Word & Way to be ousted from Baptist building

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Word & Way, the Baptist newspaper involved in a legal battle with Missouri Baptist Convention, has been told to vacate the convention-owned space it occupies by March 1.

In addition, materials belonging to the newsjournal and stored in another area of the convention headquarters in Jefferson City have been locked away from the staff of the 100-plus-year-old paper.

In the past two years, the boards of Word & Way, the Baptist Home, Missouri Baptist University, Missouri Baptist Foundation and Windermere Baptist Conference Center have changed their charters to allow those entities — rather than the Missouri Baptist Convention — to elect trustees. In August, the convention filed legal action against the institutions. The convention has since started its own newspaper, the Pathway, also housed in the Baptist Building.