Richmond, Virginia
April 1C, 11, 12
133
The Foreign Mission Board met in Conventionwide semi-annual session on April 10-12,
1967 in Richmond, Virginia with Dr. J. Chester Badgett presiding.
Present: State Members: G. W. Riddle, Ala.; Mrs. A. J. Smith, Ala.; Miss Mary Essie
Stephens, Ala.; Harvey Kimbler, Ariz.; Loyd L. Hunnicutt, Ark.; Blake Woolbright,
Calif..; Milton Collum, Colo.; J. Ray Garrett, D.
С.;
T. Rupert Coleman, Fla.; Mrs.
John I. Alford, Ga.; 0. M. Cates, Ga.; Dick H. Hall, Jr., Ga.; H. Todd Taylor, Ill.;
J. Chester Badgett, Ky.; D. E. Meade, Ky.; Perry Sanders, La.; Barney Bayles, Md . ;
Charles Lassiter, Mich.; Leroy E. Green, Miss.; Chester Quarles, Miss.; Ralph M.G.
Smith, Mo.; R. Knolan Benfield, N.C.; Howard J. Ford, N.C.; Willard Dobbs, Ohio;
Anson Justice, Okla.; W. D. Malone, Ore. -Wash.; T. L. Neely, S.C.; 0. K. Webb, S.C.;
Mrs. Herschell Emery, Tenn.; Gerald Martin, Tenn.; Clifton Woolley, Tenn. ; C. Wade
Freeman, Texas; Mrs. H. Cowen Ellis, Va.; John Robert Stiff, Va.
Local Members: T. F. Adams, Wade Bryant, J. Roy Clifford, Curtis English, V. Allen
Gaines, David S. Hammock, Mrs. Clyde V. Hickerson, John W. Kincheloe, W. Rush Loving,
J. Walter Martin, J. Leonard Moore, John L. Moran, James E. Rayhorn, Hunter Riggins,
D. 0. Rose, Edwin L. Shattuck, Dalton Ward.
Staff : Baker J. Cauthen, Rogers M. Smith, Frank K. Means, H. Cornell Goerner, John D.
Hughey, E. L. Deane, Ralph A. Magee, E. L. Wright, William K. Dawson, Jesse C. Fletcher,
Edna Frances Dawkins, William W. Marshall, Louis R. Cobbs, Truman S. Smith, Samuel A.
DeBord, W. David Lockard, Roger G. Duck, Ralph L. West, Eugene L. Hill, Fon H. Scofield,
Jr., lone Gray, G. Norman Price, Harold G. Basden, Floyd H. North, Emily Lenz.
Guests : Mr. Juan Torras, Baptist Pastor from Spain; Dr. and Mrs. George W. Sadler,
Miss Helen McCullough, Emeritus Missionary to China.
irk****
A discussion period for Board members and administrative staff was held on Monday
evening, April 10 at the Holiday Inn West. The topic discussed was the Crusade of
the Americas which was presented by Dr. Frank K. Means as follows:
THE CRUSADE OF THE AMERICAS
The Crusade of the Americas originated in the heart and mind of Dr. Rubens Lopes,
Brazilian Baptist leader. The idea was first proposed to the multitudes who crowded
into the Maracana Stadium on the day early in 1965 when Brazil's nationwide evangelistic
campaign was officially launched.
At first, it was thought that the effort would be confined to Latin America. Later
the idea was expanded to include all of the western hemisphere.
As originally conceived, it was to be a Baptist effort — by all Baptists in the western
hemisphere who cared to participate. That concept has not changed.
The Crusade of the Americas was originally scheduled for 1970. The Southern Baptist
Convention, however, had previously adopted as its 1968-69 emphasis the following theme:
"A Church Fulfilling its Mission through Evangelism and World Missions." Accordingly,
the date was changed to 1969.
Southern Baptists first heard of the Crusade when Dr. Rubens Lopes addressed the
Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas in 1965. In a spontaneous show of interest and
enthusiasm, the Convention adopted the following resolution:
WHEREAS, the doors of evangelism are now open in the greater part of
Latin America and revival is sweeping Brazil, and
WHEREAS, the Brazilian Baptist leaders desire to see a simultaneous
revival throughout the Americas by 1969,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Southern Baptist Convention give
its full encouragement to the Foreign Mission Board and the Home Mission
Board to study crusade possibilities with the Baptist leadership in the
countries involved.
Dr. Lopes presented the idea to the Baptist World Alliance Congress in Miami Beach that
same summer. While the Congress was in session, the Foreign Mission Board called
together representative Latin American leaders to explore possibilities. Two informal
breakfast meetings were held. A provisional committee was organized by those present.
This committee later became the Central Coordinating Committee for the Crusade.
Dr. Lopes was encouraged to make contact with Baptist Convention in Latin America in
an attempt to enlist their participation. His expenses for a series of trips were borne
by the Foreign Mission Board.
Meanwhile, the Executive Secretaries of the Home and Foreign Mission Boards requested
the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee to create an Advisory Committee
which would have two functions:
