International Mission Board (IMB) church planter Sabastian Vazquez couldn’t escape the inevitable emotions as he stood before a group of women whose legacy had led to four generations of pastors in his family.
Speaking during the 2016 Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) Missions Celebration and Annual Meeting, Sabastian unsuccessfully fought off tears as he told the story of a new Southern Baptist missionary who a century ago handed a Spanish-language evangelistic tract to an illiterate baker named Angel Vazquez, his great-grandfather.
Angel knew the missionary had given him something very special because of the way in which he gave it to him.
He became a Christian and asked the missionary to teach him how to be a pastor too. His son, grandson and great-grandson, Sabastian, would follow in his footsteps.
“My family is your legacy,” said Sabastian, who serves as a church planter among college students in Toronto. “I tell you that story so you know to never give up.”
‘Strength in our union’
In her final report to national WMU, Executive Director Wanda Lee encouraged participants.
“What we do matters because we are shining a light, singing a song for the nations when we do the part God has called us to do,” she said.
“You can always trust His promises. … When I failed, and I did … His grace sustained my soul where I could get up and try again.”
Lee reminded WMU leaders in attendance that “what we do through WMU matters for the Kingdom” and gave three points of advice for the future:
- “Never lose sight of the needs of the world.”
“The spiritual, emotional and physical needs of the people of the world are so much greater than you and I can sometimes imagine. We have within us the resources to resolve many of those needs if we have the collective will to do it,” she said.
- “Never turn your eyes, nor the heart of WMU, inward.”
“Resist the temptation of this nation of ‘put me first;’ rather keep your eyes on what God wants and how He sees the world and where you fit into those plans. If you do, we will grow and have that will to sing a song for the nations,” she explained.
- “Never forsake the singular purpose of WMU: missions.”
“There are many opportunities all around to do good deeds but we are to be about missions,” she said. “There is strength in our union, strength as we gather around our collective purpose of missions.”
Also during the meeting national WMU President Linda Cooper urged the 550 participants of the celebration and all who are involved in WMU to build upon the legacy of the women who had gone before them, such as Annie Armstrong, Fannie E.S. Heck, Hephzibah Jenkins Townsend and Lee.
In other news from the meeting:
- Mindy Jamison, of Friendship Baptist Center, Des Moines, Iowa, was presented the Dellanna West O’Brien Award for Women’s Leadership Development.
- Tana Hartsell, of Concord, North Carolina, was re-elected as recording secretary of WMU.
- National Acteens panelists Sarah Golden, of Alabama, (see Alabama Acteen on national panel) was 1 of 4 panelists who shared testimonies with the national audience and prayed for missionaries with birthdays.
- Breakout sessions on various topics were available to participants.
(Compiled from reporting by Jennifer Davis Rash and Baptist Press)
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