WMU: Tell the generations_111703

image_pdfimage_print

Posted: 11/14/03

In celebration of the 90th birthday of the missions education program Girls in Action, GAs and GA leaders participated in a processional of world flags.

WMU: Tell the generations

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

LUBBOCK–Share missions with the coming generations, leaders urged during the 123rd annual meeting of Texas Woman's Missionary Union.

Based on a Scripture passage in Deuteronomy, the theme “Tell the Generations” was carried throughout the program at First Baptist Church of Lubbock. The program featured families in various segments who displayed generations of missions involvement.

Missionary Sheila Mitchell gave her testimony, explaining how she helps tell the generations in her work as executive director of DaySpring Villa, a shelter for homeless women and children in Tulsa, Okla.

Journeyman Kathy McCammon. (Nan Dickson/BGCT Photo)

Mitchell credited adult influence in her decision to serve: “Because adults cared enough to teach me, I answered God's call to serve in Oklahoma. We need to ask God, 'What is it you want me to do?'”

Her work involves meeting physical needs of women and children, many of whom are fleeing domestic violence situations. Through this ministry, she finds opportunities to share God's love and grace with those families, she said.

“They need a home, not only here on earth, but also in heaven. God didn't tell me to take care of everybody, but he told me to do something with the ones he places in front of me.”

In her report, Texas WMU Executive Director Carolyn Porterfield shared the stage with Leo Endel, director of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention. Texas Baptists have a long association with Baptists in that region, and Porterfield recently spent nine days there.

Endel recounted that the first Baptist church in Minnesota-Wisconsin was started in 1953 by Texans. “You're really our parents,” he said. “Every one of our 152 churches has a strong Texas connection.”

The northern region first petitioned the Baptist General Convention of Texas for membership as an association in the mid-1950s, and that partnership has helped the area grow in church starts, he explained.

Texas Tech women's basketball coach Marsha Sharp.

However, the needs for evangelization remain great, he said. Currently, 4 percent of the population in Minnesota and Wisconsin is associated with an evangelical church.

“Your resources have allowed us to plant churches we might never have been able to,” Endel said. “Your people have moved here to help lead us. Many of our churches are pastored by Texans.”

In celebration of the 90th birthday of the missions education program Girls in Action, GAs and GA leaders participated in a processional of world flags, and GAs later helped take up the offering for the WMU endowment.

Three generations of one family gathered on the stage to share their heritage of missions. Kelly McCammon, a journeyman who recently returned from two years in Kosovo, said her parents and grandparents played a vital role in her missions interest.

“My family raised me to know that I should go out and share Jesus, from my participation in GAs and onward,” McCammon said.

Her father, Joe McCammon of Mesquite, credited his parents as well. “My parents taught missions and a servanthood lifestyle,” he said. “It was a joy to see that zeal and a joy to pass it on.”

Kelly McCammon first visited Kosovo with her mother, Debra, in 1999 on a mission trip and felt God's call to serve there. She returned in 2001 as an English teacher and worked in lifestyle ministry, building relationships to allow her to share the Christian gospel in the Muslim country.

Texas WMU officers Kathy Hillman, president; Edna Wood, recording secretary; Laura Harris, first vice president; Shirley McDonald, second vice president; and Nina Pinkston, third vice president.

Texas WMU President Kathy Hillman of Waco shared her report time with Marsha Sharp, head coach of the Texas Tech University women's basketball team. Both spoke about the impact of missions education on their lives as young girls.

Sharp shared her earliest memories of missions participation as a child in Roswell, N.M., where her mother served as the Girls in Action leader at South Manor Baptist Church.

Passing the torch to younger Baptists is vital, she said. “There is not one thing we leave the next generation that is as important as what we're talking about tonight. The things we do for those who will follow us should be something we give thought to daily. My career means nothing if it doesn't lead me to a platform to affect people's lives for Christ.”

Hillman closed with encouragement for members to keep spreading the gospel and supporting missions endeavors that “tell the generations.”

“I'm grateful that a generation of Texas Baptists helped me grow,” Hillman said. “Unless we tell the story, the next generation will not be told.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.


We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.

Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.

More from Baptist Standard