By Erich Bridges
DALLAS — By a unanimous vote, Thomas (Tom) D. Elliff was elected International Mission Board president March 16 by IMB trustees meeting in Dallas.
Elliff, 67, a longtime pastor, Southern Baptist Convention leader and former missionary, will lead one of the largest evangelical missions agencies in an era of rapid change at home and around the globe.
The greatest mission challenges, he said, are the world’s overwhelming spiritual lostness and the urgency of mobilizing churches to take the Gospel of Christ to all peoples.
“We must realize that we’re in a world that is hostile to the message of the Gospel, yet there are so many people who are longing to hear,” Elliff said. “That’s why we must go to the uttermost now. Frankly, I think we live in a generation of students who are asking, ‘Why do we keep hearing about these unreached people groups? Why don’t we just go reach them?’ I believe we are seeing, even in our own convention, a groundswell of men and women of all ages who have the heart and are willing to go to the unreached now.”
Addressing questions about his own age, Elliff added: “I’m not coming as an ‘interim.’ I’m coming with a vision — and I will serve as long as God gives me grace and energy.”
Elliff succeeds Jerry Rankin as president of the mission board, which coordinates the work of some 5,000 Southern Baptist missionaries overseas. Rankin retired July 31, 2010, after 17 years as IMB president. Executive Vice President Clyde Meador has served as interim president during the search for a new leader.
“This is the result of many months of missionaries praying, Southern Baptists praying and our trustees praying,” said IMB Trustee Chairman Jimmy Pritchard, who led the presidential search committee. “God has answered our prayer.”
Rankin, who recruited Elliff to a high-level IMB assignment during his tenure, agreed.
“Tom brings an amazing combination of qualities to the task,” Rankin said. “He has a deep personal walk with the Lord that inspires and challenges others. His heart for missions grows out of a personal calling. His understanding of mission strategy comes from years of involvement as a missionary, pastor and senior executive team member at IMB. He has great communication skills, genuine passion to reach a lost world, the favor and respect of missionaries and IMB staff, and he is well-connected with the churches and Southern Baptist Convention leadership.”
Born in Texas, Elliff is a fourth-generation Oklahoman and third-generation pastor. He served with his wife, Jeannie, as a missionary to Zimbabwe in the early 1980s. They resigned in 1983 after their daughter, Beth, was seriously injured in a car accident there.
He was twice elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, in 1996 and 1997. He has led several key churches in the denomination, including First Southern Baptist Church of Del City, Okla., where he was pastor from 1985 to 2005.
Elliff then served as IMB senior vice president for spiritual nurture and church relations from 2005 to 2009. In that role, he taught and counseled missionaries and helped mobilize churches throughout the convention for missions involvement. Since then he has led Living in The Word Publications, a writing and speaking ministry he founded in 2005. He is the author of numerous books about prayer, spiritual awakening and family life.
Erich Bridges is an IMB global correspondent.