ORLANDO – Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director of WMU, SBC, began WMU’s report to the Southern Baptist Convention on June 10 by introducing Carolyn Fountain, who was elected president of the missions organization on June 7 during WMU’s Missions Celebration and Annual Meeting in Orlando. Fountain succeeds Connie Dixon who served as president for the past five years.
Before a video introduction of Fountain, Wisdom-Martin said Carolyn and her husband Leroy were appointed as missionaries with the Home Mission Board in 1983.
“Carolyn has served in multiple roles in every facet of SBC life,” Wisdom-Martin said. “Her life has been one of service to the Lord and others.”
Fountain introduced a focus of the report on Royal Ambassadors, the first missions discipleship for children that WMU began for boys in 1908.
“Today’s ministry moments are chapters written from years of God’s enduring faithfulness,” Fountain said. “For more than a century, Royal Ambassadors has shaped generations of boys and men who understand what it means to live on mission for Christ.”
In May, WMU announced it acquired Royal Racers, a derby car company based in Tennessee begun by Frank and May Dean Green.
Keith Gates, national RA consultant who joined Wisdom-Martin and Fountain on the platform, said racing derby cars in RA is part of discipling boys and instills characteristics like problem-solving, creativity, integrity and more.
“Men across the world fondly recount how they grew up learning valuable life lessons from godly men while building and racing their derby cars,” he said. “This acquisition is a huge win for every church investing in that journey.”
Gates then presented a custom Royal Racer car – and the first off the WMU assembly line – to Don Currence, SBC registration secretary and a grown-up RA.
Wisdom-Martin and Fountain went on to explain how Southern Baptist Disaster Relief has ties to RA.
Wisdom-Martin said that in 1956, WMU gifted the Brotherhood Commission with Royal Ambassadors. Bob Dixon, an RA Campcraft instructor, was the first person called to help organize a response to Hurricane Beulah in 1967. He was returning from a weekend RA Campcraft training session with a load of gear. He cooked meals on the back of his station wagon in the aftermath of that hurricane.
“And thus, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief was born,” Fountain said, “a ministry that has touched millions. All can be traced back more than a century ago to a small band of WMU women who were determined to instill missional disciplines in the lives of boys. And that’s still our commitment – to keep the Great Commission front and center of all we do.”
In subsequent years, Royal Ambassadors was transferred to the North American Mission Board before coming back home to WMU in 2011.
Words of Gratitude
Wisdom-Martin, who in December 2025 announced her intentions to retire by January 2027, ended the report with a heartfelt message of thankfulness.
“As I reflect upon my life, the daughter of a coalminer and a foundry worker whose family lived in a basement because that’s all my parents could afford, I realize little in my life has made sense but for the grace of God and the collective work of Southern Baptists,” said shared. “I’m only one small story in a long line of heritage that has benefitted from your voluntary cooperation. Together you helped shape my heart, deepen my faith, and strengthen my commitment to God’s mission in the world. I am profoundly grateful. Thank you, Southern Baptists.”
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