I recently discovered that Missouri Southern Baptists have taken no public stands on the teaching of evolution in public schools.

Southern Baptists will make two historic decisions this year, with the first triggering the second.

The first will come Feb. 16-17 in Nashville , Tenn. , when the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is likely to recommend that Southern Baptists end their 99-year effort to relate to other Baptists worldwide through the Baptist World Alliance (BWA).

The second will come June 15-16 when thousands of messengers from the 42,000-plus churches affiliated with the SBC gather for their annual meeting in Indianapolis . That is when they – and they alone – will decide whether to affirm the Executive Committee’s recommendation. I believe Southern Baptists will overwhelmingly vote to leave the BWA—and rightly so. Messengers at last year’s SBC meeting in Phoenix gave a hint as to how they feel on the matter in a landslide vote supportive of the Executive Committee’s recommendation, cutting BWA funding in fiscal 2004 from $425,000 to $300,000. If the Executive Committee’s current recommendation is approved, the $300,000 worth of annual Cooperative Program dollars earmarked for the BWA will be terminated Oct. 1. That money, along with the previous $125,000 cut, will be used to fund a SBC “Kingdom Relationships” initiative that could include preaching conferences, church planting and growth conferences, the teaching of Baptist history and theology and participation in evangelistic and missionary efforts, according to the study committee.

It was a pleasure to be so graciously hosted Feb. 3 by members of the Missouri Supreme Court for a day that included lunch and thoughtful discussion on a variety of topics. While there is disagreement with some of their rulings, Missouri Baptists can be assured that members of the high court are people of integrity and considerable intellect. We should be thankful for their willingness to serve.

That being said, it did not take long for the topic of judicial activism to arise. While the judges are prohibited from discussing their views on any issue that might come before the court including abortion, homosexual marriage, cloning and the death penalty, they did not shy away from the subject of judicial activism, a term used to describe judges who do not interpret the law, but rather rewrite it in their own image.

Embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich should mind his own business and the Kansas City Star ought to tell their readers the whole truth about him and how his state views his position on cloning.

A friend asked me recently if the July 23 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, giving local governments greater power to seize properties for private economic development by declaring eminent domain, could impact Missouri Baptist churches.

I told friends earlier this year that I thought Gov. Matt Blunt had the potential to be presidential material in the next decade.