Foreign Mission ^oard Rooms
September 8, 1949
The Foreign Mission Board met in regularly monthly session at 4:00 p.m.
on Thursday, September 8, 1949 with Mr. Jenkins presiding.
Present: L. Howard Jenkins, T. Rupert G0leman, Mrs. Paul IftRoque,
Emmett Y. Robertson, John C. Williams, Clyde V. Hickerson, lbush lov¬
ing, Elmer West, H. P. Thomas, Mrs. Tom °mith, J. loving, ~aris 1.
Long, M. T. Rankin, S. E. Maddox, Frank K. Means, Josef Nordenhaug,
Marjorie E. Moore, Miss Gene Greer, Miss Nan Weeks, Miss Mary hunter,
Louis P. Seay, E. P. auxton, Miss Edna Frances Lawkins.
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Rev. Wlmer West led in prayer.
Dr. Rankin reported on his recent trip to the Hawaiian Islands and made
particular mention of the astonishing progress since the Foreign Mssion
Board decided to undertake work there in 1939. There are 37 regularly
appointed Missionaries to minister to the 500,000 people in the Islands,
over half of which are on the Island of Oahu where Honolulu is located.
There are seven regularly organized churches with a total of 1,242 mem¬
bers; 24 Sunday Schools with 2,500 pupils, 16 out stations, and 28
young people's organizations with 900 young people taking part. The
Hawaiian Baptist Academy has been established with the help of Virginia
W.M.U. Lottie Moon Funds. Dr. Rankin also mentioned his visit to the
Golden Gate Seminary in San Francisco on his return to the States and
his favorable impression of the work being done. There are vast oppor¬
tunities of service in that state. Seventy percent of the people in
California are unchurched. It is a place of great missionary challenge.
On motion of Dr. Hickerson it was voted that Rev. Victor Roon be elected
as Field Secretary for the Hawaiian Baptist Mission. He retains his
status as a regularly appointed missionary and is designated as the
field representative of the Board to serve in the Hawaiian Islands in
relationship to the area secretary responsible for work in that area.
Dr. Coleman read the following report of Hr. Sadler:
Mrs. Sadler and I arrived in Switzerland on July 11 after brief stop¬
overs in London and Paris. In the French capital we saw the fruits of
our relief efforts. We were deeply touched as we had contact with
some of the outstanding professional people of Rumania and heard their
expressions of thanks for our help. Those who make up that group had
fled because life in their native land was intolerable, ^ey presented
me with a scroll on which they referred to themselves as "the sad and
desperate Rumanian colony in exile."
Upon our arrival in Zurich we were met by most of the members of the
staff who quickly brought us out to this beautiful suburban spot. We
soon discovered that Dr. Franks and his colleagues had achieved great
success in adapting this mansion to seminary usage. Professor Adolph
Keller called on us last week, ^hiring his stay he said he had visited
a hundred or more seminaries but had never seen anything so magnificent
as this.
Registration is not to begin until Friday, Beptember 2. However, five
students have already come. Two of these are from America, one from
Rumania, one from France, and one from Germany. Representatives from
eight other countries are expected before the end of the week. The
fact that most of the Baptist groups of Europe will be represented in
the first student body indicates that the members of the staff have
done an excellent job in public relations. It shows also that European
Baptists have great confidence in our leadership. Our prayer is that
we shall be able to reward their trust by training men who will become
flaming evangels.
Dr. Franks and * have recently spent a week in Germany and Austria.
There we saw humanity adrift on a scale that beggars description. Near
Stuttgart we had fellowship with a group of Latvians, and in Munich we
