During a July 10–11 meeting in Richmond, Va., trustees of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board recognized President Jerry Rankin for 10 years of service.
Since Rankin’s election in 1993, IMB workers have seen church starts increase each year from about 2,000 in 1992 to more than 8,300 in 2002 and baptisms grow from almost 252,000 to more than 421,000.
Support from the churches increased 32 percent through the Cooperative Program (CP) and 43 percent through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (LMCO) during the same period.
The number of people groups being reached with the gospel grew from 584 to 1,497 in just the past five years.
Rankin credited the importance of prayer as the IMB’s basic missions strategy, praised the quality of the board’s staff, missionaries and trustees and expressed his gratitude for the steadfast support of his wife, Bobbye. “
No one is more amazed than I at how God has worked in these 10 years through the IMB,” Rankin said. “It is not about us, but about God’s glory.”
The trustees also received an update on IMB finances.
Increases in missions support from churches are still critical to ease restrictions on sending new missionaries.
However, the stock market’s improved performance in the first six months of 2003 has helped some with the IMB’s financial crunch, the board’s vice president for finance told the trustees.
Stock returns probably will provide the $23 million of investment income budgeted for 2003, David Steverson said.
Combined with the $10 million cut from the budget in June, the board now is watching church gifts through Southern Baptists’ unified budget plan, the CP and the LMCO, to see whether additional spending reductions may be needed.
The IMB had to make serious budget adjustments in June because growing support from Southern Baptist churches was not keeping pace with the record numbers of new missionaries coming forward for service.
The board limited the number of new workers that will be sent overseas in 2003 and 2004 and eliminated 61 full-time and part-time stateside staff positions after the 2002 LMCO fell almost $10 million short of its $125 million goal.
The IMB’s missionary count grew 8.7 percent from 2000 to 2002, but combined income from the CP and LMCO increased 1.5 percent during the same period.
Approximately 100 candidates who hoped to begin long-term missionary careers this year have been deferred to next year or put on hold. The number of new short-term personnel also will be reduced by 30 percent this year.
In other business, the IMB trustees:
* Learned that prior overseas experience significantly reduces attrition among long-term missionaries, according to a study by the IMB’s global research department.
* Adopted a new statement, “Making Jesus Christ known among all peoples” clarifies and simplifies the previous statement.
* Processed a resolution of appreciation for Janette Shackles, an IMB missionary physician who was killed June 9 in a traffic accident in Ghana.
* Accepted the resignation of Robin Hadaway, who was leader of IMB work in the Eastern South America region. (BP)
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