Three-day meeting may draw up to 2,000
OSAGE BEACH – About 2,000 Missouri Southern Baptists “messengers” will worship, hear reports from their affiliated agencies, conduct business and enjoy fall foliage as they converge on Tan-Tar-A Resort here Oct. 29-31 for the 173rd annual meeting of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC). The theme of this year’s gathering is “Building Kingdom Focused Churches,” based on Acts 1:8.
There will be plenty of preaching, including a theme interpretation, or a series of three 20-minute sermons, from Carlile Driggers, recently retired executive director of the South Carolina Baptist Convention and a key leader in the Southern Baptist Convention’s “Empowering Kingdom Growth” emphasis. The convention sermon will feature Rodney Albert, pastor, Hallsville Baptist Church and out-going chairman of the MBC’s Christian Life Commission. Special sermons will be brought by Vance Pitman, pastor, Hope Baptist Church, Las Vegas, and Mike Hamlet, pastor, First Baptist Church, North Spartanburg, S.C., and former president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.
During the meeting’s business sessions, attendees will hear reports from the Convention’s Executive Board, committees and agencies. Interim Executive Director David Tolliver will discuss the state of the Convention in his annual address. There will also be a legal briefing brought by Randy Comer, pastor, Highview Baptist Church, Chillicothe, and chairman of the Convention’s Legal Task Force, in which he will provide the latest information concerning the MBC’s legal effort to retrieve five breakaway agencies.
Messengers will also elect a slate of officers. All four offices have at least two candidates seeking election (meet the candidates on page 18). MBC President Mike Green, director of missions, Twin Rivers Association, will preside over the annual meeting. Ryan Bowman, pastor, Summit Woods Baptist Church, Lee’s Summit, is serving as chairman of the Committee on Order of Business.
Messengers will also introduce, debate and vote on motions, or actions they wish the Convention’s Executive Board, staff, committees or agencies to take. They will also introduce, debate and vote on a variety of resolutions, which express the opinion of the messengers on particular issues.
The meeting will feature congregational singing as well as musical presentations by the Southern Gospel group The Pfeifers and Color of Mercy, a duet from First Baptist Church, Camdenton. Other special music will be provided by the MBC Praise Band, soloists Myra Tolliver of Concord Baptist Church, Jefferson City, and Kathy Green of Calvary Baptist Church, Republic. John Francis, MBC worship specialist, is the music coordinator for the event.
The annual meeting begins at 6:30 p.m., Oct. 29, and concludes with an 11:40 address by Christian attorney and author David Gibbs, III, who served as the attorney for the late Terri Shiavo. All sessons are open to the public and news media. A complete schedule is provided on this page.
For the fifth consecutive year, Overland Park, Kan.-based Bott Radio Network will broadcast from the annual meeting.
The annual meeting is preceded by the Missouri Baptist Pastors’ Conference which begins at 9 a.m., Oct. 29. A schedule of the conference, which features Mark Dever, pastor, Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington D.C., as the featured speaker, is on page 24.