(gentle music)
- [Voiceover] Two spiritual giants.
Two periods of time.
Two lives well lived
for one mission;
the Great Commission.
One, was born late in the 19th century.
The other, lived to see the 21st century.
Both, lived lives of service and prayer.
Both, embodied sacrificial giving
for the sake of the gospel.
Dr. Martha Myers gave her life
in pursuit of bringing Christ to the country of Yemen.
Dr. Martha, as she was known,
grew up in an Alabama Baptist church.
Where she heard the gospel and learned about our role
in the Great Commission.
Her participation in the life of the church,
such as in Sunday school and missions organizations,
helped provide a strong foundation
for missions and ministry.
She always had a tender heart for the less fortunate.
Dr. Martha spent more than 25 years in the land
she grew to consider the home of her heart.
Though her medical practice was based in the city of Jibla,
Dr. Martha spent countless hours
walking tirelessly, village to village,
where her land rover couldn't go.
- Dr. Martha Meyers is the Great Commission
literally lived out on two feet.
She personified sacrificial giving.
That is, she took the Gospel and her ministry
to the people who were underserved and unreached.
And in that way,
she is a sterling example of what it means
to give sacrificially for the cause of Christ.
- [Voiceover] Dr. Martha's sacrificial heart
follows the footsteps of another Alabama Baptist,
who has whole-heartedly sold out to the Lord
and his Great Commission.
Miss Kathleen Mallory was also called to missions.
She did not live out that calling on foreign soil,
rather through Women's Missionary Union.
Under her leadership in both state and national WMU,
missions education grew exponentially.
Born in 1879, Kathleen grew up in Selma, Alabama.
She was known for her deep devotion to prayer
and sacrificially giving for the cause of Christ.
And endeared herself to Alabama Baptist
all over the state.
She lived a humble, frugal lifestyle.
Raising awareness, support, prayer for
Southern Baptist missionaries all over the world.
- Kathleen Mallory's legacy is one of sacrificial giving
and she had an intense devotion to prayer.
A legacy that honestly inspires Alabama Baptist
decades later.
How wonderful it would be,
if we all lived as selflessly as she did.
- [Voiceover] Kathleen Mallory represents a host
of Alabama Baptist who set the stage
for Dr. Martha Myers and others like her.
To do international missions in an unsafe, insecure world.
That legacy of sacrificial giving
inspired Dr. Martha to go and serve in a hostile area,
eventually resulted in her own tragic death.
2002 a member of Al-Qaeda burst into the hospital in Jibla
and killed her and two other missionaries.
She knew the dangers of her ministry setting.
And gave her life willingly for the cause of Christ.
Both of these ladies personify the Great Commission.
The heartbeat of Alabama Baptist.
What better way to honor their memory,
than to use their example as an inspiration for others
to live devotedly, pray intentionally,
and give sacrificially through
the Myers-Mallory State Missions Offering.
That supports great commission ministries
here in Alabama and around the world.
Two spiritual giants. Two periods of time.
Two lives well lived for one mission; the Great Commission.
(gentle music)