Record offering enables trustees to expand IMB budget for key needs

TYLER, Texas (BP) — With a final tally of $136.2 million for the 2003 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, trustees of the International Mission Board approved a plan to expand the IMB budget for specific overseas needs during a July 12-14 meeting in Tyler, Texas.

The board also elected a new leader for work in West Africa, clarified their policy on non-Southern Baptists participating in IMB projects and appointed 58 new missionaries.

David Steverson, the IMB’s vice president for finance, expressed profound gratitude for the millions of Southern Baptists who pooled their gifts and raised the largest-ever international missions offering.

“Let me remind you that the total was $136,204,648.17,” Steverson said. “Some of my colleagues give me a hard time when I attempt to be so precise. However, we believe that the 17 cents is just as important as the $136 million.”

Finance committee chairman Ken Whitten of Tampa, Fla., brought a proposal to expand the IMB budget by $3.2 million. The increase will include $1.7 million for overseas operating expenses primarily related to sending additional new missionaries and assisting missionaries adversely affected by the declining value of the dollar in some places.