Just breaking news informs us that messengers to the Missouri Baptist Convention in their annual meeting rejected the officer slate promoted by Roger Moran.  Moran led the Project1000 movement that effectively seized control of the Missouri convention a decade ago.  Reputedly, many supporters of the “conservative resurgence” in the Southern Baptist Convention have tired of the legalistic spirit and the increased tightening of control by Moran, his five-member Missouri Baptist Laymen’s Association and other Project 1000 insiders.

Interestingly, those who opposed Moran’s group held rallies under the name “Save Our Convention.”  (Although used by conservatives, that will sound familiar to moderates of a decade or two ago.)  At the rallies, speakers decried the power of the laymen’s association and its allies. They criticized Moran groups not only for having an inordinate amount of influence in the selection of trustees to state convention boards and commissions, but also for positioning themselves on the most powerful boards and committees in Missouri and Southern Baptist life.

Gerald Davidson, the newly elected president of the convention is quoted as saying,  “I think Missouri Baptists just got tired of the fact that they really didn’t feel like they were given a choice,” he explained. “Everything was already handpicked for them, the committees were being built and stacked, and there was great dissatisfaction with that. Missouri Baptists want to be heard.”     

This is a case of Baptists being Baptists.  One of our hallmarks is independence and autonomy.  Baptists will not long tolerate being “controlled.” We resist control by civil authorities and fiercely defend the separation of church and state, i.e. the state should not control or dictate to the church, and the church should not control or dictate to the state.  We resist control by an association or convention of fellow Baptists.  We choose to cooperate with such organizations but will not be dictated to by them.  We resist control by a dictatorial pastor or deacon body.  The “pastor as ruler of the church” model is being  pushed by some Baptists, but it has caused strife and division in many churches whose members will not accept such control.

Regrettably, many contemporary Baptists have forsaken the Baptist spirit of freedom in order to force other Baptists into their mold.  But Baptists being Baptists, I anticipate more incidences like this one in Missouri.  I don’t just anticipate them, I pray for them.