Denton Lotz, who served nearly two decades as general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, died April 23 in Forestdale, Mass. He was 80.

Lotz was born Jan. 18, 1939, in Flushing, N.Y. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, ultimately earning the rank of second lieutenant.

Lotz went on to graduate from Harvard Divinity School and earn a doctorate in theology from the University of Hamburg, Germany.

He was ordained to the gospel ministry at Binkley Memorial Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, N.C.

In 1970, he married Janice Robinson of Ellisville, Miss. They served 10 years as missionaries with the International Ministries Division of American Baptist Churches.

During that time, he was professor of missions and homiletics at the Baptist Theological Seminary in Rüschlikon, Switzerland. At the seminary, he founded the Summer Institute of Theological Education to offer Eastern European pastors short-term intensive theological training.

Lotz joined the BWA staff in 1980 as associate secretary. He later also assumed responsibility as director of the BWA youth department.

After BWA General Secretary Gerhard Claas was killed in an automobile accident in 1988, Lotz was named interim general secretary. The BWA Executive Committee soon voted to appoint him general secretary, and the BWA General Council affirmed the appointment.

During his time as general secretary, Lotz helped launch the Baptist International Conference on Theological Education and the Living Water Initiative to enlist and equip Baptists around the world for evangelism and servant leadership. He served alongside five BWA presidents.

“He leaves a massive footprint in the history of BWA,” said David Coffee, BWA president from 2005 to 2010. “He was a missionary theologian, an inspiring preacher and evangelist, a champion for religious liberty, a Baptist ambassador, a Christian statesman and a brother unrivaled in his prodigious remembering of the names of hundreds of people and places.”

When Lotz retired from his leadership post at BWA in 2007, former President Jimmy Carter said: “As I think of all the BWA has accomplished for Baptists around the world in the past 20 years, I know that your gifted leadership has helped to make it all possible. You have served a great organization with conviction and honor.”

Based on information from the Baptist World Alliance.

Baylor University recognized Gaynor Yancey as the 2019 Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year. Yancey, a Master Teacher at Baylor, is professor of social work and director of the Center for Church and Community Impact in the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work. She also is the Lake Family Endowed Chair in Congregational and Community Health. In that capacity, she teaches and mentors students in both the School of Social Work and Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor. As this year’s professor of the year, Yancey received a $20,000 award and will present a lecture on a topic of her choosing during the next academic year. Yancey is a member of First Woodway Baptist Church in Waco, where she is a Bible study teacher for adult women.

“Preach the Word!” is the theme of the 30^th annual National Conference on Preaching, scheduled May 21-23 at The Church Without Walls (Brookhollow Baptist Church) in Houston. The conference is sponsored by Preaching magazine and Anderson University. Speakers include Ralph Douglas West, pastor of the host church and adjunct professor of preaching at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary; H.B. Charles, pastor of Shiloh Church in Jacksonville, Fla.; Stephen Rummage, pastor of Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City; Charlie E. Dates, pastor of Progressive Baptist Church in Chicago; and Joel Gregory, professor of preaching at Truett Theological Seminary. For more information and registration, click here.

East Texas Baptist University recognized Katee Muckleroy of Nacogdoches during its 72^nd annual Senior Girl Call-Out, the university’s most longstanding tradition. Selected by a faculty and staff vote, the individual “called out” each year is distinguished for her exemplary Christian character, social consciousness, personal poise, academic achievement and spiritual vision. Muckleroy, a child development major, has been involved with the Titus Women’s Ministry, the ETBU Student Foundation and the women’s basketball team.

Howard Payne University’s Student Speaker Bureau speech and debate team recently competed at the National Christian College Forensics Association national tournament at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, Kansas. Freshman Alek Mendoza, theatre and communication major from Bangs, won fifth place in novice dramatic interpretation. Sophomore Lucy Manning, a Guy D. Newman Honors Academy communication and social science jurisprudence major from Fort Worth, won sixth place in open persuasive speaking. More than 220 students from 21 universities from across the nation participated.

Anniversary

First Baptist Church in Hearne marked its 150^th anniversary April 14. David Hardage, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, was guest speaker, speaking from Matthew 16 on Christ as the church’s foundation. Michael T. Smith, who served the congregation during his time as a student at Baylor University, led in music and worship, along with the Living Soul Choir. Former pastor Larry Blackmon also participated in the morning worship service. Hardage presented a congratulatory certificate from the BGCT, and the church also received resolutions or proclamations from the City of Hearne and the State of Texas. Pastor James Hooper called the event “a marvelous celebration of God’s grace and faithfulness to this congregation over the past century and a half.”

Texas Baptist Men disaster relief volunteers enabled a small school district to provide meals for students, removed fallen trees from homes, provided clean water and shared the love of Christ in communities hit by mid-April tornadoes.

Within one week after a series of tornadoes devastated Alto and Franklin, TBM workers contributed 6,950 volunteer hours. They cooked more than 2,100 meals, purified more than 1,000 gallons of water and distributed nearly 900 boxes to enable storm survivors to gather and store scattered belongings.

In the process, the volunteers made more than 700 personal contacts in the two communities, distributed 67 Bibles and recorded nine professions of faith in Christ.

Meals for school children

One of the two tornadoes that hit Alto severely damaged Alto High School. Since it compromised the building’s structural integrity, students had to meet in repurposed space in the adjoining elementary and middle schools when classes resumed April 22. The high school cafeteria—which serves all the Alto schools—particularly was hard-hit.

On their first day back to school, students received muffins for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch.

Initial discussions with school officials centered on the possibility of TBM volunteers cooking meals for students during the five remaining weeks before summer vacation. After additional conversations, a better idea emerged.

TBM volunteers set up a fully equipped field kitchen April 23 outside Alto Elementary School. Then they trained the school district’s food service staff how to use the equipment and agreed to leave it with them for the remainder of the school year.

“We might have been serving sandwiches for five weeks if not for the field kitchen,” said Courtney Stephenson, food service director for the Alto Independent School District. “Now students will be getting the good warm meals at school they’re probably not getting at home. It’s a blessing.”

Significantly, the agreed-upon solution enabled TBM to avoid committing a large number of volunteers for an extended time, and it allowed the district’s food service staff to continue to serve students—and still have a paying job.

“I see God’s fingerprints all over this,” said Russell Schieck, on-site director for the TBM disaster relief operation in Alto. “It’s good for us, and it’s good for the community, since it keeps everybody doing what they normally would be doing.”

Working together

While a chainsaw crew from Orange removed wind-damaged limbs from his property, Alto Mayor Jimmy Allen expressed appreciation for all the work TBM has done in his community.

Other TBM chainsaw crews and heavy equipment operators from Collin Baptist Association, Kingsland Baptist Church in Katy and Paramount Baptist Church in Amarillo worked throughout the area. In addition to completing 28 chainsaw jobs in one week, one crew also installed a temporary roof on a house when a storm threatened.

Allen reported 40 homes destroyed and another 75 damaged in his town of 1,000 residents. He noted TBM workers continued to provide purified drinking water while Alto remained under a boil water notice.

He praised the spirit of cooperation and rapid response of volunteers—not only TBM workers who arrived less than 24 hours after tornadoes swept through Alto and the surrounding area, but also local residents who immediately helped their neighbors.

“Tractors started rolling in to clear the roads to help first responders get in,” Allen said.

Spirit of cooperation

Schieck also noted the spirit of cooperation evident throughout the community, particularly among its churches. Congregations of various denominations worked with a variety of out-of-town and sometimes out-of-state ministries, and they readily shared information and supplies with each other.

Hilltop Baptist Church housed TBM volunteers and allowed them to fill the church’s parking lot with disaster relief equipment.

On Easter, Christians from most of the churches in town—and volunteers who had traveled to Alto to serve—gathered downtown to worship at an outdoor sunrise service.

About 100 miles to the southwest, TBM volunteers worked in Franklin, where an EF-3 tornado destroyed 55 homes.

In one week, TBM workers in Franklin donated more than 3,100 volunteer hours, preparing about 1,000 meals, logging 112 hours on heavy equipment and completing 27 chainsaw jobs.

First Baptist Church in Franklin housed the TBM volunteers. Ted Elmore, interim pastor at the church tweeted: “It has been a busy week, and I have watched people come together in love and harmony in Jesus’ name to help. …” \

To contribute financially to TBM disaster relief, send a check designated “disaster relief” to Texas Baptist Men, 5351 Catron, Dallas, TX 75227, call (214) 275-1116 or click here.

Baptist leaders joined other Christians around the world in calling for prayer following coordinated Easter Sunday bombings at three churches and several hotels in Sri Lanka that killed more than 300 people.

Elijah Brown, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, reported on Facebook he had been in contact with Baptist leaders in Sri Lanka.

After nine explosions claimed more than 300 lives and injured another 500, “we need God’s special intervention,” Brown wrote, adding a request for “justice for the affected families.”

Zion Church, an evangelical congregation in Batticaloa, reported 28 deaths, including 12 children, according to the Times of India. Other bombs exploded at St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo and St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo.

“Please uphold these families,” Brown wrote.

He specifically asked Baptists worldwide to pray for Heshan de Silva, president of Sri Lanka Baptist Sangamaya and chair of the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka, writing, “Surround him in prayer as he helps lead through this time.”

The Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board requested prayer:

• “For those who have lost family members to be comforted by the God of all comfort.”
• “For those who are injured to receive needed care.”
• “For those who can’t find family to be reconnected.”
• “For believers to be the hands and feet of Christ and to pour forth a sweet aroma. Hearts are hurting.”
• “That God would use this situation to draw men and women, boys and girls to himself … for his honor and glory.”

‘We grieve with hope’

A Southern Baptist media specialist based in Southeast Asia wrote online that the Easter Sunday bombings “stand as a grim reminder of the need for the gospel in a broken world.”

“The juxtaposition of such deadly actions against Christ’s utter defeat of death—on Resurrection Day, no less—is palpable. We Christians felt the pang of death, and we continue to grieve with brothers and sisters whose lives are at stake for the sake of the gospel each day,” she wrote.

“But we grieve with hope, and we proclaim a gospel that offers the same hope to those who would place their faith in Christ—hope of victory over death and eternity free of brokenness and suffering.”

Sri Lankan governmental officials acknowledged warnings received days before the attacks that referred to National Thowheed Jamath, a relatively obscure local Islamist group previously known for defacing Buddhist statues, but also indicated the likelihood of a wider international network. The self-described Islamic State—also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh—claimed responsibility two days after the suicide bombings.

Russell Moore, president of the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, tweeted: “The governing authorities must bring this anti-Christian terrorist cell, and any who empowered them, to justice. The shedding of innocent human blood is always an atrocity; an attack on Easter is further shocking in its cruelty.”

WACO—A keynote speaker at Congreso 2019 assured more than 3,000 Hispanic students they gathered on the Baylor University campus by divine invitation, not by accident.

“You may think you just came here by chance. But the reason you’re here is because Jesus is knocking,” Daniel “Tiny” Dominguez, pastor of Community Heights Church in Lubbock, told the 55^th annual Hispanic student conference, sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Powerful collisions attract attention, and that’s what happened during Holy Week more than 2,000 years ago, Dominquez asserted.

“What Jesus did on the cross collided with our sins and death,” he said.

Previously, humanity collided constantly with sin, which destroyed and hurt what God created, Dominguez said. In spite of the destruction, people continued to sin, he observed.

“Even now, somehow, we still think the solution is more sin,” Dominguez said.

Sin may appear harmless—even appealing at times, he acknowledged. But sin breaks down trust, it hurts relationships, it corrupts and it ultimately brings death, Dominguez observed.

Jesus came to defeat what humanity could not, he said. All the power of sin came against Jesus Christ on the cross, he noted, but what seemed to defeat humanity suddenly shattered as Jesus rose from the tomb.

“Jesus collided, and sin failed!” Dominguez said. “We were dead because of sin, but the hit was so hard that we came alive.”

God is the unstoppable object breaking what seemed to have a hold on humanity, he added.

“Because of the power of God, even the dead are alive,” Dominguez said.

Sin brings solitude and confusion, anger and depression to people’s lives, he said.

But Christ is calling everyone to walk with him, to be guided by him and to witness the unstoppable power of God, Dominguez said.

The gospel message not only is for those who have not met Christ, but also for the church, Dominguez insisted.

People can say they know Jesus Christ and still push him aside to pursue their own desires, he said. And part of the good news is even after people turn Jesus away, he continues coming back to knock on the door again, Dominguez said.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Most Protestant pastors feel confident about the discipleship taking place in their churches. However, there’s still plenty of room for growth, according to a new study from Nashville-based LifeWay Research.

About two-thirds (65 percent) say they are satisfied with the state of discipleship and spiritual formation in their local church, while 78 percent indicate there’s room for improvement.

While two-thirds agree they are satisfied with discipleship, 44 percent are not regularly evaluating discipleship progress to inform that opinion. About eight out of 10 (83 percent) have an intentional plan for discipleship.

“Following Christ involves movement,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. “And that movement can either be walking with Christ or straying from that path. Churches must be vigilant and proactive in encouraging the progress of believers.”

More pastors today say they are satisfied with the state of discipleship in their church than seven years ago. In a similar survey by LifeWay Research in 2011, less than half (47 percent) were satisfied.

In the 2019 study, 55 percent of Protestant pastors say they regularly evaluate discipleship progress of their congregations. That’s up from 43 percent of pastors who answered “yes” to the same question in 2011.

“As pastors increasingly value measurement of discipleship, it is important to note that growth in Christlikeness is more than having new people to fill places of service at church,” McConnell said. “Our journey with Christ involves our beliefs, attitudes and behaviors, so we need evaluation in all of these areas.”

Varied approaches

Churches use many approaches to disciple and encourage spiritual development in adults, the study found. On average, churches chose more than six of the nine approaches listed in the survey. Sunday School and ongoing small group Bible studies are the most common discipleship approaches followed by sermons, women’s groups and short-term Bible studies.

“In a broad sense, discipleship is really an intentional and consistent effort, driven by faith, to follow Jesus,” said Michael Kelley, director of Discipleship and Groups Ministry at LifeWay Christian Resources. “But the specific dynamics of how discipleship happens in an individual church vary based on the context of that local church.”

When it comes to the question of on-campus or off-campus small group Bible studies, almost all Protestant pastors (96 percent) say they have ongoing adult Sunday School or small group Bible studies at the church building. Slightly more than half (53 percent) say they have small group Bible studies that meet in homes or outside the church building.

Pastors of small to mid-size churches tend to choose on-campus Bible studies exclusively. Most pastors of churches with an attendance of 49 or fewer (89 percent), 50-99 (97 percent), 100-249 (97 percent), and 250-plus (96 percent) say they have on-campus Sunday School or small group studies for adults.

At the same time, pastors of churches with attendance of 250-plus are most likely to use off-campus small groups (77 percent).

Differences by age, region and ethnicity

The pastor survey also reveals demographic differences by age, region and ethnicity, as well as church size and denomination:

• Pastors of churches with attendance of 100-249 (70 percent) are more likely to say they are satisfied with the state of discipleship in their church than those with attendance of 50-99 (61 percent). Pentecostals (75 percent) are more likely to agree than Baptists (63 percent) and Methodists (54 percent)
• Pastors age 45-54 (88 percent) are more likely to say their church has an intentional plan for discipleship of individuals and encouraging their spiritual growth when compared to those 55-64 (80 percent). Non-white pastors (91 percent) are more likely to say they have an intentional plan than white pastors (82 percent).
• Pastors in the South (59 percent) are more likely to say they evaluate discipleship progress in their church than those in the Midwest (51 percent). Pastors age 18-44 (60 percent) are more likely to evaluate their church’s progress than those 65 and older (49 percent).

Signposts of spiritual health

“The majority of older pastors grew up in churches where discipleship was assumed to be taking place,” McConnell said. “More younger pastors realize it’s something that must be tracked.”

LifeWay Research has been studying discipleship and spiritual growth for 30 years, McConnell noted.

Since 2007, LifeWay Research has surveyed more than 7,000 churchgoers as part of national samples of Protestants in the U.S. to discover and improve measures of spiritual formation.

Eight years ago, LifeWay Research embarked on a comprehensive study of spiritual growth among churchgoers and the degree to which churches actually were producing biblical disciples and not merely churchgoers. That study identified eight common attributes of the Christian life that lead to spiritual health in a believer.

The eight signposts include Bible engagement, obeying God and denying self, serving God and others, sharing Christ, exercising faith, seeking God, building relationships and living a life unashamed of Jesus Christ.

Researchers conducted the phone survey of 1,000 Protestant pastors Aug. 29 to Sept. 11, 2018. The calling list was a stratified random sample, drawn from a list of all Protestant churches and using quotas for church size. Each interview was conducted with the senior pastor, minister or priest of the church called. Analysts weighted responses by region to reflect the population more accurately. The completed sample is 1,000 surveys, providing 95 percent confidence that the sampling error does not exceed plus or minus 3.2 percent. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Most Americans still say they believe in God, but their involvement in organized religion continues to wane.

A new Gallup report found that only half of Americans say they belong to a church or other religious body, down from 69 percent two decades earlier.

Most of the decline is tied to the rise of the so-called “nones”—those who claim no religious affiliation. Gallup found that the share of Americans who claim a religious identity declined from 90 percent to 77 percent in recent decades.

But even those who claim a faith tradition may not belong to a religious congregation or community, according to the report, which compared data from 1998-2000 to data from 2016-18.

At the turn of the century, Gallup said, 73 percent of religious Americans belonged to a house of worship. That’s dropped to 64 percent today.

“The still-sizable proportion of religious Americans also contribute to declining church membership, as fewer in this group belong to a church than did so two decades ago,” the report states.

‘Americans’ orientation to religion is changing’

Being part of a house of worship no longer is seen as essential for a growing number of religious Americans, Gallup found.

“It is clear then, that the nature of Americans’ orientation to religion is changing, with fewer religious Americans finding membership in a church or other faith institution to be a necessary part of their religious experience,” the report stated.

Age and generational differences appear to play a role in whether Americans join a house of worship.

“Just 42 percent of millennials are members of churches, on average,” according to the report. “By comparison, 20 years ago, 62 percent of members of Generation X belonged to a church, when they were about the same age as millennials are today.”

The poll found that 68 percent of “traditionalists”—which Gallup identifies as those born before 1945—are part of a church or other religious body. That percentage has declined from 78 percent two decades ago.

Gallup’s study also found that 89 percent of traditionalists have a religious identity, compared with 68 percent of millennials, which it defines as those born between 1980 and 2000.

“Not only are millennials less likely than older Americans to identify with a religion, but millennials who are religious are significantly less likely to belong to a church,” according to the report. “Fifty-seven percent of religious millennials belong to a church, compared with 65 percent or more in older generations.”

Among other findings:

• Catholics (63 percent) are less likely to belong to a church than Protestants (67 percent).
• Nondenominational Christians (57 percent) are less likely to belong to a church than those tied to a specific denomination (70 percent).
• Mormons have among the highest affiliation with a church at about 90 percent.
• Jewish membership in synagogues has remained steady at about 50 percent.

Gallup’s findings echo recent data from the General Social Survey. That data found that nones, Catholics and evangelicals claim about the same number of Americans.

The Gallup study predicts that membership in churches may continue to decline.

“These trends are not just numbers, but play out in the reality that thousands of U.S. churches are closing each year,” according to Gallup. “Religious Americans in the future will likely be faced with fewer options for places of worship, and likely less convenient ones, which could accelerate the decline in membership even more.”

The Gallup study was based on telephone interviews of American adults from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.  Trend data on membership came from surveys of 2,000 adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Results for 2016-18 are based on interviews with 7,688 Americans. Results from 1998-2000 are based on interviews with 7,184 Americans. Both have a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percentage point.

WACO—Every weekday, a van from Gatesville arrives at the Waco bus station to deliver women released from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

And every weekday, women from Waco-area churches greet the ex-offenders, offering them a warm welcome, homemade cookies, handcrafted tote bags filled with helpful items and a prayer of blessing.

“These are their first moments of freedom,” said Donna Burney from First Woodway Baptist Church in Waco. “We want to be the light of Christ, standing in the gap between the time of their release and that point when they begin life outside of prison.”

Protection from predators

After women in the state’s correctional system are processed in Gatesville for re-entry back into society, the state transports them to Waco, where they catch a bus to another destination. The women who arrive at the station need help making connections with family—and avoiding connections with the wrong kind of people.

Since the Light in the Gap ministry began two years ago, Burney noted, operators of the Waco bus station have seen a marked decrease in the number of drug dealers, pimps and other predators waiting to take advantage of the female ex-offenders.

Word also has spread inside the prisons, both among correctional officers and inmates awaiting release.

“Some of the guards tell the women, ‘When you get to the bus station, don’t talk to anybody but the church ladies,’” said Burney, co-director of Light in the Gap with Brenda Lewis.

Since Light in the Gap launched, the “church ladies” have served more than 4,000 women, praying with released ex-offenders at the bus station and giving them a decorative tote bag filled with snacks, toiletries, helpful information for re-entry into society and a copy of the Gospel of John.

Some of the women immediately begin removing their belongings from prison-issued orange mesh bags—the kind grocers use for onions and citrus—and that mark them as ex-offenders. With relief, they transfer their personal items into their new shoulder bags.

Nearly all of the women welcome the opportunity to talk to the volunteers—called “connectors”—and pray with them.

“It’s not small talk,” Burney said. “They are worried about family. They are concerned for sobriety. They are scared about what is coming next.”

When the ex-offenders arrive at the bus station, some appear confused. Others adopt a swagger, trying to mask their fear. Their expressions change when they see the Light in the Gap connectors.

“The looks on their faces are priceless when they realize somebody cares for them,” said Nelda Emmert, a volunteer from First Woodway Baptist Church. “They are overwhelmed there’s somebody who cares enough to have a bag of goodies for them.”

Response to a growing need

Light in the Gap responds to a growing need. From 1980 to 2016, the number of incarcerated women in the TDCJ increased 908 percent, compared to a 396 percent increase in the male prison population, according to a Texas Criminal Justice Coalition report.

In addition to the connectors who serve at the bus station, other Light in the Gap volunteers work on a variety of related teams.

• A baking team makes cookies, senior adults write Scripture verses on cards, and additional volunteers fill plastic bags with cookies and affix the cards to them.
• A sewing team makes tote bags. Acteens—the missions organization for teenaged girls—at First Woodway Baptist Church also have painted canvas bags.
• A prayer team receives the requests gathered by connectors at the bus station and prays for those concerns and the women who expressed them.
• A communications team makes phone calls and sends emails to ensure everyone involved in the ministry stays informed.

Advocating for change

Volunteers also become advocates. Until recently, women in the TDCJ typically received men’s clothes to replace their prison uniforms immediately prior to release. The ill-fitting clothes and prison-issued shoes offered one more telltale sign marking the women as ex-offenders.

“It was degrading,” Burney said. “It gave the women the idea that they didn’t matter.”

Burney contacted the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission, asking what steps could be taken in Austin to correct the problem.

Kathryn Freeman, CLC public policy director, prayed with Burney. Then she set up an appointment for them to meet with a state legislator who serves on the committee that provides oversight for the appropriate agency.

The day they went to visit the lawmaker, he had just been in a meeting with officials from that agency. After Burney described the problem, he called the officials back into his office and asked her to tell them the same thing. They assured her they would take immediate action.

The next time Burney went to the Waco bus station, the women who arrived from Gatesville were wearing women’s clothing.

Freeman told the story to Texas Baptists who attended a recent Advocacy Day event in Austin. She encouraged them to let elected officials know about issues they discover as they minister in their communities that could be affected positively through changes in public policy.

“Not every problem is solved that quickly,” she said. “But never underestimate the power of prayer.”

‘The Lord doesn’t need observers

Pam Poole, special projects coordinator for Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas, learned about Light in the Gap from Becky Ellison, the Waco-based state strategist for Christian Women’s Job Corps, a WMU ministry.

Poole, a member of First Baptist Church in Midlothian, traveled to the Waco bus station one Monday morning to learn more.

“I came to observe,” she said.

However, an unusually large group of women arrived, and she was pressed into service as a coordinator.

One of the women she encountered—who was about the age of Poole’s daughter—was taking a bus from Waco to Fort Worth, and then she was supposed to catch another bus to Amarillo.

When the young woman learned she could anticipate an eight-hour wait at the Fort Worth station before the connecting bus to Amarillo arrived, she looked panic-stricken, Poole said.

“She asked, ‘Who’s going to be with me?’” Poole recalled. “That’s when God told me, ‘I don’t need observers.’ Somebody has to be there at the next stop for these women.”

Poole volunteers every Monday in Waco with Light in the Gap, driving about 100 miles roundtrip from her home.

Through Texas WMU, she also is in the early stages of developing a network of connectors around the state to meet recently released female ex-offenders at local bus stations, after they leave Central Texas. A pilot project will launch soon in Fort Worth before expanding to other sites.

“The Lord doesn’t need observers,” Poole said. “God needs people who are willing to step up and be his light in the gap.”

LONGVIEW—Amigos y admiradores se reunieron en First Baptist Church de Longview el 8 de abril para recordar a Fabio Giménez como uno que pasó de ser reconocido como jugador profesional de fútbol a alguien con un deseo de servir a Dios.

Un accidente con una podadora de pasto el 5 de abril tomó la vida del pastor de Puertas Abiertas, originario de Argentina y quien tenía 50 años de edad.

Más de 1,500 personas llenaron el santuario de la iglesia para recordar y celebrar la vida de Giménez, a quien le sobreviven su esposa, Dora y sus tres hijos, Tomas, Valentín y Juan Manuel.

Futbolista conocido por su fe

“Su vida fue testimonio para muchas personas,” dijo su amigo Chicho Añez, quien es pastor de la Iglesia Puertas Abiertas en Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.

Giménez y Añez se conocieron cuando Giménez jugaba para el Oriente Petrolero de Santa Cruz en el 2004.

En su carrera profesional Giménez batalló con adicciones, pero su vida comenzó a cambiar en los 1990s cuando él empezó a asistir a la iglesia.

“Inicié de a poquito en Uruguay. Pero me entregué al Señor en el ‘94,” dijo Giménez en 1998.

Reconocido nacionalmente como futbolista en Bolivia, la noticia de su fe se esparció rápidamente por el país—no sólo por su fama, pero también porque él compartía su fe en Cristo en cada oportunidad que se le presentaba, Añez comentó.

“Él tenía que predicar. Él tenía que hacerlo,” dijo Añez. “Cada vez que anotaba un gol se levantaba la playera para enseñar los mensajes escritos en su camiseta, que decían ‘Dios es fiel’ o ‘Yo pertenezco a Dios.’”

La familia Giménez todavía guarda un artículo escrito acerca de él que decía: “¿Importa la cara? Para Fabio Giménez lo que importa es que Jesús vive.” El artículo incluye una foto de Giménez cubriéndose su cabeza con su playera y mostrando un mensaje escrito en su camiseta.

“Él siempre usaba todos los medios para predicar,” dijo su hijo, Valentín.

Después de empezar su carrera en Argentina, Giménez jugó para equipos en Colombia, Uruguay, Bolivia y los Estados Unidos.

“Como familia, nos mudábamos a donde él tenía que ir,” Valentín dijo,” Nos mudamos 25 veces.”

Pasión por compartir el evangelio

En el 2007, Giménez se retiró del fútbol y continuó su pasión por compartir el evangelio.

Junto con Añez, Giménez fundó la  Iglesia Puerta Abiertas, la cual cumplió su décimo aniversario este año.

Giménez llegó a First Baptist de Longview por primera vez en el 2014 para dirigir campamentos de futbol. Fue entonces cuando él conoció a Cary Hilliard, el entonces pastor de la iglesia, dijo Angela Webster, la ministra de niños en First Baptist.

“El aceptó dirigir los campamentos de fútbol sólo si también podía tomar tiempo para compartir el evangelio,” dijo Webster. “Aun siendo famoso, él era muy humilde y solo buscaba servir.”

Hilliard tenía una visión para alcanzar a la comunidad hispana de Longview, y al mismo tiempo, Dios le estaba dando una nueva visión a Giménez, dijo Añez. Puertas Abiertas empezó mientras Giménez venia y salía de Longview y mantenía llamadas con los pocos miembros de la iglesia, el añadió.

Giménez y su familia salieron de Bolivia en el 2015 para mudarse a Longview, donde él se unió al personal de First Baptist.

Puerta Abiertas de Longview empezó con seis personas, pero en cuatro años ha crecido a más de 250 miembros, Webster dijo.

“Su deseo para servir atraía a muchas personas,” Valentín dijo. “Con su servicio, él también compartía un mensaje de amor.”

Como padre, Giménez no dejó que un día pasara sin que sus hijos supieran que él los amaba, así como también mostrarles que Dios los amaba, Valentín recordó.

Aun si él u otras personas les llegaran a fallar, Valentín dijo, Giménez le enseño a él y a sus hermanos que Dios nunca les fallaría.

El ejemplo que mostró a sus hijos era el mismo que él le dio a la iglesia, Webster mencionó.

Miles de personas de diferentes países fueron impactadas por el testimonio de Giménez, Añez dijo. Personas llegaron para recordarle no solo de Texas, sino también de otros estados como Lousiana, Florida y California, pero también de Argentina, Uruguay y Bolivia.

La familia recibió múltiples mensajes de gente que fueron impactadas por su vida, y todos le agradecían por el amor que les dio, Valentín remarcó.

First Baptist de Longview y Puertas Abiertas tenían planeado hacer un culto unido el 7 de abril, en el cual Giménez predicaría. Por adelantado, él había compartido un bosquejo con el personal de la iglesia, el cual se enfocaba en Hechos 13:36, Webster dijo.

Giménez había planeado predicar acerca de dejar un legado de fe, esperanza y amor, lo cual es precisamente lo que él hizo, ella añadió.

Valentín notó que su papá dedicó los últimos 25 años de su vida para predicar el evangelio con tantos como fuera posible, y él continúo haciéndolo después de fallecer. Entre los que fueron a su servicio conmemorativo y la audiencia internacional que lo vio por la red, miles de personas escucharon las buenas nuevas de Cristo, él dijo.

“Él quería vivir cada minutos para Dios,” Valentín dijo. “Y yo creo que de varias maneras él guardó su mejor jugada hasta el último minuto. …Al final, él marcó el gol de su vida.”

WACO—A scheduled 72-hour prayer event at Baylor University grew into a spontaneous 10-day revival, as students continued to meet for prayer.

While ministers from 13 churches in the Waco area worked with Baptist Student Ministries at Baylor to sponsor and coordinate FM72, the initial four-day emphasis on campus, students took ownership of the prayer meetings that continued. The students also pledged to take responsibility for planning and organizing future prayer events during the 2019-20 school year.

Charles Ramsey, BSM director at Baylor, meets regularly with ministers to college students who serve in Waco-area churches. At one of their breakfast gatherings, Ramsey talked about how well students responded to a 24-hour prayer emphasis on campus during the fall semester.

“Instead of 24 hours, the group talked about doing another event that would be 72 hours,” Ramsey recalled.

BSM set up three tents on Baylor’s Fountain Mall—one each devoted to praying for personal matters, concerns regarding the community or campus, and international issues. Students agreed to staff the tents around the clock, from 8 p.m. March 31 until 10 p.m. April 3.

In addition to setting up tents on campus where students invited their peers to pray with them, the Waco-area college ministers suggested scheduling worship events each evening.

About 3,000 students attended the 8 p.m. worship and teaching events, Ramsey noted. Featured speakers included Jonathan “JP” Pokluda, Jennie Allen, JT Thomas and Harrison Ross.

Testimonies of FM72’s impact

“We are still gathering testimonies,” Ramsey said.

He noted one student with no previous connection to BSM who attended the Sunday night event on Fountain Mall. The student was so moved by the experience, he created personal invitations to FM72 and slid them under the door of every apartment in the complex where he lives.

Another student saw an FM72 post on Instagram at 2:30 a.m. and walked to one of the prayer tents at Fountain Mall, saying he wanted to “get right with the Lord.”

Others reported answered prayers, from unexpected news about a scholarship to unanticipated opportunities to share their faith with roommates who previously had been unreceptive to the gospel.

When the scheduled 72 hour event ended, students wanted the event to continue, so the prayer tents remained on Fountain Mall an additional 12 hours, Ramsey reported.

Even after the around-the-clock prayer event stopped, students continued to hold prayer meetings on Fountain Mall several days until Diadeloso—the annual “Day of the Bear” break from classes—needed the space on April 9 for games and entertainment.

A ‘spiritual connection’

“It was a wonderful response, and it awakened us to the desire of the present Baylor community to dream big for God,” Ramsey said.

In the days since FM72, he has told some students about the Youth-Led Revival Movement that began at Baylor with a 90-day prayer emphasis in 1945. Baptist leaders in the last half of the 20^th century including Bruce McIver, BO and Dick Baker, Ralph Langley, Buckner Fanning and Jess Moody traced the beginning of their call to ministry to the Youth-Led Revivals.

Most of the current Baylor students “had no idea about the Youth-Led Revivals, but now they see that spiritual connection here,” Ramsey said.

Already, students are discussing a fall semester prayer event and another extended around-the-clock prayer revival during the spring 2020 semester.

“The ceiling of this year is the floor for next year,” Ramsey said.

Life on the border is difficult. But the Baptist Student Ministry of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley is working to help young adults who live there leverage their own strength and resilience to step out as leaders of the Valley and the nation.

Read the full article here.

Students at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor presented the school’s 80th annual Easter pageant in three performances April 17. Every year, the pageant portrays Christ’s triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, and Christ’s trial by Pontius Pilate, crucifixion, death and resurrection. The student-led production featured a cast of hundreds of students, along with children and grandchildren of students, faculty and staff. In keeping with tradition, UMHB President Randy O’Rear selected the student director and the students who fill the two key roles of Jesus and Mary on the basis of their strong Christian faith and character. Katie Aday was this year’s pageant director, and it featured Joey Mainini in the role of Jesus and Savannah Sepulveda as Mary.

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary removed from its J.W. MacGorman Chapel a controversial set of 40 stained glass windows commemorating the self-identified “conservative resurgence” in the Southern Baptist Convention. Seminary administrators stated no official reason for the removal and relocation of the windows. An April 4 letter to donors from Kevin Ueckert, then-chair of the seminary board of trustees, said, “After much prayerful consideration and discussion, we have concluded that it is in the best interest of the institution to remove and relocate the stained-glass windows.” One window included the likeness of former president Paige Patterson, his wife Dorothy and their dog. The board of trustees removed him as president last May in response to Patterson’s comments about spousal abuse and women. Although the trustees initially named him president emeritus, the board’s executive committee subsequently stripped him of all titles and benefits after new information emerged about how he mishandled rape allegations at a seminary where he served previously.

On the Sunday that followed the explosion that rocked West on April 17, 2013, First Baptist Church was unable to worship in its building, so the congregation met in a field on the other side of town, in the 800 block of S. Reagan St. The field, normally used as a parking lot for West Fest, was set up with a flatbed trailer for an altar and folding chairs for pews. Every year since then, on the Sunday after April 17, the church has met in that same field. This year, the outdoor worship service will be on Easter Sunday, April 21, and the church plans to celebrate the restoration of the community and the resurrection of Christ. The service will begin at 10:15 a.m. and will be followed by a children’s Easter egg hunt. John Crowder is pastor.

San Marcos Baptist Academy formally installed Brian Guenther as the school’s 15^th president during an inauguration ceremony at its spring convocation. Guenther became president of the 111-year-old private school last August. He joined the academy as an administrator in 2015 and was serving as interim academic dean when the trustees named him president. Ruth B. Welborn, chair of the academy’s board of trustees, presided over the convocation and presented Guenther with the school’s charter. John H. Garrison, 13th president of the academy, presented him with a school flag, and Jimmie W. Scott, president emeritus, presented him with the chain of office at the investiture ceremony.

The Faith & Sport Institute at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary is accepting applications for its second annual retreat, June 16-22. The institute seeks to train and equip high school athletes physically, emotionally and spiritually to help cultivate greatness in sports and in life. At the inaugural retreat last year, 35 student athletes from Central Texas learned how faith is a vital part of competition, made new friends from rival schools, competed against one another, and found safe spaces for discussion, reflection and care for others while developing in Christian leadership and character. To apply as a student athlete, click here. To apply as a mentor, click here.

Howard Payne University welcomed more than 200 student representatives to campus for the 2019 Christian Association of Student Leaders conference. CASL—formed in 1998 by the Texas Baptist universities—is designed to develop and strengthen college students in their campus leadership roles and relationships with Christ. This year’s event was coordinated by a student committee organized and assisted by Magen Bunyard, vice president for student life and dean of students at HPU. Sawyer Fisher of Bertram served as the conference coordinator, and Emma Reed of Arlington was president of the association.