ATLANTA – The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has received a $100,000 gift from Ed and Laura Anne Vick of Raleigh, N.C., to begin an endowment to promote the spiritual, emotional and physical health of missionaries and their families.
The fund will provide for counseling, retreats and crisis assistance. The Vicks' goal is to grow the endowment fund through matching gifts to at least $1 million. This endowment would provide the financial resources for the CBF's associate coordinator of member care to make regular contact with missions field personnel and their families, cover the expenses of “missionary kid” retreats and provide counseling or other assistance when a crisis occurs.
Ed Vick, retired chairman and chief executive officer of Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc., and his wife have both been active in missions work through the Fellowship and CBF of North Carolina. In addition to missions trips to New York City after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and to the Ukraine, the Vicks have been supportive of the International Baptist Theological Seminary in the Czech Republic.
“Laura Anne and I are very impressed with our CBF missionaries from our personal experience in meeting and working with them on various mission fields around the world,” Vick said. “These individuals and families have unique needs in care and wellness. This endowment will ensure their proper care as they serve throughout the world. We are both impressed with the CBF Global Missions member care/wellness program and are pleased that we can support it in this small way.”
“Placing a family in a field position is an expensive and time-consuming process,” said CBF Global Missions Co-coordinator Barbara Baldridge. “Years of evaluation, language school and culture adjustment take a significant commitment before individuals and families are prepared to do the work of ministry. The member-care program is designed to help provide preventative and support programs in spiritual, physical and emotional health. The loss of a family team is significant in both momentum for ministry and financial cost to the organization.”
The member care/wellness services are designed to help missions workers maintain their health, as well as assist them when problems arise. “What we strive to do is to have our people 'well,'” said Milton Womack, the Fellowship's associate coordinator for member care/wellness. “We major up front on prevention and early detection as opposed to only crisis. … There are eternal implications for each healthy missionary we are able to keep on the field, even for one day.”
Member care/wellness is staffed by a team of 12 volunteer counselors, including licensed professional counselors, psychiatrists and a professor of pastoral counseling. Field personnel are also served by five physicians, one dentist and one liaison for missionary children.
In addition to the member care team, 25 more individuals form a network of resources for the field personnel. These include professionals such as lawyers and financial experts who are available to answer questions and give advice when needed.
Ed Vick is currently chair of the CBF Foundation board of directors, a current member of the Associated Baptist Press board of directors, and a founding member of the CBF of North Carolina Endowment Management board of directors. He is also a former member of the Fellowship's Coordinating Council.
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