Debra Abston and Kimberly Posey were this year’s recipients of the Mission Volunteer of the Year Award presented at the 2024 Alabama Baptist State Convention annual meeting in November at Eastern Shore Baptist Church in Daphne.
Each year the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions selects a Volunteer of the Year. The award is given to someone who has participated in volunteer Acts 1:8 missions opportunities in their home county, the state, North America and internationally.
“We look for people who exhibit a passion for missions and have a missions lifestyle,” said Scotty Goldman, director of the SBOM’s office of global missions.
Abston and Posey were nominated for the award by Claren Dease, an International Mission Board emeritus missionary who served 23 years in Uruguay with her husband, Lyle, who is director of missions for Pickens Baptist Association.
‘Worthy recipients’
“When Dease submitted how they (Abston and Posey) exhibit their missions opportunities, it was obvious these two ladies would be our selection this year because of their regular participation in missions. They are two worthy recipients,” Goldman said.
Posey said receiving the award was “very humbling.”
“I honestly didn’t know the award existed,” she said.
Posey has been on mission in Honduras, Mexico, Romania, Brazil, Peru and several places in the United States. She discovered a love for missions at Flatwoods Baptist Church in Gordo. Through Mission Friends and missions discipleship classes, she learned to share the gospel. She is thankful to her parents for taking her to church when she was young.
“God tells us to go wherever the door opens and take the gospel to the nations,” Posey said. “Whenever a door is opened, I share the gospel. A lot of people have influenced me since I was a child and helped me learn to love missions. If it weren’t for my parents, Flatwoods and most of all God, I wouldn’t have gotten this award.”
‘Honor to be chosen’
Abston said it was “an honor to be chosen out of the whole state of volunteers” to receive the annual award.
“All the glory goes to God, not to me, because without Him none of this would be possible,” Abston said. “I am thankful God placed that calling on my life and that I was obedient and answered the call because it has been a blessing to be His hands and feet.”
Abston has been a Girls in Action teacher for over 30 years. She also has worked in the local food pantry and with the Pickens Association’s Missions Council. She has been on several North American missions trips to Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Montana and has been on trips to Brazil since 2013, with the exception of 2020. She has also been to the Amazon, Guatemala, Honduras, Romania and Mexico.
“I’ve been in church my whole life,” said Abston. “My Sunday School teachers did a great job of teaching me about Jesus. In those Wednesday night missionary classes, I learned to be the hands and feet of Jesus. My love for missions grew in those classes on Wednesday night.
“The last thing that Jesus told us in the Great Commission before He ascended into heaven was to go and tell the world about Him,” she added. “That is our priority as Christians. That is what drives me because that is the last thing He said.”
EDITOR’S NOTE – This article was written by Donna Bain and originally appeared in the Pickens County Herald. It is reprinted with permission.
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