The Missouri Baptist Convention Executive Board will consider Dr. David Tolliver for the position of Missouri Baptist Convention Executive Director during their February meeting (February 3):
(Missouri Baptist Convention Pathway) JEFFERSON CITY—David Tolliver, who has served as interim executive director for the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) since April 2007, will be recommended for the job permanently at a special called meeting of the MBC Executive Board Feb. 3.The board is expected to discuss calling Tolliver to the position and vote, up or down, on his candidacy, according to James Freeman, chairman of the Executive Director Search Committee and a layman from Country Meadows Baptist Church, Independence. The meeting will take place at 11 a.m. at the Baptist Building.
Tolliver, 58, is well known throughout Missouri as a pastor who has stood in pulpits and shepherded flocks from St. Louis to Mid-Missouri to Kansas City. Those churches include: Calvary Baptist and Oak Hill Baptist in St. Louis (8½ years total after a merger); Friendship Baptist, California (5 years); and Pisgah Baptist, Excelsior Springs (6 years).Over the last two decades he has worn multiple hats as both a Southern Baptist and Missouri Baptist leader, serving on several national and state boards and committees.
His work includes: Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Executive Committee, 1992-2000; SBC Committee on Nominations, 1999; MBC president, 2004; MBC recording secretary, 2002; president of the Missouri Baptist Pastors’ Conference, 2000; MBC Agency Restoration Group since its inception in 2002; Southwest Baptist University trustee, 2002-2007; and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustee, 2002-2008).
... (see remainder of article in the MBC Pathway here).
(Missouri Baptist Convention Pathway) JEFFERSON CITY—Founders of the annual prayer service for Missouri government leaders at Concord Baptist Church have always said that the event is bigger than any one person, yet Jan. 7 was notable in that it ended the five-year run of a familiar friend—Gov. Matt Blunt.
Blunt, a Missouri Southern Baptist who worships at Second [Baptist Church of] Springfield, never missed a service after he attended the first one in 2005 as governor-elect.
His actions revealed his abiding belief that prayer works, and members of the three sponsoring entities—the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) Christian Life Commission (CLC), The Pathway, and the host church—came to appreciate his consistency.
It seemed inevitable that the 2009 service would have a warm moment. Five days before he was to leave office, the governor heard Michael Knight, prayer service master of ceremonies, pastor of First Baptist Church, Viburnum, and member of the MBC Executive Board, thank him for his faithful service while in office due to his good character.
Departing from tradition, many of the 200 or so attendees applauded a man, causing the governor to examine his shortcomings before a holy God.
“It was too kind,” Blunt said. “I’m a fallible person, and I’m aware of that, but it’s been a real privilege to attend this event through my years as governor... .”
Jay Nixon, a Democrat, has since succeeded Blunt, a Republican, as governor.
(See: Governor Provided Annual Reminder of Prayer’s Priority here.)
