MC Graduate Jerry Rankin Retires as Missions Leader
That's how MC supporters summed up the outstanding career of Rankin, who recently announced he will return to his native Mississippi after he steps down. He will end his 17-year tenure as IMB president in July 2010.
"Jerry Rankin has been a steady witness for Christ all over the world," said Wayne VanHorn, dean of the School of Christian Studies and the Arts at MC. "He is living proof that God calls young people from the halls and classrooms of Mississippi College to make a difference in the world."
Founded in 1826, MC is the nation's second oldest Baptist college and a school that's served for generations as a training ground for Baptist leaders worldwide.
Under Rankin's leadership, the IMB has continued to send missionaries to all points of the globe, noted VanHorn, a former pastor at First Baptist Church in Columbia, Miss. "His vision and passion for reaching the lost for Christ is an inspiration to the next generation of witnesses."
Rankin announced his decision to step down at a meeting of IMB trustees in mid-September in Jacksonville, Fla. Last year, more than 5,500 IMB missionaries helped plant nearly 27,000 churches. When he took office in 1993, the Southern Baptist Convention's mission group helped start more than 2,000 churches in 142 nations.
Rankin's retirement received front-page coverage in the Jackson-based "The Baptist Record," the weekly newspaper that covers news of interest to Baptists statewide.
"Everything I have done has been driven by an unequivocal sense of a call to missions, to make my life count and to make the greatest impact possible on reaching a lost world for Jesus Christ," Rankin told IMB trustees, the newspaper reported.
A Tupelo native, who also has Clinton roots, Rankin made his profession of faith in 1952 at a Billy Graham crusade at a stadium behind Bailey Junior High in Jackson. He met his future wife, Bobbye Simmons of Brookhaven, at Mississippi College in Clinton. Bobbye is also an MC graduate and Hall of Fame member.
The Rankins were appointed missionaries to Indonesia in June 1970. Jerry Rankin later became area director for Southern Asia and the Pacific where he oversaw the work of 480 missionaries in 15 countries. He also consulted in evangelism and church growth in India.
William Perkins, editor of "The Baptist Record, commended the extraordinary service of Jerry Rankin. "He has been a role model for sacrificial Christian service before literally millions of people."
And it will "be an honor to soon have his wife, Bobbye, and him walking among us here in Mississippi," Perkins said. "We welcome them home at long last."
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