JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP and BP) – David Clippard, embattled executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention, was fired April 10 by the convention's Executive Board.
Following a second closed-door meeting about Clippard's leadership within six months, Executive Board members voted 44-7 (with one abstention) to terminate him immediately, according to the convention's attorney, Michael Whitehead. Whitehead also said that Clippard's termination didn't translate into a “rejection of David Clippard and his conviction to plant churches worldwide,” adding that he still possesses the same gifts and talents that attracted the board to Clippard four years and eight months ago.
David Tolliver, MBC associate executive director, was named interim executive director.
Although Clippard, a conservative, was hired in 2002 by the conservatives who control the Missouri Baptist Convention and its Executive Board, several decisions in recent years demonstrated to many that he was out of step with the majority of those leaders. In an emotional, closed-door showdown last September between Clippard and Baptist powerbroker Roger Moran, board members reportedly argued over Clippard's leadership but took no vote.
On Dec. 12, the executive board formed a committee to investigate the sources and veracity of allegations regarding leaders within the convention.
Critics viewed Clippard's style as autocratic and dismissive. He drew criticism for settling a harassment lawsuit filed against him by former convention controller Carol Kaylor. He later opposed the Executive Board's decision to contribute $100,000 to a political coalition against embryonic stem-cell research and $200,000 to Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo. He fired the associate editor of the MBC's paper, Pathways, for printing information Clippard believed should not have been shared regarding the potential sale of the MBC office building in Jefferson City.
Clippard was associate executive director of the Oklahoma convention when he was hired by the Missouri board.