class, she met a Hispanic man, who she welcomed in Spanish. During their brief conversation, the man asked Paulette if she knew of any English classes nearby. “I found out there was nothing within 13 miles, and soon sensed that the Lord wanted me to offer this kind of ministry,” she recalls. Two years of indecision passed, but Paulette still sensed God was calling her to teach English as a ministry. “I stumbled across the Georgia Baptist Conven- tion’s ‘English as a Second Language’ workshop,” says Paulette, who attended the 14½-hour workshop held at an Atlanta area SBC church in January 1991. The rest, as they say, is history.


“We began a ministry at my church, Bethany Baptist in Snellville, that touched the lives of hun- dreds of people from dozens of different countries, including the Hispanic man whom the Lord used to plant the seed of this ministry in my heart.” Just in Georgia, more than 5,500 students from 88 countries are taught to read and write English each year by literacy ministry volunteers. And many more volunteers are needed.


In addition to ESL, the Georgia Baptist literacy initiative includes tutoring English-speaking adults who may be illiterate or functioning non-readers, tutoring children and youth, as well as teaching


22 Spring 2011 • onmission.com


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