Every year, literacy missions workshop leaders are trained by the North American Mission Board in order to train others to become volunteers in the literacy missions ministry, which includes ministries for teaching English as a second language (ESL), tutoring children and youth, and adult reading and writing.
From left: Darrell Smith, Kathy Smith, Diane Tuten, Dot Whitmire and Ron Whitmire.Five participants from South Carolina attended the training held in Shocco Springs, Ala., June 24-29.
Darrell Smith, director of missions for Barnwell-Bamberg Association, attended the training in order to become a workshop leader for adult reading and writing (ARW). Because there are many adults who cannot read in the area where he lives, Smith was eager to train, and said he hopes to inspire and train many others to teach an adult to read.
Smith’s wife, Kathy, tutors children at Connie Maxwell Children’s Home in Greenwood, and said she loves the work so much that she travels an hour each way to work with the children. Kathy Smith learned about literacy missions and the critical need for workshop leaders in South Carolina while attending a WMU meeting at Millbrook Baptist Church in Aiken.
Another participant at the literacy missions training was Diane Tuten from Hampton, a member of Sandy Run Baptist Church. A retired educator who worked as an elementary school teacher and principal, Tuten has a love for children and often takes them to church. She also has been active in the ESL ministry of her church.
Ron Whitmire, a member of Fort Mill Baptist Church, has worked as a workshop leader for the ESL ministry at his church and has taught ESL teachers at Flint Hill Baptist Church in Fort Mill for five years.
Dot Whitmire, literacy missions consultant for the South Carolina Baptist Convention, attended the national training to become a workshop leader for teaching children and youth. The retired teacher has worked in the ESL ministry as a teacher of internationals, as a workshop leader, and as a state consultant.
For information on how to become involved in literacy missions, contact Dot Whitmire at ronanddot@comporium.net or 803-548-0942. – SCBC