on the untimely passing of Don Hinkle

As many of you know Don Hinkle, founding editor of the Missouri Baptist Conventions “Pathway”, stepped into the presence of Jesus yesterday. Recently, he had planned to transition away from the Pathway at the end of the year, yet his transition came early and to a much better position. The day his transition was announced I had the opportunity to say “Thank you” for his years of service and express my excitement of his next venture. If you knew Don you knew that he cared deeply about serving churches and consistently helped Baptist across the nation to to articulate a biblical worldview in all aspects of life.

Whenever we would visit would talk about everything from Jesus, politics, sports, bowties and the state of journalism amongst other things. Under his leadership Missouri Baptist experienced many years of Kingdom service. While I am sad to see him pass, I know he is in heaven reunited with his sweet Bernadette and walking the Streets of Gold! Nevertheless, I have hope that I will see them both again in glory as we worship at the Throne of the Lamb, but for now we grieve, knowing that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away.

Thank you, Don Hinkle, for your friendship, leadership, love for the Kingdom of God
, and commitment to Southern Baptists.

Statement on SBC Guidepost Solutions’ Independent Investigation

Dear Missouri Baptists,

During the March 7- 8 Excutive Board meeting the Board created the Sexual Abuse Response Team “to review and recommend MBC responses and action steps to take after receipt of the report of the SBC Sex Abuse Task Force (SATF)…”. We wanted to take a moment to respond to this report as well as offer you some encouragement, wisdom, and counsel.

Doubtlessly, many of you have seen in various news outlets that the SATF has released the report from the independent investigation by Guidepost Solutions. Last June, the messengers to the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention who gathered in Nashville, TN authorized a third-party investigation into the Executive Committee’s handling of sexual abuse allegations since 2000.

The findings of that investigation were released Sunday and have been in headline news since. Our team has individually reviewed, and will continue to review, the report. In light of its findings, we feel compelled to say the following:

We were sickened by the details we read in the report.
The third-party investigation was judiciously carried out and we have every reason to believe its findings are accurate.
We grieve the abuse perpetrated by men, churches, and convention entities who should have been trusted and lament the shame they brought on the cause of Christ in the world.

We want to be clear. This report reveals an ongoing pattern of sin, idolatrous use of power, and callousness toward the abused. The report made several recommendations for institutional change and cultural repentance. We are grateful for those leaders and staff members whom the report revealed were serving faithfully throughout different levels of our denomination.

In this time of shock and grief, we offer you two counsels that are prayerfully given and biblically sourced. First, this is a time for prayer, for the abused, for justice, for lamentation and repentance of the perpetrators and our denomination. Second, we urge you to consider careful and wise responses in this season and that we approach this with a spirit of humility and lamentation.

We want to engage our denomination as bringers of change. We pray that in Anaheim our advocacy and action as cooperating churches will foster a new spirit of justice, righteousness, and compassion for our fellow Southern Baptists as we continue our gospel mission.

One of the best ways for your church to make clear your desire for change is to join us at the annual convention in Anaheim, CA (June 12-15). We are encouraged by those concerned with our integrity on these issues and we hope that we can be a part of that change in church culture. We can do that by loving one another well, and walking with integrity and grace in our own circumstances. We are hopeful that the future of the SBC can and will be different.

Respectfully,

Missouri Baptist Convention Sexaul Abuse Response Team

Pastor Jon C. Nelson — Soma Community Church, Missouri Baptist Convention President
Heather Kuenzle — First Baptist Church New London
Pastor Mike Leake — Calvary of Neosho
Pastor George H. Fulgham Jr. — Spiritual Life Director, MBCH Children & Family Ministries
V. Lynn Bristol — First Baptist Church Warsaw

Statement by MBC officers regarding the vote of the SBCEC

Yesterday in a four plus hour Zoom call the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee (SBCEC) approved – in a vote of 44-31-3 – the contract that allows a third-party investigator to access privileged materials for an inquiry into the Executive Committee’s (EC) handling of sexual abuse claims as voted on by messengers in the Nashville 2021 SBC Annual Meeting (SBCAM) (c.f. Guidepost Letter of Engagement (10/1/21)).

We believe that yesterday’s vote is not the end but the beginning of this process that will culminate in the report given at the 2022 SBCAM in Anaheim. We want to thank each of our four members of the EC who took time to participate in today’s meeting and the countless hours behind the scenes working to come to a resolution that will move this process forward.

Many pastors and laypeople have expressed disappointment and/or appreciation at the votes of our EC members. While you may not fully agree with the votes of each member, we want to express thanks and respect for the time and prayerfulness that they have taken towards this and many other votes. There are many mitigating factors that have led each of our members to vote the way they have chosen to – including, but not limited to, information that we are not privy to.

As officers we are choosing to take our EC Chairperson’s shepherding council to heart and we would ask you to do the same,

“It’s time to stop attacking the motives of one another and move forward on this path together.” – Pastor Rolland Slade

Whether you consider today’s actions from our EC a “victory” or “defeat”, please continue to stand with us as we now navigate uncharted and unprecedented waters that may prove to be incredibly difficult. We know that if we fail in this task the only one who wins is our enemy and his minions. May we pause to remember the words of Christ, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Finally, we praise God that Christ honoring decisions have been made so that we can move forward as ONE for the Kingdom of God. Let’s continue to focus on our collective work through the Cooperative Program. Our prayer is that this refining moment finds each of us ministers and churches faithful and ignites a renewed passion for gospel unity within our family.

We are excited to celebrate what the Father has done in our state at our Annual meeting this Oct. 25-26 at the Branson Convention Center. Please mark your calendars and plan to join us in Branson at this important gathering of Missouri Baptists and if you have not registered please do so here (mobaptist.org/annual-meeting/). May God richly bless you!

Signed by,

The Officers of the Missouri Baptist Convention

Pastor Jon C. Nelson – President

Pastor Chris Williams – Lead Pastor of Fellowship Church – First Vice – President

Rev. Dr. Lane Harrison – Lead Pastor of LifePoint Church – Second Vice – President

Pastor Jason Marlin – Senior Pastor at First Baptist Kirksville – Secretary

Soma Community Church

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