August 26, 2002
___ Missourians offered court aid. A Missouri attorney has volunteered to file an amicus brief opposing legal action by the Missouri Baptist Convention against five of its agencies over a leadership dispute. Bart Tichenor, a lawyer in Jefferson City, Mo., said churches and individuals wishing to be involved in the effort may either contact him or download information from www.MissouriBaptists.org. The Missouri Baptist Convention has filed suit in an effort to regain control of the five agencies where convention-elected trustees declared self-perpetuating boards.
Baptist Briefs
___ Sept. 11 resources offered. Two Southern Baptist Convention agencies are offering online resources for churches planning to commemorate the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. LifeWay Christian Resources has posted material at www.lifeway.com/unitedsunday. The North American Mission Board has posted material at www.namb.net/911.
___ Mo. executive nominated. The Missouri Baptist Convention's Executive Board will meet Aug. 27 to hear a unanimous search committee recommendation that David Clippard, 53, become executive director of the embattled state convention. Clippard is a Cape Girardeau, Mo., native currently serving as an associate executive director for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. The Missouri post was vacated last year by Jim Hill, who said he no longer could work with the Executive Board, which has a fundamentalist majority. Tension within the state convention led to formation of an alternative convention for centrists and moderates late last year. Clippard was ordained into the ministry in 1981 while serving as associate pastor for evangelism at Southcliff Baptist Church in Fort Worth. He earned a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1984.
___ Baptist publisher in run-off. Cecil Staton, president of Smyth & Helwys Publishing Co., faces a run-off election Sept. 10 in his bid to be the Republican candidate for U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's new 11th congressional district. Staton, who took a leave of absence as head of the 11-year-old independent publishing company and as publisher for Mercer University Press, received 33 percent of the votes in a three-man contest. In the run-off, he faces Phil Gingrey, an obstetrician-gynecologist from Marietta who has served as a state senator. Staton, who was described by the Atlanta Journal as the "most conservative" of the candidates in the race, received endorsements from conservative activists Phyllis Schafly, Gary Bauer and Alan Keyes.
___ Edworthy to Richmond. Mark Edworthy, a Texas native and Southern Baptist missionary in Poland, is now serving in the International Mission Board's headquarters in Richmond, Va., as an associate in the Central and Eastern Europe office. Edworthy, 41, was born in Caldwell and grew up in Houston. He and his wife, the former Susie Guttenberger of Houston, are graduates of Houston Baptist University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Prior to missionary appointment, Edworthy served as associate pastor of Lochwood Baptist Church in Dallas and as pastor of First Baptist Church in Celeste.
The Baptist Standard
News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.
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