
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 14, 1991                   TAG: 9103140213
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CODY LOWE RELIGION WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BAPTIST WOMEN GAINING FORCE

From the third grade to the Third World, the Holy Spirit is empowering the work of the Women's Missionary Union, its leaders say.

The theme of "empowerment" dominated the worship and work of the 91st annual meeting of Women's Missionary Union of Virginia, held Tuesday and Wednesday at the Roanoke Civic Center.

The WMU is an independent auxiliary of the Southern Baptist Convention whose focus is on Christ's mandate to spread the Gospel throughout the Earth.

This year's convention was attended by more than 1,500 women representing churches from all 43 regional Southern Baptist associations in the state.

The sessions included testimony by working missionaries whose constituents ranged from the American Indians of Salt Lake City to the residents of the black South African homeland of Ciskei.

There also was an address by the national president, DellannaO'Brien of Birmingham, Ala.

Isam Ballenger, vice president for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa in the Southern Baptist Convention's Foreign Mission Board, was the thematic speaker for the annual meeting's four sessions.

Now that the Persian Gulf War is over, people in the church are asking, "What now in the Middle East?" he said. "We will see what we can build out of the ruins," Ballenger said, and trust in the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to lead missionaries into what may be hostile environments - such as Jordan - to resume their work.

In what was an otherwise harmonious meeting, disagreement arose over proposed policy changes for the state organization.

One change would require that no one may be elected president of the organization unless she had first served in some other capacity on the organization's executive board. The other would make former staff members ineligible to serve as officers of the state group.

One delegate raised an objection to the latter proposal on the grounds that it unfairly limited the freedom of qualified people to serve. The measures were eventually split for separate votes, both of which passed.

by CNB