Peace Committee brings hope to warring MBC factions
By Allen Palmeri
Associate Editor
JEFFERSON CITY—John Marshall, pastor, Second Baptist Church, Springfield, and Jay Scribner, retired pastor, First Baptist Church, Branson, used to be good friends, but last year they wound up being political rivals.
They decided to run for officer positions on opposing political tickets at the 173rd annual meeting of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC). Marshall was elected second vice president on the Save Our Convention (SOC) slate, and Scribner lost his race for first vice president on the Missouri Baptist Layman’s Association (MBLA) slate.
The activities of both conservative political organizations are well-known in Missouri Baptist circles, with their differences of opinion on assorted issues and projection of their various strong personalities going out all over the world by means of the Internet. Their perceptions about the causes, motivations and events concerning the firing of former MBC Executive Director David Clippard last April also have diverged.
Marshall and Scribner are tired of all of that.
“The troubles began to set in a year or so ago, and we woke up one day and found ourselves on two different sides,” Marshall said. “We were kind of wondering, ‘What happened there?’ Yesterday (April 14) and last night, it didn’t take 15 minutes of me talking to Jay for us again to find out who we are and what we are. We’re sitting here today because we’re friends. We always have been friends. We love one another and we’ve got to get past the rancor.”
They hope to be part of something that may, by the grace of God alone, lead to the restoration of many friendships. They pray that what they modeled on April 15 in the Baptist Building, sitting together at a table in the middle of the Gold Room, will wind up superseding politics in a Christ-honoring way.
“God demands truth in the inward parts from all of us,” Scribner said. “And so consequently, we’re going to have to do that. We’re going to have to be honest with one another. True fellowship means transparent acceptance. Somehow we’re going to have to get to the point and the place where that’s what we’ve got among Missouri Baptists.”
The MBC Executive Board voted with opposition to appoint an ad hoc peace committee consisting of Marshall, Scribner, and five other men whose names have been associated with frequent displays of political activity and accusations of divisiveness over the last couple of years. The idea is to let the nationally known Peacemaker Ministries, founded by Ken Sande, serve as a mediator—to work things out in Missouri Baptist life to the glory of God alone.
Others on the committee are: Bruce McCoy, pastor, Canaan Baptist Church, St. Louis, and MBC first vice president; Wesley Hammond, pastor, First Baptist Church, Paris; Jeff Purvis, pastor, First Baptist Church, Herculaneum-Peveley; Jeff White, pastor, South Creek Church, Springfield; and Roger Moran, laity, First Baptist Church, Troy. McCoy has been elected first vice president on both the MBLA and SOC slates, Hammond is a founding leader of SOC, Purvis and White have been aligned with MBLA and Moran is research director for MBLA, otherwise known as “Right to Know.”
“We will have a good presentation of the feelings that are going on in the state,” Scribner said. “I’m not sure where you would stop with numbers, because our different circles have taken us to where we’ve heard things, we’ve felt things, we’ve sensed things, so if you’re going to bring it down to seven, those seven probably will be a good presentation of the climate that’s out there in the state.”
Marshall agreed.
“There will be no shortage of viewpoints brought to the table,” he said.
On April 14, Marshall and Scribner participated in a deeply spiritual process with a small group of leaders near the end of the Administrative Committee meeting that helped lead to the formation of the peace committee. Marshall endeavored to speak first in the power of the Holy Spirit by means of confessing sin. The following day, speaking before the entire Executive Board, he revealed a few details of the meeting, saying, “I do feel there is already a level of repentance going out into the committee that’s going to help make it successful.”
On April 14, in a room filled with leaders who have been at odds with each other for many months if not years, Marshall risked rejection by initiating repentance.
“It wasn’t as big a risk as it looked like,” he said. “I do feel that we’re all just tired, this has gone far enough, let’s get to the table, let’s get on with life.”
Scribner in the same meeting spoke with passion and zeal concerning our desperate need for honesty, transparency and biblical repentance.
“I think it was the beginning of some open communication,” he said, “even though some of that might have been harsh. Again, people have to be honest. Even when you say things that might be harsh, if you speak the truth in love, then God can work through that.”
Jody Shelenhamer, laity, First Baptist Church, Bolivar, was the Executive Board member who brought the motion for the peace committee. Shelenhamer said he was up late April 14 praying in a group. He remained awake on into the early morning hours of April 15, praying by himself in his hotel room about the matter.
“I’ve been in several committee meetings and I’ve said to people, ‘What’s it going to take to get this fixed?’” Shelenhamer said. “I just want to see us come together united.
“We agree on way more than what we disagree on. Everybody that I’ve talked to in this building has wanted to be reconciled.”
Kent Cochran, laity, Calvary Baptist Church, Republic, had earlier proposed the idea of a Missouri Baptist peace committee based on a previous model used in the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1980s.
“I’m just glad to be a small part of what I hope is the beginning of a peaceful result,” Cochran said. “Peace cannot be our goal. Our goal has to be God’s standards, and peace will be the result of God’s standards.”
