VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 12/05/06)―The Advisory Council of the Retired Ministers and Missionaries Offering (RMMO) selected the First Baptist Church of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to receive the 2006 Widow's Mite Award in recognition of the congregation's consistent and outstanding level of giving. Since the RMMO began in 1977, the church has been among the 50 highest-giving ABC congregations, and since 1987 it has been among the top five. The Rev. Dr. Lee McGlone is the church's senior pastor.
The Rev. James Cook, regional representative for The Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board (MMBB) will present the award to the congregation on Sunday, December 10, 2006. MMBB promotes and administers the offering.
The RMMO is a means by which American Baptist congregations express their gratitude to the denomination's retired ministers and missionaries as well as their widowed spouses. The offering provides Thank You checks to over 3,000 recipients, based on 15 or more years of ABC service, and emergency and other financial assistance, based on financial need.
The Widow's Mite Award commemorates the anonymous gift in 1981 of a Vietnamese refugee woman worshipping with the First Chinese Baptist Church of Fresno, CA. Not knowing the full intent of the offering, but understanding the words "thank you" printed on the offering envelope, she slipped off her wristwatch, her only possession of value, and placed it in the envelope.
Most congregations receive the RMMO during the month of December. Contact Judson Press at 800.458.3766 for free 2006 offering materials, or visit www.abc-usa.org/missions for online resources. A brief profile of the First Baptist Church of Sioux Falls appears in the 2006 issue of ABC People magazine, published by MMBB. Contact MMBB at 800.986.6222 for a free copy.
Andrew C. Jayne American Baptist Churches, USA Mission Resource Development http://www.abc-usa.org/