WHY AM I PART OF MAINSTREAM MISSOURI BAPTISTS?
By Paul Jarrett,
Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church, Columbia, Missouri

Editor's Note: Mainstream Missouri Baptists is a new Baptist-Committed type organization seeking to save their state convention from a fundamentalist takeover. Project 1000 is the political program to accomplish the fundamentalists' agenda in Missouri.

I am part of mainstream Missouri Baptists because  they must stand up and openly resist the  misguided efforts of those in our state who,  apparently without any pang of  conscience, would impose their religious convictions  and conduct upon  the rest of us under the guise of claiming that  "it's only the way every  good Baptist thinks and acts."

This moment in the history of our beloved  state convention is nothing less than the final,  decisive struggle for true  Baptist identity in Missouri.  History, I believe, will show that at the  end of the 20th century those who withstood the  intimidation, character  assassination, and staggering violations of  conscience fundamentalists perpetrated  in the name of "doctrinal integrity" were the ones  who faithfully carried  the Baptist banner of biblical authority and  religious liberty into the next  century.

True Baptists have never been and never will be a  majority  force demanding, with chiseled minds, that every  person falls into lockstep agreement to find a place of fellowship, acceptance and  ministry among us.

Baptists are better than that, and in our present  crisis if we can't find a way to preserve our unity  without destroying  personal autonomy, then our state convention    at  least as we have  historically known it   will go the way of the  dinosaur.

It has already happened with our national  convention, no matter what anyone says.  I, for one, won't stand by and let that happen in  Missouri without giving  every ounce of personal effort and will to preserve  our unity and our  liberty in Missouri. That's why I'm part of  Mainstream Missouri Baptists.

"Oh, you're just itching for a fight," someone says.  "Why don't  Mainstream Missouri Baptists and Project 1000 both  just abandon their agendas of control?" cries another.

The answer is, first, that this is not, like so many  people seem to think, just a fight. It's a one-sided  assault! I wish some folks in Missouri who keep trying to claim the moral high  ground of neutrality would wake up and smell  reality.

Suppose you're walking down the street and you come  upon someone obviously mugging  another.  Do you just sanctimoniously say, "Why  don't those two people stop fighting?" Do you?  Maybe you do, but if the facts are clear, then  you're betraying your own conscience  and abandoning those in need by your refusal to get  involved.

Thirty-eight neighbors with the same attitude looked on when someone murdered Kitty Genovese  under a streetlight in Queens, NY, in 1964.   I  can't and won't be that way  about our Missouri Baptist Convention. That's why  I'm part of Mainstream  Missouri Baptists.

About both groups giving up our agendas in favor of  MBC's New Directions  strategy, I am one member of Mainstream Missouri  Baptists who says,  "Hallelujah, let's do it!" I stand ready and willing  at the drop of a  hat to renounce any efforts at organizing convention  votes and pour all  my efforts into New Directions missions efforts if  those who are driving the take-over attempt of the Missouri Baptist  Convention will publicly cease  and desist their efforts.

Nevertheless, if I do it unilaterally, then you and  I both  are going to be under fundamentalist control before  we can shake a stick.

How can I say that? Because neither I nor anyone  else in Mainstream Missouri  Baptists have ever accused folks like Roger Moran,  Gerald Davidson, or  Gary Taylor, for example, of not believing in the  complete trustworthiness  and authority of the Bible.

We don't have a problem we know of with those  folks or any Missouri Baptists similarly, and we've  never stated any  agenda of doctrinal conformity, but they have!

Ninety-nine percent of the Missouri Baptists I know  believe the Bible with all their heart, love  Jesus, and want to see others come to Him. I trust  Missouri Baptists. I want  to work with any and every Missouri Baptist who  wants to work with me!

Some of you have told me that you can live with  things  either way in our state   either fundamentalist  control or trust and  cooperation among all Missouri Baptists. That's  unbelievable to me. I'm  sorry, but I just can't live "either way."

Give me allegiance of conscience to Christ and  Scripture alone or give me another way of life!  That's why I'm part of Mainstream Missouri Baptists.

Now, if Mainstream Missouri Baptists don't have a  "theological" agenda,  what is our agenda? Power? Control? Get serious!  There is  not one  impulse in my body, mind or soul that makes me want  to dictate anyone's doctrinal  beliefs or keep them out of leadership in the  Missouri Baptist Convention.

I ultimately accepted membership on the MBC  Executive Board only because I  am conscience bound to resist control.  I felt that  was one way to work  toward that goal.

I am willing to do this. If the leaders of Project  1000  will take the first step by renouncing their  takeover effort and make  a covenant to work with all faithful Missouri  Baptists,  not only will I  resign from Mainstream Missouri Baptists, I will  immediately resign my seat on  the MBC Executive Board.

I will pray fervently that God puts forth a brother  or  sister who is currently involved with Project 1000  to take my place!  I'll gladly give up that role, but don't ask me to  give up my freedom in  Christ or submit my conscience to anyone but God!

As a Missouri Baptist and one of four sons of a  Baptist preacher, I love  the Bible   and have ever since my mother first  began reading Bible stories  to me at night. I love Jesus and have as long as I  can remember  especially since I invited Him into my life when I  was six years old.

I love the work of the ministry and believe with all  my heart that a personal relationship  with Jesus Christ is the most important one any  person can ever have.  I love the Missouri Baptist Convention, and I pray  that I will always love  and want to work with all my fellow Missouri  Baptists. I believe that's the  way it ought to be, and that's why I'm a part of  Mainstream Missouri  Baptists.

Yes, unfortunately, there are two sides in Missouri  Baptist life today,  but there are only two sides! You must be on one  side or the other. Which  side are you on   the side of desiring to work with  as many fellow Missouri  Baptists as possible, or the one of dividing and  labeling people as  unacceptable just because they don't believe like  you do in every detail?

In fact, not to decide is to decide. If you can't  identify with the  cause of Mainstream Missouri Baptists, then at least  don't abandon your  conscience in silence. You will live to regret it.

October 1999