MAKING THE BWA CONNECTION

One feature of this NABWU Assembly was a tour of the Baptist World Alliance offices in nearby Falls Church, Virginia. Many of the women greeted the new general secretary, Neville Callam, in his office. They saw the treasures Patsy Davis has collected in her travels as executive director of the Women’s Department and met the department’s two part-time staff members. During a short program at Columbia Baptist Church across the street, Women’s Department treasurer Donna Groover led worship and president Dorothy Selebano challenged North Americans to give sacrificially, following the example of a poor Maasai woman who sold her only cow so she could attend an African women’s meeting.

During the assembly banquet NABWU women honored BWA general secretary emeritus Denton Lotz as a faithful leader of the Baptist world family. 

Janice Lotz described her husband as a man who supported her and insisted that women’s voice be heard in the BWA.

“He had a great ability to convey the application of God’s word,” said Wanda Lee, executive director/treasurer of the Woman’s Missionary Union. “He can bring the Gospel in a way that Harvard graduates or taxi drivers can understand. He… simply loves his wife and his children and communicates that to the Baptist family.”

In his farewell message to Baptist women, Denton challenged them to listen to God’s Spirit, read the Bible, and share what they have seen and heard with a world that needs to know there’s good news. “Christians don’t grow because they’re not reading the Bible, they’re not praying,” he said. “The renewal of the church has always come from renewal of Bible study.”

Reported by Esther Barnes