BAPTISTS HEED MISSIONARY CALL

As a 300-voice choir sang the hymn "Wherever He Leads, I'll Go," dozens of people filed down the metal staircases at the Show Me Center Saturday.

They were answering a call similar to one heard by the 4,161 people commissioned by the Southern Baptist Convention to spread the gospel around the world.

"For eight and a half months we prayed `Show us when and where you want us to serve and we will serve no matter what,'" said Donald and Joyce McCauley of Rockville, Md.

The answer to their prayers came as an appointment with the International Service Corps, a work-oriented missions program, in Romania. Now the McCauleys will return as career missionaries.

About 4,500 people from Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois attended a Foreign Mission Board appointment service Saturday afternoon at the Show Me Center. The Foreign Mission Board is an agency of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Thirty-six people from Alaska to Texas were appointed Saturday to serve in Europe, East Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Some are married, others are not. A few have small children, others have adult children.

Much like the variations in their personal backgrounds, the jobs for these missionaries will be as diverse as the countries where they will serve.

The McCauleys, who built McDonald's restaurants in the U.S., will now build a Southern Baptist church in Romania. Kim Bok-Hee Johnson of Fayetteville, Ark., will teach English in East Asia.

Johnson's family was not able to attend Saturday's service, so friends from Cape Girardeau offered their support. Karen Anderson watched as Johnson told about her past work in East Asia. Anderson's father leads the church where Johnson attends.

Some family members were supportive, others were not, but all the missionaries responded obediently to a call, said Jerry Rankin, president of the Foreign Mission Board.

"These are ordinary people but God touched their hearts and they responded," he said.

More than 500 Southern Baptists answered a call to mission work last year. About 250 of them will be commissioned this year.

With only 36 appointees, the service Saturday was small. Usually 100 career missionaries are appointed at a time. Six ceremonies are held each year.

Only one service is held in Richmond, Va., where the agency is based and at least one other is held at an arena or coliseum where community members can attend, Rankin said.

"It's inspiring," Louis Moore said of the service. He is associate vice president of communications for the mission board.

A procession of flags representing every country where Baptists serve began the service; they were carried by local church members.

Sixty gray flags included in the procession symbolized the countries and ethnic groups where Christians aren't allowed. More than 4,000 missionaries serve in 130 countries around the world.