LOUISVILLE, Ky.-- Kim Humphrey was expecting to sharpen her ministry skills and network with other women while attending a week-long Women’s Ministry Institute evangelism class at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. She didn’t expect to use what she learned from the class so quickly.
When she visited a mega-church in Louisville, she overheard a conversation between a mother and a girl where the girl was struggling with a passage in Exodus. The mother didn’t have the answer.
“I usually don’t get involved in other people’s conversations,” said Humphrey. “But I love to help people understand the Bible, especially how the Old Testament and New Testament fit together.”
Humphrey offered her help to the girl. She found out the girl was 12 years old and named Lilly. What she also found was that the girl was not Christian although her mother was. Upon talking individually with Lilly, Humphrey saw she could fulfill Lilly’s spiritual seeking with resources from her WMI class.
Lilly told Humphrey that she had looked into several religions and asked a lot of deep questions, according to Humphrey.
“She was very mature. But eventually she said, ‘God is really pursuing me isn’t He? Because you are from Georgia and had never been to this church until today and I had never been to this church until today. I didn’t even want to come to church but my mom made me come. I realize that God is pursuing me.’”
Although Humphrey had evangelism experience ministering to women at Peachtree Community Church in Douglasville, Ga., she decided to use something she learned from her class. It was a tract from her WMI class, entitled “HeartCall”, which was written to minister to women. According to Humphrey, when they were done counseling, Lilly had accepted Christ.
“It was amazing,” she said. “Obviously it was completely a work of God. It was encouraging to see God use what I had learned in the [WMI] class in such a powerful way. Lilly’s mother was overjoyed as well. She had been praying for her daughter’s salvation.”
“I am glad to have had the opportunity to participate in the WMI class,” she said. “I have a great passion for ministering to women and I think programs like the one at Southern are of great benefit in equipping women to do just that. It was a great week.”
The minister gave her contact information to Lilly and hopes to hear of her growth.
News of Humphrey’s fruitful encounter has given WMI an encouraging start.
“It is an awesome confirmation that WMI is fulfilling its purpose,” said Heather King, director of women’s programs at Southern Seminary. “It is exciting to see women’s ministry leaders eager to learn and implement their new knowledge into their personal lives and ministry. This is a direct reflection on the caliber of women in this program and their intense desire to be used by God.”
WMI allows students to work toward a certificate in ministry studies. The class teaches womem to sharpen their ministry skills, to network with other women’s ministry leaders and to grow in their understanding of the biblical mandate for women ministering to women in the local church, King said.
Continuing from the first class held last August, WMI will meet three times this year: in January, in the spring and in the fall. Each conference is called “units of study”.
Humphrey attended the January session on evangelism. The next sessions will focus on leadership skill development for women to be held March 29-31 and women mentoring women March 29-April 2.
The program was designed for women, even down to the flexible schedule to accommodate women who may be homemakers or have other jobs but still want to serve God.
“This points to the fact that lay women, while not called to seminary fulltime, want to be as effective as they can be for God’s glory and His Kingdom,” King said.
