LYNCHBURG, Va — God offers a way for Christians to break through barriers they encounter in being faithful disciples of Jesus, a national Woman’s Missionary Union leader told members of the organization’s Virginia affiliate Nov. 5.
“I’m reminded here of the potential for barriers,” said WMU executive director Wanda Lee, referring to a passage in the biblical book of Hebrews. “There are things that will pull me away. Sometimes we get tangled up. But there is a way to break free, according to Hebrews.”
WMU leaders gathered at WMUV's annual meeting. From left are national executive director Wanda Lee, national president Debby Akerman, state president Ann Brown and state executive director Laura McDaniel.
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Lee, who has led the Birmingham, Ala.-based mission organization since 2000, was a keynote speaker at the 111th annual meeting of Woman’s Missionary Union of Virginia.
Several hundred WMUV members gathered at Eagle Eyrie Baptist Conference Center near Lynchburg, Va., for the meeting, which was bracketed by two sessions of “Women’s Get-Away,” a day and a half of spiritual enrichment conferences.
During the meeting, the Virginia organization elected Ann Brown of Gretna, Va., to a fourth term as its president, beginning in 2012.
“We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses,” said Lee. “They’ve done their part and now their job is to help us stay on course. I want to look up to them, but I’m reminded that they were ordinary people. They faced obstacles and hindrances in their day which tried to pull them away from what God wanted them to do. But they were faithful and we remember them because they were faithful.”
Lee said the image of a runner in Hebrews 12:1-2 is an accurate picture of the Christian life.
“The race course is determined and we know the parameters, but unless we persevere we won’t get there,” she said. “We have to make up our minds to get to the finish line and throw aside the barriers. … God knows that the way to work through things is through ordinary people. God is the source of power and he will remove the tangles.”
Also addressing Virginia WMU members was national WMU president Debby Akerman of Myrtle Beach, S.C. WMU has a bright future, she said, as more and more women find the organization is a powerful vehicle for expressing their mission commitment.
Members of Girls in Action at Hermitage Baptist Church in Church View, Va., were named 2012's Amazing Ga Group, receiving a $250 grant for mission projects.
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“In non-WMU settings, often someone will come up to me and say ‘I think my mother was in WMU,’” she said. “Or, ‘My wife was a GA [Girls in Action] member.’ Or, ‘I was a GA but I never connected beyond that.’
“I think those will be comments of the past,” Akerman said. “It will take all of us committed to move from what is ordinary in life to what is extraordinary in Jesus.”
The WMU president recognized representatives of various age groups — the G.I. Generation, the Builder Generation, the Baby Boomers, the Millennials — and thanked them for contributions they make to WMU’s strength.
“We must ask each generation of WMU to be determined to hold to the core values of WMU,” Akerman said. “We hold past generations in high esteem for what they’ve done and future generations for what they do and are going to do. … And we will work together in unity.”
Brown, whose 2012 year as president will be her last, is a member of First Baptist Church in Gretna. WMUV bylaws restrict presidents to four consecutive one-year terms.
In her president’s address, Brown cited the top 11 things every WMUV member should know — inspired, she said, by the group’s 111th annual meeting in the 11th month of the year 2011.
Human trafficking was one of the topics addressed by WMUV in breakout sessions and in an awareness exhibit.
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Among the items were the value of the group’s CrossRoads Camp and Conference Center near Lowesville, Va.; the success of its partnership with WMU of India, which WMUV helped initiate; the beginning of a new Virginia Baptist relationship with Baptists in Panama; a reminder that contributions to the Alma Hunt Offering for Virginia Missions, which WMUV promotes in the fall, are received all year; and the importance of “Engage,” a WMUV resource.
Brown also cited “incredible” contributions of WMUV executive director Laura McDaniel, other WMUV staff and its board of trustees.
Another highlight, she said, is the return in 2012 of Royal Ambassadors, a mission organization for boys, to the administrative fold of WMU, which started the organization in 1908. It was transferred to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Brotherhood Commission in 1954 and to the SBC’s North American Mission Board in 1997.
“The boys are back,” said Brown. “The boys in Virginia should be very excited.”
Also on Brown’s list were a challenging financial situation and a changing future.
“There are difficult days financially,” she said. “WMUV gets funds from the Alma Hunt offering for its mission projects. The operating budget comes from Cooperative Missions [of the Baptist General Association of Virginia]. This year the BGAV has cut its proposed 2012 budget to match receipts in 2011. Funds for our operating budget are cut significantly.
“We will have to make changes and we don’t know what they will be,” she added. “We encourage you to support Cooperative Missions and Alma Hunt, and pray for us as we navigate the changes.”
While the future is changing, “our vision stays the same,” Brown said. “Our mission is for everyone to join Jesus Christ where he is at work in the world. Things are changing. Things have to change, because an extraordinary day is just ahead.”
In other action, WMUV:
- Elected Betty Shelton of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Amherst, Va., as vice president/secretary and three members at large to its board of trustees: Debby Ashley of Calvary Baptist Church in Lovingston, Va.; Abbie Duenckel, minister of education and students at Ridge Baptist Church in Richmond, Va.; Sarah Pelfrey of Ferry Farm Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, Va.; and Judy Vicars of First Baptist Church in Gate City, Va.
- Listened as Hannah Craft of North Run Baptist Church in Richmond, this year’s Outstanding GA, described her experiences in that role.
- Recognized the GAs of Hermitage Baptist Church in Church View, Va., as the 2012 Amazing GA Group and were told that this year’s group — Kedron Baptist Church in Gladys, Va. — used the $250 grant each “Amazing Group” receives to assist a homeless shelter in Lynchburg.
- Learned from Reuben Todd, director of CrossRoads Camp, that children attending summer sessions there had raised $3,000 for the Ruth School, an educational facility for Gypsy families in Bucharest, Romania.
- Contributed to an offering for “Pure Water, Pure Love,” a WMU project which provides clean drinking water to missionaries and the people they serve.
Robert Dilday ([email protected]) is managing editor of the Religious Herald.