By Bob Allen
After 10 years of litigation, the head of the Missouri Baptist Foundation says it is time for Missouri Baptist Convention leaders to discuss compromise in an ongoing legal battle between the two organizations over who gets to elect the Foundation’s trustees.
Chris Calmer, president of the Missouri Baptist Foundation since August 2011, said in an open letter to Missouri Baptist leaders Oct. 9 that he believes the two parties can resolve their dispute if “Christian brothers and sisters” are willing to dialogue about finding some common ground.
The Foundation is one of five entities sued by the MBC in 2002 after they changed governing documents to elect their own trustees instead of those nominated by the state convention. The others were The Baptist Home, Windermere Baptist Conference Center, Missouri Baptist University and the Baptist newspaper Word&Way.
The convention dropped Word&Way from the original lawsuit in 2010, but litigation continues in the other four disputes. The Foundation lawsuit recently was delayed further when a three-judge panel for the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, found Sept. 18 that a district judge “rushed to judgment” in a ruling in favor of the state convention on Dec. 31, 2010, and returned the case back to the lower court. Lawyers expect the development to prolong the legal process for up to two years.
Calmer said at this point, whatever the courts decide will set up a lose/lose situation for the two entities. If the convention wins, there could be potential fallout from existing Foundation clients and donors who supported the move to a self-supporting trustee board. If the Foundation prevails, it is unlikely that denominational entities and churches supportive of the convention will want to do business with someone who has defeated them in a lawsuit.
All parties, he said, should agree that it’s better to use Baptist resources for ministry than for legal fees.
“I propose finding some common ground,” Calmer wrote. “While I cannot bind our governing board to a specific action, I can assure you they would welcome discussions that could make a difference in finding some areas of compromise or resolution outside of the courts and without all parties incurring more legal fees. This, I believe, provides a mutually beneficial and redemptive solution for all involved.”
Calmer’s letter comes in advance of the Missouri Baptist Convention’s annual meeting scheduled Oct. 29-31 in St. Louis. Calmer sent a similar letter prior to last year’s convention, but some people accused the Foundation of trying to defend a weak position after losing a key court battle.
Calmer said that was not the case last year, and the fact that the appellate court since found the 2010 ruling incomplete and not yet ready for appeal is not the point now. “The point of this letter is simply requesting an open dialogue among Christian brothers and sisters, to determine ways we can bring this litigation to an end,” he wrote.
In a statement released late Oct. 11, Missouri Baptist Convention communications director Rob Phillps agreed that legal action is costly and should never be a Christian’s first response, but said it was the Foundation that first broke trust with Missouri Baptists. He said the state convention “has a moral and fiduciary responsibility to protect the assets of all Missouri Baptists.”