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About Cynthia Walker BrownHometown: Fort Oglethorpe, Ga.Education: Rossville High School class of 1982, Student Council president, class president, cheerleader, Coca-Cola Scholar; bachelor’s degree in accounting and master’s degree in finance from University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.Occupation: Controller for Flowers Bakery of Cleveland, Tenn.Family: She and husband Chris C. Brown have one son and three grandchildren.Hobbies: Bicycling, walking, “enjoying the grandkids.”
Two women were role models to Cynthia Walker Brown when it came to sharing God's love with others in need of spiritual and physical sustenance.
The first, she says, was the example set by her mother in her childhood home, lessons later reinforced by a missions leader in the congregation of Love Fellowship Baptist Church on Roanoke Avenue.
"Annie Pearl Lewis approached me about serving in Women On Missions. Sister Lewis took me under her wings and we went out into the community (the former Harriett Tubman housing development) and started prayer walking, building relationships, providing clothing, serving at the Community Kitchen, nursing homes," Brown recalls.
Now the call to service has passed to her.
Brown is the newly elected director of the Women's Missionary Union of the Hamilton County Baptist Association. When she takes office in September, she will be the first black female to hold the position since the association's WMU was founded in 1871.
Unaware of the 144-year milestone at the time of her election, Brown has since waved off any recognition, saying the honor isn't about her.
"It is a privilege, and also a responsibility, to be called by our Lord to serve and to join him in his work," she says. "The significance (of her election) is that God can do whatever he wants to do, whenever he chooses.
"My prayer for WMU is that we unite and encourage all women, regardless of race, creed or color, to use our collective passion, compassion and power to reach the lost, care for the needy and glorify God," she says.
Those prayer walks with the late Sister Lewis were the first steps in Brown's journey to become a missions leader in her own right. After Lewis' death, Brown filled her role in Women on Missions at Love Fellowship. She became involved in her church's WMU a decade ago, which led to serving as Love Fellowship's delegate to the Hamilton County WMU, where she held two support offices - secretary and associate director. Current WMU Director Norma King says Brown's organizational skills and competence made it clear "she needed to step up a little higher" in leadership.
The Hamilton County Baptist Association was founded in 1859 as the Ocoee Baptist Association, composed of 14 churches in Hamilton, Bradley and Polk counties, according to association records. The WMU formed in 1871 with the purpose of supporting missionaries, and records state that three churches sent the area's first contributions to foreign missionaries in 1875.
In 1949, the Ocoee association divided into the Bradley County and Hamilton County Baptist associations. Presently, there are just over 100 churches in the Hamilton County association. Each church's WMU may send its director to the association's WMU meetings, which are usually held every other month.
As WMU director, Brown will lead its leadership team in identifying objectives and setting goals, implementing action plans, assessing WMU's work in the association, appointing committees, assisting association leaders and providing training.
Brown has remained so low-key about her election, however, even Love Fellowship Pastor Gerald O'Guinn was unaware of it. But he has no doubt that she'll thrive as WMU director.
"Cynthia has a passion for people and a passion for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ," O'Guinn says. "She is very organized, has great administrative skills, is very involved with church mission work. She's been a blessing to this church and this community."
Today's WMU isn't just the foreign-missions-minded group of housewives that baby boomers recall from their Southern Baptist childhoods. While a lot of emphasis remains on the longstanding Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, which raises money each December to fund missionary work all over the world, WMU has expanded its assistance over the last few decades to address social issues.
"Today, you will find WMU members ministering to prisoners, serving the homeless at food kitchens, providing crafts to nursing homes, interacting with kids at children's homes, working in crisis centers, ministering to human trafficking and PTSD victims," Brown says.
The new director was on the original advisory council that helped develop the association's Christian Women's Job Corps, through which WMU addresses unemployment. Last year, the group offered its support to disaster relief training.
"We also provide water filtration devices to missionaries throughout the world through our Pure Water, Pure Love initiative," Brown says. "We form global partnerships with ministries to address social injustice affecting women and children in places like Croatia and North Korea. Our churches support local and foreign missions by going and giving."
Brown says the WMU's 2015-16 theme will be "All For You: Surrender, Sacrifice, Serve." It's a call to believers based on Mark 8:34 in which Jesus says, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves (surrender) and take up their cross (sacrifice) and follow me (serve)."
"I believe the Lord is calling us to become more Christ- and people-focused in a united and collaborative way," Brown says. "My prayer is that we can reach out, bring others in, build partnerships and maximize our collective efforts for reaching the lost, serving others and glorifying Christ. That will be progress and success."
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.