Baptist Women in Ministry is opening a call for nominations for the 2022 Frankie Huff Granger Distinguished Mentor and Church of Excellence awards.
Established in 2013, the Distinguished Mentor Award honors the legacy and ministry of Frankie Huff Granger who served at First Baptist Church, Berea, South Carolina for over 20 years.
Granger’s legacy includes leadership that extends beyond her congregation across the landscape of Baptist ministers in the 1970s and 1980s. However, her greatest gift was serving as a mentor to young women who were discerning their callings from God, and as an example and role model when few women ministers to fill that role could be found.
Mentors, like Granger, play a vital role in the work of encouraging women in ministry by walking alongside, listening, loving, affirming, encouraging, equipping, and nudging women new to ministry to use their gifts for the beloved community of God.
The Frankie Huff Granger Distinguished Mentor Award will recognize someone who:
- Demonstrates a commitment to nurturing the callings and giftedness of Baptist women called to ministry through their time, energy, and personal investment
- Displays dedication to advocacy for the affirmation and elevation of women in ministry and leadership among Baptists
- Is a seasoned minister or layperson who has several decades of participation and service in Baptist life, and is an active member of a congregation affiliated with Baptists.
- Exhibits integrity and spiritual maturity in their personal and professional life
Also established in 2013, the Baptist Women in Ministry Church of Excellence Award honors churches who have taken bold, intentional, and consistent actions toward affirming, empowering, and providing opportunities for women ministers and leaders.
The work of Baptist Women in Ministry and the service of women ministers among Baptists would not be possible without churches who have nurtured the faith of women of all ages, affirmed women’s callings and giftedness, blessed and ordained women as ministers, called women to serve in their midst, commissioned and sent women out to serve in the world, and who have stood alongside this organization and encouraged our work with their prayers and contributions.
The Church of Excellence will be a congregation who:
- Affirms and ordains women for all expressions of ministry and leadership
- Demonstrates support of women in ministry by taking action to eliminate barriers for women in ministry and leadership in their congregation
- Nurtures and cultivates the callings of women of all ages, calls women to leadership positions, and intentionally creates a supportive environment for women ministers in their midst
- Advocates for women beyond their own congregational community
- Is affiliated with a Baptist denominational group
Nominations are due March 31 and can be made by visiting BWIM’s webpages for The Frankie Huff Granger Distinguished Mentor Award and the Church of Excellence Award.
Previous recipients of The Frankie Huff Granger Distinguished Mentor Award are Anne Thomas Neill (2013), Sue Fitzgerald (2014), Molly Marshall (2015), Ka’thy Gore Chappell (2016), Nora Lozano (2017), Sharlande Sledge (2018), Jay Kieve (2019), and Dorisanne Cooper (2021).
Previous recipients of Baptist Women in Ministry’s Church of Excellence Award are Watts Street Baptist Church, Durham, North Carolina (2013), Northminster Baptist Church, Jackson, Mississippi (2014), First Baptist Church, Austin, Texas (2015), Hayes Barton Baptist Church, Raleigh, North Carolina (2016), Beulah Baptist Church, Devereaux, Georgia (2017), Calvary Baptist Church, Waco, Texas (2018), Baptist Church of the Covenant, Birmingham, Alabama (2019), and Pintlala Baptist Church, Hope Hull, Alabama (2021).