The Missouri Baptist Convention is the state convention of Southern Baptists in Missouri. Headquartered in Jefferson City, it operates as a network of nearly 1,800 independent Southern Baptist churches, which are divided into eight regions and 60 Baptist associations. Missouri Baptists elect an Executive Board that oversees the convention’s ministries, which in turn are carried out by the MBC staff.
Leadership
Convention officers
Missouri Baptist churches send messengers to an annual meeting to nominate and elect convention officers. The 2017-2018 convention officers are:
The Executive Board is responsible for overseeing the missionary, educational, and benevolent work of the Convention. Messengers from MBC churches elect board members from each of the state’s eight regions to serve three-year terms.
Executive director
One of the primary duties of the executive board is to elect the executive director. On October 13, 2011, the executive board elected Dr. John Yeats as the 20th executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention. In this role, Dr. Yeats directs the convention's staff; administers funding given by the convention's churches; serves as publisher of The Pathway, the convention's official news journal; and sets the convention's strategy. He also serves as the recording secretary of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Missouri Baptist Ministries
The MBC staff is engaged in more than a dozen ministries under the administration of five strategic groups: Making Disciples. Ministries include evangelism; strategies for church leaders and families to make, mark, mature, and multiply disciples; and age-graded training events and conferences to equip Missouri Baptists to transform lives and communities with the gospel. Multiplying Churches. Ministries include discovering multiplying churches, sending churches, and church multipliers; training sending churches; mentoring, assessing, and training church multipliers; deploying church multipliers throughout Missouri, across the U.S., and around the world; and partnership missions. Developing Leaders. Ministries include a statewide network of local church leaders, associational leaders, and convention staff members who work together to provide pastoral leader development and care; church revitalization; transitional pastor training; and disaster relief training and deployment. Collegiate Ministries. These include ministries on 25 Missouri campuses; training events for collegiate leaders; a summer missions and mentoring initiative; international student ministry; equipping churches to reach out to nearby campuses; developing leaders to serve on new campuses; and coordinating mission experiences for students. Executive Office. Ministries include the office of the Executive Director, who leads the state missionary staff, administers Cooperative Program and Missouri Missions Offering funds, and sets the state’s cooperative strategy; the office of the Liaison; The Pathway, the official news journal of Missouri Baptists; business services; and property management. Ministry Support. Ministries include creative services ; live-event support; technology; and Christian apologetics.
Funding
Funding for the Missouri Baptist Convention is provided primarily through the Cooperative Program. Missouri Baptist churches give a percentage of their budget to the Missouri Baptist Convention. Sixty percent of these funds stay in the state, while 40 percent is passed on to the Southern Baptist Convention for ministries conducted by the North American Mission Board, the International Mission Board, and others.
