ORLANDO (ABP) — Participants at the 122nd annual meeting of national
Woman’s Missionary Union elected a new president and honored its outgoing
president's five years of service and heard missions challenges June 13-14.
Meeting just prior to the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting in Orlando, members of the SBC's national women's auxiliary elected Debby Akerman to the missions-promoting group's top volunteer spot. A member of Ocean View Baptist Church of Myrtle Beach, S.C., and a Massachusetts native, she has led Girls in Action organizations in her church since 1982 and served as WMU director many years.
Akerman served as WMU president for the Baptist Convention of New England from 1993-97. A nurse for 30 years, she and her husband, Brad, lead Bible studies at Street Reach, a mission in Myrtle Beach that ministers to the homeless and people struggling with drug and alcohol addiction.
Outgoing president's reflections
In her final address as WMU president, Kay Miller followed the program theme, “Unhindered,” based on Hebrews 12:1, speaking of facing challenges in God’s strength despite hindrances.
Miller, a member of Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark., said while growing up as a missionary kid in Thailand, she learned many things try to hinder the work of missionaries on the field.
She recalled how her childhood Thai friend, Sombon, suddenly quit attending school. “She just vanished,” Miller said.
Years later, Miller saw her in Bangkok.
“Because there was no money in her family, she had been sold into prostitution … Her father, an opiate addict, sold her services from the time she was about 11 years old,” Miller explained. “My heart broke, partly because I felt guilty for not being able to find her earlier, and for all that she had been through. She looked old and used. She was just a shell of who she used to be…. I never saw her again.”
In November, Miller received a letter from Sombon.
“After I saw her, something had stirred in her soul and she knew she had to get out of the life she was living. A Southern Baptist missionary woman who felt called to minister to these trapped women often came by her club to talk with her … to share about Jesus,” Miller said, noting that missionary first felt called to missions as a GA.
“Sombon escaped from the life of prostitution to a life in Jesus Christ and was able to make a life for herself and her family. She was redeemed in Christ. … Sombon is now teaching young girls that they too can be all they can be through Jesus Christ.”
Human exploitation of the sort that trapped Sombon “is not just happening on the other side of the world,” Miller said. “Right where you live, young girls are being trafficked for prostitution or some form of exploitation.” She encouraged the WMU annual meeting participants to open their eyes and hearts, learn about the issues and seek out ways to help.
Reflecting on her term as WMU president, Miller said: “These have been five incredible years of serving the Lord through Woman’s Missionary Union. There have been many hindrances along the way, but the Lord continues to have his hand upon WMU and continues to guide and greatly bless us as we continue to be radically involved in his mission to reach the world.
“I pray the fire for missions never goes out, never dims as you serve our risen Lord.”
Noting Wanda Lee has completed 10 years as WMU's executive director, Miller told the assembly the organization is renaming its Joy Fund — which meets pressing current needs and secures the group’s financial future through the WMU Foundation — as the Wanda Lee Joy Fund.
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Julie Walters is communications specialist for WMU. Charlie Warren is editor of the Arkansas Baptist News. Jim White is editor of the Virginia Baptist Religious Herald.