Posted: 7/22/05

Chad Glover	Micah Huckaby

ETBU football players share
gospel in the Czech Republic

By Jocelyn Delgado

Communications Intern

For two weeks this summer, two East Texas Baptist University Students traveled to the Czech Republic with nine other student volunteers to minister by sharing the gospel and playing a little football.

Each year, Christian Outreach International sends volunteer missionaries around the world to work in a different type of ministry. This year, students combined their love of football and ministry to show there are many ways to minister to people.

“Why wouldn't the Lord want me to go share the gospel through a talent that he gave me?” asked Micah Huckaby, an ETBU football player.

Missionaries don't always get through to people by just walking up to them and witnessing; they have to find some way to create a common ground, Christian Outreach International Sports Coordinator Lesley LaPlant said.

“Through their sports, they witness to people. It could be to the people playing; it could be to people watching,” she said.

The sports evangelism trip was a first for both Huckaby and teammate Chad Glover.

“My whole goal was to just minister at every opportunity that came my way,” Glover said. “Just to speak truth in the people's lives and tell them this is what Christianity is and, 'Hey, I'm a Christian, and this is what a Christian looks like.'”

Glover encountered roadblocks along his journey. He was without luggage for two days due to an airline mix-up.

Glover's passport had to be rushed because his photos were damaged through the mail system. He received the passport within less than a week of leaving.

Despite complications, Glover said his trip was worth it, because he realized how effective sports ministry is.

“You get to minister to that same group of people for the whole time you're there, and they respect you a whole lot more,” he said. “I can talk until my face is blue about Christianity, but when I get on the field … and show 'em that I can play this game great … they're going to listen to me, and that's a great thing.”

On the field, players formed friendships and worked together as a team. American players joined with the Czech Republic Team, the Pardubice Stallions. Off the field, they worked with children, holding sports clinics and sharing testimonies, and brought gifts to refugee camps trying to reach more people.

“When you go on a mission trip, nothing else matters but ministering,” Glover said.

Missionaries stayed at Emmanuel Conference Center, a recently renovated Christian facility. While there, the players met a group of orphaned children who were staying for a week. The players spent time with the children, sharing testimonies and teaching them about sports.

“Even though they're speaking a different language, … they understand through your eyes how much you love them,” Huckaby said.

Posted: 7/22/05

Volunteers from First Baptist Church in Devine help renovate a house in their comunity. Seventeen homes were renovated during the week through a mininstry that also included Backyard Bible Clubs, discipleship events, and yard-and-street cleaning. (Photos by Danielle Young)

Mission Devine focuses on
community involvement

By George Henson

Staff Writer

DEVINE–About six months ago, the staff at First Baptist Church in Devine decided to make this summer about missions. And they wanted to focus on the local community.

“We have a group going with World Changers, and we have a group going to Mexico to do some construction, but when you do a mission trip, only a handful can be a part of that,” Pastor Glenn Young said.

He wanted to find a way to increase the number of people in his church who are actively involved in missions.

“I asked: 'If we were to go to a town in Mexico of about 5,000 people, what would we do?' Well, we've got about 5,000 people here, so let's do all those things here.”

Volunteers came in all sizes as churches throughout Devine sought to transform the community.

Volunteers worked on 17 homes, conducted three Backyard Bible Clubs and two youth discipleship events, and had special crews dedicated to yard work and street-cleaning throughout the community.

“We've had a hard time totaling up how many people helped, but we know it was more than 200,” Young said. “We had instances where we would be working on a house, and the next thing we knew, their neighbors would be coming over and picking up a brush or a hammer to help,” he said.

Home repairs cost $35,000, including volunteer labor, Young said. Individual home repairs ranged from $1,000 to $3,000.

The church, with about 450 attenders each Sunday, budgeted $2,000 for the project labeled Mission Devine, but contributions throughout the week totaled about $7,500.

Some volunteers used vacation time to help. Work crews divided into three groups to offer as many people as possible the opportunity to participate, Young said. Crews worked from 8 a.m. until noon, noon to 5 p.m. and 5 p.m. until dark. Some worked all three shifts.

Crews also varied in ages. Children as young as 7 scraped paint or picked up trash, and an 80-year-old man worked on a rooftop.

Young said Devine's Methodist church wanted to participate. But since it is primarily an older congregation, it could not offer many construction laborers. Instead, the church provided lunch each day for volunteers.

“We felt it was important that it not be tied to our church, but be a community effort,” he said. While First Baptist provided project leadership and many of the volunteers, members of the Assembly of God, Nazarene, Methodist, Catholic and Episcopal churches also participated.

“It has been a real blessing for the town to see all the churches working together on this in an ecumenical effort. 'Ecumenical' often means watered-down doctrine, but there is nothing watered down about swinging a hammer,” Young said.

The week was such a success, it will become an annual event, with the possibility of smaller projects throughout the year.

Joy from those on the receiving end of the ministry was a great encouragement, Young said.

“An elderly Hispanic couple had obviously taken a great deal of pride in maintaining their home and lawn for many years, but just weren't physically and financially able to do it anymore,” Young said. “The lady told us her husband had been worried about that, but she had told him: 'Don't worry. The Lord will provide.'

“She told us, 'I told him that last week, and now this week you came.'”

Posted: 7/22/05

DOWN HOME:
Worship wars: 'We' can overcome

I stumbled into the worship wars.

On July 30, 1997, I revealed that my daughter Molly, then 10, had absolutely no idea what I meant when I hinted she might earn a “star” in her “crown” if she agreed to visit prospects for our church with me.

Kids these days. They haven't heard of, much less sung from, the lovely 1956 Baptist Hymnal. Molly never intoned the plaintive question, “Will there be any stars, any stars in my crown?”

So, I wrote a column lamenting the loss–Baptist children and teenagers are missing a significant spiritual dimension because they're not growing up on the great old hymns we sang in the halcyon days of my youth. Or maybe I'm just an old coot. Hymnologically speaking, of course.

The next week, my mailbox exploded.

The first wave of letters, mostly written in shaky longhand, thanked me for taking up the cause against “those shallow so-called praise choruses.” If messengers had to be 70 years old to vote at the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting, I could've been elected president.

The second wave, mostly typed on church letterhead, lambasted me for rejecting the greatest development in church history since A.B. Dick invented the mimeograph machine. If BGCT messengers had to be either under 35 or a minister of music to vote, I would've been elected “most likely to roast like toast.”

Both sides got me wrong. I love hymns. I could sing from the Baptist Hymnal “'Till We All Get to Heaven.” The organ is divinely inspired. I'm sad that my children don't share the canon of hymnody that has informed my theology, enriched my soul and sustained my spirit.

But I also appreciate much of the praise music that has emerged in recent years. Sure, some of it is shallow, and far too much is redundant. Yet the praise-and-worship movement has offered some fervent, Christ-focused, inspirational music.

The worship wars have produced tragic consequences in the Baptist home–as if we needed even more strife and division. They've split churches and laid to waste the ministries of too many pastors and worship leaders.

Baylor University/Truett Seminary professor Terry York offers sound advice for the way out of our worship wars: “When we come together in community, it's not about me. It's about us.”

Admittedly, that would spell the end to some of the more narcissistic “me 'n' Jesus” praise tunes, whose most ubiquitous words are “I,” “me” and “my.” It also would point us back to the heart of worship–not to satisfy individual ecclesiastical desires, but to join with the people we love to glorify God and strengthen the community of believers.

When we gather for worship, let's practice spiritual generosity. We are blessed best by blessing others. We grow by giving.

So, I'll join you in singing “Jesus, Draw Me Close,” and you can harmonize with me on “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”

–Marv Knox

Posted: 7/22/05

EDITORIAL:
Will Bush supporters receive payoff?

Here's why so many people with strong opinions spent so much money and worked so hard during the last presidential election: Presidents nominate Supreme Court justices.

Presidents and members of Congress, powerful as they are, come and go. But Supreme Court justices serve on and on and on for decades, and their decisions determine how Americans live for generations.

So, while movers and shakers may have been talking about George W. Bush when they worked for his re-election, they were thinking about William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O'Connor, the justices most likely to retire during this presidential term.

The opportunity to nominate a successor to Chief Justice Rehnquist would be a presidential plum, given the influence of the position. But Rehnquist's successor–at least one nominated by a conservative president–won't move the court much one way or the other. Rehnquist sits solidly on the right side of the court, very close by Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas and near Anthony Kennedy.

But nominating O'Connor's successor–that's the chance of a presidential lifetime. She's been the swing vote in more decisions than any other justice during the past quarter-century. Many times, she's sided with the quartet of conservatives to her right. But sometimes, she's voted with David Souter, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Paul Stevens on her left. An ideological justice could tip the balance of the court for decades.

Small wonder religious and social conservatives–the firm base of Bush's political support–let it be known their votes came with a pricetag: Supreme Court justices. Although the president never will seek another elective office, as far as these folks are concerned, he's politically dead in the water if he doesn't come through with nominees who will advance their cause.

Abortion will be Cause 1. Roe vs. Wade, the decision that recognized the constitutional right to abortion, may be the most contentious court case since the Civil War. Given the right circumstances, a new vote paired with Rehnquist, Scalia, Thomas and, probably, Kennedy could outlaw abortion.

Gay marriage also will be a hot topic. With so many anti-gay-marriage initiatives afoot, paired against seeming unrelenting pressure to legalize gay marriage, the courts eventually will be flooded with gay-marriage cases. The ultimate outcome will define marriage in this country for generations.

Another important issue should be religious liberty and the separation of church and state. Ironically, the strongest assault on church-state separation comes from “strict constructionist” justices such as Thomas and Scalia. They say the court should limit its rulings to the specific wording of the Constitution and the original intent of its framers. Yet they clearly ignore the intent of Thomas Jefferson, who penned the phrase “wall of separation” to describe the relationship of church and state. They also ignore, James Madison, father of the Constitution, who envisioned robust protection of free exercise of religion. (Ironically, the very people who argue for limited government are the ones who advocate for ways that government can involve itself in religion. You'd think the intellectuals who don't trust government would lead the charge to tell government to butt out of the church's business.)

All this is to say the nomination of John Roberts is tremendously significant. Nomi-nated at age 50, he conceivably could sit on the high court 30 or more years.

Although he has been a high-profile Washington lawyer and judge for two decades, his paper trail on key issues is limited. Working in the Reagan administration, he wrote a legal brief stating, “… we continue to believe that Roe was wrongly decided and should be overruled.” But as an appellate judicial nominee, he said he conscientiously could abide by legal precedent set by Roe. Internet searches turned up no examples of Roberts' positions on gay-marriage and very little on church-state.

In the past, Roberts has received bipartisan support. Carter and Clinton judicial nominees supported his appointment to the appellate court. Colleagues say he is low-key and self-deprecating. They say he has not been politically involved and is fair and honorable.

The court needs a common-sense centrist judge who can help unite rather than fragment the nation. Given the tenor of the times, that seems like an almost-impossible task.

People of faith should pray the process will yield such a justice, whether or not that person is Roberts. And we should pray for the protection of religious liberty and church-state separation.

Posted: 7/22/05

El Paso Baptist volunteers serve in Mexico City Director of Missions Josue Valerio led church leaders from El Paso Baptist Associations on a mission trip to Mexico City. The group participated in personal evangelism, Bible studies, prayerwalks, training events, children's outreach activities and counseling in partnership with Mexican Baptists. Fifty-four Mexico City residents made professions of faith in Christ. El Paso Baptists also established 37 outreach Bible studies and made 600 contacts and gospel presentations.

Posted: 7/22/05

LifeCall Missions launched to involve volunteers

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS–Committed to the idea that God leads people into service as a lifetime calling rather than a one-time event, the Baptist General Convention of Missions Equipping Center has launched LifeCall Missions, a volunteer missions program for Texas Baptists of all ages.

The effort is meant to enlist, encourage and equip volunteers for mission work, said Jim Young, director of the BGCT Missions Equipping Center.

Mission Service Corps, a Southern Baptist Convention program for mission volunteers, will continue to be facilitated through the BGCT Missions Equipping Center under the LifeCall umbrella. More than 1,200 Texas Baptists serve as Mission Service Corps volunteers.

LifeCall also gives non-SBC-affiliated BGCT churches an option for volunteer mission work.

LifeCall is designed to reinforce the idea that individuals in ministry serve as church representatives reaching out to their communities, said Cecil Deadman, associate director of the BGCT Missions Equipping Center.

Texas Baptists can apply to be LifeCall missionaries and receive a certificate of affirmation from the BGCT. Some LifeCall applicants will undergo criminal and clergy sexual misconduct checks.

Congregations are encouraged to hold commissioning services for LifeCall missionaries to affirm their ministry by helping churches identify what mission workers of their congregations are doing, Deadman said.

While churches will be the primary recruiters of LifeCall candidates, 40 LifeCall advocates stationed across Texas can help individuals match their talents with ministry opportunities.

“We're hoping to create a culture of a missions lifestyle,” Young said.

The BGCT commits to provide prayer support, encouragement, mentors and training events for short- and long-term LifeCall missionaries. Convention-affirmed volunteers serving between four months and two years must be members of a BGCT-affiliated church and serve through a BGCT effort. Short-term LifeCall servants can minister in a variety of work, such as a food pantry, mission trip or backyard Bible club.

LifeCall urges Texas Baptists to serve as youth and increase participation in missions incrementally as they grow older. Young people may start by helping during Vacation Bible School, then help a pre-teen camp and eventually serve in a student exchange program with another congregation within a Baptist association.

Participation in mission work creates a passion to expand God's kingdom, as Christians are encouraged by following God's will, Young said.

“If you're involved in missions, it becomes more than a theoretical thing that happens over there,” he said. “The church becomes a missionary force.”

For more information, contact the BGCT Missions Equipping Center at (888) 311-3900.

Posted: 7/22/05

On the Move

Drew Allen to Calvary Church in Mexia as interim minister to youth/students.

Jack Boggs has resigned as pastor of First Church in Matador.

Clay Carter to First Church in Perryton as youth/education minister from McKinney Street Church in Denton, where he was youth minister.

Bryan Cottrell has resigned as pastor of Mosheim Church in Valley Mills.

Allan Cox to Holly Brook Church in Hawkins as interim music director.

James Crittenden to Southmont Church in Denton as business administrator.

Tim Fatheree to Indian Hills Church in Grand Prairie as youth and singles minister.

Ken Flowers to Trinity Church in Billings, Mont., as interim pastor.

Joni Gibson has resigned as discipleship and program pastor at Trinity Church in San Antonio.

Jena Hairston has resigned as minister of music at First Church in Hearne.

Darren Ingram has resigned as youth pastor at Sadler Church in Sadler.

Barry Keldie to Providence Church in Little Elm as pastor from The Village in Highland Village, where he was youth minister.

Bryan Maine to First Church in Lakeside as pastor.

Gary Martin to First Church in Poteet as pastor.

Greg Mathews to Southside Church in Jacksonville, Fla., as minister of youth from Indian Hills Church in Grand Prairie.

Mike Midkiff to Oak Grove Church in Harleton as pastor.

Chris Nash to First Church in Hearne as minister of youth.

Dana Opper to Indian Hills Church in Grand Prairie as children's minister.

Nicholas Peveto to Flatonia Church in Flatonia as youth and children's pastor.

Rob Walls to Walnut Springs Church in Walnut Springs as pastor.

Posted: 7/22/05

Reyes will not seek second
term as BGCT president

By Marv Knox

Editor

Albert Reyes will not seek a second one-year term as president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Reyes will preside over the BGCT annual meeting in Austin Nov. 13-14, but he won't be a nominee for a traditional second term when Texas Baptists elect a new leader.

“It has been nothing less than a joy to serve as president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas this year. It has been an outstanding experience,” Reyes said. He particularly has enjoyed working alongside BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade and the convention's two vice presidents, Michael Bell and Stacy Conner, he added.

Reyes noted this is his second year as a convention officer. He was first vice president last year.

Reyes cited several reasons for his decision.

“I would like to continue the pattern of sharing leadership with other Texas Baptists,” he said. “We have many, many Texas Baptist leaders who could serve that role.”

Last year's president, Ken Hall, stepped down after one term, making room for other leaders. Hall's decision broke a 27-year string of multiple-term presidencies.

In addition, Reyes is satisfied that “we have accomplished what we set out to do in 2004,” he said. Early that year, Hall, Reyes and Second Vice President Dennis Young “sought to speak a prophetic message to the Texas Baptist family … to call us to change and transformation.” They set in motion a process to amend the BGCT constitution and bylaws, adopt new mission/vision statements and reorganize the convention's program staff.

He acknowledged that some constituents expressed concerns about the changes–particularly statewide representation on the BGCT Executive Board, which would be reduced from more than 230 members to 90 members.

“We have responded to the issues,” he said. “I believe we have addressed these to the best of our ability. What I'm hearing is we've answered the questions and responded to the needs.”

The proposed constitutional changes help set the tone for the convention's responsiveness to Texas Baptists and their churches, he said. “We need accountability and responsiveness to the churches,” he explained, asserting the proposed changes will make accountability and responsiveness part of the convention's fabric.

Another reason for Reyes' decision to step down after one year as convention president is the demand on his time as president of Baptist University of the Americas. BUA is involved in purchasing acreage for a new campus, likely to be completed this fall, he noted. He's also helping the school manage growing enrollment, conduct an active fund-raising campaign, develop new educational programs and process an accreditation feasibility study for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Looking back on his term as BGCT president, Reyes reflected on several key tasks he hoped to lead Texas Baptists in accomplishing:

“Conclude the governance changes,” which are to be incorporated, pending a second favorable vote on constitutional amendments in November.

He praised Wesley Shotwell, chairman of the committee responsible for revising the BGCT constitution and bylaws, for listening to and addressing Texas Baptists' concerns.

“We've studied the issues, listened and developed the most equitable response,” he said. “What's equally important as the final draft is the way we've acted together as a family” to resolve key issues.

“Encourage the reorganization of (BGCT) staff and continue the vision we started in 2004.”

“I think our churches really want that,” he said. “Our churches want to be served, listened to, resourced and to be part of something larger than themselves.

“This will require a responsive structure … a repositioned and reorganized staff. I'm hopeful we'll see the fruits of reorganization this year and next.”

“Refocus our attention on our original impetus for being–missions.”

“We have to make sure we don't get distracted,” he noted. Support for missions comes from many segments of Texas Baptist life, he added.

“Re-energize our commitment to the Cooperative Program,” the convention's unified budget.

Reyes formed a statewide council to support the Cooperative Program. “A group of pastors has been energized by a greater interest in and commitment to the Cooperative Program. They're leading their churches and encouraging their peers. It's been a joy to witness the excitement generated,” he said, noting the emphasis will spread throughout the convention.

“Calling out and preparing workers for the field,” highlighted by formation of the BGCT Hispanic Education Task Force. “The group that needs the most help right now is the Hispanic folks in our state,” he said, pointing to Hispanic high school dropout rates as high as 60 percent.

“What would happen if Texas Baptists gained a reputation in the public venue that we don't allow our kids–Anglo, African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American–to drop out?” he asked. “We'd gain stature in our communities. That may come to reality.”

Looking forward, Reyes predicted the changes that have taken place in the past couple of years created an unusual opportunity for advancement.

He cited BGCT church-planting efforts and “bringing the presence of Christ and the gospel message to people,” as well as capitalizing on the global migration of people that has given Texas Baptists the opportunity to engage in missions not only around the world but next door.

Through BGCT missions ventures and institutions, “we have an opportunity to touch in an incarnational, holistic way the needs of the poor, orphans, families,” he said.

If Texas Baptists follow through and reorganize properly, what happens next will shape the BGCT and Texas for decades, Reyes predicted. He explained by noting the BGCT's previous major reorganization occurred more than 40 years ago, and it still impacts the convention.

“We should think about diversity, about looking like our state,” he urged. “Every decision we make, every position created, every structural change will have an impact. We should think about how we staff ourselves so we position ourselves to reach the future.

“Positioning ourselves to serve the churches has got to be central to our reorganization. We have to take on the mindset of servant leadership and say, 'What can we do for you?' Our churches are ready.”

And the BGCT must set strategic priorities, so that it keeps on working together to accomplish its mission, he said.

“Let's get to work. Our missions will be maximized as we increase collaboration. … No church is an island. Together, we can do more than we can ever do apart.”

Posted: 7/22/05

Wichita Falls volunteers plant seedlings,
gospel seeds in South Africa

By George Henson

Staff Writer

WICHITA FALLS–Members of First Baptist Church in Wichita Falls not only planted seedlings to nourish bodies, but also left seeds of evangelism to transform souls in South Africa.

More than 100 church members journeyed from North Texas to Johannesburg, where they boarded a bus for another four and a half hours to reach White River, South Africa.

With White River as the base of operations, the Texans joined with a California church group to plant 16,458 gardens within a 100-mile radius.

Both groups took the trip to Africa as part of Dream for Africa movement founded by Bruce Wilkinson, author of The Prayer of Jabez. The churches participated in the Never Ending Gardens portion of the program.

Jennifer Garner of Wichita Falls carries a group of seedlings to the planting beds.First Baptist Church in Wichita Falls sent 108 volunteers to South Africa to plant gardens to help fight the hunger there. (Photos by Eric Garner)

After a day of training, the participants broke into teams of seven to 10 people, who worked with Africans to plant gardens. Some were community gardens, and some were small plots to serve individual families, Minister of Education Walter Gui-llaume reported.

Teams planted gardens with beets, cabbage, lettuce and spinach. Seedlings, not seeds, were planted to expedite the process of getting food to the people. Planting was not done with tilling machines but with hand tools such as picks, hoes and rakes.

“We tried to meet real physical needs while sharing the gospel to meet spiritual needs as well,” Guillaume said. Another facet of the 10-day mission trip was to encourage Christians in the area.

Team members felt an “overwhelming sense of the demonic” in the area, Guillaume said. While he was planting one garden, he could hear the reverberation of drums that villagers told him were part of a witchcraft ritual being held 50 yards away.

Another lasting impression that stayed with Guillaume was the state of the family in Africa.

“There has been a total degeneration of the family unit. The father for the most part is completely absent–he just doesn't exist. He may have died from AIDS, or he may be at the beer hall, but regardless, he wasn't around,” Guillaume said.

AIDS has so ravaged the nation that only children inhabited many of the houses where the teams planted gardens, with no adults living in the huts. Many others contained only children and an elderly woman or man, looked upon as grandparents, whether or not there was any blood relation.

While many studies say that 1 in 4 people are HIV-infected or have AIDS, church leaders in the area believe that 1 in 3 may be a closer approximation, Gui-llaume said.

“We're talking about homes with door frames without doors and window frames without glass –places we wouldn't store our lawn mowers–but are the homes for people,” Guillaume said.

Participants will not soon forget the mission trip, he added.

“It's impacted them in a huge way,” he said. “Many will go back, and others who did not go this time will go when we return. Others will now be supporting financially the missionaries we met there.”

Posted: 7/22/05

TOGETHER:
Davis Offering makes lasting impact

In a few weeks, the women in your church likely will talk about the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions. Every year, Texas Baptists give almost $5 million over and above our regular church budget gifts to make an impact on the needs of Texas. Our WMU leaders have worked especially hard to help Texas Baptists be on the cutting edge of mission advance.

The apartment ministry movement, Rio Grande River Ministry, college scholarships for ethnic students and the surge in church starts in Texas all are trophies for the vision of Texas Baptist women. While continuing to support these efforts, Texas WMU is challenging us with stories about the rise of cowboy churches, about partnership efforts in New England, about training and linking people involved in innovative church plants and responding to the new realities in Texas.

Executive Director BGCT Executive Board

When you support our missions offering, you will help prepare training materials to help our church members work directly with at-risk children, youth and families in crisis. Children live near you who do not even know the name of Jesus except as a curse word.

Recently, a kindergarten child discovered her lunch didn't have to come from the dumpster behind the Italian restaurant next to her family's apartment. Because some people in the school cared for her, she got the kind of assistance that is available. Would you know how to help long term with a family in desperate need? That's why WMU is preparing curriculum to help train us to respond to critical needs all about us, including how to access resources.

Did you know that in this state with so much wealth, one of every five children lives in poverty and one in four has no medical insurance? Texas ranks 48th on a list of the best states to raise a child. We are blessed with millions of people who are highly motivated and work very hard, many of them first-generation immigrants. We must learn how to help all our children get the best basic education possible, increase the high school graduation rate substantially and prepare the next generation of leaders for Texas.

One of the ways you can help is to be generous in your giving to the Mary Hill Davis Offering. No gift is too much, and none too small. It all can be translated into putting the heart of Jesus up next to a lonely, frightened, hungry and lost child or even an entire family.

Also, help your church minister to the neediest among us. If not much is being done, don't criticize. Get involved. Our Texas WMU, Texas Baptist Men and BGCT staff can help you get training materials and get connected to activities that will make a present and eternal difference in somebody's life.

We have great BGCT churches. Where God is at work, incredible things are happening. We have grown 3.8 percent in resident membership, 7.7 percent in worship attendance and 2.3 percent in Sunday school attendance. Even though over the past seven years we have lost 830 congregations to another convention–the great majority of those before 2002–we have a net gain of 279 churches since 2000. One of the results is that we have become a younger and a more ethnically diverse convention.

And among the churches related to us, we have increased our missions giving by 14.8 percent. Our Cooperative Program giving is moving back into an upward swing. We are going forward because of the faithfulness of the churches of this convention and the goodness of God to us.

All glory be to God.

Posted: 7/22/05

El Paso store offers needy
women on-the-job training

By Jocelyn Delgado

Communications Intern

EL PASO–A new grocery store opened in El Paso, but it's not in business to make money. Its goal is to provide job training for women seeking to turn their lives around.

The Christian Women's Job Corps of El Paso opened Mi Tiendita Favorita–My Favorite Little Store–to give graduates of its program a practical means to continue their training.

It's the first such store of its kind in the nation operated by Christian Women's Job Corps, a ministry of Woman's Missionary Union. Texas Baptists help support the program through gifts to the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions.

The store aims to offer products as a full grocery store would. Customers can find a variety of produce, grocery and household goods at lower prices.

Since it's a nonprofit organization, profits go toward maintaining the store.

Last February, Coordinator Paula Jeser brainstormed with Randy Rankin, president of Lee and Beulah Moor Children's Home, to find a way to make sure her graduates got jobs. Although the school offered job training, students rarely continued their education to receive a high school diploma equivalency certificate. In the past year, Jeser only knew of two graduates who had earned a diploma.

For 13 weeks, Jeser tried offering classes to prepare for high school diploma equivalency exams, but students couldn't get beyond the first stage, she said. On average, women come to the program with a third grade education, she said.

Companies wouldn't hire students without a diploma, so Jeser and Rankin found a loophole. Working at the grocery store, women would receive on-the-job training required for employment.

Four months ago, the El Paso Empowerment Zone gave the children's home $150,000. The children's home in turn donated the money to build the 1,200-square-foot store and stock its shelves.

Local retail stores agreed to hire students after they have worked 20 hours a week for a year. One local real estate manager's association approached Jeser with a plan to offer free apartment management training so woman had more options.

During the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the store, Jeser gave graduates butterfly pins to signify their transformation.

The women came in as an egg on a leaf, as they hatched into caterpillars they began to learn, and finally transformed into butterflies, she said.

“Now they're going to spread their wings, and we're going to watch them fly,” she said.

Posted: 7/22/05

Lubbock ministry meets needs, changes lives

By Jocelyn Delgado

Communications Intern

LUBBOCK–Soon after graduating high school, Tanji Lamar was pregnant and living in an abusive relationship. She always planned to attend college, but after seven years, she thought it never would happen.

Depressed, angry and not knowing what else to do, Lamar decided to follow her stepmother's advice and enroll in Christian Women's Job Corps.

“At first, I didn't want to come, because I felt like a failure,” Lamar said. “I was in a miserable situation.”

She arrived at the Living and Learning Center of My Father's House-Lubbock without an appointment and signed up for Christian Women's Job Corps. Upon graduating from the program in May, Lamar had a plan and enrolled in South Plains College to study medical transcription.

Christian Women's Job Corps is a ministry of Woman's Missionary Union of Texas, supported through gifts to the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions. The Baptist General Convention of Texas helped finance the development of the Living and Learning Center of My Father's House-Lubbock, and the BGCT Church Facilities Center designed it.

Lamar benefited from My Father's House-Lubbock's growing ministry. The nonprofit organization recently received enough money to build a black iron security fence around its four-acre complex and add a residential building with 18 two-bedroom apartments.

After raising funds for the fence, the center had twice the amount originally needed. God blessed by providing money, said Shirley Madden, executive director of My Father's House-Lubbock. Now leaders are looking to add a counseling center and equipment for laundering services. A counseling center would cost $45,000 to operate for one year.

“Women that we work with are significantly burdened with their history,” Madden said. The center “would help them heal from a lot of that dysfunction,” she explained.

Recently, My Father's House-Lubbock partnered with Texas Tech University's medical school to begin offering daily triage health care for students and their children.

Aside from attending classes, students help keep the campus running smoothly by working for laundering services, the daycare center and the housekeeping staff.

This three-month vocational school offers classes to prepare women not just for a career but for life.

My Father's House-Lubbock offers communication classes in which women learn how to talk to someone without getting angry or how to establish personal boundaries, said Martha Head, the house's assistant director.

The mission is to help women in need of mental, emotional, spiritual, educational and vocational support, Head said. Students benefit from all the school has to offer free of charge, but it is not just another shelter.

“It's about women who want to change,” Head said.