Posted: 8/18/06

Former inmate leads popular
Bible study at state jail

By Elizabeth Staples

Communications Intern

DALLAS—Seven women at the Dawson State Jail attended the first Bible study Erlinda Silva, a former inmate at the facility, taught there. Nearly nine years later, 200 women regularly attend the Thursday night Bible study.

Silva first learned about Jesus from her bunkmate during her first night in jail. After she was released, she convinced her husband they should go to church, but the Spanish service was hard for her to understand.

However, she said God blessed her by allowing her to sit next to a woman who had an English Bible. She was then able to read the Scripture text for the pastor’s sermon.

“From then on, all I wanted to do was know (Jesus) more,” Silva explained. “I just loved him for what he had done for me. He put my heart on fire.”

After being incarcerated 11 months at the Federal Medical Center in Carswell, Silva—now a member of Eastern Hills Baptist Church in Garland—dedicated her life to God and committed to follow Christ wherever he led.

She knew someone needed to return to the jail and tell the women there about Jesus Christ, just as someone had told her. She volunteered to help with a Bible study at Dawson State Jail, and eventually, she became the teacher.

“When I first began teaching, my head was spinning. I was incarcerated back in 1995, and God just did a miracle,” Silva said. “Now I know how God allows things to happen in our lives because otherwise, how would I know what these women are going through?”

When Silva first began teaching, her class was one of many offered for the women seven days a week, and expectations were low. Silva decided to shake up the class by rearranging seats, quizzing the women about what they had been studying and asking probing questions.

The women began to read their Bibles on their own and ask more in-depth questions, Silva said. Their interest in the Bible grew into a love for God, and eventually, they outgrew their room and moved into the gymnasium.

Now, each week women pack a gym at the state jail for a time of worship led by a band, followed by a devotional taught by Silva and closing with an invitation and prayer time.

Recently, Eastern Hills Baptist Church donated a sound system for the gymnasium. “We have way over the 200-person capacity of the gym. There aren’t enough chairs, but at least they can hear me now and I don’t have to stand on a chair and yell,” Silva said.

As Silva teaches the lesson each week, she makes copies of handouts to distribute to the women. But since she lacks the capability to make 200 copies, only a few of the women receive copies of the notes.

“We are in desperate need of a copier. We are just waiting for the Lord to provide, and I know he will. I would love to be able to make handouts for all of them every week. I know it would be so helpful for them to be able to have something to memorize and read during the week,” Silva said.

She hopes to expand her ministry at the Dawson State Jail, perhaps by offering Bible study classes twice a week.

“My prayer is that (the women) will come to know him and that this ministry will go even farther beyond where it is today,” she said.

Posted: 8/18/06

Student missionaries discover
love transcends cultural barriers

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Christ’s love translates into any language, according to student missionaries who served internationally this summer through Go Now Missions, the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ student missions program.

People around the world are craving and seeking God’s love—asking questions and coming to profess faith in Christ as Lord, students repeatedly reported during a debriefing session.

Brandi McTee shared her faith by helping coordinate children’s camps in Ukraine. By caring for the youth, she helped them understand how God cares about them. Emotional and spiritual walls came down, and she was able to connect with the children.

“I really learned how to love people,” she said. “I know that’s something as Christians we should do, but I’ve found my love has been conditional. I simply have to love the people.”

Jeremy Spray found taking a more direct route was helpful in ministering to Muslims in London. He simply asked people “if they had any spiritual beliefs” and let conversations unfold.

Through his efforts, he engaged in discussions about faith and the differences between Christianity and Islam. He distributed New Testaments and Bibles to people from 19 countries.

The experience encouraged Spray to be bolder in sharing his faith.

“It absolutely changed me in every way possible,” he said.

Seth Summers was reminded that God works through people. Each day he played basketball in East Asia with a group of young men. One day, one of them asked Summers questions about faith. Summers handed him a Bible. The next day, the young man professed Christ as Lord.

“God doesn’t need me,” Summers said. “He uses me, but he doesn’t need me. He speaks through his word.”

Curtis Broome, who served in South Asia, summed up foreign mission work as doing what God called Christians to do, but in a location other than their homes. Believers are to exemplify the love of Christ wherever they go, and that will have an impact on people around them, he said.

“I want to influence other people, no matter what I do,” he said.

Posted: 8/18/06

Students start spreading
the (good) news in New York

By Laura Frase

Communications Intern

NEW YORK—Students hit the streets and subways of New York this summer on a mission to help meet the needs of the Big Apple.

First Baptist Church in Arlington Sunday school teacher Regina Fancher led a team of students to New York through Go Now Missions, the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ student missions program.

The team worked in a variety of ministries, from street witnessing to teaching English to moving furniture to filing papers.

“We were trying to see all the aspects of what the city has to offer,” Fancher said.

A favorite among the students was teaching English to West Africans.

“The students loved teaching English,” Fancher said. “We see how much West Africans struggle to learn the language, and they are so proud when they do. That’s humbling and gratifying to be able to share your language so they can find a better life and a better job.”

University of Texas at El Paso student Zack Brower’s favorite ministry was bringing a kind voice to the subway.

“Most people we talked to in the subway were friendly,” Brower said. “I think it’s because we were praying while we were walking, so God set up some appointments with people who need some encouragement and prayer.”

While most people were friendly, Brower met his match while waiting in line at the subway.

A man standing in front of Brower was cursing and acting like he was going to punch the next person who looked at him, Brower said. The Texas student began praying for the man, and the man turned around. Brower asked the man how he was doing, and the man started talking to him.

“By the end, he was smiling,” Brower said. “I feel like God just put people in our paths while we were traveling.”

Hardin-Simmons University student LaShay McDanel didn’t have to look far for a blessing. She found it in her own room.

During part of the trip, students stayed in a boarding house. The girls stayed in a room with four bunk beds. Four of the beds were occupied by different girls each week.

“The last day we were there, I got to talk to the girls and share grace with them,” McDanel said. “I’d been praying for something like this.”

Fancher had women find her for ministry. She was walking down the street when two women stopped her because of her skirt, she said.

The skirt she was wearing came from Guinea, which is where the women have roots.

“They were so happy they saw me wearing a skirt from their country,” she said. “It meant a lot to them.”

The students constantly focused on helping others. Even when it came to filing paperwork for a divinity school, they devoted their time to God.

“Office work isn’t fun for anyone, but they poured themselves into it,” Fancher said.

Students learned to open their eyes to mission opportunities available in the United States, and where their gifts and talents fit into mission, Fancher said.

“This was like going on a foreign mission trip without leaving the States,” she said.

Posted: 8/18/06

Logsdon students experience Baptist life in Europe

By Laura Frase

Communications Intern

ABILENE—While students at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon Seminary were hunched over their desks rapidly scribbling notes, thousands of miles away, six students explored Holocaust museums, snapped pictures of castles and cathedrals, and met European Baptist leaders.

As part of the seminary’s missions immersion class and “Baptists in Eastern Europe” class, students learned by spending one month traveling across Europe, examining the culture and meeting prominent Baptist leaders.

Rob Sellers, missions professor at Logsdon, explained the trip’s purpose was to introduce students to important historical, political, cultural and religious sites in the cities they explored.

Local guides, political leaders, theology professors, denominational executives and veteran missionaries provided insights about each setting where mission work is ongoing.

Prior to the trip, students researched their destinations of Berlin; Wroclaw, Katowice, Auschwitz, and Krakow, Poland; Salzburg and Vienna, Austria; Ljublijana, Slovenia; and Skopje, Macedonia. They continued research throughout the trip. After they returned, they wrote essays and papers reflecting on their experiences. Students documented their trip in a daily journal and interviewed Europeans about their culture to learn what missionaries experience.

“They were able to get a sense of who the people are,” Sellers said.

Student Nathan Pruett participated in the missions immersion experience to learn firsthand about religious life in Europe. “Even though some churches are struggling, Baptist life is alive and well and growing in Europe,” he said. “And it’s really heartening to see that.”

Pruett found interest in missionary work, as well.

“It was good to talk to them about life as a missionary, because they talked about raising a family in the field,” he said. “It calmed my wife’s nerves and my own about raising children in a missionary setting.”

Amanda Cutbirth knew she wanted to be a missionary, and the trip reinforced her desire to serve in missions.

“I saw a little bit of an idea of a missionary’s life,” she said. “It gave me a sense of reality about it.”

By the end of the trip, Cutbirth realized “this is something I could do,” she said. “I saw firsthand what it was like to be a missionary. It was always distant in my head, but I know now it’s possible.”

The students also gained a greater understanding of what missionaries do.

In Macedonia—the students’ favorite destination—Cooperative Baptist Fellow-ship field personnel sponsor a ministry in ethnic reconciliation. Missionaries are trying to reconcile Albanians and Macedonians—two distinct, and often feuding, cultural groups, Pruett said.

“The missionaries don’t just tell people about Jesus; they minister to them in so many different ways,” he said.

Cutbirth and Pruett agreed they learned more through firsthand experience, rather than jotting down statistics and information in class.

“It’s good to have the experience in the culture,” Cutbirth said. “Until you immerse yourself in the culture, it’s hard to imagine. Not that this prepares me for any culture in the world, but it helps me understand.”

“Understanding—that’s a major goal for an immersion experience—understanding the place, the people, the challenges, the opportunities and God’s call,” Sellers added. “So, when even one student begins to understand, I feel that all the effort and time was worth it.”

Posted: 8/18/06

MAKING REPAIRS:
Auto mission rebuilds engines, troubled lives

By Laura Frase

Communications Intern

HURST—Terry Legan believes no car should end up in a junkyard. Neither should a young life. Both are salvageable.

With this in mind, Legan began Auto Mission as an outlet for troubled boys because “all teenage guys are interested in cars and girls, … and I don’t know much about girls.”

Auto Mission helps young men learn to rebuild car engines—and troubled lives.

Like the cars brought to his shop, the boys need special attention.

More than 500 young men have completed community service hours at Auto Mission after they were sentenced by Texas Youth Services, Texas Youth Commission or the Community Learning Center for alcohol or drug abuse or various other charges.

The ministry “introduces the boys to the gospel and how to make right choices and decisions in life,” Legan said. “And they learn basic auto mechanics.”

He works with groups of young men to repair and rebuild cars. While they work on rusted and dirty parts, Legan talks with them about cars, racing, setting priorities and God.

“Even junk cars can be restored and brought back to life,” he said. “Through Christ, broken lives can be restored and made new again.”

Legan serves as a Baptist General Convention of Texas LifeCall Missionary. This program, which helps volunteers find a place to serve, is undergirded by the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions.

Auto Mission stays alive through donations from individuals who express a desire to help teens.

People in the community donate all the cars and snacks for the young men. When the boys finish a repair project, they return the favor to the community by giving the car to a local charitable organization.

“Some cars are donated to Open Arms Home and to Community Enrichment Cen-ter,” Legan said. “We also are working on a handicapped van that will go to a pastor.”

Along with teaching the boys about helping others, Legan teaches them the similarity between life and cars. He helps change their lives like he rebuilds cars—by cleaning and repairing one piece at a time.

Legan has watched young men give up drugs. They’ve stopped drinking alcohol. They’ve started making better life decisions. Most importantly to him, he’s seen young people give their lives to Christ.

“If you don’t take care of your car, it will break down,” he said.

“Cars take routine maintenance and care. Lives take routine maintenance and care. This is where God comes in.”

Posted: 8/18/06

Nolen to coordinate Cowboy Fellowship

Ron Nolen will retire Aug. 31 from the Baptist General Convention of Texas to become full-time coordinator of the Texas Fellowship of Cowboy Churches.

Nolen, 61, has served 11 years with the BGCT, most recently as director of western heritage ministries.

Since 2000, beginning with Cowboy Church of Ellis County, he has helped start 73 cowboy churches across Texas and has a goal of 250 by the end of 2010.

Those churches formed the Texas Fellowship of Cowboy Churches, and he has served as the group’s volunteer coordinator since 2004.

By assuming the full-time role with the fellowship, Nolen said, he will “be able to be more proactive with developmental issues faced by the cowboy churches—more available to help in crisis intervention and in developing infrastructure to assist 250 churches have their most fruitful days.”

He will work to help train cowboy church pastors to work with church starters in the BGCT’s nine regions.

“The Texas Fellowship of Cowboy Churches is going to focus on helping the BGCT start cowboy churches and develop them to fulfill their potential,” he said.

BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade praised Nolen’s visionary ministry with the convention and said he looks forward to working with Nolen in his new role. The convention will name a new director of western heritage ministries who will minister alongside Nolen.

“Ron Nolen has been one of the really star performers on our BGCT staff,” Wade said. “His vision for starting churches in the western heritage culture in Texas is breathtaking.”

Nolen said his shift from the BGCT to a full-time position with the fellowship is an effort to put “more boots on the ground” to further cowboy church development—not a move away from the BGCT.

“I think it is important to state up front that the (fellowship) exists to resource this western heritage church- planting movement and to help unify the BGCT cowboy churches and harness the resources for kingdom expansion. We exist to provide a forum where cowboy church pastors can support each other and maintain a vision for the whole state of Texas,” he said.

“We view ourselves as a service organization of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and will work exclusively with the BGCT in its vision for starting western heritage churches. We have the greatest respect and appreciation for all convention leaders. We see this as a great, great partnership and are tremendously thankful for the leadership that Charles Wade is giving to this movement.”

Posted: 8/18/06

On the Move

• J.C. Baker has resigned as pastor of First Church in Weinert.

• Harold Barnes to Hamby Church in Abilene as pastor.

• Eric Boykin to First Church in Campbell as pastor.

• Frank Brown to First Church in Bellmead as pastor.

• Jamie Brown has resigned as minister of education at First Church in Godley.

• Jared Brown has resigned as minister of music at First Church in Godley.

• Bill Buchanan to Hall Church in Jefferson as pastor.

• Jason Byrd has resigned as student minister at First Church in Haskell.

• Robert Chambers to Second Church in Abilene as interim pastor.

• Mark Dunn to Rosemont Church in Montrose, Colo., as pastor from Crestview Church in Dallas.

• Steve Edge to Ballew Springs Church in Weatherford as pastor.

• Guillermo Estrada to Primera Iglesia Mexicana in Killeen as pastor from Bautista Mission in Monahans.

• Charles Fake to First Church in Rockport as interim pastor.

• Jason Gadman to University Church in Houston as associate pastor for family ministries from First Church in Richardson, where he was minister of recreation and married young adults.

• Gains Gardner to First Church in Rockport as minister of education.

• Ronnie Guess to New Hope Church #3 in Ranger as pastor.

• David Hawkins has resigned as pastor of Reavilon Church in Greenville.

• Matt Higginbotham to First Church in Richmond as student minister.

• Ken James to Central Church in Blooming Grove as interim pastor.

• J.D. and Amy Jolly to Pinecrest Church in Linden as ministers to youth.

• Sam Knight to Central Church in Liberty as pastor.

• Jeff Lazarine to First Church in China Spring as minister of music.

• Carl McKenzie to First Church in Longview as interim student minister.

• Joel and Joy McMullan to First Church in Linden as youth ministers.

• Steve Sadler to Crossroads Church in Lorena as interim pastor.

• Taylor Sandlin to Southland Church in San Angelo as pastor from First Church in Marlin.

• Hollie Simmons has resigned as minister of children at First Church in Levelland.

• Jeff Steele to First Church in Refugio as youth leader.

• Kristin Wood to University Church in Houston at director of preschool ministries.

Posted: 8/18/06

War on terror leaves refugees in limbo

By Peter Sachs

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Advocacy groups are pressuring Congress to take broader action to alleviate the plight of refugees who have been caught in a tangle of new regulations designed to keep terrorists from entering the United States.

Refugee Council USA, which includes numerous faith-based organizations, estimates as many as 20,000 refugees worldwide are being denied asylum in the United States because their activities fall within broad new U.S. definitions of helping terrorist organizations.

Many of the refugees, from countries like Myanmar, Colombia, Liberia and Cuba, live in refugee camps in other countries.

Aid groups say many refugees are innocent victims kept in limbo by provisions of the USA Patriot Act passed in 2001 and especially the Real ID Act of 2005.

Part of the Real ID Act was designed to keep people who had supported terrorist organizations from entering the United States. But the definition used was broad enough also to apply to people in war-torn countries who supplied trivial support to militias and other groups while under threat of injury or death.

In some cases, women have given livestock, water or food to gunmen who have raided their homes and threatened to rape or kill them, said Ralston Deffenbaugh, president of the Baltimore-based Lutheran Im-migration and Refugee Service. That kind of contribution—under duress—is all it takes under America’s new definitions of giving “material support” to a terrorist group.

“The impact of it has been that we are blocking the entry now of people who are themselves victims of persecution,” Deffenbaugh said.

The House has voted to extend for three years economic sanctions against Myanmar, a country ruled by a military dictatorship, and that has produced thousands of refugees.

Some refugees from Myanmar —formerly Burma—may never be able to gain asylum in the United States because they have fought against the dictatorship, Deffenbaugh said.

“Here are people who have risen up against that regime, who have not used terrorist tactics in the normal meaning of the word, but have taken up arms against oppression,” he said.

The supporters of the Real ID Act did not expect the current fallout for refugees, Deffenbaugh said.

“For those of us from the faith-based agencies, (the issue) raises a profoundly moral question,” Deffenbaugh said. “How many innocent victims are we willing to have in this war on terrorism?”

Posted: 8/18/06

Progressive Baptists critique war in Iraq

By Adelle Banks

Religion News Service

CINCINNATI, Ohio (RNS)— The Progressive National Baptist Convention continued its call for an end to the war in Iraq during its annual meeting in Cincinnati, saying resources spent on the conflict are needed to address the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Delegates to the meeting held their 45th annual session in the city where the historically African-American denomination was founded.

“The rebuilding of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in the post-Katrina age should be done with financial and other support systems comparable to the resources available to Iraq,” reads one of almost two dozen resolutions passed at the convention.

Another resolution stated: “This unnecessary, unwise and destructive war in Iraq is rupturing our nation, corrupting our foreign relations and disrupting our future. Iraq is now a growing cancer rapidly and deeply spreading nationally and globally.”

The 2.5 million-member de-nomination has decried the war in Iraq since it began in 2003.

“We believe it to be unnecessary and that we should have our troops home,” said DeWitt Smith Jr., the new president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention.

Convention messengers also passed resolutions urging enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, “a just and humane immigration policy,” lifting travel restrictions to Cuba and a continuing commitment to affirmative action.

Smith succeeds Major Jemison, an Oklahoma City pastor who served four years as president. Smith is the pastor of Trinity Baptist Church of metro Atlanta and the former first vice president of the denomination.

Smith said he intended to continue Jemison’s efforts to work with three other historically African-American denominations—the National Baptist Convention of America, the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America and the National Baptist Convention, USA—after the groups severed ties years ago.

The Progressive National Baptist Convention broke away from the National Baptist Convention, USA, in 1961 when National Baptist leaders chose not to fully endorse the civil rights movement.

The four conventions held a historic joint meeting in January 2005.

“We are working out plans for another joint meeting,” Smith said. “I believe that these dialogues are important to the welfare of our African-American witness as Baptists in America and abroad.”

Posted: 8/18/06

Humor & honesty help
evangelist connect with youth

By Leann Callaway

Special to the Baptist Standard

LEVELLAND—“Funny name, funny guy, deep message”—that’s the slogan of Douglas Runkles of First Baptist Church in Levelland, better known as “Runks” to youth ministries across the country.

As a popular youth communicator, he likes to see his teenage audiences laughing so hard it hurts, because he has discovered humor serves as his best tool to connect with students. And after he captures their attention, he shifts gears to describe his own life struggles and challenge young people to trust God to overcome their struggles and addictions.

Douglas Runkles

For most of his life, Runkles kept a dark secret. At age 7, he was sexually abused by two of his cousins.

“That set me off on a road of hating myself and shame,” he said. “My parents were godly people, and we attended church regularly. But I never told anyone what happened, because my cousins said they would kill me.

“When I got to junior high and high school, I was overwhelmed with anger and bitterness from being sexually abused. I started drinking and partying like crazy. I was the class clown and life of the party. It would make me feel good until I came home. Then, all those feelings would come rushing back. When I reached my junior year, I realized there had to be something else.”

During his junior year in high school, a friend led Runkles to faith in Jesus Christ by showing him what an authentic Christian life looked like.

“There was this guy in my geometry class, and it was driving me crazy, because I couldn’t figure him out,” Runkles said.

“He didn’t get involved with the stuff that I was doing, like partying and drinking. I started watching his life, and after two months, I asked him: ‘What’s the deal? What do you have that I don’t?’ He told me about Christ. He didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know, but it was someone my age telling me how Jesus made a difference in his life. At that moment, everything became real to me.”

Soon after he made his profession of faith in Christ, he felt God’s call into ministry. “It was a huge transformation. I went from being the class clown to the preacher. People couldn’t believe that I was the same person,” he said.

After high school, Runkles went to McMurry College in Abilene and then earned his master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

He was a youth minister seven years. In 1998, he began traveling around the country communicating the gospel to teenagers, college students and adults.

In his messages, Runkles discusses issues relevant to teenagers and also presents ways to defend the truth of Christianity to a postmodern world.

“More than anything, I love pouring my life into teenagers,” he said. “I’m 40 years old, and my heart still beats for teenagers. I love talking with them and getting to know them, especially kids that are hurting—the misfit or the loner—and being able to help them.

“That’s really become one of the joys of my life—to be in a position now where God could use the horrible stuff that I’ve been through to help kids who are going through the same thing.”

Runkles has spoken at a variety of events, including the Texas Baptist Youth Evangelism Conference, DiscipleNow weekends and youth camps.

“I try to balance the message between lost kids and saved kids,” he said. “In the last two years, what God has done in my life has been an absolute miracle. Because of the abuse issues in my past, I carried that throughout my life. A couple of years ago, I got to the point where I was tired of keeping this secret. I finally told my wife, and I went through two years of therapy. Now it’s really become a focus of my ministry, because I’ve come to terms with it, and I am able to share that message with hurting kids.”

Statistics say one out of six girls and one out of four males are sexually abused by age 18, he noted. “So, that’s at least 25 percent of my audience. Because of what I’ve gone through in my life, I definitely have a heart for hurting kids,” he said.

Last summer, after Runkles shared his story at a youth camp, youth leaders were flooded with students seeking counseling and desiring to overcome their addictions.

“Before camp, the youth pastor had told me that the high school kids were really hard to reach and didn’t really care about church. I shared my story about the things I had been through and my addictions and was real with them. There’s something about transparency that God uses,” he said.

“It’s so liberating to me that I don’t have secrets anymore. I’m not Superman, and I’m not wearing a mask anymore.”

Posted: 8/18/06

Texas Tidbits

Baylor names dean for student development. Baylor University has named Elizabeth Palacios dean of student development. In her new post, Palacios will provide leadership in campus recreation, multicultural activities and student activities. Palacios holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Baylor and earned a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a licensed professional counselor and a licensed specialist in school psychology. From 1991 to 1995, Palacios served as Baylor’s coordinator of community service. She has served as an instructor in civic education at Baylor since 1991, a part-time lecturer in the department of educational psychology in the School of Education from 1995 to 2002 and as a full-time lecturer in educational psychology since 2002.

DBU receives $250,000 gift. The Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation has granted Dallas Baptist University $250,000 toward construction of a new chapel on the DBU campus. Currently, DBU students meet in a gymnasium for chapel services, convocations and special events. The new chapel building will seat about 1,400 individuals and also will house the school’s intercessory prayer ministry and offices for the Cook Graduate School of Leadership. DBU has received $3 million from the Andersen Foundation in the last 12 years.

Foundation accepts applications for small grants. Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio will accept applications through Nov. 30 for small grants of $5,000 or less from nonprofit organizations that are helping meet the community’s health needs in Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, Kendall, Medina or Wilson counties. Guidelines and the application form are on the Baptist Health Foundation’s website at www.bhfsa.org, or call Eusebio Diaz, program director, at (210) 735-9009 for assistance.

Harden named VP at HSU. Leland Harden has been named vice president of institutional ad-vancement at Hardin-Simmons University. Harden graduated from Hardin-Simmons with a degree in management and went on to become an entrepreneur, launching companies in New York City and San Francisco. He worked extensively with in-vestors, venture capitalists and investment bankers, raising more than $100 million for various enterprises, before joining the Hardin-Simmons staff in 2004 as director of university communications. Leland and his family are members of First Baptist Church in Abilene, where he serves as a deacon.

Marketing/communications VP named at Baylor. Baylor University has named John Barry, director of university communications at the University of Connecticut, as Baylor’s vice president for marketing and communications, effective Sept. 11. He succeeds Paul Carr, who has served as interim vice president since May 1, and Larry Brumley, who served as interim vice president from November 2005 until he joined Mercer University as senior vice president and chief of staff to the president. Barry served more than 20 years at the University of Connecticut—the last half spent in communications. Previously, he worked with the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, a university-based research facility dedicated to the study of public opinion and public policy. Barry earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the Univer-sity of Connecticut. He and his wife, Patty, have three sons: Stephen, a senior at University of Connecticut; Michael, a freshman at Baylor; and Kevin, a high school junior. Barry and his family are members of the Worship Center in Hebron, Conn., where Barry has served as an elder more than 10 years.

Correction: The medical professional pictured on the cover of the Aug. 7 issue was incorrectly identified as Diane Anderson, a nurse practitioner at Mission East Dallas. She should have been identified as Danica Simmons, a registered nurse.

Posted: 8/18/06

TOGETHER:
BGCT emphasizes church leadership

The Apostle Peter, after a lifetime of following Jesus and providing leadership among the early Christians, gives this poignant counsel to young pastors:

“I have a special concern for you church leaders. I know what it’s like to be a leader, in on Christ’s sufferings as well as the coming glory. Here’s my concern: That you care for God’s flock with all the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to, but because you want to please God. Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously. Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way.

“When God, who is the best shepherd of all, comes out in the open with his rule, he’ll see that you’ve done it right and commend you lavishly. ….

Executive Director BGCT Executive Board

“So, be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you” (1 Peter 4:19-5:7).

Church leadership was important to Peter, and today it’s important to the Baptist General Convention of Texas. As a result, we’ve formed a Congregational Leadership Team in our new staff structure. Reggie Thomas leads this gifted and motivated team of men and women.

Here are some of the services we offer to pastors, would-be pastors, deacons, other lay leaders and congregations that are helping our Texas churches:

We have developed a leadership development strategy that will assist college students who feel called to ministry. We help students at Logsdon and Truett seminaries assess their gifts, strengths and weaknesses as they prepare for ministry in Texas Baptist churches and beyond.

To help churches, we have developed a growing program called the intentional interim ministry. When a church is between pastors, there is a window of opportunity to do some very important spiritual work in the congregation.

One woman said to me after three pastors had left under pressure: “Maybe it’s not just them. Maybe we need to look to ourselves and see what we may not be doing very well.” A deacon chairman called me after a very successful intentional interim period in their church and said, “If we could have gone through this before the former pastor had to leave, he could have stayed.”

We also work with churches that are experiencing conflict to see what we can do to help resolve the conflict, or if the conflicts are too deep, help the church and the minister find the best way possible to bring the relationship to an end.

This is critically important for the future usefulness of the minister, for the faith and health of the minister’s spouse and children, for the fellowship of the congregation, and for the reputation of the church in the larger community.

There is more that we offer—deacon training assistance, counseling services for ministers and their families, retreats and help in connecting churches to potential ministers and ministers to churches.

Our staff is ready to help your church. They will refer good people to you and/or schedule with you a time for consultation and service.

We say it all the time: Texas Baptists are doing more together than we could alone.

We are loved.

Charles Wade is executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.