Missouri women want to share the Gospel
HeartCall Conference shows them how
By Bob Baysinger
Managing Editor
April 13, 2004
JEFFERSON CITY – “God was all over that place!"
This is how Jaye Martin, developer of the North American Mission Board’s HeartCall evangelism strategy, described the workshop she conducted for Missouri Baptist women April 1-3.
“It was my honor to be with the women of Missouri," Martin told The Pathway. “I can assure you that I had nothing to do with it. It was obvious that God was moving because the event had been prayed over long before we arrived."
The event, conducted at the Baptist Building and at Concord Baptist Church here, featured Martin sharing with the 70 registrants how women can be reaching other women for Christ in Missouri.
Martin predicts that God will continue to move in the hearts of Missouri women as they seek His face and share His HeartCall in Missouri and beyond. She said several positive things were noted during the conference.
For example, Martin said, one lady who was invited to attend the conference by a friend was so impressed that she plans to take HeartCall to her local jail ministry. Another lady, Martin said, has the Southern Baptist F.A.I.T.H. Sunday School evangelism program at her church and plans to teach HeartCall alongside F.A.I.T.H.
“Jean Williams, 75, came to the conference from First Baptist Church, Annapolis. She said she had been talking to God about slowing down and getting into the recliner," Martin said. “She has taught Bible study for 50 years, but she left the conference ready to go again. God fired her back up.
“And many of the women were encouraged by the younger women at the conference who were so on fire for the Lord.
“My heartfelt thanks go to men like Bob Caldwell (MBC evangelism director) and David Clippard (MBC executive director) for believing that women can share Jesus, too," Martin said.
Martin said she got the idea for HeartCall several years ago as a staff member of the First Baptist Church, Houston, Texas, while conducting evangelism training.
“I noticed that men attended evangelism conferences and women didn’t," Martin said. “I discovered that women wanted a relational evangelism approach, not a confrontational approach."
Martin said she got the idea for HeartCall from the biblical account of Jesus meeting the woman at the well.
“Jesus met the woman at her point of need," Martin said. “That’s what we’re teaching other women to do – meet women at their point of need. We describe it as intentional, relational evangelism."
This approach, Martin said, fits the emotional makeup of women.
“Women are to compliment men," she explained. “Man is to be the provider, the protector, the warrior. The woman doesn’t want to go in with the warrior approach.
Martin suggested three ways Missouri women might use the intentional, relational approach.
“They could use what I call ‘parties with a purpose,’" she said. “For example, women could turn Easter into an evangelism event if they have other women in their home. They could also use Christmas parties and birthday parties the same way.
“Women love relationships, and Missouri Baptist women need to be intentional and be bold."
Martin said women can also use “secret studies" and “servant hood acts."
“Many women are starting Bible studies in small groups and drawing lost women into the group," she said. “A servant hood act could be a woman going to Wal Mart with an umbrella when it is raining (to help people to their cars) or helping a woman with kids in the checkout line.
“All we’re doing is taking what women do well, taking it to the next step and giving them a way to do it."
Martin said she was excited about the Missouri turnout because so many young women participated. Registrants included women students from both Hannibal-LaGrange College and Southwest Baptist University.
“It is a post-modern thing to want to start with a heart relationship," Martin said. “The older women seem to be more interested in the tools, but for the younger woman it is the heart."
According to Martin, there is a growing demand by Southern Baptists churches for the HeartCall training. “That’s because women are out there telling other women about Christ," she said. “God has given them the desire. They just didn’t know how."