To a rousing chorus of cheers and applause, International Mission Board (IMB) trustees overwhelmingly elected Alabama Baptist pastor David Platt (see story, page 1) as IMB’s 12th president during their Aug. 26–27 meeting near Richmond, Va.
Also during the meeting, IMB leaders briefed trustees on a pilot funding program to allow for greater numbers of short-term missionaries (who serve two- to three-year terms) while forging deeper partnerships with churches.
Under the initiative, based on the model established in 1977 by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Mission Service Corps, more than 50 percent of short-term missionaries’ financial support will continue to be provided by Southern Baptists through the Cooperative Program and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. The remainder, set at $15,000 per person per year, will be raised by the missionaries themselves.
Jay Wolf, chair of the trustees’ administration committee and pastor of First Baptist Church, Montgomery, noted, “The objective is simple: We want to put more people on the field. We want to attack lostness, and right now we don’t have the financial resources to do that. So we need to be creative and do more with less.”
The IMB will provide short-term candidates and their churches the coaching and tools they need to raise this partial support, Wolf added. The pilot project will begin with candidates attending a March expo in 2015.
IMB trustees also heard about opportunities in Syria and Iraq. John Brady, IMB vice president of global strategy, described the growth of refugee camps in places such as Duhok, a city in Iraqi Kurdistan, and highlighted the need for relief for the region’s estimated 9 million forcibly displaced people. He added that IMB’s primary human needs partner, Baptist Global Response (BGR), is leading Southern Baptists’ efforts to help these refugees. But, he said, the relief work is hampered by a lack of support.
‘Chance to make a difference’
“Southern Baptists’ hearts have not been moved,” Brady lamented. “Only $300,000 has been given to BGR for relief in Syria and Iraq. Christians, Yazidis and many others have been swept out of their villages and are clinging to life in these camps. And in every hovel, we have a chance to make a difference — not tomorrow, today.”
Brady begged trustees to give to relief efforts at BGR’s website, gobgr.org.
“There are local brothers and sisters that I personally know on the ground there who have chosen not to leave, and they just want to know that we’re going to stand with them,” Brady said. “One of my friends told me, ‘Ask the Christians of the West, have they forgotten us?’ I want to answer, ‘No, we have not.’”
In other business, IMB trustees:
- Appointed 50 new missionaries including at least four Alabama Baptists.
- Remembered the life of IMB missionary Jeff Powers, who served for 16 years as a church planter in Botswana and Zambia with his wife Staci. Powers died July 10 after a year-long battle with cancer.
- Accepted and offered prayers of thanksgiving for four estate gifts totaling nearly $785,000.
The next IMB trustee meeting will be Nov. 6–7 in Olive Branch, Miss., with a missionary appointment service Nov. 9 at First Baptist Church, Olive Branch.
(BP)
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