Sunday, May 23, 2010

Jerry A. Rankin: Giving Churches Ownership


We must acknowledge that a spiritual revitalization of born-again church members sharing their faith is the essential foundation for a Great Commission resurgence. Compelled and empowered by the Holy Spirit, Christians whose lives have been truly transformed by God’s grace cannot be restrained from proclaiming the gospel. Such a grassroots movement will permeate our communities, spread across America and do whatever it takes to take the gospel to a lost world.

Making disciples will become an exponential movement when churches are teaching all that Jesus commanded and modeling Christlike character and service. Discipleship will be manifested in a compassion toward others and grace-filled witness that will draw people to Jesus Christ. To the contrary, too often the public profile of Southern Baptists is one of controversy, political action, attacks on culture and mutual alienation rather than one that draws people in the marketplace and neighborhood to our precious Savior.

We long for a fresh move of God among us in which a Spirit-filled lifestyle will infect our society and result in strong and growing churches equipped to fulfill God’s mission. But we cannot wait passively for that to happen, excusing our negligence and lack of devotion to the responsibility to take the gospel to the nations and under-churched areas of our nation. As long as churches are deciding how to use billions of dollars given for “the Lord’s work” and Southern Baptists allocate hundreds of millions of dollars to support various programs cooperatively, we must do what we can to give greater priority to our Great Commission task.

When it comes to applying financial resources to the Great Commission, there is little that can be done to change the current system without someone being impacted negatively. The case is made that we cannot do more until people give more and churches allocate more to the Cooperative Program. Actually, the SBC doesn’t have a good track record of designating more for missions when additional funds are available.

The restructuring in 1997 eliminated three agencies with the pretense that a streamlined structure would make more money available to missions. However, there was a net decrease in funding to the two mission boards and the Executive Committee and ERLC received the increases. The same thing happened when Guidestone relinquished its portion of CP; those funds went to ERLC, the EC and the seminaries. When funding to the Baptist World Alliance was terminated, instead of additional resources going to the mission boards, the Executive Committee created a new program of conducting conferences around the world.

Blaming individuals and churches and waiting on stewardship to improve is evading responsibility and attributing the problem to an elusive solution. The trends clearly indicate personal stewardship is diminishing and church allocations to the Cooperative Program continue to decline despite massive efforts of promotion, education and information.

I believe the solution is to create a new paradigm—something no one seems willing to talk about. I envision a system of cooperative funding that will be so compelling that churches will give priority to supporting it, and it will stir the hearts of individuals to give generously and sacrificially. There are three factors we must courageously embrace for that to happen:

1. Focus the Cooperative Program on fulfilling the mission of God.
2. Reflect integrity, transparency and efficiency in the use of CP.
3. Give churches ownership of the Cooperative Program.

I want to address the third suggestion in this post first but alert readers to three additional factors that will subsequently be addressed as issues which invariably arise in this discussion:

4. The fallacy of societal paranoia.
5. The debilitating dependence on subsidy at all levels.
6. The potential of church planting movements sweeping our nation and the world.

I have found that people and churches will give generously, but they want to know exactly where it is going, what it is accomplishing and want to be involved with what they give to. It was a past generation that was satisfied to give to generic causes without any direct accountability for use of the resources. Churches have discovered a smorgasbord of options for doing missions and the denomination is no longer the default channel. We tell churches to give to CP and they get to support 10,000 home and international missionaries…they don’t know them, don’t know what they are doing and will never hear from them, but just trust us and send your support. And by the way, we will use about 70 percent of what you give for other purposes enroute to that missionary support!

Let’s pretend for a moment that it is the 21st century! Churches don’t need the IMB to arrange a mission trip or contact with an overseas partner. Let’s assume we are no longer our own worst enemy in which entities compete with each other for church donations, as was the case in 1925. With electronic banking and transfers it is really not necessary for local states to collect Cooperative Program gifts from the churches on behalf of the SBC. Let’s acknowledge that it is not really cooperation for states to determine how much they keep without collaboration with SBC entities and then simply pass on the remainder.

We have tried to convince churches that they get to cooperate in all the work of the state convention, Baptist colleges, SBC seminaries, missionary work and a host of other ministries by just making a regular financial contribution. They don’t have to do anything. But is simply giving truly cooperation without involvement and ownership in the decision of what one gives to?

The case is made that churches do have ownership of what the states and the SBC do through the votes of their messengers at the respective annual conventions. But in reality those complex and massive budgets are formulated by staff and executive committees and then ratified by messengers who happen to be attendance, seldom representing more than 10 percent of the churches. All of the churches are then forced to give to everything or nothing. It doesn’t exactly create a sense of ownership and willingness to sacrificially support a plethora of ministries and administrative functions that don’t seem to have anything to do with the Great Commission.

As mentioned in the previous blog, the IMB is the largest recipient of CP. We and our missionaries promote it vigorously. In confronting pastors of churches which designate a negligible percentage, I have never had one tell me they don’t give more because they want more to go to the state convention! But they don’t have a choice. If they bypass the state convention, SBC entities receive the funds, but the church is reported as giving “zero” to CP and is considered non-cooperative!

A lot of churches, small and large, do not want more of their mission dollars going to subsidize Baptist colleges than to sending missionaries to reach the nations. There are those who would give far beyond their current level of CP support if they could be assured it was going directly to evangelism and church planting. They are not convinced that administration of the bureaucracy doesn’t consume an inordinate amount.

It is time to divide CP into two separate programs and eliminate the connectionalism that is a contradiction of our denominational polity. Churches can own the decision of how much to give to state causes and to SBC programs. It is not really too complicated to write two checks or make two bank transfers instead of one as each church feels led by the Lord to do. We would probably reach the ideal 50/50 proportion more quickly, but I am confident there would be an increase in total allocations to give churches ownership of that decision rather than it being imposed on them.

I commend the GCR task force for recognizing designated church gifts to both state and SBC entities and ministries as “Great Commission Giving.” But how much better would it be to allow any designated gift to an approved recipient of Cooperative Program funding to be considered CP? I don’t think this is a threat to adequate support of every entity and ministry. Most churches would continue to give more to the total generic formula as they are doing now. Churches that give just a small percentage to CP would give much, much more if they could give beyond the generic allocation to causes dear to their heart.

The primary argument I have heard against dividing CP is that it would destroy our cooperation. But that cooperation has resulted in declining support for years. Is stubbornly holding on to an antiquated legacy of cooperation more important than creating an innovative approach to stimulate giving? Which has the greatest potential: holding churches in bondage to generic giving or giving them ownership in how they cooperate and support what we do together?

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Paying to Fulfill the Great Commission

Jerry Rankin Blog

This article is an introduction to a series of posts I will writing on “paying to fulfill the Great Commission.” The convention has convinced Southern Baptists that you and your church don’t have to do anything; the measure of commitment to the Great Commission is how much you give through approved channels for state and SBC entities to do the job of reaching a lost world. Churches may start dozens of new churches, lead their state in baptisms and invest millions of dollars in missions but are not considered mission-minded and cooperative nor are their members worthy of board positions if the percentage allocated to the Cooperative Program does not measure up to expectations.

Let me quickly add that I am not bashing CP. The International Mission Board and everything else we do as Southern Baptists would cease were it not for this amazing program of cooperative support. The IMB gets as much as all other SBC entities combined; a lot is being said about how much is kept by state conventions, but we receive more CP than dozens of states combined. So, please don’t construe anything I say as criticism of CP as I suggest in subsequent posts a new approach to “doing more together” to fulfill the Great Commission

The Cooperative Program is a miraculous system for denominational support. I have witnessed other mission agencies suffer high rates of attrition as their missionaries are unable to sustain support through individual fundraising. Our seminaries are among the largest in the world. The extent of what we are able to do through voluntary contributions of cooperating churches is phenomenal. We dare not do anything that would erode what I believe to be divinely inspired and created by wise and visionary leaders.

However, I believe it is critical that some changes be made to reconstruct the Cooperative Program to be relevant for the future, appeal to the mindset of our churches and result in a significant increase of resources needed to fulfill the Great Commission. An additional 1 percent here and there is not going to make a great difference in global impact. There is no way needed changes can be made without becoming a “win-lose” proposition for entities and between state and national work. I am going to suggest some changes that I sincerely believe could double receipts to CP and enable us to fund a radical advance for impacting lostness in America and around the world.

But first I need to acknowledge that even this will not make a great difference without a grassroots change in life transformation of the redeemed, quality discipleship and a strategy of “doing” rather than paying others to fulfill the Great Commission. Subsidizing state conventions and SBC entities, including mission boards, cannot substitute for what local churches and every believer must do!

Many other commentators on the GCR have mentioned the need for a more authentic approach to evangelism. One speaker called it a “shrink-wrap” presentation of the gospel in which people respond because they don’t want to go to hell, but they don’t want to die to carnal living and self-centered values. No repentance is involved. Something has to be suspect about an approach to witnessing that doesn’t result in life transformation. When those making professions of faith never follow through with baptism and identification with a local church and have to be coerced to attend and give, we should not expect them to share a persuasive witness with others.

Jesus sent us to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom in which God is glorified by the reign of Christ as Lord of one’s life, but we have resorted to proclaiming a gospel of salvation instead. Don’t think I am disparaging the simplicity of the gospel; I was saved by praying a sinner’s prayer in childlike faith. However, once people give intellectual assent to the premise of our presentation and sign on the dotted line, then it should not be an exercise in futility to persuade them to tithe, attend church, serve the Lord and live according to Christlike character.

Which brings us to the second aspect of our dilemma—a lack of discipleship. Too often discipleship is neglected or is simply approached as an introduction to church membership. One doesn’t become a disciple of Jesus Christ by being injected with information and knowledge, even of God’s Word. Discipling comes from relationship—a growing relationship with Jesus and with mature believers who walk alongside mentoring, encouraging and modeling Christian maturity. Knowing what to do and how we are to live doesn’t necessarily result in that becoming a reality.

In his book, Every Member Evangelism, J. E. Conant said, “The Great Commission is sufficient authority to send us after the lost, but it is not sufficient motivation; it is not the authority of an external command but the impulse of an indwelling presence that sends us after the lost.” Knowing we are to witness and do missions doesn’t result in it happening. It will not be driven by guilt and another program of mobilizing for witness. It is only the compelling power of the Holy Spirit within us that will compel us to reach a lost world.

When we recognize we are undeserving sinners saved by grace, there will be the motivation and impulse to share our faith with others and do whatever it takes to reach the lost. This is what is happening in so many places overseas. People’s lives are changed; they cannot be restrained from telling others what Jesus has done for them in spite of persecution, social pressure or government restrictions.

A third flaw is our tradition of a highly subsidized methodology and paying others to do it for us. We pay professional church staff to do the work of the church instead of a handful of gifted ministers equipping the members for witness, teaching and serving. Our programs demand expensive facilities and budgets that make it impossible for “offerings to the Lord” going to fulfill the Great Commission.

Beyond the local church, we pay the state convention, missionaries and the SBC to do the work for us. One of the critical issues in response to GCRTF proposals reflects an acknowledgement that the work of state conventions is based on subsidized resources that will be devastated if any changes are made. There will never be enough money to sustain all our denominational programs and stimulate any advance in fulfilling the Great Commission.

I believe we can do more and make our financial resource go further by reprioritizing what we do. This will create a more compelling motivation for stewardship and cooperative support. But there won’t be a significant difference without a spiritual renewal that brings about massive grassroots involvement in witness and missions, churches reproducing and starting churches and a paradigm shift from paying someone else to do it for us. Stay with me as we explore these issues.

Monday, May 10, 2010

America and the Rest of the World Part 2

Jerry Rankin Blog







Certainly there are needs in our own country. There is no question spiritual renewal is the key to more effectively reaching the lost. But a Great Commission Resurgence is about the relative proportion of resources we devote to reaching a lost world. Not only does America represent less than 5 percent of the world’s population, it is where 45,000 Southern Baptist churches are located, hopefully sharing the gospel in their communities.

That same 5 percent of the world’s population is where 1,200 Southern Baptist associations are working with churches to reach their towns and cities. It is the same 5 percent of the world’s population where 42 state conventions are working. It is the same small proportion of the world’s lost among whom the North American Mission Board is directing its strategies and resources.

America is where Southern Baptists are already investing almost $12 billion while making available only $300 million to reach the other 95 percent where there are few resources. We have over 100,000 pastors, church staff and denominational workers here in America among 5 percent of the world’s population and say we are doing enough to send 5,000 missionaries to reach the rest of the world. Oh yes, and there are a few more churches other than Southern Baptists who are seeking to reach this 5 percent in America, as well.

But the most outrageous thing being advocated by many, is that we need to give even higher priority to reaching people where we live and channel even more resources into the needs here rather than doing what is needed to reach the world with the gospel. If what we are doing was working and effectively evangelizing America, that suggestion might have some merit, but why put more resources into something that is not really working very well?

God loves the whole world; so should we. Jesus died for the whole world, not just for our nation or our kind of people. As the body of Christ in the world today, He has left to us the responsibility of carrying on His work and fulfilling His mission. If we don’t reach the nations, who will? We are His people. We are the ones who have the Word of Life. We have been blessed to receive the hope of salvation. When will we get serious about sharing it with the rest of the world? If not now, when?

The Empty Tomb is a research organization in Chicago that tracks the stewardship and giving patterns of churches and denominations. In their last report they noted that the International Mission Board had set a goal at the turn of the century of engaging all remaining unreached people groups. This goal would require 8,000 missionaries and was an essential step in fulfilling the Great Commission. The Empty Tomb report observed that Southern Baptist church members gave enough financially to make this goal feasible. However, the SBC had demonstrated by how they were utilizing resources allocated to the denomination that the goal of the denomination was not to fulfill the goal!

We take pride is supporting 5,000 international missionaries, but that is only .03 percent of Southern Baptists. It is not even one out of every three thousand church members, yet it strains our resources to support that number. If we were really serious about reaching the world and recognized God had blessed us as a denomination to fulfill His mission, would it not be unreasonable that 1 percent our church members would be called to go as missionaries? That would be not 5,000 but 160,000! What potential would that have for eradicating lostness and taking the gospel to all peoples!

Could not the remaining 99 percent of our church members support the 1 percent who go as missionaries? What is the problem? It is a matter of disproportionate use of resources. We have determined we will do other things with our money than reach a lost world—comfortable spacious buildings and programs that serve the redeemed. We choose to keep most of the money at home while providing a token of resources to reach the rest of the world.

Years ago while serving as Area Director for South and Southeast Asia, I had the responsibility of dispersing the budget for more than 500 missionaries in the 15 countries of that region. We monitored receipts to CP and LMCO knowing it would affect the resources we had available. Even though there were usually increases in these income streams, it was never enough to meet our budget needs. I was the one who had to determine which programs would be cut back, which new initiatives would be deferred, etc.

One year, I had just received a population update for the countries under my administration. In exasperation of trying to stretch our budget resources I divided the amount of our annual budget from the mission board for field work and missionary support by the population we were trying to reach. The answer was 1.7 cents. I acknowledge that that really didn’t mean anything, but the thought occurred to me, “We don’t give two cents for the salvation of the people who are lost around the world!”

Saturday, May 8, 2010

IMB welcomes 46 new missionaries in final appointment of Rankin's career



By Don Graham

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)—Tommy Reed* was soaked to the bone. Half-a-world from his native Tennessee, the 27-year-old missionary was caught in a torrential downpour as he rode his motorcycle to a Bible study in a remote Philippine village.

He found shelter under a thatched-roof shed and stumbled upon the woman who would one day become his church-planting partner — and his bride.

Reed worked with another missions organization at the time. He and his wife were among 46 missionaries appointed by trustees of the International Mission Board (IMB) in two services, one held Wednesday, May 5, at Broadview Missionary Baptist Church, Broadview, Ill., and the other Thursday, May 6, at First Baptist Church, Jackson, Miss. The appointment services were the last for outgoing IMB President Jerry Rankin, set to retire July 31.

Karen Reed,* Jim’s wife, remembers that rainy night, now more than 20 years ago. The shed Reed stumbled into was owned by Karen’s family. They’d never befriended a foreigner, much less entertained an American in their home. But the Filipino family invited him inside anyway, and since he couldn’t go to his Bible study, Karen’s father asked him to share the Gospel with them instead.

Reed spent the next 16 months teaching Karen’s family about Jesus, eventually leading Karen, her mother, brother and sister to Christ. In 2006, Reed and Karen were married and are now heading to Southeast Asia to plant churches together.

Though the Reeds’ romantically inspired tale is unusual, it shares a common thread with the stories of all new appointees in the sense that every missionary’s call is unique.

GOD’S VOICE

Shawn Smith* remembers hearing God audibly confirm his calling to missions at age 18 while attending a youth camp.

“My Bible study leaders encouraged us to focus on prayer as a two-way conversation with God. One night, as we were singing, I was praying to God about my future,” Smith says. “I told Him that I wanted to go to the mission field, but that I would not unless He led me there.

“I asked God if that was His will for me. Then I waited in silence. After some time passed, I heard an audible ‘Yes.’ Startled, I jumped up and looked around. Everyone was still singing. I realized that God had spoken.”

Smith and his wife, Elise,* along with their three children, are now bound for Central Asia.

RETURNING TO HOMELAND

As a pre-schooler in Taiwan, Lee Chen* first heard the Gospel from American missionaries who visited his kindergarten.

“They gave us candy, crackers, milk and pencils. They also brought the love of Jesus,” Chen says.

Those seeds finally began to grow when Chen turned 16 and was invited to church by one of his classmates. Thirty years later, Chen and his wife, Lucy,* working with another missions organization, became one of the first Chinese missionaries to South Africa. Now the Chens are returning to their homeland to spread the Gospel in East Asia.

LAUGHED AT

Amy Sweet* remembers being laughed at when she told a room of accounting professionals interviewing her for a college scholarship that she wanted to use her “accounting skills to positively impact others,” possibly by working for a non-profit organization.

“This wasn’t the first time I received this reaction, but it was what I desperately wanted to do,” says the 26-year-old Texas accountant. “I began to pray, and God opened a door for me to impact lostness.”

Sweet is now moving to South America to plant churches and serve with the IMB’s finance department.

FIRST BELIEVER

Church wasn’t an option for Michael Kim,* whose parents strictly forbade him from attending the lone Presbyterian congregation in the South Korean town where he grew up. As eldest son, he held the role of family priest, responsible for leading ancestor worship rituals. But he was drawn to Jesus nonetheless and became a believer at age 16, the first in 38 generations of his family.

His new faith enraged his parents, who beat him, threatened to disown him and threw his Bibles into the fire. Kim eventually smuggled a Bible into his room and read secretly in bed, hiding under the sheets. By the time he finished college, he’d read through the Bible seven times.

“In order for me to hear the Gospel, there was a long flow of blood, sweat and tears of Western missionaries to Korea,” Kim says. “As a debtor of the Gospel, I am … heading to Southeast Asia to share the Good News of Jesus.”

RANKIN’S APPOINTMENT MILESTONE

The appointment services marked a milestone for Rankin, bringing the number to 101 he’s been a part of during his 17 years as IMB president. In that time Rankin has seen more than 10,000 men and women sent out as Southern Baptist short-term and career missionaries.

“I want to thank you, Southern Baptists, because of your faithfulness in praying, for your heart for a lost world, for your faithful giving to the Cooperative Program [that] has enabled them to go in obedience to God’s call,” Rankin said.

He challenged the new missionaries to stay focused on their vision and passion for sharing the Gospel, something he found essential during his 40-year service with the IMB.

“It’s so easy [to get distracted] living in a foreign country where you get caught up in just surviving; taking care of your family and all of the bureaucracy and red tape and hassle of congested crowds,” Rankin said.

“Even though he was threatened, stoned, beaten, imprisoned, eventually martyred … [the Apostle Paul] was undeterred because he had a passion for a lost world to know Jesus Christ as Savior. You’re here tonight because you had a very distinct sense of God’s call to the mission field.

“As [Paul] expressed in that final message of farewell to the Ephesian elders, ‘I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course, and the ministry I’ve received from the Lord Jesus Christ.’ That was Lottie Moon’s life verse. My life is of no account; my only purpose, my only passion, is to faithfully fulfill the calling of God to share Christ with the lost world.”

*Names changed.

Don Graham is a writer for the International Mission Board.

Friday, May 7, 2010

IMB trustees elect officers, tap Meador as potential interim president

5/6/2010

By Erich Bridges

CHICAGO (BP)--International Mission Board trustees elected new officers during their May 4-5 meeting in Chicago, continued their search for a successor to IMB President Jerry Rankin and made arrangements for interim leadership if the search extends beyond Rankin’s July 31 retirement.

Should a new leader not be in place by the end of July, trustees tapped IMB Executive Vice President Clyde Meador as interim president, beginning Aug. 1, “to serve until a new president is elected and assumes his responsibilities.”

Meador, 65, from Albuquerque, N.M., has been executive vice president since July 2003, directing many of the board’s day-to-day operations. A veteran missionary and mission administrator, Meador and his wife, Elaine, served in multiple assignments in Asia for more than 25 years before he joined the IMB home office staff in 2001.

The trustee presidential search committee continues its work — and continues to ask Southern Baptists to pray it will find the right person for the job. Committee chairman Jimmy Pritchard, pastor of First Baptist Church, Forney, Texas, said there was no firm timetable for a selection.

“We are making progress but have not been able to arrive at a consensus at this point,” Pritchard said. “We will get there. We’re just not quite there yet. We are waiting and working and praying, and God in His time will give us a consensus.”

NEW OFFICERS

In their annual election of new officers, trustees elected Pritchard by acclamation as board chairman. He succeeds outgoing chairman Paul Chitwood, pastor of First Baptist Church, Mt. Washington, Ky., who led the trustee board for two years as the IMB launched a major global reorganization. Pritchard will continue in his role as leader of the presidential search committee.

Also elected unanimously were Tim Locher, a retired airline pilot from Hendersonville, N.C., as first vice chairman; Joe Hewgley, a property manager from Rogers, Ark., as second vice chairman; and Kathy Towns, a small business owner from Arcadia, La., as recording secretary.

The trustees also appointed 46 new missionaries recognized during services at Broadview (Ill.) Missionary Baptist Church in the Chicago area and First Baptist Church, Jackson, Miss.

FINANCIAL OUTLOOK

David Steverson, vice president for finance, reviewed the IMB’s 2009 financial statements during his report. He also predicted the final 2009 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions will top the 2008 offering of $141 million — despite the ongoing economic difficulties faced by Southern Baptists.

“We do a projection the first couple of weeks in March, which we share with the finance committee, and we monitor the receipts on a weekly basis,” Steverson said. “The closer we get to the closing date, the more we are convinced that Southern Baptists are responding and we will see an increase when the books are closed on May 31.”

Investment income also has rebounded after the disastrous market nosedive of 2008-2009. However, Steverson reminded trustees that the IMB has dipped into reserve funds to cover its 2010 budget and faces significant budget limitations for the foreseeable future.

“Cash contributions were down almost $8 million [for the calendar year],” he reported. “This is reflected in both Cooperative Program and Lottie Moon [receipts]. We were able to compensate for this by reducing overseas expenditures $13 million and [U.S.] expenditures $6 million.”

MISSIONARY PERSONNEL

Meador briefed trustees on the IMB’s annual missionary personnel report. The board counted 5,441 missionaries at the end of 2009. Some significant numbers highlight who they are, where they serve and other key factors:

--Fifty-four percent of IMB missionaries are women, 46 percent are men; 84 percent are married.

--More than 56 percent of all IMB workers now serve in restricted-access locations where most unreached peoples are found. Only 38 percent work in “open” areas — “a continually decreasing number, as more and more of our personnel serve in high-security places,” Meador said.

--More than 4,300 missionaries serve in long-term assignments. About 1,120 are short-termers (two- to three-year assignments). The percentage of short-termers, already down somewhat from previous years, will continue to decrease as the IMB focuses limited resources on supporting long-term workers.

--The 2009 personnel attrition rate was 5 percent, in keeping with the average rate for the past 15 years.

RANKIN ON MISSIONS FUTURE

In his report, Rankin expressed optimism that the just-released final report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force “lays the foundation for a renewed impetus on … cooperative efforts to reach the lost throughout North America and the world.” However, he cautioned, the report and potential actions taken on it by the Southern Baptist Convention in June “are simply a start and incentive to much that must follow in subsequent years.”

In the meantime, he challenged IMB trustees to “not wait passively for these changes to take place, but to make decisions that will move us aggressively forward in engaging all peoples with the Gospel. Our primary focus is not just doing evangelism overseas. It is penetrating lostness and giving all peoples an opportunity to hear, understand and respond to the Gospel in their own cultural context.

“You have already affirmed that we are to be more than a missionary-sending agency. Just because we are having to limit the number of personnel we can send and support, we cannot just shrug our shoulders and apologetically excuse ourselves from pressing forward to finish the task of reaching all peoples. We have to recognize the vast potential of partnership with Southern Baptists, Great Commission Christians and the network of national Baptist partners around the world.”

Personal involvement and hands-on mission partnerships are the “desire of a new generation,” Rankin stressed. “I am convinced a future generation will give and give generously, but they want to be involved, and they want ownership of what they do. They want to make a difference in the world. …

“If the IMB stays focused on the task, is driven by a compelling vision to fulfill the Great Commission and stays aligned with what God is doing around the world, the future is promising. But whether or not this makes a difference is contingent on adjusting our thinking to the demands of a changing world. …

“Even with an improved economy, we will never have enough missionaries to reach the whole world, but 45,000 churches and 16 million Southern Baptists can do it. But we must radically change our thinking as a denominational entity if we are to successfully relate to our constituency and effectively mobilize them in a Great Commission Resurgence.

“If we don’t do it and lead the way, who will?”

‘GET THE MESSAGE OUT’

Outgoing trustee chairman Chitwood urged his colleagues to explore “new and creative ways” to increase financial support for international missions in a day when God-called missionary candidates are being turned away for lack of funds.

“Estimates are that in the next 40 years somewhere between $40 trillion and $50 trillion will pass from the builders and boomers to their children and grandchildren — and to the causes they choose to support,” Chitwood said. “Legacy gifts to institutions may be down, but they are not out. Money is still changing hands. Worthy causes are still being funded. While we are still receiving an amazing amount of gifts through the Cooperative Program and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, we could do more if we had more … .

“The bottom line is this: I give more through the IMB than I did eight years ago, because I know more. We have to get the message out in new and creative ways, not only to our churches but to individual Southern Baptists who want to leave a legacy that impacts eternity. I know of no more worthy cause than the cause we champion.”

Chitwood also called upon the board to keep moving forward in the area of theological education.

“I want to commend President Rankin for being proactive in the employment of Dr. Chuck Lawless as an advisor in theological education,” he said, and for creating four positions for theological consultants during the recent reorganization.

Chitwood urged the trustees both to expect the next president to value the role of theological education and to continue to focus on creating a culture that recognizes the importance of well-trained missionaries.

“As we better equip our missionaries to train and equip those who are being reached, we are making an investment with exponential returns,” Chitwood said. “As Dr. Rankin often says, our missionaries will not reach the world. But if those whom our missionaries reach are trained to reach, reaching the world becomes possible.”

In another action, trustees paid tribute to Jeremiah Johnson, a 21-year-old student missionary killed April 12 in a motorcycle accident in the African nation of Mozambique. Johnson, a member of Royal Palms Baptist Church in Phoenix, Ariz., was working with the IMB’s Hands On initiative, which enables college students to work on the mission field for a semester.

The trustees expressed “deep appreciation” for Johnson’s service to God and pledged special prayer support for his family in the days ahead.

The next meeting of IMB trustees will be July 20-21 in Rockville, Va., at the IMB’s International Learning Center.

Erich Bridges is a global correspondent for the IMB.