Mama Teri

Three American college students insisted on having their picture taken with Teri in front of the coffee shop in Edinburgh, Scotland, where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter. The young woman with the backpack is texting friends that she just met Teri Walters.

It would be easy to say that Teri Walters is the backbone of Friendly Planet Missiology, citing the fact that it is Teri’s school teacher salary that has kept the family afloat while her husband and daughter have passed up paychecks in order to cover operations and project expenses. (It’s not that they don’t want to get paid; we’re just not there, yet.) When you add together how much she has donated out of her own pocket and what her husband has stiffed her by walking away from a guaranteed fat income, she is soon to be FPM’s first quarter million dollar donor.

It would be easy to say that, but that would not be enough.

Teri is one of the most respected and loved classroom teachers in central Indiana. She was Plainfield’s 2000 Teacher of the Year and a finalist for State Teacher of the Year. She has been featured on WRTV news for her fun and creative classroom atmosphere. When her teaching methods were attacked by a so-called Christian group at a school board meeting, her community reputation for the depth of her own Christian character gave the attackers no room. Methodists, Mormons, Catholics, and Muslims stood by her. (“I am Spartacus.”)

Back in 1996, Teri toured with Bob and (not yet bishop) Ntambo in southern Congo (then called Zaire). It took her no time to make friends and fall in love with the people. Over the years, her quiet support has been known and celebrated by Congolese colleagues. In 2008, the general conference delegates who visited Indiana presented her with a brass hand gently cupping an egg in recognition of her care and hospitality for them while they were in a strange land. This award sits on the table next to the chair where she grades papers every night.

There’s a new church in the Kabongo District called L'Eglise Methodiste Unie Mama Teri. When women in leadership is the community hot topic, Teri’s picture is on the wall. She is a rock star and a legend.

Wafwako, Mama Teri!