Gloyer looks to word of mouth
in final days leading up to vote
JOPLIN—For Christian Life Commission (CLC) Chairman Phil Gloyer, opposing Proposition A falls into the category of taking care of business.
“The CLC is fundamentally opposed to any expansion of legalized gambling in the State of Missouri,” he said. “That’s just one of our solid principles. Although Proposition A sounds like it would restrict gambling by restricting the number of casinos, it would actually expand gambling by increasing the amount that people could lose. It’s going to hurt people.
“The advocates of Proposition A wouldn’t be sinking all of their money into the proposition if they weren’t expecting to get a significant return on their investment. That’s exactly what they’re doing. When they say that it’s going to add $100 million to education, what they’re really concerned about is the $400 million extra that it’s going to give them. It’s almost a classic case of an organization buying a law through funding this campaign.”
Gloyer, a layman from Forest Park Baptist Church in Joplin, was busy during the 174th annual meeting of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) making sure that Missouri Baptists had all the information they needed in the statewide effort to defeat the proposition. He devoted significant attention to the issue in his Oct. 29 report to messengers and made sure that the CLC booth was a place where the NOonA network could freely operate with educational materials. The CLC reception was also a place where people could find encouragement and refreshment in the midst of the fight.
One method that the CLC is using to get people to the voting booth is email. But email has its limitations. The ground game right now is vital, Gloyer said.
“People need to be willing to call their friends and family and neighbors and talk to people about it,” he said. “Talk to people at work, at church, at school—wherever.
“We need to be willing to just say the word, just to get people to stop and think and realize that it’s not all that it’s being portrayed (to be) in the advertisements.”