A church musician and former cosmetologist is the new president of South Carolina Woman’s Missionary Union.
Gail HodsonGail Hodson, who felt the “missions call” on her life as a Sunbeam and later as a GA, was elected at the annual WMU meeting March 16-17 at St. Andrews Baptist Church in Columbia.
Hodson succeeds Wanda Morris, who served as state WMU president from 2003-07. Presidents are eligible for four one-year terms.
Morris, who presided at the annual meeting, is a member of New Pleasant Baptist Church in her native Gaffney. She, too, is a church musician, and also has served on the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s Nominations Committee.
Hodson is minister of music and pianist at Mid-Valley Baptist Church, Langley, in Aiken Association. She is a charter member of Mid-Valley, which was organized in 1978.
An Aiken native, Hodson attended cosmetology school and operated her own salon from 1978 until retiring in 2000, when she sold her shop.
Approximately 600 people attended the two-day convention, whose theme was “Charis,” which refers to God’s gifts of grace.
In a series of theme interpretations, Evelyn Blount, executive director of South Carolina WMU, said that the Holy Spirit “gifts the people of God to do his work” and to carry out his mission to “take his love to a world that does not know God through Jesus Christ.”
God’s gifts, she emphasized, are “freely given, but they are given with the expectancy that we will use them to his glory as we answer his call to missions.”
Jerry Rankin, president of the International Mission Board, speaking at the 104th annual South Carolina WMU meeting, said that “people all over the world are longing to know Jesus Christ and the life that only he can provide.”
He said that believers, after responding to the gospel themselves, must then “share that gift with a lost world.”
“God is using the chaos and upheaval in the world to turn people to Christ,” he said, noting that “many are not resistant to the gospel, they have just never heard it.”
Rankin urged the women to “live out the reality of the light that God gives you so that others may see it and be drawn to Christ.”
Wanda Lee, executive director of Woman’s Mission Union SBC, called upon the women to “integrate faith and lifestyle.”
She said that the members of South Carolina WMU, who number approximately 79,000, have “the capacity and opportunity to influence the world.”
Lee said that in a “me-first world,” the church needs people “just like you, who know God’s heart.”
“Woman’s Missionary Union,” she said, “helps the church look outside its walls to see the world as God sees it.” This, she emphasized, prevents the church from “turning inward.”
South Carolina’s new state WMU president said she is “overwhelmed at the favor God has given me to serve him in so many ways. My goal is to be faithful to the ‘call’ and to make a difference in the name of Jesus wherever he stations me.”
Hodson’s husband Ricky is a chemical specialist at A.G.Y. Fiberglass Plant in Aiken. They are parents of Shane and Taylor. Shane and his wife, Shannon, have two children, Allie and Breylie.
Hodson grew up in Gloverville First Baptist Church. In 1965, in light of a survey that pointed to the need for a church plant, she joined members of her family and others from several Aiken churches to organize the West Warren Baptist Mission. Today, it is called Believer’s Worship Center, in Aiken Association.
Mid-Valley Baptist Church, where Bert Baynham is pastor, has, according to Hodson, “about 40 active, worshipping members,” noting that “being missional is more important to God than numbers.”
Hodson is a charter member of SeraphSong, a statewide women’s vocal group that was organized two years ago. She also speaks and sings to senior citizen groups, teaches Sunday school and has hosted Bible schools in her backyard.
“I’m really enjoying living the abundant life that Jesus gives,” she said.
The next annual meeting of South Carolina WMU is set for March 14-15 at Fairview Baptist Church in Greer. Other future meetings are scheduled for March 27-28, 2009, at Alice Drive Baptist Church, Sumter, and March 19-20, 2010, at Ashley River Baptist Church in Charleston.