2006 State Annual Meeting Roundup

LAKE CHARLES, La. (BP)--The need for physical rebuilding remained evident in Lake Charles when the Louisiana Baptist Convention held its Nov. 13-14 annual meeting. Numerous blue tarp roofs continue to flap in autumn winds across the city. Located just 30 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Charles first was inundated with Katrina evacuees and less than three weeks later with Rita’s 120 mph winds.

HOOVER, Ala. (BP)--Alabama Baptists focused on missions during much of their Nov. 14-15 annual meeting at Hunter Street Baptist Church in Hoover.

SEYMOUR, Ind. (BP)--Indiana Baptists unanimously approved a motion to begin a financial campaign for a camp facility to honor their first executive director during their Oct. 23-24 annual meeting at Calvary Baptist Church in Seymour.

GREENSBORO, N.C. (BP)--The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina strengthened its membership criteria Nov. 14 to specify churches that do not support homosexuality and do not allow homosexuals to be members until they repent.

DALLAS (BP)--The staff and executive board of the Baptist General Convention of Texas will work toward “righting the wrongs” in the Rio Grande Valley where three church-starting pastors allegedly embezzled $1.3 million from the convention over six years, Charles Wade, the convention’s executive director, said at the BGCT annual meeting in Dallas Nov. 13.

DALLAS (BP)--Controversy over the alleged misuse of Baptist General Convention of Texas church-starting funds by three pastors in the Rio Grande Valley has tarnished the reputation of many honorable pastors in far south Texas, BGCT President Michael Bell said at the convention’s annual meeting in Dallas Nov. 13.

DALLAS (BP)--A pastor’s motion to have the Baptist General Convention of Texas turn over an internal investigate report about the misuse of funds in the Rio Grande Valley to government authorities was ruled out of order by BGCT President Michael Bell at the convention’s annual meeting Nov. 14.

PRINCETON, W.Va. (BP)--West Virginia Baptists gathered to celebrate the Cooperative Program at their Nov. 3-4 annual meeting at Burke Memorial Baptist Church in Princeton, W.Va.

DES MOINES, Iowa (BP)--The Baptist Convention of Iowa combined its 11th annual meeting with its annual Partners in Ministry Retreat, which messengers said enhanced both events Nov. 2-3 at the Holiday Inn and Suites in Des Moines.

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (BP)--Messengers to the Missouri Baptist Convention elected a slate of theologically conservative officers for the 10th consecutive year and disqualified 19 churches under the convention’s single-alignment stipulation approved at last year’s annual meeting.