HOPE4KYIV SPECIAL ISSUE ---- 4/31/03
Posted by: btolliver <btolliver@...>
Bob and Jo Ann Tolliver
Missionaries to Kiev, Ukraine
By Mark Kelly
PHOENIX (BP)--International Mission Board trustees celebrated reports of dramatic advances overseas and allocated money to cover deficits caused by the rapid growth in missionary numbers that is outstripping financial contributions from the churches.
During a Jan. 24 meeting in Phoenix, trustees also appointed 52 new missionaries, memorialized the three workers recently killed in Yemen, appropriated $4 million for information technology upgrades and heard a sobering report about trends in volunteer service.
EXCITING NUMBERS
Leaps of more than 40 percent in the number of new churches, new outreach groups and new believers in discipleship training show that God is at work in amazing ways through Southern Baptist missionaries and their overseas Baptist partners, said Avery Willis, the IMB's senior vice president for overseas operations, and Scott Holste, IMB research director.
A total of 8,369 churches were organized in 2002, an increase of 42.5 percent over the previous year. The number of new outreach groups jumped to 9,862, an increase of 44.1 percent over 2001. And 369,069 new believers were enrolled in discipleship training, an increase of 40.8 percent over 2001.
Those dramatic increases were bolstered by positive growth in every one of the other 10 categories the IMB uses to measure overseas progress, including 421,436 baptisms, an increase of 8.7 percent.
The trustees also were told that in 2002 IMB personnel engaged 138 new unreached people groups, representing a total of nearly 360 million people. A total of 22 major urban centers unreached by the gospel also were engaged for the first time.
"We are thrilled to see God at work in such power," Willis said. "He is glorifying his name in all the world through missionaries who possess his passion for a lost world.
"Southern Baptists should be proud of their missionaries. They are pressing ahead, regardless of the cost, in spite of difficulties and dangers, determined that every people group will have an opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ."
GOING AND GIVING
Trustees appropriated $4.2 million in new funds to cover over-budget expenses in 2002 caused by record growth in the number of Southern Baptists coming forward for missionary service.
Two years of record missionary appointments and lower resignation rates have forced the IMB to overspend budgeted amounts for missionary support, said David Steverson, IMB vice president for finance. In addition, poor returns on investment income have required the board to pull $50 million from operating reserves over the past two years.
While Southern Baptists continue to give more each year to the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon international missions offering, incremental increases in giving have not kept up with the soaring growth of the missionary force.
In November, IMB President Jerry Rankin said that, for the first time, board leaders are having to consider restricting the flow of new missionaries to the field because Southern Baptist giving has not been growing as quickly as Southern Baptist going.
The record $113.7 million Southern Baptists gave to the Lottie Moon offering in 2001 fell short of the $120 million goal. The offering's basic goal in 2002 was $125 million, with a challenge goal of $10 million. Offering receipts would have to increase 18.7 percent ($21.3 million) to meet the need created by the surge of new missionaries.
On top of that, the budget provides for a net increase of only 150 new missionaries in 2003, but IMB leaders expect that number to be 400 or more.
"Is it time to panic? In a word: no," Steverson said. "God is still on his throne and he controls all the resources we could ever dream of. In times like these, we may need to look more to him and less to ourselves."
The IMB is "facing a great opportunity brilliantly disguised as an impossible situation," said finance committee chairman John Hatch of Lake Jackson, Texas.
"With literally thousands of missionaries in the pipeline seeking appointment, it's our heart's desire to send just as many as God will allow us to send," Hatch said. "It is important that we understand the challenge we are facing today."
52 NEW WORKERS
The only reason missionaries venture into a dangerous world with the gospel message is that God has called them, Rankin told 52 new workers in a Jan. 24 evening service at North Phoenix Baptist Church.
"You do not go because Southern Baptists enlisted you, your church selected you or the IMB has deployed you, but because God has called you," Rankin said. "You have no assurance of harvest and response. You are going to people who have hardened hearts and are blind to the truth, but they can never respond if they have never heard.
"Though you go to places of risk and danger, though you encounter trials, illness, misfortune and even threats, do not fear the people or their words, but trust in God. He is your strength, your refuge, your stronghold. You go in his power, his protection and his provision."
The new missionaries were called out of a wide diversity of backgrounds. The congregation heard testimonies from a building contractor, a flight attendant, a surgeon, an environmental scientist, a vice president of a chemical company and a truck driver.
The appointment service brought the total number of Southern Baptist missionaries under appointment to 5,441.
VOLUNTEERS
The IMB saw a dramatic decrease in 2002 in the number of volunteers willing and able to serve in short-term overseas assignments, said Bill Cashion, director of the IMB's volunteer office.
A number of factors, including the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., led to a 50 percent decrease in the number of high school students participating in overseas projects, Cashion said.
Even though the number of medical volunteers was up about 33 percent and collegiate volunteers were up 14 percent, the drop in high school participation helped plunged the total for 2002 to 26,767. Almost 34,000 Southern Baptists served overseas in short-term projects in 2001.
Cashion recalled hearing a young missions mobilizer tell a conference of Baptist leaders: "If war is declared [in Iraq], many people in our churches will stand and salute our young men and women who answer the call of their country, but many of those same people will do all they can to discourage and prohibit our young men and women from answering God's call to go this year."
=======================4/25/2003
IMB leaders weighing options with projected budget shortfall
By Mark Kelly
RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- International Mission Board leaders are outlining options to help avoid deficit spending if the 2002 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering does not reach its $125 million goal when the books close May 31.
Projections indicate the offering will set a new record -- for the 10th consecutive year -- but the offering and other sources of income are expected to fall millions short of funding the agency's challenging $290.1 million budget for 2003.
IMB President Jerry Rankin praised God that Southern Baptists continue to give to missions at record levels, but he challenged churches to move from generous support to sacrificial giving for their Great Commission cause.
"This budget challenge is not due to diminished giving on the part of Southern Baptists," Rankin said. "Missions is who we are, and churches are giving at record levels to the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, in spite of the soft economy.
"The challenge is that we allowed our missionary force to grow at a faster rate than giving was increasing. Incremental increases in giving cannot keep up with the amazing growth of the missionary force."
GOING OUTSTRIPS GIVING
Two years of 1,000-plus missionary appointments and lower resignation rates forced the IMB to overspend budgeted amounts for missionary support in 2002. In addition, investments did not generate their usual income for the board's budget because of the downturn in the stock market.
The board budgeted for a net personnel increase of 200 in 2002 but actually posted 319. The 2003 budget allows only for a net increase of 150, when the number actually could be much higher.
"We trust God to provide the resources to support the people He is calling to overseas missions," Rankin said. "But until more churches begin to give with the same passion these new missionaries have for a lost world, budget realities require us to keep spending within the limits of income."
While the final offering total will not be known until May 31, projections in mid-April indicated a 1 percent increase in receipts over last year's offering. That would fall about $10 million short of the $125 million planned into the 2003 budget.
While most churches collect their 2002 Lottie Moon offerings in December, the International Mission Board continues to receive donations for that offering through May.
Cancellation of some events, restrictions in staff travel and delaying production of some materials are among the initial steps IMB leaders are suggesting to help offset whatever shortfall may occur. Trustees and staff will discuss options to deal with the situation during a May 6-8 meeting in Boston.
FEWER NEW MISSIONARIES?
Unless giving increases dramatically, the board also may have to take steps to restrict the flow of new missionaries to the field, Rankin said.
"Southern Baptists gave us the assignment of sending their missionaries and new workers are obeying God's call in record numbers," Rankin said. "We will make whatever sacrifices and cutbacks are necessary to fulfill our mission."
God's passion for His lost children is what compels missionaries to go, Rankin said. When Southern Baptist churches -- like their missionaries -- are overwhelmed with God's love for the lost, they will give with the same passion.
"How sad it would be -- with the unprecedented opportunities and accelerating harvest -- for us to have to tell God-called missionaries that the money just isn't there to send them," he said.
"How tragic it would be if we have to decide which people groups will not hear about salvation in Jesus Christ because we have not provided the resources to send the missionaries God has called."
Give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering http://resources.imb.org/index.cfm/fa/prod/ProdID/256.htm
More about the International Mission Board http://www.imb.org/core/aboutus.asp
Fast Facts about the IMB http://www.imb.org/core/fastfacts.asp
The International Mission Board (http://www.imb.org) is a Southern Baptist Convention entity supported by the Cooperative Program (http://www.cpmissions.net) and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (ime.imb.org).