Texas Tidbits_62804

Posted: 6/25/04

Texas Tidbits

Brazilian missions immersion trip planned. Rob Sellers, missions professor at Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon School of Theology, and his wife, Janie, will lead six Logsdon students on a discovery tour of Brazilian history, culture and religion July 5 to Aug. 5. They will visit Brazilia, Manaus, Recife, Salvador, Rio de Janerio and Sao Paulo. Explorations will include rainforest ecological institutes, Candomblé (spiritist religion) worship centers and a tour of the world's second-largest Catholic cathedral and complex. Lectures by professors, priests and pastors–plus hands-on involvement in orphanages, prisons and low-income favelas–will enable students to learn about topics as varied as liberation theology, Pentecostalism, evangelical social ministries and Roman Catholicism. Brazilian Baptists will join other Christian groups to help serve as hosts to the Hardin-Simmons team.

Palacios camp urgently needs volunteers. Texas Baptist Encampment at Palacios urgently needs volunteer teams to finish a dorm before more than 600 youth arrive July 5 for the summer's largest camp. Workers primarily will paint, move furniture and finish the electrical, plumbing and air conditioning for the first of three dorms being constructed after Hurricane Claudette destroyed a large dorm, a staff building and a tabernacle last year. Construction was delayed several months due to heavy rains. Hotel rooms and recreational vehicle connections are available for volunteers. Encampment staff will provide free meals. Volunteers can work through July 5 or a portion of that time. For more information, contact the encampment office at (361) 972-2717.

ETBU economic impact assessed. Officials at East Texas Baptist University have estimated the university contributes more than $173 million to the local economy each year during the 11 months classes are in session. "The Marshall Chamber of Commerce has told us that a dollar turns over seven times before leaving the community," said ETBU President Bob Riley. The dollar amount was calculated by a formula based on figures of ETBU's $20.9 million annual budget; about 1,200 full-time students on campus each month; an estimated $300 per month average local expenditure per student; about 10,000 campus visitors in the last year and an estimated $84 that each visitor spent in the community. Charles Williams, dean of the Fred Hale School of Business, noted 78 percent of ETBU students come from outside of Harrison County, bringing millions of dollars into the area that otherwise would go elsewhere.

Scholarship to help UMHB nursing students. The ForeSight Foundation established a Tomorrow's Leaders Endowed Scholarship for nursing students at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in memory of Byron and Lillian McKibben of Temple.

Scholarship to aid Logsdon students. The remainder of a trust fund established 10 years ago by Ernest and Virginia Westmoreland of Clovis, N.M., has become the corpus of an endowed scholarship benefiting ministerial students at Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon School of Theology. The Westmorelands established the scholarship in 1994 through a trust at the New Mexico Baptist Foundation and received income from the trust until their deaths–she in 1999 and he in April at age 83.

Correction noted. An article in the June 14 issue of the Baptist Standard, "U.S. News & World Report names Baylor among top graduate schools," incorrectly identified the Baylor College of Medicine with Baylor University. The two institutions have not been related for 35 years. Baylor College of Medicine dates to 1900, when it was organized as the University of Dallas Medical Department. In 1903, the name was changed when the college allied with Baylor University in Waco. The college moved to temporary facilities in Houston in 1943, and four years later, moved to its present site at the Texas Medical Center. Baylor College of Medicine established its own identity in 1969 when it separated from Baylor University and became an independent institution.