Retiring International Mission Board president Jerry Rankin and his wife Bobbye were honored by parents of missionaries at a retreat April 23-25 at White Oak Conference Center.
Donnie Padgett (right), SCMPF facilitator, presents Jerry and Bobbye Rankin with a check in the amount of $10,645 to be given to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering in their honor.The 2010 National Missionary Parents Retreat, held every two years, was hosted this year by the South Carolina Missionary Parents Fellowship and South Carolina Woman’s Missionary Union.
The 183 missionary parents who gathered for the weekend retreat collected a special offering of $10,645 in honor of the Rankins for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. Rankin will retire as IMB president on July 31.
The Rankins were also named “official missionary parents” by parents from Mississippi. The Rankins plan to live in Clinton, Miss., and have a daughter who serves with her family in Central Asia.
Missionary parents at the retreat represented 18 states. Their children serve across the world in nine affinity groups.
Sally Ozment, who attended from Sutter Creek, Calif., said, “It is a privilege and a blessing to meet with like-minded people who have the same concerns and cares regarding their children – an immediate bonding experience that is not only inspiring, uplifting and comforting but affirming that God is at work around the world.” Ozment’s daughter and her family serve in Southeast Asia.
Missionary parents Mike and Connie Beckler, of Missouri, also attended the retreat. “We were able to visit with parents with children in the same affinity group as our children,” said Connie. “It made it special when we found out that our children know each other on the field.”
The theme for the retreat was “To Love, To Serve, To Go.” Program guests challenged missionary parents to understand the importance of their children’s call to the mission field and to look for ways to provide encouragement and support – through prayer, sending letters and keeping letters written while on the field for future times of sharing, sending pictures and special gifts, and other methods.
Donnie Padgett, director of missions for Broad River Association and facilitator of the South Carolina Missionary Parents Fellowship whose daughter and family serve among the Sub-Saharan African Peoples affinity group, said, “To be with 180 missionary parents from around the country was a special experience for me, but to be with them in the presence of our Father was at times almost overwhelming.”
Curtis and Mattie Branham, of Blythewood, lead missionary parents in prayer for missionaries celebrating birthdays. Their daughter, Cathy Warren, a missionary in Southeast Asia, was one of those listed on the prayer calendar.“I also came away with some pride,” Padgett said. “Sandra Tapp and South Carolina WMU did a fabulous job putting the retreat together and pulling it off flawlessly. The White Oak staff served us like kings and queens. Parents from other states could not believe what a wonderful facility we have. I came away on a spiritual high and proud to be a South Carolina Baptist.”
Tapp, associate executive director of South Carolina WMU and coordinator of the retreat, said, “Our goal was to let missionary parents know that they are loved and appreciated. We wanted them to know that we celebrate with them in the happiness they experience knowing that there can be no higher calling for their children than to serve Christ, and that there is no safer place for them than in the center of his will.
Steve Wall (right), a member of South Carolina Missionary Parents Fellowship, welcomes a fellow missionary parent to the National Missionary Parents Retreat at White Oak Conference Center.“However, we also recognize that they make sacrifices as they miss special events such as birthdays of children and grandchildren, first steps of new babies born overseas, etc. Missionary parents understand the joys and struggles one another face, and it was our hope that this retreat would be a time of encouragement and affirmation for every missionary parent who attended. We trust that was conveyed to all who attended.”
IMB program guests for the retreat, in addition to the Rankins, included Gordon Fort, vice president for global strategy; David Steverson, vice president for finance and treasurer; Terri Willis, director of the national relations office; Jim and Trudy Crittendon, South Asian Peoples affinity group; and two representatives (names withheld for security) from the East Asian Peoples affinity group. Frank Page, vice president for evangelism, North American Mission Board, was also on the program. Music was provided by Beth and Aubrey Crawford, of Charleston, and Gay and Kate Howard, of Sumter. (Beth and Kate grew up in Chile, where their parents served as international missionaries for more than 30 years.)
The 2012 National Missionary Parents Retreat will be held at Shocco Springs Conference Center in Talladega, Ala., April 27-29. – SCBC