The Truth About The IMB, Jerry Rankin and My Invitation to Visit
By David R. Currie, Executive Director

As you are probably aware, I was invited to meet with Jerry Rankin, President of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, and then disinvited. Events like this are always confusing so I would like to simply tell the full story.

In January of this year, I was driving back from Dallas when I called my office to check my messages. One call was from David Evans, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, Amarillo. I was surprised David had called me. We were good friends in seminary but seldom visited now. David is a trustee of the IMB and has maintained his support for the SBC. I have always liked David and knew the feeling was mutual. David, in my opinion, is not a political person. He is genuine and who he is.

I returned David’s call. We visited about both having sons who were seniors at Baylor and other personal things. Then he told me he was calling to ask me to go with him to visit the IMB and to personally visit with Jerry Rankin. He told me I would have access to any books, financial statements or other information and be able to ask any questions. He said we would fly up together and share a room.

I told him I was shocked by the invitation and would have to think about it. I was not sure it would accomplish much, but because I liked him and valued his friendship, I would certainly give it serious thought. Then I joked that I could not believe he actually still supported the SBC and he responded that he could not believe I did not anymore.

I continued to reflect on his invitation and decided to accept it while flying from San Angelo to Charlotte for the Mainstream Baptist Convocation. At DFW airport where I changed planes, I called David and asked if the invitation was still open. He assured me it was.

I informed him of my plans to publicly accept the invitation with Baptist Press in attendance and asked if he was comfortable with my decision. I told him I did not want to put him on the spot nor accept it publicly and then find out it was not a real invitation. He assured me the invitation was real and that he was comfortable with me accepting it publicly.

Therefore, I did accept the invitation during my sermon in Charlotte on February 15, and after returning home, I wrote Dr. Rankin and told him I was looking forward to meeting with him. I also asked that Bill Wilson, pastor of First Baptist Church, Waynesboro, Virginia, and co-chair of the Mainstream Baptist Network be allowed to come with me to the meeting.

I wrote Dr. Rankin that I wanted to discuss three specific agenda items:

1. I asked for the names and addresses of all current IMB missionaries. (I understood that there might be security concerns regarding some of the names. I wanted to publish this information so our members could pray for these missionaries as they considered the recent request that they sign the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message.)

2. I wanted to see his documentation/evidence of persons questioning the doctrinal purity of any current missionaries.

3. I requested a copy of the minutes of the recent IMB board meeting held in Birmingham. I hoped that this would clarify why the IMB had chosen to require the missionaries to sign the 2000 BF&M after telling the BGCT Missions Study Committee last year that they would not ask them to sign.

When I did not hear from Dr. Rankin by late April, I called David Evans again. David informed me that he thought I was going to be disinvited to meet with Dr. Rankin. He said he had missed the last IMB board meeting, but he believed that the committee had already canceled the invitation. I then asked David to clarify if the invitation was from him alone or from the committee. He told me that it had been discussed in a committee meeting with Dr. Rankin present and all had agreed to meet with me.

He also said he thought it was a mistake to cancel my invitation.

I told him that if I were disinvited, it would have to be reported by the press, because I had accepted the invitation publicly. David said he understood that but asked that I please not say anything until after the May board meeting when he was going to urge them to follow through with the invitation.

The IMB met May 20-21. After two more weeks, I called David again. He simply said they were canceling the invitation and there was nothing he could do. He said the decision had already been made at the last board meeting, which he missed. He was upset that Dr. Rankin had not already written me because he said Dr. Rankin had been urged to write me immediately.

Finally, I did receive a letter from Dr. Rankin dated, June 18, 2002 (The entire text of the letter is reprinted on Page 6). In that letter, Dr. Rankin stated that he was sorry that I “misunderstood an invitation from an individual board member to be an official invitation from the board or from him.”

He then informed me that I could not have any answers to my questions, but that he had sent a copy of the minutes from that board meeting but discussions relating to the 2000 BF&M had been held in executive session and were not included

I answered Dr. Rankin on July 2 and told him I was not surprised to receive his letter since I had heard it was coming, but that I did not expect him to not be truthful with me. I knew the invitation had been discussed in a committee meeting in which he was present.

After the Baptist Standard called David Evans, he called me and said he was not going to make any public comment. He told me he was sorry Dr. Rankin had lied to me in his letter and I urged him to admit this to the press. He said he did not want to do that because he did not want to hurt the IMB mission effort but that he would tell Dr. Rankin “face to face” that he did not appreciate his dishonesty.

I told David I appreciated his efforts and that I felt we were both trying to do what we think is right. I said the best thing we could do to help the missionaries is to get a $100 million fund and ask how many wanted to leave the IMB. I said 1,000 missionaries would resign in a month. He said he disagreed.

Then I laughed and said, “David, someday, I’m going to get $35 from you when you join TBC.” He laughed in return and that ended our conversation.

In conclusion, allow me to say a few other things.

First, let me say that David Evans is a fine Christian pastor. He is my friend and I appreciate his effort to foster dialogue. No, we do not agree about many things, but I have great respect for him.

I know he will neither confirm nor deny these things I have written and I respect his choice.

Second, we do need to think about what is happening to the IMB appointed missionaries. I recently mentioned that I thought if CBF or the BGCT had $100 million we could tell the missionaries, “you can leave the IMB and stay right where you are” and 1,000 would leave in a month. The person looked at me, smiled, and said, “Your numbers are way too low, many more than that would love to leave.”

This is truly tragic. Our money is being used to “trap these people.” They feel called to missions and they love where they are working. Thus they are willing to do whatever it takes to stay there, although they would love to be out from under the thumb of SBC fundamentalism.

Third, I am sorry we have reached the point in Baptist life where dialogue cannot happen regarding important issues. I find myself wondering if Charles Wade, the BGCT executive director, and John Upton, the Baptist General Association of Virginia executive director would be allowed to meet with Dr. Rankin and receive answers to my questions.

Fourth, I am saddened that an SBC executive could so easily lie to me. My Mother taught me that lying was unethical and immoral. Even sadder, as you will read in the “Do We Look Stupid” article, lying seems to be standard operating procedure for leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention.