JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP) — The executive board of the Missouri Baptist Convention will convene Friday, Jan. 14, in a special meeting to hear details of the state executive director's resignation for "immoral behavior."
In an internal e-mail dated Jan. 7 obtained by Associated Baptist Press, convention president John Marshall said Executive Director David Tolliver submitted his resignation, effective immediately, on Thursday afternoon.
Marshall, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Springfield, Mo., said he and another pastor were asked to attend a meeting with Tolliver and an unnamed associational director of missions Jan. 6. Before they arrived, Marshall said, Tolliver "had already resigned in response to allegations made by a woman."
Marshall said both the executive board meeting scheduled at 2:30 p.m. and a preceding called meeting of the administrative committee at 1:00 would be in executive session.
Tolliver, 60, had been executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention since February 2009. Before that he served 22 months as interim executive director after the executive board fired his predecessor, David Clippard, in 2007 for reasons including low morale in the Baptist Building and conduct and comments deemed unprofessional by convention leaders.
Frank Page, president of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, released a statement about Tolliver's resignation through Baptist Press. "It is disheartening to learn of any fellow believer succumbing to sinful choices," Page said. "It is doubly so when the individual is in a visible and trusted role of ministry leadership."
In his e-mail to Missouri Baptist leaders, Marshall said Jay Hughes, associate executive director of support services, has been named acting interim director until the administrative committee can bring a final recommendation to the executive board.
"At this moment, all our energy must be directed toward ministering to our personnel in the Baptist Building," Marshall wrote.
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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.
Previous ABP stories:
Mo. convention cites 'immoral behavior' in exec's resignation (1/7)
David Tolliver named Missouri executive director (2/3/2009)
Embattled Missouri exec fired in closed meeting (4/11/2007)