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February 11, I960
The Foreign Mission Board met in regular monthly session at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday,
February 11, I960 with Mr. Jenkins presiding.
Present: L. Howard Jenkins, Solon B. Cousins, Horace Ford, James Todd, Stuart
Grizzard, Garis T. Long, Emmett Robertson, Howard Arthur, Herman P. Thomas,
Josiah Hoover, Mrs. Clyde V. Hickerson, Mrs.. John Tyree, Lawrence Bradley,
C. Bailey Jones, Elton Phillips, Mrs. Kenneth Burke, Lewis Morgan, Baker J.
Cauthen, Elmer West, Winston Crawley, James G. Stertz, Luke Smith, Rogers Smith,
E. L. Deane, E. L. Hill, Cornell Goerner, Floyd North.
Dr. Grizzard led in prayer.
Dr. Cauthen made the following report:
REPORT OF EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
We regret to announce that we are losing a splendid member of the Foreign Mission
Board. Rev. Walter A. Mitchell, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Clovis,
New Mexico, has moved from that state to become pastor of the First Baptist
Church in Snyder, Texas. This means that the Committee on Boards will be naming
a new Board member to represent the state of New Mexico. Brother Mitchell has
shown very great interest in foreign missions, and in the brief time he has
served with us he has made his own contribution.
We are at this time preparing for the forthcoming meeting of the Executive
Committee in Nashville, Tennessee, at which time the allocations for the South¬
wide Cooperative Program budget will be prepared for recommendation to the
Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Miami Beach in May.
It is evident that sustained advance in foreign mission work depends upon a
constant supply of mission volunteers and financial resources. God is moving the
hearts of many people to volunteer their lives. It seems most likely that there
will be missionaries available to reach the goal of 2,000 under appointment by
1964.
Advance in missionary personnel automatically calls for annual increase in the
Foreign Mission Board budget. The operating budget which provides for support of
missionaries and funds for programs of work on mission fields calls for a minimum
increase of $1,000,000 per year. It is important that it be recognized that this
increase is stated in terms of the minimum.
The operating budget for I960 was increased over the operating budget for 1959
by the sum of $1,079,825*97. It was necessary, however, to cut out of the field
requests the sum of $651,000 which could not be included because of insufficient
funds. This means that the budget actually should have been increased well above
$1,500,000. We have been endeavoring to restore a sizable portion of the field
requests which were cut out by means of recommendations from Advance Program
funds.
This increase in the budget was necessitated by the appointment of 144 mission¬
aries. It is obvious that as the annual number of appointments grows, the
increase in the operating budget will inevitably be larger.
The operating budget of the Foreign Mission Board was built upon the support
received from the Cooperative Program. We are receiving from the Cooperative
Program in I960 the sum of $6,290,000 for the operating budget. The sum of
$2,500,000 of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is included in the operating
â– budget, but it is obvious that our chief dependence must be upon the Cooperative
Program for this purpose.
In addition to the operating budget we face annual increasing needs for capital
funds. Those needs in I960 total $7,573,990. These needs grow out of the
development of work on mission fields and call for construction of churches,
hospitals, schools, mission residences, publishing houses and seminaries.
The Cooperative Program provides in I960 the sum of $800,000 for capital purposes
and a like sum will be provided in 1961. We look to the Lottie Moon Christmas
Offering to provide most of these capital needs.
Just as we rely upon the Cooperative Program for the main support of our operat¬
ing budget, we rely upon the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for the main
support of capital needs. The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, as indicated
above, provides a valuable portion of our operating budget, and the Cooperative
