Looking to the future, The Mission Society releases new book, welcomes new leader

Some 370 leaders and friends celebrated The Mission Society’s 25th anniversary on September 11, 2009, at Norcross First United Methodist Church, Norcross, Georgia.

“The Mission Society has become a global entity, responding to spiritual and material needs throughout the world,” said Dr. Gerald H. Anderson. “While retaining its Wesleyan ethos and heritage, The Mission Society has expanded beyond its initial United Methodist orbit. Today it is working with 14 different denominations and independent churches.” Anderson, who was present during the celebration, is the director emeritus of the Overseas Ministries Study Center in New Haven, Conn., a former United Methodist missionary, and a founder of The Mission Society. His landmark speech more than 25 years ago, “Why We Need a Second Mission Agency,” helped lay groundwork for what would later become The Mission Society.

New president/CEO
The Silver Anniversary celebration also marked the changing of the guard at The Mission Society. Bill Johnson, Atlanta businessman and long-time board member, was introduced as new board chairman, succeeding Bill Goff. And the Rev. Dr. Phil Granger, who has served as president since 2001, was succeeded by the Rev. Dick McClain, who has served in several key positions at The Mission Society since 1986.

“Dick brings to the position of president three essential gifts,” Granger said in an earlier statement. “First and foremost, he brings his total commitment to Christ and the mission entrusted to the Church to be the vehicle to bring God’s message of salvation and eternal life to the world. Second, he brings his love for The Mission Society as evidenced by more than 20 years of service to this fantastic ministry. Third, he brings a wealth of experience as a missionary kid, pastor, and mission executive.”

Worship leader Aaron Keyes brought special music for the evening. The Rev. Dr. H. T. Maclin, founding Mission Society president; the Rev. Florencio Guzman, first Mission Society missionary; the Rev. Dr. Al Vom Steeg, who served as Mission Society president from 1994 to 2000, and outgoing president the Rev. Dr. Phil Granger briefly addressed those gathered.

Reason for being
The celebration’s keynote speaker was William R. O’Brien, author, former missionary to Indonesia, past president of the American Society of Missiology, and director of BellMitra Associates, which trains leaders for transformative action. Reflecting on The Mission Society’s beginnings 25 years ago as coming from the mainline United Methodist Church, O’Brien told those assembled, “The reason for your being was clearly embedded in your DNA, and reflected in your vision – the cross of Christ within arm’s length of everyone in the world. You moved beyond adolescent reactions to the parent family, and became an attractive and winsome sibling for those in the larger family of faith.”

McClain, in his first address as president and CEO of The Mission Society, recalled something God told him more than a year ago. “Pam’s and my plan had been to retire and move to the mountains of Colorado in about a year-and-a-half. But during a conference in Kenya, God said to me, ‘What about your own plans and dreams? Are you ready to put them on the altar?’ And, with tears streaming down my face, I remember going forward and joining those I’d invited to the front and saying, ‘Yes, Lord,’ in a new way.”

The evening closed in a time of worship. McClain invited attendees to bring to the front of the room a stone (provided at each table) to help raise an altar of remembrance for all that Christ has done and pledging surrender to Him.

Standing on shoulders
Among the special guests at the celebration were four of the original 34 Mission Society founders, including Dr. Gerald Anderson, and United Methodist pastors, the Revs. John Grenfell, Michael Walker, and Virgil Maybray. Maybray is the founding vice president of The Mission Society, through whose promptings the now-president Dick McClain joined The Mission Society staff 23 years ago.

To watch the celebration event in its entirety, or to listen to address by each of the main speakers, or to view a photo gallery, visit www.themissionsociety.org.