Letter from Rankin to David:

June 18, 2002

Dear Mr. Currie:

I apologize for the delay in responding to your letter of February 21 regarding an invitation to visit the International Mission Board. I regret that you perceived an invitation from an individual trustee as an official invitation and chose to reference it in the context of negative public comments regarding the work, policies and leadership of the IMB and SBC. The invitation was not authorized or issued by me or our board. As a Southern Baptist entity serving cooperating churches, associations and state conventions there would be no apparent benefit in hosting a representative of Mainstream Baptists.

With regard to your request for information, as a matter of policy we do not distribute names and addresses of our missionaries, not only for the sake of security but also to protect them from mass marketing and appeals. It would be inappropriate and impractical to share documentation of those who have expressed suspicion of our doctrinal accountability as it reflects widespread and growing rumors as well as phone calls, e-mail and correspondence considered personal and privileged. I am enclosing the minutes of our January board meeting as you requested, but you will note they contain no reference to the BF&M as the request to our missionaries was at administrative initiative rather than trustee action.

Sincerely yours,
Jerry Rankin

September 2002