Archives
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palmers_92203
Posted: 9/19/03
Jonathan Palmer prepares for a river crossing in Nicaragua. Visiting family means missions for Mesquite teens
By George Henson
Staff Writer
Some youth spent their summer doing missions, while others visited relatives. Some may have done both. A Mesquite pair, however, accomplished both at the same time.
09/19/2003 - By John Rutledge
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together_92203
Posted: 9/19/03
TOGETHER:
Churches & BGCT focus on missionsI love worshipping in our churches, sharing fellowship and experiencing the heart for missions and evangelism that permeates our congregations.
CHARLES WADE
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board
Recently, I visited First Baptist Church of Nederland. The church reaches out to inmates at a nearby state prison, and the week before I arrived, 300 prisoners had attended a revival service. Pastor David Higgs invited me to accompany him and Sam Maggio, a Sunday School teacher who has ministered to inmates every week for more than 25 years, to baptize some of the men who had made professions of faith in Jesus. We took 10 men into the prison yard, where a large trough had been filled with water. Pastor Higgs baptized several and then asked me to assist.
It was the perfect ending to a day focused on missions, beginning with a marvelous missions emphasis in the church's morning worship service and continuing in an afternoon missions fair. Children of the church had marched in carrying flags from around the world. The pastor had introduced the parade by saying: “People from over 100 countries of the world have come to Texas. These flags represent the incredible challenge that has come to all of us who live in Texas. God has trusted these dear people to our care … to share the good news of Jesus with every one of them.” That day, the church surpassed its Mary Hill Davis Offering goal of $6,000, and more money was still coming in. Additionally, the church had its largest budget offering for the year, and church members gave more than $2,000 for benevolence ministries.
09/19/2003 - By John Rutledge
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trooper_92203
Posted: 9/19/03
Trooper learns of God's love through crash
TEXARKANA–A tragic accident almost took his life, but now Paul Sigman has a life he considers much richer.
Sigman, 28, had been enjoying a successful, if brief, career as a state trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety. He moved to Texarkana in 2001 after graduating from a police academy and rescued a man from a burning vehicle his first week on the job. That incident, along with his everyday efforts, earned him the title Officer of the Year.
Paul and Amy Sigman, with daughter Annabelle, strengthened their faith in God through Sigman's recovery from a near-fatal automobile accident. The state trooper quotes a favorite author: "You will never know God is all you need until God is all you have." Last year, Sigman and his wife, Amy, started attending First Baptist Church in Texarkana at the invitation of one of his co-workers.
09/19/2003 - By John Rutledge
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sperry_92203
Posted: 9/19/03
NEIL SPERRY:
Radio GardenerSince 1978, gardeners in North Central Texas have gleaned their planting, weeding, spraying and harvesting information from the voice of Neil Sperry, first over WFAA radio and since 1980 over KRLD on Saturday and Sunday mornings. He also broadcasts daily statewide over the Texas State Radio Network and will be inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in October. His radio show, "Neil Sperry's Gardens Magazine," and a Texas gardening calendar have been judged the best communications of their kind by the Garden Writer's Association of America, and his book, "Neil Sperry's Complete Guide to Texas Gardening," has sold more than half a million copies.
A native Texan, Sperry attended Texas A&M University and has two degrees in horticulture from Ohio State University. He taught horticulture in high school two years and was a horticulture specialist with the Texas Agriculture Extension Service. He and his wife, Lynn, have three children. When he is not gardening, he is involved in a variety of hobbies, such as photography, painting Santa Clause figurines and making pens from historic woods of Texas. Proceeds from the sale of the pens go to the McKinney Education Foundation and Serenity High School. The Sperrys are members of the Lutheran Church.
Neil Sperry displays an assortment of the pens he has made from the historic woods of Texas. Among them are pens made from the Treaty Oak in Austin, a live oak at the Alamo and from a bat used by Rafael Palmeiro. Q.
You speak of your father often on your radio program. I know he was a major influence in your career choice, but was there an event or events that solidified the decision?
09/19/2003 - By John Rutledge
