Thomas “Tom” D. Elliff, longtime Oklahoma pastor, Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) leader and former missionary, is the unanimous recommendation of a 15-member trustee search committee to be the next president of the International Mission Board (IMB).
The nomination of Elliff — who served as a missionary to Zimbabwe with his wife, Jeannie, in the early 1980s — will be presented to the full board of trustees for consideration and a possible vote when they meet March 15–16 in Dallas.
If elected, Elliff would succeed Jerry Rankin as leader of the mission board, which coordinates the work of more than 5,000 Southern Baptist missionaries worldwide. Rankin retired as IMB president July 31, 2010, after 17 years at the helm. Veteran missionary and Executive Vice President Clyde Meador currently serves as interim president.
IMB trustee chairman Jimmy Pritchard, who has led the presidential search committee throughout its selection process, announced the nomination Feb. 17. He said Elliff emerged as the committee’s clear and unanimous choice in January.
“Throughout the process, we talked to some great and godly men, but we just could not get a sense of God’s peace about any one of them,” said Pritchard, pastor of First Baptist Church, Forney, Texas. “When Dr. Elliff’s name came before us, we had a subtle sense of God’s Spirit speaking to our hearts. That may sound mystical, but that’s really what happened. … Every one of us senses that God spoke and said, ‘This is the moment you’ve been praying for. Here is your man.’”
A Texas native, Elliff, 66, was president of the Southern Baptist Convention 1996–1997 and served as president of the SBC Pastors Conference in 1990. He has led several key churches in the denomination, including First Southern Baptist Church, Del City, Okla., where he was pastor for 20 years.
He most recently served as IMB senior vice president for spiritual nurture and church relations, from 2005 to 2009. In that role, he taught and counseled missionaries and helped mobilize churches throughout the convention for missions involvement.
Currently he leads Living in The Word Publications, a writing and speaking ministry he founded in 2005. He frequently speaks about spiritual awakening and family life in churches and conferences throughout the United States and abroad.
Elliff brings a wealth of gifts and experience to the challenging task of leading Southern Baptists’ international missions work in the coming years, Pritchard said.
Elliff, said Pritchard, has lived in “many different worlds” in Southern Baptist life:
“He has heard God’s call to missions as a field missionary. He has pastored some of our best churches. He was president of our convention for two years. He worked at the vice presidential level with IMB. So he is uniquely prepared, his integrity is unquestioned, and I believe that he will be able to help connect all of our entities together. He has great (a) relationship with our seminary presidents and with the North American Mission Board.
“We just see so many indicators that he is God’s choice. Through the process God has spoken to him also, and we are enthusiastic. We are standing with complete and total unanimity. We are very confident that God’s hand is on Dr. Elliff at this time to lead IMB. We’re excited, and we can’t wait for March to get here to make our presentation to the full board.”
Share with others: