It won’t be Rainbow Row and the Battery in Charleston or Market Street or even Fort Sumter and the historic harbor that 260 women from 19 states remember most from their April 30-May 6 visit to the historic South Carolina city. Instead, they will recall the faces of 3,471 lives they touched through the first Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) MissionsFEST.
Working with Charleston Outreach, a ministry of Charleston Baptist Association, and missionary Jack Little, the women participated in more than 20 missions projects in North Charleston and with the association’s Seafarers Center.
“MissionsFEST is an opportunity to be Christ’s hands,” Wanda Lee, new executive director of the national WMU in Birmingham, told the women in the opening worship service. “Whenever someone asks you ‘What is WMU?’ I want you to think MissionsFEST,” she urged.
“Yes, we actively support missions with our prayers for the missionaries. And, yes, we are supporters of missions through our promotion and giving to the missions offerings,” Lee said. “But the heart of who we are in WMU is found in doing missions. We have heard God’s call to touch a hurting world and share His love with those we meet.”
Among missions opportunities from which participants could choose were construction on inner-city homes, teaching sewing, leading adult Bible studies, reading to school classes, prayerwalking, visiting nursing homes, delivering furniture to needy families, distributing bread to the hungry, holding backyard Bible clubs, repairing bikes and hosting block parties.
Going home excited
WMU leaders hope the 264 MissionsFEST participants will return home excited about missions. Each night at services hosted by Charleston’s Highland Park Baptist Church and at the celebration service, the women eagerly shared how God was at work through their lives. About 70 decisions for Christ were reported.
“Our church got involved with MissionsFEST because we felt that being with a large group we could really do a lot,” said Lisa Pearce of First Baptist Church, Oxford, who came with four others from the church. “We wanted to be more involved in missions, and we want our children to become involved,” she said.
Tammy Jones of Fyffe went on prayerwalks every day in several neighborhoods and met a woman who was “at the end of her rope.” Jones’ group invited the woman to a Bible study at an area church and led her to the Lord.
The host state had the largest contingency with 59 participants. Tennessee, however, wasn’t far off that mark with 57 women. Rounding out the top five states were North Carolina, 29; Texas, 26; and Alabama, 19. Some came from as far away as Arizona, Oregon and Washington.
“For these women, MissionsFEST is an avenue of ministry opportunities to become involved in,” said Sandra Tapp of South Carolina’s WMU staff. “There are so many needs, and we should be involved in as many creative ways as we can think of to help others know about Jesus Christ.”
“MissionsFEST was an opportunity to see the power of God at work and how obedience affects the lives of others,” said Debra Berry of the national WMU staff.
“The goal is that what these women started here, they will take home and be on mission there,” added Andrea Mullins, a national WMU consultant.
MissionsFEST is coordinated by WMU’s Volunteer Connection. Events are scheduled in three locations during 2001. The sites and dates are Stone Mountain, Ga., April 26-28; Little Rock, Ark., June 24-30; and Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 4-6 and 7-13. A FamilyFEST will also be held in Little Rock, June 20-23.
For more information, contact Delane Tew at 205-991-4097; e-mail, volconnection@wmu.org; or visit www.wmu.com and select Ministry Opportunities. (BP)
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