August 7, 2000
Texas WMU encouraged to find love and life 'beyond belief'
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___WACO--God wants his people to experience love and life "beyond belief" as they join in his mission, program personalities told women attending the Texas Leadership Conference.
___"Beyond Belief!" was the theme of the July 27-29 training event at Baylor University in Waco, sponsored by Woman's Missionary Union of Texas.
___"Jesus wants us to live lives of extraordinary faith," said Charles Wade, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. "The wonder is not only that we can believe in him, but that he believes in us."
SUZY WALL (above) of Frio Baptist Church in Hereford introduces women to a variety of resources at "Missions Innovation University."
___Because the church is the body of Christ, it is the "continuing incarnation of God," he said. The task of each local church is to become the "presence of Christ" in its community.
___"Ask yourselves, 'If Jesus were here, where would he go and what would he do?' Then when you think you know the answer, go and do it."
___For Tom and Beth Ogburn, going where Jesus would go meant responding to the needs of unreached people groups.
___"My story is your story," Ogburn told the WMU representatives. "It was because of WMU that I became aware of God's missionary calling on my life."
___The Ogburns were appointed by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in 1994 to serve among a people group in Asia. Recently, they were reassigned to direct the World A Link mission strategy office in Dallas.
___Ogburn told how he shared his faith with a Muslim taxi driver in Asia. When the missionary offered to send a New Testament to the driver, the Muslim eagerly responded by saying he would pay any price for one.
MARY LOVE BERRYMAN (left) of First Baptist Church of Tyler talks to Ann Wilson of Fairdale Baptist Church near Hemphill about the Missionary Parents Network.
___The cabdriver was not just referring to money, Ogburn explained. He knew that professing faith in Jesus could result in his persecution and social rejection.
___"He was willing to pay whatever price it cost for him to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ," Ogburn said.
___Too many times, North American Christians are quick to give to God that which costs them nothing, said Mark and Susie Edworthy, missionaries to Poland with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.
___"What sacrifice are we willing to make?" Susie Edworthy asked. "How are we doing within the scope of a lost world--not as compared to what we have done in the past?"
___Southern Baptist churches spend more on interest payments on building loans than they do on missions, Mark Edworthy noted. And even some of those who willingly give financially or go on short-term missions projects do that as a substitute for giving their lives in career missions service, he added.
___"We need people to 'hold the rope' (of financial and prayer support), but we also need some who are willing to climb down," he said. "Some substitute round-trip service for a one-way ticket."
___The task of missions education can be costly to a local church, national WMU President Janet Hoffman acknowledged. It costs time, effort, money and the hard work of both physical and spiritual preparation by volunteers.
___"But it's far more costly not to invest in missions education. It's costly to the individual, the church and to God's kingdom," she said. "Missions education, first of all, is molding lives for the kingdom."
___Joy Fenner, who will retire Feb. 28 as executive director-treasurer of Texas WMU, described her own pilgrimage as "a journey beyond belief." She described how God led her from a small town in the East Texas Pineywoods to state Girls in Action leadership to the mission field of Japan and finally to the helm of Texas WMU.
___"It all began with a young GA leader who felt that from her tiny town in East Texas, she could touch the world and make a difference of eternal significance," she said.
___Fenner and her husband, Charlie, were honored at a reception during the three-day conference, which also included a gathering for the Missionary Parents Network, about a dozen special-interest seminars and training sessions offered in seven languages.
___Women from First Baptist Church of Amarillo brought seven Vietnamese college students, including three who were not Christians, to attend the conferences offered in their language. All three made professions of faith in Jesus Christ while at the conference.
___As part of a staterwide missions involvement project, participants at Texas Leadership Conference donated more than 600 hygiene kits for distribution by Texas River Ministry. The kits filled a one-ton truck, a compact pickup and a van, according to Dexton Shores, director of River Ministry.
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