153
Foreign Mission Board Rooms
October 10, 1950
The Foreign Mission B>oard W& in semi-annual session at 7:30
Tuesiay, October 10, 1950, with Mr. Jenkins presiding.
The following members v.ere present either at the Tuesday evening or the
'Wednesday sessions:
H '.'ME MEMBERS: John H. Buchanan, Alabama; '.Vayman C. Reese, Alabama;
Ray .McKay, Arkansas; William Barclay, Arizona; J. 'ry Jarre it, J. J.;
Rev. ... J. Morgan, California; Peyton Thurman, Kentucky; J.
И.
Kys-r,
Mississippi; Vernon b. Richardson, Maryland; D. Uelson, Jr., «issouri;
Earl Keating, Mew Mexico; Sph Whisenhunt, North Carolina} R . Knolan
Benfield, Worth Carolina; J. E. Rawlinson, South Carolina, Gracjy Jo then,
Oklahoma; Russell Bradley Jon .s, Tennessee; 0. 'Z. fumer, Tennessee;
A. Hope uwen, Texas; Chari s 3. McKinney, Texas, C. ?. Hereford, Texas;
R. p. Downey, Virginia.
OJAI L.Ei,.. ERS: E. P. Buxton, T. Rupert Coleman, Jly ie V. Hickerson,
.scar 1. Hite, 1. Howard Jenkins, Mrs. Paul LaRoque, J. U. Loving,
'.7. Rush Loving, R. J. McDanel, Hill Montague, -Emmett. V. Robertson,
Mrs. T. tV. Smith, H. P. Thomas, Elmer West, J. Hundley Wiley.
RTR';.'1 MEMBERS: U. T. Rankin, Everett Dill, Jr., George W. Sadler,
Frank !<• Means, 3. E. Mad lox, Everett L. Deane, Fon H. Scofield, Jr.,
Lou’ . Seay, Edna Frances Dawkins, Genevieve Greer, Philip J. Snider.
yiS.TC’S: Dr. and Mrs. Frank C. Laubach, Miss Douglas Oliver, Dr. and
Mrs. J. G. McDaniel, Mrs. Foy Farmer, Miss Ruth Provence; i s Blanche
'.'.h: te, Mrs. Lester Knight, Miss lone Grey, Mr. John Jeter Hurt, Jr.
Rev. Eph Ehisonhunt brought the devotional.
Mr. Jenkins welcomed the new members of the Board who were here for the
first time. He: stated that he seldom made a report of any kind but that
as he had been looking forward to this meeting of the Board, he naturally
looked bac to one meeting of October, 1932 whe.. he took office as
president. He had looked through the minutes of 1932 and 1933 and the
facts that he discovered were so significant that he wanted to bring
them to the members of the Board.
At that Lime the Foreign Mission board had a staff of seven workers,
ine.j'iing two secretaries, Dr. Maddry and Jr* Ray. Uf this staff
•nl/ two remain, Miss Hunter and Miss Waugh. ,..r. Buxton was treasurer,
. is with us now as a Board member. Of the members of the Board at
that time, only three remain, Dr. Loving, fir. Montague and Mr. Jenkins.
We now have a staff of U7 . Instead of two or three little offices in
the Presbyterian Building on 6th Street, we have these two buildings
which would cost over 3200,000 to reproduce and which were purchased
for 371,500, the money coming from the Bottoms Fund.
'[be debt at that time was 31,11*5,000 and the interest charge was around
369,000 annually.
If you want to read two documents that show utter despair, get out these
two reports and read them. I am sure you would read them with humiliation
that Southern Baptists let this work suffer as it did. We were insolvent
and the banks had taken charge very largely. The reports show that we
had been advised that the loan must be paid. We had no other choice.
However, to pay even a small part meant that the work would have to be
curtailed. We had only 127 missionaries and we were bringing some home
and keeping others here who were on furlough in this country.
This debt was not brought on by extravagance or over expansion but
solely by a sudden falling off in our receipts. We were insolvent
and the reports said so very frankly. We begged Southern Baptists to
come to our assistance, to be our bankers, as long as we had no others.
It was a distressing period for this Board and Southern Baptists.
Todqy, instead of a debt we have an emergency fund of nearly three
million dollars.
The current assets then were only $3^,000 and endowment funds amounted
to 3697,000. There was a net loss of lii7 missionaries in 7 years. Our
Budget in 1926, the peak year up to that time, was, $1,891,000; in 1932
the Budget had dropped to $805,000 a drop of over one million dollars
in i* years.
The budget for 1933 was 3605,000, just 362,000 over that of 1910,
notwithstanding that Southern Baptist numbers had increased by 1,500,000
members, in this period of diminishing receipts. The Budget of 1933
was less than half that of 1930. The income now is from five to six
million dollars.