The annual Literacy Missions Fellowship was held last month in Columbia at St. Andrews Church.  This advance training was held for missions volunteers who teach English as a Second Language (ESL), teach adults how to read and write and tutor children and youth. 

At 106, the attendance for the fellowship this year broke a record.  Also, Ginny Hugeley, member of Shandon Church in Columbia, was awarded the Bernice Popham Literacy Missions Volunteer of the Year Award.

“Ginny Hugeley is an excellent example of a literacy missions volunteer,” Steve Scudder, mobilization strategist for the convention, said.  At the fellowship, Hugeley was honored for her long-term commitment to the ESL ministry at Shandon, the number of lives she touched through this ministry, and her commitment to improve her skills through ongoing trainings like the fellowship.

The fellowship began with an opening session at 10 a.m. and concluded at 4:30 after a celebration service, where Dr. B. Carlisle Driggers, SC Baptist Convention executive director-treasurer was the keynote speaker.  Driggers spoke about how Literacy Missions Ministries fulfill the vision of the convention, which is titled Empowering Kingdom Growth (EKG).

Also during the day, break out sessions covered topics such as using discussion groups with ESL students; using games, art and science to teach language arts and culture; using television clips to create real-life conversations in the ESL classroom; and, discovering how to grow a congregation from an ESL class. 

Also, from 1:30 until 2:20, publishers’ representatives led break out sessions to demonstrate their newest products and answer questions about their materials.  The representatives were from across the country and the came from the following companies:  New Readers Press, Oxford University Press, Pearson Education and Steck-Vaughn Co.

According to the SC Department of Research and Statistics, more than 45,000 SC residents are natives of another country; 50 % of SC residents do not have literacy skills equal to a high school graduate; 24 % of residents function on an 8th grad level or less; and approximately 35 of SC students drop out of school.  In 2002-03, SC Baptist churches and associations tutored 2,366 students in 75 literacy ministries.  As a result, one mission church was started in Laurens Association and 37 people accepted Christ as Savior.

The 2005 Literacy Missions Fellowship is planned for March 5 at Lexington Church in Lexington.  For more information, contact the Missions Mobilization Group, SCBC, at (800) 723-7242 (in SC) or (803) 765-0030, extension 5601, or email patbrinsfield@scbaptist.org