Committee recommends trustees for MBC agencies

Committee recommends trustees for MBC agencies

By Bob Baysinger
Managing Editor

August 31, 2004

JEFFERSON CITY – The names of 60 Missouri Baptists will be submitted to messengers at the 2004 annual meeting of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) as candidates to serve on MBC boards and commissions.

Jerry Williams, chairman of the MBC nominating committee, said selections for the Hannibal-LaGrange College and Southwest Baptist University Boards of Trustees have not been finalized. He said, however, that the lists will be complete before the convention meets in late October.

Nominated to fill two 2005 unexpired terms on the MBC Executive Board are Paul Callahan, pastor of First Baptist Church, Marshall, and Randy Johnson, pastor of First Baptist Church, Kimberling City. The nominations are for the unexpired terms of Tim Blankenship and Jay Scribner.

Committee members approved 17 names to serve three-year terms on the executive board. The terms will expire in 2007.

Nominated are (L is for laity, M for minister):

Doug Austin, Lynwood Baptist Church, Cape Girardeau (L); Gary Barkley, Pisgah Baptist Church, Excelsior Springs (L); Joe Braden, First Baptist Church, St. Peter’s (M); Doug Bradley, First Baptist Church, Grandview (M); Charlie Burnett, Harmony Heights Baptist Church, Joplin (M); Randy Comer, First Baptist Church, Bethany (M); Don Denney, Ballwin Baptist Church, Ballwin (L); Wesley Hammond, First Baptist Church, Paris (M); Wayne Isgriggs, First Baptist Church, Lincoln (M).

Ken Jones, Boekerton Baptist Church, Portageville (M); Neal Myers, Bethel Baptist Church, West Plains (M); Bob Noland, First Baptist Church, Exeter; (M); Cindy Province, First Baptist Church, Harvester (L); George Redlich, First Baptist Church, Mountain View (L); Delores Seago, First Baptist Church, Linneus (L); Eleanore Warner, Eolia Baptist Church, Eolia (L); and Terry Wilder, First Baptist Church, Maryville (M).

Eleven more nominees, if approved, will be serving a second term on the boards of various MBC agencies. They include:

Missouri Baptist Children’s Home – Jarel Burnside, First Baptist Church, Golden (M); Kathy Carpenter, Rothville Baptist Church, Rothville (L); JoAnne Royer, Concord Baptist Church, Jefferson City (L); Elmer McCully, First Baptist Church, LaPlata (M); and Ron Robinson, First Baptist Church, Kearney (M). Selected for a first term are Michael Ault, Braggadocio Baptist Church, Braggadocio (M); Michel Blaine, Memphis (M); Joyce Noland, First Baptist Church, Exeter (L); and Werner Strick, First Baptist Church, Wright City (M).

Missouri Baptist Historical Commission – Donna Komorick, Cape Girardeau (L); Wayne Maness, First Baptist Church, Maryville (M); and Melvin Gateley, Cape Girardeau (L).

Christian Life Commission – Selected for a second term are Rodney Albert, Hallsville Baptist Church (P); Jeff Brown, Prince Avenue Baptist Church, Hannibal (M); Priscilla Lyons, Hume (L); and Connie Urich, Southern Hills Baptist Church, Bolivar (L).

Boards for the five breakaway agencies – Word & Way, Windermere Baptist Conference Center; Missouri Baptist College, The Baptist Home and Missouri Baptist Foundation – are also being filled and will remain active until the court case involving the agencies is settled.

Nominated for the Missouri Baptist College board are: Kent Cochran, First Baptist Church, Raytown (L); Linnie Evans, First Baptist Church, Viburnum (L); Donny Ford, Cape Girardeau (M); Wayne Kuenzle, First Baptist Church, Cedar Hill (M); Craig McAlvey, St. Louis (L); Larry Poertner, Washington (L); Ken Parker, Ft. Smith, Ark. (M); Jim Pruitt, Kimberling City (M); David Sheppard, First Baptist Church, St. Charles (M); Steve Simko, Concordia (P); David Thompson, Commerce Baptist Church, Scott City (M); and Robert Wood, director of missions, Howell Baptist Association, West Plains (M).

Names nominated for the Word & Way board are: Mike Bronson, Concord Baptist Church, Jefferson City (M); and James Ogan, First Baptist Church, Shell Knob (M).

Selected for The Baptist Home board are: Gary Burchet, Frederick Boulevard Baptist Church, St. Joseph (M); Randy Carter, South Union Baptist Church, Hannibal (M); Doyel Echols, Fenton (M); James Henderson, director of missions, Fellowship Baptist Association, Warsaw (M); Mitchell Jackson, Miner Baptist Church, Sikeston (M); Bob Stephens, Ballwin Baptist Church, Ballwin (L); and Paul Pope, Sonrise Baptist Church, Bonne Terre (M).

Selected to serve three-year terms on the Foundation board are: Bruce Dockens, Jackson (L); Mark Inman, First Baptist Church, Portageville (M); Slade Johnson, Hanley Road Baptist Church, Clayton (M); and John Wheeler, O’Fallon (M).

The Nominating Committee made its selections at a meeting July 20 in the Baptist Building in Jefferson City.

David Clippard, MBC executive director, challenged the committee to take do their best when making the nominations. He described the nominating committee’s job as “arguably the most important job in the convention.”

“We live in a very unique time,” Clippard said. “Who would have ever thought 20 years ago that we would be voting on a Federal Marriage Amendment or who would have thought 50 years ago that we would have lost 40 million babies to abortion?”

Clippard said agency boards need people who understand the times and have four traits – loyalty, wisdom, a work ethic and wealth (fund raising ability).

Williams said nominations for Southwest Baptist University and Hannibal-LaGrange College will be announced later.