JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (BP)--Missouri Baptist Convention leaders said they are astonished and skeptical that moderates forming a new state convention -- many of whom have been among the SBC's most vocal critics in recent years -- now want to be in "friendly cooperation" with the Southern Baptist Convention.

The reversal in attitude by the moderates, some of whom as recently as three months ago referred to SBC supporters in Missouri as "the Taliban," was underscored as one of the proposed "core values" of the proposed "Baptist Convention of Missouri" during an information and planning meeting Jan. 17 at First Baptist Church in Sedalia. Cooperation with the SBC was also among 10 "core values" listed in a packet mailed to churches throughout the state in December inviting pastors and laymen to attend the Sedalia gathering.

"I'm shocked," said Bob Curtis, Missouri Baptist Convention president and pastor of Ballwin Baptist Church, Ballwin. "This is ridiculous. I think if they are going to cooperate with the SBC, then there is no reason to leave the MBC. We have a wonderful convention in place that is totally supportive of the SBC."

Gary Taylor, pastor of First Baptist Church in O'Fallon and the first of four consecutive conservative MBC presidents elected starting in 1998, said he was surprised by moderates' new attitude, but would like for them to answer one question: "Why are you putting so much emphasis on continuing your association with the SBC?"

Roger Moran, research director for the Missouri Baptist Laymen's Association, an organization supportive of the SBC, thinks he knows the answer.

"The Mainstream/CBF promoters of the new convention in Missouri understand the political reality that most churches in Missouri will have nothing to do with the CBF and that most of the 200 churches they have targeted to join their new convention have strong, pro-SBC constituencies," Moran said. "Most of these churches would be unwilling to join a new state convention whose only option for national or international missions is the CBF."

The planned convention proposes to create three giving options that would allow churches to support Missouri Baptist and SBC entities of their choice.

Moran noted, "For the last four years the Mainstream/CBF crowd in Missouri has relentlessly bashed the SBC at every opportunity as part of their political campaign to retain control of the MBC." ("Mainstream" is a banner used nationally by moderates opposing conservatives in state convention settings.) "Now that they have lost control of the MBC, these same Mainstream/CBF moderates are telling us that they are starting a new state convention and one of their 'core values' is to be in friendly cooperation with the SBC," Moran continued. "However, they define friendly cooperation by simply forwarding money collected from churches that join their convention. They despise the SBC's six seminaries and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission."

The Missouri Baptist Foundation is one of five entities seized by moderate/liberal-controlled trustee boards that voted in recent months to elect their own successors. Previously messengers to the annual MBC meeting elected new trustees. The five entities' trustees voted to become self-perpetuating after four straight presidential victories; the president appoints members of the powerful nominating committee, which in turn nominates trustees to the various state convention entities, pending election by messengers at the state convention.

"If [leaders of the proposed state convention] are really interested in cooperating with the SBC, then they should rescind the trustee votes making the boards self-perpetuating, accept the new trustees elected by the MBC and then cooperate with the Southern Baptist Convention through the Missouri Baptist Convention," Moran said.

The new conservative majority on the MBC executive board prompted Executive Director Jim Hill to resign, but not before he secured a $150,000 severance package that he draws while leading the effort to start a rival state convention. Conservatives have accused Hill of running interference for trustees at The Baptist Home, Windermere Conference Center, Missouri Baptist College, the Word & Way newsjournal and the Missouri Baptist Foundation while they voted to become self-perpetuating. Hill said that is untrue, that the trustees took their action to protect the entities from politics and liability issues. Hill's brother, Drew, is pastor of First Baptist Church, Sedalia, the host church for the Jan. 17 meeting and was the unsuccessful Mainstream Missouri Baptist-endorsed candidate for first vice president in the 2000 state convention elections.

The MBC responded to the trustee votes by escrowing more than $2.2 million earmarked in the 2002 budget for the five entities. It has also retained attorneys to determine if the trustee actions were illegal.

Taylor, who chairs the MBC executive board committee tasked with seeking legal counsel, declined to identify who the convention had retained. The committee is expected to give the MBC executive board the legal answers it has requested at the board's April meeting.

"We are not looking for personal gain," Curtis said. "We want the five agencies restored and reconciled to the MBC, and a legal opinion may be the only way to do that. We are supportive of the five entities in question. We just disagree with the actions of their trustees. We want all five to come back home."

Missouri opponents of the Southern Baptist Convention -- many affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) -- attempted to raise $350,000 for a two-year campaign to maintain control of the MBC. It is not known publicly how much was raised, but moderates/liberals lost every state convention election and their political organization -- Mainstream Missouri Baptists -- has folded.

Proponents of a new state convention at their Jan. 17 meeting acknowledged their efforts to appeal to churches with pro-SBC majorities that may be willing to coexist with fellow congregants on the other side of the fence. Given the radical views of some moderate/liberal congregations, however, the mix of churches in a new state convention may prove difficult.

Among the more visible churches in the proposed new convention are Southwest Baptist Church in St. Louis and Second Baptist Church in Liberty.

"Regrettably, good Missouri Baptists have elected an American version of the Taliban to lead the Missouri Baptist Convention," Rudy Pulido, Southwest's pastor, wrote in his church's November newsletter, reflecting an emerging political strategy by liberals nationally to paint religious conservatives with Taliban-like pejorative labels. Pulido is the longtime president of the St. Louis chapter of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Americans United, with its pro-homosexual, pro-pornography stances, has clashed on several occasions with Southern Baptist churches.

Pulido went on to say, "I don't blame Windermere, The Baptist Home, the Missouri Baptist Foundation, the Word & Way, and Missouri Baptist College for deciding to elect their own trustees rather than having the Taliban elect them."

Second Baptist in Liberty made news last year after messengers to the MBC's annual meeting voted to unseat them because they had severed ties with the SBC. The church also is aligned with the Alliance of Baptists, which favors ordination of homosexuals, among other pro-homosexual stances.

While MBC leaders were not surprised at a new state convention surfacing, they did express sorrow over the estrangement between some Southern Baptists.

"Every church is autonomous and free to do what they want to do. I'm saddened by it," Curtis said. "I would call on Missouri Baptists to pray, to seek the Lord and continue to support the New Directions [state evangelism strategy] in the MBC so that we turn around our declining churches and start a significant number of new ones."

Taylor said he would continue to fellowship with his moderate friends.

"I'm sorry they feel it's necessary to form a new convention, but if they feel they can be more effective in serving Christ in Missouri, then God bless them. I have no hard feelings. I'm just sorry we couldn't walk in a more united way."

There are more than 2,000 Southern Baptist churches in Missouri and one in every nine Missourians is Southern Baptist.

This article reprinted by permission from Baptist Press