OSAGE BEACH – Proposed resolutions messengers considered stirred passions at the 177th Missouri Baptist Convention annual meeting, which was otherwise a quiet one.
Resolutions on pornography and the possibility of changing the name of the Southern Baptist Convention garnered the most discussion.
Resolutions Committee Chair Ron Foley leads in the presentation of seven resolutions to MBC messengers. Seated at right is Parliamentarian Duane Benton. Standing behind him is committee member Nathan Argent.
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Phil Bray of Macon questioned a reference in the resolution on pornography, the church and family that referred to the divine nature of humans. Bray argued that people do not have a divine nature.
The resolution also called for each person to be "treated with dignity, respect and reverence." Reverence belongs to God, Bray said, not people, and requested the word be changed to "honor."
While the resolutions committee agreed with the changes, some messengers did not. A messenger from Holt argued that "anything created by God is divine." Allan Cobb of Kansas City responded that God created the entire world but the world is not divine.
Messengers approved the resolution with Bray's changes.
Several messengers were sharply divided over the possibility that the Southern Baptist Convention would change its name, even though the proposed resolution only asked Missouri Baptists to contact the SBC's Name Change Task Force to express their opinions.
SBC President Bryant Wright appointed the task force at the SBC Executive Com_mittee's Sept. 19-20 meeting. Micah Fries, pastor of Frederick Boulevard Baptist Church in St. Joseph and MBC second vice president, was among the appointees.
Jim Laws of Joplin pointed out that being Southern Baptist had been respected and had opened doors throughout his ministry.
Others, such as Mike Hubbard of Eureka Church, noted the name can hinder outreach. Hubbard, an African-American church planter in St. Louis, said his group sees his work with the MBC as a racial issue.
Randy Comer, director of missions for Barry County Baptist Association, proposed the convention go on record supporting the Southern Baptist name.
Instead, messengers voted to strike the resolution from the list.
Messengers adopted a resolution on the sanctity of life submitted by Carol Wessel Boyer to thank those Missouri lawmakers who vote to protect human life and to call on Missouri Baptists to pray and work for an end to abortion.
They approved a resolution to stand against the national policy of an open homosexual policy in the military, and one that calls on the U.S. Department of Justice to enforce pornography laws.
Messengers also passed a resolution on American law in Missouri's court system, with one change. The resolution "opposes the imposition of any system of jurisprudence that denies individuals the freedoms accorded to citizens in the Bill of Rights."
Some messengers believed the wording would allow anyone, including terrorists, to benefit from the U.S. legal system. They changed the word "individuals" to "U.S. citizens" and adopted the resolution with that change.
They also adopted a resolution of appreciation for those who worked to arrange and lead the meeting.
