Sam Crosby to Trinity Baptist in Gatesville as pastor from First Baptist Church in San Saba, where he was pastor.

Jim Harris to Tilden Baptist Church as pastor.

Melanie Porter to Kenefick Southern Baptist Church in Dayton as youth minister.

Dale Prudhome to First Baptist Church in Nederland as worship pastor, effective Oct. 23. He previously was minister of music at Pine Forest Baptist Church in Vidor.

Kevin Roe to Community North Baptist Church in McKinney as pastor from The Life Church in Arlington, where he was campus pastor.

Baylor University announced a gift from Jarred and Kay Nan Sloan of Houston supporting Baylor Athletics and resourcing Athletics Mental Health Services, which ensures access for Baylor’s student-athletes to mental health services. The Sloans’ gift provides seed funding to establish the Student Athlete Mental Health Endowment, as well as immediate-use funds to provide critical, upfront support for the Athletics Mental Health Services program. “Baylor Athletics is committed to fostering a caring community, free of stigma, where our student-athletes’ mental health is given the same care as their physical wellbeing,” said Mack B. Rhoades IV, Baylor vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics. “We celebrate the generosity of the Sloans, and we hope other members of our Baylor Family will follow their lead in giving to the Baylor Student Athlete Mental Health Endowment.” Jarred Sloan is the president and a trustee with Clayton Foundation for Research, a nonprofit medical research organization. Kay Nan Wilkerson Sloan is a former speech therapist within the Houston Independent School District.

East Texas Baptist University students, faculty and staff gathered Sept. 28 for the annual See You at the Pole event, a global day of student-led prayer. The tradition that started in 1990 at a high school in Burleson has since grown to see about 3 million students in the United States and more than 20 countries gather to pray at their school’s flagpole. The Baptist Student Ministry coordinates the event at ETBU. This year, the BSM focused on adoration of God, confessing sin to God, being thankful to God, and offering prayers of supplication to God.

During a recent chapel service, Wayland Baptist University recognized David Hardage, who will retire at the end of the year as executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Donnie Brown, director of spiritual life at WBU, presented Hardage with an award in appreciation for his support of Wayland. “During Dr. Hardage’s decade of service, Texas Baptists have created greater opportunities of service for Wayland, most recently bringing Super Summer back to our campus. For that we are thankful,” Brown said.

Dallas Baptist University hosted a Sept. 18 commissioning service for Irene Gallegos as specialist with the Christian Life Commission to oversee the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering and Community Care grants. Guest speaker was Sergio Ramos, church engagement officer at Buckner International and president-elect of the Convención Bautista Hispana de Texas. Gallegos earned her undergraduate degree from DBU. She holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of North Texas Health Science Center and a Ph.D. in health studies from Texas Woman’s University. She and her husband Estaban have one son, Caleb, and are members of Iglesia Bautista Getsemini in Fort Worth.

“Wellness in the Workplace” was the theme of the third Community Leadership Lunch and Learn event at Howard Payne University. The program included presentations by Jill Heupel, associate vice president for academic affairs, and James Wunderle Jr., assistant professor of psychology. Hendrick Medical Center Brownwood was the title sponsor for the event.

The Hardin-Simmons University board of trustees voted not to increase tuition costs for the upcoming 2023-2024 academic year. The HSU administration also agreed to increase academic scholarships by an additional $2,000 per student for 2023-2024 first-time freshmen. HSU continues to provide an affordable and excellent education enlightened by Christian faith and values. “Hardin-Simmons University recognizes folks’ desire to receive an excellent value in education. Not increasing its tuition and fees while increasing scholarship opportunities is one-way HSU is working to provide that desired value,” said Jodie McGaughey, vice president for finance at Hardin-Simmons.

East Texas Baptist University seniors Colton Berryhill from Bullard and Annie Walker from Montgomery received the Bob and Gayle Riley Servant Leadership Award on Oct. 3 for consistently displaying Christian servant leadership on campus and in the community. ETBU President Emeritus Bob Riley and former ETBU First Lady Gayle Rileypresented the honorees with a miniature replication of the “Divine Servant” statue, created by Max Greiner, which can also be found on campus at the entrance to the Rogers Spiritual Life Center. Two students are selected each year for the award. Fellow students, professors, and other members of the ETBU campus community submit nominations recognizing their dedication to pursuing a Christ-like practice of servanthood. Berryhill, a Christian ministry major, has served as a Tiger Camp leader, a Thrive mentor, resident assistant, Baptist Student Ministry leadership team member and Leadership Fellow who worships and volunteers at Mobberly Baptist Church in Longview. Walker, an elementary education major, is a member of the Boys and Girls Club ministry, Baptist Student Ministry leadership, Leadership Fellow and Student Foundation participant who worships and volunteers at New Beginnings Baptist Church in Longview.

Retirement

Frank Pomeroy as senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, where he has served 20 years.

Anniversaries

150th for Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Gholson, where Darrick W. Ervin is pastor, and First Baptist Church in Gholson, where James Stevens is pastor. The neighboring congregations—one historically Black and the other predominantly Anglo—celebrated their sesquicentennials together. Members of Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church worshipped at First Baptist Church on Sept. 11. A group from First Baptist joined Pleasant Grove for an afternoon celebration service on Sept. 18, where Pastor Melvin Petty of Greater Mount Olive Baptist Church in Waco was guest preacher.

BENUE, Nigeria (BP)—Dozens of Christians were murdered and 6,000 displaced in terrorist attacks in Nigeria’s middle belt in September.

International advocates are urging the U.S. State Department to cite Nigeria for religious liberty violations.

“Armed herdsmen and terrorists have not stopped their unprovoked attacks on Christians in Benue state,” Akpen Leva, chairman of the Benue State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, said Sept. 24 in a press statement. “These attacks are aimed at killing defenseless Christians and to force them out of their communities.”

Multiple attacks

Those killed in a series of September attacks in Benue included “dozens” murdered in eight majority-Christian villages Sept. 23 and 21, 13 killed in two additional villages Sept. 9-10, and nine killed Sept. 1-3 in the same two villages, Morning Star News reported, quoting law enforcement and religious leaders. Fifteen villagers were killed Sept. 15 in Logo Local Government Area of Benue, the Daily Post reported.

Others were killed in smaller attacks, including three killed Sept. 18 in a Christian village in Guma County, Benue; two on Sept. 25 in Plateau State, two on Sept. 24 in Kano state, and a woman working on her farm Sept. 19 in Plateau State, Morning Star reported. Others were injured, kidnapped or displaced in the attacks. Homes, farms and churches were destroyed, and food was stolen.

Attackers displaced more than 6,000 from three Benue counties in September, according to Emmanuel Shior, executive secretary of the Benue State Emergency Management Agency.

“Recent attacks by herders on some Christian communities in Benue state have left 6,000 Christians displaced in Logo, Guma and Gwer West local government areas of the state,” Morning Star quoted Shior.

“These continuous attacks by herdsmen on Christian communities in the state have also resulted in the destruction of facilities like churches, schools, markets and health care establishments.”

Militant herdsmen, the Islamic State West Africa Province and bandits have been blamed for the murders and attacks, with animist worshipers also blamed for church attacks.

“These attacks by the herdsmen have left dozens of Christians dead and several more with gunshot injuries and machete attack wounds,” Morning Star quoted a text message from resident Ukan Kurugh after the Sept. 23 attack.

“Survivors of these herdsmen attacks have been taken to some hospitals, and they need urgent medical attention but lack the funds to pay for their medical bills. Some of them need urgent surgeries but they can’t afford to pay for the charges.

“Our people have suffered immensely in the hands of these marauding herdsmen.”

More than 100 worshipers were kidnapped in September from churches in northwest Nigeria, the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union reported in a press release, citing attacks Sept. 12 and 13 at two separate sites of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church in Niger and Kaduna states.

“There is still no breathing space for Christian communities in southern Kaduna, as terrorists, jihadists, bandits and armed herdsmen have continued to plunder and wreck Christian communities in the southern part of Kaduna state,” Morning Star quoted National President Awemi Maisamari Sept 22.

Calls to return Nigeria to CPC status

The U.S. State Department dropped Nigeria from its 2021 list of Countries of Particular Concern or egregious violators of religious freedoms. The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and 21 Wilberforce are among the groups urging the return of Nigeria to the list released annually in November.

Nigeria, which has led countries in deaths of Christians by terrorists, was first included on the State Department’s list of Countries of Particular Concern in 2020, but was not retained the next year.

“As religious minorities face increasingly intense persecution for their faith in Nigeria, it is imperative that Secretary (Antony) Blinken re-designate Nigeria as a country of particular concern. Over the past year, we’ve continued to see deteriorating conditions in Nigeria as thousands of Christians have been martyred for their faith,” ERLC policy manager Hannah Daniel said.

The U.S. government “must do more to pressure the Nigerian government to take action and protect its people from these heinous acts of violence against people of faith, and the CPC designation is an essential piece of such a strategy.”

More than 2,500 Christians were killed in the first six months of 2022 in Nigeria, the advocates said in their letter, referencing a report by the International Society of Civil Liberties and Rule of Law.

The Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa counted more than 4,300 Christians and 2,200 Muslims killed in “jihadist-related contexts” from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021, according to the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa.

The State of Texas is scheduled to execute John Henry Ramirez on Oct. 5, and his pastor plans to be in the death chamber to lay a hand on him and pray for him.

Pastor Dana Moore of Second Baptist Church in Corpus Christi has served as spiritual adviser to Ramirez about five years, ministering to him in prison.

After Ramirez made a profession of faith in Christ and was baptized on Texas Death Row, Second Baptist Church allowed him to join the congregation’s membership. Ramirez is among 28 inmates who are part of the first designated faith-based units on Texas Death Row.

Barring a clemency declaration or last-minute delay, Ramirez will die by lethal injection on Wednesday about the time other members of Second Baptist Church gather for a mid-week Bible study and prayer time.

Ramirez was convicted and sentenced to die for the 2004 murder and robbery of Pablo Castro, a Corpus Christi convenience store clerk.

Supreme Court ruled

In an 8-1 decision in Ramirez v. Collier, the U.S. Supreme Court in March upheld on religious liberty grounds a request by Ramirez to have his pastor lay hands on him and pray aloud for him at the moment of his execution.

Previously, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice had denied his request, citing security concerns. Lower courts sided with the state agency, saying the TDCJ has a “compelling interest in maintaining an orderly, safe and effective process” when carrying out executions.

While the Supreme Court agreed the state has a clear interest in carrying out executions in a safe and orderly fashion, security issues do not justify denying an inmate the right to spiritual comfort.

At the time of the ruling, Moore said he was glad the court “upheld John’s religious liberty rights” by allowing his spiritual adviser to offer a “ministry of presence,” praying for him and laying a hand on him in his final moments of consciousness.

“Touch is a very meaningful and supportive way of showing compassion and love,” Moore said. “That’s why Jesus touched.”

In a May 25 interview with the Baptist Standard at the Allen B. Polunsky Unit, Ramirez said it will be “spiritually significant” to have Moore physically present in the execution chamber to pray for him and place a hand on him.

“He’s my brother. I’ve grown to love him,” Ramirez said. “I want to have him touch me and pray over me as I transition from life to death.”

When Ramirez is transported 50 miles from the Polunsky Unit to the Huntsville Unit, home of the state’s execution chamber, it won’t be the first time he has made the trek for a scheduled execution. In fact, it marks the fourth execution date he has faced in recent years.

In September 2021, the Supreme Court granted a last-minute temporary stay of execution to consider his request to have his pastor in the death chamber with him.

In April, Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez filed a motion to withdraw the death warrant his office had issued for Ramirez’s execution, saying he “has the firm belief that the death penalty is unethical and should not be imposed on Mr. Ramirez or any other person.”

But in June, state District Judge Bobby Galvan rejected the prosecutor’s request to withdraw the warrant. Then last month, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied a stay of execution, and the appeals court let stand Galvan’s order refusing to vacate the Oct. 5 execution date for Ramirez.

The first wave of Texas Baptist Men volunteers are headed to Florida to meet needs caused by Hurricane Ian.

The first responding TBM Disaster Relief units include a command center, electrical support unit, electrical support generator and asset protection unit. TBM leaders are scheduling flood recovery and feeding teams to serve, as well.

Local officials still are calculating the damage inflicted by the storm, which is now lashing South Carolina. At least 21 people have died as a result of the hurricane, and large portions of Florida have been impacted by torrential rainfall.

TBM Executive Director Mickey Lenamon asked Christians to pray both for storm survivors and volunteers.

“These are tough times for the people who were in this storm’s path. So, let’s pray for the variety of needs they are facing, including their spiritual needs,” he said.

 “Pray for our TBM volunteers. They are willing and eager to serve our Lord through service to others. Pray for their safety in traveling and in working. Also pray that the love of Christ will show through in all that our people do.”

TBM is part of a multistate response that includes Southern Baptist disaster relief volunteers from about a dozen states.

To support TBM disaster relief ministries financially, send a check designated for disaster relief to Texas Baptist Men, 5351 Catron Dr., Dallas, TX 75227 or click here to give online.

By working collaboratively, two Dallas-area nonprofit organizations with Texas Baptist connections will bring free groceries and other services to a South Dallas food desert.

Local dignitaries and community representatives gathered Sept. 29 to dedicate a 12,000-square-foot mixed-use facility that will house ministries sponsored by BridgeBuilders and a grocery-store-style food pantry operated by Brother Bill’s Helping Hand.

BridgeBuilders worked with the Dallas Department of Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization to secure the facility, about two-and-a-half miles south of Fair Park.

When the South Dallas Community Market opens in November, it will provide fresh vegetables and other healthy groceries to more than 350 families—about 1,100 individuals—twice a month, said Wes Keyes, executive director of Brother Bill’s Helping Hand.

Bill Harrod, a Baptist preacher who wanted to meet the needs of his West Dallas neighbors, founded the Brother Bill’s Helping Hand ministry more than 75 years ago. In recent years, it has expanded from one neighborhood to serving people in more than 90 ZIP Codes.

The ministry focuses on three key components—educational programming, health care and the essentials of life, particularly food. At the worst point in the COVID pandemic, Brother Bill’s Helping Hand provided 1.3 million meals to needy families and individuals in 2020.

‘Want to expand into areas of greatest need’

So, expanding the ministry’s footprint to launch a client-directed pantry in a South Dallas food desert was a natural step.

“We want to expand into areas of greatest need,” said Keyes, a member of Cliff Temple Baptist Church and graduate of Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary.

“Best of all, the North Texas Food Bank will deliver right to this location,” he added.

Churches and individuals around the state help provide support to Brother Bill’s Helping Hand through their gifts to the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering.

BridgeBuilders—a Christian nonprofit organization that has worked 26 years in South Dallas—worked with city officials to secure a facility on Bexar Street as a base for ministry in the neighborhood.

“When we did a community survey in the area to ask what was needed, 90 percent of the neighbors said they wanted a grocery store,” said Jonathan Fechner, executive director of BridgeBuilders.

Fechner knew about the grocery-store-style food pantry at Brother Bill’s, where neighbors can choose their own groceries and shop at no cost to them.

‘It’s a kingdom partnership’

“I love their model, because it respects the dignity of their neighbors, and residents select what they want,” said Fechner, who earned both his undergraduate degree and master’s degree from Dallas Baptist University and is now in the Ph.D. program there. DBU President Adam Wright serves on the BridgeBuilders board of directors.

Fechner went to talk with Keyes to learn more about the Brother Bill’s food pantry, hoping BridgeBuilders could emulate its approach.

“That’s when Wes told me they were looking to expand,” he recalled.

Fechner learned the board of directors at Brother’s Bill’s already had been discussing the possibility of starting a satellite food pantry in South Dallas.

“When they offered to operate the food pantry, it was a no-brainer. It’s a kingdom partnership,” he said.

When neighbors shop at the South Dallas Community Market, they will be introduced to other services available through BridgeBuilders, such as job training, mentorship and after-school programs.

The Bexar Street facility also includes a half-dozen upstairs apartment units BridgeBuilders will offer as part of an affordable transitional housing program to help young high school graduates enter adulthood.

At the Sept. 29 dedication, Keyes and Fechner—along with Dallas City Council Representative Adam Bazaldua and Dallas Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Omar Narvaez—praised the collaborative nature of the new South Dallas initiative.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together,” Keyes said, quoting an African proverb. “We are able to do greater things and more long-lasting things because of partnerships. … It’s about transforming lives.”

WASHINGTON (RNS)—When it comes to memorializing the nation’s Civil War legacy, Americans are nearly evenly divided over whether to preserve Confederate symbols, memorials and statues, according to a new Public Religion Research Institute survey.

The new PRRI survey conducted with E Pluribus Unum, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a more equitable and inclusive South, finds 51 percent of Americans favor preserving Confederate history, memorials and statues, while 46 percent are opposed.

That division can be found on a host of issues. Take the Confederate flag: 50 percent see it primarily as a symbol of Southern pride, while 47 percent see it mostly as a symbol of racism.

Divided by politics, race and religion

The divisions fall along party, race and religious lines: Republicans and white evangelicals overwhelmingly support preserving memorials to Confederate history, while Black Americans, non-Christians, Jews and unaffiliated Americans see those memorials as a symbol of racism.

“One of the things the report is telling us is that we still have not resolved one of the fundamental conflicts that has haunted us throughout American history,” said Robert P. Jones, president and founder of PRRI.

“It’s the question of whether the country is a promised land for European Christians that has white supremacy embedded in that idea, or whether we’re a pluralistic democracy where everybody stands on equal footing before the Constitution.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center’s database shows more than 2,000 Confederate symbols in the United States and Puerto Rico, disproportionately in 11 Southern states.

But the country’s divisions over the legacy of the Confederacy are bigger than geography. They exist in all parts of the country and can best be predicted by party affiliation, race and religion.

Nearly 9 in 10 white Republicans, or 87 percent, support efforts to preserve the legacy of the Confederacy, compared with 23 percent of white Democrats. When examined by race, 57 percent of white Americans support efforts to preserve Confederate legacy, compared with 23 percent of Black Americans.

Support strongest among white evangelicals

Religion is also a predictor of attitudes toward the Confederacy. Majorities of Protestants, Catholics and Latter-day Saints support such efforts to preserve Confederate monuments and memorials, with white evangelicals besting all others at 76 percent.

Support falls to 35 percent among non-Christian Americans, Jewish Americans (33 percent) and religiously unaffiliated Americans (33 percent).

The survey was conducted among a sample of 5,439 adults in all 50 states. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.7 percentage points.

The survey did point to some areas of common ground. Nearly all Americans (90 percent) supported efforts to “tell the truth about the history of slavery, violence and discrimination against racial minorities” as well as efforts to “promote racial healing by creating more inclusive public spaces.”

A majority of Americans support monument reform of some kind. The PRRI survey broke down support and opposition to reforming Confederate memorials into four categories: 24 percent said they supported removal of all Confederate memorials, 18 percent said they opposed removing memorials, 30 percent lean toward reform and 24 percent lean against reform.

Liberal Democrats and liberal independents were 20 times as likely to support Confederate monument removal as conservative Republicans. Religiously unaffiliated Americans and non-Christian Americans were twice as likely as white evangelicals to support removal.

Black Americans were three times as likely to support removal as white Americans.

Renaming schools and mascots

Americans were also divided on renaming public schools and mascots.

But majorities of Americans favored the idea of local governments providing mortgage assistance for people whose descendants were denied home loans because of their race. A majority also favor scholarships for descendants of enslaved people forced to construct those campuses. White Christians were least likely to favor those efforts.

E Pluribus Unum, an organization founded by former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, is working in 13 states, including among congregations of faith, to drive conversation around systemic racism and economic inequality.

“We use a phrase, ‘relentless incrementalism,’” said Scott Hutcheson, managing director of E Pluribus Unum. “Every data point shows us a path. It is depressing but we have to believe it’s not hopeless.”

Ahead of the Trend is a collaborative effort between Religion News Service and the Association of Religion Data Archives made possible through the support of the John Templeton Foundation.

DALLAS—In a season in which “democracy itself is being challenged,” Christians in the United States can learn from Jesus’ admonition to render to Caesar and to God that which belongs to each, the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty told a Dallas church.

“We have both political obligations and spiritual ones,” Amanda Tyler said in a Sept. 25 sermon at Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas. “We do allegiance to our country. We also owe a higher allegiance to God.”

Those things that are rendered to one’s nation and to God are “distinct, different and to be separated,” she emphasized.

“If we confuse our political institutions with our religious institutions—if we merge them in our rhetoric and in our practice—if we cause one to try to control the other, then we start to replace our religion of Christianity with the political ideology of Christian nationalism,” Tyler said.

Political engagement not optional

American citizens have political obligations, such as paying taxes, obeying laws, supporting and defending the U.S. Constitution, being informed and participating in the democratic process, and respecting “the rights, beliefs and opinions of others,” she said.

“Our political engagement is not optional, and certainly not now, when our democracy is on life support,” Tyler said. “We have neither the luxury nor the permission to disengage right now.”

In particular, voting is both a precious privilege and duty of citizenship that should transcend partisan differences, she stressed.

“It is a tragedy that this cornerstone of American citizenship has been turned into a partisan wedge issue,” Tyler said.

While seeking to be responsible citizens, Christians should not confuse their obligations to the government with their duties to God, she emphasized. The Hebrew prophet Micah made clear what the Lord demands, she said: “Do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God.”

As Christians fulfill their duty to God, those actions are “inextricably linked” to service toward others, she observed.

“We are to love our neighbors who look different from us, worship differently from us, who live in other neighborhoods than we do, who speak languages other than we do, and—yes—who vote differently than we do,” Tyler said.

Voting guides not a test of faith

She took to task Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, for his recent comments at the Pray Vote Stand conference at First Baptist Church in Atlanta. Mohler said Christians who vote “wrongly”—particularly regarding issues of gender, sexuality and sanctity of life—are “unfaithful” to God.

“We need the right voters showing up with the right convictions at the right time to vote the right way,” Mohler told the group.

“It sounds to me like Dr. Mohler has his renderings really mixed up,” seeing voting a particular way as a duty to God rather than a civic obligation and creating a partisan faithfulness test, Tyler observed.

“Not only that, but what kind of pastoral advice is this—to divide congregations in what already is a denomination in rapid decline by using a voting guide to determine faithfulness?” she asked.

As an alternative, Tyler appealed to the teachings of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatian church. Divisions in that church were real and deep, but Paul reminded them of their equality and commonality as children of God by faith in Jesus Christ, she noted.

While standing for truth and engaging in the political process, she urged Christians to avoid “vilifying and dehumanizing” their political opponents.

“We continue to see them as Jesus sees them and as Jesus sees us—imperfect and redeemed children of God,” Tyler said. “We refused to judge their faithfulness based on a voting guide. If God doesn’t do that, then why should we?”

She warned churches against functioning as political action committees rather than as houses of worship and faith communities.

Instead, quoting Martin Luther King Jr., she urged churches to be neither the servant nor master of government but to function as “the conscience of the state.”

NASHVILLE (BP)—In a Sept. 28 post to Twitter, former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Adam W. Greenway announced he will not move to a new position with the International Mission Board.

“Carla and I are grateful for the many expressions of care and concern that have come our way since our transition from service at @SWBTS was first announced,” he wrote.

“While we initially thought our path would take us to the @IMB_SBC, we have not been able to find the Lord’s peace to move forward in that direction. We covet your prayers for ourselves and for our children as we seek the Lord’s direction regarding His next vocational assignment for us.”

Greenway announced his resignation as Southwestern’s president Sept. 23., at the same time stating that he had accepted a position with the IMB.

The IMB issued the following statement to BP concerning Greenway’s tweet, “The IMB respects the privacy of potential or active employment conversations, and this situation follows that practice. We are praying for the Greenway family.”

IMB President Paul Chitwood tweeted a promise of prayer for Greenway on Wednesday morning.

Southwestern Seminary announced Sept. 27 that David Dockery, distinguished professor of theology, will serve as interim president while former Guidestone President O.S. Hawkins will operate as senior adviser and ambassador-at-large.

Texas Baptist Men helped Peter Dyson of Waco and Travis Caywood of China Spring collect much-needed supplies as part of First Baptist Church of Woodway’s ongoing ministry in Cuba. On Sept. 26, TBM helped Dyson and Caywood secure building materials, medical equipment and food, including high-protein soup mix and large bags of pinto beans and rice. The two Waco-area laymen delivered the goods to Houston for an anticipated 21-day journey through Kingston, Jamaica, and on to Mariel, Cuba, a port near Havana. The previously scheduled but well-timed shipment should help in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, which hit the western tip of Cuba early Sept. 27, packing more than 115 mph winds and knocking out electricity throughout the island nation. Peter Dyson’s father, L.M. Dyson, a retired business professor at Baylor University, has assisted Cuban Baptists for two and a half decades by providing logistical help to link resources in North America to needs in Cuba.

Texas Baptists’ Chaplaincy Relations ministry recently marked its 20th anniversary. Since its inception, Chaplaincy Relations has endorsed 1,125 chaplains in eight categories—military, correctional, lifestyle, public safety, health care, marketplace, crisis response and pastoral counseling. Currently, 650 chaplains are in active service. Bobby Smith, a former hospital chaplain, is the founding director of Texas Baptists’ Chaplaincy Relations.

Hundreds of area residents gathered for East Texas Baptist University’s annual Great East Texas Hymn Sing on Sept. 23. “It is so sweet to be able to worship with everyone again,” said Cari Johnson, director of alumni relations and intercessory prayer ministry. “ETBU has produced phenomenal worship leaders over the years, and it is a rich opportunity to have them return and lead us today.”  ETBU alumni who helped lead segments of the worship included Gary Chevalier, Katie Ashcraft, Kermit Tandberg and Ricky Hall.

Jeremy Everett, founding director of Baylor University’s Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty, participated in the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 28. The conference assembled government leaders, academics, activists and other concerned Americans to work toward a goal of ending hunger and reducing diet-related diseases in the United States by 2030. “Access to food is a human right, but no one sector or organization can solve hunger by themselves,” Everett said. “If we’re going to make systemic change on a local, state, national or even global level, we need both the public and private sector working in concert with each other. That’s what this conference is about.”

Roland Johnson, pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in Keller, will receive the José Rivas Distinguished Service Award from Howard Payne University during the Stinger Spectacular weekend on Oct. 14-15. Johnson, who has served the Keller congregation since 2014, has provided pastoral leadership to several churches in North Texas and Central Texas during five decades of ministry. Johnson attended HPU in 1969 and later received a bachelor’s degree from Baylor University in 1973, a master’s degree in biblical studies from Criswell College in 1989 and a master’s degree in counseling from Grand Canyon University in 2016.

The 21Wilberforce human rights organization will present its fourth annual Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Award to Bob Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid, an organization based in Midland. Fu will receive the award at an Oct. 17 dinner at Dallas Baptist University. The award is presented to a leader who is working to advance freedom of religion, belief or conscience by standing up to oppression. “Bob Fu is courageous and relentless in his support of those persecuted for their faith. He instills fear in the Chinese Communist Party as he exposes their abuse of Christians, Uyghurs and other people of faith,” said Randel Everett, founding president of 21Wilberforce. “Dr. Fu has earned the confidence of political and religious leaders with his accurate reports and effective strategies.”

Haleigh Akin of Tyler, a senior elementary education major at East Texas Baptist University, was crowned as Miss ETBU on Sept. 24. Akin, president of Student Foundation and a resident assistant at Ornelas Hall, was selected from 11 contestants during the annual pageant sponsored by ETBU’s Student Government Association. She leads worship on Sunday mornings for the college group at Mobberly Baptist Church in Longview. Senior English and Christian ministry major Ashly Quintanilla was selected as first runner-up and audience favorite. Sophomore ministry major Avery Abshier was voted Miss Congeniality. Senior music education major Hannah Stewart won best talent.

Baylor University President Linda Livingstone recognized the university’s research staff and faculty in an email and online statement released prior to National Research Administrator Day on Sept. 25. She noted their commitment and dedication helped Baylor gain Research 1 status as a doctoral university with very high research activity. “In the course of achieving R1 status and growing in our research enterprise, Baylor has remained firmly grounded in the Christian principles and transformational education that have defined the Baylor experience for generations,” Livingstone wrote. “We believe it is our responsibility to instill in our students a commitment to serving the surrounding world as Christian leaders. … As we continue advancing as a university, we will continue to discern God’s will as we strive to prepare students for worldwide leadership and service and address some of the world’s greatest challenges.”

Robert “Bob” Glynn Russell, longtime coordinator of technical services for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, died September 21 in hospice care in Dallas. He was 91. He was born May 4, 1931, to Jesse Anderson and Myrtle Edna Russell in Rocky, Okla. He lived in Irving 54 years. Russell served 28 years in the BGCT communications office, from November 1968 to January 1997. He received numerous awards for outstanding workmanship and for volunteer service. He was preceded in death by his wife Frances and siblings Sam, Clova and L.A. He is survived by son David and his wife Sherry of Irving; son Steve Russell of Bremond; Patricia Russell of Bryan; five grandchildren; one great-grandson; and a brother, Jesse Anderson Jr. of Rowlett. Graveside services with honors will be scheduled later at Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Texas Baptist Men.

LOUDON, Tenn. (BP)—John Condra recalls the first rehearsal of The CenturyMen, a 100-member male chorus organized in 1969 in the days of the Southern Baptist Radio and Television Commission.

“When we got through singing, normally you talk or something. Nobody said a word,” said Condra, who was then music minister at First Baptist Church of Montgomery, Ala. “We just kind of looked at each other and said, ‘Where in the world did that sound come from?’”

After 53 years, the CenturyMen performed their last concert Sept. 17 at First Baptist Church of Tellico Village in Loudon, Tenn.

“We had never heard anything like that before, and I had not. You think about 100 men with degrees in music and boy, and all of a sudden you hear it for the first time, it just blew me away,” Condra said.

They sang hymns of the faith such as “Oh God Our Help in Ages Past,” “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee” and “His Name is Wonderful.”

Received numerous awards

The widely traveled group won a daytime Emmy Award in 1989 for a concert performed in China and featured on the NBC program “China: Walls and Bridges,” and was nominated for a Grammy in 1999 for its recording, “Beautiful Star: A Celebration of Christmas,” in the category of Best Classical Crossover Album. NBC has termed the group “The Finest Male Chorus in America.”

Joe Fitzpatrick, music minister at First Baptist Church of Nashville, Tenn., and a member of the group since 1988, was one of 60 members that participated in the Sept. 17 concert.

He was accepted in the group in 1988 after the RTC was incorporated into the former Home Mission Board. Fitzpatrick was a graduate student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and knew of the group’s ministry through its many international broadcasts.

Joseph Joubert, CenturyMen associate music director and accompanist, opened the group’s final concert with his new arrangement of the hymn, “I Will Trust in the Lord” and “Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus,” and premiered “for the second time,” as he put it, his arrangement of “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.”

“I heard them for the very first time in 1987, I believe it was,” he told Baptist Press. “I said, ‘Man, that sounds like a group I would really enjoy being a part of.’ I auditioned in 1988, was accepted, and I’ve been a part of it for 34 years.”

Voted to disband

The group formally voted Sept. 16 to disband, upon the recommendation of its board of directors, amid a changing church music ministry landscape.

“The aspiration was always that we would be 100 men strong,” Fitzpatrick said. With busy schedules, “it just got harder and harder for our group to get together. It became a challenge to be able to get new people to make the investment, for whatever reasons.

“They (the group) wanted to make sure that as the future went on, that we were representing the name of the CenturyMen in its full extent, and that became more and more challenging as the years went by.”

Buryl Red founded The CenturyMen in 1969 at the request of the Radio and Television Commission. He co-arranged and orchestrated the bulk of the group’s music until his death in 2013.

Red’s career generated more than 2,500 published compositions and arrangements and more than 4,000 CDs. He authored or edited more than 50 college and school music textbooks; supervised the music and/or musical arrangements for several hundred shows, documentaries and specials, many of them award-winning, according to TheCenturyMen.com.

Red befriended and recruited Joseph Joubert, the group’s associate music director and accompanist. Among Joubert’s extensive credits, he was the musical supervisor and arranger for the concert tours and PBS specials of Three Mo’ Tenors and Three Mo’ Divas. Joubert has collaborated with such diverse artists as Kathleen Battle, George Benson, Jennifer Holliday, Whitney Houston, Patti Labelle, Diana Ross and others.

Joubert, a Baptist composer based in New York, accompanied during the final concert. He termed his longtime work with the group a privilege.

He opened the concert with his new arrangement of the hymn, “I Will Trust in the Lord” and “Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus,” and premiered “for the second time,” as he put it, his arrangement of “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.”

Sad but still ‘upbeat and Christ-honoring’

Condra, who was a charter member and first president of the group when it became independent of the Radio and Television Commission in 1986, never anticipated the final day.

He described the mood of the last event “as very upbeat and Christ-honoring, even though we felt deep inside some kind of regret that it was coming to an end.

“We did not let that overshadow what we were doing because our primary goal every time is to sing the very best music we can in honor of our Savior. And I think all the men held their emotions in check. It was great. It was like a normal concert that we would do.”

The CenturyMen also enjoyed the privilege of sharing the gospel in word and deed in communities where it performed, Condra said, including at the U.S. Capitol and at Ground Zero days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The group performed numerous times on television and radio, including episodes of The Baptist Hour and Sounds of The CenturyMen, and in churches in the United States and globally.

The group toured England, Wales, Scotland, Germany, Austria, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Switzerland, Israel, Brazil, China, Russia, Poland, Cuba and the Czech Republic.

It has produced 13 recordings.

Made an ‘eternal impact’ globally

Fitzpatrick described his membership in the group as one of his “greatest joys and honors.”

“The eternal impact we have had for the cause of Christ around the globe has been life-changing and life-giving for me and countless others,” Fitzpatrick said. “It has been a privilege to share the gospel of Christ through song at home and through world-wide mission enterprises with this unique and immensely talented group of brothers.”

The group will live on through its music, available online, and has committed to establish a church music perpetual scholarship at Baylor University, Red’s alma mater, in the name of Red and The CenturyMen.

Charles Fuller of Little Rock, Ark., the group’s musical director and conductor, was the final president.

Condra and others are discussing fellowshipping together in the coming years, as the group afforded a unique opportunity for friendships and musical collaboration.

“I was kind of a little bit nervous about singing, ‘God Be With You Till We Meet Again’ for the last time,” Condra told Baptist Press. “Just thinking I may never see some of these guys again this side of heaven.

“I’ll see them again,” he said, alluding to a heavenly reunion.