JEFFERSON CITY – For the 20th time since 1834, messengers from Missouri Baptist Convention-affiliated (MBC) churches will gather in Kansas City for their annual meeting.
The 179th meeting of the MBC will be held Oct. 28-30 at the Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center. The annual meeting was last held in Kansas City in 2009 at First Baptist Church, Raytown.
The theme for this year’s meeting is “The Holy Way,” taken from Isaiah 35:8: “A road will be there and a way; it will be called the Holy Way.”
Southern Baptist Convention President Fred Luter, pastor, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, New Orleans, and the first African-American to serve as SBC president, will be the featured speaker during the Oct. 30 morning session. Veritas, a group of five male classical vocalists, who have performed at the White House and on stages around the world, will be musical guests. This year’s convention sermon will be delivered by Eddie Bumpers, pastor, Crossway Baptist Church, Springfield.
MBC President Wesley Hammond, senior pastor, First Baptist Church, Paris, and MBC Executive Director John Yeats will address messengers during the Oct. 28 evening session. The CORE Conference, designed to lead Missouri Baptists to a richer understanding of scripture and a deeper walk of faith will be held during the afternoon and evening sessions on Oct. 29. CORE focuses on the core values of becoming a follower of Christ and engages listeners through informed teaching and interactive sessions.
During the business sessions messengers will hear reports from the MBC Executive Committee, the Agency Restoration Group and from convention staff, committees and agencies. Also during the business portions of the annual meeting, messengers will introduce, debate and vote on motions or actions they wish the convention’s executive board, staff, committees or agencies to take. They also may introduce, debate and vote on resolutions, which express the opinion of messengers on particular issues.
The annual meeting will begin with pre-session music at 6:30 p.m., Oct. 28 and will conclude at noon, Oct. 30. The Missouri Baptist Pastors’ Conference will be held Oct. 28 at the Sheraton, as well, from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.
Next year’s annual meeting will be held at Tan-Tar-A Resort, Osage Beach. Annual meetings are scheduled for Springfield in 2015 and St. Charles in 2016. Messengers will vote at this year’s annual meeting on whether to hold the 2017 meeting in Cape Girardeau.