in a league all her own~
We honor and congratulate her for
her life of service for the Lord.
Happy 98th Birthday!
June 20, 2023
Dr. Anthony George, Sr. Pastor FBA, Carole Pearson, Mary Gellerstedt & Pat Ragan
Mary G and Dr. George are close friends. She prays for
him and is a greatencouragement to him in his role as Sr. Pastor of FBA.
Mary with some of her closest friends celebrating her birthday (then and now)!
In early December 1944 when she
was 18 years old, Mary began working for FBA. She has been on staff at FBA for 79 years! (per Barb Sixsmith)
Mary has served in most all positions in the church except
preaching! She was always willing to do whatever was asked of her. She even
mopped floors when umbrellas caused the tile to be wet.
She worked with Dr. Stanley the eight years he was President of
the Southern Baptist Convention and remained close to him and his family.
She was head of the high school department when Becky
Stanley was attending and then college departments when Andy Stanley and Louie
Giglio were students.
Mary also led several short-term mission trips for high
school and then college students. She led one college trip to Man-O-War in the
Bahamas where she fell in love with the island and the people.
Mary's College Ministry Summer Wrap-Up:
Every day for six weeks during June and July 2015, 32 college
students participated in a program of Bible study, music, recreation, crafts,
and drama at Price Middle School with children from the Carver Homes area. A total
of 220 students enrolled during the six weeks with an average attendance of
100. We have worked in the Carver Homes area for three years and will continue
the program on Saturdays this Fall and Winter.
Our second missions adventure led us to the Bahamas. For
two weeks a team of 16 college students conducted Vacation Bible School on the
island of Man-O-War. We had an average attendance of 62 children from the ages
of 5 to 17 years old. Each day approximately 18 children came by boat from a
neighboring island, Marsh Harbour, to attend the Man-O-War school. The second
team of six college students conducted Vacation Bible School on the island of
Guana Cay. This is a small island with a population of 85. We had an average
attendance of 20 with six adults attending. In addition to VBS, the team
conducted revival services for 12 days. Seven individuals prayed to receive
Christ during out stay on the islands.
Other missions’ involvement included students working
with other organizations and church sponsored groups in Europe, East Asia,
Jamaica, Poland, and California.
Mary also held a missions conference there. She went back to Man-O-War almost every year for vacation until the hurricane
several years ago almost wiped Man-O-War off the map. It is slowly being
rebuilt. (Man-O-War Cay is a small island in the Abaco region of the Bahamas. It had a population of 215 at the 2010 census.)
Mary wrote, "All the missionaries went to Guana Cay last Saturday. My
friends had them down for the day at their resort. It was a fun day and the
missionaries had a ball." M.G. May 17, 2015
Mary was also head of the Senior Adults and the Homebound
for many years when Brenda Wilson was her assistant. During that time, Mary
planned many wonderful trips for the seniors to enjoy. Mary also went on
overseas trips to assist John Glover and other FBA leadership with the
logistics and expertise she had of all that was needed for the trips. She was
friends with the Templetons, who helped put together many of these trips.
Mary had been involved in Missions all along, but after Tom
Neville left to join MEBO (Middle East Bible Outreach), Mary came along in 2007
to begin as full-time Global Missions Director.
Mary at one of her favorite spots - the Missions Desk at FBA with friends
Mary was on several boards including the Georgia Baptist
Children’s Home and the FBA Church Constitution Committee, the Benevolence
Fund, the Christian College Scholarship Fund and most any meeting that Dr.
Stanley wanted Mary to attend in his absence.
Pat and Traci Ragan served for 17 years as ~ Christmas 2019 ~
full-time missionaries. In November 2017 they Mary with Dr. George & her Missions team
joined FBA. Pat is Director of Missions
Engagement, serving alongside Mary for several
years. Carole Pearson has been a longtime friend.
Many thanks to Barb Sixsmith for this history. She has worked with Mary since 2007.
******************************************************************
PRAYER & PRAISE ~ June 14-20, 2023
6/14
FBA Missionary Care Center
Atlanta,
GA
The
Missionary Care Center’s purpose, created in 1989 by a group of FBA women with
a heart for missions, is allowing God to show His love to those He has called
to serve as missionaries, by ministering to the material needs of FBA Faith Promise
missionaries and other qualified missionaries. If you would like to volunteer, email
dhall@fba.org. Thank you
to all of our volunteers!
6/15
T & A
Central
Asia
Pray
for their ongoing ministry to mentor and encourage couples in crisis.
6/16
LUC & SUZY SALSAC
Vianova,
Belgium
Vianova is organizing a fifth truck for Ukraine and will find
things to load in the truck
through their different relations. Read more at https://www.vianova.be/rescue-ukraine
6/17
RICK & MARY LYNN ATHERTON
Campus
Crusade for Christ, South Africa
Praise God that Rick and Mary Lynn, along with their staff have
successfully completed the monumental office move from their Rigel Avenue house
they have occupied for twelve years! They are relieved it is completed and they
are all set up in their new office space.
6/18
Al & Linda Bridges
BEE
World, USA/Worldwide
Praise
God that the pastor-trainers conference in Dallas went very well, exceeding
their expectations. All the leaders present agreed they need to collaborate to
see that every pastor receives the equipping needed to shepherd God's people.
Since the conference, some have already made connections to serve each other.
6/19
ROSS & ROULA GEORGIOU
Campus
Crusade for Christ, New Zealand
Thank God for the new chaplains and ministry in the Solomon
Islands. Recently, a group of leaders from the Church agreed to partner in
serving athletes with the love of Christ through Sports Chaplaincy.
6/20
MARY GELLERSTEDT (This
week’s special guest)
FBA
Global Missions Director
Today
we wish a Happy Birthday to our dear friend, Mary, as she celebrates her 98th
year! She has been on staff at FBA for 79 years. She worked closely with Dr.
Stanley for many years. We honor her on our Missions blog today.
“Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in
vain in the Lord.” I Corinthians 15:58 (NASB)
Our monthly Prayer & Praise Calendar is also available on
fba.org/globalmissions
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