June Batson Goodwin, a retired Southern Baptist missionary who grew up in South Carolina, says interest and involvement in missions is on the rise.

Goodwin, 86, who lives near Raleigh, N.C., recently visited her home church, Reedy River Baptist Church in Greenville, where she was recognized for her career service as a missionary. She and her husband, J.G. Goodwin, who died in April 2014, served in South Korea from 1956 to 1996. She worked alongside her husband, a church planter and administrator for a hospital and for overall Southern Baptist missions efforts in the country.

When the Goodwins were commissioned by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) more than 50 years ago, missionary work was accomplished almost exclusively by vocational missionaries. That has changed in the last few decades, as international travel has become more widespread and many churches routinely send members overseas for short-term mission trips, where they often partner with SBC vocational missionaries.

“That’s a big difference in the way we do things now,” said Goodwin. “I think the short-term mission trip gets people interested. People are responding, and they have the ability and the finances to do it.”

“It seems today that [missions] is coming back and growing,” she said.