June 19, 2000
WMU installs new leader, celebrates missions
___ORLANDO, Fla.--Woman's Missionary Union installed a new executive director and elected a new president while celebrating the work of missionaries worldwide June 11-12.
___Wanda Lee's installation as WMU executive director highlighted the two-day annual meeting of WMU, held prior to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
___"As I accept this medallion today, it is with a sense of God's call to this most challenging missions assignment of my life," Lee said. "He had led me through critical days of discovery to reach this point.
WOMAN'S MISSIONARY UNION Executive Director Wanda Lee joins a prayer circle with former WMU executives Alma Hunt, Carolyn Weatherford Crumpler and Dellanna O'Brien during Lee's installation service. (BP photos)
___"It is a trust I do not take lightly but accept only with the confident assurance that God has led and been faithful in my life before today," Lee added.
___The medallion Lee was given is a bronze replica of the WMU emblem in the shape of a fish--a symbol of the early church--with an open Bible, torch and outline of the world.
___Three former WMU executive directors joined in greeting Lee, who stepped down as WMU president to accept the agency's top paid staff position.
___Alma Hunt, Carolyn Weatherford Crumpler and Dellanna O'Brien noted that Lee's roles as missionary, pastor's wife, nurse, missions volunteer and Acteens leader have uniquely prepared her for the new role.
___Hunt, WMU executive director from 1948 to 1974, recalled the many changes that have taken place in the 52 years since she was tapped as WMU's fourth executive director. Traveling by train to Memphis for her installation service, Hunt placed a hat on her head and gloves on her hands before disembarking the train, she recalled.
___Hunt reminded Lee of the promise of Jesus in Matthew 28, "and lo I am with you," telling the younger woman that partnerships are important in her new position.
___"We are never alone anytime," Hunt added. "By (God's) guidance we have him as our partner."
___Noting Lee's contagious enthusiasm, Hunt told her, "Don't let anyone deprive you of the enthusiasm of what the Lord is going to do through you."
___Days ahead will be filled with difficulty and challenge, warned O'Brien, WMU's immediate past executive director.
___But God has prepared Lee for her role by giving her a compassionate heart as shenursed her mother through a terminal illness, by experiencing the joy of a Christian home and by "denying personal desires to be in God's service on the mission field," O'Brien said.
LEE gives her first annual report to WMU members.
___Elected to fill Lee's position as WMU president was native Texan Janet Hoffman, now of Farmerville, La. Also elected as recording secretary was Yolanda Calderon of Modesto, Calif. Calderon is the first ethnic leader to be elected as a national WMU officer.
___A pastor's wife for 40 years, Hoffman, 64, and her husband, Harvey, are members of First Baptist Church of Farmerville. Their oldest child, Shelda, is children's consultant for Texas WMU.
___Hoffman is a graduate of Baylor University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
___Calderon, 58, also a Texas native, is married to a retired prison warden. One of their children, Art, is associate pastor of Lane Prairie Baptist Church in Joshua.
___"Dispelling the Darkness," the theme for the annual meeting, was emphasized through a drama in the Sunday evening session. National Acteens advisory panel members--including Laura Borrego of LaPorte--shared how God had used Acteens to dispel the darkness in their lives, leading them to lifetime commitment of service.
___North American Mission Board President Bob Reccord and International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin thanked WMU for its efforts in dispelling the darkness throughout the world.
___NAMB missionaries told of sharing the gospel from the ski slopes of Aspen, Colo., to Phoenix, Ariz., to New York City.
___NAMB missionary David Lema, director of Hispanic international ministries for Miami Baptist Association, thanked WMU for their support of missions.
NEW OFFICERS of national WMU with Lee are Janet Hoffman, president, and Yolanda Calderon, recording secretary.
___"Women are the ones who power our missions," he said, encouraging members to "keep hammering away, keep praying and keep being the women on mission God wants you to be."
___NAMB missionary Lynn Latham presented nine graduates of Restoration House of Orlando, a ministry connected with WMU's Christian Women's Job Corp program, which helps needy women learn to live a Christian life on their own.
___The women stood before the crowd, holding in front of their faces reproductions of the unflattering mug shots taken when they were last arrested before joining the Restoration house program.
___At Latham's signal, they lowered the photographs from their old lives and revealed the radically changed, shining faces that are part of their new lives as Christians.
___Many in the crowd were visibly moved by the stark difference between the old mug shots and the women who stood before them, and they sprang to their feet to give the graduates a standing ovation.
FLAGS of countries where Southern Baptists have missionaries are displayed in a ceremony at the WMU annual meeting.
___An IMB missionary who works in Central and Southeast Asia told the women how she has prayerwalked around Buddhist temples where today monks are studying the Bible. The woman could not be identified by name because of security concerns in the region where she works.
___In her first annual report, Lee admonished the women not to forsake the task of missions education.
___"We can't afford not to call people to accountability for the command of the Great Commission," she said.
___To people who question whether WMU is still viable and who say there is no time for missions education, Lee said: "We are the church of Jesus Christ. We are commissioned and called to carry the light of the gospel to a darkened world. ... We must seek new and different ways to challenge the church to make missions once again a high priority."
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