Missouri Baptists Stay Conservative

Conservatives maintained control of the 623,000-member Missouri Baptist Convention at a meeting held just after the Texas convention moved the opposite way by radically reducing support for the headquarters and seminaries of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Missouri representatives endorsed revisions in the Southern Baptist doctrinal platform that were a major cause of the Texas rebellion. They also elected state officers backed by the conservative “Project 1000” organization for the third year in a row.

At the Arkansas annual Baptist meeting, a majority voted to endorse the revised doctrinal platform, but the measure failed for lack of two-thirds support. Voters also supported the national Southern Baptist budget and urged resistance to the Atlanta-based Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which opposes Southern Baptist policies.