instructions that the money is to go to all the budgeted entities with nothing escrowed, those funds are classified as "designated" gifts and are not counted as part of the Cooperative Program unified budget.
___"When Cooperative Program giving is not called Cooperative Program giving by the entity that receives it, then that spells the beginning of the end of the Cooperative Program," he said.
___Miller also expressed concern that the Missouri Baptist Convention nominating committee rejected a respected member of his church up for re-election to a Missouri Baptist board position.
___Questions surfaced regarding the new convention's proposed relationship with the SBC and whether Cooperative Baptist Fellowship churches would be included.
___"As far as cooperating with the SBC, we're not all on the same page," Drew Hill acknowledged. Citing a respect for local church autonomy, he said, "There are many, many Missouri Baptist churches that are committed deeply to the SBC."
___"In order for a new convention to really honor our heritage and history, two kinds of people in our churches are going to have to be willing to come together," he said. "Churches who have gone through the process of pulling from the SBC would have to be respectful of the others" and vice-versa.
___"What matters is the kingdom," he said. "What matters is reaching our state."
___Fullerton added, "We're Southern Baptist. That's who we are."
___"There is not a better way to support missions right now," Miller added.
___Jim Hill predicted some churches that relate to CBF would be interested in the new convention and others would not. He and others said they did not necessarily believe churches should be excluded from participation in a new convention on the basis of where they send their global missions money.
___Concluding speaker Jimmy Albright, pastor of Wyatt Park Baptist Church in St. Joseph, said he believed a new convention could engender a "sense of excitement, wonder and awe" among Missouri Baptists.
___"I say to you this afternoon, we can do this, and it's worth something to Jesus Christ."
___Meanwhile, conservatives who have taken control of the Missouri Baptist Convention over the last three years under the banner of loyalty to the SBC and disdain for anything related to CBF said they are skeptical that moderates forming the new state convention want to be in "friendly cooperation" with the SBC.
___"I'm shocked," said Bob Curtis, Missouri Baptist Convention president and pastor of Ballwin Baptist Church in Ballwin. "This is ridiculous. I think if they are going to cooperate with the SBC, then there is no reason to leave the Missouri Baptist Convention. We have a wonderful convention in place that is totally supportive of the SBC."
___Roger Moran, a layman who has led the charge to capture control of the existing state convention, suggested creators of the new convention are merely playing politics to lure churches away from the Missouri Baptist Convention.
___"Promoters of the new convention in Missouri understand the political reality that most churches in Missouri will have nothing to do with the CBF and that most of the 200 churches they have targeted to join their new convention have strong, pro-SBC constituencies," Moran said. "Most of these churches would be unwilling to join a new state convention whose only option for national or international missions is the CBF."
___If leaders of the new convention really are interested in cooperating with the SBC, they ought to do so on the terms established by the Missouri Baptist Convention, Moran suggested.
___"They should rescind the trustee votes making the boards self-perpetuating, accept the new trustees elected by the Missouri Baptist Convention and then cooperate with the SBC through the Missouri Baptist Convention," Moran said.
___That's not an option many moderate Missouri Baptists consider viable, however.
___"Regrettably, good Missouri Baptists have elected an American version of the Taliban to lead the Missouri Baptist Convention," said Rudy Pulido, pastor of Southwest Baptist Church in St. Louis, in his church's November newsletter.
___Reported by Bill Webb through Associated Baptist Press and Stacey Hamby through Baptist Press

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