Richmond, Virginia
September 14, 1967
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The foreign Mission Board met in regular monthly session on Thursday, September 14,
1967 at 3 p.m. in the chapel of the Foreign Mission Board with Dr. J. Roy Clifford
presiding.
Present: Local Members: Wade Bryant, Mrs. R. B. Carter, Sr., J. Roy Clifford, Curtis
English, Joseph Flowers, V. Allen Gaines, David S. Hammock, John W. Kincheloe, Jr.,
Robert T. Marsh, Jr., J. Leonard Moore, John L. Moran, Lucius M. Polhill, James E.
Rayhorn, Meredith K. Roberson, Edwin L. Shattuck, Dalton Ward.
Staff: Baker J. Cauthen, Rogers M. Smith, Frank K. Means, Winston Crawley, H. Cornell
Goerner, J. D. Hughey, E. L. Deane, Jesse C. Fletcher, Edna Frances Dawkins, Louis
Cobbs, Samuel Debord, G. Norman Price, Harold G. Basden, William K. Dawson, lone Gray,
Fon H. Scofield, Jr., Floyd H. North, Emily Lenz.
Guests: Mr. and Mrs. J. N. Fletcher, San Antonio, Texas, parents of Dr. Jesse C.
Fletcher.
Mr. Flowers opened the meeting with prayer.
The minutes were approved as previously printed and mailed to Board members.
Dr. Cauthen gave the following report of the Executive Secretary.
REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
We are now approaching the October meeting of the Board which in many respects is
one of the most important meetings of the year.
For one thing, it is a time when officers of the Board are elected. The by-laws of
the Foreign Mission Board concerning officers reads as follows: "The officers shall
be a president, first and second vice-president, recording secretary, assistant
recording secretary, treasurer, assistant treasurer, executive secretary, and such
other officers as may be required. All of the non-salaried officers shall be elected
by the Board at the October meeting following the annual meeting of the Southern
Baptist Convention, or at an adjourned meeting thereof and shall assume office at the
close of the meeting of the Board at which they were elected to serve until the
election of his or her successor. The president shall be elected by ballot from
among the members of the Foreign Mission Board who have completed two years of service.
Salaried officers shall be, and they are hereby considered as being elected for an
indefinite term of service."
As all of us know, and deeply regret that both our president, Dr. J. Chester Badgett,
and our first vice-president, Dr. J. Roy Clifford, who have served so ably in their
capacities, will rotate off the Board at the next meeting of the Southern Baptist
Convention. We are confident that the Board members will be approaching the October
meeting prayerfully seeking God's guidance at this time.
Another major matter for the October meeting of the Board will be the adoption of the
budget for 1968. Work has been in process for many weeks on this responsibility. It
will, of course, be the largest budget in the history of this Board, and it involves
a great array of detail beginning on mission fields and occupying the attention of
the administration of the Board for many weeks.
In approaching the budget for 1968, we keep in mind that advance in missions calls
for at least $2,500,000 additional money annually in order to sustain the advance
being made.
We have now reached approximately 2,300 missionaries, and the budget for 1968 is
expected to exceed $30,000,000.
What is the outlook for sustained financial undergirding for a continuing program of
advance?
A number of factors need to be considered in studying this question. For one thing,
the outlook for further growth in Southern Baptist work is encouraging.
The population increase now underway in this country is calculated to provide opportunity
for steady growth in the number of churches and in the strength of church membership.
A second factor is that the extension of Southern Baptist ministries into all states
of the Union bring Southern Baptist work into areas of major population concentration.
As this work begins to gather momentum, it should follow that the increase in Baptist
strength will be notable.
