Foreign Mission Board
March 12, 1959
The Foreign Mission Board met in regular monthly session at 3:00 p.m. on
Thursday, March 12, 1959, with Mr. Jenkins presiding.
Present: L. Howard Jenkins, Oscar L. Hite, James T. Todd, J. E. Boyles, Emmett
Y. Robertson, C. Bailey Jones, Horace Ford, Solon B. Cousins, Mrs. John C.
Tyree, Mrs. Kenneth Burke, Garis T. Long, Herman P. Thomas, Elton Phillips,
P. Earle Wood, Baker J. Cauthen, Winston Crawley, E. L. Hill, Elmer S. West,
James G. Stertz, Bill Cody, E. L. Deane, Floyd North, Rogers Smith, R. A. Magee.
Dr. Smith led in prayer.
On the motion of Dr. Hite the following candidates were appointed as missionaries
Mr. and Mrs. J. Franklin Baugh, Jr., Pakistan - SPECIAL APPOINTMENT
Rev. and Mrs. Paul Box, Indonesia
Rev. and Mrs. Eric H. Clark, East Africa - SPECIAL APPOINTMENT
Mr. Charlie Worden Fenner, Japan
Rev. and Mrs. Harris Witsel Mobley, Ghana
Mr. James Bolling Payne, Nigeria - SPECIAL APPOINTMENT
Rev. and Mrs. Edward Owen Sanders - Indonesia
Rev. and Mrs. Clarence Thurman, Jr., Malaya - SPECIAL APPOINTMENT
Dr. and Mrs. Lewis Ruil Smith, Hong Kong
Rev. and Mrs . S. Thomas Tipton, East Africa
Rev. and Mrs. Weldon Ernest Viertel, Bahamas - SPECIAL APPOINTMENT
Each missionary gave a brief testimony of his Christian experience and call to
missionary service.
Dr. Cauthen gave the charge to the new missionaries and Dr. Paul Crandall led
in the prayer of dedication.
Mr. West introduced Dr. Keith Parks, missionary to Indonesia, who will be
helping in the Personnel Department this year as Missionary Associate, working
closely with Miss Dawkins at New Orleans, Southwestern and Golden Gate
Seminaries .
Dr. Cauthen gave the following report:
REPORT OF EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
Since the last meeting of the Board, I have made a brief trip to Latin America
to share in conferences in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro.
Approximately sixty-five leaders of various aspects of mission work in all the
countries of Latin America we serve gathered in Buenos Aires for an area-wide
conference. This has been carefully planned by Dr. Means in consultation with
committees on the field.
The value of the conference was obvious in many ways. For one thing, it brought
together representatives of all the missions of the entire area so that common
problems, opportunities and needs could be studied. One could sense the stimu¬
lation felt by each missionary as he became aware that the problems with which
he must deal in his own country are shared to a very great degree by others.
Reports of opportunities and open doors throughout the entire continent did
much to stimulate the determination of missionaries to press forward with every
possible means of advance.
In reviewing the needs throughout the entire continent, missionaries see the
value of overall planning so that each step that is taken is in the frame of
reference of the total need of an area. This type of administrative procedure
was not possible in earlier days. Only since the development of air transporta¬
tion has it been possible for secretaries of the Board to call together repre¬
sentatives from an entire area for such strategic planning. The cost of such a
meeting is greatly exceeded by the value attained.
There is an inescapable conviction that Southern Baptists not only have a
responsibility for a geographical and numerical expansion of missionary work,
but we have the responsibility of creative thinking and constructive planning
which can be a blessing beyond our ©wn immediate work.
