December 8, I960
81
The Foreign Fission Board met in business session at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday,
December 8, I960, with Mr. Jenlcins presiding.
Present: L. Howard Jenkins, T. F. Aaams, Joseph F. Edmondson, J. Levering Evans,
Horace Ford, Stuart Grizzara, Oscar Hit-, Josiah Hoover, Mrs. Clyde V. Hickersor.,
Elton Phillips, Ryland 0. Re any, Emmett Y. Robertson, Herman P. Thomas, James
Todd, Mrs. John C. Tyree, P. Earle Wood, W. Rush Loving, ?. Ward Barr, Mrs. W. A.
Mitchiner, Leslie Bowling, Lewis Morgan, Bailey Jones, Baker J. Cauthen, Rogers
Smith, Frank Means, Cornell Goerner, E. L. Deane, Ralph Magee, E. L. Wright,
Elmer West, Edna Frances Dawkins, Bill Cody, Jim Stertz, Luke Smith, Jesse
Fletcher, E. L. Hill, Fon Scofield, lone Gray, Floyd North, Mary E. Fuqua.
Missionaries: Franklin Fowler, William Dyal, Charles Bryan, James Crane,
Catherine ’Walker, Everley Hayes, Victor Davis.
Stuart Grizzard led in prayer.
Dr. Cauthen gave the following report:
REPORT OF EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
We have come today to a remarkable meeting of the Foreign Mission Board at. which
we will be appointing twenty-eight missionaries for service overseas. This
brings the year, i960, to a lose with 137 appointments for Missionary service,
and with a total of 1,1:87 missionaries at the close of this meeting.
At the beginning of I960 it was our purpose to appoint a minimum of 150 mission¬
aries. We are appointing 137. Some of those who have been in process leading
toward appointment throughout the year will unaoubtedly be appointed later,
because in many instances it is necessary after studying carefully all factors
involved in the appointment of a missionary to advise the candidate to wait a
little longer in order to secure additional vital experience or get additional
help in some area of growth that seems to be urgently needed in preparation for
the mission field.
It is our objective to appoint 160 missionaries in 1961. Jhe attainment of this
large objective will call for much prayer, work, and a definite sense of God's
leadership. The same high standards will prevail in looking for the appointment
of 160 as have prevailed in previous years. We consider this to be one of the
responsibilities of missionary stewardship which must always be kept in mind.
At this point it seeras appropriate for us to consider some of the essentials of
sus ained missions advance . We have come a long way in our objective of having
2,000 missionaries under appointment by the close of 1968. To reach this
objective as well as to discharge the responsibilities involved in missions
advance on fields of labor will cal.; for certain requisites.
First of all, there must be prayer support. We keep in mind that our Lord told
us that we are to pray that the Lord of the harvest will himself send forth
laborers unto his harvest. It is dor hope that prayer for mission labor
throughout the world will saturate Baptist life in every aspect of its expression.
We are particularly grateful for the Week of Prayer for Foreign Missi ns which
annually calls people to turn their hearts toward God in supplication. The
missionary enterprise must go forward upon the prayers of God's people. If it is
supported in such way, it will not be an expendable effort soon to be forgotten
in fluctuating circumstances, but will be considered a priority responsibility
as indicated by our Master in His world encircling commission.
Advance in world missions depends upon an increasing number of missions volun¬
teers. The coming of each missionary for appointment represents a major crisis of
decision. It it; an experience of spiritual inquiry ana fulfillment.
It is highly encouraging that across the Southern Baptist Convention there is a
deem concern in the hearts of people with regard to our Lord's expectation con-
cerninr missionary service. We are finding it expressed in seminary decision
services, student conventions, i churches large and small, and in the quiet
earnest inquiry of many pastors and other trained workers who are considering
personal responsibility in missionary labor.
