Missourians: High profile at SBC meeting
Eight have been nominated for trusteeships at SBC entities
By Staff
May 17, 2005
JEFFERSON CITY – Missouri Southern Baptists will play their usual prominent role when the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) annual meeting gets underway June 21-22 in Nashville, Tenn.
In addition, a plethora of Missourians have been nominated to fill various trustee positions with SBC agencies and will be voted on by messengers attending the meeting set for the massive Gaylord Entertainment Center in the heart of Music City.
Gerald Davidson, co-pastor, First Baptist Church, Arnold, will preside as first vice president, while Jim Wells, director of missions, Tri-County Baptist Association, will serve as registration secretary.
Michael Whitehead, deacon, First Baptist Church, Raytown, and lead attorney for the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) in its legal battle with five renegade agencies, will work on the Committee on Order of Business.
Jeff Purvis, pastor Westport Community Church, Imperial, and a member of the MBC Executive Board, serves on the Committee on Nominations along with Doug Austin, layman, Lynwood Baptist Church, Cape Girardeau, who is also on the MBC Executive Board.
Bobby Welch, SBC president and pastor, First Baptist Church, Daytona Beach, Fla., has appointed Derek Staples, pastor, Lynwood, Baptist Church, Cape Girardeau, and Kevin Smith, pastor, Springhill Baptist Church, Springfield, to the Committee on Committees.
Welch also named James Locke, pastor, First Baptist Church, Forsyth, to serve as chairman of the Credentials Committee. Also named to the committee was Don Currence, business administrator, First Baptist Church, Ozark.
In addition, Welch named Scott Carlson, pastor, First Baptist Church, Macon, as chairman of the Tellers Committee. Also named to the committee was Dennis Roth, director of campus operations, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a member of First Baptist Church Garden City, Raymore.
Once again Pathway staff writer Allen Palmeri and free lance photographer Bob Greenlee will work as national correspondents for the SBC’s official news service Baptist Press.
Missourians nominated to various SBC entities include:
Executive Committee – Bill Vail, pastor, First Baptist Church, Poplar Bluff.
International Mission Board – James Barnhart, associate pastor, Miner Baptist Church, Sikeston.
North American Mission Board – Paul Pope, pastor, Sonrise Baptist Church, Bonne Terre.
Lifeway Christian Resources – Don Clifford (Cliff) Day, Jr., senior pastor, First Baptist Church, Chaffee.
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary – Joy Stephenson, layperson, Parkway Baptist Church, St. Louis.
Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary – Jay Scribner, pastor, First Baptist Church, Branson; and James F. Freeman, III, layperson, Oakwood Baptist Church, Kansas City. Freeman is also a member of the MBC’s legal team and serves on the MBC’s Committee on Continuing Review.
Guidestone Financial Resources – G. Robert Benson of Independence.