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Mr. Barry Holcomb Chairman, North American Mission Board Trustees 4200 North Point Parkway Alpharetta, Georgia 30022 Dear Barry and Trustee Body: It is only after much prayer and discussion with my family that I have decided to resign my position as president of the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention(NAMB). Indeed, serving our missionaries across North America, our staff in Atlanta and Dallas, and our state conventions has been one of the great highlights and privileges of my life. I am thankful for the opportunity I have been given to lead this organization for the past nine years. Certainly in leaving, I have mixed emotions. I am thankful for the countless numbers of people we have seen come to Christ and the thousands of churches we have seen planted and nurtured. I am thankful that we have received a clean financial audit. I am proud to be associated with the most incredible missionaries in the world. I am pleased that the agency’s ministry has been one of integrity, reaffirmed in recent days by receiving an absolutely clean financial audit. On the other hand, I regret we were not able to complete a number of things which we have started or dreamed about. I regret that events of recent weeks have created an environment which makes it difficult to lead the organization and to stay “on mission.” I regret that many dedicated staff members have been affected by the events of the recent days. I regret the toll that much of this has taken on my family. In my final analysis, I have found it increasingly difficult to be an entrepreneurial leader within a denominational structure. I hope, through nine years of service as NAMB’s President, two years of chairing the SBC Implementation Task Force that restructured the Convention, and over thirteen years of pastoral experience that I have demonstrated my love for and commitment to Southern Baptists and all for which we stand. I also hope I have demonstrated a Kingdom heart and mindset. It is this mindset, and my entrepreneurial bent that have led us to explore more effective applications of technology and media; strategies for reaching a wider range of demographic groups; and creative evangelism initiatives. It is my prayer that this agency will never stop dreaming and planning for reaching people of all ages and stages for Christ, and then equipping and helping them to be “on mission” for Him in all they do. Southern Baptists everywhere can be proud of their North American Mission Board’s effectiveness and efficiencies. They can be proud of their missionaries. They can be proud of the disaster relief work that has been done by their volunteers and staff, all helping so many put their lives back together physically, emotionally and spiritually. They can give with confidence that tremendous financial efficiencies have been achieved as a result of the denomination’s restructuring and a conscientious staff’s diligent efforts. Finally, after much quiet thought and prayer, I believe that honest philosophical and methodological differences have brought us to this point of separate directions. Recent months, as tumultuous as they may have been, have allowed me to refocus on my passions and God’s primary calling in my life. My mother-in-law’s stroke, my own mother’s needs, and my daughter’s heart surgery have <SPAN style="; FONT-FAM 
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