February 14, 1963
Richmond, Virginia
The Foreign Mission Board met in regular monthly session at 3:00 P.M. on Thursday
February 14, 1963 with Dr. Roberson presiding.
Present: T. F. Adams, Joseph P. Edmondson, J. Levering Evans, Horace Ford, Stuart
Griz'zard, Mrs. Clyde V. Hickerson, L. Howard Jenkins, W. Rush Loving, J. Walter
Martin, Ryland 0. Reamy, Meredith K. Roberson, J. Roy Clifford, H. Addison Dalton,
James T. Todd, Mrs. John C. Tyree, P. Earle Wood, E. Norfleet Gardner, N.C.;
Baker J. Cauthen, Winston Crawley, Frank K. Means, Cornell Goerner, E. L. Deane,
Rogers M. Smith E. L. Hill, Floyd H. North, Franklin T. Fowler, E. L. Wright,
lone Gray, Inez Tuggle.
Dr. Bertram King, liaison representative from the Home Mission Board to Canada,
read a scripture passage and led in prayer.
Dr. Cauthen gave the following report of the Executive Secretary:
REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
Since the last meeting of the Board two important conferences have been held.
First was the Orientation Conference for outgoing new missionaries conducted at
Gulfshore Baptist Assembly in Mississippi. The ten days spent in this important
conference are significant in that newly appointed missionaries have an opportunity
to study carefully both with missionaries from the fields and the secretaries of the
Board the problems and working relationships which will be encountered as they take
up their assignments overseas.
Orientation conferences have been conducted for a number of years and have proved
their value to the point that studies are now being made as to the advisability of
extending the time for a longer period. If this materializes, it will be possible
to do a much more thorough job including study of linguistics and other matters not
now possible. We are hoping it may be possible to find a way to bring the Orienta¬
tion Conference to Richmond, which if it could be worked out, would greatly simplify
matters and increase the effectiveness of the effort.
The second important meeting was the annual Staff Conference for the Administrative
Staff of the Foreign Mission Board.
These conferences have been conducted since 1947. We keep in mind that the advance
program in foreign missions was born in the first staff conference held in 1947.
Each year these periods of intensive consultation have been fruitful, both from the
point of view of studying the problems of work being carried on and visualizing new
possibilities for work lying ahead.
It is evident that we are rapidly approaching the primary objectives of advance to¬
ward which we have been moving over a period of fifteen years. It is our expecta¬
tion to be able to come to the meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1964
with 1,800 missionaries under appointment. It seems evident that in approaching
that point the time will be appropriate for announcing new objectives for further
advance in keeping with our Lord's expectations. It is hope that recommendations
can be brought to the Foreign Mission Board at its annual meeting in October which
will set out some clear objectives for advance, both from the standpoint of mis¬
sionary personnel and objectives of work. In arriving at those objectives, we will
want to keep in mind the widest possible use of mass communication media and special¬
ized ministries such as work among university students.
A careful study of the new category of missionary associate in the Staff Conference
indicated the general feeling of assurance that this new development is proving to
be of real value. Entry into this new category of missionary service has brought
strength in a number of places of need. Several recommendations are being brought
today in the Administrative Committee report which reflect the growing sense of as¬
surance that this new development in missionary service is of very real value.
In looking forward to the annual meeting of the Board in October, we will be giving
further study to other possibilities of auxiliary missionary service which may be
fruitful, both in meeting immediate need and in long-range advance.
At the last meeting of the Board, reference was made to the total income for the
year. We are now happy to announce that the income for 1962 reached a total of
$20,127,186.
It is also of very great joy that the Personnel Department indicates that the outlook
for missionary appointments in 1963 is better than at any previous year in the his¬
tory of the Board.