60 new missionaries appointed

9/18/2009
By Caroline Anderson

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)—Does God know sign language?

Some Deaf that a new missionary knows in Asia are asking the question. Since their earthly fathers cannot speak to them in their heart language, can their Heavenly Father understand them?

Emma Zondervan* says yes — God does know sign language.

“When God speaks to you, He speaks to your heart. He doesn’t speak to your ears,” said the Huntsville, Texas, native, who can hear. “Your deafness does not prevent you from going to heaven.”
Zondervan is among 60 new missionaries appointed by IMB (International Mission Board) Sept. 16 at First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Fla. These appointees are being sent to four continents —35 to Asia, 12 to Europe, 12 to Africa and one to the Americas. That brings the total number of Southern Baptist missionaries to 5,562.

While in college, Zondervan called the IMB almost every week for two years to keep informed of opportunities to serve the Deaf. While still a student, she raised her own support and worked with Southern Baptist missionaries in Europe ministering to the Deaf in the summer of 2006. After graduation, she spent several months in Asia working with the Deaf — once again, on her own dime.

These trips confirmed her calling and now Zondervan is going to Asia to minister to the Deaf.

Rick Eckhart* and his wife, Lena*, have a message to share, too.

When Rick was in high school in Maryville, Tenn., a missionary invited him to serve in Papua New Guinea one summer.

“As a teenager I was like, ‘there’s no way I’m going to New Guinea,’” Rick said. “I was thinking … about all the … things that I was going to miss out on.”

But God started working in Rick’s heart, and he realized he didn’t want to miss this opportunity.

“In Papua New Guinea, I shared my testimony with a tribal group in the jungle. A tribal leader, after hearing my words, stood up and asked me to come and teach them the Scriptures,” Rick said. “His request, along with the prompting of the Spirit, solidified my call to missions.”

During that trip Rick knew he wanted to be a missionary. The thought of people, like the Papuan tribal leader, perishing without hearing the Gospel broke his heart.

“I walked away from that trip totally and completely changed. From that point forward, I’ve geared my life toward missions and God has just continued to give me confirmation … that He wanted me to be on the mission field,” Rick said.

The Eckharts are going to work in South Asia in a city that is largely unreached with the Gospel.

“There are others who would like to be here, who anticipated being here, but because of financial limitations, the number of missionaries that we are now able to send out is having to be restricted,” IMB President Jerry Rankin told the new appointees. “It is indeed a privilege in the providence of God that you’re among those who … can go to the ends of the earth and share the Gospel.”

Southern Baptist missionaries are experiencing unprecedented victories in sharing the Gospel around the world, according to Gordon Fort, vice president of the IMB’s office of global strategy. Fort reported that in the past five years, thousands of people from Muslim backgrounds in South Asia accepted the message of salvation.

But there are still many who have not heard, Rankin reminded those attending the appointment service. In Central Asia, only about 80 of its 500 people groups have access to the Good News of Jesus Christ.

“By what criteria should any people be deprived of hearing the Gospel, when God has blessed us so richly in numbers and resources as Southern Baptists?” Rankin asked.

“You’ve been confronted tonight with a world that is dying without Jesus Christ,” he said.

It is our responsibility, he said, to respond to the Great Commission call to take the Gospel to a lost world.

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Rankin's retirement, new missionaries top IMB trustee meeting

9/17/2009

By Don Graham

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)--Word of IMB (International Mission Board) President Jerry Rankin’s retirement and the prospect of appointing 25 additional missionaries in 2009 led the agenda at the IMB trustee meeting in Jacksonville, Fla., Sept. 15-16.

Rankin told trustees he will step down July 31, 2010, after 17 years of service in that role. Rankin said he has “absolute confidence” the decision to leave came from God, the same sense of conviction that prompted him and his wife, Bobbye, to be appointed as Southern Baptist missionaries in 1970.

“I believe the appropriate time has come for a new, younger generation of leadership to guide our global mission efforts into the future,” Rankin said. “You can be assured that this [decision] comes from prolonged and intensive times of prayer and fasting in seeking confirmation of God’s will.

“God has indicated that this is the appropriate time, and we dare not forfeit the future that He has prepared for the IMB and for us in the next stage of life.”

Trustee chairman Paul Chitwood announced the formation of a 15-member search committee to find Rankin’s replacement. Jimmy Pritchard, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Forney, Texas, was tapped to chair the committee with Norman Coe (Kentucky) as vice chair.

Other members are Stuart Bell and Joe Hewgley (Arkansas), Jana Brown (Georgia), Charles Fowler (Tennessee), Robert Jackson, Mike Penry and Tim Locher (North Carolina), Nathan Lino (Texas), Dick Landry and Kathy Towns (Louisiana), Ray Jones (Alabama) and Richard Powell (Florida). As trustee chairman, Chitwood also will serve on the committee.

“The task that falls now to us as trustees of this board is indeed a weighty task,” Chitwood said. “If we measure what is significant based upon the potential to impact the kingdom of God, then choosing the next president of the United States would pale in comparison to choosing the next president of the International Mission Board.

“I say none of that to fill us with pride. I say it to drive us to our knees in prayer, asking that God’s will be revealed to us and that God’s will be done.”

SENDING MORE MISSIONARIES

On the heels of Rankin’s retirement announcement, IMB treasurer David Steverson told trustees that more missionaries will be sent this year than originally planned, thanks to special offerings collected by Southern Baptists.

In May, trustees were forced to reduce missionary appointments because of a shortfall in funding from the Cooperative Program and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. The appointment of 69 long-term candidates and some 350 short-term candidates waiting to serve on the mission field was delayed. Now, about 25 of those 69 long-term candidates will be added to a group of 37 already slated for appointment in November.

“While our Lottie Moon receipts have not yet increased substantially because of these efforts, we have received many, many anecdotal reports of churches taking special Lottie Moon offerings over the past few weeks,” Steverson explained. “We don’t yet know the total we will receive … but we are convinced these funds are in the pipeline.

“We are grateful to Southern Baptists for their response to this challenge by stepping up and giving above and beyond what they would normally do,” Steverson said.

But he stressed that one-time gifts aren’t a long-term solution — Southern Baptists must continue to give sacrificially to sustain these additional missionaries after they are sent, not to mention the more than 5,500 missionaries already serving around the world.

“It is inexcusable that 16 million Southern Baptists cannot support 5,600 missionaries,” said Gordon Fort, IMB vice president of global strategy. “May God help us to send out a clarion call to Southern Baptists to return to their first love, back to the priority which is on the heart of God, that every language, every people, every tribe and every nation would have their witness.”

BUDGET SHORTFALL ‘CRISIS’

Despite Southern Baptists’ generosity, Steverson cautioned trustees that IMB’s financial situation remains serious. Calling the budget shortfall a “crisis,” he said IMB would, for the first time in its history, be forced to dip into contingency funds in order to balance the budget.

“We have been able to cut out almost $19 million from the expenditure side of the budget we are currently drafting for 2010,” Steverson said. “Unfortunately … we are about $7.5 million away from a balanced budget.”

Steverson said IMB will close the budget gap by drawing the $7.5 million from its contingency funds. He acknowledged this is not a long-term solution to decreased giving, but said he believes the biggest economic crisis in U.S. history since the Great Depression warrants such action.

“Since we first established a contingency reserve some 60 years ago, this will be the first time we have used it for our benefit,” Steverson said. “We believe that demonstrates our commitment to living within our means but also to appropriately draw on our reserves in truly extraordinary circumstances.”

APPOINTMENT SERVICE

Trustees concluded their time in Florida with the appointment of 60 new missionaries at First Baptist Church of Jacksonville. The next trustee meeting will be held in Shreveport, La., Nov. 9-10. A missionary appointment service will be held Nov. 10 in conjunction with the meeting of the Louisiana Baptist Convention.

Don Graham is a writer for IMB.

Rankin announces retirement

9/16/2009

By Michael Logan

Jacksonville, Fla. (BP)—IMB President Jerry Rankin announced today he will retire July 31, 2010, ending a 17-year tenure marked by sweeping organizational changes and a steady personal calling.

“Everything I have done has been driven by an unequivocal sense of a call to missions, to make my life count and to make the greatest impact possible on reaching a lost world for Jesus Christ,” Rankin said.

Rankin told IMB (International Mission Board) trustees during his report at their Sept. 15-16 meeting in Jacksonville, Fla., that his presidency should not be judged for the accomplishments of the organization under his leadership but for how the organization is poised for the future.

“For the second time in my tenure we are implementing a radical paradigm shift in organization and strategy,” he said. “This is not because of past failure and ineffectiveness but a vision of the changes needed to ensure relevance and effectiveness in the future.”

Such sentiments are consistent to Rankin’s approach in leading the 163-year-old organization. Early in his administration Rankin began placing a greater emphasis on the work remaining in world evangelization rather than on what had been accomplished.

“It’s not … our size or annual statistical report that should drive us,” he said. “We need to be driven by a vision to bring all peoples to a saving faith in Christ and what it takes to get there.”

Yet there has always been a need to track progress. When Rankin took over leadership of the IMB in 1993, the Southern Baptist mission organization saw nearly 4,000 missionaries help start more than 2,000 churches in 142 countries. Last year more than 5,500 IMB missionaries helped plant nearly 27,000 churches and engage 101 new people groups for a total of 1,190 engaged people groups.

The move from tracking countries to focusing on people groups reveals another area where Rankin worked to change the IMB. Country counts faded during the past 10 years as the organization shifted to finding the best ways to engage new people groups and population centers.

“I think moving us to a people group focus helped us learn to innovate,” he said. “But probably the most radical innovation of all has been the process of moving us to a mobilization perspective.”

Such a shift has not been easy. He has pursued it almost his entire tenure.

“To mobilize and involve churches and Southern Baptists rather than our doing missions on behalf of Southern Baptists is an innovation that we have been pursuing for the past 12 years. The whole mobilization perspective is where we are going. That’s the hope of the future of missions,” he concluded.

Rankin has not always been so confident of the future. He was surprised and overwhelmed when a 15-member trustee search committee asked him to become the IMB’s next leader in 1993.

“I felt so inadequate to the task. And I certainly didn’t come with a vision of ‘Here’s my agenda. Here’s how we are going to reach the whole world.’ But it was one of, ‘OK, Lord, I’m your servant. I’m available. What do you want to do through the IMB?’”

Rankin and his wife, the former Bobbye Simmons, were appointed missionaries to Indonesia in June 1970. They studied language in Bandung, Indonesia, and he served as a general evangelist in two other Indonesian locations.

Rankin also consulted in evangelism and church growth in India, served as associate to the area director for South and Southeast Asia, and then as administrator for mission work in India. He became area director for Southern Asia and the Pacific where he oversaw the work of 480 missionaries in 15 countries.

“I never anticipated that I would move beyond a niche where God had called us to serve as missionaries in Indonesia,” Rankin said.

“It made no sense for a field missionary who had been overseas for 23 years,” Rankin told the trustees, “to be selected over others who were far more qualified and at a peak of controversy regarding control of leadership roles among Southern Baptist Convention entities.

“I had not even attended a Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting until the year prior to my election.

“I reluctantly accepted the role (as president), not out of any desire for status or reputation and certainly not for a denominational administration role, but only to make the greatest impact on reaching a lost world that my life could make. The motivation for accepting this was only that same missionary call that carried us to Indonesia.”

Rankin said that he sees that same sense of call uniting the organization’s leadership teams as well as in the emerging young leaders within the IMB’s staff and missionary force. He said the same spirit of unity rests within the current body of trustees.

“Never in my experience have we had a board of trustees so unified, supportive and sensitive to the spiritual nature of our task,” he said in his report.

Rankin said this common vision is vital as the organization moves into the next phase of its history.

“We have always been a missionary-sending agency with unlimited capacity to send and support the missionaries being called out of our Southern Baptist churches. That is no longer the case as appointments are being restricted and strategies must be changed to more effectively deploy and utilize limited numbers of personnel.

“The next president must deal with economic realities that will not permit us to presume upon unlimited financial resources as we have in the past. Southern Baptists are at a point of crisis in deciding whether to continue a bureaucratic legacy, supporting a comprehensive plethora of ministries and programs, or focus resources on fulfilling the Great Commission.”

Rankin added that the IMB stands on the verge of unprecedented opportunities to complete the task of engaging every nation, people and language with the Gospel.

“We need a leader who can identify with the next generation, one who has credibility to mobilize Southern Baptists, creative vision to implement new strategies and faith to provide the spiritual leadership that will keep us aligned with the mission of a sovereign God.”

-30-


Michael Logan writes for IMB.

Rankin's report to IMB trustees

9/16/2009

Jerry Rankin

While my life is one driven by vision and a constant focus on the future and what could be, when I pause to reflect on the past I realize life’s journey is marked by a sequence of transitions. From high school to college, from college to seminary, from seminary to church ministry and missionary appointment, each change and location is a transition that indelibly marks one’s life with both accomplishments and opportunities for growth. In my own experience these steps were each characterized by challenges, new and enlarged responsibilities, and a deeper resolve to more dedicated service. Each successive role was accompanied by a sense of inadequacy for the task, a greater awareness of the need for God’s strength and guidance, and a renewed devotion to prayer and seeking Him.

Every change was preceded by what I have come to characterize as God stirring my nest. Like the eagle stirring the nest to disrupt the comfort and security of the young eaglets when it is time for them to fly on their own, there has been an inevitable stirring in my heart and life. You know the feeling that precedes a new job offer, the call to a new church or a change of direction vocationally. Sometimes it is a sense of a task or ministry being accomplished, perhaps a changing family situation or a vision for greater significance. Whatever the circumstance, and however God chooses to speak and reveal His will, there is a sense of rightness and divine timing that confirms the change and new direction.

Bobbye and I found that unmistakable when it was time for us to move toward missionary appointment in 1970. The call had come earlier in life. We had been diligent to get the educational preparation needed and were obedient as God led us to gain valuable experience in youth ministry, student work and the pastorate. After nine years in our church planting assignment in Indonesia, the stirring came at the point of moving into a field administrative role, relocating to Bangkok and later to Singapore. Our leadership and influence was later expanded into India and South Asia, and then after 23 years we reluctantly recognized that God was managing the sequence of events that brought me into this role as president of the Foreign Mission Board.

I think all of us would understand and agree that a convicting sense of God’s will and what He would have us to do isn’t always consistent with our personal desires nor is the timing necessarily convenient in terms of personal preferences. But obedience and the willingness to trust God is an exciting pilgrimage of faith as we face the future confident He is leading and His hand is upon us with a providential knowledge of the future.

With these comments and observations, it should come as no surprise to the discerning listener that I am leading to an announcement some have anticipated, others want to deny and defer, and some may celebrate, but one that we all know is inevitable. With conflicting emotions that are running rampant but with absolute confidence this decision comes from God, whom I have always aspired to follow and serve faithfully, the time has come for me to reveal my plans for retirement, effective July 31, 2010.

It will have been 40 years since Bobbye and I were appointed as missionaries. I will have had the privilege of leading the International Mission Board for 17 years, the second longest tenure of any president in the last century. I will be 68 years old and am confident that God has a significant role of ministry and influence for me in the years to come, but I believe the appropriate time has come for a new, younger generation of leadership to guide our global mission efforts into the future.

This final year will enable me to oversee our new structure and organization, to help bring stability to the radical changes being implemented and prepare our staff and missionary personnel for the transition to a new president. I have shared these plans with our chairman, Paul Chitwood, in anticipation a search committee will be appointed and a successor identified before my tenure lapses next summer. It would be my desire that there be a time of overlap and transition with the new president so that a change could be implemented without disruption and loss of momentum.

For those of you who know me, you can be assured that this comes from prolonged and intensive times of prayer and fasting in seeking confirmation of God’s will in this decision as in others throughout my life. Knowing the eventuality of this time was inevitable, it was only a matter of discerning God’s timing. I clearly recognize the danger and debilitating impact on an organization to hold on to a leadership role too long. But neither would I dare lay aside this responsibility prematurely out of preference for my own plans and desires contrary to God’s permission. There have been times when I would have readily relinquished this role and walked away to return to the mission field or a less burdensome responsibility. In times of criticism, misunderstanding and personal attack, I thought, “I don’t have to put up with this.” But inevitably there would come that still, small voice saying, “Yes, you do!” In this role I have discovered God’s faithfulness, experienced the depth of His grace and had the incredible privilege of having an overview of His providence at work around the world.

I do not have any specific plans to announce at this time, but I am confident that retirement with the IMB will not mean a cessation of activity and involvement in serving God for many years into the future. He has blessed us with health, energy and vision, and we anticipate being used in a number of significant roles as we are released to pursue opportunities for speaking, writing, ministry and mission involvement. So why step down at this time? Why not stay on a few years longer? I am confident I have your support and could well do that, except for the fact God has indicated that this is the appropriate time, and we dare not forfeit the future that He has prepared for the IMB and for us in the next stage of life.

Also, while not being factors precipitating this decision, there are a number of trends that confirm it is an appropriate time for new leadership to take the IMB into the next phase of its long and distinguished history. We have always been a missionary-sending agency with unlimited capacity to send and support the missionaries being called out of our Southern Baptist churches. That is no longer the case as appointments are being restricted and strategies must be changed to more effectively deploy and utilize limited numbers of personnel. The next president must deal with economic realities that will not permit us to presume upon unlimited financial resources as we have in the past. Southern Baptists are at a point of crisis in deciding whether to continue a bureaucratic legacy, supporting a comprehensive plethora of ministries and programs, or focus resources on fulfilling the Great Commission. We have already initiated significant efforts in mobilizing church partners in the task of overseas missions, but we are at a crucial stage at which it is imperative that we become a different type of organization — a denominational entity that is not doing missions on behalf of Southern Baptists but is essentially serving and facilitating churches in taking responsibility for the task. But especially, it should be recognized that we stand on the verge of unprecedented opportunities to complete the task of engaging every nation, people and language with the Gospel. We need a leader who can identify with the next generation, one who has credibility to mobilize Southern Baptists, creative vision to implement new strategies and faith to provide the spiritual leadership that will keep us aligned with the mission of a sovereign God.

This is a role and responsibility for which I never aspired and accepted with great reluctance 16 years ago only because it was evident it was of God. It made no sense for a field missionary who had been overseas for 23 years to be selected over others who were far more qualified and at a peak of controversy regarding control of leadership roles among Southern Baptist Convention entities. I had not even attended a Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting until the year prior to my election.

This is not a time to reflect on the factors God used to bring me to this position. Neither is it the appropriate time to review my tenure, acknowledge the many failures and note a few accomplishments. There will be occasions for that later, but there are a couple of relevant perspectives worthy of mentioning at this time.

I quickly gained an increasing appreciation for my predecessors and realized whatever God chose to do in my tenure of leadership was due to the vision and effectiveness of those who have gone before. This realization brought into focus the reality that the mark of my leadership would not be measured by what was accomplished by the IMB during my years as president, but by what the organization was positioned to do in the future. For the second time in my tenure we are implementing a radical paradigm shift in organization and strategy. This is not because of past failure and ineffectiveness but a vision of the changes needed to ensure relevance and effectiveness in the future. I look forward to continuing to lead this transition over the next 10 months to help assure that things are on track and we remain positioned to focus on an unprecedented impact on lostness and global advance in a rapidly changing world and uncertain denominational future.

It has always been my desire to step down from this role in the midst of God’s blessings and while the IMB was riding a wave of effectiveness rather than under a cloud of controversy and discouragement. I could enumerate the many times of being confronted by my own inadequacy and failure. I learned that obedience always must pre-empt personal desires and convenience. Faithfulness does not come without sacrifice. It would be easy to claim some degree of credit and take pride in the growth the IMB has experienced and the global impact we have made, but it has been my desire that no one will be able to identify anything Jerry Rankin has done. It will simply be recognized that I had the privilege of filling a necessary role and bearing a title when God chose to work among us!

Books on management say that one mark of successful leadership is nurturing a successor. Unfortunately, I don’t have that prerogative. However, we have in place a stable and extraordinarily capable executive leadership team along with a vast network of new, younger leaders throughout our staff and around the world devoted to carrying out our mission. Never in my experience have we had a board of trustees so unified, supportive and sensitive to the spiritual nature of our task. You own the vision and share a passionate devotion to the success of our mission task. I want our staff, missionaries and Southern Baptist constituency to be assured that you can be trusted and deserve their prayers as you seek the heart and mind of God in choosing the one to serve and lead the IMB into the future.

It is going to be difficult and emotional to express at this time and over the coming months the appreciation I feel for our leadership team, our staff and missionaries serving around the world. When I walk through our offices and pass staff in the corridors, I am conscious of feeling a deep love and respect for each one. I am constantly reminded, without exception, of their commitment to our mission. I have been blessed by their support and confidence in me and enriched by their love and devotion to the Lord. Those who stand beside me in positions of executive leadership are the ones who have done the work and made possible that for which I get credit. The transparency in our relationships and the example of their lives have shaped and influenced who I am today.

Sixteen years ago I was often reminded by our trustees and others that I would never have been considered for this role were it not for Bobbye. No one would question the fact that I would not have survived had it not been for her love and support. The hours she spends in intercessory prayer and tactful, sensitive admonishment — you husbands know what I mean — have kept me anchored in the Lord. It hasn’t been easy for her to share the burden, endure the criticisms that inevitably accompany a leadership role and tolerate the intense travel schedules, incessant program responsibilities and times of separation. But she would affirm with me that the blessings, the gratification and reward have been worth it all.

I would not presume to equate my devotion to the Lord and passion for His mission with the Apostle Paul nor with that of Lottie Moon, who adopted Paul’s testimony in Acts 20:24 as her life verse, but it expresses what we want to communicate on the occasion of this announcement.
“I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the Gospel of the grace of God.” I do not consider the course of my life and God’s purpose complete, but at this stage of the journey it is time to press forward in the calling of our Lord Jesus Christ.