Prayer asked for IMB prez search

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) — The International Mission Board’s presidential search committee continues to narrow down its field of candidates to select the organization’s 11th president. The committee has requested that Southern Baptists set aside March 13 as a day of prayer and fasting to ask God to direct their path.

Though search committee chairman Jimmy Pritchard, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Forney, Texas, preferred not to specify the number of remaining candidates the committee is considering, he said they have come to the “most crucial aspect in our search for the next leader of IMB.”

The committee received recommendations from more than 270 people and compiled a list of 74 possible candidates. The 15-member committee was appointed in September following Jerry Rankin’s announcement that he will retire as IMB president, effective July 31.