Unity reigns in Nominating Committee
JEFFERSON CITY—In a clear show of unity, the Nominating Committee of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) voted unanimously Aug. 9 at the Baptist Building to recommend nearly a full slate of nominees for MBC agencies, boards and commissions.
An estimated seven positions remain vacant, and Committee Chairman Bruce McCoy, pastor, Canaan Baptist Church, St. Louis, expressed confidence that those slots would be filled by the end of August. That would mean that messengers would be able to vote on a complete slate at the MBC annual meeting Oct. 29-31 at Tan-Tar-A, Osage Beach.
A total of 25 new nominees were recommended on Aug. 9. (A chart listing all of the names and churches of nominees recommended for first terms is on page 2.) Most who were eligible for second terms were recommended. The Pathway will run the entire slate of names in its Oct. 2 edition.
Of the seven remaining positions yet to be filled, five are with The Baptist Home. Other vacancies include one opening each on the boards of the Missouri Baptist Historical Commission and one on the Missouri Baptist Foundation.
“I have every confidence Missouri Baptists will step up,” McCoy said.
Not all of the committee’s discussion was on filling specific board openings. Committee member Jeff White, pastor, South Creek Church, Springfield, expressed concern about a statement McCoy made at a May 15 Save Our Convention (SOC) meeting at First Baptist Church, Harvester, St. Charles. SOC is a group of pastors, mostly from large churches, who think Project 1000 and the Missouri Baptist Laymen’s Association (MBLA) exert too much influence in the MBC. SOC leaders said, in particular, they want more representation on the MBC Executive Board. McCoy responded to the group at Harvester by saying he would offer a minority report if the slate did not include nominees from a wide spectrum of MBC life.
The eleven founding members of SOC apparently submitted no nominations for the MBC Executive Board and no one from SOC churches were among the nine recommended to the convention to serve on the Executive Board by the Nominating Committee. SOC churches have been well represented on MBC – and SBC – boards, commissions and committees since 1998, according to data released recently by the MBC. Of the 58 positions held by members from the churches of the 11 SOC leaders (49 of which are MBC positions), many continue to serve and in some cases, their churches have the maximum number of people allowed to serve (three with a resident membership of more than 1,000 and two if less). The selection process used by the Nominating Committee Aug. 9, as witnessed by The Pathway, was identical to that used by the committee in recent years.
All of this prompted White to ask McCoy near the conclusion of the Aug. 9 Nominating Committee meeting if he was happy with the committee’s work.
“I heartily embrace this,” McCoy said. “I think what has been done here is good.
“We have done our job. We’ve done it together. I am pleased, I embrace this report, and I will encourage the adoption of this report.”
MBC President Mike Green, director of missions, Twin Rivers Association, was delighted to hear those words from McCoy.
“I’m very encouraged that Bruce felt that what the committee did today was profitable and was broad enough,” Green said. “We had a very good meeting. It was harmonious.”
McCoy commended Missouri Baptists for providing more than 60 total nominees to the three subcommittee chairmen. There were 31 nominees alone for MBC Executive Board positions, making the job of the Administrative Subcommittee considerably easier this year by cutting down on the time spent scrambling at the last minute to fill positions. A total of nine people were recommended for Executive Board slots; several times there were several qualified candidates vying for one opening.
The number of nominations were up largely because of McCoy. In an unusual move, the chairman decided to travel the state to encourage Missouri Baptists to submit nominations. He said he ran into a lot of “decent, humble people willing to serve the Lord.” It was not easy, McCoy said, but the fruit that was produced made it all worthwhile.
“Every meeting started out very politely skeptical,” he said. “By the end of it, every single one of them seemed like it was a family reunion. They’re just good people. They’re almost humble to a fault, and that’s why we’ve not had the amount of participation we’ve wanted.”
Nominating Committee Member Michael Knight, pastor of First Baptist Church in Viburnum, sized up the months of reviewing nominee information forms, statements of faith, and personal interviews with candidates by commenting that it had been a “noble, honorable process.” McCoy was quick to agree.
“I believe that,” McCoy said. “Nobody has tried to lobby me or coerce in any way. This whole process has been honorable.”
Another committee member, Kerry Messer of First Baptist Church, Festus-Crystal City, and MBLA president, pointed out that while there was obvious unity in the Gold Room of the Baptist Building as the committee went about its work, there was not unanimous approval of every nominee. For example, Tom Willoughby, pastor, First Baptist Church, El Dorado Springs, voted against a couple of Executive Board nominees on the subcommittee level. Willoughby was not present for the final votes on nominees; he left due to what he said was a previous commitment that caused him to leave Jefferson City early in the afternoon.
Willoughby is one of 11 SOC leaders. The SOC movement, which is being coordinated by David Sheppard, pastor, First Baptist Church, St. Charles, promises to “halt the spread of a legalistic spirit” in the MBC by the election of different leaders. Willoughby has spoken at two of the three meetings held thus far by SOC, including the meeting at First Baptist, Harvester. It is not known whether SOC will offer its own slate of nominees for approval at the MBC’s annual meeting Oct. 29-31.
“I would interpret his (Willoughby’s) dissent (on Aug. 9) as very peaceful, amiable,” said Rodney Albert, pastor of Hallsville Baptist Church who serves with Willoughby on the Administrative Subcommittee of the Nominating Committee. Also, on the Administrative Subcommittee is Roger Moran, a Project 1000 and MBLA leader who chaired the 2006 Nominating Committee.
One of the priorities that SOC leaders have identified is for Green to nominate “positive” and “inclusive” people to serve on the Nominating Committee for the next three years. The MBC president will name eight such people in the weeks to come, and he has stated that while he welcomes input from all Missouri Baptists concerning his nominations, he will not be controlled by any one person or group.
McCoy said he hopes the work of the Nominating Committee will be “very helpful” when it comes to “healing this state—not only healing, but moving forward.”