By Staff, Baptist Message RIDGECREST, N.C. (LBM) – Trustees of the International Mission Board have agreed to a request from David Platt to join the staff of a Northern Virginia congregation as teaching pastor, while also serving as president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s overseas mission entity headquartered in Richmond. Julie McGowan, IMB’s public relations leader, wrote Sept. 14, that trustee chairman Hance Dilbeck presented the information during the recently completed trustee meeting in Ridgecrest, N.C., for approval as part of the minutes from an Aug. 24 IMB trustee executive committee meeting. According to McGowan, during the August meeting, the executive committee of the IMB trustees agreed to evaluate Platt’s involvement at McLean Bible Church “during a provisional period over the coming months.” “‘Our president, Dr. David Platt, has expressed a deep sense of calling to serve as teaching pastor of McLean Bible Church while also continuing to lead the International Mission Board,’ Dilbeck, senior pastor of Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, said. ‘We respect Dr. Platt and his sense of the Lord’s leading; and we recognize our responsibility to hold him accountable for his work leading the … [Read more...]

By Staff, Baptist Message RIDGECREST, N.C. (LBM) – During their Sept. 11-13 meeting at the Ridgecrest Conference Center near Ashville, N.C., International Mission Board trustees approved new personnel and passed the 2017-2018 budget. The 51 missionaries who were appointed represent churches in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. The overseas missionary force totaled 3,612 as of the end of the trustee meeting, up from the 3,596 numbered at the end of 2016. Meanwhile trustees approved a budget of $262 million, down from last year’s $270 million financial plan. The budget projects Lottie Moon Christmas Offering receipts at $153 million for 2017-18, similar to actual receipts for 2016-2017. The budget is based on a new fiscal year, Oct. 1, 2017-Sept. 30, 2018, which aligns IMB’s financial year with other SBC entities. Trustees also welcomed 11 new colleagues elected in June during the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Phoenix: Joel Bundick, pastor of Community of Grace church in Aurora, Colo.; Jim Crockett, president of R1 Ministries and member of First Baptist Church of Hendersonville, … [Read more...]