State WMU leaders call for more involvement

Joe Westbury

Wilma Smith, of Kinchafoonee Baptist Church in Leesburg, foreground, helps home-owner Precilla Rogers clean an exterior wall prior to its being painted. The mission outreach was one of several held April 14 in Albany prior to the WMU annual meeting.

ALBANY - More than 940 registered women gathered for the Baptist Woman's Missionary Union annual meeting at Byne Memorial Church here April 15-16. During the two day event, the women embraced a new vision statement, committed to a new prayer partnership, and elected a new president.

But the day before the meeting began, more than 50 of the women put their words into action by doing ministry throughout Albany.

A group of women - and a few husbands - spent the day fixing up the home of Precilla Rogers. Because of medical problems, Rogers is on disability and unable to care for her home.

Other women prayer walked the Anchorage, the Riverquarium-Turtle Park and the Galleria shopping center. Some tutored children in the afternoon at Dougherty County School.

The volunteer work demonstrated the new vision statement that was presented at the annual meeting: "Because we believe God is who He says He is and can do what He says He will do, we are empowered to engage a lost world through ministry and witness that will be modeled, taught and nurtured among future generations."

During the first session, BWMU executive director Barbara Curnutt announced a new prayer partnership, following the conclusion of a four year partnership with Tibet. During that partnership as many as 7,000 women prayed daily for the Tibetan people.

Joe Westbury

Bertha Johnson helps hang a banner in the front yard of Precilla Rogers while C.B. Fincher straightens a Velcro attachment announcing the WMU work project. Johnson and Fincher are members of First Baptist Church in Albany.

"In 2001 we launched a prayer partnership with the people of Tibet. At first we prayed generically that God would remove stones so we could plant seeds. Today we have many new believers. Our partnership is changing, but the need for prayer does not end," she said.

The new partnership, launched at the meeting, is with the Muslims of the Pacific Rim.

"This is the largest concentration of Muslims in the world today," Curnutt said.

Needing help from others

"More than 200 million [in the Pacific Rim] have yet to claim Christ as Lord," said a last frontier missionary.

"We need you," she told the women. "We on the field recognize that without you we can do nothing. We are crying out to you. Please help us. We as workers are desperate for you, but more desperate are those who have yet to hear the name of Jesus Christ."

Joe Westbury

Robert Hill makes his tire cleanup job easier by hauling them away in a discarded wheelchair. Hill, whose wife Janet previously served as state WMU president, was one of several men to help WMU members in their home fix-up project in Albany.

Also speaking at the meeting was Carrie McDonnall, the lone survivor of an attack last year in Iraq that killed four other missionaries, including McDonnall's husband, David.

"Thank you for being so faithful," she told the women who gave her a standing ovation. "I am testimony to His healing power and grace. I know so many of you prayed for me and my family. He has heard your prayers."

McDonnall recounted her first days after the attack when she woke in a hospital room, seriously injured and discovered she was a widow.

"I was devastated over the loss of my three friends and my husband and my own physical pain. But God met me in that hospital room and told me, 'This is not your home.' Our God is faithful and merciful. I can stand here and say our God is sovereign and our God is love."

McDonnall challenged the women to serve God.

"Now is the time for us to obediently follow him into the darkness. We've got to stop living like this is our home."

In other business, the new totals of the Celebrate Our Missions Future campaign were announced with $320,000 in the Camp Pinnacle capital campaign fund and $35,000 in the endowment fund. The 20 year campaign began in 2003.

Attendees elected new officers, including Patsy Pirkle of Brookfield as president, following Ann Watts of Sharpsburg who served for four years.

Sherri Brown

Newly elected Georgia WMU officers are: left to right, Cathy Dennis, recording secretary, North Metro First Church, Lawrenceville; Carole Fouts, chair of finance, First Church Smyrna; Lynn Larsen, vice president, First Church, Grayson; Patsy Pirkle, president, New River Church, Tifton; and Barbara Curnutt, BWMU executive director-treasurer.

Sherri Brown

Honored outgoing president, Ann Watts.

Sherri Brown

Hundreds of women attended the WMU annual meeting where they participated in small workshops

Sherri Brown

Missionary Speaker Carrie McDonnall