Spirit of Mission: Mother-Daughter Duo Honored as 2025 Georgia Bates Award Recipients

On Monday, May 5, United Methodist Women of Highland Park United Methodist Church presented Janie Means Gilmore (posthumously) and Amy Means Bales with the 2025 Spirit of Mission: The Georgia Bates Award at the 10th annual Georgia Bates Award Luncheon.

If there was anyone who could carry on the legacy of Georgia Bates, it was Janie Means Gilmore. And if there is anyone who can carry on Janie’s legacy, it is her daughter, Amy Means Bales.

Janie and Amy are linked, not just by blood or name, but by a deep love for HPUMC, a generous willingness to serve, and a commitment to leadership. Together they continue the outreach work started by pioneering HPUMC mission leader Georgia Bates over 85 years ago.

“We come to celebrate, remember, and honor two women who never failed to do the one thing,” HPUMC and UMW member Elizabeth Cross said in her devotional. “To use their spiritual gifts to further God's kingdom and demonstrate His love and, in turn, to inspire us to do ‘the something’ that we can.”

Janie Means came to HPUMC as a toddler and stayed until she passed away in June of 2024. Inside the church, she served on many committees, including the Pastor Parish Relations Committee and the board of trustees, and was the chair of the Administrative Board in 1993. WIthin the greater Dallas community, she volunteered at the Wesley-Rankin Community Center, Austin Street Center, the Genesis Women’s Shelter, and Meals on Wheels. She also supported the Costa Rica Children’s Home and served on the Methodist Hospital Systems Board of Directors.

“I look back on her life and she is one of those people that, when she passed, you literally and genuinely think, ‘I don’t know how we’re going to replace her,’” Senior Minister Rev. Paul Rasmussen said. “That’s just a divot that we cannot replace. We’ve replaced it collectively, but we certainly cannot replace the individual.”

Rev. Rasmussen heard the name Janie Means Gilmore early in his HPUMC tenure. But even a name as big as hers couldn’t match her larger-than-life personality..

“I learned quickly that you would always know when she was in the room or in the hallway coming down because you would just hear her boisterous laugh and big, giant presence,” Rev. Rasmussen said. “Sometimes people pull out all the oxygen in the room, but every now and then you meet someone who pulls out all the oxygen in the room, but then they replace it with even better oxygen. (Janie) was one of those people.”

And while Janie was one of a kind, she instilled the same love of serving she had into her daughter, Amy Means Bales.

Rev. Rasmussen reflected on Proverbs 22:6, which says, “Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.” In Amy, Janie once again went above and beyond.

“Not only did she not stray, but Amy, wow,” Rev. Rasmussen said. “It’s one of the things that makes this church so strong, something I call generational fortitude. This church has the blessing of having multiple generations. … This place has roots. The way you grew up in church and the values you embrace are passed down. This is extraordinary, and you don’t see that exemplified more in the case of Amy and what Janie passed down to her in terms of what it really means to immerse yourself in leadership and service.”

Amy has been a key piece of the Justice Ministry and the Civil Rights Pilgrimages almost from their beginnings, serving as the strategic planner for the trips. She also serves with Meals on Wheels, VBS, and as a Sunday School teacher. Amy and her husband, Jayson, currently teach a third grade class for HPUMC Kids, even though their own children are older.

She has led book studies and is deeply involved with the Costa Rica Children’s Home. Amy, like her mom, has served on numerous committees, including the Beyond Capital Campaign Building Committee.

Just like Georgia Bates and her mom, Amy doesn’t look for the easy way to help. She goes out and finds the people and places that get overlooked.

“When you leave your mark in the world, you never know the moment you’re leaving your mark. You just do what you do, and maybe sometimes what we do does leave a mark,” Rev. Rasmussen said. “... Not everybody asks about the least of these, and that really is the calling of our Lord, not just to serve but to identify which of these environments are the hardest. … Not everybody does that, and Amy Bales does. I’ll never forget that.”

Most importantly, Janie and Amy never stopped showing up. They kept finding ways to help, be involved, and serve to the best of their abilities.

“It takes a special orientation to wake up and be committed to serving the least of these each and every day, day after day after day, problem after problem after problem, level of fatigue after level of fatigue,” Rev. Rasmussen said. “… It takes a special human being. But Janie Means Gilmore understood that it was not a one-time deal; it was a ‘this is who I am,’ and Amy has inherited that.”

Amy did have that same identity to serve within her. What Janie did was bring it out in her daughter and allow Amy to utilize the servant’s heart God placed inside her.

“I feel so lucky to have been raised by my mom, Janie Means,” Amy said. “She was an amazing example of someone who knew what she did great and what she did naturally, and she did that really well. … She reminded me to embrace my gift, she led that way, and that's what I got to watch my entire life. … I'm so grateful that this is what my mom showed me, how she taught me that these were the things that were important. It's given me the confidence to embrace the gifts that God has given me and to just not overcomplicate them but to lean into them.”

Previous Georgia Bates Award Winners

2024: Mari Epperson

2023: Alicia Harris

2022: Dana Hargrove Harkey and Rita Hargrove Clinton

2020: Jane Parker

2019: Lisa Tichenor

2018: Caroline Hazlett and Susan Brooks

2017: Jan McClendon

2016: Dr. Barbara Baxter

2015: Lila Foree