Posted: 11/02/07

More than 100 profess faith
in Christ during CityReach

By John Hall

Texas Baptists Communications

AMARILLO—While children ran around, bounced in inflatable castles, played basketball, tossed Frisbees and scaled a climbing wall, a young man across the street quietly smiled as he received The Gift.

That’s the name of the Bible translation a volunteer from CityChurch of Amarillo gave him as he heard the Christian plan of salvation. The pair closed their eyes in prayer, and then they embraced in celebration of a new life in Christ.

A CityChurch of Amarillo volunteer shares the gospel with a block party participant during CityReach, an evangelistic emphasis held in conjunction with the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting. (BGCT Photo/John Hall)

The young man was one of more than 100 people who professed faith in Christ during Baptist General Convention of Texas-sponsored City-Reach evangelistic activities. More than a dozen events—scheduled in conjunction with the BGCT annual meeting—included block parties, prayerwalking and prison ministry.

Gerald Davis, a BGCT specialist who led City-Reach, celebrated the additions to God’s kingdom and the evangelistic efforts that took place in the Amarillo area.

“We’re igniting churches in the area to be more evangelistic,” he said. “I think that’s what this effort is all about.”

John Shelton, who led an Inner City Evan-gelism team, said people in Amarillo are hungry for the gospel. They are hurting and looking for answers to life’s big questions. When they hear about Christ, they are drawn to him, Shelton said.

Shelton’s team walked streets in Amarillo known for their high crime rate and gang activity, introducing people to Christ. Team members began by striking up conversations and looked for opportunities to share their faith. More than 70 professions of faith came as a result of the team’s actions.

Christ calls his followers to share the good news about him, Davis said.

“We’re commanded to do it,” he said.

“When we don’t do it, we’re disobedient.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 11/02/07

Missions take forefront among
ministry awards recipients

By Marv Knox & Ken Camp

Editor & Managing Editor

AMARILLO—Passion for missions provided the theme of the 2007 Texas Baptist Ministry Awards, presented during the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting in Amarillo.

Elmin Howell accepted the W. Winfred Moore Award for lifetime ministry achievement. Cindy and Dennis Wiles took the George W. Truett Award for ministerial excellence. And Dick Hurst—who was unable to attend—was named the recipient of the Marie Mathis Award for lay ministry.

Cindy and Dennis Wiles	Elmin Howell

Baylor University and the Baptist Standard confer the awards annually to recognize excellent ministers and to highlight role models for ministry. They present the awards during Truett Theological Seminary’s banquet at the BGCT meeting.

Howell’s philosophy of ministry centers on a simple conviction—the spiritual needs of the world are too great to be met by preachers alone. From the colonias along the Rio Grande to an urban neighborhood in transition, he has focused on mobilizing all God’s people—clergy and laity—for missions and ministry.

In the spring of 1968, Howell—a former coach—put his team-building ability to the test when he accepted the challenge of launching a ministry to meet spiritual and physical needs along both sides of the Texas/Mexico border. Initially, the BGCT and its State Missions Commission envisioned a two- or three-year program. Howell led what came to be known as River Ministry 30 years, coordinating the work of more than 10,000 volunteers a year much of that time.

During his tenure as director, River Ministry started 706 churches and two Baptist associations on the Mexico side of the Rio Grande, established six children’s homes and built 67 health clinics. Under Howell’s leadership, River Ministry also developed a volunteer field staff of 45 regional consultants, and about 900 summer missionaries served in hands-on ministry along the border.

After he retired from the BGCT Executive Board staff, Howell discovered 40,000 people representing nine ethnic groups lived within a five-mile radius of Shiloh Terrace Baptist Church in Dallas, where he and his wife, Betty, are members. He also found out more than half lacked medical insurance.

In response, the church helped start Mission East Dallas, and Howell served for a time as president of the nonprofit ministry’s board of directors. Mission East Dallas has provided health care to more than 5,000 patients in eastern Dallas County, and at least 600 people have come to faith in Christ through its ministries.

The Moore Award recognizes a Texas Baptist minister, in any area of specialization, for a lifetime achievement in ministry. A minister meriting consideration should have a cumulative record of service that exemplifies commitment, stability and effectiveness.

Just about everyone who knows Cindy and Dennis Wiles associates them with two passions—church and missions. So, it’s no surprise they would lead a movement to equip congregations for hands-on missions. She is executive director and he is chairman of the board of the Global Connection Partnership Network, which helps churches train, send and support missionaries.

Cindy Falkner and Dennis Wiles intended to pursue careers in medicine when they met as students at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. But as their love blossomed, God revealed new plans. After they married in 1981, they headed to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary to prepare for ministry in local churches.

Along the way, they have served Jimtown Baptist Church in Jimtown, Okla.; First Baptist Church in Mertens; Southside Baptist Church in Tyler; Calvary Baptist Church in Garland; First Baptist Church in Huntsville, Ala.; and First Baptist Church in Arlington, where he currently is pastor. In every church, he has provided pastoral direction to guide members toward missions, and she has committed herself to missions education, action and support.

Under the Wileses’ leadership, First Baptist in Arlington has created a department, Global Ministries, that has sent mission teams to New York City, Costa Rica, Mexico, Washington state, San Antonio, Niger, Guinea, Cuba, Southeast Asia, Senegal, Macedonia, Russia, France, Alaska and Switzerland.

Now, working through the Global Connection Partnership Network, First Baptist in Arlington has appointed two overseas missionaries. Cottonwood Baptist Church in Dublin also is sending a missionary family abroad through GCPN, and more than 10 candidates are in the organization’s missionary pipeline.

The Truett Award recognizes a Texas Baptist minister, in any area of specialization, for a singular ministry achievement in the recent past. Achievements meriting consideration combine and exemplify imagination, leadership and effectiveness.

Hurst enjoyed a happy reunion in Eastern Europe this fall. He spent time with Denis, a little boy from Macedonia who has a healthy heart, thanks to Hurst’s medical expertise and Christian compassion. Hurst first met Denis a couple of years ago, when the Tyler physician traveled to the boy’s home in the backwater of the Balkans and realized Denis suffered from a congenital heart defect.

So, he came home and raised funds for Denis and his mother to travel to Bulgaria, where the boy underwent heart surgery. Now, he’s a “run and go” child.

Denis is but one of countless people whose lives—and eternities—have been changed by encounters with Hurst. Shortly after graduating from Baylor Medical School, Hurst opened a family medicine practice in Tyler, where he raised a family and also taught Sunday school and served as a deacon in First Baptist Church.

Down through the years and around the globe, one of Hurst’s defining characteristics has been his passion for missions and commitment to share the gospel in some of the world’s “hard places.” Hurst, a Vietnam veteran, has been to Iraq seven times, and his work on behalf of Kurdish refugees placed him on Saddam Hussein’s “hit list.” He also has visited Kosova seven times.

Other mission trips have taken him to Brazil, Thailand, Iran, Indonesia, Syria, Northern Ireland, Albania, Macedonia, the Chechnya region of Russia and throughout other parts of Europe. Hurst has shown a proclivity not only for providing healthcare to some of the world’s poorest people, but also making sure they have food and clothing and, quite often, church houses—donated and delivered in the name of Christ.

Closer to home, Hurst has served on the Tyler Race Relations Task Force, the Texas State Board for Jail Standards and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Coordinating Council. He also has been a volunteer leader at the Smith County Juvenile Center.

The Mathis Award recognizes a Texas Baptist layperson for a recent singular or lifetime ministry achievement. A layperson meriting consideration should have achievements that combine and exemplify imagination, leadership and effectiveness or whose cumulative record of service exemplifies commitment, stability and effectiveness.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 11/02/07

WMU board discusses transition period,
plans to select interim executive director

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

AMARILLO —The Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas board of directors may have started their meeting with uneasiness about the future, but they ended on a positive note about ongoing missions work around the state—and the hope of having an interim executive director-treasurer for the missions organization in place by December.

The board began its business session with words of encouragement from a Baptist General Convention of Texas representative and Texas WMU President Nelda Taylor concerning the Oct. 16 resignation of Texas WMU Executive Director-Treasurer Carolyn Porterfield.

Taylor introduced Wayne Shuffield, director of the BGCT missions, evangelism and ministry area, to provide encouragement during the time of transition.

“We’re both in transition together, but we’re going to be OK because we’re doing God’s work, and he’s still working in the world,” Shuffield said. “We’ll stand hand-in-hand, shoulder-to-shoulder with you in whatever we have to do. I pledge to you to continue to work together, because there are people in our Judeas and Samarias who need to hear about Jesus.”

During the transition, Taylor challenged WMU leaders to claim the promises of Ecclesiastes 11:5—“Just as you’ll never understand the mystery of life forming in a pregnant woman, so you’ll never understand the mystery at work in all that God does.”

“God does things differently, but he is always in control,” Taylor said. “WMU of Texas is about the work of God, not any one person. If you feel discouraged during this time, God provides the grace to either endure or enjoy.”

The board learned WMU leaders will form a job description for an interim director, and they hope to have an interim leader in place by December. Board member Nina Pinkston of Fort Worth will help provide direction in the WMU office during November.

Reports from staff members included an update on the Texas WMU partnership with Texas Baptist Men for water purification efforts and disaster relief in terms of e-mail prayer alerts. Other updates included a report on a partnership with Montana Southern Baptist Women for leadership training.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 11/02/07

WMU annual meeting features
theme of ‘shaping’ for God’s purpose

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

MARILLO—With a backdrop of terracotta and colorful glazed pottery, Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas celebrated another year of missions endeavors during its annual meeting, held in conjunction with the Baptist General Con-vention of Texas in Amarillo.

Centered on the theme “Shaped for His Purpose,” the 127th annual meeting featured testimonies that showed individuals being shaped to do God’s work and how that work is being carried out in around the world.

Texas WMU officers elected at the missions organization’s annual meeting are (front) Nelda Taylor of Gonzales, president; (left to right) Suzy Wall of Canyon, second vice president; Anna Zimmer of Kingwood, recording secretary; Frankie Harvey of Nacogdoches, first vice president; and Jo Lee of San Antonio, third vice president. (PHOTO/Eric Guel)

Texas WMU President Nelda Taylor made reference to the pottery and related it to believers.

“We, too, are earthen vessels shaped by God for his purpose,” she said. “We are vessels possessing great power through the Holy Spirit. We each have been molded by the Potter’s hands and have been designed for a purpose—to love people in Jesus’ name.”

Bea Mesquias of Harlingen described her mission trip to Moldova, which God laid on her heart after reading the WMU magazine, Mosaic. God showed his provision by preparing her to speak to the people, she reported.

Suzy Wall of Canyon talked about her experience at a Discovery camp with children from various countries—a week that taught her to use her own talents and gifts to do God’s work, she said.

Frankie Harvey of Nacogdo-ches reported on the annual Sisters Who Care Leadership Conference, an effort to teach African-American women about missions and introduce them to missions resources for their churches. This year’s conference included a track for teen girls, and 55 attended, with two making professions of faith in Christ, she noted.

“This may be planned by African-American women, but our goal is to minister to all women, inside and outside the body of Christ,” Harvey said. “These conferences have helped us touch more than 1,000 women across Texas.”

Texas Baptist Men told how their partnership with WMU in a water purification effort called Agua de Vida is helping reach people across the world and meet an important need.

Dick Talley, volunteer re-cruiter coordinator with TBM, explained the drip filters that volunteers have taken to 32 countries have made an impact not only on the health of residents, but also on their spirituality as they have an opportunity to link the purification process to salvation through Christ.

“These filters have changed the way we do ministry with our water program, to share the gospel,” said Talley. “We can use those filters to reach the world for Jesus Christ.”

The partnership with WMU, TBM Executive Director Leo Smith noted, is enabling the program to reach more people and impact the kingdom of God in greater ways.

“What will God do to shape WMU to meet the new challenges ahead? God is not through shaping you … making you more on track with him,” Smith said. “This is a team effort, and we’re committed to that. We’re seeing now how we can work together to do good things.”

Smith described benefits WMU has provided through funding for projects like the first Hispanic Royal Ambas-sadors camp held last summer, attended by 80 boys—including 50 who made professions of faith. The Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions provided funding for the camp. And further funding and program support, as well as promotion through WMU avenues, will increase the difference that can be made through the water purification efforts, Smith said.

“In Mongolia, the governor of a state asked a Baptist missionary to go into every home in the village and install the water filter units, and at the same time, he can share the love of Jesus with each home,” Smith said. “All that came from one unit we came and installed. God can use anything we lay before him and bless it.”

In other meeting activities, participants heard testimonies in song from the Sudanese Women on Mission group from First Baptist Church in Amarillo and the deaf choir from Paramount Baptist Deaf Church, along with praise and worship led by Mission Service Corps volunteers Bob and Sylvia Jordan of Amarillo.

A brief video chronicled 20 years of the Korean WMU work in Texas, and Texas WMU also marked the 10th anniversary of the Christian Women’s Job Corps.

Participants at the annual meeting elected officers for WMU, granting Taylor another year as president and Harvey another term as first vice president. New incoming officers are Anna Zimmer of Kingwood, recording secretary; Suzy Wall of Canyon, second vice president; and Jo Lee of San Antonio, third vice president.

Texas WMU will meet for its 128th meeting in April 2008 in Waco, reflecting a change in the traditional structure of meetings held with the BGCT. The two-day format will feature workshops and seminar sessions, as well as the traditional reports.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 11/02/07

Wade recounts struggles, strides in his
tenure as BGCT executive director

By Analiz Gonzalez

Buckner International

MARILLO—In his final executive director’s report to the Baptist General Convention of Texas, Charles Wade reviewed his time in that role, saying he would have handled some things a bit differently, but he insisted he essentially would have made the same decisions.

“We have been through a lot of change in our staff assignments. … I really thought we could get through the change and to a new synergy within two years. It has been more like four years,” he acknowledged.

Due to a lack of funds, 29 full-time BGCT Executive Board staff positions were eliminated recently.

“I will tell you this,” Wade said. “There is no good way to downsize a staff. It is important to offer the best severance, job placement services and retirement packages you feel you can, and that is right to do. But it still hurts, and it takes time to recover.”

He added that BGCT staff love the churches, are ready for the future and will be great partners for the new executive director.

Wade also reviewed the goals he worked for at the BGCT and noted the strides made.

“I wanted us to get our arms around Texas and hug this state up close to God,” he said. “I have seen congregations who have taken seriously the challenge to ask themselves, ‘If Jesus came to our town, to whom would he go?’

“I wanted our presence in Austin through our Christian Life Commission to be an increasing blessing and witness to Christ on behalf of all Christians and people of good will.”

The moral concerns and public policy agency is “recognized by Texas legislators as the source of honest, intelligent, carefully researched information that can help them make the best decisions possible,” Wade said.

“I wanted to see the growing diversity of the population in Texas and play to make our staff, our church starts, our leadership look more like the face of Texas. I wanted Texas Baptists to be friends with an encouragement to Baptists around the world.”

Wade wanted BGCT to remain faithful to historic Baptist principles and emphasize its passion for evangelism, missions and ministry, gospel preaching and strong servant leadership models.

“I wanted to encourage our Texas Baptist institutions, strengthen good relationships between them, collaboration on mutually helpful assignments and engagement with local churches so that our sense of partnership could grow and be mutually beneficial,” he said.

“I wanted pastors and their families to feel valued, encouraged and blessed. I wanted BGCT staff to be closer to the churches and associations available, resourceful, strategic and able to evaluate where we are being helpful and valuable and where we are not.”

Wade has served as executive director since 1999. He will begin his retirement on Feb. 1. A search committee is in place to fill the post.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 11/02/07

Future of Texas Baptist missions depends on
education, collaborations & communication

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

MARILLO—Future mission work by Texas Baptists will require a concerted effort in missions education, collaboration and communication to be successful, said a panel of Baptist General Convention of Texas representatives during a workshop held as part of the BGCT annual meeting.

Don Sewell, executive liaison for missions relations with the BGCT, began the workshop with a video detailing the partnerships and mission work already going on around the state and introduced a new BGCT website designed to connect missions efforts.

The site—www.beonmission.org—will serve as a clearinghouse for missions opportunities and work being done around the world, with the idea that others can join in existing efforts or learn about areas not being covered by missions work.

“We really wanted to pull Texas Baptist missions together and communicate that work. We do not have an institution in Texas that is not involved in missions work, yet there is not a lot of connection between them,” said Steve Vernon, pastor of First Baptist Church in Levelland, BGCT president and workshop panelist.

“In my day, to do missions you prayed and you gave … it was missions by proxy. But churches are not satisfied with that anymore.”

Vernon noted that to continue the success and impact being made by Texas Baptists, a greater focus on missions education would have to exist in churches.

“We have to raise up missionaries. They don’t just come out of the woodwork when they turn 25,” Vernon said. “Our students, for example, are excited to go, and they’ll go anywhere. We don’t need to harness that. We need to release it and send them out.”

BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade echoed that sentiment, adding that churches and pastors must be intentional about missions endeavors.

“Missions must be done from the inside out, working on the missions heart of the congregation and individuals,” he said. “And we need to help churches discover their missions DNA, the specific talents, skills and interests they have to do missions effectively.”

Wade also encouraged churches to partner with universities and human care organizations that regularly do missions work; to be deliberate in sharing missions stories and illustrations with their congregations; and to realize the calling all Christians have to be blessings to others.

In the future, Wade hopes the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas missions can be expanded to reach a wider audience and make a greater impact.

In response to an audience query, Wade noted traditional, career missionaries will be of utmost importance to future work as they provide a needed link between countries and people groups and work needed to be done in the area.

They also have the ability to follow up on missions work done by outside groups and ensure progress continues.

The future will be a great testimony to the role of church associations, Wade said, as related churches in geographic proximity to each other work together for greater impact and not feel isolated in their missions work.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 11/02/07

Warren challenges BGCT
to promote PEACE globally

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

MARILLO—Developing a heart for missions can be simple, best-selling author and California pastor Rick Warren told Texas Baptists.

“If you want the blessing of God in your life, the power of God in your life, the anointing of God in your life and ministry, you must care about what God cares about most and get on God’s agenda,” Warren said to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting. “God’s agenda is the kingdom of God. It was the most pre-eminent thing on Jesus’ mind.”

In his 70-minute address to Texas Baptists, Warren described the need for churches to “release the pent-up power and talent sitting in our pews.”

Doing so requires people to recognize their strengths and skills and turn them over to God, much as Moses did when he threw down his staff and it became a snake.

“The staff of Moses represents three things—his identity, his income and his influence,” Warren said.

“God told Moses: ‘If you lay it down, I will make a miracle of it. When you give it to me, surrender it to me, I will do miraculous things.’ And that is the turning point of history.

“My friends of the BGCT, what is in your hand? One day God will ask you the two most important questions: ‘What did you do with my Son, Jesus Christ? And what did you do with what you were given—the talent, ability, opportunities, education, health, freedom—all that I gave you.’”

Like Moses, Warren said, church members must learn to use their own “staffs” for the work of the kingdom. His PEACE plan presents an opportunity for Christians, he said, as his church has made evident during the past three years.

The PEACE plan reflects Jesus’ example of how to combat the five major problems facing the planet, Warren said. Warren identified the issues after working in many countries training ministers and helping his wife in her work with orphans—spiritual emptiness, self-centered leadership, poverty, disease and illiteracy.

“In reading the word of God, I found that the things Jesus did while on the earth are the exact antidote to these five problems facing the planet,” Warren said. His plan calls for Christians in churches—everyday, ordinary people with common talents and skills—to practice these five steps around the world.

• Promote reconciliation. “Jesus said be right with God and be right with each other; he called it the great commandment,” Warren said.

• Equip servant leaders. Warren noted Jesus trained 12 disciples but only mentored three, investing time with those who would bear the most responsibility.

• Assist the poor. In his first public sermon, Jesus announced his purpose was to preach good news to the poor, and he emphasized the need to care for the poor.

• Care for the sick. “Jesus didn’t just care about people’s spiritual health but also their physical health,” Warren said. “Jesus was a healer, unlike any other religious leader.”

• Educate the next generation. Jesus was a teacher, and he focused on teaching the next generation. “Every generation is one generation away from Christianity’s extinction,” Warren said.

Putting that into practice, Warren admitted, is harder to do, but Jesus gives instructions in Matthew 10 about working the plan. He instructs to avoid throwing money at the problems, leave any symbols of power at home, adapt to the local customs as much as possible, and find the “man of peace” in any village and start the ministry with one who is open and influential.

Business and government entities can make an impact, but Warren noted that a lasting difference requires church involvement—the third essential leg of the stool, as he called it.

“The church has the mandate of the gospel, the longevity of history and the promises of God, so what are we cowering about?” he asked. “Let’s take Texas and the world and tell them that this is the kingdom of God.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 11/02/07

Currie: If Texas Baptists ‘build it, they will come’

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

AMARILLO—If Texas Baptists move forward with a bold vision, other mainstream Baptists around the country will embrace the dream, Texas Baptists Committed Executive Director David Currie said.

Drawing from a line in Field of Dreams, Currie told a meeting of the moderate Baptist political organization, “If you build it, they will come.”

Currie readily acknowledged he doesn’t fully know what “it” looks like, but he insisted the future means more than fighting fundamentalism.

“It’s time to make noise about who we are and stop making noise about what kind of Baptists we are not,” he said.

Currie rejected the assertion that Texas Baptists Committed had been a divisive force in the Baptist General Convention of Texas by organizing to resist a takeover by fundamentalists.

“We have been a unifying force in the convention. … We have tried to be inclusive,” he said, pointing out that due largely to his group’s influence, the BGCT elected its first Hispanic president, first African-American president and first woman president. “We did it because that was the right thing to do.”

The Southern Baptist Convention remains “closely tied to the Religious Right that is seeking to destroy religious freedom in this country,” Currie asserted. The SBC also demands that every missionary and teacher in a seminary “sign a creed”—affirm belief in the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message statement, he added.

Rather than fight the SBC, Texas Baptists Committed should challenge the BGCT to present an alternative vision of what it means to be Baptist, he said.

Currie offered four recommendations to help the BGCT move forward:

• Stop forwarding money to other conventions or fellowships outside Texas.

“We need to figure out how to get out of denominational politics altogether,” Currie said. “We need a Texas-only budget that doesn’t pass any money to anybody else. We should prepare a budget that passes nothing to worldwide causes because we have our own worldwide causes.”

If churches want to send money to the SBC or the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, they should “write their own check to Nashville or Atlanta” rather than channel the money through the BGCT offices, he said.

• Fund Texas missionaries directly.

“We should stop missionaries from becoming political pawns in a political nightmare,” he said. “If there is any missionary from Texas who wants to go to the field, let’s challenge Texas Baptists to pay for it.”

Texas Baptists should provide at least a portion of the direct funding for any Texas Baptist who feels called to serve internationally with any missions-sending agency, he said. He recommended the World-conneX missions network either be reconfigured or replaced with an entity that can help Texas Baptists send missionaries.

• Make the Christian Life Commission a national ethics agency for Baptists.

“Let’s be the leader in the Baptist world in showing that there is no division between ethics and evangelism,” he said. “The Christian Life Commission should be a national agency. … There should be a CLC presence in every state.”

• Keep churches in the forefront.

Currie applauded recent BGCT efforts to place personnel and resources closer to churches in the field.

“Remember the local church,” he said. “And never forget small churches.”

At the close of the meeting, Texas Baptists Committed executive board Chairman Bill Tillman announced the board had voted to create four special committees.

The committees will study the organization’s fund-raising efforts; possibilities for educating Texas Baptists regarding Baptist distinctives, history, leadership and current issues; the feasibility of relocating the TBC office from San Angelo to Dallas; and improvements in technology.

The board also is making plans to hire an associate director, Tillman reported.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 11/02/07

‘See yourselves as sons and daughters of God,’ Amarillo pastor urges Texas Baptists

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

AMARILLO—Texas Baptists have much to be proud of because their identity as adopted children of God, Howard Batson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Amarillo, said in the annual sermon at the Baptist General Convention of Texas meeting.

“Texas Baptists, as the adopted sons and daughters of God, go forth to work for the kingdom, knowing not only who you are but also whose you are,” Batson said. “You are his sons and daughters.”

With the theme “On Being God’s People: Adopted,” Batson told a story about meeting a Texas family while on a mission trip to Russia. The couple was there to adopt a young girl from a Russian orphanage, and even though Vera had barely known the couple, she already was calling the man “Papa” as they were leaving for home.

“How does Vera’s being adopted by the Hasting family have anything to do with Texas Baptists being the people of God?” Batson asked. “Jesus came—or he was sent—in order that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

Citing Galatians 4:7, Batson noted Christians are chosen by God for adoption and are, therefore, heirs of God’s kingdom.

Adoption represents a vital theme to believers because it carries the idea of great benefits that would not normally be inherent to all people. Pointing to the example of a couple bringing home a new child, Batson said the adoption process requires not only the approval of the adopters but also the adoptee. In the Christian sense, the adoption brings about the Holy Spirit’s indwelling, among other benefits.

“We now have the right to call God, ‘Father,’” Batson said. Referring back to Vera’s story, he noted the girl had some challenges relating to her Papa because of her experiences with a biological father.

“We sometimes have a hard time realizing that God loves us this much. Why should he? We’re sinful and broken. We’re incomplete and wanting,” Batson said.

“We can read that God has made us his sons and daughters. We know it with our heads. But our theology must connect to our hearts when we realize that God loved us that much. For only when it’s in our hearts will we change the way that we live.”

Adoption in the Christian sense brings redemption sent through God’s Spirit, Batson said. Just as the Hasting family traveled to Russia and paid the fees necessary to bring Vera home, God made the sacrifice and sent his son to redeem his children. And with adoption comes a special inheritance that believers do not deserve and cannot earn but can only receive through becoming a child of God.

“I don’t know how the Hastings will divide their estate in the decades to come. But if I were guessing, I would guess that Vera will share equal portions with their biological sons. By birthright, Vera deserves nothing of the Hasting estate. But by adoption, she has her fair share,” Batson said.

“By birthright, we sons of Adam deserve nothing in regard to the glory of Christ. But by our adoption, we become co-heirs with Christ.”

Batson related the analogy by reminding the gathered Texas Baptists that “we are, each and every one of us, adopted as God’s children.”

“As Texas Baptists, all we do can be seen under the paradigm of adoption,” he said. “We are to be a James 1:27 people, and secondly, we are to be busy with missions and evangelism endeavors to bring people into the family of God as sons and daughters.

“We are all about adoption, both socially and evangelically. I would say to you today, if you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior: ‘I see the resemblance. You are a son or a daughter of God.’”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 11/02/07

BGCT president urges Texas Baptists
to seek the lost, feed the flocks

By Analiz González

Buckner International

AMARILLO—With references to Jesus’ parables about a lost coin, a lost sheep and a lost boy in Luke 15, Steve Vernon urged participants at the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting to follow Christ’s command to seek the lost and feed the sheep.

In his presidential message to the convention, Vernon recalled a time when his 4-year-old daughter walked off in a mall. She was only gone five minutes, but it gave him a glimpse into what God feels for those who don’t follow him.

“It’s the picture of the yearning of the father for a child,” said Vernon, pastor of First Baptist Church in Levelland and incumbent BGCT president.

“Often times at churches, we get busy about other things. We get busy about housekeeping and doing our services and cleaning the buildings and filing all the insurance and going through the motions, … and none of that is bad. But shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep? Isn’t that what we ought to be about?”

About 24 million people live in Texas, and an estimated 11 million profess to be Christians. The rest are scattered and lost, Vernon said.

“There is a world around us that is injured, that is hurt, They’re weak and sick. They stray, they’re scattered, they’re lost,” Vernon said.

“In Ezekiel 34, it says that they become food for every wild animal. And it laments that God sees the sheep, but he sees no one looking for them. That’s the picture of the sheep around us in our state, nation, our world.”

Texas Baptists can demonstrate their love for Christ by doing what he called them to do, he insisted.

“Shouldn’t shepherds feed the sheep?” he asked.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 11/02/07

Around the State

• The Baylor University School of Social Work will host a summit Nov. 8-11 to explore collaborations between Texas and international entities providing services to orphanages, the homeless, street children and victims of human trafficking in the Republic of Moldova. For more information, call (254) 710-6230.

• Shane & Shane and Bebo Norman will perform in concert at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor at 7 p.m. Nov. 9. Tickets are free for students and $10 for others. For more information, call (254) 295-5150.

• Valley Baptist Health System will sponsor a seminar addressing child abuse prevention, intervention and investigation in the Rio Grande Valley—including children being victimized through Internet pornography—Nov. 9-10 at the Radisson Resort on South Padre Island. Continuing education credit will be available for nurses, social workers, law enforcement personnel and attorneys. For more information and registration fees, call (956) 389-4702.

• The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Church Relations department and Bell Association will hold a free seminar titled “Hitting Your Target or Missing Your Market” Nov. 10.

• The Baylor Alumni Association presented the W.R. White Meritorius Service Award to four individuals during its meeting Nov. 2. This year’s honorees are Ray Burchette Jr., Diane Dillard, Joyce Hornaday Packard and Rufus Spain.

• Estelle Owens has been named university historian at Wayland Baptist University. A professor of history at the school since 1974, she has played a key role in preserving and researching the university’s history. The last two years, she has focused on compiling a history book for the university’s upcoming centennial celebration.

• Missionaries to Portugal David and Joy Borgan are living in Mineral Wells until Jan. 5 and are available to speak in churches. They can be contacted through First Church at (940) 325-2523.

Anniversaries

• Bob Batson, 20th, as minister of education/discipleship at Highland Church in Lubbock, Oct. 28.

• Mount Pleasant Church in Comanche, 115th, Nov. 11. A meal will follow the morning service. Dan Connally is pastor.

• H.B. Graves, 60th in ministry. He was licensed by First Church in Hillsboro in November 1947. He was a pastor of churches in Texas and Oklahoma 55 years, and he has been a church starter and seminary teacher in Vermont the last five years.

Death

• Walter Gilbreath, 77, Sept. 28 in McGehee, Ark. He was a pastor of churches in Arkansas and Texas, including Central Church in Longview, more than 50 years. At the time of his death, he was interim pastor of Bethel Church in Gould, Ark. He was preceded in death by his brothers, Elton and Milton. He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Mary; sons, Paul and John; daughters, Ann Mc-Gough and Glenda Edwards; sister, Walta Huard; 10 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

Ordained

• Scott Williams, to the ministry, at First Church in Huntsville.

Revival

• First Church, Haskell; Nov. 4-7; evangelist, Ricky Guenther; music, The Aten Family; pastor, Greg Gasaway.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 11/02/07

African-American Texas
Baptists gather for worship, praise

By Dave Coffield

Hardin-Simmons University

AMARILLO—Celebration and worship were at the forefront as hundreds of African-American Texas Baptists gathered at St. John Baptist Church of Amarillo on the eve of the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting.

Pastor Grover Neal spoke of the purpose and accomplishments of the African American Fellowship of Texas.

“It now includes over 800 churches whose purpose is to glorify God and assist in his redemptive work,” he noted.

Doubt remains ever-present because there is a fallen angel whose purpose is to instill doubt, Michael Evans, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Mansfield, told the group in his keynote sermon.

But if Christians remember “it is the duty for all called people to point people to Jesus, then doubt will be defeated,” Evans said.

Even Jesus’ disciples came to him with doubt, but Jesus did not entertain their concern, he continued.

“He is a Savior who is constantly moving on to the next thing,” Evans said. “He simply told them, ‘All authority has been given to me on heaven and earth,’ and the disciples understood and moved on with him.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.