National WMU Leader Wanda Lee Leads Gaskin Lecture

Dr. Wanda Lee delivered OBU's Gaskin Lecture Monday, March 2, on the OBU campus in Shawnee. She is the executive director of the national Woman's Missionary Union (WMU), serving in that position since 2000.

Friends of Dr. J.M. Gaskin and advocates of the preservation of Oklahoma Baptist history and heritage established the J.M. Gaskin Lectureship. The objective of the lectureship is to provide and sustain a series of lectures which will preserve and promote the study of Oklahoma Baptist history and heritage. Gaskin has written 15 books about Oklahoma Baptists, and he provided the major impetus for Oklahoma Baptist research and publication over the last four decades. The lectureship recognizes his contributions to the preservation and promotion of Baptist history and heritage.

Gaskin served as the BGCO's first historical director. Known as "Mr. Oklahoma Baptist History," he led in forming the Oklahoma Baptist Historical Commission in 1952 and was elected as the organization's first historical secretary in 1953. He also served as the founding president of the Oklahoma Baptist Historical Society in 1956 and was the editor of the Oklahoma Baptist Chronicle, beginning with its launch in 1958 through spring 1998.

The 2015 Gaskin Lecturer, Lee, was born in Russellville, Alabama, and grew up in Michigan and south Florida before returning to Russellville during high school. She earned her nursing degree from Samford University and then served as a pastor's wife, registered nurse, and international missionary in the Leeward Islands from 1979 to 1981. She was president of Georgia's WMU from 1993 to 1996, before becoming executive director of the national organization in 2000. Founded in 1888, the purpose of WMU is to educate and involve preschoolers, children, youth and adults in the cause of Christian missions.

Lee spoke to students and staff, and she focused on the history of Baptist Women in Oklahoma, tracing their impact from Oklahoma's pre-statehood to present. She challenged students to reflect on their heritage, history, family and roots, to consider how these factors affect who they are today.

"You have to know why you were born," she said. "You have to know why you exist. What is your purpose?"

As she detailed the lives and impact of numerous influential women in Oklahoma Baptist history, she detailed how they "… laid the foundation for this generationtoday, as this generation is the most committed, most mobile and most active generation in missions." She also noted that OBU is well known for the large number of students and graduates it sends into the mission field.

She charged the students to take action, to be inspired by those who came before them. "What will you be remembered for?" she said. "Who is God calling you to be today?"