Around the State_11005

Posted: 1/07/05

Around the State

The Pastoral Care and Counseling office of Baylor Health Care System and the Baptist General Convention of Texas is offering a 14-week course for laypeople preparing them to provide effective, compassionate spiritual care for others. The “Hands on Ministry” course will begin Jan. 20 and continue through April 28. Each session will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the East Room on the basement level of Baylor's Truett Hospital in Dallas. For more information, call (214) 820-4893 or (888) 311-3900. The training fee is $25.

Thirty-four Hardin-Simmons University December graduates were announced as honor graduates. Achieving summa cum laude status were Shaunda Kaye Eady, Danielle Clemens, Justin Tollison, Valeta Tollison, Erin Feldman, Daniel Graves, Deborah McFarland, Amanda Pullen and Lauren Ross. Magna cum laude graduates were Michelle Bailey, Crissandra Cotham, Michelle Covington, Faith Feaster, Rachael Heard, Tava Peralta, Danielle Schell, Susan Summers and Tino Velasquez. Cum laude honors went to D'Anna Brannon, Landon Day, Christina Hannin, Martin Lovvorn, Sarah Biggs, Jessica Conner, Amber Dawes, Nicolette Deveneau, Hilary Gibson, Jocelyn Lewis, Monica Lowe, Stephanie Lowe, Kimberley Mather, Brian McBride, Nathan Muramoto, and William Roberson.

Katrina Esco of Houston, a junior at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, placed first in informative speaking at the Louisana State University-Shreveport Red River Swing Tournament. Twenty-nine schools from throughout the nation competed in the tournament.

Houston Baptist University celebrated its 41st anniversary during a Founder's Day Convocation Dec. 2. Faculty and staff recognized for years of service included Don Looser, 40 years, and Don Byrnes, 35. Celebrating 20 years were Saleim Kahleh and Jon Suter. Debra Berry, Debora Burnett and Rhonda Furr celebrated 15 years with the university. Honored for 10 years of service were Patti Bailey, Eloise Hughes, Steven Key, Melanie Leslie, Anthony Martin, Hugh McClung, Richard Parker, Harold Raley, Dean Riley and Roger Wilhite.

Winners of the Era Miller Writing Contest held at East Texas Baptist University include Daniel Amy, first for prose; Aaron Kelly, second for prose, first for poetry; Benjamin Bryan, third for prose; Michael Shewmaker, second for poetry; and Daniel Spence, third in poetry.

Cassie Hoyer, a junior at Howard Payne University, recently served in Washington, D.C., as an intern for the Alliance for Marriage, a nonprofit organization supporting a proposed constitutional amendment regarding the definition of marriage.

John Brooks, founder and president of FOCUS Inter-national, which sends students to different countries for missions work, will be the guest speaker at Houston Baptist University Jan. 18 and 20. He will speak in Mabee Theater Jan. 18 at 6:30 p.m. and in Glasscock Center at 10:10 a.m Jan. 20. For more information, call (281) 649-3117.

Appointments

Twelve missionaries with Texas ties have been appointed by the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Ben and Christi McGraw will continue to serve in Greenville, where he is a Nehemiah Project church starter. They have three children: Evyn, 7; Luke, 5; and Daniel, 1. Shelley Weaver of Fort Worth serves in New York City as US/C-2 missionary with NAMB's Strategic Focus Cities initiative called New Hope-New York. Weaver works with Metropolitan Association in recruiting and mobilizing Southern Baptist volunteers to help reach the 21 million people in the metro area for Christ through church starts and other ministries. Before beginning her assignment, she was involved with the youth ministry at Travis Avenue Church in Fort Worth. Jack and Janet Allen serve in New Orleans, where he is Nehemiah Project director at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a Texas native. They have two children: Boone, 19; and Amanda, 15. Tim and Elise Bissell serve in Syracuse, N.Y., where he is a church starter. The Texas natives formerly served with the International Mission Board in Russia. They have three children: Caleb, 17; Benjamin, 15; and Bethany, 12. Pamela Cline is a church planter in Southbridge, Mass. A Garland native, she is minister of administration at Newsong Community Church. Paul and Teresa Gomez serve in New York City, where he is a church-planting strategist with the Baptist Convention of New York. An Abilene native, he served First churches in Farmers Branch, Dallas and Colleyville and Crossroads Church in Fort Worth. Phil and Judy Langley serve in Monte Vista, Colo., where he is director of missions and church-starting strategist for Continental Divide Association. He is a Texas native, and both are graduates of Wayland Baptist University.

Anniversary

First Church in Lexington, 150th, Jan. 23. Special recognitions and presentations will be part of the 10:30 a.m. worship service, which will be followed by a catered lunch. Exhibits depicting the church's history will be displayed. Michael Luce is pastor.

Events

First Church in Devers will hold its annual chili cookoff and gospel music showcase Jan. 22 at 5:30 p.m. Groups to perform include The Rileys, The Master's, Jarrod Manning and Destiny. For more information, call (936) 549-7653. Harry McDaniel is pastor.

“Celebrate Life with a Show of Hands” is the theme of First Baptist Church in Belton's Sanctity of Human Life Fair to be held Jan. 23 from noon to 3 p.m. The fair will host booths from area programs and organizations that provide family services including crisis pregnancy, maternity homes, adoption, abuse recovery, disabilities, assistive technologies and services, and free legal help for living wills. Craft activities and puppet shows will be available for children. Andy Davis is pastor.

Deaths

Charles Myers, 91, Dec. 2 in Abilene. He was a longtime chaplain at Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene and pastor the last 44 years at Wingate Church in Abilene. He was a graduate of Howard Payne University and Southwestern Seminary and one of the first certified hospital chaplains in Texas. He established the chaplaincy program at Hendrick in 1957. At his retirement, he was named chaplain emeritus. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy; son, Ed; and sister, Virginia Argenbright.

Frances Drake, 85, Dec. 27 in Lubbock. Her husband, Weldon, was pastor of churches in Whitewright, McKinney, Fort Worth, Corsicana and Hurlwood. She was preceded in death by her husband in 1993. She is survived by daughters, Karen Holt, Susie Barnett, Nancy Stargel; and sons, Jim and Jon.

Glenn McCollum, 75, Dec. 27 in Mexia. A resident of Teague, he had formerly lived in Gregory, Aransas Pass, Bishop, Bremond, Mission, Daisetta, Kyle, Lockhart and Freeport–serving as pastor in many of the communities. He surrendered to ministry at age 18. At the time of his death, he had been minister of visitation and encouragement at First Church in Teague 10 years. He also served numerous area churches as interim pastor. He considered world missions his life purpose and had gone to Jamaica, Australia, Japan and Africa to spread the gospel. He was an avid woodworker and collected barbed wire. He is survived by his wife, Nellie; daughter, Tammie Hall; son, Michael; daughters, Eva Price, Dawna Hyden and Tricia DuBois; sister, Wilma Cast; 12 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Howard Bramlette, 81, Dec. 30 in Tyler. He had been living in an Alzheimer's center since 2001, and he died after being hospitalized for several days with complications from diabetes. He was a graduate of Baylor University, Southwestern Seminary, Indiana University and did further graduate work at Vanderbilt University's Graduate School of Management. During World War II, he served in the South Pacific, the Philippines, where he was decorated for meritorious service and in Japan. He was ordained by Central Church in Jacksonville in 1951. His entire career was devoted to work with college students, beginning as Bible teacher and Baptist Student Secretary at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos. He left there to serve in the student department of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. In 1956, Bramlette was employed by the Baptist Sunday School Board's student department as a consultant with Baptist colleges. In 1966, he became director of placement and promotion for the Education Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. In 1976, he returned to the Sunday School Board (now LifeWay) as editor of the award-winning collegiate magazine, The Student. After retirement, he performed special assignments for several SBC agencies, and was a founding member of the Development Council for the Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va. Throughout his career, Bramlette was a popular speaker on college and university campuses and at student convocations nationwide. He was preceded in death by his sister, Mary Ann Lasseter.

Roberta Tullock, 81, Dec. 30 in Vernon. She was a member of First Church in Vernon. She and her husband served churches from Missouri to Texas. She was preceded in dath by her sisters, Mildred Krems and Patricia Sisk. She is survived by her husband, Sam; daughter, Kim Jones; son, Samuel; twin sister, Rhodella; and six grandchildren.

Ollie Lena Olsen, Jan. 3 in Abilene. She was executive director of the Taylor County chapter of the American Red Cross 20 years until her retirement in 1977. She was a 1935 graduate of Hardin-Simmons University. She was an instructor in English at HSU in 1937-38 prior to teaching in Cincinnati, New York City, Abilene High School and in India. She was a member of First Church in Abilene since 1927. She was preceded in death by her sisters, Claudine Olsen and Regina Lewis; and brother, Julius. She is survived by her brother, Julian Olsen.