A national Southern Baptist consultant is convinced Christian
Womens Job Corps can change the face of America and Pam Lockwood
is convinced there is no better place to start than in Louisiana.
A national Southern Baptist consultant is convinced Christian
Womens Job Corps can change the face of America and Pam Lockwood
is convinced there is no better place to start than in Louisiana.
“So many women here dont have hope, and they dont
have the hope of Jesus Christ in their hearts,” notes Lockwood, associate
director of womens missions and ministry for the Louisiana Baptist Convention.
“Look at our state about 50 percent of the people lost, a high percentage
of women living in poverty. What are we doing about it?”
For Lockwood and others, the obvious answer is Christian Womens
Job Corps, a Southern Baptist Womans Missionary Union program designed
to help women in need escape the cycle of poverty and hopelessness. The program
seeks to help women develop life and job skills and become self-sufficient.
(See accompanying article)
Three Christian Womens Job Corps sites exist in Louisiana – in New Orleans
at the Baptist Friendship House in New Orleans, in Slidell through St. Tammany
Baptist Association and in Bogalusa through the Washington Baptist Association.
Others are on the drawing board, including sites in Alexandria,
Ferriday and somewhere within Beauregard and Evangeline Baptist associations.
However, even as the nationally-recognized, five-year-old
Christian Womens Job Corps program seeks to address a world of needs,
it carries needs of its own. Several of those were outlined recently by Lockwood
and Kay Bennett, director of the Baptist Friendship House in New Orleans.
These include:
Prayer. Lockwood and Bennett both emphasize that
prayer represents the greatest need for the program. Persons are needed as prayer
partners for mentors, as well as for participants in the program.
Volunteers and mentors. Various volunteer workers
and advisors are needed for each Christian Womens Job Corps site. Also,
a unique aspect of the job corps program is the use of mentors for each participant.
Finding persons who will make the commitment to mentor another woman remains
an ongoing need, Lockwood notes. In addition, at the Friendship House, missions
groups are welcome to help teach Vacation Bible Schools and be involved in prayerwalks
through neighborhoods and such.
Finances. Launching a Christian Womens Job
Corps site is like starting a business, there are a host of financial
needs, Lockwood notes. It usually takes several years before a site can begin
to pay a coordinator some sort of salary. Until then, all work is done on a
voluntary basis.
Resources. The list of practical needs for a Christian
Womens Job Corps site is lengthy. For instance, Bennett notes her center
always can use toiletries for women, non-perishable food and clothing that women
can wear to jobs. Lockwood also suggests that some church members may have rental
properties they can make available for use by women who have completed the job
corps program. In addition, there always is a need for free or reduced-cost
doctor and dental care, she noted. Nurses also can be used to help teach women
about practical medical needs and care.
As Christian Womens Job Corps celebrates its five anniversary,
Lockwood suggests that churches or Sunday School classes or individuals can
simply call one of the three sites in Louisiana and offer a birthday present.
“Just call and ask what they would like for their birthday,
what they need,” Lockwood says.
(For general information about Christian Womens Job Corps, call Pam Lockwood
at 800-622-6549 or 318-448-3402. To contact the Washington Association Christian
Womens Job Corps site, call Jo Purvis at 985-735-6798. To contact the
St. Tammany Association site, call Aurora Williams at 985-882-7463. To contact
the Friendship House site, call Kay Bennett at 504-949-4469.)