RIDGECREST, N.C. (BP) — Many Southern Baptist churches that pride themselves in being “missions minded” might have a hard time convincing an impartial observer, an International Mission Board leader told trustees Sept. 12 at LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center.
The meeting was part of a three-day gathering that included a national reunion for about 1,000 emeritus missionaries at Ridgecrest and the appointment of 48 new overseas workers at Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden near Asheville.
“As I travel, I hear a lot about how ‘missions-minded' Southern Baptists are,” said Gordon Fort, IMB vice president of overseas operations. “I often ask, ‘How much does your church pay for utilities each year?' Then I ask, ‘If you are paying more for your utility bill than you are giving to reach a lost world for Christ, how does that make you a missions-minded church?' ”
Southern Baptist churches ought to re-examine just how high a priority missions really is when they claim a total of 16 million members yet have only 5,234 international personnel currently under appointment, Fort said.
“Southern Baptists are great to talk about tithing,” he told the trustees. “I want to ask whether a church shouldn't tithe its membership to reach a lost world?” Even if just 1 percent of 10 million active Southern Baptists were to enter the mission force, “we would have 100,000 missionaries. Instead, we have 5,000.”
Fort noted that IMB leaders have a vision “for 3,000 more active missionaries on the field …. Adding 3,000 new missionaries might be a difficult task if we were starting out with no resources, but the truth is that those 3,000 new missionaries are already sitting in our churches, and the finances to support them are already in our pockets. It's not a hard task.”
During their May 2007 meeting, IMB trustees allocated $5.2 million beyond what was already budgeted to fund new missionaries using 2006 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering receipts to enable sending an additional 200 new missionaries to the field in 2007-08.
A key strategy for recruiting 3,000 additional missionaries is a new emphasis on mobilizing students for “hands on” missions, Fort said.
The pilot project — “Hands On: Africa” — will give 18- to 29-year-olds an opportunity to immerse themselves in the “nuts and bolts” of overseas missions for four or five months while working alongside seasoned workers in a wide range of missions challenges. Applications for spring 2008 projects are due Oct. 20. The program is expected to expand to other parts of the world by 2009.
In other business, the trustee board unanimously elected a new regional leader for the board's East Asia region. The new leader, whose name was withheld from publication for security reasons, was the unanimous choice of trustee and administration committees at every stage of the selection process, Fort recounted. This new regional leader has served overseas since 1994 and succeeds Bill Fudge, who retired this past summer after a 34-year missionary career.
Trustees also allocated the remainder of the 2006 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. A total of $3.7 million was divided as follows: $1.5 million for initiatives to reach unengaged unreached people groups, $600,000 for strategic evangelism initiatives, $900,000 for field training in church planting movement methodology, $400,000 for field expenses for student missionaries and $300,000 for Bible funds.
The emeritus missionary reunion celebrated the Year of the Emeriti, an event held every five years. This year's gathering drew about 1,000 retired missionaries representing a collective 26,000 years of service. Sixty new retiring workers joined the emeritus ranks during a recognition service Sept. 11 at Ridgecrest.