Messengers to the Missouri Baptist Convention disqualified 19 churches under the convention’s single-alignment stipulation approved at last year’s annual meeting.
Messengers also approved a resolution encouraging Missouri Baptist church members to exercise moral stewardship regarding the businesses they patronize, keeping in mind that Wal-Mart in August asked and received permission to join the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, pledging to give them $25,000 annually and helping Wal-Mart to “advance diversity,” or homosexuality.
Concerning Amendment 2, the embryonic stem cell initiative on the Nov. 7 ballot, the convention voiced “absolute and unwavering opposition” to the prospect of cloning in the state. Missouri Baptists were encouraged to participate in a day of fasting and prayer Nov. 5 as part of the effort to defeat the amendment.
A total of 1,550 people, including 1,162 messengers, registered for the annual meeting, which carried the theme of “Renewing Our Passion,” based on Romans 1:8.
Among the 19 churches disqualified for convention MBC membership were First Baptist churches in Jefferson City, Cape Girardeau, Independence and Lee’s Summit, each of which have ties with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship or the rival Baptist General Convention of Missouri.
Missouri is unique in its approach to single alignment, in that no other state convention in the SBC has passed such a definite statement articulating its ties to the SBC.
The MBC remains locked in a five-year legal battle with five entities whose trustees voted to make their boards self-perpetuating by amending their charters. The status of Windermere Baptist Conference Center, Missouri Baptist College, the Baptist Home retirement center, the Missouri Baptist Foundation, and Word & Way newsjournal remains uncertain as the legal maneuvering continues.