Holding up gold penlights, participants in the national Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) annual meeting embraced the Great Commission challenge to shine the light of Christ into areas of spiritual darkness.
The June 11-12 annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., focused on encouraging attendees to keep “Dispelling the Darkness” in a lost and hurting world.
During a spotlight on international and North American missions, Jerry Rankin, president of the International Mission Board, encouraged the participants to pray for missionaries “who are sharing the gospel in places still shrouded in darkness.”
Record giving to the 1999 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering — $105,443,786.95 — has “allowed us to penetrate the darkness in those restricted places where Christ is just now being heard,” Rankin said.
“Jesus didn’t qualify the Great Commission to only send missionaries where they are welcome and can go without risk,” he continued. “God is going before us, opening the door.”
Rankin introduced a “Last Frontier” missionary from a country where the gospel is restricted. He said the WMU women would never see the missionary’s name on a prayer calendar because of safety concerns, but he encouraged them to give crucial prayer support to this behind-the-scenes ministry.
Robert E. Reccord, president of the North American Mission Board (NAMB), interviewed three NAMB missionaries, including Steve Hoekstra, a resort missionary in Colorado.
Hoekstra said resort missions isn’t all fun and games, saying people often come to resorts to escape serious problems.
One woman had come to a Colorado campground to commit suicide, he recounted, but instead made a profession of faith because of the outreach of resort ministry.
Wanda Lee, newly installed WMU executive director, cast a vision for the organization’s future during the executive board report.
“There are those who ask if WMU is still viable for the future needs of this generation,” Lee said. “There are some who are asking if missions education is even relevant for today’s church.”
But the Great Commission compels WMU to continue to challenge the next generation to become involved in missions, she said. WMU has a mandate to “seek new and different ways to challenge the church to make missions a high priority.”
In other business, the women elected Janet Hoffman of Farmerville, La., as president of the national organization and Yolanda Calderon of Modesto, Calif., as recording secretary. Calderon is the first ethnic leader to be elected as a national WMU officer. Both will be eligible for annual re-election for up to five years.
One of the secrets of successfully starting a church is starting it with a WMU organization, said keynote speaker Emmanuel McCall, former director of black church extension for the Home Mission Board (now North American Mission Board). He currently serves as pastor of Christian Fellowship Church, College Park, Ga.
“If you really want to grow a strong, healthy, missions-minded church, you’ve got to have a WMU to do it,” McCall said.
Miss Alabama, Julie Smith, a former Mission Friend, GA and Acteen, told participants that “WMU is one of the most important parts of my testimony. I don’t have the kind of testimony that says, ‘Look what God took me out of.’ I can say, ‘Look what God kept me out of.’
“Because of what I learned through WMU, I’ve felt empowered to do God’s work,” Smith said.
The annual meeting also included training sessions to equip women for their organizational leadership positions.
In a conference on “Women, the Web and WMU,” Lisa Rowell, WMU web specialist, told participants that by December 2000 an estimated 191 million persons are expected to be using the Internet, a number almost evenly divided between male and female users.
While men use the Internet as a toy, women surf the net as a tool to assist in their responsibilities of family, work, church and friends, she said.
The Web site, www.wmu.com, is updated monthly to provide current prayer requests, missions education resources and links to SBC mission board sites and offering information. Web pages targeting children, Acteens and other mission age groups are available. (BP)
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