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WIC Resource Letter
for PCA Women in Leadership
Dear Daughters of the Covenant, For some reason I remember when the calendar rolled over to the year 1950. I was almost ten years old and entering a new decade seemed a momentous event. I wondered if I would be alive to experience the entrance of a new millennium. I vividly remember thinking, "Of course not! I would be sixty years old." But here I am, and it does seem quite eventful––both the new millennium and turning sixty. I feel as if I am standing on a summit surveying the past and anticipating the future. Ten years ago we stumbled onto the Titus 2 principle. I’m not sure how that happened, but I am convinced that the Lord caused it to happen. After a decade of pondering the concept of spiritual mothering, I am even more persuaded that this is an expression of covenant life in the covenant community. Women equipping and encouraging one another to live for God’s glory prepares us for lives of justice, mercy, and humility. I don’t think we stumbled onto the theme of the ’99 WIC conference. It was the outcome of obedience to the Titus mandate. But now let me add another layer to spiritual mothering: • Spiritual mothering relationships are essential for daughters of the covenant to live out the covenant requirements of justice, mercy, and humility. • Every tactic in Satan’s arsenal will be aimed at deflecting and derailing us from ministries of compassion. We need wise, godly women to help us think and act biblically. I urge local and PresWIC leadership to be tenderly persistent in warning women of the wiles of the devil. Some enemy arrows we want to avoid: - Frustration with others because new programs have not been implemented. We left the conference with fire in our bones and a zillion ideas for programs in our churches. The sluggishness of committees, decisions, and approval can be disheartening. Spiritual mothers can remind women that God is the sovereign King of His Church, His timing is perfect, and delays may be His way of molding our hearts into the shape of compassion. - Personal guilt because I haven’t started working at the homeless shelter, or visiting the nursing home, or whatever. Some women left the conference convinced they were called to minister compassion to their communities and pumped with ideas about how they would do that, only to be met by the daily demands of life that fill up most minutes of every day. A mothering moment: It is into the dayliness of life that we are to inject massive doses of compassion. That may be as much about attitude as it is about action. • Titus women will remind younger women that frustration and guilt smack of works righteousness––I must do just a little bit more so God will love me more. This performance orientation can trap even the most theologically astute woman. The downward spiral is devastating to her and to those around her. Spiritual mothers must come alongside and love, pray for, warn, and instruct younger women. This Resource Letter shares ideas of what others are doing to keep the conference alive, but frustration and guilt can be the deathblow to the conference. The need for spiritual mothers who will love, pray, encourage, and nurture is greater now than ever before. For God’s Glory,
The ’99 WIC Conference is Alive and Well . . . A Church Thinks Integratively Glasgow Reformed Presbyterian Church in Bear, Delaware, sent over thirty women to the ’99 WIC Conference. At the women’s Bible study, they reported on the seminars they attended, but more was needed. They decided that the rest of the congregation needed to be exposed to what the women had heard. The Session agreed to combine all adult Sunday school classes and show the videos of the keynote speakers. Each week a staff member or an elder whose wife attended the conference facilitated the class. Before viewing the video, a conference attendee gave a three-minute report of how the conference changed her life. Then a church member already involved in practical mercy ministry shared details of how their lives are channels of God’s compassion. After viewing all the videos, Pastor Chuck Betters asked the class to answer the question, "What’s different in your life as a result of what you have heard through these women?" At times the response made us uncomfortable. A homeless man who ministers to the homeless challenged us to open our eyes to the needs in our own back yard. A ruling elder shared that now he sees the image of God in the poor and has started taking lunch to a man who has made his home under a bridge for sixteen years. With each meal he shares, "This is given in the name of Jesus." He doesn’t know where this relationship is going but is open to God’s leading. A woman turned her car around to take money back to a beggar and said, "This is because of Jesus." Another ruling elder shared how God had already been convicting him of the need to open his home to foster care, but he and his wife thought the children would be short term and very young. Instead, God has brought a young teenager who will probably be with them through adulthood. With a broken voice he talked about his struggle to give up his peaceful home and risk the changes such a child might bring. A six-year-old asked her house church to fill boxes with items for needy children. She collected fifteen boxes. Women have a vision for a food bank with free food. Others are realizing their first place to extend mercy must be their home. In light of the congregation’s struggle to understand God’s purposes in mercy and to see mercy as a means for God to turn hearts toward Him, the class will continue to discuss how the church can become an intentional channel of God’s compassion, not only through programs, but ultimately through each person who is learning how to walk humbly with God and thereby act justly and love mercy. There is a sense of excitement throughout the congregation because we know God is changing our direction in a way that will stretch us all.
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Mothering Moment Covenant PCA, Montgomery, AL This Daughter of the Covenant wrote to us and shared what the Lord taught her through the WIC conference. This is a spiritual mothering perspective of the highest order. When Diane Langberg spoke of "phases in her life," I found myself relating to many of the "phases" that she mentioned. A phase that I call the "run away" phase has continued to lead me to repentance during the weeks following the ’99 WIC Conference. I find myself running away from people God wants me to run to. For example, some new neighbors moved in recently. They have a three-year-old daughter and are expecting another baby. At first I was excited to get to know them and looked forward to our kids playing together. What goes through my mind now? The wife sure does complain a lot (unlike me!) . . . The three-year-old is irritating (unlike mine!) . . . I should invite them over, but she drains me and her daughter might pass on her bad habits to my kids. This is "running away." We all have people like this in our lives. People we wish to avoid. People God has placed in our lives to love. We say, "God, I can’t love this person!" And He says, "I know, that’s why I gave this one to you." He wants us to minister daily out of His strength instead of our own. I encourage you, my sisters, to repentance also. It is our nature to try to do things in our own strength. Maybe you have a neighbor out there similar to mine. Is she draining you? Are you finding it hard to love her? Come with me to the throne. Let us sit with Him and remember the incredible love He has for us. "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor my covenant of peace be removed" says the Lord who has compassion on you. Our love for Him is so fleeting . . . He is so faithful. But I am learning to remain in the Vine as I visit with my neighbor and her family. Pray for me, my sisters, that I will bear much fruit to my Father’s glory, and I will pray for you as you seek to love your neighbor in His strength.
Treasures of Faith To order call the CE/P Bookstore: 1-800-283-1357 An Interview with Joni Eareckson Tada . . . How to Minister to the Disabled Joni Eareckson Tada is the founder and president of JAF Ministries (Joni and Friends), an organization accelerating Christian ministry in the disability community. A diving accident in 1967 left Mrs. Tada a quadriplegic in a wheelchair, unable to use her hands. During two years of rehabilitation, she spent long months learning how to paint, holding a brush between her teeth. Her role as advocate for disabled persons led to a presidential appointment to the National Council on Disability. She records a five-minute radio program, "Joni and Friends," which is heard daily on over 700 stations. A popular conference speaker, she also serves on several boards and has received many honors. She is the author of twenty-one books, including her autobiography Joni. Her best-selling and award-winning books for adults cover topics ranging from disability outreach to euthanasia and assisted suicide. She has also written several children’s books, the most recent of which, Tell Me the Promises, received an Evangelical Press Association Gold Medallion Award in 1998. Q. What are the biggest obstacles for a physically disabled person? A. Most people might assume the biggest obstacle is lack of access to programs or facilities, but not so. It’s really the attitudinal barriers that exist within the body of Christ. Many jump to negative assumptions about people with disabilities, approaching them in the context of their handicapping condition and expecting very little from them. If a disabled person is in a wheelchair, immediately he is defined as "wheelchair-bound." We forget that these people have hopes, dreams, and interests just like everyone else. God has allowed them to experience a disability for His good purposes and He has a special design for their lives. Q. How can the church best minister to the physically disabled? A. It’s always good to look at a person through the eyes of the Lord Jesus. Some disabled people may seem off-putting––they may drool or talk in a guttural tone. Many Christians feel embarrassed and tiptoe in wide circles around such people, leaving it to more gifted believers to reach out and minister to them. Most people don’t feel very well trained; they also don’t want to find themselves in an awkward situation, possibly embarrassing the disabled person. What most people don’t realize is that the disabled person will gladly bridge the distance and help an able-bodied person understand his condition––if that person will only be willing to reach out. That makes it possible to see beyond the drool, the twitching head, the snarled hand, or wheelchair to see the disabled person for who he really is. Christ always addressed the disabled in some way. Sometimes He healed their conditions, sometimes not. But He never ignored them. The condition comes with who I am; so if you want to ask me out to lunch, you may have to cut up my food or put a special spoon in my hand. Perhaps I need a ride to church or some housekeeping chores done. There are many practical ways to address the needs of the disabled, but it all starts with asking. Q. What are the goals of your ministry, Joni and Friends? A. We want to communicate the Gospel and to equip Christ-honoring churches worldwide to evangelize and disciple disabled people. We believe that all people, including the disabled, need a saving knowledge of Christ. We see that the disabling condition can give a person an extra edge, because suffering is nothing more than hell’s splash-over, warning us of coming judgment. The disabling condition can be an advantage to an individual’s soul; God has a message for that person and he is sitting right on it! Our ministry addresses not only the physical needs––providing ramps and widening doorways––but also the spiritual needs. Aside from a disabled person coming to Christ, we want him integrated into a church fellowship as an indispensable believer (I Corinthians 12), as the Bible commands. As that individual is integrated, the church has many opportunities to roll up its sleeves and learn how to practice sacrificial service. What better way to do that than with a person who has real physical and family needs? Becoming a disability-effective church begins with a good knowledge of God’s Word, because the Lord doesn’t tiptoe around disabilities at all. In Exodus 4:11, He makes it clear that He is responsible for allowing disabilities. The buck stops on His desk. He doesn’t delight in someone’s disability, but He has perhaps chosen it for a reason. I often say that God allows what He hates to achieve what He loves. We want the church to understand this. Some Christians have difficulty with the child who has spina bifida or the elder who was just diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Not knowing what to do, they determine to meet these people’s needs as best they can (most often awkwardly) until the person "gets better." I would challenge the church not merely to be zealous in their orthodoxy, but also zealous in their passion to make Christ real to people who are despairing of their conditions. Q. How can churches practically minister to the disabled? A. First, a church should assess the needs in their congregation. Some members may not be attending worship because they need help getting a disabled family member to church. Maybe the church has parents who would love to come to church, but there’s no Sunday school provision for their disabled child. Fear of occasional autistic outburst in the worship service keeps them home to avoid acute embarrassment. Churches have come up with some wonderful responses to various needs. One church has a buddy system: deacons take turns shepherding a disabled youngster through the entire Sunday School and worship hour––sitting beside an autistic young person or even taking him out to walk off some of his autistic energy. Mom and Dad can then enjoy Sunday school or worship. Another church has a Friday night ministry called Save Our Sanity (SOS), in which a team of youth is trained to baby-sit a disabled child to give the parents a date night. One church even raised money for the parents to get away for a weekend––their first vacation in ten years! In Memphis some graduate physical therapists set up exercise sessions at their church, keeping up with patients from their rehabilitation clinic. Obviously, mercy care facilities, respite care, camping programs for the disabled, and other ministries are also possibilities. But it begins first with determining the needs, praying, and designing an individual response. Q. What has been the most significant impact of your ministry? A. Many years ago when I was first injured, I was challenged to write a life message––what I felt was God’s unique purpose in my life. I said that I believed I was to be God’s best audio-visual aid of His power shown in weakness, so that I might encourage others. That message has not changed in the thirty years that I’ve sat in this wheelchair. I’m convinced that part of God’s plan for my life was that I show others His sovereignty––that no accidents occur in the Christian’s life. While there is a time to weep, there is also a time to move forward through the energy of the Holy Spirit to discover God’s message. That message has influenced the church’s perspective on disabled people; they are no longer marginalized and disenfranchised people. I also think that God has used my example to challenge church leadership to examine what I Corinthians 12 means when it says "the weaker members are indispensable" or "we are to give them special honor." What does "God’s power shows up best through weakness" mean in 2 Corinthians 12? What does it mean to boast in your afflictions or delight in your limitation and glory in your infirmities? How can those with disabilities make a church richer? We are all richer when we recognize our poverty, and we’re all fatter with God’s grace when we recognize our leanness. Sometimes it takes someone with a very obvious physical or mental problem to enforce the reality that God is working in all of our lives in different ways. Q. What is the one piece of advice you would give to someone who is physically disabled and losing hope? A. First, let go of your hope that you will be healed in this life; that may not happen. Sometimes false hopes––running from one healing service to the next––can be more demoralizing in the long run than anything else. Next, spend time praying and reading God’s Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God; if the opposite of hopelessness is faith, then get into God’s Word and boost your faith. When you pray, don’t merely petition God; listen to what He has to say to you. Next, if you are not involved in a church, find one. God never meant for any of us to suffer in isolation; that’s why He created a spiritual community. We need to be plugged into that community, where people can be the hands and heart of the Lord Jesus to you. Finally, look for someone else who is in a more hopeless situation than you. I’m always strengthened when I take the time to telephone someone who I know is in a situation more desperate than mine; it invariably puts my condition in perspective. Yours in His Care, Joni (This article is reprinted from the RTS Reformed Quarterly, Spring ’99 issue with permission from Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson-Orlando-Charlotte. Note: Joni and Friends maintains a field office on the RTS-Charlotte campus.)
2000 WIC Leadership Renaissance Concourse Hotel The WIC Leadership Training Seminar is a centerpiece of the WIC ministry. It is designed for PresWIC presidents and one other representative from each PresWIC, for denominational and local church staff women, and other leadership women. In 2000 we are expanding this by-invitation gathering to provide more leadership training as a result of the interest generated by the ’99 WIC Conference. This year each PresWIC may send up to five representatives. If your church has a staff position of Director of Women’s Ministry or a female on the youth staff, she may attend this gathering. Please make her aware of this meeting. If she has not received information, call our office. The stated purposes of this meeting are to: • Equip a network of women who can help equip the local WIC leadership. • Provide a stimulating opportunity for the women who attend to fellowship and to network ideas. • Offer teaching that will help women minister to other women. • Cultivate denominational awareness and support. Please pray for this training event. Pray specifically for your PresWIC President who will represent you.
EQUIP
Conference Christian Education and Publications, Great Commission Publications and Potomac Presbytery are sponsoring an Equip conference featuring an outstanding faculty. Dr. Charles Dunahoo, Dr. Bryan Chapell, Bob Edmiston, Will LaRose, Bob Palmer, Mark Lowrey, Betty Ann Snider, Larry Yaeger, Craig Garriott, and Kathy Wargo will lead the various training tracts. This Equip Conference will offer a Mercy Ministry track taught by Deanna Carlson. Deanna currently serves as Director of Community Outreach at the Family Research Council. Her topics include: • A Biblical Vision for Outreach, What are we trying to accomplish? • Advancing Your Church’s Outreach to the Poor––How to take the next step. • Models, Partnerships, and Resources. Kathy Wargo, WASC Representative from the Northeast, and member of Evangelical PCA in Newark, DE will be teaching the Women’s track. Her topics: • "WIC" way should your WIC go? The "whys" and importance of setting goals. • Is your WIC "WAC-y?" - Not wacky, but WACy - Working at Community. • What Do I Do When . . . ? Handling specific situations and questions. DON’T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY! For more information: Contact Rachel at 404-320-5467 or rginzberg@pcanet.org
• Make copies of The WICK and distribute to every woman in the church (see page ten). • Local WICS: Make sure the WIC office has a correct and updated address for your WIC president/contact person. • Schedule the 2000 WIC Love Gift video presentation (see page eleven). • Go to the web page and share what you are doing and ask others your questions. Just go to the WIC Conference web site at www.pcanet.org/cep/wic99.htm Select WIC Conference follow-up and start sharing! • Use Susan’s letter on page one, and the article and ideas on pages eight and nine, to lead a discussion with your WIC council about the need for spiritual mothering and how you are meeting this need. • You may want to share the article on page two with your pastor or CE Chairman. • Share the interview with Joni, page four, with whoever is responsible for outreach to the disabled. If there is no one responsible for this ministry, use this article to stimulate a discussion in your WIC. Begin praying about your church’s response to this need. Also refer to the information from Stephanie Hubach in The WICK. • PresWIC Presidents: Make final plans for attending the Leadership Training Seminar detailed on this page. General Assembly 2000 Theme: Consecrating the Church, Confronting the Culture Wives of commissioners: Look for the pink sheets in your husband’s GA packet that should arrive in early March. You must register in advance for WIC events. Shades of Spiritual Mothering . . . Prodigal Daughters: A Mother’s Day and Salvation: Better late than never. At the end of a century in which American society has moved from Victorian ways to Victoria’s Secret, marriage and family are still perceived by many feminists as lurking in opposition to women’s use of talents outside the home. Motherhood or career, marriage or work: the choice must be made, some say. The antithesis is a false one. It’s clearly hard to pursue both with equal intensity at all different stages of life, but, as chapter 31 of Proverbs suggests, women can have it all, as long as they don’t demand all of it at the same time. And, as Mother’s Day approaches, it’s good to remember that many women throughout American history have had it all, bestowing motherly gifts not only on their own children, but on the prodigal daughters of other women. Prodigal daughters, they learned, have many of the same problems as prodigal sons, but one more as well: their rebellion leaves them not only eating food fit only for animals, as in Christ’s parable, but eating for two. Seduced, abandoned, and pregnant, prodigal daughters often hurtle toward their own destruction––unless they find a second-chance mother who can also tell them about Christianity, the second-chance religion. I ran across one second-chance mother while visiting the Chicago Historical Society, a few years ago. The monthly reports of Helen Mercy Woods, who from 1881 to 1903 ran a shelter in Chicago for pregnant and unmarried women, were enthralling. Month after month Mrs. Woods gave personal attention to each newcomer and rejoiced as their babies were born. She helped some of her charges to get married, others to place their children for adoption, others to get jobs—-and all of them to become at least acquainted with the claims of Christ. In New York archives I encountered another adoptive mother of many, Annie Richardson Kennedy. She also read the Bible and ran a home for unwed moms in New York City between 1900 and 1920. Her diary reflected her desire to bring the girls in touch with their Savior and then build character. She provided love and opportunity for thousands, and then disappeared into the fog of history. Since it’s hard to find information about such foster mothers, I have particularly enjoyed reading a book just out this month, Diane Winston’s Red-Hot and Righteous: The Urban Religion of the Salvation Army (Harvard University Press). The book’s look at the Salvationists from 1880-1950 is multi-faceted, but one part particularly relevant to our age shows how many of the Army’s female leaders supported opportunities for women in education, work, and sports, without lessening the centrality of home, family, and church. For instance, the leaders of the Salvation Army in the United States from 1896-1903 were Emma Booth-Tucker and her husband Frederick St. George Lautour Tucker. (She was the daughter of Army founder William Booth and wanted people to know it.) Press accounts depicted her as the "mother" of hundreds of the young female recruits who flocked to the Army during those years, but she mentored those cadets at the same time she was cutting the hair of her seven children, sewing their clothes, and supervising their studies. When she died in a train wreck in 1903, the New York Tribune noted, "The subject in which Mrs. Booth-Tucker took the least interest was, perhaps, the greatest feminist movements of her generation . . . She never talked women’s rights. She took them." And she extended them to prostitutes for whom she oversaw twenty-one "rescue homes." Her belief was that many "fallen women" had suffered from a lack of mothering, and that older women could be God’s instruments in placing those prodigal daughters on the right path. Some Salvation Army posts, alas, have been tamed over the past several decades by, among other things, acceptance of federal funds with a big string attached: no "proselytizing." The need for substitute mothers remains but it is being filled, largely by relatively new programs like one in Houston, the Mission of Yahweh. There, in a complex of six ramshackle buildings in a poor area of town, sits seventy-nine-year-old Mother Gay, who in Jesus ’name houses several dozen single women and their children, and twenty-four adopted children of her own. May she and all the other mothers who raise or repair children have a blessed Mother’s Day. And may those who have strayed far from God and embraced any of the popular isms of our day receive His grace.
This article, written by Marvin Olasky, is reprinted with
permission
Around the Corner and Around the World The WIC Core Curriculum prepares women to minister to one another. Christ Covenant, Charlotte NC: Two years ago there were two Bible studies with a total of fifteen to twenty women involved. Then the WIC leadership launched a massive campaign to get women involved in the core curriculum. There are now approximately three hundred women involved in studies that meet at various times throughout the week. They have been through the entire core curriculum. They now offer a variety of studies, but the line-up of offerings includes at least one of the core curriculum studies each semester. Peru: A report from MTW Missionary Shirley Woodson: Ayacucho is a city in the mountains of Peru where our family lived and served as missionaries for eighteen years until we left in 1983. Recently, Bob and I were invited to return there to participate in a leadership training institute in the El Arco Presbyterian Church. My assignment was to work with women who would come from churches in different parts of the mountains and jungle. This seemed a wonderful opportunity to teach some of the WIC core curriculum that I had been studying with the women in our church in Surco, Lima. I decided to draw on the materials found in Leadership for Women in the Church. It was also a good opportunity for some of the women from the Surco Women’s Leadership Committee to gain experience in this ministry of training and equipping. The first day it was a bit unnerving to discover that most of the women who attended were more fluent in the Quechua language than in Spanish and were limited in their formal education. We wondered how to adjust materials we had prepared to meet their needs. As we prayed, relaxed, and trusted the Lord to communicate the truths He had for them, we found that they were the same as women everywhere with the same basic needs. We spoke of the role of women as God designed it to be and of the need to have God’s glory as our motivation. As we spoke of the qualities of leadership such as wisdom, using the example of Hannah, and of unity using the study of Martha and Mary, we found that the women understood and were able to give their own examples and illustrations. They memorized Psalm 34:3 and Proverbs 14:1 in both Spanish and Quechua. We introduced the umbrella model as a useful tool in evaluating their needs. At the beginning of the course they wanted us to give them some kind of "magic" formula for working with the women in their churches. (Editorial note: this desire transcends cultural boundaries!) But as they shared their problems we were able to help them find their own solutions as to how those needs could be met. Being with these women was a humbling and stimulating time. They are so poor in many ways, but so rich in faith and with a strong commitment to serve the Lord among the women in their communities. Ukraine: From Lyuda Betina, one of the Ukrainian women who attended the WIC conference: I want to share with you our joy. Today we had our first women’s time of fellowship. We were pleasantly surprised to see how many women came. Many women from our church brought their relatives and friends. We began with prayer and then several of us gave their testimonies and shared what God showed them lately. We had tea and dessert, and we talked. We’re going to have such meetings every next Thursday. Our women’s council agreed that Spiritual Mothering Challenges are good topics for our meetings.
The Wick Reformation Tour 2000 An unforgettable study tour of Switzerland and Germany June 30 - July 11, 2000 Tour Lecturer: George Grant • Tour Hosts: Gene and Susan Hunt, Tom and Jane Patete $3,495. Plus departure taxes Join us in visiting Wittenberg, Worms, Speyer, Heidelberg, Zurich, and Geneva as we trace our Reformation Heritage For a tour brochure call 404-320-5466 or e-mail: jpatete@pcanet.org Are you ready for some mercy is the call on the brochure from Christ Church PCA, Grand Rapids, MI. This local WIC has their women "geared up" for MERCY MONDAYS. Each Monday for seven weeks, women are invited to explore the theme verse of the ’99 Conference by viewing videotapes of the seven main speakers and the WIC compassion stories. Faggs Manor Church, Cochranville, PA, held a "Daughters of the Covenant Mini-Conference" as their effort to translate all that was heard and seen at the ’99 WIC Conference and bring it home to women unable to attend. Women had the choice of three different sessions. A Pepsi-Coke taste test at lunch highlighted the fact that Atlanta is "Coke country!" Publicity for the event included a poster of photographs from the conference. Grace PCA, Stone Mountain, GA found a winning and workable model for mercy ministry. Compassion has been an integral part of GPC’s ministry and outreach for several years, but the ’99 WIC Conference fueled the existing enthusiasm. The male leadership viewed the conference videos, and after several meetings, discussions, and prayer, they appointed four deacon assistants from the WIC. These women will meet and work with the Diaconate to implement a renewed and more balanced framework for mercy ministry. These women were selected based upon their involvement, their knowledge of the pulse of the congregation, and their concern for ministry outside the walls of the church. Reformed Presbyterian, Ephrata, PA: Following Mary Beates’s seminar In Search of Community, Stephanie Hubach mentioned that she and her husband are leading a Special Needs Ministry in their local church. She asked if anyone was interested in networking with other PCA churches to vision-cast, share ideas, encourage each other, identify resources etc. There was overwhelming response––ladies ripping off pieces of scrap paper and stuffing them into Stephanie’s hands––very encouraging! Result: networking is taking place. If you missed out on this opportunity you can reach Stephanie at this email address: stephnfred@supernet.com Stephanie shares the following exciting bit of news: her local church is quite involved with several Special Needs initiatives. Recently eight adults from the local Christian group home organization for the mentally retarded decided to attend this church because of its ministry to them. God continues to provide in incredible ways in this ministry. It has been and continues to be an experience in faith. Bay Area PCA, Clear Lake, TX has astronaut Nancy Currie as a member. Nancy’s most recent mission was on STS-88, which flew in December 1998. Recently Nancy shared her slides and gave a testimony to God’s faithfulness during her space shuttle mission. All who attended agreed that it was an uplifting program! On the road again . . . is the tune South Texas PresWIC President, Scotty Bennett, is singing these days. South Texas Presbytery is vast and diverse, not only geographically, but culturally as well! Fulfilling a desire to visit her PresWIC has led Scotty to visit and fellowship with eight of her churches to date, meeting and sharing the incredible work the Lord is doing in South Texas. She will soon be traveling again. Old Peachtree PCA, Duluth, GA You might have thought you had wandered into the garment district . . . the fellowship hall was filled with sewing machines, pins, festive varieties of fabric, familiar strains of Christmas carols, the sounds of voices young and old as the women and teen girls worked to create and fill forty-eight stockings for a local shelter. From Joni Eareckson Tada: Even though several weeks have passed since our time together in Atlanta, I am still talking about that marvelous weekend. Thanks so much for all that you and the rest of the WIC team did to make it such a powerful, memorable, and special event for everyone attending. I was so energized to be around so many other like-hearted, like-minded women who enjoyed rising to the occasion and the call—-the insights from God’s Word, the testimonies, the fellowship and the plenary speakers were superb. Again, I consider it a joy and privilege to stir the hearts of these women and I am grateful that you extended to me the privilege of sharing from the WIC national platform. May every blessing of Hebrews 6:10 be yours. God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them.
Published by: Christian Education & Publications, 1700 North Brown Road, Suite 102, Lawrenceville, GA 30043 Charles H. Dunahoo, Coordinator; Susan Hunt, Director of WIC Ministry; Jane Patete, Editor |
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