Saturday, October 26, 2013, forty-five messengers representing eighteen churches along with several visitors gathered in the facilities of Bethany Baptist Church in St. Louis for the 86th Annual Meeting of the Baptist Missionary Association of Missouri. Another thirty-eight churches represented by letter only.
Moderator Claude Evans asked Bro. Harrison Soldona from Lindsay Lane Baptist Church in Florissant to lead the opening song. He was accompanied by Sis. Ladonna Baker at the piano.
Bro. James Hoffmann extended a warm welcome to everyone present before he introduced the new pastor of Lindsay Lane, Bro. Drew Sawyer, who brought a challenging devotional about letting our Light Shine as Jesus instructed us in Matthew 5.
Two petitionary letters were read.
The West Doniphan Baptist Church, Doniphan, MO, and the Abundant Life in Christ Church in Charleston, MO petitioned for membership in the BMA of MO. A motion and second passed to accept these churches into the Association. Bro. James Hoffmann welcomed those present from Abundant Life in Christ into our association. No one was present from West Doniphan.
Bro. Evans pointed out that there needs to be some clarification regarding two statements in our By-Laws which cause some confusion. These statements are found on pages 10 and 11 of the 2012 Minutes.
Under Article IV – Meetings, Section 1, part A, it says “The host pastor shall be in charge of planning the worship service” for the Annual Meeting.
Article VI – Officers, Section 5 it says “The messengers shall, in annual session, elect a speaker and alternate to bring the annual message the following year.”
A motion and second passed to remove Section 5 from Article VI which gives the responsibility of selecting a speaker for the worship service in the annual meeting to the host pastor.
The following reports were given at various times during the meeting:
The ALIVE report by Brad Banderman; Brotherhood report by Dennis Baker; WMA Report by Terri Adams; Missouri Missionary Baptist Loan Association Report by Dennis Baker, Ted Hurley and David Griggs; the Kenneth E. Gibson Seminary Student Grant Fund Report by James Hoffmann; the Publications Committee Report by James Hoffmann and Jim Ford; The Encampment Committee Report by Chris Polk; the Clerk’s Report was read by Assistant Clerk, Dale Fish; the Missionary Committee Report by Wayne Gibson, Brian Meade, Danny Kirk, and Jamie Jones; and the Resolutions Committee Report by Tom McCanless.
The following were elected to serve in their respective positions with their term ending in ( ): Chris Dicus – ALIVE Committee (2017); Loan Association Officers – all six re-elected (2018); Jim Ford – Publications Committee (2016); and Dan Wisely – Encampment Committee (2018).
Wayne Gibson was re-elected as Chairman of the Missionary Committee along with Dennis Baker as Assistant Chairman and Jerry Adams as Clerk. Ray Thurman was elected and Assistant Clerk.
Claude Evans was re-elected as President of the BMA of MO and Ray Thurman was re-elected as Vice President.
James Hoffmann was elected as Editor of the Missouri Missionary Baptist paper and Don Burke was re-elected as Assistant Editor. It was noted that the paper is in need of special offerings or increased monthly support as adequate funds are not coming in each month. A motion and second passed to give $800 from our Mission Treasury to the paper in order to pay the editor the Christmas bonus we voted to give him last year. Expenses for the last two years have been about $300 a month more than income and our balance in getting very low.
Chris Polk was re-elected as Camp Superintendent and Treasure with Jerry Adams re-elected as Assistant in both positions.
Danny Kirk was re-elected as Missions Director with James Hoffmann as Assistant Director.
Tom McCanless, Rodney Dunlap and Wayne Gibson were appointed as the 2014 Resolutions Committee and Russell Chitwood, Denver Page and Matt Bolen were appointed as the 2014 Enrollment Committee.
A total of $2,250 was received for Minute Fund and Clerk Hire. The Clerk’s salary was set at $1,125 for this year.
The 2014 Annual Meeting will be at Landmark Baptist church in DeSoto, MO and the 2014 Mission Symposium and Semi-annual Meeting will be at Faith Baptist Church in St. Charles, MO.
We were honored to have the following representative of our National Association departments present to give reports of their various areas of labor: DiscipleGuide – Mike Jenkins; BMAA Missions – David Norvell; BMA Seminary – Van Widger; and National WMA – Janet Widger.
Bro. Russell Chitwood brought an inspirational message using Matthew 28:18-20 in which he emphasized that our Master, Mission, Message and Method never changes as we carry God’s Word to the World.
A rising vote of appreciation was given to the host church for their hospitality and the closing prayer was offered as all preachers present formed a circle and held hands in the altar.
