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NEW ORLEANS—It’s been a tough two months for Terry and Vicki Lassiter as they say goodbye to colleagues in the region where they served as Southern Baptist missionaries for the past 26 years.
Offering his final report on Nov. 5 to International Mission Board trustees tasked with oversight of the Americas region, the affinity group leader from West Texas shared the stories of local believers who are now leading churches after being trained by IMB missionaries.
“They’re stepping up to the plate in better ways than we could,” Terry Lassiter said, his voice choking a bit.
Texas trustees Geraldo Disla of Dallas and Thom Polvogt of Katy, joined other members of the American Peoples Affinity Committee in gathering around the Lassiters to pray for their transition to Waco where he will return to practicing dentistry and she anticipates ministering to women as opportunities arise to speak, write and serve.
“Every move we’ve ever made tore my heart out,” Vicki Lassiter shared, recalling earlier stints in St. Vincent, Suriname, Ecuador and more recently, Peru. “I actually think that’s a good thing,” she added. “It should tear your heart out when you leave a place because it means you’ve really been there.”
The next morning they cheered on fellow Texans Jacob and Dodie Glover, who shared their calling to work among an unreached people group in Mexico. “It is kind of neat that as we’re leaving, we see some new couples coming in,” Lassiter said. “These are good people.”
Glover has childhood ties to Friendly Baptist Church in Tyler and his wife was a preacher’s kid from Oak Street Baptist Church in Colorado City. They met at Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth while attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and eventually married.
After one term with the IMB in Peru, their call to international missions was put on hold when the Dallas church he previously served as a youth minister asked him to fill a pastoral vacancy. Glover led them to merge with a Hispanic church, become bilingual and transition to new leadership. Their reappointment with IMB fulfills a desire to plant their lives among a people group with no access to the gospel.
Seven other missionaries with ties to Texas will be serving in locations that cannot be identified due to security concerns. In all there were 35 new missionaries commissioned by the board during a service at First Baptist Church of New Orleans on Nov. 8, bringing the total missionary count to 4,761.
The Lassiters are just two of the hundreds of missionaries accepting the Voluntary Retirement Incentive offered to personnel over the age of 50 with at least five years of service. It’s the first phase of a plan to sharply reduce the number of personnel in order to address a five-year revenue shortfall of $120 million.
A second phase described by IMB President David Platt as a “hand-raising opportunity” will be offered in January when all personnel and staff will pray about whether God is leading them to seek vocational service outside the IMB.
“These are financial realities that we just can’t ignore,” Platt said in the Nov. 6 board meeting, pledging to budget based on the resources provided by Southern Baptists, use that income to enable the mission that has been assigned, and move toward a balanced budget.
“Based upon letters of intent which have been submitted for VRIs as well as the hand-raising opportunity that is still to come, we are projecting that we will meet our need to reduce the total number of our personnel by at least 600 people,” IMB President David Platt told trustees Nov. 6.
The $22,580,000 increase included in next year’s $278,755,000 budget “is almost entirely explained by one-time net costs associated with the voluntary retirement incentive,” Platt said. “God has given us resources to generously honor those that are making that transition,” he assured them, referring to reserve funds.
IMB expects to save $38.6 million next year from the reduction in personnel, while spending $23.1 million to cover VRI payouts, yielding a net savings of $15.5 million.
After expressing gratitude for growth in both Cooperative Program and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering gifts, Platt said current LMCO giving projections are based on a historical projection of the past four years of receipts, rather than “our stretch goal.” That approach estimates the 2015-16 receipts at $151.8 million, an amount $23.2 million below the 2015 goal of $175 million.
Proceeds from property sales are not included in the budget, but will replenish and stabilize IMB reserves which have declined from the recommended six-month level to just four.
While global engagement expenses are decreased by $7.5 million, the per capita spending will increase by 10 percent per field personnel.
After approving the budget, trustees received news of a plan to shift all four of the 2016 trustee meetings to Richmond, anticipating a cost savings of $750,000.
Other items of business included the election of Support Services Vice President Rodney A. Freeman to serve as treasurer and Margaret Wilson as second assistant recording secretary. The board also approved the transfer of property to the national convention in Zambia and the sale of property in Zimbabwe.
In response to a motion made at the annual Southern Baptist Convention meeting in June that was referred to all SBC entities, trustees assured the messenger of the IMB’s commitment to “boldly promote the truth of the gospel through all media avenues available to us for the glory of God amidst the rapidly shifting moral landscape of our culture.”
Trustees honored IMB leaders who are accepting the IMB’s voluntary retirement incentive, including the Lassiters for 26 years spent in the Americas; Tim and Charlotte Cearley for 35 years in Africa; Tom and Janet Williams for 34 years in Thailand, Singapore, the regions of Western Pacific and Western Europe Region, and the office of global personnel; and David and Judy Steverson for 29 years in Thailand and more recently his tenure as chief financial officer.
Platt said stories are starting to be told of new opportunities offered to missionaries who trusted God for their future after taking the VRI, including:
–a missionary in Central Asia who is transitioning to a teaching post with a university, affording continued opportunities for church planting and discipleship;
–unreached people in the city of Houston who will be reached with the gospel as a result of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention creating 25 church planting positions to be filled by returning missionaries; and
–a pastor praying a particular missionary would come to serve as missions pastor and asked the man to consider the position hours after the man and his wife had sensed the Lord telling them to take the retirement offer with no idea where they would go.
“Not one of us can write these scripts and the stories being told over and over again across IMB as God is working all things together for the good of those who are called according to his purpose.”
Having approached the quarterly meeting with a “heavy but hopeful heart,” Platt said, “I am looking forward to the day when we’re not spending all our time talking about financial challenges but operating within the budget, talking about how we are supporting a mission force around the world that is making the gospel known, planting churches and reaching the Lampung people of Indonesia, and thousands of other people groups alongside with them as well.”
Board chairman John Edie of Springfield, Mo., told trustees when they reconvene next February “the IMB as we have known it will not be the same,” as “faithful servants will be moving onto new chapters in their lives.” He reminded them that God not only knew about that but allowed it and will limit the impact.
“His being faithful or capable is not the question,” Edie said. “The question is are we willing to fit into his plan for our future?”
