Karis Community Church in downtown Columbia, Mo., recently lost $6,000 in funding from the Missouri Baptist Convention because the church’s pastor, Kevin Larson, refuses to forbid members from drinking the occasional brew.
In December, the Columbia Tribune reported that the executive board of the convention voted 28-10 to cut funding for all Acts 29 churches (a church-planting network) because of what the board viewed as an abuse of Christian liberty by Acts 29 members.
Larson denounced the decision, adding, “They are shooting themselves in the foot because they are cutting ties with the most successful church-planting organization out there.