Sandra Wisdom-Martin, leader of Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas since 2010, has been named eighth executive director of the national women’s auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention founded in 1888.
Sandra Wisdom-Martin
Wisdom-Martin, who served as women’s missions and ministries director for the Illinois Baptist State Association from 2001 to 2010 and as Cooperative Program Missionary with the Arkansas Baptist State Convention from 1991 to 2001, succeeds Wanda Lee. Lee had been executive director/treasurer of national Woman’s Missionary Union since 2000 and had announced retirement plans in January.
Elected unanimously by the WMU executive board during a called meeting July 29-30 in Birmingham, Ala., Wisdom-Martin begins her new role Oct. 15.
Wisdom-Martin earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from Southern Illinois University in 1987 and a master’s degree in social work from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1990. She is married and the mother of one.
Started by and for women to promote Southern Baptist missionaries in an era when women were not permitted to vote or speak at SBC annual meetings, Woman’s Missionary Union today offers age-graded missions curriculum for churches, empowers women overseas with a fair-trade ministry called WorldCrafts and sponsors a publishing arm called New Hope Publishers.
Previous WMU leaders include Annie Armstrong, the founding corresponding secretary who served from 1888 until 1906, and Edith Campbell Crane, who held the post from 1907 to 1912.
Kathleen Mallory took over as the third WMU corresponding secretary in 1912. The organization relocated its headquarters from Baltimore, Md., to Birmingham, Ala., in 1921. Her title was changed to executive director in 1937. She retired in 1948.
Mallory’s successor, Alma Hunt, served from October 1948 until October 1974. She was followed by Carolyn Weatherford Crumpler, from 1974 to 1989, then by Dellanna O’Brien, 1989-1999, and Lee.
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