September 9, 1965
49
The Foreign Mission Board met in regular monthly session on September 9 at 3:00 P.M.
with Dr. Roberson presiding.
Present: T. F. Adams, Wade Bryant, J. Roy Clifford, Joseph P. Edmondson, Mrs. Clyde
V. Hickerson, J. Walter Martin, J. Leonard Moore, John L. Moran, James E. Rayhorn,
Ryland 0. Reamy, Hunter Riggins, Meredith K. Roberson, D. 0. Rose, Edwin L. Shattuck,
Dalton Ward, Baker J. Cauthen, Frank K. Means, Winston Crawley, Cornell Goerner,
Rogers M. Smith, Franklin T. Fowler, E. L. Deane, E. L. Wright, Jesse C. Fletcher,
Edna Frances Dawkins, William W. Marshall, Truman S. Smith, E. L. Hill, Fon H. Scofield,
lone Gray, G. Norman Price, Harold G. Basden, Floyd H. North, Genevieve Greer, Inez Tuggle
Guests: Miss Everley Hayes, missionary to Indonesia; Miss Wanda Ponder, missionary
to Paraguay, Dr. Alan Compton, missionary to Chile and newly elected Radio and Television
representative for Latin America; Mrs. William J. Williams, missionary to Nigeria.
Dr. Cauthen gave the following report of the Executive Secretary:
REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
With mission work now being projected in sixty countries throughout the world, and
with hope of further extension into other lands as God will lead, Southern Baptists
are now deeply involved in ministering to peoples whose lands become involved in
crises and emergencies in an ever-changing world situation.
During recent months missionaries of our Board have found themselves in disturbed
situations in the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Indonesia, British Guiana, Pakistan,
and India. The nation of Malaysia has been dismembered by the secession of Singapore.
Many of the nations of Africa continue to move along toward stability through many
crosswinds of change and reaction.
We have come to what should be the finest hour in missionary service in all history,
as God's servants find themselves walking shoulder to shoulder with people who are
caught up in the realities of the Twentieth Century. We are grateful that we are not
detached. We are grateful that we are not living in a comfortable island of plenty
and security, surrounded by a world of instability and deep need. We believe that it
is in keeping with our Lord's Commission that His witness should be widely deployed
throughout the world so as to bear their testimony to the magnificence of God's grace
where our fellowman needs so earnestly to know of it. Millions of people cannot extri¬
cate themselves from the crises that surround them. Their only hope is to be able
amid those crises to look to God for help and strength. It is our privilege and joy
to share with them the knowledge of the love of Almighty God and His redemption as
wrought in Jesus Christ, our Saviour.
To carry out this ministry it is necessary that risks be run and that many times God's
servants stand in places where those who are not motivated by a purpose of ministering
to man's deepest human needs would hesitate to be.
We rejoice in the continued response of Baptist people with their lives to the call
of service in today's world. We are also encouraged by the undergirding with financial
resources and prayer provided by churches throughout the land so that those who respond
to Christ's call may be reinforced in the work to which they go.
It is a great privilege to live in and minister to the needs of mankind in a day like
this. We are called to new heights of faith and to careful examination of our own
hearts as to our readiness to follow Jesus Christ as He may lead. It is because we
are confident that He is leading and because we rejoice in the abounding grace with
which we are surrounded that we face our task with joy and anticipation.
The Christian response to our day must be in terms of a greatly expanded witness in
the name of Jesus Christ and a clear demonstration of the meaning of His love.
Our task for the future is clear and well defined. We greet it with joy and confidence!
******
Dr. Goerner gave the following report of the Secretary for Africa:
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY FOR AFRICA
Reports are now coming in from the "whirlwind" trip through four countries of Africa
by Dr. Wayne Dehoney, president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Leaving his home
in Jackson, Tennessee on August 15, Dr. Dehoney made his first stop in Africa at Nairobi,
Kenya. He arrived just after the close of the annual Mission meeting and was able to
meet many of the missionaries who had come together at the Baptist Assembly grounds at
Limuru. Later he was able to visit two stations, Kisumu and Nyeri, and to see a good
cross-section of Baptist work in East Africa.
