June 17, 2002
WMU hears challenges to plug into God's world vision
___By Jennifer Rash & Charlie Warren
___ST. LOUIS--Forgiveness is powerful but not easy, a victim of kidnapping and rape told participants in the Woman's Missionary Union annual meeting June 9-10.
___ Debbie Morris, author of "Forgiving the Dead Man Walking," captivated the audience in two presentations to the WMU meeting, held prior to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in St. Louis.
Debbie Morris of Mandeville, La., victim of a brutal attack several years ago that left her boyfriend dead, talks about her experiences and how God led her to forgive her assailant, the man portrayed in the movie and book Dead Man Walking. Morris spoke during the Sunday evening session of the annual national meeting of the Woman's Missionary Union, held June 9-10 in the Ferrara Theater of St. Louis' America's Center. Justin Veneman photo/BP
___ Morris was kidnapped and raped multiple times over a 30-hour period when she was 16. The Death Row story of one of her abductors, Robert Lee Willie, was portrayed in the movie "Dead Man Walking."
___ Forgiving the man who traumatized her took years, Morris testified.
___ "Jesus says we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us," she said. "Sometimes that is easier said than done. Some people are downright unlovable."
___ But forgiving the man who later would die in the electric chair was the only way to free herself from the relentless emotional torture she dealt with daily, Morris reported. She found forgiveness was the path to escape the bitterness, fear and depression that had engulfed her.
___ Once an honor student, Morris dropped out of high school and turned to alcohol. She thought once her attacker was convicted she would feel better, but she did not. Then she hoped his execution would lift her burden, but she realized that would not free her either.
___ "I learned the hard way that sometimes there is no justice here on earth for some of the things we experience," she said. "Sometimes there is no resolution."
___ As she waited for the execution, Morris cried out to God for help. She asked God to reveal himself to her again.
Wanda Lee, executive director of the Woman's Missionary Union, presents the executive board's report, titled "Discover the Joy of Missions," during the annual national meeting of the WMU, held June 9-10 in the Ferrara Theater of St. Louis' America's Center. Van Payne photo/BP
___ "I needed God's healing and needed to experience God's grace," she said. "I asked God to help me forgive this man. É
___ "I needed to be able to completely forgive because I needed to be completely forgiven," Morris added.
___ She discovered forgiveness is something that must be given freely to others even when they don't deserve it, "just as God forgives us even though we could never deserve or earn it," she said. "Robert Lee Willie did not benefit because I forgave him. He got death that night, but I got new life."
___ Forgiveness, Morris said, is required of God's people and takes courage and faith.
___ WMU participants also heard a faith challenge from Henry Blackaby, author of "Experiencing God."
___ Calling for a "highway of holiness" from the nation's churches, he told the women America's turmoil springs from the failure of church leaders to trust God totally.
___ "God permits things, but never maliciously or arbitrarily," he said. "The primary message of 9/11 was to God's people: 'I am beginning to remove the hedge of protection from America because of the sin of my people.'"
___ Church leaders are far from where God intends them to be, and God has a right to expect a greater impact from God's people, Blackaby said.
___ "God is saying to his people in North America: 'Given the Resurrection, Pentecost and the blood of my Son, I hold you accountable for making a difference in the nation.'"
___ Blackaby urged Christians to develop a deeper commitment to God and to pray for a movement of the spirit of God to sweep across the nation.
___ In her report, WMU Executive Director Wanda Lee offered glimpses of how God is using WMU.
___ Organization is vital to WMU work, she said. "Mission understanding in our congregations is not going to happen without organization. Once we are aware, once we learn of need, we become involved."
___ As church WMU organizations keep women informed, inspired and challenged, congregations discover ways to become personally involved in missions, Lee said.
___ Lee specifically highlighted WMU outreach through Christian Women's Job Corps, a ministry to help women get off welfare and into the work force that is marking its fifth anniversary.
___ She also expressed appreciation for Acteens, WMU's mission education program for teenage girls. She encouraged support for Syncronations, the 2003 National Acteens Convention to be held in Nashville, Tenn.
___ Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director of the Illinois Baptist Convention's WMU, presented a plaque to Lee in celebration of 10 years of the Mississippi River Ministry, which involves several state conventions along the Delta regions of the river. She announced that more than 3,000 people have made professions of faith in Christ as a direct result of the ministry.
___ WMU President Janet Hoffman, who was re-elected during the meeting, challenged Baptist women to do the best they can with what they have because it is God's plan. "God had a plan, and he still has a plan," Hoffman said, noting God's plan book is the Bible.
___ God's plan is purposeful, practical and personal, Hoffman explained. Referring to John 3:16 and Matthew 28:19-20, she said God's purpose is to bring all people everywhere into God's redemptive love.
___ "According to the plan book, God's strategy for accomplishing his purpose is to use people to share his message of love," she said, drawing on Philippians 3:7-10 and 1 Peter 1:2.
___ While the Bible spotlights heroes, those who work behind the scenes make the difference, Hoffman declared. "Ordinary folk make great contributions. Most of the work carried on in the church then and now is done by plain vanilla folks."
Shawna Davis, missionary to Southern Africa, leads participants in prayer for missionaries whose birthdays are on June 10 during a session of the annual national meeting of the Woman's Missionary Union, held in the Ferrara Theater of St. Louis' America's Center. Van Payne photo/BP
___ Hoffman interviewed Bob Reccord, president of the North American Mission Board, and his wife, Cheryl. Reccord testified of his difficult childhood and how God drew him to a deeper commitment through a campus minister who kept telling him, "Bob, God loves you right where you are, but he loves you too much to let you stay there."
___ Mrs. Reccord described her own struggle during her college years when she was about to drop out of church life when a fellow student befriended her and explained to her how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
___ The WMU conference also included testimonies from SBC missionaries who serve at home and abroad.
___ Cheryl Derbyshire, a missionary to Southeast Asia, said she and her husband, Drew, have served as medical missionaries in Thailand for 10 years.
___ "We didn't go to give out medicine," she said. "We went to share the gospel of Jesus Christ."
___ Their patients often hear, "This is medicine for your body, (but) we want to give you medicine for your soul," she said.
___ Mark Custalow, who coordinates Native American work for NAMB, said the spiritual orientation and culture of Native Americans make them prime candidates for an outpouring of God's spirit.
___ "I am a product of the missionary work of those who came to my reservation many years ago when I was a child," he said. But nine out of 10 Native Americans do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, he added, and only three out of 10 live on reservations.
___ "We must see the harvest field from God's vantage point," Custalow said. "Satan has a stronghold on our people, and it's only by the prayers of people like you that it will be released."
___ Shawna Davis, a missionary to Zambia, told about ministry in a region where the average life expectancy is 33 and people live amid witchcraft and fear, an inadequate diet and no medical treatment.
___ Chet Cantrell, a NAMB missionary serving in a mission center in East St. Louis, told about his work in one of the poorest cities in America, where 57 percent of the children live in extreme poverty.
___ "Everything we are doing has been paid for by the prayers of WMU," Cantrell said.
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