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Messengers
to the 2001 annual meeting of the Missouri Baptist Convention
spoke clearly and overwhelmingly regarding the “stealing” of
MBC agencies
"Mainstream/CBF
moderates in Missouri have focused heavily on the overwhelming vote by
the messengers to escrow funds from the five agencies. What they haven't
been so willing to talk about has been the politically motivated
'stealing' of those agencies by hard-line moderates.
But at some point,
Mainstream/CBF moderates in Missouri are going to have to concede that
the decision of the messengers to escrow funds came after -- and as a
direct result of -- the decision of the trustees to steal the five MBC
agencies from the Missouri Baptist Convention."
Baptist Press,
quoting Roger A. Moran Research
Director, MBLA
Messengers to the 2001 annual meeting of the
Missouri Baptist Convention in Cape Girardeau spoke clearly and
overwhelmingly regarding the five MBC agencies that voted to amend
the charters of their agencies without the required approval of the
Missouri Baptist Convention, thus allowing them to become
“self-perpetuating” boards. In
response to the trustee boards of The Baptist Home, Windermere,
Missouri Baptist College, The Missouri Baptist Foundation and Word
and Way, the messengers responded in seven specific ways.
Each of the following convention actions passed by margins of
3-1.
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Voted to amend the Cooperative Program Allocation Budget
to escrow all funds in the 2002 Cooperative Program Allocation Budget
earmarked for The Baptist Home, Windermere Assembly, Missouri Baptist
College, Missouri Baptist Foundation, Word & Way and any
other institution which may become self-perpetuating, until such time
as the trustees of these institutions rescind their actions and
restate their former charters or upon further action by the Missouri
Baptist Convention.
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Voted to amend the 2002 Missouri Mission Offering to
escrow all funds to the five MBC agencies voting to become
“self-perpetuating” boards, with the same stipulations as above.
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Voted to reject a proposed “covenant agreement”
between The Baptist Home and the Missouri Baptist Convention because the
“agreement” gave approval of The Baptist Home’s decision to become
a self-perpetuating board and called for continued financial support
from the convention despite The Baptist Home’s action.
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Passed the following motion: “That the President working with the Executive Board
be instructed and authorized to employ legal counsel to secure a
legal opinion in reference to the actions taken by The Baptist Home,
Windermere, Missouri Baptist College, the Missouri Baptist Foundation,
the Word & Way and any other institution which may become
self-perpetuating, and if the legal opinion indicates their actions were
improper, then we further instruct the Executive Board to take any
and all steps necessary to restore them to their former relationship
with the Missouri Baptist Convention.”
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Adopted the following resolution in opposition to the
trustee board’s decision to become self-perpetuating.
Missouri Baptist Agencies with Self-Perpetuating
Boards
Whereas, the effectiveness
of the Cooperative Program depends on the mutual trust of Baptist
agencies and the churches that support them; and
Whereas, the trustee
system was designed to give local churches a voice in the operation of
the institutions that receive their financial support; and
Whereas, the boards of
trustees for The Baptist Home, Windermere, Missouri Baptist College, The
Missouri Baptist Foundation and Word & Way have recently
voted to become self-perpetuating; and
Whereas, the boards of all
five institutions took these steps without the knowledge or approval of
the Missouri Baptist Convention; and
Whereas, such actions
appear to be in clear violation of the Constitution, Bylaws, and
Business and Financial Plan of the Missouri Baptist Convention; be it
therefore
Resolved, that we, the
messengers to the 2001 Missouri Baptist Convention, representing the
member churches thereof, hereby express our disapproval of the
actions taken by the trustees of The Baptist Home, Windermere,
Missouri Baptist College, the Missouri Baptist Foundation and Word
& Way; be it further
Resolved, that we
regard such conduct as inconsistent with the spirit of cooperative
missions, and as a serious betrayal of trust; be it finally
Resolved, that we call
upon the trustees of said agencies to rescind their actions and to
take any necessary steps of reconciliation to rebuild broken trust.
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Elected the trustees nominated by the MBC nominating
committee as required by the MBC Constitution and Bylaws, thus rejecting
the trustees elected by the self-perpetuating Trustee boards.
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Elected a slate of conservative, pro-SBC officers for the
fourth consecutive year to continue the current direction of the
Missouri Baptist Convention.
Each of these
votes and elections passed by 3-1 margins.
At a November 24, 1997
special called meeting of the MBC Executive Board, Dr. Jim Hill was
elected as the new Executive Director of the MBC.
Responding to the 37-8 vote (82%), Dr Hill stated:
“I think God speaks through the majority.
There was a strong majority, and I’d sensed God’s leadership
here and their vote was a confirmation of that.” (Word
& Way, November 27, 1997, pg. 1) However,
that was the last time an MBC moderate was elected in Missouri Baptist
life. At the 2001 annual
meeting of the MBC, the conservative, pro-SBC presidential candidate
received a 75% vote. But
apparently, Dr. Hill no longer believes that God works through the
majority vote or the democratic process.
Dr. Hill and his brother Drew Hill, an unsuccessful
Mainstream-endorsed candidate in 2000, are now leading the effort to
form a new state Baptist Convention in Missouri.
Why
were the five MBC agencies “stolen” from the MBC?
Interesting
Quotes From Mainstream/CBF Leaders
About
the “Stealing” of MBC Agencies
“…congratulations to The Baptist Home, Missouri
Baptist College, Missouri Baptist foundation, Windermere Baptist
Assembly and Word and Way news journal.
These agencies and ministries of the MBC courageously declared
themselves self-perpetuating boards, guaranteeing freedom from
Fundamentalist control.”
Doyle Sager,
writing in the November/December 2001 issue of the Baptist Voice,
the official publication of Mainstream Missouri Baptists
“A new Missouri Baptist Convention is on the
horizon, free from Fundamentalist domination.
Many of our beloved Missouri Baptist institutions have become
free from Fundamentalist control.”
Doyle Sager in his
letter announcing the closing down of Mainstream Missouri Baptist to
make way for the new state convention.
“The threat of being controlled by the
fundamentalist political mechanism that now runs the Missouri
Baptist Convention reportedly was an underlying factor in the decisions
of the five agency boards.”
Texas Baptist
Standard, the official news journal of the Baptist General
Convention of Texas
December 17, 2001.
"Regrettably, good Missouri Baptists have
elected an American version of the Taliban to lead the Missouri Baptist
Convention… I don't
blame Windermere, The Baptist Home, the Missouri Baptist Foundation, the
Word & Way, and Missouri Baptist College for deciding to elect their
own trustees rather than having the Taliban elect them."
Rudy Pulido,
pastor, Southwest Baptist Church, St. Louis writing in his November
2001 church newsletter
The
legal documents that govern the Missouri Baptist Convention
and the various MBC agencies: Do
they even matter?
Interesting
Quotes From our governing documents
Constitution
of the Missouri Baptist Convention
Article IX,
“Agencies” Section
2 “All
charters and charter changes shall be approved by the Convention upon
recommendation by the Executive Board.”
Article IX, “Agencies”
Section 3 “The
convention shall elect or approve members of the governing board of each
agency. Each board shall
have full authority over the internal operation of the agency but shall
be required to make a report of its operation and financial condition to
the annual meeting of the Convention in accordance with the Business and
Financial Plan.”
Bylaws
of the Missouri Baptist Convention
Article VII, “Boards and Agencies of the
Convention” Section 6
“Each agency may adopt its own bylaws, provided that the
bylaws are consistent with the Convention Constitution, Bylaws, and
Business and Financial Plan and with all applicable federal and state
laws.”
Business
and Financial Plan
of
the Missouri Baptist Convention
Article 15
“Charters” “All
proposed charters or amendments to charters of the agencies of the
Convention shall be submitted to the Convention, upon recommendation by
the Executive Board for approval before they become effective.
This provision shall also apply to subsidiary corporations of all
agencies. Copies of all
charters and amendments to charters shall be filed with the executive
director of the Executive Board.”
Articles
of Incorporation of the
Executive
Board of the Missouri Baptist Convention
Article 10
“The Board shall have general oversight over all
educational and benevolent institutions which shall place themselves
under its supervision and accept the conditions set forth in the Bylaws
of the Board. …The Board shall not extend any financial or other
assistance to any of such institutions whose property and funds are not
safeguarded to the Baptist denomination.”
Bylaws
of The Executive Board
of
the Missouri Baptist Convention
Article XIV,
“Educational and Benevolent Institutions” Section A
“Any educational or benevolent institution which shall
desire to be owned or operated by the Missouri Baptist Convention
through the Executive Board upon approval of the Convention shall only
be eligible under the conditions set forth in Paragraph C of this
article
Article XIV,
“Educational and Benevolent Institutions” Section B
“Any educational or benevolent institutions, cooperating in
covenant relationship with the Convention, which shall desire to receive
contributions by the Executive Board from the Cooperative Program
Allocations Budget as approved by the Missouri Baptist Convention shall
only be eligible to do so under the conditions set forth in Paragraph C
of this article.”
Article XIV,
“Educational Institutions”
Section C, #2
“The governing board shall either have been elected or approved
by the Missouri Baptist Convention.”
Article XIV,
“Benevolent Institutions”
Section C, #2
“The governing board shall either have been elected or approved
by the Missouri Baptist Convention.”
MBC
Agency Charters before amended to
become
“self-perpetuating” boards
Baptist
Home Charter
Article VII,
Section 1 “This
corporation shall be affiliated with and subject to the Missouri Baptist
Convention. The members
of the Board of Trustees of this corporation shall be nominated and
elected by the Missouri Baptist Convention at the Annual Meeting of said
Convention and shall automatically be removed upon withdrawal of the
approval by the Missouri Baptist Convention or the Executive Board of
Missouri Baptist Convention.”
Article IX
“This
agreement of the corporation may be amended by an affirmative vote of
two-thirds (2/3) of the members of the Board of Trustees at any meeting
of the said Board of Trustees provided written notice of the amendment
and the proposed wording thereof is mailed to each Trustee at least
thirty (30) days prior to the date of said meeting by the Secretary of
the corporation, and provided said Amendment is approved by the
Missouri Baptist Convention.”
Articles
of Agreement (Charter)
of
the Missouri Baptist Foundation
Article VI
“The Trustees shall be nominated and elected in
accordance with the procedures and practices of the Nominating Committee
of the Missouri Baptist Convention.”
Article VIII
“The Trustees shall have the authority, at a regular or a
special called meeting of the Board of Trustees, to amend these articles
of Agreement in any manner consistent with the purposes of the
Foundation as described in Article IV(A) herein, upon receiving the vote
of a majority of the Trustees in office, by submitting any such
amendment to the Executive Board of the Missouri Baptist Convention for
its recommendation of approval to the Missouri Baptist Convention and,
upon receiving the approval of the Missouri Baptist Convention of such
amendment…”
Charter
for the Missouri Baptist College
Article II,
Section 8
“The board of trustees shall consist of twenty-seven
persons appointed by the Missouri Baptist Convention.
At least seventy-five (75) percent of the trustees shall be
members of Baptist churches affiliated with the Missouri Baptist
Convention.”
Article II,
Section 12 “The
board of trustees may adopt one or more amendments to these articles of
incorporation subject to the approval of the Missouri Baptist
Convention upon recommendation of the Executive Board of the
Missouri Baptist Convention.”
Articles
of incorporation (Charter)
of
Windermere Baptist Conference Center
Article XII
“The board of trustees shall consist of nine persons. Three of the nine trustees shall be permanent members by
virtue of office. The
permanent members are the Missouri Baptist
Convention Executive Director, the Missouri Baptist
Convention President, and the Chairman of the Windermere Board of
Advisors. The remaining
six trustees shall be presented by the Convention Nominating Committee
for election by the Missouri Baptist Convention.”
Articles
of Incorporation (Charter) of Word & Way
Article XII
“The Board of Trustees will include 12 members.
Trustees will be nominated by the Missouri Baptist Convention
Nominating Committee and elected at the Missouri Baptist Convention
annual meeting.”
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