RICHMOND, Va. — International
Mission Board (IMB) trustees moved toward the future while honoring the past during
their July 20-21 meeting in Richmond, Va.
BP photo Jerry and Bobbye Rankin chat with North Carolina trustee Rick Byrd during the July 20-21 board meeting in Richmond, Va. This was Rankin’s final board meeting as IMB president. |
Trustees voted unanimously to
recommend modifying the IMB’s primary ministry assignment to reach people
groups globally, including North America, and formally recognized Jerry Rankin
for 40 years of service.
This was Rankin’s final board meeting as IMB president.
Trustees awarded Rankin the title of president emeritus and paid tribute to his
23 years on the mission field and 17 years as IMB president during a banquet in
his honor.
Special guests included O.S. Hawkins, president and CEO of
GuideStone Financial Resources; Frank Page, president-elect of the Southern
Baptist Convention’s (SBC) Executive Committee; R. Philip Roberts, president of
Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; former missionaries and trustees as
well as the Rankins’ two children and their spouses, grandchildren and other
family members.
Al Gilbert, a former assistant to Rankin who now is pastor of Calvary Baptist
Church in Winston-Salem, described Rankin as a man of vision and passionate prayer,
intensely focused on the singular goal of making Christ’s name known among all
peoples.
“You’ve poured out your life. It’s been a sweet aroma to heaven’s throne, and I’m
glad I could be nearby and watch you do it,” Gilbert said.
Rankin, who will retire July 31, was joined by his wife Bobbye in expressing
gratitude for those with whom they’ve served.
“It’s not about a job, a title or responsibility — it’s all about relationships
and what each of you has invested in who we are,” Rankin said.
“Recently I returned from some extended travel and walked in through the (IMB)
lobby and one of our maintenance staff followed me into my office … and said,
‘Welcome back Dr. Rankin. How can I pray for you today?’ That’s the kind of
people we work with…. (Leaving) wouldn’t hurt so badly if we hadn’t loved so
deeply.”
Rankin shared how God had called him to faith in Christ and to missions at age
10 during a Billy Graham crusade in Jackson, Miss.
“I remembered thinking, ‘I
wish everyone in the world could know Jesus.’ And ever since I’ve thought that,
there was within our call to salvation a call to missions to tell a lost world
about Jesus Christ,” Rankin said.
BP photo Al Gilbert, former assistant to Jerry Rankin, thanks the Jerry and Bobbye Rankin for their 40 years of service to the International Mission Board at a retirement banquet trustees held in their honor July 20 in Richmond, Va. Gilbert now serves as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem. |
He added that one of his greatest
disappointments as president was leaving the IMB without bringing gospel access
to all of the world’s people groups — a task he’d hoped to see achieved by the
end of his tenure.
“That’s the goal we’re striving for,” Rankin said. “We’re not there yet, but as
I leave the future is in your hands, and I pray that you would maintain that
focus and be found faithful in the task.”
Trustee Rick Byrd, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C.,
recalled seeing the depth of Rankin’s missions heart during a 2009 trustee
meeting when a global recession and giving shortfall forced the IMB to limit
missionary appointments.
“I looked up on the platform and there was Dr. Rankin with tears streaming down
his face,” Byrd said. “It was a telling moment about the heart of our
president. He was crushed.
“Dr. Rankin, Southern Baptists owe you a debt of gratitude for your faithful
leadership, for your heartfelt passion for missions, for your abiding love for
missionaries and your deep compassion for the lost of the world,” Byrd
continued.
“Henry Blackaby said, ‘History is largely the tale of how God used ordinary men
to accomplish His extraordinary purposes throughout time.’ Many years ago God
used some ordinary people to greatly impact world missions. People like William
Carey and Lottie Moon. … Today and in the years ahead, our children and our
children’s children will learn about another ordinary man who helped shape
modern missionary strategy. … That ordinary man is Jerry Rankin.”
Great Commission Resurgence action
In addition to honoring Rankin, trustees took action on recommendations from
the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force (GCRTF) report, which was approved
by messengers at the SBC annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., in June.
Trustees voted unanimously to recommend that the SBC’s Executive Committee
modify the IMB’s primary ministry assignment, removing wording that excludes
the organization from working with people groups in North America.
“The world continues to change, and unreached people groups aren’t defined by
geographic boundaries,” said Gordon Fort, IMB vice president for global
strategy.
“Our strategies and structures must also change if we want to
maintain an effective gospel witness. Historically, there’s been a clear
distinction between home and foreign missions, but those lines are blurring.”
Fort added that the IMB already is beginning to flesh out the practical
possibilities that come with the trustees’ adoption of the GCRTF’s
recommendations, but he cautioned this does not mean the IMB will begin
deploying missionaries inside the United States.
“The truth is this: When it comes to deployment, we’re already undermanned
overseas,” Fort said. “So if anyone thinks we’re going to start putting a lot
of missionaries in America, that’s just not true — or strategic. Why would we
put more people in America when there are 46,000 churches that can do that?
“The biggest piece that I think we’ll start focusing on are the
first-generation ethnic and immigrant populations in North America. What about
really impacting Asians? What about really impacting some of the North African,
West African and Middle Eastern cultures? What are the strategic opportunities
for IMB to help equip churches to engage those peoples?”
Presidential search
Clyde Meador, IMB executive vice president, will step into his new role as
interim president Aug. 1 as trustees serving on the presidential search
committee continue their work.
Trustee chairman Jimmy Pritchard, who leads the
search committee, said progress is being made.
“God will make His man known to us at the right time,” said Pritchard, pastor
of First Baptist Church in Forney, Texas.
“We have a good heart, our committee
is together and committed to finding God’s man. We’re just not quite there yet.”
The next trustee meeting will be Sept. 14-15 in Tampa, Fla., in conjunction
with a missionary appointment service Wednesday evening, Sept. 15, at Bell
Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Fla.
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Graham is a writer for the International Mission Board.)