Missouri ministers seek to ‘save convention’

Missouri ministers seek to ‘save convention’

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — Eleven ministers who supported conservatives’ efforts to take control of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) now say that the people they put in power have taken conservatism too far. The group voiced its concerns publicly in a Save Our Convention information session May 15 at First Baptist Church, Harvester, in St. Charles, Mo. The meeting was attended by an estimated 175 people.

The ministers were among some of the most prominent in Missouri in helping implement the Project 1000 plan devised by Roger Moran, a layman who struggled for several years before turning the state body firmly to the right.

The 11 identified Moran as being most responsible for overly tight control of representation on MBC boards and excluding qualified conservatives from trustee service. The Project 1000 name came from Moran’s strategy of getting 1,000 conservative messengers to turn out at state convention annual meetings to defeat moderate candidates for office.

The disgruntled ministers also expressed dissatisfaction with Moran’s Missouri Baptist Laymen’s Association, the MBC nominating committee, the MBC executive board and the official convention newspaper, The Pathway.

Organizers urged attendees to get out the vote at the MBC’s annual meeting Oct. 29–31 in Osage Beach, Mo., to bring about needed changes.