The One who made the blind see and the lame walk has been cajoling Heather Herschap of Waco to set her sights on India for his glory, she said.

Herschap, who graduated in December from Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary, has had a heart for the Asian subcontinent for more than four of the 10 years she’s lived in Waco—particularly for the handicapped of Bangalore, third-largest city of the nation of 1.13 billion people.

Herschap understands something about the challenges they face. She has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair and has only limited movement in one arm. But her heart soars when she talks about her dream to be a missionary to India’s neglected—even despised— physically disabled population.

Herschap has been on two previous trips to Bangalore as a student. She made month-long excursions in 2005 and 2006 with the help of Truett classmates and WorldconneX, the Baptist General Convention of Texas missions network. She worked with proVision Asia, counseling and ministering to the physically challenged.

“In the past, I sat on the porch with clients, helping them rebuild their self-esteem, talking about the emotional hurts they’re experiencing,” she recalled.

Many tribal cultures in India scorn the disabled as being cursed by the gods and punished for bad karma earned in a previous life.

“They wish they were not disabled. They do everything possible to hide the disability and to become less disabled,” Herschap said.

Indeed, she added, some of her clients in India—especially young women—have questioned why they are alive, and expressed suicidal thoughts.

“I believe that I am called to India to show them that God has a purpose and a plan, but most importantly, that he loves these young women who have no one to love them and who do not even love themselves,” Herschap said.

“The disabled face enormous issues and need so much love. This is a very big problem and deserves the attention of so many others. But all I can offer is myself,” she told members of Seventh & James Baptist Church in Waco.

But for her to make the final leap overseas for duty in Bangalore, Herschap said, she’ll need someone as committed to India and its disabled community as she, as well as committed to being her primary caregiver.

Heather Herschap

An Indian family could offer personal care, she said, “but I really need an American assistant to give the others a break. That’s a big thing to face for me. But I’m confident such a person exists.”

As she looks for her comissionary/assistant, she is preparing for her upcoming year-long placement in India with proVision Asia by attending school in Colorado Springs, Colo., at Mission Training International. MTI is a 54-year-old organization offering specialized, pre-field cross-cultural education for more than 150 evangelical mission-sending agencies.

At MTI, she said, she will be immersed in what she’ll need to know for her yearlong stay in Bangalore. She’ll return to Waco for weeks of required reading for her next assignment, and then will leave the area in August for her final training sessions at the Seattle, Wash., headquarters of Mission to Unreached Peoples.

MUP is a “broadly interdenominational” 25-year-old organization that mobilizes lay Christians to use their job skills as an entree into sometimes-hostile cultures with the gospel message, she said.

“The whole Heather team thinks this is a much better route,” Herschap said, speaking of her support staff of friends and family. “So, my plan hasn’t changed, just the route I will take to get there.”

She hopes to be in-country by early fall—monsoon season, as it so happens in that part of the globe.

This time around, she said, she will be able to delve more deeply into spreading the gospel and spiritual formation with her Indian clients.

“The first year I went, I met a lot of clients who walked around with crutches or canes or even walkers to get around easier. The second year, I met a lot of clients in wheelchairs and those who physically could not leave the house even if they wanted to,” she added, “They are put in the corner and given basic needs, but no love or affection. That’s why I am going, to tell them their life has a purpose, even if they cannot see it at that moment.”

Meanwhile, Herschap is networking and fund-raising to cover the estimated cost of her year overseas, about $15,000. She has less than $5,000 on hand now.

“When I return to India, I will be working alongside the same organization, but my responsibilities will expand to include ministering specifically to the spiritual needs of their clients. I think this experience expresses my calling as a whole, which is to minister to those who have physical challenges or other difficulties and to be a witness to God’s strength, mercy and grace.”

To contact Herschap, e-mail HerschapAH@gmail.com.

GRANBURY—Until the last moment, there was no assurance Jaden Solomon was going to enter the baptismal waters. He was nervous.

While it’s not unusual for a 15-year-old to be a bit nervous in the baptistry, his reasons were out of the ordinary. He wasn’t being baptized; he was baptizing someone else.

At Gateway Community Church in Granbury, when a church member leads someone to faith in Christ, the personal evangelist is given the opportunity to perform the baptism. Solomon had led 10-year-old Chase White to faith in Jesus Christ.

“We encouraged this because we’re always talking about involving our youth and children in the total worship of the church, but then we often segregate them from the rest of the community of faith,” said Pastor C.C. Risenhoover.

“That’s not going to be the case at Gateway. We’re committed to involving our children and young people in every area of worship.”

Risenhoover’s plan for his congregation is by no means limited to youth leading people to Christ. His goal is to help every member lead someone to Christ and baptize someone in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Over the past several months, several laypeople—men and women—have performed baptisms at Gateway. Fifteen people have been baptized so far this year, with another dozen awaiting baptism.

Statewide, Texas Baptists have been challenged to ensure every person in the state has an opportunity to respond to the gospel by Easter 2010.

Risenhoover’s vision of each member winning someone and then baptizing them came after reading the annual reports of Paluxy Baptist Association, where he said he found 22 churches had baptized 171 people.

“What we’re finding is that it’s a life-changing experience for the person doing the baptism, as well as for the one being baptized. When a person baptizes another individual, it gives them a better spiritual understanding as to the real meaning of baptism,” Risenhoover said.

Some people have walked the aisle in the traditional fashion, but then they have chosen someone other than the pastor to perform their baptism, which is fine with him, he noted.

“I’ve been looking at the New Testament church. And it seems to me we’ve gotten so far from that model of a New Testament church in that the paid clergy does everything and the people are left out,” he explained.

The practice has excited his congregation that swelled to 320 on Easter but averages about half that, he said.

“I’m confident it will ignite the fires of revival in our church,” he said.

In addition, Gateway also is employing its younger members in preparing and serving the Lord’s Supper.

“Baptism and communion are not exclusively the bailiwick of ordained clergy,” he said.

“And people who try to prove with Scripture that they are have to do some unusual shenanigans and manipulation, mixing a little Scripture with a lot of tradition.

“Every Christian—man, woman, boy or girl—is a soldier in the army of Christ, and none should be limited as to what they can do for the cause of Christ. The Christian army is too short-handed to play Mickey Mouse games as to who’s in charge of this and who’s in charge of that.”

GREENVILLE, S.C. (ABP)—Students, administrators, faculty and alumni of Furman University are in an uproar over a speech by President Bush at the school’s commencement exercises in Greenville, S.C.

A letter of objection originated with the school’s faculty and was signed by more than 200 professors, administrators and students. It criticized the Bush administration’s involvement in the Iraq war, as well as its treatment of terrorism suspects, handling of environmental and scientific issues, and promotion of deficit spending.

“We are ashamed of these actions of this administration,” the letter stated.

The letter was posted on the school’s official commencement-information website shortly after Furman officials announced Bush was scheduled to speak.

A group of conservative Furman students then drafted their own statement, gathering more than 500 signatures from current students as well as some faculty, administrators and alumni.

The response, orchestrated by Furman’s Conservative Students for a Better Tomorrow, took issue with some of the faculty-organized group’s criticisms of the administration. But the bulk of the statement criticized what it described as a political “publicity stunt” by the faculty.

With oil trading at about $130 a barrel in New York and London markets and gas at the pump inching toward $4 a gallon in the United States, some international relief agencies have found the task of getting assistance to hurting people more challenging than ever.

“For one thing, it’s getting more difficult to get airline tickets,” said Dick Talley, logistics coordinator for Texas Baptist Men. “There are fewer flights with fewer seats available.”

Airlines that may have provided special discounts to nonprofit humanitarian groups in the past are less likely to give up potential revenue when operating costs are high.

“Supply and demand means we have to buy more expensive seats on planes to get our people on the field,” Talley said.

What’s true for passengers also goes for cargo, Talley noted.

Rising costs of shipping equipment to areas for disaster relief or economic development projects has forced providers to find other ways of providing water purifiers, well-drilling equipment and other materials to remote areas.

For instance, in the Congo, Texas Baptist Men discovered a village could only afford to operate equipment that provided pure water for residents for two hours a day because it was powered by a diesel engine, and diesel fuel costs topped $10 a gallon.

To meet that need, TBM found a source that could provide solar panels to operate the equipment.

Food shipments create a different set of challenges. Global food prices nearly doubled in the last three years, the Washington-based Bread for the World organization noted. Prices of basic commodities—rice, wheat, corn and soy—have spiked in recent months.

Already, high oil prices contributed to the cost of producing, packaging, storing and shipping food.

Droughts, cyclones, typhoons and other natural disasters in some parts of the world make the situation even worse, Talley noted.

“Myanmar was the rice bowl of the world,” he said, pointing to the loss in agricultural production expected following a devastating cyclone.

When possible, Baptist relief groups purchase food locally or regionally—both to stimulate the economy in the area needing assistance and to eliminate long-distance transportation costs, said Joe Haag of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission, who administers the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger.

LULING (ABP)—Children seized from a polygamist sect’s compound and temporarily entrusted to a Texas Baptist child-care agency bid farewell to their former caretakers May 31 with poetry, song and strong emotion.

In anticipation of a court ruling that would allow them to return to their parents, 72 children from the Fundamen-talist Latter Day Saints compound created a program to thank workers at the Baptist Child & Family Services Youth Ranch in Luling. They had been in the organization’s care since the early days of April, when state authorities began taking children from the FLDS outpost.

The children lined up all the rocking chairs they could find on the Youth Ranch campus and asked the Baptist Child & Family Services workers who had cared for them for weeks to be seated. What followed left the agency’s staffers in tears.

Children read a poem they had composed, written on a large piece of poster board and decorated with hand-drawn flowers.

The FLDS children mentioned many of the organization’s workers by name and thanked them for specific actions.

The children also delivered individual notes and performed songs they had composed for the occasion.

“They just overwhelmed us with all of this—in a good way,” said Asennet Segura, the BCFS director of residential services. “It was so real. Most of them signed the back of the poster with the poem on it.”

That simple gesture by the FLDS children, Segura said, “showed real trust, since they are wary of signing anything.”

BCFS President Kevin Dinnin said the agency received “literally hundreds” of registered letters from FLDS parents back at the sect’s Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado. The letters contained requests on how they wanted the care for their children structured—regarding everything from medications to education.

Children who had been removed from the polygamous Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints compound near Eldorado wrote “thank you” notes to the Baptist Child & Family Services staff who cared for them.

“We complied with all of those requests, except one—that FLDS elders be allowed to conduct religious services,” he said. Dinnin noted the request was denied not by BCFS officials, but by state authorities.

The child and family services agency, affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, also coordinated the statewide process of returning all of the 400-plus children to their FLDS caregivers, pursuant to the court order.

“Originally, we were going to bus everyone back to San Angelo, but the FLDS attorneys were granted a request that parents be allowed to pick the children up, so we put that process together,” Dinnin said.

“Some people didn’t understand that BCFS’s role was just to care for the children when they were in need of care.”

“We didn’t play a role in the removal or any of the court hearings. We just took care of the children while the legal aspects were being sorted out. But when the children at the Youth Ranch expressed appreciation for how BCFS treated them, we knew the people who most needed to understand our hearts did just that.”

State authorities initially seized all of the children on the compound because of allegations that underage girls had been taken as wives by much older FLDS men.

The Texas Supreme Court ruled May 29 the state did not have sufficient reason to hold all of the children because of its suspicions about the sect’s religious practices. A lower court then ordered the children returned to their FLDS parents or caregivers.

But that wasn’t the topic of conversation as the FLDS children bid farewell to their BCFS caregivers.

As one 13-year-old girl who was cared for there wrote, “Heavenly Father will bless those who bless his children.”

DALLAS—New findings on churches and congregation-based childcare centers can help reduce tension between the two entities.

Jon Singletary, director for the Baylor University School of Social Work Center for Family and Community Ministries, said it’s common for churches and their congregation-based childcare centers to have misunderstandings on issues such as cost, legalities and use of space.

Researchers, daycare directors and pastors met for the “Who Cares for the Children?” Church-based Childcare Summit at the Buckner Children’s Home campus in Dallas to discuss the findings of congregation-based childcare research that focuses on the relationship between churches and their weekday childcare centers.

The study was a 2007 nationwide survey distributed by mail to 1,800 childcare centers in the United States. It analyzed how churches are involved in child care and whether they see it as a ministry to children and their families, Singletary said.

“We found two common responses,” he said. “Churches don’t know how to see childcare programs as part of their ministries. Some do, but a lot of times, directors of programs told us that they felt isolated and that the church didn’t know how to work with them and their families.”

Lisa Massar, who directs Niños de Promesa, a child-care center at First Baptist Church of Tyler, said it is important to prevent childcare ministries and their churches from seeing each other as rivals.

“Today (child care) is a challenge because it’s about the church discerning its calling. Churches tend to want to be all things to all people and it can be hard to narrow that down and decide what to focus on,” Massar said. “As churches, we need to be able to say that this new research that has been going on in the past 10 years is crucial.”

Angela Dennison, associate director for the Baylor Center for Family and Community Ministries and part of Buckner’s staff, was involved in the research. She helped distribute the national survey, gather data and investigate the results.

Jon Singletary, director for the Baylor School of Social Work’s Center for Family and Community Ministries, addresses participants at a church-based child care summit at Buckner Children’s Home in Dallas.

“Although all children deserve quality child care, it appears that those who need it most are least likely to receive care in a congregational setting,” Dennison said.

“With its long history and expertise as a high-quality childcare provider and as an extension of the local church, Buckner is uniquely qualified as a partner to take this research and equip churches who want to respond to Jesus’ call to ‘let the children come unto me.’”

Diana Garland, dean of the Baylor School of Social Work, asked in her keynote address at the summit: “Why should we care about children?”

She pointed to Luke’s Gospel and events surrounding the birth of Jesus—the stories of Elizabeth, the shepherds and of Anna and Simeon.

“These are stories of a family rooted in community, where each child is everyone’s child, and that is something we need to pay attention to in the church,” Garland said. “It is up to the church to be the shepherds, the Simeons and the Annas to our children.”

For more information on the research findings, contact Singletary at (254) 710-4819 or e-mail Jon_ Singletary@baylor.edu.

Another candidate joins SBC 2nd VP race. Doug Mulkey, pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church in Canton, Ga., will be nominated for second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Wyman Richardson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dawson, Ga., said he will nominate Mulkey for the post during the SBC’s June 10-11 meeting in Indianapolis. Mulkey has served the Canton congregation for 19 years, the longest tenure of any pastor in the church’s 178-year history. Mulkey previously was pastor of a church for two years while he was a student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. He and his wife, Terry, have three children and two grandchildren. Mulkey is the fourth announced nominee for SBC second vice president this year. The other announced nominees are Jim Hamilton, executive director-treasurer of the Dakota Baptist Convention; Brian Fossett, vocational evangelist from Dalton, Ga.; and John Newland, pastor of Fall Creek Baptist Church in Indianapolis.

NAMB trustees consider evangelism initiative. Trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board heard plans for a new national evangelism initiative and elected Tim Patterson, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., as their new chairman during a recent meeting in Portsmouth, Va. Geoff Hammond, elected one year ago as NAMB president, presented the “God’s Plan for Sharing” evangelism initiative, developed in consultation with SBC President Frank Page and several evangelism leaders from state Baptist conventions. “Our dream is to see every Southern Baptist believer sharing the gospel and every person in North America hearing it by 2020,” Hammond said. “Why would we want anything less?”

New online retirement tools launched. GuideStone Financial Resources has launched its new “Preparing for Retirement” webpage to assist participants with their planning needs. The new webpage at www.GuideStone.org/pfr provides comprehensive education and other resources related to decisions leading up to retirement. The website includes modules about various factors affecting retirement and workbooks for retirement planning.

Global warming? Not according to Southern Baptist pastors. Most Southern Baptist pastors hold different views on global warming than average Americans, according to a recent study on national issues by LifeWay Research. A majority of pastors in Southern Baptist Convention-affiliated churches believe the media has overstated the threat of global warming. When asked whether they believe the media has overstated the threat of global warming, 86 percent of Southern Baptist pastors responded in the affirmative. An additional study of 1,201 Americans showed divergent views with Southern Baptist pastors. A representative sample of Americans appeared more convinced than Southern Baptist pastors that humans play a role in global warming, with 77 percent agreeing that the earth is warming and that humans contribute to that warming to some degree, while 36 percent of Southern Baptist pastors agreed with the same statement.

TYLER—Life presents daily challenges for developmentally disabled adults. But the successful struggle can be rewarding, friends, family and caregivers agree.

So, there is symbolic symmetry in Breckenridge Village of Tyler, which after conquering numerous obstacles, survives and thrives to celebrate its 10th anniversary as Texas Baptist’s only residential care facility for mentally and developmentally challenged adults.

Of course, a nonsymbolic surprise gift of $100,000 helped.

“Blood, tears and sweat equity have all been invested in making our first decade possible,” said Breckenridge Village Executive Director Charles Dodson. “Looking back, we see clear evidence of God’s protection and provision. Every seemingly insurmountable obstacle has been answered by God’s grace and God’s people. Today, in the first month of our 11th year, we look forward and anticipate continued growth in our resident census, expansion of programs and facilities, and further improvement in the quality of care we provide. The families we are privileged to serve are deeply grateful for the care we provide.”

Born after a six-year process through the committees of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, Breckenridge spent its first nine years on institutional life-support, even as it provided care to residents from as far away as Canyon and San Antonio.

Kevin Dinnin, president of Baptist Child & Family Services, admits he questioned if he understood God’s leadership when his organization accepted the state convention’s plea for one of its agencies to provide the service.

Stephen faces most challenges with a smile, whether it be horseback riding, delivering Meals On Wheels or playing sports.

It didn’t help that an outside consultant made major errors in the financial model, and new government regulations announced just months after Breckenridge opened compounded the pressure. Plus, almost all residents were on scholarships—also funded by BCFS.

Still, the dream moved forward. Jean Breckenridge, whose son still lives at Breckenridge, donated a 70-acre farm for the facility.  Texas Baptist Men invested thousands of man-hours and skilled labor worth hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of dollars erecting buildings.

In 2006, BCFS reached a crossroads and set a goal—to pay off its $3.7 million building bond debt within one year.

“The trustees felt Breck-enridge belonged to God, and he would show us how to manage it,” Dinnin recalled. “Everyone told us we couldn’t raise that amount of money to pay a debt in 12 months, and they were right. We couldn’t. But God could.”

The gym gets lots of use at Breckenridge Village, but so do the arts and crafts classes, the swimming pool, the candle-making and fern-growing fund-raising projects and all the other activities and outings that crowd the calendar.

In June 2007, the note was burned. And by the time the anniversary of the 1998 dedication arrived, the last two of the six residential cottages were opened, and more adults than ever were being cared for.

The Tyler community participated in the party in force. Billboards and public service announcements on television and in movie theaters touted the milestone, scores of local high schoolers spent time on campus doing service projects and interacting with residents, local stores donated a percentage of profits to Breckenridge Village, the county judge declared a special week to honor the facilty, and staff spoke to churches and social service clubs and schools.

The signature moment came when Green Acres Baptist Church hosted a special day that included testimonies and musical performances by Breckenridge residents. In an especially tender moment, two residents—Brien and Brooke—joined in singing and “Thank You For Giving To the Lord.”

Linda Taylor, director of development at Breckenridge Village, received a note a few days later from a couple who had been at the service.

“We honestly were hoping that David wouldn’t like it when we came to visit,” David’s Dad said. “But from the very first he was so much at home and so content, we knew his life would be so much fuller here than what we could provide at home.”

They never had given to the facility and didn’t have a family member who is developmentally challenged. But they felt led by God to make an anonymous gift to the scholarship fund to help more families take advantage of the residential care program. They enclosed a check for $100,000.

“They said their hearts were touched by God, and they responded,” Taylor said. “God can do more in a couple of minutes by his Spirit than we can to do in a lifetime.”

But that is pretty much standard operating procedure at Breckenridge—and has been for more than a decade, Dodson said.

“Our goal is to be ever more widely recognized as a leader in faith-based residential care for developmentally disabled adults,” he said. “From where I stand, … (our) future … is very bright.”

For more information about Breckenridge Village, visit www.bcfs.net , call (800) 237-0234 or e-mail cdodson@bcfs.net.

Carroll Institute honors supporters. The B.H. Carroll Theological Institute honored two key supporters at its June 3 convocation at First Baptist Church in Lewisville. Philanthropist Babs Baugh of San Antonio and Joan Trew of Fort Worth received the institute’s President’s Award. Baugh and her family’s foundation endowed the institute’s Oxford studies program. Trew, chair of Williams Trew Real Estate in Fort Worth, serves as chair of the institute’s board of governors.

Wayland receives $1 million gift. Country music entertainer, sausage entrepreneur and Plainview native Jimmy Dean and his wife, Donna, gave $1 million to Wayland Baptist University’s Second Century Campaign. The Deans, who live near Richmond, Va., designated $25,000 for the Jimmy and Donna Dean Endowed Scholarship in memory of his late mother, Ruth Taylor Dean. Dean also expressed interest in assistance for the Museum of the Llano Estacado, where a display of photos and memorabilia from his career recently was completed and displays of other local notables is planned. The remainder of the funds will be used in the campaign at the university’s discretion. The Second Century Campaign has a $14 million fund-raising goal for projects, including a new religion building and missions center, renovations to Harral Auditorium, expansion of the fine arts space, endowment dollars and campus enhancements. 

Corrected report published. Due to a production error, the quarterly report of Texas Baptist cooperative missions giving published in the May 26 print edition of the Baptist Standard contained data from the last quarter of 2007, not the first quarter of 2008. The corrected quarterly report for Jan. 1 to March 31 appears in the current print edition on pages 20-23.

• Mark Bairrington to Second Church in Andrews as minister of youth and worship.

• Andy Barlow to Coastal Oaks Church in Rockport as associate pastor to students.

• Lee Bevly to First Church in Utopia as pastor from First Church in Skidmore.

• David Billman to First Church in Midlothian as middle school minister.

• Mark Borum to First Church in Richmond as minister of music and worship.

• Jeff Brewer to Pawnee Church in Pawnee as pastor.

• Doug Burton to First Church in Burnet as minister of music and education from First Church in Beeville, where he was minister of music.

• Tim Caffey to First Church in Aransas Pass as associate pastor.

• Will Cook to The Crossing Church in Mesquite as minister to students.

• James Crittenden has resigned as business administrator at Southmont Church in Denton.

• Terry Davis to First Church in Waelder as pastor.

• Jeff Evans has resigned as youth pastor at Baylor Church in Ennis.

• Jay Fleming to First Church in Goliad as pastor from First Church in Karnes City.

• Mark Forrest to Lakeside Church in Granbury as pastor from Murphy Road Church in Plano.

• Joe Hall to Cowboy Church of Harrison County as pastor.

• Cecil Harper to Lakeside Church in Breckenridge as pastor.

• Sammie Hughes has resigned as pastor of Pioneer Church in Valley View.

• Rustin Klafka to First Church in Lewisville as young adult minister.

• Kris Knippa to First Church in Earth as pastor from First Church in Cranfills Gap, where he was interim pastor.

• Brent Lambeth to Central City Church in Beaumont as pastor, where he had been associate pastor.

• Kevin LaRousse has resigned as pastor of Central City Church in Beaumont due to health issues.

• Jared McCaleb to First Church in The Woodlands as minister to junior high students.

• Bob McCartney to First Church in Wichita Falls as pastor from First Church in Sulphur Springs.

• Jeremy McCarver to First Church in Kenedy as youth minister from Southside Church in Monahans, where he was children’s minister.

• T.J. Morrow has resigned as youth minister at First Church in Earth.

• Andrew Pearle to First Church in Venus as minister of worship/youth.

• Angelica Prado to First Hispanic Church in Navasota as youth minister.

• John Ramirez to Primera Iglesia in Mathis as worship leader.

• Kenneth Rider to Pioneer Church in Valley View as pastor.

• Isaac Rodriguez to Iglesia Broadway in Tyler as pastor.

• Ben Smith to Southmont Church in Denton as interim pastor.

• Forrest Smith to First Church in Ingleside as pastor, where he was interim.

• Jim Stephens of O’Donnell has completed an intentional interim pastorate at Jackson Avenue Church in Lovington, N.M., and is available for intentional or traditional interims. He can be reached at (806) 759-1853.

• David Valverde to First Church in George West as youth pastor.

• Cindy Wilson to First Church in Midlothian as preschool minister.

• John Work to Friendship Church in Gladewater as pastor from Whitsett Church in Whitsett.

DALLAS—The WorldconneX board of directors voted to adjust its budget to operate solely on 80 percent of the funds received from the worldwide initiatives portion of church-directed Texas Baptist cooperative giving.

The mission network’s board agreed to put 20 percent of the money received from worldwide initiatives into its church-sending fund, retroactive to Jan. 1. The board voted last year to establish the fund to help churches send their own missionaries.

The recommendation by the board’s executive committee noted: “We wholeheartedly support the efforts of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the executive director to bring greater emphasis upon the missions efforts of the BGCT and to address the financial concerns of the BGCT. We embrace the opportunity to champion the cause of the Great Commission as a vital partner with the BGCT and covenant to pray for it and the new director during these days of transition. We certainly want to be seen as part of the solution to the challenges facing the BGCT.”

A BGCT Executive Board committee reported in April that anticipated 2008 income falls $5.3 million short of the budget. The budget shortfall prompted cutbacks in spending and staffing at the Baptist Building.

Based on 2007 receipts, WorldconneX anticipated receiving $750,000 from worldwide initiatives, as well as roughly $500,000 from other BGCT funding sources, this year. The WorldconneX board agreed to release the $500,000 back to the BGCT and to operate on 80 percent—$600,000—of the worldwide initiatives, plus some funds in reserves, said Bill Tinsley, staff leader of the missions network.

Making the change in its budget not only makes sense financially, but also enables WorldconneX to provide a rapid infusion of dollars into the church-sending fund, according to Tom Billings, chair of the WorldconneX board.

“We want to be more closely connected to the churches. This will enable us to have that closer connection to churches, and it will help jumpstart the church sending fund,” said Billings, director of Union Baptist Association.

In addition to the budget changes, the board also agreed to relocate from its current location south of downtown Dallas to the Baptist Building. The move will save about $4,000 a month, Tinsley noted.

After creating the infrastructure for the missions network over the last four years, WorldconneX stands ready to help churches engage in frontline missions, Billings stressed.

“There’s a real passion for moving from the philosophical to practical implementation,” he said. “We’ve spent a few years in the formative stages laying the groundwork. Now we want to move aggressively toward implementation.”

• JoyLynn Reed has been named associate provost at the University of Mary Hardin–Baylor.

• Teo Cisneros has been named vice president for development at Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio. He previously served BUA as a board member and board chairman. Since 1984, he has been pastor of Templo Jerusalem Church in Victoria. In 2001, he concurrently served as pastor of Primera Iglesia in La Grange, where he taught BUA extension courses.

• Amber Forrest of Huntington was named East Texas Baptist University’s Senior Girl Call-Out. The Senior Girl Call-Out is a tradition began in 1947. Twenty-six senior girls participated in the ceremony, with Forrest as the designee chosen by faculty and staff.

• Five students in the Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom honors program at Howard Payne University have been selected to receive the Hatton W. Summers Foundation Scholarship. Recipients include Cara Brewer of Eastland, Trevor Brown of Bay City, Dane Richardson of Tyler, Tristan Summers of Beeville and Lauren Teel of Canton.

• Jillian Tappan has been named coordinator of the foster care program at STARRY, a nonprofit organization that provides Christian foster care families for children in Williamson County. It is a ministry of Children at Heart Ministries, an agency of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

• Max Smith and Donald Rollins were honored with awards for teaching excellence at San Marcos Baptist Academy’s commencement ceremony.

• Barbara Curtis, academic counselor in the College of Adult Education, has been named adviser of the year at Dallas Baptist University.

• Dwayne McCrary, minister of education at First Church in Nederland, has received his doctor of educational ministry degree from New Orleans Theological Seminary.

Anniversaries

• Mike Bender, 20th, as pastor of First Church in Christine, May 4.

• Robert Graven, 10th, as pastor of Belmont Church in Abilene, May 11.

• Mike Chancellor, 15th, as pastor of Crescent Heights Church in Abilene, May 18.

• Potosi Church in Abilene, 120th, June 1. Jim McCurley is pastor.

• Jim Durham, 20th, as pastor of First Church in Kennard, June 8.

• Mount Sylvan Church in Mount Sylvan, 130th, June 15. A meal will follow the morning service. Robert Davenport is pastor.

• Mount Olive Church in Paris, 130th, June 29. Several former staff are expected to participate in the morning service. A meal and remembrance service will follow. For more information, call (903) 785-7953. Tim Reger is pastor.

Retiring

• Nancy Pollard, as children’s choir minister at Champion Forest Church in Houston, June 15. She has served the church 12 years.

Death

• Toni Cramer, May 24 in Round Rock, following a four-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Her husband, Don, is vice president/chief operating officer of the Children at Heart Foundation. She was a member of Crestview Church in Georgetown, where she was an interpreter to the deaf. She is survived by her husband of 37 years; daughters, Dawn Cramer and Ronda McClure; and two grandchildren.

Revivals

• Open Door Church, Crockett; June 15-18; evangelist, Herman Cramer; music, Paul and Christy Newberry; pastor, Davis Thornton.

• Central Church, Liberty; June 22-25; evangelist, Paul Cherry; music, The Cherry Family; pastor, Jim Murray.

• Lake Church, Grapeland; June 22-25; evangelist, Herman Cramer; music, Paul and Christy Newberry; interim pastor, Bill Martin.