JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP) — The conservatives who control the Missouri Baptist Convention are divided over the leadership of their executive director, David Clippard, who could face a vote of dismissal tomorrow (Sept. 22).
A closed-door meeting of the board has been called for 10 a.m. (CT) at the MBC headquarters in Jefferson City. Although billed as a “unity and reconciliation” meeting, sources on both sides of the divide say they expect a motion to dismiss Clippard or declare the position vacant.
Dissatisfaction with Clippard focuses on some unusual expenditures as well as his relationships with state Baptist leaders, including directors of the state's local Baptist associations. But his defenders, including some associational directors, say the attacks are politically motivated by conservatives who, now that they have forced moderates out of the convention, have turned on each other.
“It appears more and more certain that there have been and are efforts to gain enough Executive Board support to dismiss David Clippard as our executive director….” wrote Jim Plymale, director of missions for the Franklin Baptist Association near St. Louis, in an e-mail to his colleagues. “We simply must sound the alarm, bring this out in the open and stop it now, before we destroy what is left of our good convention ministry and fellowship.”
Executive Board member Doug Austin, in another e-mail being circulated, added: “And the problem is a select few that [are] going 'back door' — and that is their own term — to undermine David Clippard and his effective leadership.”
Austin, who is a layman from Cape Girardeau, added: “I have been told that the 'liberals' are saying, 'All we have to do is stand on the sidelines and let the conservatives destroy themselves. They get rid of the so-called liberals and then have to move on to getting rid of something else.'”
Many moderate Missouri Baptists in recent years have pulled out of the historic state convention to form their own group, the Baptist General Convention of Missouri. Fundamentalists and conservatives cemented their control of the convention in 1999, after a campaign to elect a string of presidents who would make conservative appointments to MBC boards and committees.
The convention's new leaders hired Clippard after the previous executive director, Jim Hill, resigned in protest of their actions.
Clippard's critics are not talking publicly. Roger Moran, research director for the Missouri Baptist Laymen's Association, did not return a phone call from Associated Baptist Press seeking comment on the story. E-mails circulated among Missouri Baptist leaders identify Moran and Jay Scribner of Branson as among those opposing Clippard.
Moran was one of the architects of the conservative effort to wrest control of the convention from moderates, and Scribner was one of the convention presidents Moran's movement helped elect.
Clippard also did not respond to a request to discuss the called meeting. Reporters expect not to be allowed into the meeting room.
Clippard got crossways with the Executive Board when he opposed the board's decision to contribute $100,000 to a political coalition against embryonic stem-cell research. He also opposed the board's allocation of $200,000 for Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, a Southern Baptist school in Kansas City, Mo. Those positions demonstrated to many that he was out of step with the majority of conservative leaders.
Two years ago, the convention signed a secret contract to sell its headquarters property to Cole County officials for $2.75 million, but the deal fell through when voters blocked a sales-tax increase to fund the new county facilities to be built on the downtown site. Clippard fired the associate editor of the convention's conservative newspaper, The Pathway, for revealing details of the contract.
In a move that reduced Clippard's authority, the executive board later removed Pathway editor Don Hinkle from under Clippard's supervision, making him accountable directly to a committee of the board.
Clippard also drew criticism for settling a harassment lawsuit filed against him by former convention controller Carol Kaylor. And he has been criticized for poor relationships with associational directors and leaders of the state's Woman's Missionary Union.
His supporters, however, credit him with building a strong convention staff and refocusing Missouri Baptists on outreach.
“I am excited about the priority and the emphasis that has been placed upon evangelism, church planting and missions by Dr. Clippard and his staff….” Austin wrote. “Have some mistakes been made? Certainly. But the progress has been substantial. And the good that has been done far outweighs the few difficulties that have surfaced.”
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