WMU board hears search update, approves goals, site of 2003 NAC
--By Teresa Dickens
    ATLANTA, June 15--The Woman's Missionary Union executive board heard a report from its executive director search committee and approved goals for Southern Baptists' two national missions offerings and the site of the next National Acteens Convention during its semiannual meeting June 12.
    The board met at the Sheration Buckhead Hotel prior to the WMU annual meeting at Wiecua Road Baptist Church, June 13-14.
    Search committee chair Ann Coffman of Sanford, Fla., told the board and guests the committee's work was well under way. She said the committee had distributed a survey in the spring to state WMU presidents (executive board), state WMU executive directors and staffs, national WMU staff, state convention executive directors and members of the Great Commission Council (SBC agency heads).
    From the survey results, the committee developed a profile for the next executive director and announced the process for making recommendations for the position, Coffman said. As of the June 1 deadline, 15 recommendations had been forwarded to the committee, Coffman reported.
    "Now the most difficult and time-consuming tasks begin," Coffman said. "The committee has determined that we will not rush the process but will proceed in an orderly fashion, taking each step... carefully and prayerfully.
    "The enormity of this decision and its implications upon the future of WMU weigh heavily upon our committee and our president," she continued.
    Acknowledging that "these are not easy shoes to fill," Coffman affirmed, "We are confident that God will reveal to us, in his time, the woman whom he has chosen and called to such an enormous task. He has led us during the past 111 years. He will continue to lead us as we depend upon him for guidance."
    The executive board also:
-- approved a goal of $115 million for the 2000 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions and a goal of $50 million for the 2001 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American missions.
-- approved the recommendation to hold the next NAC in Nashville, Tenn., July 29-Aug. 1, 2003, and to make it an international event, welcoming Baptist teenage girls from other countries, especially those involved in Acteens or similar missions programs.

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