WMU Heck-Jones Offering

This week launches the Week of Prayer for WMU. This year marks the 125th anniversary of WMU. You, no doubt, have taken notice that in church, women are the driving force behind mission work and prayer for our missionaries. We men, have come along over the years and I am proud of the mission work of many men. However, when it comes to prayer and action, Women's Missionary Union leads out!

Fannie Heck and Sallie Jones are two such women from which the current offering is named. These ladies, from First Baptist Church of Raleigh, NC, a lifetime ago, reached out to the poor and needy in the neighborhoods around the church. During the age when these ladies lived and served life was much more difficult than in the 21st century. They did more than study about missions, they acted upon what they studied. With their influence First Baptist Church became a missions outpost as well as a missions-minded church.

The Eastern NC Poverty Network tries to reach out in that spirit too. In December of 2010, Anna and I had the opportunity of meeting with WMU. In that meeting our two organizations formally agreed to do more in Northeastern NC.

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has begun with partnerships with two shelters in eastern NC providing support and ministry. We are working with CBF churches in the eastern section of our state, to reach out in different neighborhoods in the different towns served by these churches. Finally, through a partnership with WMU of NC we begin a process of starting Christian Women's / Men's Job Corp centers in three different areas of our influence. We have begun the process and by September of this year will have a full-time staff working with us in helping those in need, through a mentoring program. Our program will be designed around Bible study, and relationship building as we seek to help people understand how to get a job and how to keep employment that has been gained.

I am thankful to WMU and the confidence they have placed in us to partner in doing more than talk about missions. I am thankful they have joined us in action.

We invite you to help us. You can access our brochure by clicking this link: http://tinyurl.com/4eqvres We ask you to pray for us as we raise funding for the ministry and we encourage you to join us by volunteering to help.