JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri Baptist Convention's Executive Board has chosen John Yeats to assume the MBC's top post.
Meeting in a special called session Oct. 13 at the Baptist Building, board members elected Yeats, recording secretary for the Southern Baptist Convention and a member of its executive committee, by a vote of 34-3, with one abstention. According to the MBC news journal, Pathway, 10 board members did not attend, and MBC President John Marshall abstained from voting.
Yeats will address messengers during the opening session of the MBC annual meeting at Tan-Tar-A Oct. 31. A reception will be hosted for him following the service.
Serving the SBC since 1997, Yeats currently is the director of communications and public policy for the Louisiana Baptist Convention, a post he has held since September 2005.
Before accepting the Louisiana position, he was editor of the Oklahoma Baptist Messenger, and had been the director of communications and editor of the state paper for the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana. He also has served as a pastor in Texas and Kansas. He blogs about church leadership, family advocacy and faith at johnyeats.net.
After earning an undergraduate degree at Dallas Baptist University, he completed a master of divinity degree at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He earned a doctor of ministry degree at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctor of divinity from the American Christian College and Seminary in Bethany, Okla.
Yeats replaces David Tolliver, who resigned Jan. 6. In a statement released the next day, the MBC said Tolliver's resignation was due to immoral behavior.