August 19, 2002
Missouri convention sues 5 agencies
___By Bob Allen
___Associated Baptist Press
___JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP)--The Missouri Baptist Convention took five of its agencies to court Aug. 13, filing a 51-page petition for declaratory judgment in Cole County Circuit Court.
___The petition asks the court to review corporate charters of the agencies and determine if trustees acted within their legal rights when they voted to remove themselves from convention control.
___The petition names as defendants the Baptist Home in Ironton, Missouri Baptist College in St. Louis, Windermere Baptist Conference Center in Camden County, and the Missouri Baptist Foundation and Word & Way newspaper, both in Jefferson City. It claims all five entities "broke trust with Missouri Baptists" by filing amended charters and declaring themselves autonomous, self-electing boards, all without approval of the convention or its executive board.
___The petition also names Secretary of State Matt Blunt, who turned down a request by convention officials to strike down the amended charters.
___Joining the Missouri Baptist Executive Board in the petition are the Missouri Baptist Convention, which is unincorporated, and six representative Missouri churches: First Baptist churches of Arnold, Bethany and Branson; Concord Baptist Church of Jefferson City; Oakwood Baptist Church of Kansas City and Springhill Baptist Church of Springfield.
"We are asking a judge to read the corporate documents and to declare what the law is: ... Do Missouri Baptists still have the right to elect trustees, based on former charters, or not?"
--Bob Curtis
___The petition does not seek monetary reward from any individuals but asks for declaratory judgment, alleges breach of contract petitions for temporary, preliminary and permanent injunction against the defendants.
___The petition says the agencies, with assets totaling $200 million, "amended their charters in order to steal themselves away from convention governance." It cites the Missouri Baptist Convention constitution, which says that all charter changes for convention agencies must be approved by the convention upon recommendation by the Executive Board and that the convention shall elect all agency trustees.
___"This is not a lawsuit seeking money for personal injury or personal wrongdoing," convention President Bob Curtis wrote in a letter to Missouri Baptist pastors announcing the court action. "We are asking a judge to read the corporate documents and to declare what the law is: Were the amendments lawful or unlawful? Do Missouri Baptists still have the right to elect trustees, based on former charters, or not?"
___Representatives of the five convention agencies have defended their actions, saying they were taken in part to shield the respective organizations, but mainly for fiduciary and liability concerns.
___The Missouri Baptist Convention voted last fall to hold about $1.2 million in convention funding earmarked for the five agencies in escrow, pending settlement of the leadership dispute. Messengers also approved a separate motion authorizing the convention's Executive Board "to take any and all steps necessary" to restore the agencies to their former relationship with the state convention.
___In a prepared question-and-answer fact sheet, Curtis said convention leaders have tried for nearly a year to persuade the five corporate boards to rescind their actions or to submit to binding arbitration.
___Curtis said he doesn't believe the petition violates the Bible's teaching that Christians ought not to take one another to court, citing author Larry Burkett, who writes that Christian corporations have a responsibility to obey civil authorities.
___Dwight Cole, an attorney for a St. Louis law firm representing three of the five plaintiff agencies, said he hadn't seen the petition and declined to comment before reviewing it.
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