2007 Archives
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Retooling required for reaching others
Posted: 3/16/07
Retooling required for reaching others
By Barbara Bedrick
Texas Baptist Communications
Urging ministers to retool their thinking about reaching others for Christ so they may retool the lives of church members and nonbelievers more effectively, Baptist pastor Charles Booth delivered the keynote speech at the African American Leadership Workshop March 9-10 at the George W. Truett Theological Seminary.
Quoting scripture, poetry and a scientist, Booth urged ministers at the 3rd annual conference sponsored by Baptist General Convention of Texas, to propagate by changing themselves.
Charles Booth Watch a video clip of Booth's address to the conference. With nearly 600 ministers and church leaders listening, Booth urged the Baptist leaders to “dip the bucket into an old well and prayerfully bring up fresh water,” to make Jesus the difference in their lives, the lives of church members and non-believers.
03/16/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Texas rural poverty ministry helps residents in colonias
Posted: 3/16/07
Texas rural poverty ministry
helps residents in coloniasBy Carla Wynn
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
MCALLEN—In rural communities along the U.S.-Mexico border, many Hispanic families live in extreme poverty, in houses with dirt floors, no indoor plumbing and no electricity. But some are finding hope for a better life through a partnership between Together for Hope, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s rural poverty initiative, and Buckner Border Ministries.
In the colonias—unincorporated communities along the border—many residents came to the United States from Mexico in pursuit of a better, more prosperous life.
03/16/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Southwestern, McKissic back away from ‘tongue’-lashing
Posted: 3/16/07
Southwestern, McKissic back
away from ‘tongue’-lashingBy Robert Marus & Greg Warner
Associated Baptist Press
FORT WORTH (ABP)—Board leaders at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and an embattled trustee have agreed to meet and discuss their differences—with a threat to remove Texas pastor Dwight McKissic from the board taken off the table.
McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, and trustee officers issued a joint statement announcing a private meeting to be held immediately prior to Southwestern trustees’ spring meeting.
Dwight McKissic 03/16/2007 - By John Rutledge
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TOGETHER: Two events need prayer & support
Posted: 3/16/07
TOGETHER:
Two events need prayer & supportTwo events just ahead need your prayers and support.
First, please pray for the Missions Exchange gathering at Truett Seminary in April. About 100 invitations have gone out to representatives of the churches, institutions, associations, mission organizations and staff who relate to the BGCT. We want to encourage greater collaboration on the part of all our partners in this convention as we engage our Texas resources—people and money, passion and experience, organizational strength and creative energy—to touch Texas and the world. The results of this conversation will be publicized and will be used to shape the program and activities of the annual meeting in Amarillo this fall so that all Texas Baptists can be involved in this mission synergy.
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board
Please pray God will be present at this Missions Exchange and the participants will be truly attentive.
Second, a call has gone out to Baptists across North America to gather in Atlanta Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2008, for the celebration of the New Baptist Covenant. Baptists will be challenged to hear and follow Jesus’ agenda: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).
03/16/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Texas Tidbits
Posted: 3/16/07
Texas Tidbits
Board OKs changes to scholarship program. The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board approved an increase in the amount of money given to each 2007 recipient of the Mary Hill Davis Ethnic/Minority Scholarship. Each full-time student will receive $800 a semester, double what was offered in 2006. Members of ethnic and minority congregations affiliated with the BGCT who are planning to attend a BGCT-affiliated university can apply for the scholarship by April 15. More information about the scholarship and an online application can be found at www.bgct.org. The application and information also can be obtained by calling Tom Ruane or Amber Young at (888) 244-9400. The scholarship is provided by funds through the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions.
Numbers add up for ETBU math scholarship. The Rutledge McClaran Mathematics Scholarship now honors the longtime mathematics professor and administrator at East Texas Baptist University. McClaran retired from full-time responsibilities last August, but he still is a part-time consultant at the university. He is an ETBU graduate and served on the faculty more than 41 years. He has been professor of mathematics, chair of the department of mathematics and computer science, academic dean, dean of instruction and dean of liberal arts. In 1989, he became the director of institutional planning, assessment and research. Gifts can be made to the McClaran Mathematics Scholarship by calling the ETBU office of institutional advancement at (903) 923-2070.
03/16/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Cybercolumn by Berry D. Simpson: Reading habits and expanded horizons
Posted: 3/16/07
CYBER COLUMN:
Reading habits and expanded horizonsBy Berry D. Simpson
I read books all the time. When I was a kid, we would go to the library once a week as a class, and I always checked out a book. I remember one year—I don’t remember which grade, I think fourth or fifth, or which teacher, Morris or Henry, but I can picture the layout of the library in my mind—the librarian telling us boys to stick to Boys Life magazine and stop looking at the pictures in Seventeen. She also told me I should read something different. She thought I was reading too many books about war. She thought I should branch out a bit.
Berry D. Simpson I remember thinking at the time, in my smart-alecky boy logic, that I was reading more books and thicker books than anyone else in class, certainly more books than any other boy, and shouldn’t my teacher have been satisfied with that? Why did she have to boss me around about which book I was reading, especially when this was leisure reading and not book-report reading?
03/16/2007 - By John Rutledge
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NAE rebuffs Bush administration in joining anti-torture statement
Posted: 3/16/07
NAE rebuffs Bush administration
in joining anti-torture statement
By Robert Marus
Associated Baptist Press
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (ABP)—The nation’s umbrella group for evangelicals has endorsed a statement that takes aim at the Bush administration’s alleged use of torture in the war on terrorism.
Directors of the National Association of Evangelicals have endorsed a document called “An Evangelical Declaration Against Torture: Protecting Human Rights in an Age of Terror.” The endorsement came at the board’s March 8-9 meeting in Minnesota.
03/16/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Terror victims receive relief for soles, hope for souls
Updated: 3/15/07
Staff and volunteers with Russian Ministries, a partner of Buckner and Shoes for Orphan Souls, personally delivered shoes to children in Beslan and Chechnya which helped open doors for further Christian ministry in the mostly Muslim-populated region. (Photos courtesy of Russian Ministries) Terror victims receive relief for soles, hope for souls
By Russ Dilday
Buckner International
Thousands of children in war-torn regions of Beslan, Russia, and Grozny, Chechnya, recently received thousands of pairs of shoes donated through the Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls drive.
Russian Ministries, a Christian group that collaborates with Buckner for ministry, distributed the shoes as part of a larger evangelistic effort to reach children and their families in the mostly Muslim-populated areas with the message of Christ.
Children orphaned by the terrorist attacks on Sept. 1, 2004 in Beslan received new shoes last December thanks to the Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls shoe drive. 03/15/2007 - By John Rutledge
