CLC to help in training drive
Tolliver mails letter in attempt to rally anti-cloning base
JEFFERSON CITY—Commissioners of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) Christian Life Commission (CLC) on Oct. 4 listened to their chairman, Rodney Albert, read a draft letter from MBC Interim Executive Director David Tolliver calling on Missouri Baptists to join the battle to prohibit human cloning by means of a constitutional amendment.
The letter was mailed out Oct. 5 to pastors, directors of missions and MBC Executive Board members—approximately 2,200 people. The goal is to get people signed up and trained as petition circulators for a proposed initiative that may be on either the August 2008 or November 2008 ballot.
“At the very least, if we can cover the Missouri Baptist family, that will be an enormous help to the coalition effort,” said Albert, who is pastor of Hallsville Baptist Church.
Tolliver’s letter begins with a quotation from Numbers 10:9 about how the Lord instructed Moses to sound the trumpet of alarm as a warning to the people of Israel. In the process of doing that, Israel was to be saved from her enemies. Tolliver said the alarm today is to rally the army of God to go to war against an enemy who wages war against human life.
“The citizens of the state of Missouri, including Missouri Baptists, are about to be involved in the battle of a lifetime—and, it is a battle for life,” Tolliver wrote. “I am praying that your church will join us in that battle. Cures Without Cloning (CWC) is a broad coalition of Christians and churches that have a game plan to win the next battle. CWC has a plan to close the loophole in the law that allows human cloning. To accomplish that goal CWC must gather thousands of signatures on a petition that will lead to a constitutional amendment that will eventually ban cloning in Missouri.”
Tolliver is urging Missouri Baptists to contact CWC at (314) 825-4466 or through www.MOcureswithoutcloning.com for the purpose of hosting a training session for petition circulators.
“You simply provide the location, the facilities of your Missouri Baptist church, and CWC will provide the trainer and the materials,” Tolliver wrote. “After training, your congregation will be ‘battle ready’ to collect signatures and make the difference that will save lives for years to come. You may collect signatures in your church or in your community. But first you have to be trained. We need your help. Thousands of unborn children need your help.”
CLC Secretary Connie Urich, who is serving as the Polk County coordinator for the CWC campaign, explained that she was trained to be a petition circulator in about 90 minutes by one of the district coordinators. They went at a leisurely pace, Urich said, so the actual time to do the training could very well be reduced to 30 minutes.
Commissioners discussed how those manning the CLC booth at the MBC annual meeting Oct. 29-31 at Tan-Tar-A, Osage Beach, would be ready to train interested and willing parties right at the exhibit, with leaders like Urich, who is a volunteer trainer, prepared to serve along with CWC leaders in a nearby booth.
The CLC is losing all three of its officers on Oct. 31. In an attempt to promote a smooth transition, commissioners are recommending Phil Gloyer of Joplin as chairman-elect and David Krueger of Linn as secretary-elect. Nothing as of yet is official.