Forgiveness is powerful but not easy, a victim of kidnapping and rape told participants in the Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) 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 meeting in St. Louis.
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, she 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 after 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.
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.”
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.’”
Not where God intends
Church leaders are far from where God intends them to be, and God has a right to expect a greater impact from His 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. “Missions 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.
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 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.
Plain ‘vanilla folks’
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.”
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.
(Charlie Warren contributed)
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