Missouri Baptist group names new director

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Baptist Convention on Tuesday selected the Rev. David Clippard as its new director.

Clippard, 53, who grew up in Jackson, Mo., comes from the Oklahoma Baptist General Convention, where he was associate executive director.

Clippard said he plans to focus on evangelism, starting new churches, assisting current church mission work and helping with foreign and domestic missions.

"These are days of urgency," he said. "Our culture looks at the church as almost irrelevant. We have so many people in North America with no church background."

Clippard will receive an annual salary of $105,000.

The Missouri Baptist Convention oversees 1,950 churches with 415,000 members. Clippard will direct 73 employees, most based at the convention's Jefferson City headquarters.