JACKSON, Miss. (ABP) — Messengers to the 2007 annual meeting of the Mississippi Baptist Convention elected a president by acclamation for the fifth year in a row and adopted a record budget Oct. 30-31.
Meeting at First Baptist Church of Jackson, where the convention has gathered for decades, messengers elected a new president without opposition. He is Mickey Dalrymple, pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Columbus. Dalrymple currently serves as president of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board and as a member of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee.
David Hamilton, pastor of West Heights Baptist Church in Ponotoc, was elected as first vice president. Hamilton defeated Tommy King, president of Baptist-affiliated William Carey University in Hattiesburg.
Steve Mooneyham, director of missions for Gulf Coast Baptist Association in Gulfport, was elected second vice president over Truman Scarborough, director of Yalobusha Baptist Association in Water Valley.
The convention's proposed 2008 Cooperative Program budget, which totals $34,263,763, reflects an overall increase of 3.24 percent from last year's budget. Messengers unanimously adopted the record-setting budget Oct. 31.
More than 970 messengers registered for the meeting.
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