Union University presented longtime Baptist medical missionary Rebekah Naylor with its M.E. Dodd Denominational Service Award during a June 11 alumni dinner at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Indianapolis.
The Dodd Award is the highest denominational service award Union gives. It is named for the man who was a 1904 Union graduate, served as president of the SBC and who was the father of today’s Cooperative Program, the method by which Southern Baptists pool their resources to fund their mission efforts.
The award, voted on by Union trustees, is given to a leader within the SBC who displays excellence and leadership in Southern Baptist life, as well as friendship and commitment to Union University. Past recipients include such leaders as Jimmy Draper, Adrian Rogers, R. Albert Mohler Jr., Steve Gaines, Paul Chitwood, Ben Mandrell, David S. Dockery and others.
“Dr. Naylor has been a faithful ambassador for Christ for decades, and her service to Southern Baptists on the mission field has inspired countless others to join her ranks,” said Ray Van Neste, Union’s vice president for university ministries. “She is the first woman to receive this prestigious award, and we are grateful for her many contributions to Southern Baptists over the decades.”
Life of service
Naylor graduated from Baylor University in 1964 with a chemistry degree and completed her doctor of medicine from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1968. She was appointed by the SBC’s Foreign Mission Board (current International Mission Board) as a missionary to India in 1973. Arriving at the new Bangalore Baptist Hospital in early 1974, she launched a missionary career that included busy clinical practice, administrative responsibility and teaching.
In the 1990s she organized training programs in allied health disciplines, set up accredited residency training programs for doctors, initiated a training program for chaplains and established the Rebekah Ann Naylor Institute of Nursing in 1996. She retired from active IMB service in 2009. She joined the faculty at the University of Texas’ Southwestern Medical Center after returning to the United States and retired as clinical associate professor of surgery.
In 2010, she began working as a global healthcare consultant with Baptist Global Response and in 2012 became the International Mission Board director of healthcare strategies. In 2023, Naylor retired as director and continues to be an ambassador for health strategies with the IMB.
Naylor continues to make frequent trips to India to participate in the ministry of Bangalore Baptist Hospital.
She was the featured speaker for Union’s W.D. Powell Missions Lecture series in 2023.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Tim Ellsworth and originally published by Baptist and Reflector.
