253
Richmond, Virginia
April 14-16, 1964
The Foreign Mission Board met in semi-annual session April 14-16, 1964, with
Dr. Homer G. Lindsay presiding.
Present: State Members: G. W. Riddle, Ala.; Mrs. Albert J. Smith, Ala.;
George R. Wilson, Arizona; Blake Woolbright, Calif.; B. Frank Foster, D. C.;
Homer G. Lindsay, Fla.; O.M. Cates, Ga.; Dick H. Hall, Ga.; W. Fred Scott, Ga.;
James W. Abernathy, Ind.; J. Norris Palmer, La.; Leslie M. Bowling, Md.;
W. D. Wyatt, N. Mex.; Mrs. W. A. Mitchiner, N. C.; R. Knolan Benfield, N. C.;
Willard Dobbs, Ohio; Anson Justice, Okla.; O.K. Webb, S. C. ; Gerald Martin,
Tenn.; R. Paul Caudill, Tenn.; Mrs. Herschell Emery, Tenn.; Philip Brown, Texas;
Mrs. J. Woodrow Fuller, Tex!as, J. Ralph Grant, Texas, T. A. Patterson, Texas;
John Robert Stiff, Virginia.
Local Members: T. F. Adams, Wade Bryant, J. Roy Clifford, H. Addison Dalton
Joseph P. Edmondson, J. Levering Evans, Horace L. Ford, R. Stuart Grizzard,
Mrs. Clyde V. Hickerson, M. Josiah Hoover, W. Rush Loving, Mrs. Charles A. Maddry,
J. Walter Martin, Ryland 0. Reamy, Meredith K. Roberson, D. 0. Rose, James T. Todd,
Mrs. John C. Tyree.
Guests: Dr. W. B. Glass, Dr. W. C. Newton, Helen McCullough, Sue McDonald.
Staff : Baker J. Cauthen, Winston Crawley, Cornell Goemer, Frank K. Means, Rogers
M. Smith, Franklin T. Fowler, E. L. Deane, Ralph A. Magee, E. L. Wright, Jesse C.
Fletcher, Edna Frances Dawkins, William W. Marshall, R. Keith Parks, Eugene L. Hill,
Floyd H. North, Fon H. Scofield, G. Norman Price, Harold G. Basden, Genevieve Greer,
lone Gray, Inez Tuggle.
The full Board met in the Foreign Mission Board chapel at 9:00 A.M. on Thursday,
April 15, with Dr. Lindsay presiding.
Dr. Philip Brown read a Scripture passage and led in prayer.
Dr. Cauthen gaveu the following report; of the Executive Secretary:
REPORT OF EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
We have gathered for this meeting of the Board aware of a deep determination on
the part of Southern Baptists to move forward in a greater witness for Christ.
The committees which have been working faithfully for many months on a New Program
of Advance have demonstrated much faith and courage* There has been a longing to
set bSfore Southern Baptists a worthy challenge which will lift our vision in this
day in keeping with the expectations of our Lord.
There is among us a conviction that Southern Baptists are preparing to reinforce a
new thrust in world missions.
There are many evidences of this concern on the part of Baptist people for a new
forward movement in the name of Christ. Gifts through the Cooperative Program
continue to rise. We are encouraged as we face 1964 and feel that there is strong
likelihood that not only will the budget be reached, but- funds for advance beyond
the Convention Cooperative Program budget will be available.
The recent Lottie Moon Christmas Offering has broken all reocrds for liberality
and now stands at the total of $10,606,510.17. The full amount will not be reached
until the end of April. The amount received is already $283,018.48 more than the
grand total of the offering last year.
The Foreign Mission Board expresses to Woman's Missionary Union our depth of grati¬
tude for the labor of love represented in the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. We
also express to all who labor in the ministry of developing the Cooperative Program
our deep gratitude for what this vital source of missionary reinforcement means at
home and throughout the world. The Cooperative Program is indeed the lifeline of
the whole world mission labor we undertake and for it we are most grateful.
One of the clearest evidences of a deep desire to move ahead in a new thrust is
that people continue to volunteer for missionary service. We cannot measure the
potential for missionary appointment simply by the number of volunteers enrolled
in seminaries. This is an important indication, but many appointments represent
decisions reached by people after they have completed formal education and are
engaged in their ministries. There is no diminishing of desire on the part of men
and women to find the will of God for their lives as related to a world task.
These evidences of determination to move forward have enabled the Committee on
New Program of Advance to arrive at a firm recommendation to call Southern Baptists
to a new objective of 5,000 missionaries at the earliest possible date.