SPRINGFIELD—Messengers approved a $15.1 million budget and elected a new president from the flagship Southern Baptist megachurch in town as the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) gathered at the Expo Center here for its 176th annual meeting Oct. 25-27.
John Marshall, pastor, Second Baptist Church, Springfield, was elected by acclamation. He has served the previous three years as an officer—once as second vice president and twice as first vice president. In the midst of all of that statewide service he also preached the 2009 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) sermon at Louisville, Ky.
In a brief prayer to conclude the annual meeting, Marshall prayed, “Bless us in this coming year to do a better job than we’ve ever done before.”
On the two most controversial issues before the convention, messengers voted 753-199 to continue their commitment to legally pursue a just recovery of five breakaway agencies, and voted 593-360 to change the name of Hannibal-LaGrange College to Hannibal-LaGrange University, spurning the desire of the college’s trustees to change the name to the University of Hannibal.
Attendance was about the same as the average of the three previous annual meetings. There were 1,251 messengers and 336 visitors for a total of 1,587 people. The number of participating churches was 489.
The theme for the annual meeting was tied to the idea of doing the work of an evangelist. The core values for the MBC were also presented, which are: becoming disciples; developing leaders; and missional living.
“There seemed to be a central theme for us to be in love with our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore with one another,” MBC Executive Director David Tolliver said. “We debated, we disagreed in Christ-like fashion, and now we’re moving forward together.”
Budget collection through the Cooperative Program is holding relatively steady when compared to other states, MBC officials said, with Missouri being positioned efficiently to go into another year with fiscal discipline.
Included for the third consecutive year is a .75 percent budget item to promote the Cooperative Program, with the remaining amount (just short of $15 million) being allocated 37 percent for Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) causes (up from 36.75 percent in 2010) and 63 percent for MBC causes.
The projected budgets for the 2011 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering of $4 million, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering of $2 million, the World Hunger Offering of $250,000 and the Missouri Missions Offering of $750,000 were largely kept the same as 2010, with World Hunger dropping $50,000.
In a three-way race for first vice president, Wesley Hammond, pastor, First Baptist Church, Paris, defeated Danny Decker, pastor, First Baptist Church, Warsaw, 324-220, with Dennis Jackson, youth minister, Anchor Point Baptist Church, Independence, getting 24 votes.
Micah Fries, pastor, Frederick Boulevard Baptist Church, St. Joseph, defeated Aaron Weibel, pastor, New Site, Baptist Church, Monett, 320-171, for second vice president.
Jamie Hitt, member, First Baptist Church, Winfield, was voted in as recording secretary by acclamation. This will be Hitt’s third year in that office.
Messengers looked at tweaking the Constitution and Bylaws of the MBC in various ways, particularly as it relates to membership. The governing documents are not undergoing major changes, but updates are in order due in part to the passage of the SBC’s Great Commission Resurgence. When David Krueger, messenger, First Baptist Church, Linn, offered language that tried to address the new reality of maintaining “Great Commission Giving” and “Cooperative Program Giving,” debate grew muddled and the matter was tabled until 2011. Tolliver noted that “Great Commission Giving” needs to be defined.
The Vivian McCaughan Missional Living Endowment Fund was the focus of Oct. 26. A special offering of $4,230 was taken, building the fund to approximately $800,000, with $100,000 more available in pledges, Tolliver said. A goal of raising $1 million by the end of 2010 to help fund missions projects was announced. McCaughan was a longtime MBC staffer who died earlier this year.
In his president’s address, Bruce McCoy, pastor, Canaan Baptist Church, St. Louis, taught on how unity is a result of true fellowship with Christ, who is our Lord. He spent considerable time in John 17 and emphasized that unity is achievable. McCoy was a two-term president who on Oct. 27 finished his fourth and final year as an MBC officer.
“If our condition is better, may God be glorified,” McCoy said.
The two main national speakers at the convention were: Mac Brunson, pastor, First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla. (see story, p. 15), and David Uth, pastor, First Baptist Church, Orlando, Fla. (see story, p. 15).
Randy Johnson, pastor, Calvary Baptist Church, Republic, delivered the convention sermon (see story, p. 15). Joshua Hedger, pastor, Freshwater Church, Bolivar, was selected for that honor in the 2011 annual meeting at the Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach Oct. 30-Nov. 2, with Jim Wilson, pastor, First Baptist Church, Seneca, chosen as the alternate.
Only the courtesy resolution was submitted and recommended for adoption by the Resolutions Committee. It passed.
Messengers approved Tan-Tar-A as the site of the 2014 and 2015 annual meetings. The dates for those meetings will be Oct. 27-29, 2014, and Oct. 26-28, 2015. In 2012, the annual meeting will be Oct. 29-31 in St. Louis at the Millennium Hotel, and in 2013, the setting will shift to Kansas City at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center Oct. 28-30.
ALLEN PALMERI/associate editor
apalmeri@mobaptist.org