181
Foreign Mission Board Rooms
December 7, 1950
The Foreign Mission Board met in regular monthly session at 3:30 p.m.
on December 7, 1950, with Mr. Jenkins presiding.
Present: L. Howard Jenkins, Mrs. Paul LaRoque, Hundley Wiley, Mrs. Tom
Smith, W. Ru3h Loving, J. G. Loving, T. ^upert Coleman, Clyde V. Hickerson,
E. P. Buxton, Garis T. Long, Elmer West, H. P. Thomas, Hill Montague,
Emmett Y. Robertson, John C. Williams, M. T. Rankin, Louis P. Seay,
Everett Gill, Jr., S. E. Maddox, lone Gray, E. L. Deane, Edna Frances
Dawkins, Genevieve Greer, Mary M. Hunter.
Dr. Hipps led in prayer.
Un the motion of Dr. J. G. Loving the following candidates were appointed
as regular missionaries:
Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Treece Bowlin, Africa
Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Bryant Durham, Africa
Mr. and Mrs. Tom Conn ally Hollingsworth, Argentina
Dr. and Mrs. George Hiram Kollmar, Colombia
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Edwin Sanderson, Brazil
Mr. and Mrs. Ben Harold Welmaker, Colombia
Dr. Rankin gave the charge to the appointees and Rev. Rush Loving led
in prayer of dedication.
Dr. Rankin reported on his trip to the Orient. He stated that the work
in Hawaii is most encouraging and that it was always growing out of
bounds. As soon as one building is completed, the congregation has grown
to such an extent that a new one is needed almost immediately.
He spent three most orofitable weeks in Japan. Although the Board saw
fit to postpone the Preaching Mission of fifteen preachers because of
the political situation in the Far East, the Japan Baptist Convention
went ahead with an evangelistic crusade to observe the 60th anniversary
of their organization. Dr. Duke McCall and Dr. W. A. Criswell, who
attended the Centennial Celebration of our work in Nigeria, went on to
Japan and spent three weeks there, helping with the crusade. Dr. Gauthen
was in Japan for four weeks. In the meetings held during the crusade
there were 8,300 professions of faith. Dr. Rankin stated that something
tremendous was happening in the life of the people of Japan. There is
an opportunity for Christian witness which has never been paralleled in the
history of our Board, and perhaps in the history of Christianity. Before
the war there were very few native Christians, small congregations in
only about sixteen churches, and never more than twenty missionaries at
ary time on the field. This time there were capacity crowds at every
service, sometimes as many as 350 people at one time making a decision
for Christ. Tnere are 32 churches with more in the process of being
built, and a total of 72 missionaries under appointment, 66 of whom
were on the field. The second day Dr. Rankin was in Japan he preached
in a police station to 800 people. Over 200 people responded to the
invitation to accept Christ as Saviour. What does it all mean?
It would be impossible to say that all 8, 300 people were genuinely
converted, that they had a real experience of faith and a personal
relationship to Christ. It is very likely that perhaps nundreds of
them came out of curiosity. However, there is no question that
thousands were converted. Many remained for meetings after the
services for careful explanation of what Christianity means. All of
them signed cards, giving names and addresses, and each person will
be visited by Japan Baptist leaders or our missionaries in a follow¬
up program. What has hannened to produce this?
The Japanese as a nation came to a real conviction that they had been
on the wrong road, that they had the wrong direction. They were defeated
in war but they are not a defeated people. When the emperor admitted
that he was a human being, the people of Japan were without a religion,
and they became hungry for some kind of spiritual faith. Material and
institutional rehabilitation was necessary but the people also needed
a faith to which they could tie. They are ready, today for a message
of spiritual reality. The person wno comes along with that message
will win them.
Dr. Rankin stated that he did not comprehend before what a tremendous
thing had been undertaken in sending out almost 100 missionaries to a
country where less than 20 were before and where there were only three
residences. Residences alone involve about 30 or h0 living units.
