BWIM NC Awards
The Church Award
The Church Award is given to congregations who are exemplary in supporting and encouraging the cause of women in ministry.
The Anne Thomas Neil Award
The Anne Thomas Neil award is given to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the cause of women in ministry.
The Anne Thomas Neil Award
Annie Lee Thomas Neil, age 94, died peacefully on Sunday, June 8, 2014, at Transitions LifeCare, in Raleigh, N.C. Anne Neil spent her formative years in Fairfax, S.C, one of eight children. At an early age, she discerned her life's calling to be a missionary. She received degrees in music, nursing, and seminary studies before being appointed in 1952 with her husband, Lloyd (deceased), as a Southern Baptist missionary, serving in Nigeria and Ghana for twenty-seven years. Along the way, Anne pursued further studies in counseling and guidance and spiritual formation. In West Africa, she served as nursing instructor, writer of religious literature, teacher, out-reach nurse, house parent for missionary children, leader within the mission, spiritual adviser to university students, and seminary instructor. Her career was characterized by her remarkable capacity to draw forth other people's gifts. Retiring with her husband to Wake Forest in 1981, Anne began a second career of advocacy for women in ministry, studying for a year at Garrett Theological Seminary in Chicago. Neil's passion for gender parity in ordination was a driving force in her role as a founder of Baptist Women in Ministry, the Alliance of Baptists, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, and the Baptist House of Studies at Duke Divinity School. At eighty years of age, she was ordained to the ministry. Her life was dedicated to justice for disenfranchised people within every community she entered, whether in Nigeria, Ghana, or the American South. A passionate and reasoned voice for human liberation, she spoke truth to power as she lived our her faith by visiting women in prison, feeding the poor, bringing wholeness to the sick, writing and speaking for justice, inspiring the voiceless, and loving the outcast.
2024 Anne Thomas Neil Award Winner for Clergy
ANNA DANIELS ANDERSON
I don't remember not knowing Anna Daniels Anderson. The pianist for the church my father pastored, teen-aged Anna was a favorite of kids like me. Anna, lighthearted and quick to laugh, yet dedicated and reliable, exuded the kind of confidence that made kids (and others) want to follow her lead. Anna helped with children's choir, vacation Bible school, and children's camps. I have distinct memories of her teaching me music at both Fort Caswell and Chowan's Girls in Action camp. In short, Anna has been in ministry since before Baptist Women in Ministry was a thing. Just by following God in her own life, Anna taught me and so many other little girls that gender does not impact calling. I am grateful.
Anna kept in touch with my parents over the years and I would hear of her going to seminary, working in ministry, leading church music, and so on. When I began my journey through divinity school, Anna and I became CBFNC colleagues. She was delighted by my choice and so encouraging in my call to ministry. Now, as a CBF field representative, Anna is illustrating one of the many different roles women might have in ministry. Her actions on behalf of the marginalized, her partnerships with other providers, and her commitment to compassion and excellence continues to offer women and men an example of a life lived in vocational ministry. Thank you for considering Anna Daniels Anderson for the Anne Thomas Neil Award.
-Rev. Dr. Aileen Mitchell Lawrimore, Pastor, Ecclesia Baptist, Asheville, NC
2024 Anne Thomas Neil Award Winner for Clergy
LESLIE SESSOMS
Leslie Sessoms was born into the Godwin Heights Baptist Church family. It was here that she was raised, taught about Jesus, baptized, and grew in her faith. After graduating college with a degree in elementary education and working in the school system for a couple of years, Leslie answered God's call to attend seminary. The church supported her wholeheartedly and when God called her to be ordained into ministry, Godwin Heights Baptist Church--a center-right congregation--affirmed God's call on her life through ordination. Leslie's ordination was a pivotal moment not just for her, but for the church as well. It paved the way for the church to call another ordained woman to serve on staff. As it was explained to me when I joined the team 10 years ago, the church didn't simply ordain a woman; they ordained Leslie, a child of their congregation.
Leslie went on to earn her Doctor of Ministry (DMin) from Campbell University. In 2025, she will celebrate 30 years of ministry at Godwin Heights. Over those years, her ministry has evolved to meet changing needs. Her DMin in Racial Justice inspired her to establish the non-profit organization "Ministers for Justice" to address the needs of the community. Her work ranges from providing shelter for the housing insecure during extreme weather to advocating for the removal of the Confederate statue from the courthouse. She has also been deeply involved with the elementary school across the street, particularly in the aftermath of a tragic incident where a student was killed while playing with a loaded gun.
Leslie Sessoms embodies what a minister should be. Her dedication, adaptability, and commitment to social justice have made a significant impact on her community. I am proud to call her my colleague and friend.
Recommended by Dave Hawes, Pastor, Godwin Heights Baptist Church, Lumberton, NC
The Most Recent Recipient of the Anne Thomas Neil Award for Laity
BOBBI FURR
Bobbie is an outstanding laity volunteer, Sunday School Teacher, and friend. She spent her secular career in public accounting, all the while using her knowledge and skill ministering to pastors, ministers, churches and denominational leaders in tax accounting, financial management, auditing, financial counseling and as a tax advisor.
Bobbie has a passion and desire to serve. She can preach to a congregation and teach a Sunday School class with grace and personality. Bobbie is a team player. She supports her SS class members with visits and care packages and organizes her class care groups with a strong specific ministry toward the “other.” Bobbie is giving of her time and her resources. She has served as a trustee, finance committee member, deacon encourager, Sunday School teacher, and pastor’s wife in her local church. Bobbie is an encourager of women and supportive of female leadership within her local congregation and beyond. She is a woman of great distinction sharing Christ, affirming of women in leadership, and leading with grace and dignity.
Bobbie serves as an advisor to BWIMNC in the area of finances and taxes. She is available to analyze financial statements and budgets, answer questions and ensure accurate use of funding. Bobbie’s generous support of BWIMNC over the past six years is a gift to all women in ministry. Thank you!
Karen Metcalf Eickhoff, Associate Pastor of Education and Discipleship, Trinity Baptist Church, Raleigh, NC
Esther Soud Parker, Minister of Children and Congregational Life, Watts Street Baptist Church, Durham, NC
The Church Award
The "Cloud of Witnesses" Quilt was created in 2008, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of BWIM NC and serves as a reminder of interdependence with one another. Before the quilt was created, an invitation to fund the Kay Simpson Endowment was extended. The recipient of our annual Church Award has the honor of keeping and displaying the quilt for a full year.
2024 Winner of the Church Award
OAKMONT BAPTIST CHURCH, Greenville
The notable events of advocacy and encouragement of women in ministry in Oakmont’s 60 year history include:
Oakmont has had a clear statement from the beginning of the church’s birth that women would be included among the ordained deacons of the congregation.
Oakmont has been blessed to have over 25 individuals experience the call to ministry due to the encouragement of our congregation. Many of those individuals are women currently serving in ministry or recently retired from a ministry role.
For many years, four of the nine ministers at Oakmont on staff — Rev. Beth Thompson, Rev. Layne Rogerson, Rev. Amy Andrews, and Mrs. Jimmie Hughes — served admirably and effectively in our congregation.
The current, four-member ministerial staff at Oakmont includes two women — Rev. Alicia Porterfield and Dr. Laurie Lee Cosby, recently called as the new Minister of Music.
Oakmont's women ministers have equally participated in our pastoral care ministry, including hospital visits and presiding at funeral and memorial services and weddings.
Oakmont's women who are lay leaders in our congregation offer capable and competent leadership as deacons, teachers, and key visionaries of many of our missional ministries that impact our local community, state, and world.
Oakmont was also one of the first host sites this past spring to show the Baptist Women in Ministry film, “Midwives of a Movement."
Past Award Recipients
The Church Award
2020 – Lakeside Baptist Church (Rocky Mount)
2021 – Trinity Baptist Church (Raleigh)
2022 – First Baptist Church (Laurinburg)
2023 - First Baptist Church (Smithfield)
The Anne Thomas Neil Award for Laity
2020 – Louise Dawson
2021 – Joy Gambill
2022 – Mary Foskett
2023 - Les Davis
The Anne Thomas Neil Award for Clergy
2020 – Esther Soud Parker
2021 – Karen Metcalf-Eickoff
2022 – Kheresa Harmon
2023 - Allison Farrah