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WILLIAMSBURG, Va.–Tom Elliff of Oklahoma City is the unanimous nominee for the president of Southern Baptists’ International Mission Board, according to information released Feb. 17 by search committee chairman Jimmy Pritchard, pastor of First Baptist Church of Forney, Texas.
The full board of trustees will consider the recommendation when they come to Dallas March 15-16 for their next meeting.
Noting that Elliff emerged as the committee’s clear and unanimous choice in January, Pritchard said in an IMB statement: “Throughout the process, we talked to some great and godly men, but we just could not get a sense of God’s peace about any one of them. When Dr. Elliff’s name came before us, we had a subtle sense of God’s Spirit speaking to our hearts. That may sound mystical, but that’s really what happened. … Every one of us senses that God spoke and said, ‘This is the moment you’ve been praying for. Here is your man.'”
One year out from having served as a senior vice president at IMB, Elliff has focused on a writing and speaking ministry centered on spiritual awakening, while continuing to do field personnel orientation for missionaries.
Throughout the 16-month search, the selection of a candidate with missions experience was presumed to be a given. Not only did Elliff serve as a Southern Baptist missionary in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, he focused his last church on sending a steady stream of volunteers overseas and personally led crusades in 16 countries.
Elliff’s pastoral experience further strengthens his resume and marks a return to historical precedent. The board’s first six presidents, spanning the first century of its ministry, were pastors without overseas missionary experience, though two had been home missionaries. The next four–M. Theron Rankin, Baker James Cauthen, R. Keith Parks and Jerry Rankin–had served as international missionaries. Of these only Cauthen had pastoral experience.
Elliff served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1996 to 1998 and was an early leader in the SBC’s conservative theological resurgence. A longtime advocate for strong families, Elliff chaired the SBC’s Council on Family Life and appealed for passage of an amendment to the Baptist Faith and Message in 1998 to include a biblical definition of the family. Many of the nine books he has authored focus on themes related to marriage and family.
He also participated in associational and state convention ministries and served as president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference.
If approved by the board next month, there will be no administrative learning curve for Elliff in succeeding Jerry Rankin, who retired last summer. Elliff served under Rankin as senior vice president for spiritual nurture and church relations from 2005 to 2009, teaching Baptist theology to missionary candidates.
In 1993 Elliff was identified by a Richmond reporter as the choice of a presidential search committee filling the vacancy after Parks resigned. Months later they recommended Rankin, who was then elected and served for 17 years.
Elliff’s pastoral experience includes two Arkansas churches in Warren and Little Rock before completing his bachelor’s degree in history at Ouachita Baptist University in 1966, and two Texas churches in Dallas and Mansfield, Texas before completing his master of divinity degree at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1971. He also pastored Eastside Baptist Church in Tulsa, Okla., which quadrupled in attendance during his decade there, served two years at Applewood Baptist Church in Denver, and most recently First Southern Baptist Church of Del City, Okla., from 1985 to 2005.
A native of Paris, Texas, Elliff was saved in the summer of 1951 during an outdoor crusade in Fordyce, Ark., and baptized the next fall at Bethany Baptist Church in Kansas City, Mo. A third-generation pastor, both of his brothers also serve as ministers.
He earned a doctor of ministry degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and received two honorary doctorate degrees?the Doctor of Sacred Theology from Southwest Baptist University and the Doctor of Divinity from Mid-Continent Baptist Bible College. Southwestern Seminary gave him the distinguished alumni award in 2008.
While praying about goals for the growing Tulsa church, Elliff sensed God calling him into missions, he told Baptist Press in 1981. His wife Jeannie shared a similar conviction days later. “On the logical side it might seem that this is foolish,” he shared with BP. “But when God says do it, you do it, especially if you’ve preached that all your life.”
The Elliffs moved their family of four children to southern Africa to fulfill his assignment as a general evangelist. After two years of ministry, his service was cut short when an automobile accident involving his wife and children resulted in critical injuries to one daughter and required extensive reconstruction surgery.
In his more recent assignment at IMB, he was asked to nurture missionary families and encourage their spiritual growth in U.S. conferences and in overseas settings; teach ecclesiology and Baptist doctrine to new missionaries in training; promote missions involvement among Southern Baptist pastors and churches; train and equip overseas Baptist leaders, advise in IMB mobilization efforts and mentor the board’s administrative leadership team.
Elliff’s wife has partnered alongside him since their marriage in 1966 and has ministered as a Bible study teacher in churches where he pastored.
Remarking on God’s leadership when first called missionary service, Elliff stated, “If any man could get to the place in his life where all he wanted for his life was simply all God wanted for his life, then all his life he’d have all he wants.”
Pritchard said Elliff has lived in “many different worlds” in Southern Baptist life.
“He has heard God’s call to missions as a field missionary. He has pastored some of our best churches. He was president of our convention for two years. He worked at the vice presidential level with IMB. So he is uniquely prepared, his integrity is unquestioned, and I believe that he will be able to help connect all of our entities together. He has a great relationship with our seminary presidents and with the North American Mission Board.
“We just see so many indicators that he is God’s choice. Through the process God has spoken to him also, and we are enthusiastic. We are standing with complete and total unanimity. We are very confident that God’s hand is on Dr. Elliff at this time to lead IMB. We’re excited, and we can’t wait for March to get here to make our presentation to the full board.”
Reached for comment, Elliff asked Southern Baptists to pray for him, his wife and family—and for IMB trustees as they consider his nomination.
“Both Jeannie and I were incredibly humbled when the search committee approached us,” he said. “Obviously, we would not have moved forward to this moment had we not spent a great deal of time in prayer seeking the face of the Lord. Now we feel humbled once again that they are going to present us to the board. Along with all the members of the board, we would just encourage people to pray with us during these days.”
Elliff said his discussions with the IMB presidential search committee initially came as a surprise.
“We love missions and we’ve given our hearts to it, but this was not on our radar screen,” he said. “It has just driven us to our knees in prayer. We certainly couldn’t do this if we didn’t sense the Lord’s leadership to do it. But we recognize that God speaks not only to individuals but to groups of people. We’re confident that he will have his way as the board deals with this.”
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