NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Kaye Miller of Little Rock, Ark., was elected June 20 as the new president of Woman’s Missionary Union.
Miller, who has served as president of Arkansas WMU since 2002, succeeds Janet Hoffman of Farmerville, La., national WMU’s president since 2000.
Kathy Hillman of Waco, Texas, was elected to her second term as national recording secretary.
The two officers were elected during the Monday morning session of the WMU Missions Celebration and Annual Meeting at First Baptist Church in Nashville. A nominating committee comprised of state WMU presidents recommended Miller and Hillman to WMU members at the national gathering.
Both Miller and Hillman are eligible for annual re-election for up to five years.
Miller, 51, brings a lifetime of missions experiences to her new role as the 21st president of national WMU. She grew up as a MK (“missionary kid”) in Thailand where her parents, Harlan and Jo Willis, served as medical missionaries for more than 20 years.
“My parents helped shape my passion for missions through their daily experiences,” Miller said. “Seeing their faithfulness to seek what God wanted them to do each day and their commitment to go and do it provided an example for which I am grateful. But along with their desire to follow God’s direction and plan for their lives, they also had a sense of urgency in reaching the lost and put that same urgency in my heart.”
The oldest of three sisters, Miller was home schooled until the seventh grade. She then attended a boarding school in Bangkok, Thailand, to finish high school. She continued her education at Baylor University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing.
She and her husband, Mark, have three daughters and a son. Their oldest, Jenny, works as a nurse and is married to Jason Owens, whose parents also are missionaries. Julie stays at home to care for her six-month-old son, Mason. Rachael will be a senior at the University of Arkansas this fall, and John Mark will be a senior in high school.
As a state WMU president, one of Miller’s responsibilities has been to serve on the executive board for national WMU. In that capacity, she has served on the finance committee and the Vision 2010 Task Force, which was a group appointed in 2003 by Hoffman to help paint the broad strokes of what the organization should look like by the year 2010.
“WMU enables me to share my life experiences through being a part of a group as well as opportunities to cultivate a heart for missions within others,” Miller said. Having grown up in WMU age-level missions organizations on the mission field, Miller shares her unique life experiences and passion for missions as director for Acteens and Youth on Mission at Immanuel Baptist Church. She also served as a director for Girls in Action for nearly 20 years.
Hillman, 53, also has been involved in missions since childhood. Growing up at First Baptist Church in Eldorado, Texas, she was active in Sunbeams, Girls Auxiliary and Young Women’s Auxiliary. She has served in a variety of leadership roles with WMU over the years, including WMU director, GA leader, GA director, and missions support director for foreign missions, among others. Most recently, she served as president of Texas WMU from 2000-04.
Hillman graduated as valedictorian of her class at Eldorado High School and from Baylor University summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in communications. She continued her education at the University of North Texas, earning an MLS. Since 1976, Hillman has served at Baylor University as associate professor and acquisitions librarian.
She and her husband are members of Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco and have three grown children.
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