IMB ‘on firm financial ground,’ Platt reports to trustees

Through Southern Baptists’ “faithful, generous, and consistent giving” of more than $98 million to the Cooperative Program and approximately $153 million to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®, the International Mission Board has reached financial stability, IMB President David Platt told the agency’s trustees June 12.

“That’s breathtaking: over $250 million given from Southern Baptist churches for the spread of the gospel among the nations,” Platt said. “And as a result of that giving, I am glad to report to trustees and the broader SBC that IMB is standing on firm financial ground.”

In addition to hearing this financial update, IMB trustees also approved the appointment of 31 missionaries; recognized 10 trustees as they completed their terms; and elected 2017-18 officers during their meeting conducted in conjunction with the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Phoenix.

IMB trustee chairman Scott Harris (left) shares a moment of levity with David Platt, IMB president, during the June 2017 trustee meeting in Phoenix.

“A couple of years ago, we said our goal was to work to get to a position of short-term financial responsibility and long-term organizational stability, and by God’s grace, we are there,” Platt reported. “Now some might wonder, ‘The Lottie Moon Offering was less than last year, and even just under Your Lottie Moon Campaign goal … so will IMB have a deficit for the 2017 fiscal budget year?’ And the answer is, due to our current expenses also trending below our budget for the year, we do not anticipate an overall deficit for the fiscal year.”

Trustees in the Support Services Committee reviewed IMB’s 2016 audited financials and its current financial position, including the core principles in the organization’s financial management: to present a balanced budget each year; spend 100 percent of Lottie Moon receipts overseas every year; do not use proceeds from property sales for operations; and maintain IMB reserves at appropriate levels.

“I’m so grateful to hear that we are on strong financial footing … and really grateful to God for the trajectory that we’re on, and particularly for the faithfulness of Southern Baptists in giving and in making all these things possible, and thankful for the direction that we’re headed in,” said Seth Polk, chairman of the Support Services committee.

David Uth (right), senior pastor of First Baptist Orlando, receives a hug of gratitude from IMB President David Platt. Uth was among 10 IMB trustees who completed their terms of service during the June 2017 IMB board meeting in Phoenix.

Eternal urgency

Platt confirmed in the trustees’ plenary session that every dollar Southern Baptists give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering “is going to the nations.” With the agency healthy financially, Platt said the stage is set for Southern Baptists to send more missionaries.

“The more Southern Baptists give, the more missionaries we can send,” Platt said. “And so in the same moment that we thank Southern Baptists for their giving, in the next breath we exhort Southern Baptists to give all the more — generously and sacrificially in the days ahead.”

In that light, Platt shared the story of Madeline Ray, a 21-year-old woman who was given a Make-A-Wish® Foundation “wish” as a teenager due to a medical condition related to hemorrhagic strokes. Madeline’s heart desire was to use her “wish” to make an eternal impact — to utilize her wish to take the gospel to an unreached people group.

So Madeline donated the funds for her wish to the International Mission Board. Platt shared a video about Madeline’s eternal-focused heart.

“This is what this meeting in Phoenix is about: it’s about followers of Christ and churches across our country who give an offering every week, saying, ‘We want to give for the spread of the gospel to those who have never heard it,” Platt said. “[Madeline] could have another hemorrhaging stroke at any moment. She knows that any moment could be her last.

“To hear her saying, ‘I just want to use whatever moments I’ve got to make the gospel known to people who have never heard it’— may that spirit mark Southern Baptists. May that spirit drive everything we do in and through the IMB.”

New missionaries, officers

The 31 new missionaries approved by the trustees will be appointed during a Sending Celebration June 13 during the evening session of the SBC annual meeting at the Phoenix Convention Center.

Trustees recognized the service of outgoing trustee chairman Scott Harris, missions minister at Brentwood (Tennessee) Baptist Church, and nine other trustees completing their terms. Hance Dilbeck, senior pastor of Quail Springs Baptist Church, Oklahoma City, was elected as chair of the board of trustees for 2017-18; Rick Dunbar, a member of First Baptist Church, Madison, Mississippi, was re-elected as first vice chair; Tim Simpson, pastor of Greenridge Baptist Church, Clarksburg, Maryland, was re-elected as second vice chair; and Lisa Lovell, a member of First Baptist Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas, was elected as recording secretary.

The next IMB trustee meeting and Sending Celebration is Sept. 12-13 in Ridgecrest, North Carolina, in conjunction with IMB’s celebration of emeriti personnel.

Hance Dilbeck, pastor of Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City (left) receives congratulations from Scott Harris after being named IMB trustee chairman.

The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® is a registered trademark of Woman’s Missionary Union.

Julie McGowan is public relations manager for IMB.

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