Foreign Mission Board Rooms
April 6-7, 1954
The Foreign Mission Board met in semi-annual session at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday,
April 6, 1954, with Mr. Jenkins presiding.
The following were present at either the Tuesday evening or the Wednesday
morning sessions:
State Members: Waymon C. Reese, Ala.; James R. Staples, Ariz.j J. Ray Garrett,
D. C . ; R. C. Brister, Calif.; J. Ollie b'dmunds, Fla.; MDnroe Swilley, Ca.;
R. E. Humphreys, Ky.; W. Peyton Thurman, Ky.; W. Clyde Atkins, Md.; J. Edwin
Hewlett, Mo.; Eph Whisenhunt, N. C.; R. Knolan Benfield, N. C.; J. E. Rawlinson,
S. C.; Russell Bradley Jones, Tenn.; A. Hope Owen,
Тех.;
C.E. Hereford, Tex.;
Arthur E. Travis,
Дех.;
Mrs. R. L. Mathis, Tex.; Neal Ellis, Va.; J. W. Storer,
Pres., S.3.C.
Local Members: E. P. Buxton, J. E. Boyles, Mrs. Kenneth Burke, Mrs. Clyde V.
Hickerson, Oscar L. Hite, L. Howard Jenkins, Mrs. Paul LaRoque , Y if. Rush Loving,
R, C. McDanel, T. Shad Medlin, Perry Mitchell, Emmett Y. Robertson, Mrs. T. W.
Smith, Herman P. Thomas, L. G. Mosley, J. Hundley Wiley.
Staff: Baker J. Cauthen, G. W. Sadler, Everett Gill, Jr., Frank K. Means,
Rogers M. Smith, Fon H. Scofield, Elmer S. West, Everett Deane, E. L. Wright.
Dr. J. Edwin Hewlett led the devotional period.
Mr. Jenkins expressed appreciation for the services rendered to the Board by
Dr. Russell Bradley Jones, Dr. A. Hope Owen, Dr.
С.
E. Hereford, Dr. J. E.
Rawlinson, Mrs. Paul LaRoque, Dr. R. C. McDanel and Dr. Reuben E. Alley.
All of these members will be rotated off the Board at the meeting of the
Southern Baptist Convention in St. Louis.
Mr. Jenkins made the following remarks:
Tonight we begin a new era in the work of this Board. Our beloved Theron
Rankin has been called homo but the Lord had another man in preparation to
take the place of our lost leader. This is Dr. Cauthen’ s first appearance
at a full meeting of the Board in the capacity of Executive Secretary, and
as such we want to give him a welcome that comes right out of our hearts.
It is a crushing responsibility to have the love and confidence of millions
of Southern Baptists who expect great things of him. I am sure from what I
have seen that he will not disappoint his loyal supporters. I have been a
member of this Board for a long time. In all of this period I do not recall
any action taken by this Board that has met with such enthusiastic acclaim
and approval. It was just about unanimous. There was nothing else but
unbounded joy when the news went out that Baker Cauthen had been selected
Executive Secretary. We would have had to defend any other choice. Not so
with Dr. Cauthen. The people vre re expecting us to take this action and would
not have been satisfied with anyone else, no matter how well qualified. His
task is great but our ho e for him is as great as the task. Our prayers will
be for him and he will have the warm hearted support and prayers of every
member of this Board as he takes up the back-breaking burdens of this high
office.
We have a long way to go in our Advance Program when 900,000 Seventh Day
Adventists have a foreign mission budget of 4*21,000,000 and 2,000 mission¬
aries, when nearly 8,000,000 Southern Baptists have a budget of less than
$7, 000, 000 and not quite 1,000 missionaries.
Every day we should ask ourselves, "What am I doing to build a Christian world?"
If Southern Baptists ask themselves this question and try to get a serious
answer, I am afraid not many of us would get a very satisfactory answer. We
cannot do what these young people are doing in offering their lives for
foreign mission service, but we can hold them up on our prayers and give them
and others our financial support. They are impelled by the love of Christ to
proclaim His Gospel so that men everywhere will acknowledge Him as the Master
of their lives thus creating an atmosphere that will bring about universal
and lasting peace around the world.
