Foreign Mission Board
June 18-19, 1959
Ridgecrest, N.C.
63
The Foreign Mission Board met in Southwide session on June 18-19, 1959 at Ridgecrest,
North Carolina, with Mr. L. Howard Jenkins presiding.
Present: -State Members: Samuel E. Maddox, Ala.; W.O. Vaught, Jr., Ark.; George
Wilson, Ariz.; Preston B. Sellers, Fla.; Clifton A. Forrester, Ga.; Howard P. Giddens,
Ga.; Otho Williams, Ill.; Forrest Siler, Kansas; Fred T. Moffatt, Ky.; Carroll Hubbard,
Ky.; Leslie M. Bowling, Maryland; Lewis F. Rhodes, Miss.; Walter A. Mitchell, New Mex. ;
E. Norfleet Gardner, N.C.; V. Ward Barr, N.C.; Mrs. Foy J. Farmer, N.C.; C. Murray
Fuquay, Okla.; Dotson M. Nelson, Jr., S.C.; James A. Canaday, Tenn. ; M.B. Carroll,
Tex.; W. H. Crook, Tex.; Thomas A. Patterson, Tex.; Phillip Brown, Tex.; C. Bailey
Jones, Va.
Local Members: Howard L. Arthur, Lawrence Bradley, Stuart Grizzard, Josiah Hoover,
L. Howard Jenkins, Garis T. Long, Emmett Y. Robertson, James Todd, Horace Ford, J.
Levering Evans, Mrs. Clyde V. Hickerson.
Staff: Baker J. Cauthen, Frank K. Means, Winston Crawley, Cornell Goerner, Elmer
S. West, Jr.; Eugene L. Hill, Everett L. Deane, E. L. Wright, Fon H. Scofield,
Rogers M. Smith, Edna Frances Dawkins, lone Gray, Bill B. Cody, Floyd H. North,
James G. Stertz, Lulfe B. Smith.
Dr. W. H. Crook led the devotional period.
Dr. Cauthen filed the following report for the minutes:
REPORT OF EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
The meeting of the Foreign Mission Board at Ridgecrest has special significance
because of the presence of so many people from wide areas to witness the appoint¬
ment of missionaries and see the Board in action.
Those of us who share in the appointment of missionaries realize great spiritual
blessing comes in this experience. The large numbers of young people who attend
Foreign Missions Week are brought to face Christ's claims for their lives in a
fresh manner. Pastors and church leaders who share in the meeting are led to see
their ministries in a world setting and visualize ways to lead their churches to
larger participation.
At the close of this meeting, there will be 1,341 missionaries under appointment
for service in thirty-nine countries. We have come to a new peak in missions
advance, and the prospect is good for appointing a minimum of 140 missionaries
during this year. We have been greatly impressed with the large number of men
and women with outstanding qualities for service who have been led to offer them¬
selves for the world task. We can conclude only that God is at work in the hearts
of His people, and we thank Him for what is being experienced.
The appointment of missionaries must be followed by careful orientation in order
to prepare them for service on their fields. We recognize that placing large num¬
bers of new missionaries on mission fields calls upon us to give to these new re¬
cruits every possible assistance as they lay hand to the task that awaits.
Since the last meeting of the Board, we have concluded an Orientation Conference
held on the campus of Howard College in Birmingham, Alabama. It was attended by
those who had been appointed this year and those who are expecting to be appointed
during the summer. This meeting is of vital importance in order that there might
be a careful survey of the objectives, approaches, and working relationships to be
found on mission fields. Much of our accomplishment in the years ahead may depend
upon what is done in these orientation meetings. The secretaries of the Board have
come to regard this part of our work as being of very great importance.
During the weeks just ahead the area secretaries and the executive secretary will
be traveling to mission fields. Dr. Crawley is making a brief trip to Hawaii.
Dr. Means will be sharing in the mission meeting in Brazil. Dr. Goerner and I
will be surveying portions of West Africa where additional work should be projected.
We will also visit the work in Ghana and share in the meetings of the Mission
Executive Committee and the annual mission meeting in Nigeria.
It is quite necessary that these field trips be made on the part of the secretaries.
As this enterprise increases in extent and the number of missionaries grows, it
becomes increasingly important that we understand the point of view of the missiona¬
ries, and they understand the point of view of the Foreign Mission Board. It is
necessary that we be well informed of all the realities of work on the field. One
of the reasons why there is such splendid working relationship is that it is possible
