Three to receive missions awards_110303

Posted: 10/31/03

Three to receive missions awards

A West Texas church, a Lubbock ministry entrepreneur and an Amarillo couple will be honored at a Texas Baptist Missions Foundation awards luncheon in Lubbock.

The awards luncheon is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Nov. 10 at the Holiday Inn Hotel & Towers in Lubbock, immediately prior to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual session.

First Baptist Church of Plains will receive the Adventurer Award for leadership in missions.

As the church has become involved in hands-on missions under the guidance of Pastor Bill Wright, weekly Sunday School attendance has more than doubled in less than nine years.

More than 100 church members–nearly half the number involved in weekly Bible study–have been trained in disaster-relief work and have served from Mexico to New York. Each year, about two dozen members participate in construction teams on two or more mission trips.

Shirley Madden, founding director of My Father's House Lubbock, will receive the Innovator Award for Creativity in Missions.

Madden, a member of First Baptist Church of Lubbock, founded the city's first Christian Women's Job Corps program at University Baptist Mission. In 2000, she launched My Father's House and established the second Christian Women's Job Corps site in Lubbock.

The Living and Learning Center of My Father's House will add a residential component to Christian Women's Job Corps. Texas Baptist Men Builders worked three months earlier this year, starting construction on the facility. The center will include 18 two-bedroom apartments, classrooms, a commercial kitchen and day care and laundry facilities where women can gain hands-on job experience.

Delbert and Mary Sue Serratt of First Baptist Church in Amarillo will receive the Pioneer Award for Service in Missions.

The Serratts lead ministries related to the International Sunday School department at their church, which includes members from 17 nations. The Serratts have led conferences throughout Texas and the Southwest on ministry to internationals.

Delbert Serratt, a retired pastor and director of missions, has mentored language-church pastors and serves as a resource person for the BGCT intercultural initiatives office. Mary Lou Serratt has been involved in Woman's Missionary Union on the church, association, state and national levels. She also is a facilitator for Cambodian Bible studies for the BGCT Bible Study/Discipleship Center.