Last week the annual meeting of the Missouri
Baptist Convention was held in St. Charles and with it my term as second
vice-president came to an end. It was a
great honor to serve in this role on the executive board.
I greatly enjoyed working with our excellent executive director, John Yeats, and my fellow board members and officers. My neighbor to the south, Neil Franks (pastor of FBC-Branson), did a great job as president. (Thank you, Neil, for allowing me to preside over the annual meeting Wednesday morning. That was pretty cool.) Neil’s successor, Ken Parker, is a good man who will serve Missouri Baptists well. The same may be said for Jeremy Muniz (first vice-president) and Rick Beisiadecki (recording secretary). I served with all these men on the board this past year, and consider them friends. I do not know Tim Smith who will replace me as second vice-president, but I look forward to meeting him.
This was a memorable year to serve on the
executive board, and I’m proud of what we accomplished together. After years of litigation, the Missouri
Baptist Foundation was restored to the control of MBC-elected trustees, and we
continue to hope/pray for the return of our other entities as well. Additionally, a new set of governing
documents was approved by the board and presented to Missouri Baptists at the
annual meeting this year (for adoption at next year’s meeting). These documents will guide the work of the
convention into the foreseeable future.
Finally, a lesser publicized action (but an important one nevertheless)
is that the board voted to implement a mechanism of oversight/accountability in
regards to the men invited to speak at the MBC pastors’ conference. (Not technically our conference, but held in
conjunction with our annual meeting.) This
will ensure the doctrinal integrity of this important event going forward.
Missouri Baptists should know that serving on
the executive board (particularly as an officer) is hard work! I drove to Jefferson City four times over the
course of the year (and once to St. Louis) to participate in hours and hours of
meetings. What really surprised me was
the amount of time we spent in side sessions during the MBC annual
meeting! There is SO much that goes on
behind the scenes that, even going to the annual meeting for years, I had no
idea how much planning it actually takes.
Again, the MBC is blessed with an executive director and staff that
truly have servant hearts. We have
tremendous men and women working for us, Missouri Baptists!
Much has been made in recent years of the future
of state conventions in our changing denominational landscape. And I certainly do not have the answers to
all of those questions. It is true
that the New Testament says nothing of denominations, conventions or
associations. (Although, we do see a
principle of cooperation between churches in the NT.) Additionally, the Great Commission was not
given to any denominational entity, but to the Church. All that being true, I would submit the role of a state convention is
to come alongside the local church to equip her and
support her in her work. I believe the
Missouri Baptist Convention, particularly under its current leadership, does
exactly this. I am thankful for our
diverse family of churches. Thank you
for allowing me to serve.
