Around the State: ETBU students host fall festivals

East Texas Baptist University’s Learning and Leading classes hosted fall festivals for Marshall’s David Crockett Elementary, Sam Houston Elementary, William B. Travis Elementary, Price T. Young Elementary schools and the Marshall Early Childhood Center on Oct. 2. ETBU students served nearly 1,000 elementary students and their families. ETBU’s fall festival events have become a tradition for the university’s students and the elementary students and families of the Marshall Independent School District, with more than 350 ETBU freshmen planning and organizing the event during their Learning and Leading courses and the freshman Honors Program. “Our students get to take what they have learned in class about Christian servant leadership and apply that knowledge by collaborating with each other to plan, build, and host booths at the fall festivals,” said Vanessa Johnston, ETBU Learning and Leading coordinator. “Hosting the fall festivals for the families in Marshall ISD allows them to see the impact they can make in the community in a tangible way. We hope this experience positively affects not only the families of Marshall, but also our students who will see the importance of loving and serving our neighbors as Christ has called us to do.”

Wayland Baptist University has launched the search for the school’s 14th president, creating a webpage with updates about the search, said Tyler Topper, chair of Wayland’s presidential search committee. President Bobby Hallannounced in September plans to retire effective June 30, 2024. The search committee and consultants “have developed a job ad and position profile describing the key institutional needs and priorities, as well as a related set of desired characteristics for our next president,” Topper said in a letter sent to Wayland students, faculty and staff. The search committee welcomes the suggestion of candidates who could serve effectively as the next president or the names of persons who might recommend potential candidates, he added. “When nominating, please complete the confidential online nomination form on the website or forward the name(s) and contact information, including email address, to our consultants at WBUPresident@academicsearch.org,” Topper said. The search committee plans to begin reviewing applications in late October with the goal of identifying a small group of candidates. Semifinalist interviews are expected in late-November, with finalists being interviewed in early January.

Lance Shumake, president of iGo Global, spoke in chapel at Dallas Baptist University at the beginning of Missions Week. Shumake’s Rockwall-based organization partners with churches to help train and mobilize the next generation to spread the gospel internationally. Shumake challenged students to think beyond self-interested hopes and focus instead on God’s will. He urged them to be on mission with God as instruments of blessing, sharing the hope of God’s love. In addition to iGo Global, representatives from Greater Europe Mission, Cafe 1040, Africa Inland Mission and other organizations participated in an outdoor mission fair, introducing students to missions opportunities. In another chapel service during DBU Missions Week, Izabella McMillon of Samaritan’s Purse told how—as a 13-year-old girl in Romania—she received an Operation Christmas Child gift box that changed her life.

The board of directors of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty elected Anyra Cano of Fort Worth as chair. She is the first Latina to serve in that role. Cano is director of programs and outreach for Fellowship Southwest. She previously was coordinator of Texas Baptist Women in Ministry and served 12 years as youth minister at Iglesia Bautista Victoria en Cristo in Fort Worth.

Members at Ventana, a Buckner senior living community in Dallas, volunteered recently at the Buckner Center for Humanitarian Aid. They spent the afternoon sorting shoes and stuffing them with encouraging notes to support Buckner’s Shoes for Orphan Souls program. “This is our first outing of this type,” said Holly Yates, director of lifestyle services at Ventana. “But members have been involved in volunteering with Buckner through Pajamas for Seniors and by providing supplies to families in the Buckner Family Hope Center or Buckner Family Pathways programs.”