Missions are the Carlson’s passion.
“There’s no doubt we are called to do this. I’m a Call Center Specialist for North Carolina Baptist Aging Ministry (NCBAM) and my husband is a Pastor, but at our core, we’re both missionaries.” Shirley Carlson is referring to her and her husband’s recent work providing Disaster Relief services with Baptists on Mission after Hurricane Helene.
Shirley and Roger have been married 59 years, but didn’t begin their lives together as missionaries. “I was in high school when we married,” remembers Shirley. “Roger was in the military and then later, he worked as a weighmaster at a trucking company. Throughout our early years, we always had a sense that we wanted something different.”
The Carlson’s journey to “different” began in 1983 when they moved from Goldsboro to the mountains of North Carolina so that Roger could attend Mars Hill College. “We moved my mama and our children there and it became our new home,” Shirley recalls with a nostalgic smile.
The Carlsons lived at the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains for 17 years. Roger began pastoring and Shirley worked as a nurse at Asheville Children’s Medical Center. Their involvement with Disaster Relief began in 2005 with Hurricane Katrina. “We had just become missionaries and finished a church plant in Weaverville. I adjusted my schedule at the Medical Center so that I could be off for four days. Then, we drove all night to Gulfport, Mississippi and started working the next morning.”
Roger is a trained Disaster Relief Assessor with Baptists on Mission. Shirley explains his role: “An assessor is often the first Disaster Relief volunteer on site. Roger submits a report of the issues to a Disaster Relief Site Coordinator who then sends the appropriate team to meet the need.”
Shirley’s role is different. “I’m a hugger,” she laughs, and then adds with a look of satisfaction, “I’ve seen my role make a difference many times. As you can imagine, people’s worlds have been turned upside down, sometimes literally. I can often feel their spirits lighten when we hug. I just want my words and hugs to encourage them to realize they’re not alone. We always offer to leave a Bible with them and to pray. We let them know that another team will be there in a day or so.”
When Shirley is not volunteering with Baptists on Mission in places like Gulfport, Mississippi; New York City; Bayboro, New Bern, Lumberton, or Marion, North Carolina, she is working at the NCBAM Call Center—a unique resource that provides “help for the journey” for North Carolina’s aging. The Call Center refers callers to community resources and connects individuals 65+ with volunteers and resources that increase their safety and independence at home. Shirley jokes, “This is the only missionary work I’ve ever gotten paid for.”
Shirley’s numerous connections with North Carolina’s Baptists on Mission and their volunteers make her job easier – which is finding resources and volunteers to serve clients of NCBAM’s Call Center. “Ninety percent of the volunteers I regularly work with at NCBAM are also involved with Baptists on Mission. When a Caller needs a wheelchair ramp, a grab bar, or a porch repair, I can often find a Baptist on Mission volunteer to meet their need. There’s nothing I like better than to involve a local church in helping to meet a need in their community.”
Shirley is pleased that Baptists on Mission volunteers also value the NCBAM Call Center. “Many times, a Baptist on Mission volunteer will know of a need for a wheelchair ramp in their community, but rather than building it, they will encourage the person to start the process with NCBAM. They know we do things right—such as getting signed permission from homeowners before modifications are made, and exploring if there may be other needs in the home.”
The Carlson’s have found the “something different” they yearned for when first beginning their lives together. Sleeping on air mattresses in church fellowship halls with hundreds of other volunteers, wading through muck to be the first sign of hope after a natural disaster, and sharing God’s love—along with plenty of warm hugs. As Shirley puts it, “There’s no better way to live than to serve God and see him make a difference in people’s lives!”
Written By Carol Layton, Director of Communications & Administration for NCBAM