Around the State: Buckner and TBM serve tornado survivors

Buckner International delivered school supplies and hygiene items for displaced Thomas Jefferson High School students to Thomas Edison Middle Learning Center in Dallas on Oct. 28. The high school is closed for the remainder of the school year due to significant damage from a tornado on Oct. 20. Buckner plans to deliver supplies to two other Dallas Independent School District campuses later in the week. The Buckner Family Hope Center serves many residents of the Bachman Lake area of northwest Dallas who were affected by the tornado. Buckner and Texas Baptist Men worked together to serve meals to families in the area. Through Oct. 28, TBM volunteers had prepared about 1,700 meals, completed more than 100 chainsaw jobs and logged 200 heavy-equipment hours in response to the Dallas-area tornadoes.

The Nederland City Council approved a proclamation designating Oct. 28 as “Texas Baptist Men Day.” The proclamation recognized TBM for “hard work and support of our community and area” following Hurricane Harvey and Tropical Storm Imelda.

The Dallas Baptist University Patriots baseball team traveled to Cuba during fall break as part of the athletic department’s Global Sports Mission Initiative. Team members led training clinics for children, played a series of games against Cuban minor league teams and worshipped with Cuban Christians. “As we sang songs together in a foreign language and prayed together in groups with the congregation, it brought to life that we truly serve the God of the nations, and the power of the Holy Spirit was overwhelming,” said Reagan Ratcliff, director of athletics for DBU media relations. Also during fall break, another student group participated in a “history by immersion” experience in Boston. David Cook, dean of global studies; Nick Pitts, executive director of the Institute for Global Engagement; Deborah McCollister, professor of English; and administrative assistant Rachel Middleton led the “Revolutionary Change: Leadership in America’s Founding Generation” tour.

Texas Baptists’ Hispanic Evangelism Conference will be held Nov. 8-9 at First Baptist Church in Corpus Christi. The conference—which will be conducted both in Spanish and English—focuses on equipping pastors and leaders in the Hispanic community with tools to grow their churches and spread the gospel. Featured speakers include Antonio Muñoz, pastor of Redeemer Community Church en Espanol in Katy, and Rolando Lopez, church planting coordinator for San Antonio Baptist Association.

Roslyn Artis, the first female president in the148-year history of Benedict College, a historically black school in Columbia, S.C., was the featured speaker at the inaugural Women’s Empowerment Luncheon at East Texas Baptist University. Artis spoke on the value of education for the empowerment of women in the workplace. Michelle Blackburn, first lady of ETBU, hosted the “EmpowerHer” luncheon for women in leadership at ETBU, Wiley College and the Marshall area.

Anita Mamy, a 2009 graduate of Wayland Baptist University, returns to her alma mater in Plainview Nov. 1 for a book-signing of her autobiography, A Walk for Survival: Escaping the Liberian Civil War. She and her family were considered “enemies of the state” after violence erupted in Liberia on Christmas Eve 1989 because they were members of the Mano tribe. She was 11 years old at the time. “To survive, we concealed our tribal identity, endured a series of narrow escapes, and walked several thousand miles to escape Liberia. This is my story and my account of what I saw happen as a child,” Mamy wrote.

Students in the Social Work Club and Criminal Justice Club at Howard Payne University participated in National Night Out in Brownwood. Members of the Social Work Club volunteered with Good Samaritan Ministries of Brownwood to help collect canned goods. The Criminal Justice Club hosted a registered National Night Out stop on the HPU campus to honor first responders.

Houston Baptist University named Linda and Archie Dunham of Houston as the 2019 Family of the Year. The Dunham family was recognized during HBU homecoming activities on Oct. 26. The Dunhams are charter members of HBU’s Covenant Society and major donors. The Linda & Archie Dunham Theater in HBU’s Morris Cultural Arts Center, the Archie W. Dunham College of Business, the Dunham Bible Museum and Dunham Field in Husky Stadium are named in their honor.