List of missionaries fired by IMB revealed
By Lindsay Bergstrom

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (ABP) — Thirteen Southern Baptist Convention missionaries, who collectively have served on the foreign mission field more than 150 years, were fired May 7 because they refused to sign an affirmation of the 2000 “Baptist Faith and Message.”

A story released last week in Associated Baptist Press reported the decision to terminate the missionaries by trustees of the SBC’s International Mission Board at their meeting in Framingham, Mass., but the names were not made available by the IMB.

Seven were given the option to sign an affirmation of the document but declined. Their names and places and terms of service are:

• Ted and Frances York, Ghana, 1974-2003, serving 29 years

• Larry and Sarah Ballew, Macao, 1985-1987 as journeymen and 1996-2003 as career missionaries, serving a total of 10 years

• David and Susie Dixon, Spain, 1988-2003, serving 15 years

• Mary Katherine Campbell, Togo, 1968-2003, serving 35 years Six were terminated without the option to sign the document:

• Rick and Nancy Dill, Germany, serving 20-plus years*

• Leon and Kathy Johnson, Mozambique, serving 20-plus years*

• Ron Hankins and Lydia Barrow-Hankins, Japan, 1975-77 as journeymen and 1981-2003 as career missionaries, serving a total of 24 years

Another 30 veteran missionaries resigned or took early retirement in recent days rather than sign the affirmation. They join 34 missionaries who resigned in protest last year.

Not counted among the 13 IMB missionaries terminated May 7 were Chris and Karen Harbin. The Harbins were fired last year for allegedly not teaching in accordance with the “Baptist Faith and Message.” They served two years as journeymen, 1992-94, and as career missionaries 1996-2002, for a total of nine years.

The firings climaxed a series of events that began in February 2002 when IMB President Jerry Rankin, in response to suspicions he said anonymous sources had raised about IMB missionaries’ doctrinal integrity, asked missionaries to endorse the doctrinal statement. They later were given a May 5 deadline to decide.

Robert O’Brien and Mark Wingfield contributed to this story

*Precise dates of service for the Dills and the Johnsons were not available by press time.

June 2003