Developer Counterclaims For $10M Against Missouri Baptist Convention

Associated Baptist Press yesterday reported on the latest installment in a complex lawsuit between the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) and Missouri land developer William Jester. Windmere Baptist Conference Center is one of five institutions that broke away from MBC in 2000 and 2001. In a separate lawsuit, MBC is attempting to reassert control. (See prior posting.) MBC has filed suit against Jester’s Windermere Development Company to prevent it, pending the outcome of the separate lawsuit, from buying Windmere property as part of Windmere's debt restructuring and expansion plan. Now Jester has filed a counterclaim against MBC, alleging defamation and interference with business relationships. He says that he has lost $10 million in business because of MBC's actions warning prospective lenders against financing development of the property. Jester says inaccurate and unsubstantiated claims in MBC's in-house newsletter The Pathway impugned his business and financial capabilities.