October 23, 2000
Law has been advocate for
missions through Texas WMU
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___LUBBOCK--In her four years as president of Woman's Missionary Union of Texas, Jeane Law has prayed on the streets of Germany, led a women's retreat in Cuba, hugged orphans in Romania, toured mission sites along the Rio Grande and spoken in churches throughout Texas.
___It's part of a spiritual pilgrimage that has taken her from the red hills of Alabama to the windswept high plains of West Texas. But the constant theme through it all has been missions.
___"I want us to produce a climate in our churches that would make it easy for a young person to hear God's call," she said. "I'm a product of a church like that--a church where we were constantly reminded that Jesus loves everybody, but everybody doesn't know it.
___"I gave my heart to Jesus" at age 9, sitting on the front pew during a Vacation Bible School worship assembly at her home church in Alabama.
___"My heritage of missions was begun in that First Baptist Church of Wetumpka, Ala. Faithful leaders nurtured me in missions education through Sunbeams, GA and YWA meetings," she said. "They helped develop my leadership skills, and they gave me a vision for the world."
___Law, a member of First Baptist Church in Lubbock for 45 years, completes her fourth and final one-year term as Texas WMU president at the end of October.
___"In the midst of a great deal of change, Jeane has helped WMU keep focused on instilling a heart for missions in preschoolers, children and youth," said Joy Fenner, who retires next February as executive director-treasurer of Texas WMU. "Her insights from lifetime involvement as a layperson in a Baptist church have benefited the Texas Baptist family."
___When she first was elected president of Texas WMU, ___Law had no idea just how many changes would occur during her time in office.
___She has been a part of the selection process for new executive directors of both national and state WMU. She participated in launching new ministries such as Christian Women's Job Corps, teaching job skills and life skills to low-income women. And she has lived through days of controversy and division among Baptists.
___"My prayer for any church, however things develop and no matter what kind of church it is or how it aligns itself, is that it will be obedient to the Great Commission and still be on mission for God," she said.
___When Law was first elected in 1996, her stated goal was to "reach the hearts of young women so they would give priority to the missions education of their children and to the development of their own missions lifestyle."
___Looking back, she reflects, "That has happened to some degree, but not enough."
___Even so, she is optimistic about the long-range future of age-appropriate, gender-specific missions organizations in Texas churches.
___"There will always be a place in the churches for women to be developed toward a missions lifestyle. And there's always a faithful remnant who want to see ongoing missions education in their churches, particularly for their children," she said.
___Law acknowledges some churches have chosen women's ministries in place of WMU. However, other congregations have successfully integrated ongoing missions education into women's ministry programs, she noted.
___Looking to the future, Law sees great challenges and opportunities for Texas Baptists as their state grows increasingly urbanized, multi-ethnic and diverse.
___She points to the explosive growth of the Hispanic population. She notes the complexity of ministering in a state where more than 100 languages are spoken. She speaks poignantly of sharing the gospel with a state where half the population is unchurched. And she underscores the need for restorative justice ministries in a state that now has the nation's largest incarcerated population.
___But based on her experience with Texas WMU, she is convinced that Texas Baptists are up to the challenge.
___"Missions is at the heart of all we are," she said.
___Hear a recording of a devotional on Texas missions needs by Jeane Law here.
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