George Turner to Trinity Baptist Church in Bonham as pastor from Immanuel Baptist Church in Kyle, where he was pastor. He also previously served as a chaplain with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

East Texas Baptist University hosted the Christian Association of Student Leaders Conference Jan 18-20. The conference is designed to nurture the intersection of leadership and faith, empowering students to lead with purpose and make a meaningful impact on their campuses and communities. The event was supported by the Baptist General Convention of Texas and featured student leaders from institutions including ETBU, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Hardin-Simmons University, Howard Payne University, Houston Christian University, Dallas Baptist University and Oklahoma Baptist University. Featured speakers included Fred “Chip” Luter, senior associate pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans; Kelly King, women’s minister at Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City; and Todd Kaunitz, lead pastor at New Beginnings Baptist Church in Longview.

Global Baptist leader David Coffey is the featured speaker at the inaugural Nexus Ministry Leadership Conference at Dallas Baptist University, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Feb. 26. Topics include leading change, crisis leadership and mentoring as leadership. Coffey served 15 years as general secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and was president of the Baptist World Alliance from 2005 to 2010. He also served 10 years as global ambassador for BMS World Mission, is a past president of the European Baptist Federation and was moderator of the English Free Churches and a leader of Churches Together in England. Coffey has visited 80 countries on six continents, focusing on human rights and religious liberty and the development of emerging leaders. The Nexus Ministry Leadership Conference is sponsored by DBU Graduate School of Ministry in partnership with the Gary Cook School of leadership and with financial support from the Pinson Lecture Series. To register, click here.

Houston Christian University and the Blinn College District announced a new transfer partnership Jan. 25 that will provide Blinn students pathways to bachelor’s degrees from HCU. Through the transfer and co-enrollment agreement, Blinn electrical engineering and computer science students can apply their credits toward a Bachelor of Science degree in cyber engineering, electrical engineering or computer science from HCU. “We are truly grateful for this partnership with Blinn College,” HCU President Robert Sloan said. “Blinn has a great history and is an outstanding institution with strong and thoughtful leadership. We are honored to enter into this enrollment agreement and are confident it will benefit students and programs in both our institutions.”

Wayland Baptist University will recognize Freda Provence and Libby Cleveland with awards for lifetime service at its Blue and Gold Awards Banquet on Feb. 9. Provence and Cleveland will receive the Joe and Freda Provence Distinguished Lifetime Service Award. Provence served 25 years as administrative assistant to three presidents and an interim president at Wayland, and she and her husband Joe were longtime supporters of the arts and athletics at the university. Cleveland taught more than 30 years in public schools before joining the faculty of Wayland’s Kenneth L. Mattox School of Mathematics and Sciences, where she has served about three decades. Wayland will honor educator Vernon Stokes and counselor Patrick Timothy Aland with its Distinguished Alumni Award. Stokes served as a classroom teacher at the elementary, junior high school, high school and college levels before he became a campus administrator, assistant superintendent and ultimately a superintendent. Aland has worked with combat veterans and their families at the Lubbock Veterans Counseling Center. JR Dunn, Baptist Student Ministries director at Wayland, will receive the Distinguished Young Alumni Award. Ben and Bertha Mieth of Glen Rose will receive the Distinguished Benefactor Award.

Texas State Game Warden Ryan S. Hunter, an alumnus and instructor at Hardin-Simmons University, recently received the 2023 Texans Caring for Texans award for the Panhandle-area Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. He also was named the Texas Game Warden of the Year for the Region 6 Area, which includes Amarillo, Lubbock, Wichita Falls and Abilene. Hunter currently serves in the Randall County/Potter County duty station. Hunter earned his undergraduate degree from Hardin-Simmons in 2009 and was hired as a Texas Game Warden the following year. After completing his Master of Science degree in criminal justice, he began teaching as an adjunct instructor for the HSU criminal justice department in 2015. He worked as a full-time faculty member in the department from 2016 until 2018, then returned to working for the state as a game warden. He has continued to serve as an adjunct instructor at HSU, teaching both undergraduate and graduate students.

Houston Christian University’s psychology and counseling departments sponsored a continuing education and professional development symposium for more than 130 mental health providers. “Together We Rise” was the theme of the Jan. 27 symposium. Patricia Daza, associate professor and director of psychology at the Menninger Clinic in Houston, was the keynote speaker.

The Marshall Greater Chamber of Commerce named Debbie Rogers, director of campus services at East Texas Baptist University, as its Employee of the Year. Rogers represents ETBU on the Greater Marshall Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors, and she is a softball umpire, youth basketball coach and former youth softball and baseball coach. “I have had the privilege of serving alongside Debbie for the past eight years and have been able to personally witness her love, serve and invest in the lives of the ETBU students and staff on a daily basis,” said Ryan Erwin, vice president for student engagement and athletics at ETBU. “Debbie sees her position at ETBU as a calling and an opportunity to show Christ to everyone she interacts with on campus and in the community.” Rogers has served on both the baseball and football booster clubs at Marshall High School, and she teaches Bible study classes for women on Sunday and Wednesday at River Crossing Cowboy Church.

Wayland Baptist University announced what currently is valued as the largest estate gift commitment in the school’s 115-year history. “Wayland is honored to be the beneficiary of the generosity of Jimmy and Donna Dean, long-time friends of the university,” President Bobby Hall said. “Their love for Wayland and heart for helping others shine brightly through this estate gift, which will help shape the future of the university and strengthen its commitment to education, scholarship and leadership.” Jimmy Dean, a country music star and sausage tycoon, and his wife Donna first made a significant gift to Wayland in 2008, which prompted the university to name its newest men’s dormitory in his honor. After her husband’s death in 2010, Donna Dean provided funds for Wayland’s Jimmy Dean Museum. While the details of the estate gift commitment were not disclosed, Hall and Mike Hammack, vice president of institutional advancement, said it will have a lasting impact on the university and has the potential to be the largest gift in Wayland’s history.

Retirement

Tim Randolph as director of Waco Regional Baptist Association, effective March 31, after more than 15 years at the association and 47 years in the gospel ministry.

Calli Keener, an educator from Waxahachie, joins the Baptist Standard staff as news writer on Feb. 12.

While the bylines of female interns and freelancers have appeared on past articles, she is believed to be the first woman to serve as a full-time permanent reporter at the Baptist Standard in recent decades.

She will write feature articles and report on Texas Baptist news, and she gradually will begin assuming increased editing responsibilities in the months ahead.

Keener joins the Standard staff after an extensive search, Editor Eric Black said.

“Calli Keener joining our team is a joyful answer to prayer and a grateful conclusion to a long search for a news writer,” Black said. “Calli is a Texas Baptist to the core and a devoted reader of the Baptist Standard. She dreamt of working for the Standard but didn’t expect that dream to become reality.

“Our search was long, because it was intentional. Baptist journalism is a niche within a niche. Adding ‘Texas’ makes it more so. We wanted someone who knows Texas Baptists well and loves Texas Baptists well. Calli is that person and much more.”

Keener earned an undergraduate degree in English with a minor in Bible at Howard Payne University, graduating magna cum laude.

While working on master’s-level classes in English at Angelo State University, she was a tutor in the university’s language lab, helping students improve the quality of their writing.

When she was taking classes at Truett Theological Seminary, she worked as a tutor for Baylor University student athletes, helping them to improve their reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary skills.

She has worked as a fifth-grade English teacher in Red Oak and as a third-grade teacher in Waxahachie. She also is the former owner and administrator of a senior home care business.

She and her husband Aaron are members of First Baptist Church in Waxahachie. They have four children.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The second paragraph was edited after the article originally was published.

NASHVILLE (BP)—Oklahoma pastor Mike Keahbone—vice chair of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Sexual Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force—will be nominated for president of the SBC at the annual meeting in Indianapolis.

California pastor Victor Chayasirisobhon announced in a release Jan. 30 his intention to nominate Keahbone.

“Mike Keahbone is the real deal, a leader who loves the Lord, loves the SBC, and strives every day to make it better. He is a son of the SBC, and I am convinced he is more than ready to step up and step into the role of president,” Chayasirisobhon said.

Keahbone is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Lawton, Okla. He has served as a member of the SBC Executive Committee since 2021. In addition to serving on the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force, he also was a member of the Sexual Abuse Task Force.

“Mike led student ministries for more than two decades before spending two years as a full-time evangelist speaking at local churches throughout the country as well as multiple camps including Falls Creek and state evangelism conferences,” the release said.

The fiscal year for First Baptist Church in Lawton ends March 31. Therefore, the last completed year on record with the Annual Church Profile is 2022.

During that year, the church received $1,401,565 in undesignated receipts and gave $88,057.87 (6.28 percent) to the Cooperative Program, according to the ACP. The church also gave $45,762 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and $18,337.94 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering in 2022.

A church staff member told Baptist Press, “The 2023-2024 fiscal year has an approved undesignated receipt budget of $1,690,973 with Cooperative (Program) giving of $102,483 [6.06 percent].”

The church recorded 623 people in average weekly attendance in 2023 and 54 baptisms, the church staff member reported.

On Jan. 28, Keahbone asked church members for their blessing related to his nomination. According to a release from the church, they unanimously stated, “It is our joy to affirm God’s leadership in this decision, and we prayerfully commit to supporting our pastor in this endeavor.”

Keahbone served on the Oklahoma Baptist Board of Directors from 2015 to 2021, serving as vice president from 2017 to 2021.

A Native American with heritage from the Comanche, Kiowa and Cherokee tribes, Keahbone served on the 2023 SBC Resolutions Committee and helped write the resolution titled, “On Religious Liberty, Forced Conversion, and the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report,” which was adopted by SBC messengers.

One other anticipated presidential nomination has been announced so far—North Carolina pastor Clint Pressley.

Poker clubs fail to fit the narrow “social gambling” exemptions that would allow them to operate legally in Texas, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton should render an opinion to that effect, a Dallas lawyer stated.

For-profit poker houses are not private places, and their owners and operators benefit economically from them, Attorney Will Hartnett wrote in a letter to the attorney general’s office submitted Jan. 29 on behalf of Texans Against Gambling.

Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, had requested an attorney general’s opinion on “whether a gambling establishment that charges a membership or entrance fee but does not take a percentage of the value gambled violates the gambling provisions in the Penal Code.”

Austin Kinghorn, chair of the opinion committee in the state attorney general’s office, set June 12 as the deadline for issuing an opinion. In his letter to Creighton, copied to Texans Against Gambling and others, Kinghorn invited briefings on his question by Jan. 29 from anyone “with special interest or expertise in the subject matter.”

In a five-and-one-half-page briefing letter, Hartnett noted the Texas Penal Code permits “social gambling” on poker games only when two conditions are met: the gambling must occur in a “private place,” and no person may receive “any economic benefit” other than personal winnings.

“Poker clubs advertise to the public and conduct their business in commercial, nonresidential areas” that are “accessible to the public,” Hartnett wrote.

“A poker club is not private simply because the owner says that it is private,” he stated. “The basic intent of the law is to prevent public gambling and to create a defense for purely social gambling. Poker clubs directly contravene that intent.”

Owners and operators of poker clubs assert they are private establishments because they charge membership fees.

However, most offer one-day memberships to anyone who walks through the door, Hartnett noted.

In regard to economic benefit, owners of poker clubs point out they do not take a “rake”—typically understood as a percentage of the value at risk in a game of chance.

However, Hartnett asserted, “the definition of economic benefit is broader than just a ‘rake.’”

“Any fee collected to access a poker club’s facilities is an economic benefit,” he wrote. “Any compensation paid to individuals who serve as poker dealers, food and drink preparers, and food and drink servers, is an economic benefit.”

The “social gambling defense” does not apply to commercial poker clubs, he concluded.

“They are neither private nor bereft of economic benefits. These clubs may not legally operate because they violate the offenses of gambling and keeping a gambling place,” Hartnett wrote. “For these reasons, the Attorney General should determine that poker clubs are illegal under Texas law.”

HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark—Texas Baptist Men is responding to a water crisis in an Arkansas town of about 9,500 people on the banks of the Mississippi River.

TBM is delivering 24,000 gallons of water to the consolidated city of Helena-West Helena, Ark., where half its residents are without drinking water.

The missions organization also connected Texas Pastor Michael Evans with city leaders. Evans is pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Mansfield and mayor of the Texas city with a population of 77,000. He has come alongside Helena-West Helena Mayor Christopher Franklin.

Evans and Rand Jenkins, TBM’s chief strategy officer, met with community leaders in Helena-West Helena last week.

“It is a disaster when you don’t have drinking water. It’s probably going to take a couple of weeks” before the city’s water system gets back online. Evans said.

“They had a terrible snow and ice weather event that busted the pipes. The infrastructure in the city was in need of repair” before the freezing weather, he added.

After the meeting, Evans said Franklin felt he had a better understanding of what the city needed to do. Also, he indicated TBM’s presence could be a catalyst for the city to unify and take care of some underlying issues.

TBM is setting up the water tanks at the Eliza Miller School in West Helena.

“The Eliza Miller location is important, because this is the more depressed side of town,” Evans said. “These good people in this area are doing some great things, some positive things, but they don’t quite get the help or the resources they need.

“There are other parts of town that are being pretty well taken care of regarding their immediate needs as it concerns water, healthy water, but this part of the city, they don’t have that.”

Helena-West Helena plans to bring together community partners, and TBM has helped the community come together “so they can discover ways to help themselves after we come in and do our part,” Evans said.

“We knit people together—make sure they are trained,” he said “When we leave, we know we have a lasting missionary and missional opportunity that has taken place,” lifting up “the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

While Helena-West Helena faces continuing challenges, it has great potential, Jenkins observed.

“The city, once thriving, declined in population when some key industries left. However, the drive to succeed is deep, and the Christian-based community organizations in West Helena are doing great things,” he said.

“Their technical training for students has been recognized by Google and Wal-Mart and they regularly welcome professionals from various states and Japan to encourage their students.”

TBM is partnering with the city, local church leaders and a local ministry.

“We are setting up two 3,000-gallon tanks on the campus of Delta Circles, a nonprofit in West Helena,” said John Hall, TBM’s chief mission officer. “The tanks will be filled immediately and will be filled on demand until we fulfill the 24,000-gallon target.”

What started as a one-week service emphasis at First Baptist Church in San Marcos evolved into a multi-church ministry with its own nonprofit status and big goals for the future.

For Monica Followell, who oversees missions and outreach at the church, that is exactly as it should be.

Followell began her time of service at First Baptist San Marcos in 2013. Almost immediately, she jumped into planning the service week on the church’s calendar for July of that year. Early on, the effort had an inspired name that uniquely captured the heart of the matter.

“We were praying over what to call it, and the Lord laid on my heart Ephesians 3:20-21, where he is able to do far greater things, so we started to call it Mission Able,” Followell said.

“We’re using our own abilities to glorify the Lord for people who aren’t able to do those things. It was about restoring people’s dignity, working alongside people however we were able and loving on people to the glory of God.”

The first Mission Able project was confirmation of sorts. A group of 30 showed up to clean out trash from a woman’s mobile home that had been cited by the city. During the day, they learned a man was living behind the mobile home in a makeshift shelter in exchange for mowing the grass for the woman, who lived with her mother and had several children.

“We found out he was a hard worker, and he worked hard all day helping her. The guys asked him to help the rest of the week, and he agreed. They picked him up and took him to the next job site, and we asked how we could pay him. He really just wanted an outdoor shower, so we bought one and dropped it off for him,” she recalled. “His name was Abel, so that whole experience just confirmed what it was supposed to be called.”

Growing needs, expanding mission

The weeklong summer service emphasis continued for a few years, with 17 to 20 projects completed and about 100 volunteers participating. When word began getting out, more projects landed on Followell’s desk.

But the church soon realized urgent needs would not allow them to wait several months, and they began scheduling quarterly efforts. Eventually, they moved into their current model, which is to handle projects as they come up, with 30-50 projects completed each year. They picked up a key partner as well.

“The director of neighborhood enhancement called me four years ago and had heard about Mission Able through the Lions Club. He wanted to see how to partner with their compliance department that tickets people who often have no way to pay, which just compounds the problem,” Followell said.

“We designed an online form that people could use to notify us of a neighbor with a need. And now that city department is one of our biggest sources for project requests.”

Projects also come in from all across the church as Bible study members share about neighbors or ministries that serve low-income communities and may refer those with needs. Projects can range from simple lawn maintenance for a cancer patient to major roof repairs.

Monica said when projects involve more than just sweat and heavy lifting, Mission Able relies on church members with those skill sets, retired or active, or they contract out a skilled laborer and get a team of volunteers to assist.

Now an independent nonprofit organization

With projects increasing, the modest amount allocated from the church budget became a challenge. While Followell appreciated the ways God multiplied what the church provided financially, she also sensed she needed to pursue additional donors. So, the ministry pursued a separate 501c3 status and became an independent nonprofit organization in September of 2023.

Mission Able now has a board, bylaws and a future plan to hire an assistant to route projects. A city contract brings $400,000 in funding for projects, and additional partnerships with Texas Baptists ministries such as Bounce student disaster recovery and Texas Baptist Men add additional resources.

Ministry leaders are hopeful the new nonprofit status will open opportunities to work with state organizations to address some housing challenges in San Marcos and bring low-income homes up to livable standards.

The nonprofit has also added a microcredit program to help homeowners with higher price tag fixes. Mission Able pays the costs upfront and negotiates with the homeowner to repay a portion at no interest. That money can then be used to help the next project.

“They’re ensuring future good faith for other projects or the funds can be put to use for a neighbor, and they can even put a suggestion as to which neighbor that is. That strengthens neighborhoods because they’re not doing something just for them, but for others as well,” Followell explained.

She noted one client who received a microloan to replace part of a leaky roof who made small payments each month.

“It’s more of a relationship than him hiding, because he’s ashamed to not be a solution to a problem,” she said.

‘Jesus people’ from varied churches involved

The effort has also moved beyond First Baptist Church as it has grown.

“We have other churches on board who are building Mission Able teams—First Presbyterian Church of San Marcos, Sozo Church and Landmark Church—and are discussing with another. Our entire mission is to mobilize Jesus people to meet neighbors’ needs,” Followell said.

“The church is a response to a neighborhood need, not the city or government. If the church is doing its job, our neighborhoods would be stronger places.

“We don’t have any qualms with what church helps as long as it’s Jesus people. These churches have heard and want to be more present and use their abilities too, and we’re happy to help mobilize those.”

While Mission Able is only a portion of Followell’s work at the church, she admits it is a highlight, primarily due to the people and connections made.

“I’ve met so many people I otherwise wouldn’t have and at their time of need,” she said. “Where Mission Able meets people is the truth: a need that can’t be met on its own and requires the community to come together, meet a need and love on people, be honest and share about what Jesus has done for us in some cases.

“And in some cases, it’s seeing people come back and want to help. It’s a cool, deeper way to connect.”

Mission Able will host a home-improvement-themed fundraising banquet called “Dine and Dime” on April 4 at First Baptist Church in San Marcos. Learn more by contacting the church at (512) 738-8454.

EDITOR’S NOTE: On Jan. 31, the City of San Marcos approved a three-year $400,000 federal grant to Mission Able to facilitate its work in mobilizing volunteers to meet community needs. 

WASHINGTON (RNS)—A Louisiana pastor with ties to the Conservative Baptist Network and to House Speaker Mike Johnson will be headed back to court in February.

Two years ago, a group of former members of First Baptist Church of Bossier, La., sued the church and its leaders, including pastor Brad Jurkovich. They claimed those leaders illegally changed the congregation’s bylaws and articles of incorporation and misused mission money.

Jurkovich is perhaps best known as the spokesman for the Conservative Baptist Network, a group that claims the Southern Baptist Convention has become too liberal. The network has backed a series of SBC presidential bids aimed at moving the SBC further to the right.

Church members alleged money meant for missions was diverted to the Conservative Baptist Network.

Jurkovich was also a longtime pastor of House Speaker Mike Johnson, although Johnson reportedly moved his membership from First Baptist in Bossier to another church.

The Daily Beast reported Jurkovich’s tenure at the church has been filled with controversy.

Jurkovich and other church leaders have denied any wrongdoing. The pastor told RNS in 2022 the church had an open and transparent budget process.

“These lawsuits represent an attempt by former members of First Baptist Bossier to inappropriately litigate an internal church dispute,” he said at the time.

A lower court ruled in 2022 the church had to allow the former members access to financial records. However, lower courts also dismissed part of the lawsuit over church bylaws, saying former church members had waited too long to sue, and the court had no authority over internal church disputes.

In January, the Louisiana Supreme Court denied the church members’ appeal, dismissing their claims against the church. However, the claims against Jurkovich and other church leaders remain active. A lower court hearing is set for mid-February to decide the next steps for those claims.

In a concurring opinion, two justices said while the court had no jurisdiction over First Baptist Church, the claims against Jurkovich and other church leaders should still be adjudicated.

The former church members have argued Jurkovich and other leaders failed to give proper notice of the bylaw changes and did not hold a valid church meeting to review those changes.

Justice Jefferson D. Hughes III said the alleged actions by leaders were not acts by the church itself.

“One may argue that the acts alleged, rather than the acts of the Church, were acts in furtherance of an unauthorized and perhaps fraudulent coup d’état,” he wrote in a concurring opinion, with which Justice Scott Crichton agreed.

Hughes was skeptical that an “impromptu voice vote at the conclusion of a service,” where no votes were counted, qualified as an official meeting. He also questioned a requirement in the new church government documents that leaders had to be “completely loyal” to the church and their pastor.

“One would hope that a Higher loyalty would come into play,” Hughes wrote.

Allison Jones, attorney for the former church members, said she hoped the concurring opinions would allow the lawsuit against Jurkovich to move forward. She said the next hearing in the lawsuit is set for mid-February.

Jurkovich did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)—In a conversation spanning nearly 90 minutes and covering much-discussed topics in Southern Baptist Convention life, SBC President Bart Barber answered questions from the pastor of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla.

Pastor Heath Lambert had solicited questions from church members, and they were submitted in advance.

One question concerned ways Southern Baptists could reach out better to those who “hate us and our message, but who are just as lost as we once were.”

Barber said one way is to live in accordance with the message.

“We say that we believe that everyone who hasn’t received the gospel of Jesus Christ is going to spend eternity in hell separated from God,” he said. “But we’ll have family members or colleagues that we love, that we never even share the gospel with them to try to invite them to faith in Christ.”

He listed sexual ethics and responding to criticism as other areas where many Christians fail to live up to their stated ideals.

“The fact is the gospel is designed to work even in spite of our hypocrisies and our problems,” said Barber, pastor of First Baptist Church in Farmersville.

“But it works all the better when we’re prepared to admit our hypocrisies and our problems and be a little more transparent for people to be able to see that we’re working on it and we’re making progress.”

Dealing with sexual abuse in churches

Nearly 20 minutes of the conversation dealt with confronting sexual abuse, a major issue in the SBC in recent years. Barber said he often talks with church leaders who are “deer in the headlights shocked” when they discover sexual abuse has occurred in their church.

The problem goes beyond the SBC, Barber said, noting the Catholic Church, public schools, USA Women’s Gymnastics, the entertainment industry and other institutions that have dealt with sexual abuse.

The sexual revolution and the ubiquity of pornography are among reasons for “a societal epidemic of sexual dysfunction and sexual sin and sexual abuse that’s happening all around us,” Barber said.

Many churches have failed to handle sexual abuse cases properly, often because they didn’t know what to do, he said.

“When I went to seminary, I got taught nothing—nothing—about how to handle clergy sexual abuse or volunteer sexual abuse in the church,” Barber said. “It just wasn’t a subject that was on anybody’s radar 30 years ago.

“Part of what we need to do is try to help churches know how to prevent abuse and also help churches know at least this is who to call when you encounter an abuse situation in your church.”

Working toward sex abuse reform

He then addressed the handling of abuse allegations submitted to the SBC Executive Committee—the subject of a major investigation and report released in May 2022.

“What that investigation found after looking hard to see if they could find a time when the convention or the Executive Committee knew about abuse and failed to report it or facilitated an abuser being able to continue to abuse, they didn’t find any instances where the convention or the Executive Committee did that,” Barber said.

Rather, he said, many times abuse has been mishandled by individual churches. And when survivors informed the Executive Committee about some of those instances, SBC and Executive Committee leaders “did not want to hear that and mistreated some of those folks who were coming and making those claims.”

But Southern Baptists have a heart for dealing with sexual abuse, he said.

“Messengers have voted twice to authorize us to go forward with sex abuse reform,” he said. “And we’re able to put some things together to help churches that understand who Southern Baptists are and respond to our unique vulnerabilities to sexual abuse and sexual predation.”

Such reforms are expensive, and Barber acknowledged the SBC Executive Committee has experienced financial strain the last few years. The SBC has always operated on a “shoestring budget,” he said, because “we’ve always wanted to send all the money that we could to the mission boards.”

In coming years, “the decisions that we’re going to face are not decisions about whether we have enough money to continue to operate,” he said. “The decisions we’re going to face are how to allocate our money to be able to cover the things that we need to do.”

Questions raised about female pastors

Lambert said the category that garnered by far the largest number of questions was the issue of female pastors.

In June at the SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis, messengers will vote on a constitutional amendment that has come to be known as the “Law amendment” after Mike Law, the Virginia pastor who submitted the motion calling for it.

Lambert asked if the amendment would require churches to limit the pastoral office to men.

“The SBC already requires that churches limit the office of pastor to men without the Law amendment,” Barber said, recounting the lopsided votes at the 2023 meeting in New Orleans to remove two churches from friendly cooperation with the SBC based on this issue.

Barber said he agrees with Law’s theology, but he does not think the amendment is necessary because the SBC already has a mechanism by which to deem churches not in friendly cooperation.

The amendment also could be used against churches that espouse complementarian theology but have a woman on staff whose title may include the word “pastor” but who does not function as an overseer of the church, Barber said.

“I think that when we face extremely confusing and convoluted questions, we ought to just let the messenger body pray about it and sort that out,” he said. “We have the framework in place right now without any amendment.”

What is a cooperating SBC church?

Lambert asked Barber about the SBC Cooperation Group, a group appointed by Barber and tasked with evaluating the SBC’s structure and making recommendations to messengers in Indianapolis.

Barber said many are concerned the standing Credentials Committee, created in recent years, could create a “Baptist Bureau” with the authority to determine whether a congregation belongs in the SBC or not.

“I just think that’s in some ways contrary to Baptist principles about letting the people vote on important things like that question,” he said.

“Our constitution explicitly says that you don’t have to agree with everything in the Baptist Faith and Message to be a part of the Southern Baptist Convention. And we have this very vague language where nobody’s told what parts you have to agree with, what parts you don’t have to agree with.”

He said the SBC constitution deliberately is vague in some areas “to allow the convention to make decisions about those sorts of things.”

“But it’s a nightmare when you hand it to a committee of eight to 10 people and say, ‘Apply this, and here’s a vague standard, and nobody’s going to tell you what the rules are. …’ And most of the time, the messengers will never even see these or get to vote on them at all.

“… We’re not like the Catholics. We’re not a hierarchical structured denomination. We’re a convention of cooperating churches that respects what the convention actually is and it puts the decision-making authority where it belongs—in the hands of the messengers who come from our churches.”

SAN ANTONIO—For Christian recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman, it was a houseguest who invited his family to a week-long revival at the local Baptist church in Paducah, Ky.

For apologist and professor Mary Jo Sharp, it was a high school band director who knew she would encounter questions in college and gave her a Bible.

As Texas Baptists gathered at Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio Jan. 21-22 for the statewide Evangelism Conference, past acts of personal evangelism were celebrated nearly as often as future acts were exhorted.

Throughout the two-day conference, church leaders and laity were urged to share Christ and show love with an intentional focus on “the soul of the person you are with.” Texas Baptists’ Evangelism Director Leighton Flowers said.

“In the end, we are motivated by love, by relationship. That’s something that can’t be taught in a manual,” Flowers said.

God’s faithfulness and ‘the sake of the call’

Grammy Award-winning Christian recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman presented an hour-long testimony through word and song.

Chapman recounted stories from his childhood, adolescence and throughout his storied music career, expressing appreciation for God’s faithfulness in good times and bad.

The winsome kindness of a visitor to his childhood home drew his family to a weeklong revival at a Baptist church, which led to the family making decisions to follow Christ.

“I began to taste the goodness of God’s grace and forgiveness, and it was sweet and so much better,” Chapman said. “Jesus is saying, ‘I will come in and change your life and have a relationship with you, if you will let me in.’”

Chapman spoke of meeting his wife, Mary Beth, and the growth of their family with the addition of six children, three of whom were adopted. He also alluded to the tragic accident that claimed the life of their youngest, Maria Sue.

“You’ve had your heart full and broken. … You’ve been on a great adventure. … I sure know what that feels like,” Chapman said. “God is a God who is always making all things new, and yet, we carry with us that longing and that ache.

“Here’s the hope that we have. … Our God is faithful, and he is good, even when life is not.”

Throughout his testimony, Chapman interspersed songs including “I’m Diving In,” “The Great Adventure,” “The Lord of the Dance,” “No Better Place on Earth,” “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” and “I Will Be Here,” a song he wrote for his wife.

Chapman closed by singing his 1990 hit “For the Sake of the Call,” immediately followed by a worshipful rendition of “I Surrender All.”

“Let us not grow weary; let us remember again how faithful our God is,” Chapman said.

Life-giving ministry of conversation

Mary Jo Sharp, assistant professor of apologetics at Houston Christian University, delivered practical guidance on communicating with people with whom one may disagree. She outlined four elements of conversational evangelism: to know, listen, question, and respond.

“Oftentimes, with unbelievers, the thing that’s off about their view is their erroneous belief in God,” Sharp said.

In response, Christians should know what they believe and why they believe it.

“If I don’t know it well, I’m not apt to share it on my own,” she said.

Christians should also listen for understanding and commonality, which help us to serve and hold accountable those with whom we converse.

“People are not the objects of evangelism efforts. People are the subjects of our love,” Sharp said.

Questions such as “What do you mean by that?” or “Why do you believe that?” can be helpful in clarifying what is being said, and questions such as “Where are you getting that from?” can help to determine and verify a source.

“Asking questions really helps you minister to that soul, that person right in front of you,” Sharp said.

Being ready to respond allows the conversant the opportunity to bear witness to Christ. Sharp suggested attendees be prepared to share their own story, their experience of being a Christian or a time when God did something in their own lives.

“There is a growing shift away from truth and authority, from ‘Is this true?’ to ‘Does this work for my life?’” Sharp said. “Not only is [Christianity] true, but it works.”

Sharp implored Texas Baptists to practice the beauty of faithful authenticity in the “life-giving ministry of conversation.”

Packing bags, building bridges and bypassing barriers

Ralph Emerson, senior pastor at Rising Star Baptist Church in Fort Worth, spoke from 1 Peter on being a holy people in a different world.

“When Jesus gets a hold of you, the old you is gone, is dead,” Emerson said.

Believers should pack their bags for the journey ahead as God’s chosen people: a toddler bag to love God directly, a tool bag to serve God correctly, and a travel bag to love God’s people correctly.

Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Director Julio Guarneri challenged Texas Baptists to build bridges and bypass barriers to share the gospel.

Guarneri told the story of Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman at the well, as recorded in the fourth chapter of John’s Gospel.

“Christ commissioned the Samaritan woman to be a witness to her people. And Christ has commissioned you and me to love the people around us and share the message of Christ with them,” Guarneri said. “The nations have come to Texas, and they need Jesus.”

Guarneri noted the rapid growth of the state, which added 9 million residents over the past dozen years, and its increasing diversity.

“If we are going to claim Texas for Christ in the years to come, if we’re going to show the love of Jesus, we need commitment to be cross-cultural witnesses and cross-cultural churches,” he said.

Consider the ‘awe’ factor

Victor Rodriguez, evangelism associate and discipleship specialist in Hispanic evangelism for Texas Baptists, delivered a message from Acts 2:42-47, with an emphasis on the awe felt by believers.

Awe, Rodriguez said, means to fear the Lord, respect him and worship him. The word also makes an acrostic: Awareness, Walls and Evangelism.

Leaders should be aware of themselves, their churches and communities by pausing to assess.

“Where is your heart, pastor?” Rodriguez asked. “Is there a passion in your heart? You can never lead your church where you’ve never been before.”

Leaders should pay attention to walls and other obstacles that create opposition between the church and the community and within the church.

“Jesus said to look at the field, but we get used to seeing it,” he said. “What if someone was bold enough to do that today?”

Leaders should evangelize.

“It’s God’s plan for his church today. It only takes one,” Rodriguez said.

Sheila Cook, former first lady of Dallas Baptist University, died Jan. 27 after a brief illness. She was 75. She was born March 6, 1948, to Oscar and Edna Raymer in Louisville, Ky. She received her undergraduate degree from Georgetown College and earned a Master of Education degree from the University of Louisville before beginning her career as a schoolteacher. She met Gary Cook, who was a student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and became minister to senior adults at her church, when he attended her Sunday school class. They were married 49 years. After he completed his studies at Southern Seminary, the couple moved to Texas, where he pursued his doctorate at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and she served 18 years as a classroom teacher. At the elementary and middle school level, she spent 14 years with learning disabled students, for two years she taught remedial reading to junior high students, and for another two years, she helped mentally challenged students at the junior high and high school levels. When she was not in her school classroom, she could be found in church, teaching Sunday school, Mission Friends classes, Vacation Bible School or young women’s auxiliary groups. She served on pastoral care committees, preschool committees and long-range planning committees, and she was an instrumental accompanist for the preschool choir. After her husband became president of DBU in 1988, she began the DBU Hospitality Committee to welcome DBU newcomers. She hosted numerous receptions, luncheons and showers in the president’s home. She also served on the DBU Women’s Auxiliary Board, and she was the chairperson of many committees and events. In her later years, she helped to develop and organize the Becoming Women of Excellence program, designed to encourage and mentor young women at DBU. In recognition for her service, DBU named her an Honorary Alumna, named one of the Colonial Village apartment buildings Sheila Cook Hall in her honor, and presented her an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree. The DBU Women’s Auxiliary Board also presented her with the Ruth Award in 1994. “For many of us, Sheila Cook was so much more than just a friend. She was family,” current DBU President Adam C. Wright said. “Mrs. Cook became like a second mother to Candice and me throughout our time at DBU. She was a prayer warrior and constant support, and I know that my story is similar for thousands of others who have been touched by her grace, wisdom, generosity and kindness. So many of us would not be what we are today without having had Mrs. Sheila Cook in our lives. She truly epitomized Christ-centered servant leadership.” Sheila Cook was an active member of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, where she taught a weekly women’s Bible study. She also served as the co-leader of a Bible study at Brother Bill’s Helping Hand, a ministry serving the needs in West Dallas, and was a member of the Brother Bill’s Helping Hand Women’s Council. She served on the advisory board of the Baylor School of Nursing and on the advisory board for the ministry Asha Partners. She is survived by her husband Gary; son David and his wife, Nicole; son Mark and his wife, Shannon; grandchildren Molly, Caleb and Gracie; and her brother, Elwyn Raymer. A memorial service will be held in her honor at 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 3 in Pilgrim Chapel on the DBU campus, preceded by a reception in the Hillcrest Great Hall beginning at 1 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be sent to the Sheila Cook Endowed Scholarship Fund, Dallas Baptist University, 3000 Mountain Creek Parkway, Dallas, Texas 75211.

Darrell Woner Robinson, longtime Texas Baptist pastor and evangelist, died Jan. 23 in Conroe. He was 88.  He was born Sept. 23, 1935, in Big Spring to Jesse Woner Robinson and Lillie Augusta Walker Robinson. He earned his undergraduate degree from Baylor University and a master’s degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also held a doctorate from Luther Rice Seminary and honorary doctorates from Houston Baptist University and Global Korean Seminary. His many pastorates included First Baptist Church in Pasadena, First Baptist Church in Vernon, Hillcrest Baptist Church in Amarillo, Berea Baptist Church in Big Spring and Midway Baptist Church in Big Spring, as well as Dauphin Way Baptist Church in Mobile, Ala., and First Baptist Church in Liberal, Kan. He served as president of Total Church Life Ministries and as vice president of evangelism at the Southern Baptist Convention’s Home Mission Board. He traveled extensively, preaching and teaching evangelism to pastors in England, Scotland, Italy, Romania, Albania, Portugal, Angola, South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, India, South Korea, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Guyana and Brazil. He was the author of My All For Him, Synergistic Evangelism, Incredibly Gifted, People Sharing Jesus, Doctrine of Salvation, What’s Next and Total Church Life. He was preceded in death by his first wife and high school sweetheart, Betty Jean Davis Robinson; sister Zena Kay Robinson Morse; and daughter Lori Kay Robinson. He is survived by his wife Kathleen Kyzar Robinson; son D. Duane Robinson and his wife, Connie; son D. Robin Robinson and his wife, Jody; son Loren S. Robinson and his wife, Kathryn; 16 grandchildren, including five by marriage; 13 great-grandchildren; his brother Mac Robinson; and his sister Sherilyn Robinson Gilmore.

UPDATED to correct the location of Dauphin Way Baptist Church.