Richmond, Virginia
September 12, 1963
103
The Foreign Mission Board met in regular monthly session at 3:00 P.M. on Thursday,
September 12, 1963, with Dr. Lindsay presiding.
Present: T. F. Adams, Wade Bryant, J. Roy Clifford, Joseph P. Edmondson, J. Lever¬
ing Evans, Horace L. Ford, R. Stuart Grizzard, Mrs. Clyde V. Hickerson, Mrs. Charles
A. Maddry, J. Walter Martin, Ryland 0. Reamy, D. 0. Rose, Homer G. Lindsay, B. Frank
Foster, Baker J. Cauthen, Cornell Goerner, Frank K. Means, Winston Crawley, Rogers
M. Smith, E. L. Hill, E. L. Deane, Elmer S. West, E. L. Wright, Floyd H. North,
Edna Frances Dawkins, Bill B. Cody, Jesse Fletcher, G. Norman Price, Franklin T.
Fowler, lone Gray, Inez Tuggle.
Dr. Price led in prayer.
Dr. Cauthen gave excerpts of the report of the Executive Secretary and filed the
complete report which is as follows:
REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
While the meeting of the Board will experience the appointment of only two mission¬
aries, it is one of the more important meetings conducted throughout the entire year.
We are now in the process of preparing the budget for recommendation to the Board at
the October meeting.
Budget preparation is a very extensive responsibility. It begins on the mission
fields where the missionaries in session prayerfully draw up their recommendations
to the Foreign Mission Board relative to needs they confront. Those needs are
always far in excess of the funds available. Only recently one of the area secre¬
taries indicated that in his area alone during the last year unmet recommendations
totaled more than $2,300,000 for capital needs alone. When the remaining areas are
considered, it is easy to visualize the vast needs to which we must address ourselves
with limited funds.
Even so, the budget which will be recommended will need to be increased at least
one million dollars for operating purposes beyond the budget for 1963. This is made
necessary by the fact that the appointment of missionaries in the current year must
be followed by long-range provision for their maintenance and work.
We have been operating upon the basis of a one million dollar increase in operating
budget for the last several years. We are grateful to our Lord that missionary giv¬
ing has enable these increases to be possible.
We can anticipate having before us an operating budget totaling $15,500,000 for 1964.
The capital budget will total $6,250,000. We will not appropriate the capital bud¬
get in detail, but we have recognized the need of adopting both the operating and
capital budget at the October meeting in order that Southern Baptists may have a
comprehensive picture of what is involved in a year of missionary responsibility.
This will mean that we will have before us a budget amounting to $21,750,000 for
consideration in October.
We are happy to report that the new area of Europe and the Middle East is now
functioning with its own committee. The Area Committee is at work and it is our
expectation to be able to present recommendations to the Board in October relative
to this very important section of responsibility.
At this meeting of the Board, we are aware that Rev. Joseph B. Underwood, the Con¬
sultant for Evangelism and Church Development, is now in Europe with a group of
twenty-four pastors and musicians ready to begin a series of meetings in the English-
speaking Baptist churches. We are grateful for the pastors and music directors who
have gone to help in this undertaking through the generosity of their churches both
from the standpoint of making available their leaders for this work and providing
the expenses of their travel.
We wish to remember these meetings in prayer, as this will be a very great signifi¬
cance in the development of work in Europe.
We call attention to the format which will be used in the October meeting of the
Board. Board members will arrive on Tuesday, October 8, and there will be a dinner
at the William Byrd Hotel at seven o'clock for Board members and Administrative Staff.
At this meeting there will be a discussion of the financial side of foreign mission
work with particular attention being given to all questions of interest related to
the support of missionaries and the preparation of the budget.
