Response to Rankin

Dear Dr. Rankin,

We have received a copy of the letter you sent to all our missionaries regarding their need to update their files and sign the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. We believe this comes following promises made by you that such action would not be necessary.

We have two sons in East Asia serving as Journeymen. When we were with them the first of the month, we learned they were both considering career appointment because they loved their work and their co-workers and felt deeply called to what they were doing. We are not surprised because they have grown up in a family and in churches that made missions a priority.

When we were in Ecuador this summer leading mission meeting, several missionaries came to us with profound concerns about this very subject. These people had devoted the larger part of their lives to reaching people for Christ. We winced when they expressed a lack of confidence in the integrity of the leadership of the IMB. Looking back, we guess they were more right than we were willing to admit.

My wife and I want you to hear something from two parents whose children are overseas. We believe this action of yours is the most cowardly betrayal of trust toward a group of devoted believers that we have witnessed in our lifetime. You and the others who are a part of this decision are not worthy of the trust and the responsibility that Southern Baptists mothers and fathers or Southern Baptist missionaries have placed in your hands.

When our oldest son shared with us where God was leading him, we had profound reservations because of the place he would be placed, the area he would be serving, the job he would be accepting, and the environment in which he would be working. He told us that he trusted God and trusted the IMB to work in his best interests.

So you have some members of your Board who are suspicious? Buy them a ticket to where our son is freezing in a dorm cell and let them backpack with him for eight days in the mountains looking for his people group that have yet to hear the gospel. Let those suspicious persons contract giardia because of the lack of good hygiene among his target people. Let them depend on the hospitality of strangers. Let them try to communicate with the native people and watch my son’s devotion and love not only for Christ but for the people he was called to reach. Let these doubters sleep in the snow and walk for days with nothing more to eat than protein bars.

And then if these gutless idiots don’t have all their questions answered, before they retreat to their comfortable offices and homes in the States, let them stand there in the freezing snow and ask my son what he really believes about God, man, Christ, and the universe. You have laid down for fear of your job and let the wolves in among the sheep. You have taken the easy way out. And for that you should be ashamed.

We are profoundly, profoundly disappointed in your character and your lack of courage.

Sincerely,

Michael R. Chancellor, Anna Chancellor, Mike Chancellor

April 2002