Richmond, Virginia
February 8, 1968
The .Forei-gn Mission Board met in regular monthly session on Thursday, February 8,
1968, at 3:00 p.m., in the Chapel of the Foreign Mission Board, with Mr. Hunter
Riggins, the Board's first vice-president, presiding.
PRESENT: Local Members: Wade Bryant, Mrs. R. B. Carter, J. Roy Clifford, Joseph B.
Flowers, V. Allen Gaines, David S. Hammock, John W. Kincheloe, Robert T. Marsh, J.
Leonard Moore, John L. Moran, Lucius Polhill, James E. Rayhorn, Hunter Riggins, D.
0. Rose, Edwin L. Shattuck, Dalton Ward. State Members: Mrs. John I. Alford, Clyde
J. Childers, T. Rupert Coleman, Drew J. Gunnells, Jr., W. D. Malone, John Robert
Stiff. Staff: Baker J. Cauthen, Harold Basden, Louis Cobbs, Winston Crawley, Edna
Frances Dawkins, William K. Dawson, Everett L. Deane, Jesse Fletcher, Franklin Fowler,
Cornell Goerner, Eugene L. Hill, J. D. Hughey, Frank K. Means, Floyd North, Norman
Price, Claude Rhea, Fon H. Scofield, Rogers Smith, Truman Smith, Joseph P. Underwood,
Elizabeth Minshew.
VISITORS: Mrs. Stuart Riddle, mother of Miss Joyce Faye Riddle, R.N.; Mr. and Mrs.
Gerald Harvey, missionaries to Rhodesia; Mr. L. G. Mosley, a former member of the
Foreign Mission Board.
Mr. Riggins called the meeting to order.
The meeting opened with the singing of the hymn: "Am I a Soldier of the Cross,"
led by Dr. Claude Rhea.
Dr. Childers led in Responsive Reading from the Baptist Hymnal : "World Missions"
Dr. Childers led in prayer.
The Board's minutes for the month of January 1968 were approved.
Dr. Cauthen referred briefly to the current unrest in Vietnam. He expressed deep
gratitude to God for the safety of our missionaries and their ability to carry on
up to the present time. He stated that the Foreign Mission Board has conveyed to
its missionaries the full support of the Board in the decision they may feel led to
njake with reference to remaining on the field. The situation in Vietnam emphasizes the
fact that work of the Foreign Mission Board must be projected on a world scale, de¬
spite world conditions.
Dr. Cauthen gave a brief statistical report on the work of the Board for 1967. A
total of 2277 missionaries were under appointment as of December 1967. He emphasized
the joy and gratitude of the Board for the financial resources that had been provided,
and asked the Board to be very much in prayer for members of the staff who will attend
the forthcoming meeting of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention,
at which time financial matters will be under discussion.
Dr. Cauthen gave the following report of the Executive Secretary:
REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
Our thoughts have been turned toward Vietnam during these days of crisis. We give
thanks to God that word has now come of the safety of all the missionaries of our
Board in that land. Letters and cables have been received, and we praise God for
his gracious mercies.
We have given assurance to all missionaries in Vietnam that they have unlimited back¬
ing of the Foreign Mission Board in taking whatever steps are necessary in meeting
this crisis. It is our prayer that they not only may be protected amid the dis¬
turbed situation, but may be able to have an effective witness in the name of our
Lord.
Dr. Crawley's report will deal more at length with Vietnam and with the emergencies
there, but it is a great joy to give assurance both to the missionaries in Vietnam and
to Southern Baptists that the Foreign Mission Board stands ready to give full backing
to God's servants in Vietnam in meeting such emergencies.
We remind ourselves that in our day missionary service throughout the world must be
projected amid recurring crises. It is in the midst of such circumstances that we
realize the meaning of our Lord's promise, "Lo, I am with you all the way, even to
the end of the age."
Were it not for the fact of the living Lord at work with us in this enterprise, we
could not dare to lay hand to it, but with the awareness of his presence we are re¬
inforced, whether our place is on the mission field where the sound of warfare is
around us or in places of heavy responsibility where only the guidance and comfort
