Trustees of the International Mission Board, meeting May 22-24 in Albuquerque, tabled a motion calling for a special task force to study doctrinal qualifications for missionary candidates, appointed 95 new missionaries and elected officers for 2006-07.
Receiving congratulations are new International Mission Board trustee officers John Floyd of Tennessee, chairman; John Russell of Florida, first vice chairman; Sam Morgan of Oregon, second vice chairman; and Sharon Tillery of New Mexico, recording secretary.In other action, the board learned that chairman Tom Hatley expanded restrictions on trustee Wade Burleson’s participation in board functions, and trustees heard a report that the missionary attrition rate has stayed constant at approximately 5 percent over the past seven years.
John Floyd, administrative vice president at the Memphis-area Mid-America Baptist Seminary, was elected board chairman, replacing Hatley, whose two-year term as chairman ended with the conclusion of the meeting.
Of the 95 Southern Baptists appointed May 23 at Hoffmantown Church in Albuquerque, nearly two-thirds, or 62, could not be named for security reasons because they are going to regions closed or hostile to a gospel witness. The appointees represent the fourth-largest group of missionaries appointed in IMB history.
In his final report as board chairman, Hatley told trustees he is encouraged that Southern Baptists are surrendering to missions at a rapid pace, sending volunteer teams in record numbers and funding missions at unprecedented levels.
“Stay focused on our (missions) task” is the message from Southern Baptists, Hatley said. “It is what they are doing, and it is what they expect and what they are receiving from us.
“Southern Baptists have shown a real ability to focus. In the face of negative publicity, the Lord’s people have risen to their greatest efforts. … Southern Baptists expect us to face problems forthrightly while not being slowed by them. Because of what they have done, we are able to return to a rapid pace of deploying missionaries.”
David Steverson, IMB vice president for finance, reported that the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering had topped the $135 million mark with about a week to go in the reporting period. He had projected a record offering during the March meeting in Tampa, Fla.
Motion tabled
After lengthy discussion, trustees voted to table a motion from the board’s executive committee that sought to ask Hatley to appoint a special task force to study doctrinal qualifications for missionary candidates.
Lonnie Wascom of Hammond, La., brought the motion that he said would answer the question: “What do Southern Baptists expect the doctrinal qualification should be of their new candidates for missionary appointment?”
Wascom said the panel of nine to 11 members should represent a broad cross-section of the Southern Baptist constituency, including pastors, laypeople and seminary leaders, as well as associational and state convention leadership.
“We would ask this group to take into account our Baptist life today, Baptist theological history as well as general church history in order to answer this question,” Wascom said. “Because it would be a broad-stroke task force, it would in no way be seen as working in conflict or over and against the current work being done by our trustee personnel committee on the existing policy [on private prayer language] and [baptism] guideline.”
However, trustee Paulette Blankinship of Williamsburg, Va., raised a concern that the action would set a precedent of asking for advice and consent from Southern Baptists whenever a major decision needed to be made.
“I serve under the impression I was elected to make those decisions,” Blankinship said. “I am sensitive to Southern Baptists in my church and everyone who has an opinion about it, but ultimately I’ve been given the responsibility to make that decision.”
Hatley agreed that he would not want the proposed action to set such a precedent. At the same time, he noted, the trustees do sometimes pull in outside consultants to get different opinions.
“It might be good to get the perspective of our convention, the mind of our convention – both the historical mind as well as the contemporary mind,” he said. “That’s the goal of [the motion], not just to revisit those two [private prayer language and baptism] instances, but to look at the expectations that our convention has across the board.”
South Carolina trustee Bobbie Caldwell of Simpsonville said she thought the motion “is opening a big can of worms that we might not be able to close. It does give the impression that this board doesn’t know what they’re doing.”
However, Jerry Corbaley of McKinleyville, Calif., said the executive committee’s recommendation “appears to be a fact-finding procedure so we can be good stewards to our constituents. And [it is a] dramatic expression of open, transparent cooperation. This is going to be much broader than simply a doctrine of glossolalia or baptism … and generating a discussion convention-wide on [doctrinal qualifications].”
Hatley noted, “It would be the intention of this study team to just study and report, not to try to come back and to dictate. They’re to go discover, contextualize and report back to us. Any decisions made would still be purely on this board.”
John Russell of Brandon, Fla., suggested the board needed more time to pray about the motion. Corbaley moved to table the motion, which passed on a voice vote.
Restrictions broadened
Hatley told trustees the board’s executive committee agreed to continue the restriction placed on Burleson during the March board meeting, barring him from serving on committees. However, after Burleson reportedly posted confidential information from the May 22 trustee forum on his personal blog site, Hatley said he was extending the restrictions to bar Burleson’s attendance at upcoming forums and in specially called executive sessions during board meetings.
Hatley said the confidential information Burleson posted from the forum dealt with a motion the executive committee planned to bring to trustees asking that a task force be named to study the doctrinal qualifications of missionary candidates.
Trustees agreed to restrict Burleson’s trustee involvement because they said his blog posts questioned their character and challenged their motives. Hatley called Burleson’s opinions toward the board “offensive and combative.” He said the majority of board members are insulted by such postings and, to his knowledge, Burleson has not apologized.
“We have no desire to restrict his opinions. Nor do we insist he agree with the majority of this board on any issue,” Hatley said. “[But] we are insistent that when character is impugned and motives are judged that a spirit of mistrust emerges that can damage the ability of this board to work together.”
The statement Hatley read from the executive committee said they would recommend lifting the restrictions as soon as Burleson:
? Publicly acknowledges his actions have seriously eroded fellow trustees’ confidence and agrees he will work with them to instill mutual trust.
? Apologizes to fellow trustees for repeatedly questioning their motives.