A Divine Assignment

The Divine Assignment: The Missiology of Wendell Clay Somerville is an analysis of the life, work, philosophy, and theology of Wendell Somerville. Somerville, an African American who made a substantial impact during a time of racial tension in the United States, led the work of the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention for over fifty years and strove for a great global missions ministry. Learn and be enlightened as author and Executive Secretary-Treasurer for Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention, David Emmanuel Goatley, takes you into the insights Wendell Somerville had about the missional church, his understanding of the missional life, and his missional strategy for the world. Read about the changing nature of global mission theory and practice from the beginning of WWII to the twenty-first century.

"Through winnowing the sermons and reports of his venerable predecessor at the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention, David Emmanuel Gostley offers a remarkable tribute to the missiology of Wendell Clay Somerville. Faithful in his interpretation and execution of the Great Commission, Somerville had global sensitivities that transcended any parochial understanding of the impact of the Black Church. Indeed, he believed God had entrusted the "Divine Assignment" (the privilege of proclaiming and living the Gospel for the whole world) to these who knew both oppression and the transforming power of Jesus Christ. The enduring witness and reach of the convention he served so long and so well gives testimony to his focused theology and implementation of mission. Goatley rightly discerns that there is great wisdom to be gleaned from his forebear and, in humility and appreciation, commends his prophetic missional practice."
-Molly T. Marshall, Ph.D., President and Professor of Theology and Spiritual Formation, Central Baptist Theological Seminary, Shawnee Kansas