DALLAS—Texas Baptists plan to take a significant step on Mother’s Day to provide meals to children in need.

David Hardage, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, has challenged churches to raise $1 million on Mother’s Day for the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering, which provides relief and aid to hungry people throughout the state and around the globe.

“In the heart of mothers throughout Texas and beyond is a deep desire to meet the needs of their children,” Hardage said. “We want to honor them as Texas Baptists in a meaningful and tangible way that carries forth that desire. Together, we can help struggling mothers put food on their respective families’ tables.”

If the convention reaches its goal, it would be a considerable increase in the amount given to the offering. In each of the past two years, Texas Baptists have given about $750,000 to the offering.

Such an increase may seem audacious, Hardage acknowledged, but he believes it is possible if God is in it and Texas Baptists heed the Lord’s call to care for the hungry.

The one-day emphasis offers an easy entry point for Texas Baptist churches that haven’t contributed to the offering to get involved, he added.

Ferrell Foster, who coordinates the offering, believes this is precisely the type of biblically based call to which Texas Baptists respond best.

“Texas Baptists are a generous people,” he said. “Our hearts are as big as our land. We’ve always opened our pockets to do missions and evangelism. I’m equally confident we will open our pockets in caring for people’s needs. When we understand that Jesus requires compassion for those in poverty and when they know we have a way to help deal with that poverty, then I believe we will give and give big. We have the means with the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering. We need more of the compassion.”

For people in poverty, their lives may depend on whether Texas Baptists step forward generously this Mother’s Day, Foster noted. More than one-fourth of Texas children do not know where they will find their next meal. Families are struggling to survive, and parents are facing tough decisions, including how to feed their children.

By giving to the hunger offering, Texas Baptists are celebrating their mothers, as well as mothers worldwide, he added.

“There is nothing more important to hungry people than to gain nutritious food,” he said. “Their lives depend on it. For people in the midst of a food crisis, they must eat now. For people caught in a cycle of chronic poverty, they must be helped to break that cycle. Either way, Jesus depends on his followers to bring hurting people the abundant life he spoke about, and that life involves both physical and spiritual well-being. It’s up to us. It’s our responsibility. Jesus said so.”

God loves every person, Hardage said. God cares deeply about them—their struggles and their triumphs—and wants Texas Baptists to be right there with him.

“God wants every mother’s child to have a meal. This Mother’s Day, Texas Baptists, we can take a major step forward in making that happen for people throughout this state.”

For more information about Texas Baptists’ Mother’s Day offering, click here or call (888) 244-9400.

Kathy Hillman, a leader in several spheres of Texas Baptist life, will be nominated for first vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas during the BGCT annual meeting this summer.

Hillman, the convention’s current second vice president, was president of Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas from 2000 to 2004 and served on numerous convention committees.

She has served in a variety of faculty and staff positions at BGCT-affiliated Baylor University since 1976, including associate professor and director of special collections for the central university libraries since 2008. She also is director of the library and archives for the Keston Center for Religion, Politics & Society at Baylor.

Dennis W. Young, pastor of Missouri City Baptist Church in Missouri City, announced he will nominate Hillman for first vice president when the convention meets in San Antonio, July 14-17.

Hillman possesses four traits—adaptability, missions-mindedness, love for BGCT institutions and leadership skills—that qualify her to take a step up on Texas Baptists’ leadership ladder, Young said.

“One of the things that is outstanding about Kathy is her ability to adapt to any size or type of congregation,” he noted. For example, she grew up in First Baptist Church of Eldorado, a West Texas congregation that averaged about 125 people in Sunday school, but she’s now an active member of Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco, a Central Texas congregation with about 1,000 attenders each week.

“I’m looking at her adaptation skills—something that’s very necessary,” he said.

Hillman also possesses a lifelong commitment to missions, Young added.

“She’s been a very good missionary,” he said, citing her service as a collegiate summer missionary, her involvement in mission trips and her extensive travels and engagement in missions as a leader of Texas WMU.

A vignette from Hillman’s childhood illustrates her depth of concern for missions, Young said. At First Baptist in Eldorado, she was the only member of Girls Auxiliary, the Baptist missions organization for girls. So, she attended the GA program at St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church, an African-American congregation.

“She didn’t look at color, but she looked at missions and doing the Lord’s work,” Young noted. “That’s major.”

Hillman’s alignment with Texas Baptist institutions is a theme of her life, he added.

She completed undergraduate and postgraduate studies at Baylor. Her great-grandmother, both grandfathers, both parents and two of her children all attended Baylor, and another grandmother and a child attended Howard Payne University, also a Texas Baptist school, he reported.

Noting he has served on several BGCT committees with Hillman, Young said: “I’ve always been moved by her passion and her commitment and her leadership skills. Each time I was involved with her, she brought so much to the table. Administratively, she has a very good skill set.

“She’s a servant leader. She loves the Lord. She loves people. And she’s always had that drive to win souls for God’s kingdom.”

Because the 2013 BGCT annual meeting will be held in mid-summer, less than nine months after the 2012 annual meeting, Hillman felt her term as second vice president was too short to accomplish all that she wanted to achieve.

“I feel there are a lot of other things I can do—more people I would like to meet, more churches I would like to go visit,” she said.

In particular, Hillman said, she hopes to encourage increased lay involvement in Texas Baptist denominational life, as well as greater involvement by the rising generation of young pastors and by ministers’ spouses.

Hillman also voiced the desire to support BGCT Executive Director David Hardage.

“Missions and evangelism seem married in his vision. While some have treated them separately, I’ve always seen them as very closely related,” she said.

She also wants to help reinforce and communicate what she sees as a key message Hardage emphasizes: “The BGCT exists to serve churches, not the other way around.”

Hillman expressed her appreciation for “the breadth and depth of who Texas Baptists are.”

She has served on the executive council and executive board of Waco Regional Baptist Association, and she was elected the association’s first female vice moderator in 2008-2009 and its first female moderator in 2009-2011.

Hillman has chaired the BGCT Committee to Nominate Executive Board Members and its Committee on Order of Business. She also served on the BGCT Executive Board.

She and her husband, John, have three adult children and two grandsons.

NEW YORK (ABP)—Buryl Red, a conductor, producer and arranger known around the world as musical director of The CenturyMen and composer of the 1972 classic Celebrate Life, died April 1 after a battle with cancer.

A graduate of Baylor and Yale universities and born in Little Rock, Ark., Red, 77, wrote more than 1,600 published compositions and arrangements, many of them award-winning. He produced more than 2,500 recordings and arranged music for hundreds of shows, documentaries and musical specials for network and cable television. The Washington Post described his works as “uncommonly creative.”

In 1969, the Radio and Television Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention established the CenturyMen, an auditioned men’s chorus of professional musicians who are directors of music in Baptist churches across America and from around the world. With Red as conductor, the group has performed on national television, been finalists for Dove and Grammy Awards and traveled around the world.

In 1972, he wrote music for Celebrate Life, a collaboration with book and lyrics author Ragan Courtney, published by Broadman Press, that became a staple in Southern Baptist youth choirs. The song “In Remembrance,” published in the 1991 Baptist Hymnal, is from the musical.

Bob Burroughs, a composer and former church music director for the Florida Baptist Convention, remembered Red as a friend, mentor and advice-giver who always had time for people.

“He gave me advice that I still use today in my own music composition style,” Burroughs said. “He was a giant among church and school musicians alike, a hero to many, friend to thousands, and his quiet, gentle persona will be missed.”

Greg Stahl, executive director of the CenturyMen, described Red as a “true giant” among Baptist church musicians that he puts in the same category with Isaac Watts, Fanny Crosby and B.B. McKinney.

Stahl said the CenturyMen had been working with Red to plan a tribute concert in New York City, where he lived, as a “way of saying a personal goodbye,” but the cancer spread to his liver and ended his life before they got the opportunity.

CenturyMen President Lee Chitwood said the show will go on as memorial tribute to Red and a celebration of his lifelong work. Scheduled for 7 p.m. on April 29 at Central Presbyterian Church in New York City, the concert will feature performances by the CenturyMen and other artists and reflections from several speakers giving “testimony of the enormous impact that Buryl has had on our lives.”

“Buryl will most assuredly be missed but highly remembered for his lasting musical contributions to so many,” said Chitwood, minister of music and worship at First Baptist Church in Newnan, Ga.

Stahl, associate pastor for worship and music at River Oaks Baptist Church in Houston, said with all the changes that have occurred in church music over the past 10 to 15 years, “I wonder if we will ever see another Buryl Red.”

DALLAS—The Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas named Jesse Rincones of Lubbock as its first executive director.

The convention’s executive board unanimously appointed Rincones, the organization’s president since 2010. The directorship is a volunteer position, and leaders believe it will remain that way for the foreseeable future.

The action was made to empower longer-term planning and initiatives that stretch across presidential terms, convention leaders indicated. Such efforts include a three-year project to revitalize the state’s 42 regional Spanish compañerismos and creation of a Hispanic leadership development program.

“It’s a historic step the convention is taking,” Rincones said. “I recognize the responsibility and the opportunity to help churches fulfill the responsibility they are feeling.”

The Hispanic convention is the third-largest Hispanic Baptist body in the world, Rincones noted. God is calling Texas Hispanic Baptists to expand his kingdom through a variety of outreach efforts, and to accomplish those tasks, the Hispanic Baptist Convention will continue to encourage its congregations to partner with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

The Hispanic convention will not duplicate efforts made by the BGCT but seek to meet specific needs of Hispanic churches that are not being met, he emphasized.

“As we become a stronger convention of churches, we become a stronger part of the BGCT,” he said.

Rincones, the lead pastor of Alliance Church in Lubbock, has served the Hispanic convention in numerous roles.

He earned his law degree from Texas Tech University, where he also earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics.

As a result of Rincones becoming executive director, Daniel “Tiny” Dominguez, pastor of Community Heights Baptist Church in Lubbock and first vice president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention, has become president of the group.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP)—Duke McCall, a denominational leader known by Baptists worldwide for a ministry that spanned four decades, died April 2 at age 98.

McCall was chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee 1946-1951 and president of two seminaries. Early in his ministry he led the Baptist Bible Institute of New Orleans, now known as New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. From 1951 until 1980 he was president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

After his retirement he served a five-year term as president of the Baptist World Alliance.

McCall led Southern Seminary through a 1958 controversy that led to the dismissal of 13 theological professors, one of whom was later reinstated. Late in his career McCall was active in the so-called “moderate” response to the “conservative resurgence” that gained control of the nation’s second-largest faith group in the 1980s. He ran for SBC president in 1982 and lost narrowly.

McCall conceived of an idea for alternative to allow disenfranchised moderates to protest their exclusion from leadership by funding some but not all SBC causes. The Baptist Cooperative Missions Program was incorporated in 1990, a year before the formation of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

WACO—A $3.5 million annual contract from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission will enable the Texas Hunger Initiative to develop a public-private partnership to expand low-income families’ access to food and health care.

The contract is renewable up to five years and could provide $17.5 million. It will allow the Texas Hunger Initiative to open regional offices by the end of March in 12 cities—Amarillo, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, El Paso, Houston, Lubbock, McAllen, San Angelo, San Antonio, Tyler and Waco.

“We believe the best solution to local problems comes from the local community, so it is important for us to put the decision-making process for how to address hunger in the hands of the local community,” Texas Hunger Initiative Director Jeremy Everett said.

Battling hunger in Texas

The Texas Hunger Initiative began four years ago as a partnership between the Baylor University School of Social Work, the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It aims to significantly reduce—if not eliminate—hunger in the state.

The contract will provide resources to enable the Texas Hunger Initiative to develop a coalition of community partners that includes business, government, health-care providers, churches and nonprofit agencies. Leaders plan to enlist 1,100 community-based organizations and train volunteers to help low-income Texans apply for and manage state benefits.

A collaborative model that brings together the public and private sectors “can make government leaner and more efficient while significantly reducing hunger and poverty in our communities,” Everett said.

Cost-effective

Stephanie Muth, deputy executive commissioner at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, characterized the collaborative partnership as “a very cost-effective way to reach deeper into the community by using established organizations that people know and trust.”

The cooperative approach also helps churches meet needs, use their own resources more effectively, and reduce waste and duplication, Everett added.

For example, when people approach churches for assistance, trained volunteers can help those who are eligible for public aid apply for it by using an online tool (YourTexasBenefits.com). That enables churches to use food pantries and other direct assistance to help working families with short-term needs who may not qualify for government aid.

“The right food goes to the right people,” he explained.

A multi-discipline effort

Baylor University faculty who represent multiple disciplines—from business to social work—will conduct research to evaluate the program’s cost-effectiveness and impact, as well as examine barriers community-based organizations and clients may encounter.

“This funding gives us a unique opportunity to conduct rigorous research on how best to create systemic changes resulting in greater food security for those most vulnerable to hunger and malnutrition,” said Diana Garland, dean of the Baylor School of Social Work.

“Research enables us not just to feed the hungry in our state, but to disseminate best practices to address hunger across the nation.”

Everett sees the research component of the initiative as vitally important.

The importance of research

“A lot of times you have research on one side of the campus and service work on the other side of the campus,” he said. “We believe if we’re really serious about significantly reducing hunger and poverty domestically, we have to tie research into all outreach endeavors that we’re undertaking.

“It’s important to evaluate everything we’re doing. It’s important to identify what real poverty might look like, what real hunger looks like, and what kind of resources we have—by county, for example—to address each one of the problems.”

Since the Texas Hunger Initiative’s launch in 2009, it has worked closely with communities throughout the state to develop food planning associations and food policy councils, increase participation in summer meal programs and school breakfast programs for children from low-income families and increase Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program accessibility at farmers’ markets.

Four years ago, Texas was second nationally in childhood hunger. Since the Texas Hunger Initiative began its work, Texas has dropped to No. 11 in the country in childhood hunger.

Lori Fogleman of Baylor University Communications contributed to this report.

As I think about my time as a semester missionary at Mission Arlington, I am reminded of one simple truth: Nobody is beyond redemption.

No matter what people do in their lives, no matter how messed up they could be, and no matter how they act during your Bible study, none of that matters. God wants them, regardless of their condition.

During the Christmas season, Mission Arlington reaches out to the community by opening a Christmas store where parents can shop for their children—for free. One can only imagine how much of a blessing that is.

I was working with a specific apartment complex one day and was taking a group of people to the store. Along the way, four women tagged along. The entire way, they were talking about vulgar things—everything from which club is hot to their last romantic encounter. I tried hard to turn the conversation to spiritual things, but my efforts were not working.

Finally, we make it to the store where everything changed. At the Christmas store, before anyone can shop, they are told about the gospel and reminded that Christ is the true reason for the season. In all honesty, I was frustrated with the four women, and my heart was pretty hard toward them at that point. I didn’t think they would change or even listen. I remember praying: “God please get a hold of these ladies, because I know I can’t. If not, just keep them quiet so that others may hear.”

It was in that moment God reminded me Christ died for all. He told me to keep praying for them and reminded me that he loved them. I was broken. How could I forget that God can touch the hardest of hearts? I had that heart once.

By the end of the gospel presentation, the ladies were all tearing up, and all four surrendered their lives to Jesus.  

Richard Zapata, a nursing student at South Plains College in Levelland, served at Mission Arlington with Go Now Missions.

I have been in East Asia more than four months now, and one thing that I really miss a lot is big group fellowship. I miss having a consistent large weekly meeting where I get to see friends and family.

Here things are different for obvious reasons. We do get chances to get together with English-speaking friends—Americans, Australians Kiwis and others—to fellowship at least every other week. Even when that happens, people’s schedules here constantly are changing, and also it seems like people are often sick. So, we hardly ever have the exact same people at two meeting. It’s all very inconsistent.

But once every three months, there is a gathering of most of the foreign believers here in the city, which in total is around 400 people. It is just so great to go to these gatherings. I can feel a connection to all these people, most of whom I have never even met, because I know that we are all sons and daughters of the King. And the worship at these things is just amazing, because when you look around at the people there and you hear the passion with which they sing, you just know that they’re there to worship. The most recent meeting was great, because it was held two days before Christmas, so we got to sing Christmas songs and celebrate the birth of Jesus together.

All of this just reminds me how important it is to have regular fellowship with people. It reminds me that we are better off with it than without it. Even if we aren’t extroverts or don’t like waking up early, we should be thankful for the easy access to fellowship that we have in America.

Jon, a student at the University of Texas at El Paso, is serving in East Asia with Go Now Missions. His last name is withheld for security reasons.

A few days before Christmas, I had the opportunity to host a Christmas party here in East Asia.

It was kind of weird for me, because someone else was running it, and I was just letting them use my apartment. In the whole group of about 40 people who showed up to the party, I only knew three. Even when I tried to meet new people, it was really hard, because they barely spoke any English. It was probably the first time I’ve felt really awkward in my own home.

About an hour into the party, I was told that someone who was going to present had to leave early, and that person wanted me to share the Christmas story with everyone, and someone would translate for me. It was last minute, but I really had no problem with it, because I grew up with this story—or at least that’s what I thought. I ended up giving a really rough presentation. I am not used to having someone translate things when I speak publicly, so it didn’t really flow. But I got through it, and it seemed like everyone understood.

After that, some students got up in front of everyone and sang a couple of songs and even preformed a little skit that was followed up by a question. I had no idea what was going on because none of this was in English. Three people who were sitting down stood up, and then everyone started looking around nervously. I was still confused.

Then the leader made eye contact with me and yelled my name as if she had forgotten I was there and realized it all of a sudden. She told me the three people had just decided to follow God and asked me if I would like to pray for them. I said “of course” and prayed that God would make their commitment sincere and give them strength to follow.

So, an awkward party turned out to be a really big blessing. And I was reminded that even things like letting people use your apartment can work for God’s glory.

Jon, a student at the University of Texas at El Paso, is serving in East Asia with Go Now Missions. His last name is withheld for security reasons.

As I leave the city where I’ve served for four months, I can't help but be excited to return home with my family and friends. But it also saddens me to leave the life I have semi-built here in East Asia and the relationships I have formed.

One of the biggest lessons I have learned here is the importance of true, genuine fellowship. Being here without that, until these past few weeks, really made me understand the impact it has on our spiritual growth and maturity. If we do not have true fellowship, how are we supposed to be rebuked and reproofed—chiseled—to become more like Christ? But because I was forced to rely solely on the Scripture for that chiseling, I was lonely enough to be able to hear solely from him, which brought many blessings and revelations.

As I look back over these past four months, I don't even know how to begin to process. So many things have happened in my life, but also in the lives of the local people here. While there have been many victories won and many seeds planted here, I can almost say with certainty that God moved in my life just as much as he did in the lives of those that I was allowed to impact with the gospel.

On a mission trip, one initially would think that the sole purpose for being wherever you are is to affect the lives of those you were sent to serve. While that is true in some aspects, I would have to disagree about the purpose for going. I believe we were allowed to be on this earth to have a relationship with God—ultimately, so that we could glorify him.

Wherever we go and whatever we do, it is to give glory to our Father; whether that be introducing people to Jesus, serving the poor, going to school, allowing God to have control of our lives or whatever.

Wes, a student at Stephen F. Austin State University, has been serving in East Asia with Go Now Missions. His last name is withheld for security reasons.

I have seen God work in a very different way in the lives of the students—differently than I have ever seen or experienced before.

I think the difference that I am seeing results from my understanding and application of what it actually means to be a follower of Christ. Instead of sugarcoating what I say when I am "informing" someone, I think that it is very urgent and necessary to teach them not only the love Jesus showed for them, but also the cost of being a true disciple.

I am "informing" someone, I think that it is very urgent and necessary to teach them not only the love Jesus showed for them, but also the cost of being a true disciple.

The more in-depth study of the Bible I do, the more God reveals to me. One very important thing I have learned is that getting someone to say that they believe in Jesus is not enough. We have to be extremely careful about how we portray Jesus to people. The Jesus I believe in is the Son of God, my Savior whose blood covers my sins, who rose from the dead and defeated death, who healed the sick, made the lame walk, who raised Lazarus from the dead, and who is one of the crucial elements of the Trinity. I also believe Jesus is the Word and that the Word is God. Since I believe that Jesus is the Word, I am required to believe and be obedient to the Word. If someone picks and chooses what they decide to believe about Jesus, ultimately, my Jesus is different from their Jesus and, moreover, different from the God that I believe in—making him a false god.

The word believe is used many times in the New Testament, especially referring to salvation. The original Greek word used is Pisteuo (used over 240 times), which literally translates “to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in the thing believed.” This Greek word is also a verb, which requires action. For example, a better translation of the common verse John 3:16 would say "for God did so love the world, that His Son — the only begotten — He gave, that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during.”

So, it is extremely important that we do not thwart the gospel into a once-in-a-lifetime decision, but rather portray it as it is — a life-long commitment in a continuous belief in the Jesus who is described in the Bible, but also a life-long commitment in a continuous belief in the Word, which tells us to go, to do and to love.

Wes, a student at Stephen F. Austin State University, is serving in East Asia with Go Now Missions. His last name is withheld for security reasons.

The girl has been a good friend to us here. She shows us around, helps us when we need help with anything and translates for us. She also comes to the Bible studies we have at our house about once a week. She's always very good at reading the text in English and explaining to us and even to others what the text says.

She is also a hardcore Buddhist. She was raised that way. It's what her mother believes. She told us she has no idea what it would be like to believe in something else. She has made it very clear that she only attends the Bible studies to learn more about our culture—why we believe what we believe.

We’ve been having long theological conversations about the ins and outs of Buddhism and Christianity. They leave me really frustrated, but I think that's a good thing. I know, and have told her, that the reason I try to explain things to her is not because I want to change her or because I think that there is something wrong with her. It’s because I have experienced something great, and I want to share it with her.

It is so frustrating, but I wish I felt this way more often. I wish I were constantly burdened by the fact that some of my friends don't know Jesus, but most of the time, I'm not. So I guess it's kind of a good frustration—a frustration that tells me to keep speaking the truth and wait for the Father to move, cause that’s what will make the change. Until that happens, my job is to keep sowing seed.

Jon, a student at the University of Texas at El Paso, is serving in East Asia with Go Now Missions. His last name is withheld for security reasons.