FOREIGN MISSION BOARD MINUTES
Mav 8. 1979
The Foreign Mission Board met in regular monthly session. Tuesday, May 8,
1979, 3:00 p.m. , in theBaker James Cauthen Chapel. John W. Patterson, pres¬
ident, presided.
PRESENT: State Members: Alabama: J. R. White; Arizona : Mrs. Glen E. Crotts;
California: Mrs. Cherry Y. K. Chang; D . C . : B. Ross Morrison; Florida: Mrs.
Lucile S. Alexander, Mrs. James A. Ponder; Georgia : J. Hoffman Harris, Mrs.
L. G. Hicks, Jr., Mrs. W. Jack Smith; Kentucky: Mrs. Ray Mullendore; Loui¬
siana : Miss Myra Gulledge; Maryland : Ralph D. Walls; Mississippi : Joe Neil
McKeever; Missouri : John W. Goodwin; North Carolina: Ray W. Benfield , Mrs.
J. E. Collette, William Henry Crouch; South Carolina: Ira Q. Craft, Alastair
C. Walker; Tennessee : Trevis Otey, Jonas L. Stewart; Texas : Richard M. Cobb,
Robert E. Smith; Virginia : Lonnie E. Quillen, Jr., Mrs. R. L. Rhodes, Jr.
Local Members: V. Allen Gaines, Hiram L. Harrison, Scott C. Humphrey, Neal
T. Jones, M. Hunter Riggins, Jr., Mrs. Ross S. Shearer, Mrs. E. S. Stratton,
Robert B. Bass, J. Roy Clifford, Gurney W. Grant, J. Leonard Moore, John W.
Patterson, Raymond L. Spence, Jr.,
К.
I. Willett.
Board's Attorney; Paul D. Stotts.
Staff : Baker J. Cauthen, J. Bryan Brasington, Thurmon E. Bryant, John R.
Cheyne, Louis R. Cobbs, Robert C. Covington, Winston Crawley, Edna Frances
Dawkins, William K. Dawson, Everett L. Deane, James G. Edwards, Franklin T.
Fowler, lone Gray, W. Eugene Grubbs, Ervin E. Hastey, George H. Hays, Ward
S. Hildreth, Thomas W. Hill, Harold E. Hurst, Carl Johnson, William W.
Marshall, John E. Mills, Lewis I. Myers, Jr., Stanley A. Nelson, Floyd H.
North, R. Keith Parks, Samuel M. Pittman, G. Norman Price, Sidney C. Reber,
Robert L. Stanley, Melvin E. Torstrick, William R. Wakefield, E. L. Wright,
Elizabeth Minshew.
The presiding officer called the meeting to order.
The audience joined in singing the Hymn: "I Will Sing of My Redeemer."
A Devotional Period was led by Mrs. Doris Mullendore, Board member from
Kentucky and First Vice-President of the Board.
Mrs. W. Jack Smith, Board member from Georgia, led in a Period of Prayer
that was closed by Jonas Stewart, Board member from Tennessee.
Board Minutes for A.pril 9-11, 1979 were approved.
All visitors were given a cordial welcome, including Dr. and Mrs. Eugene L.
Hill, Mrs. Ralph Walls, a number of medical representatives from Baptist
Hospitals in the Convention, Mr. and Mrs. Victor Frank, missionaries of
Hong Kong and Dan Cobb, missionary from Thailand.
The President recognized the Executive Director, Baker J. Cauthen.
REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
We welcome today our new officers as they begin their service in the life of
the Foreign Mission Board. We are grateful for them and look forward, with
much anticipation, to the contribution each will make in the work of the comin
months .
Already they have been giving careful attention to the first major responsi¬
bility, namely, that of appointing the committees of the board. This is no
small responsibility, and we always need to remember them in a special way at
this time.
Expression has already been made in Kansas City of our gratitude for the work
of the board members who are retiring from membership as of this meeting.
Several who are with us today are among those who are participating in their
final meeting. Dr. Roy Clifford, who has served with such distinction as
chairman of the Personnel Committee and has functioned most effectively on
many other committees in the life of the board, will be making his final
