Where Are They Now: GA Ann Iorg
Legacy. A legacy is something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past. If we were to imagine it, a legacy is like a rock tossed into a still pond whose ripples expand to the very shore long after the rock is gone from view.
Legacy is the perfect way to describe Girls’ Auxiliary/Girls in Action (GA) in the life of Ann Iorg.
Foundation of Faith
Ann says it all began in San Antonio, Texas, in 1945 when her mother’s family moved to the city. They were generously welcomed by a GA leader who took time to love them and welcome them to church. This friendship led to Ann’s mother and aunt both being led to a relationship with Christ.
Ann then accepted Christ when she was 7 years old. Her mother, Fran, encouraged Ann to be involved with GA. When she was 11, Ann attended GA camp. She said she had always believed only lead pastors were called to serve God, but at the camp she learned that God uses all kinds of people to do His work. People just like her.
The next year, Ann’s family was rocked by the sudden death of her father from a heart attack. She said her church and other Christians in her life surrounded their little family and supported them. Her faith deepened as she learned to trust God even more without her physical father around. “God really became my heavenly Father in a very real sense,” she says. “I turned to Him in prayer for anything and everything I needed in life.”
The Power of Teaching Children about Missions
Ann says she has never forgotten what she learned in GA: to love people all over the world and do whatever she can to help them come to know Christ. She has done this through her local church in preschool and children’s ministry by teaching Mission Friends and GA, and in her own family, by leading her children.
Ann recalls the time when her husband, Jeff, decided God was calling him to Gresham, Oregon, in 1989 to plant a church. She said she was ready to go. Even their oldest son, who was in Mission Friends at the time, jumped on board. “When we told him we were going because there were not many Christians or churches,” Ann recalls, “he, as a 5-year-old, said, ‘Well, we will just have to go visit people and tell them about Jesus every day!’”
Commitment to the Great Commission
Missions drives Ann and her family to this very day. She said that in 2024, when her husband was called to serve as the President/CEO of the SBC Executive Committee, one of their reasons to say “yes” was to help keep financial support going for the International Mission Board and North American Mission Board. “We want missionaries to be able to share Christ freely, without worrying if they would have financial support,” she says.
Ann continues to say “yes” to missions discipleship, too: “I want all children to learn about the world they live in and the different people groups and cultures in this world. I want all children to learn about God’s purpose for their lives and to live the rest of their lives telling people about Jesus, no matter where they are. I want all children to learn to love all people like God does.”
To continue the legacy, Ann says, “I plan to get together with my grandkids over Zoom and teach them from the Missions Journey: Kids Adventure magazine.”
