WACO (ABP) – A new scholarship at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary has been established as a tribute to a pastor and graduate of the school murdered March 3 in his church office.

Rather than letting the tragic death of Clint Dobson, pastor of NorthPointe Church in Arlington, Texas, have the final say, his family joined with friends at the seminary to establish the Clint Dobson Memorial Fund, a scholarship that will serve future seminary students in his memory.

According to the Baylor Lariat, Dobson’s brother and sister – Chris Kirchmer and Sarah Dobson Mitchell – developed the idea for a memorial fund and approached Truett officials.

“This was something, because of his love for Truett and Baylor, the family wanted to do,” said David Hardage, director of development at Truett. “They wanted to continue his ministry and establish a legacy of his life that would be difference making for years and decades to come.”

Dobson’s siblings said they are doing it not just to remember their brother but as way to continue the ministry he started.
 
“It’s more personal than just being in his memory,” Kirchmer said. “For us, we see this as our final gift for Clint but beyond that, it’s important because we believe in what he was doing. There is going to be an opportunity for someone, even if it’s not Clint, to continue with that ministry.”

The fund will become an officially endowed George W. Truett Theological Seminary scholarship in the amount of $50,000. The family plans for the scholarship to specifically aid students who want to enter a pastoral profession.

Dobson, 28, was a Baylor graduate who originally planned to attend New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, but after Hurricane Katrina temporarily closed the school he returned to Waco to enter Truett. He excelled as a student, winning a preaching award in 2008, and developed an interest in service to the poor.

“Baylor was where he got his calling, and his experience at Truett was an amazing one,” Mitchell said. “This is our chance to give back to Truett and help someone else who wants to go into the ministry or pastor a church.”

After graduating from Truett in 2008, Dobson became pastor of NorthPointe Church, an older congregation being revitalized under a new name as a mission point with aid from First Baptist Church of Arlington, Texas. He died there during a robbery on the afternoon of Thursday, March 3. Two men have been charged with his murder.

The attack also seriously injured Judy Elliott, a 67-year-old ministry assistant at the church. Family members have declined to discuss her injuries with the media.

Baylor officials said they hope the new scholarship fund will serve to comfort and encourage family members and friends still mourning the loss of Dobson.

“We can’t make sense out of it,” David Garland, Truett Seminary dean,” told the Lariat, “but we can make something good come out of tragedy.”

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Slain pastor laid to rest

Jessica Colinger, age 17, prayed several years for an opportunity to return to her home country—Moldova. She dreamed of telling the orphans there about the faith and hope she had found and to let them know he had a plan for their lives.

Each year, Children’s Emergency Relief International scheduled a mission trip to Moldova to deliver winter boots to orphans. Every year, Jessica prayed she might go and that her younger sister, Julyia, would accompany her.

“I just knew it was something we had to do together, so I waited for God’s perfect timing and for us both to be ready,” she said.

But her Julyia was hesitant. “I did not want to go back, because I knew it would be incredibly hard on me emotionally. But, after much prayer, I knew this was the year God wanted me to go,” she said.

J.W. and Judy Colinger of Erwin, Tenn., adopted the sisters when Jessica was 6 and Julyia was 5.

An initial exploratory trip to Moldova with CERI, the international arm of Baptist Child & Family Services, left Colinger with an undeniable passion to help orphans in the struggling Eastern European country, he recalled.

On his second trip to Moldova, Colinger met a little girl who immediately stole his heart. He later learned she had two sisters and a brother. It didn’t take long for the Colingers to make the decision to bring all four children home with them to Tennessee. 

Jessica Colinger places boots on the feet of a young boy living in an orphanage in Moldova.

With three biological children of their own, Jason, Jennifer and Jared, now 35, 34 and 28, the Colingers added Joelle, Jacob, Jessica and Julyia, now 23, 18, 17 and 16.

With the support of a loving family and their home home, Calvary Baptist in Erwin, Tenn., the children grew in their love of God.

Joelle was the first to venture home to Moldova when she and her adopted father participated in a CERI mission trip in 2005. After seeing the impression the journey left on her oldest sister, Jessica eagerly waited for her chance.

Yet even with the support of their loving family, returning home to Moldova did not come easy for Jessica and Julyia.

“It was amazing to be there to love on the children, but it was hard to see the reality of it too,” said Julyia. “I know that used to be me, and I desire something better for these children.”

Despite the difficulty of the experience, Julyia and Jessica have every intention of returning to Moldova again.

“It wasn’t easy, but CERI provided us with a great support network, praying with us through every emotion we experienced,” Jessica said.

Each winter for the past decade, volunteers like the Colingers have spent their holiday vacations in Eastern Europe with CERI, distributing snow boots, thick socks, hats and scarves to orphans. The warm wear protects against painful frostbite common during the harsh winter months.

In addition to meeting the physical needs of the country’s children, CERI uses the trip to bring hope to an often-forgotten and sometimes mistreated population. At each orphanage, volunteers like Jessica and Julyia take turns sharing their personal stories and reasons for volunteering. 

Since 1999, CERI has provided more than 90,000 new winter boots and socks to protect the region’s most vulnerable. Dearing Garner, now executive director of CERI, led the first trip when he was pastor of First Baptist Church in Kingwood. For more information about CERI and its ministry in Moldova, visit www.CERIKids.org.

DALLAS—During spring break, 18 Dallas Baptist University students joined the long list of DBU volunteers who have served with Habitat for Humanity over the last 23 years.

Dallas Baptist University students (left to right) Samuel Park, Caitlin King, Daniel

Dallas Baptist University student Naoko Hashimoto, from Japan, and trip leader Dan Gibson, DBU assistant director of spiritual life, nail together pieces of the Habitat for Humanity house. (PHOTOS/Caitlin Ramey)

The 2011 DBU spring break team served in Pensacola, Fla., working from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day on a home construction project.

“Most of the group had never been given the chance to use a hammer, much less build any type of structure,” explained trip leader Dan Gibson, assistant director of spiritual life at DBU. “Watching them learn, try and succeed was very rewarding.

“I know I personally learned that regardless of age, background or circumstances, we are never too old to try new things, get out of our comfort zone and let God’s love and grace lead us.”

DBU senior Hayden Moore had heard friends talk about their experiences on university-sponsored mission trips, but he had never been on one until spring break. And the experience exceeded his expectations.

“I’m constantly learning what it means and looks like to be a servant,” Hayden said. “Jesus, in his life, displayed for us the perfect example of that, and as believers, it is our calling to follow the life he led.

“Going into spring break, I doubt that the top of anyone’s wish list is to be working all week. But the time spent with Habitat in Pensacola provided me the opportunity to really learn Philippians 4:2, ‘Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.’”

Before returning to Texas, the DBU team met the woman who will receive the Habitat house—a young, single mother with sole responsibility for her preschool son.

“My favorite moment of the week was getting to meet the homeowner of the Habitat house,” said Tiffany Stotts, Spiritual Life’s coordinator of worship ministries. “Being able to hear her story and see how our efforts were going to improve the quality of life for her and her 3-year-old son made a huge impact on me, and our entire team as well.”

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia—A small team from East Texas Baptist University served seven days at Bright Hope Theological College in Ethiopia recently as part of a partnership involving several Baptist churches in East Texas and Buckner International.

The partnership grew out of an initial contact Ken Hall, chief executive officer of Buckner International, made to ETBU President Dub Oliver in 2009. Hall introduced Oliver to Lee and Susan Bush from First Baptist Church in Athens and Eddie Hilburn, pastor of First Baptist Church in Kilgore.

The churches in Athens and Kilgore are part of the E-TEAM—East Texas Ethiopian Aid Mission—a partnership of churches throughout the area committed to volunteer ministry in Ethiopia.

Other participating churches include Central Baptist in Jacksonville and First Baptist churches in Corsicana, Longview, Lufkin, Marshall, Palestine and The Woodlands, as Crossroads Baptist in Marshall.

David Rice, pastor of Crossroads Baptist, joined Oliver and several other representatives of the E-TEAM last year on an initial trip to Ethiopia.

“The purpose of the trip was to allow us to see the scope of ministry that Buckner was already involved in and prayerfully look for a direction on how to join in to what the church of Ethiopia is doing,” said Rice, who graduated from ETBU in 1993. In Ethiopia, he saw firsthand how Buckner works with Bright Hope Ministries in a variety of ministries.

Getahun Tesema (2nd from right), director of Bright Hope ministry in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, visits with (left to right) Elijah Brown, East Texas Baptist University assistant professor of missions; Pastor David Rice from Crossroad Baptist Church in Marshall; and Dub Oliver, ETBU president. (PHOTO: ETBU/Susie Oliver)

“Buckner and Bright Hope have ministries from orphanages to baby homes, from primary schools to theological education, to rescuing woman off the street, food programs for children and HIV-AIDS care,” he said.

While they were there last year, the Texas team led a workshop at Bright Hope Theological College. That experience sparked a prayer concern for Oliver.

“Coming back from the trip in 2010, my prayer to the Lord was, ‘What do you want ETBU to be engaged in?’ The real clear sense that I had from the Lord was that we should help develop pastors for the evangelical church in Ethiopia. This made sense to me, because that is what ETBU is good at and known for,” Oliver said.

Oliver and his wife, Susie, joined Rice and Elijah Brown, ETBU assistant professor of missions, for a journey to Addis Ababa over spring break to preach and teach.

“It was an honor to participate in the unique opportunity to partner together with Bright Hope Theological College in the further equipping of their students to engage in ministry,” Brown said. “Throughout the week, we were able to challenge and encourage students to ‘live a life worthy of the calling you have received’ as we focused on the book of Ephesians.”

David Rice, pastor of Crossroad Baptist Church in Marshall, teaches through an interpreter at Bright Hope Theological College of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (PHOTO: ETBU/Elijah Brown)

The verse-by-verse study of the New Testament book drew about 80 participants each morning and another 60 in the afternoon sessions. Some sat two to a desk built for one, while others stood the whole time taking notes because there were not enough chairs for all who wanted to attend classes.   

“It was a real encouragement to spend time with local pastors and students committed to their studies and engaged in ministry that will reach throughout Ethiopia,” Brown said. “Evangelical Christianity continues to grow at a fairly rapid pace throughout Ethiopia, although there are still 21 different people groups in Ethiopia where less than 2 percent of anyone from that people group is currently a Christ-follower.”

The first session lasted four hours, Rice recalled. “Nobody moved—not even a stand up and stretch break. They were eager to know more about the Scriptures and were not in a hurry to leave,” he said.

Elijah Brown, assistant professor of missions at East Texas Baptist University, reads from the Bible at in a home in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Brown is reading in English after the homeowner, an Orthodox church leader, read to him in Amharic. (PHOTO: ETBU/Susie Oliver)

“They were so hungry for knowledge,” Oliver added. “The thing that is amazing is that they just soaked it up. They so much wanted to know more about God’s word, because they wanted to teach their people God’s word.”

Rice remembered how key professors at ETBU instilled in him a love for the Bible, and he wanted to pass that along.

“The church around the world that has so little deserves something from those of us who have received the gift of such an abundance of resource and training, they deserve for us to re-gift to them from that which we have received,” he said.

Oliver anticipates future projects at the Bright Hope Theological College involving the ETBU School of Christian Studies.

“I can also see the School of Nursing engaged with the medical components of the missions. Our School of Education could be involved with curriculum development and teacher training in the schools,” Oliver said. The next trip planned is in July.

From South Texas to the Midwest, students from East Texas Baptist University served in missions and ministry over spring break.

East Texas Baptist University students put into place the top frame for a storage shed. Students from ETBU went to Laredo over spring break to participate in the ongoing Habitat of Humanity project in the Tierra Prometida neighborhood. (PHOTO/ETBU/Cassy Rains)

Five ETBU students worked in Laredo on a Habitat of Humanity project in the Tierra Prometida neighborhood. The subdivision will be a 60-home neighborhood of houses all built by Habitat for Humanity. Currently, 27 homes are completed or under construction.

Before starting work on the building project, students assisted First Baptist in Athens at a free medical clinic in Laredo.

“Even though this was spring break, I did not see it as giving up my relaxation time because it was so much fun,” said Tyler Moore, team leader and ETBU Baptist Student Ministry intern. “There was a sacrifice of time, but I saw this trip as an effective use of my time and efforts in service of God’s greater work.”

BSM Director Mark Yates took a group of students to South Padre Island, Texas to participate in Beach Reach, a program that ministers to college spring breakers by providing rides, free pancakes and friendship. Beach Reach reaches ministers to college spring breakers by providing rides, free pancakes, and friendship. Many opportunities to share the gospel occurred during the acts of ministry, participants recalled.

East Texas Baptist University student Benjamin Xi of China cuts a board for a storage shed being built in Laredo. Students from ETBU spent their recent spring break participating in the ongoing Habitat of Humanity project in the Tierra Prometida neighborhood. (PHOTO/ETBU/Cassy Rains)

East Texas Baptist University students (left to right) Tyler Moore, Cassy Rains, Benjamin XI, Dana Talasek, Ezequil Laurel, Michael Cucinotta, and Justin Adaway pose after finishing a shed for a Habitat for Humanity home in Laredo. ETBU students spent spring break in Laredo participating in an ongoing Habitat Humanity project in the Tierra Prometida neighborhood.  Laurel was the Habitat for Humanity Project Manager for the ETBU project. (PHOTO/ETBU BSM)

“One particular evening, we were stopped by a young lady who was bleeding. She had gotten into a situation with her boyfriend and he hit her,” Yates said.

“All she wanted was a safe place to be for awhile and she ended up staying with our group all night, giving us the chance to minister to her in a time of crisis.”

While some students served in South Texas, another group worked with Allan Thompson, director of the ETBU Great Commission Center, in Chicago.

The team worked in church planting and service ministry in the inner city, partnering with Chicagoland Community Church, Uptown Baptist Church, Holy Trinity Church-Westside and the Greater Chicago Food Depository. 

At one site, students helped a pastor with the demolition of his home that had been destroyed by an arsonist. 

“As we were helping the pastor, he still had a smile on his face and still had his joy. He even knew who had burned down his house. The Lord impressed upon me that I must serve with a smile, because there is always someone out there less fortunate than myself,” said Stephanie Taylor, ETBU admissions counselor and a former Lady Tiger basketball player.

“The pastor was not angry at the person. He just said God will take care of that man and his heart and his situation. The pastor’s actions showed the love and peace he has in Christ. If he could still keep his joy with all that is happening in his life, I can definitely do the same.”

Closer to home, Karyn Solly led members of Delta Pi Theta to work with Mission Carthage during the break. Mission Carthage is a nonprofit, Christian organization that ministers to the poor and needy of Panola, Rusk, Shelby and Harrison counties. Several ETBU students worked at the Mission Carthage women’s shelter, assisting the residents with their chores and playing with the children.

“Although these women started out as strangers, I am glad to say they have become friends.  The time at Mission Carthage showed me that mission trips do not have to be global to make a huge impact. They can be right in your own backyard and can have just as much of an impact in your life as going overseas does,” Solly said.           

Any church that ever presented an Easter pageant understands the questions: How should the Last Supper be staged? How many women should approach the empty tomb? How many angels should they encounter there?

And many Sunday school teachers have struggled to answer that pesky math problem about how Friday afternoon to Sunday morning equals “three days and three nights” in a tomb.

Questions arise—so to speak—every Easter, troubling some Christians as they struggle to reconcile all the details of the Resurrection accounts in the four Gospels.

But many New Testament scholars insist different perspectives of the witnesses underscore the independent testimony of the Gospels—as does their remarkable agreement regarding the key elements surrounding Jesus’ last days, Crucifixion and Resurrection.

Here is how experts respond to some frequently asked questions:

• Was the Last Supper the Passover meal?

The Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark and Luke—present the Last Supper as the Passover meal Jesus shared with his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion. John’s Gospel refers to the arrest of Jesus occurring before the religious leaders ate the feast of Passover and reports the crucifixion as occurring on the day of preparation for the Passover.

Bruce Corley, president of the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute, notes evidence that the term “preparation day” had become by the first century a synonym for Friday, the day faithful Jews prepared for the Sabbath. So, the fourth Gospel could be using the term to refer to the Friday of Passover week, not a day of preparation for the Passover meal.

“The distinguishing features of the Passover meal are found in the narratives—reclining at the table, the distribution of alms, use of the sop dipped in bitter sauce as a memorial, prayers, shared cups and hymns,” Corley observed. “The objection that the lamb is missing obscures the typology of the Lamb who is about to pour out his blood.”

Regarding the reference in John’s Gospel that the Jewish religious authorities did not enter Pilate’s palace to avoid ceremonial uncleanness before they ate the Passover, Corley offered the possibility that the statement refers to a meal eaten during the feast week that followed.

• On what day of the week was Jesus crucified?

In 1 Corinthians 15:4, the Apostle Paul refers to Jesus being “raised on the third day”—a phrase that also appears repeatedly in Matthew’s Gospel. On that basis—and based on the Gospel accounts indicating the body of Jesus had to be removed hastily from the cross before the Sabbath—Christians historically have viewed Friday as the day of the crucifixion.

“By Jewish reckoning—in which the day begins at sundown—Jesus was crucified on Friday afternoon (Day 1), Saturday is Day 2, and Sunday is the ‘third day,’” said Mikeal Parsons, religion professor at Baylor University.

“The straightforward statements in all four Gospels place the crucifixion of Jesus on a Friday afternoon, the day before the Sabbath, which began at sundown on Friday evening,” Corley added.

However, some Christians have insisted the crucifixion must have occurred on Thursday, because of a reference in Matthew 12:40. In that passage, Jesus alluded to the Old Testament story of Jonah, saying just as Jonah was in the belly of a great fish “three days and three nights,” so also he would be entombed “in the heart of the earth” before the resurrection.

Steve Casey of Stonewall, La., author of In God We Trust: The Faith of the Men on Our Money, maintains that except for years when Passover fell on Saturday, the Jews observed two Sabbaths during Passover week.

Jesus was raised from the dead on the morning after the regular weekly Sabbath, but he was crucified on the preparation day for the Passover Sabbath, he asserts.

“The events of this most detailed week of Jesus’ life come together perfectly if in that year the Passover Sabbath fell on Friday. That would place Jesus’ crucifixion on the day of preparation for the Passover (Thursday); followed by the Passover Sabbath (Friday); followed by the weekly Sabbath (Saturday); followed by the resurrection Sunday morning. Jesus was in the grave, as he had predicated, three days and three nights,” Casey said. “The problem with our tradition is that those who established the tradition failed to realize that there are two Sabbaths during Passover week rather than just one.”

But Christians who claim Jesus must have been put to death on a day other than Friday fail to understand “three days and three nights” as a Jewish idiomatic expression, Parsons noted.

“There is no reason to think Jesus saw any conflict between this allusion to Jonah and his other references to the Son of Man being raised on the third day,” he said. “It was a Jewish convention to reckon part of a 24-hour day for the whole. So, parts of Friday, Saturday and Sunday count for the whole of three days.”

• Did Jesus go to hell between the crucifixion and resurrection?

While the Apostles’ Creed may not be as familiar to Baptists as to many other Christian traditions, many have at least heard about its assertion that “Christ descended to hell.” The biblical basis for the statement depends primarily on two references in 1 Peter—one that said Christ “went and preached to the spirits in prison” and the other saying, “The gospel was preached even to the dead.” Ancient Christian tradition links these Scriptures to “the harrowing of hell”—Christ’s rescue of Old Testament saints from the place of the dead.

The idea that Jesus descended to hell “is neither clear nor necessary” on the basis of the 1 Peter passages, said Todd Still, professor of Christian Scriptures at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary.

“Rather, the preponderance of New Testament evidence suggest that although Jesus was dead, ‘He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption (Acts 2:31, quoting Psalm 132:11). Instead, God raised him from the dead.”

• How many women were at the empty tomb? How many angels met them?

Matthew and Mark refer to two women at the tomb—Mary Magdalene and the “other Mary,” the mother of Joses. John’s Gospel only mentions Mary Magdalene. Luke mentions Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and other women.

“What was witnessed was seemingly more important to the Gospels’ writers than cataloging everyone who witnessed it,” Still noted.

In a time and culture when women were not acceptable as legal witnesses, the Gospel writers faithfully recorded that women first saw the empty tomb, Parsons added. If, as some skeptics later claimed, the accounts of the empty tomb had been fabricated, surely proponents of Christianity would have selected more compelling witnesses, he noted.

“While some would dwell on the apparent discrepancy in number and names, it is remarkable that all the evangelists agree on this key point: It was women who first discover the empty tomb,” Parsons said.

Likewise, differences regarding the number of angels—one in Matthew and Mark, two in John and Luke—underscore the reliability of the record.

“Again, the divergence in the tradition, counter-intuitively perhaps, serves to strengthen the tradition, since they represent independent testimony. If they all agreed on the details, moderns might accuse them of collusion,” Parsons said.

• Why don’t we celebrate Easter the same day every year?

It’s complicated, all the experts agreed.

The matter of Easter’s date has been a source of controversy and division in the church since its early history, said Karen Bullock, professor of Christian heritage at the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute.

Differences between Antioch and Alexandria, and later between Constantinople and Rome, resulted in different liturgical traditions and even different calendars.

“Unfortunately, this confusion over Easter’s observance is but one of the carryovers of a severed church,” Bullock said.

Nick Zola, a doctoral student at Baylor University, offers a somewhat simplified explanation of the Easter date debate:

“The reason Christians don’t celebrate Easter at the same time every year is because it was originally tied to the Jewish festival of Passover, the time of year when Jesus was crucified and resurrected,” Zola said. “The Jews followed a lunar calendar, where each month began with the new moon. Passover fell on the 14th day of the first month (Nisan), coinciding with the full moon. When early Christians wanted to commemorate the anniversary of the death and resurrection of Jesus, most observed it on the Sunday following Passover, since that was when he was raised from the dead, and the day they were already meeting.

“This worked well as long as there were Jewish Christians who knew when Passover was. But once Christianity had grown apart from Judaism, it became rather awkward for Christians to go ask their Jewish neighbors the date of Passover that year so they could know when to celebrate the resurrection of their Lord.

“So, at the Council of Nicaea in 325, Christians adopted their own computation: Easter would be the first Sunday following the first full moon following the spring equinox (when the day and the night are the same length). Passover usually was the first full moon after the spring equinox, so the date of Easter didn’t really change, but now the central date of the Christian year was no longer tied to a Jewish holiday, which had been embarrassing for the church of that time.”

PLAINVIEW—Wayland Baptist University’s School of Music took 94 students, faculty and other individuals on a tour of Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria. Groups performed in numerous concert halls and cathedrals along the way.

The Wayland Symphonic Winds and the International Choir, joined by several members of the Wayland Singers, performed seven concerts in seven days in Leipzig, Prague and Vienna.

“It was extremely hectic,” said Timothy Kelley, director of instrumental studies at Wayland. Kelley planned much of the trip in order to make sure all the instruments needed for concerts would be available. Many of the instruments were shipped, but the group rented some of the larger pieces.

“This is something we started working on early last year and was over a year in the making,” Kelley said.

Organizers planned the tour to give students the opportunity to experience the birthplace of classical music and perform in the same venues as Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and other renowned composers.

“They hear about the music and take music appreciation classes and music history classes,” Kelley said.

“They study all of these major composers. Basically, where we went was the cradle of music as we know it. Pretty much all classical music as we recognize it developed in these specific areas.”

Michelle Ritter, a senior from Tucson, Ariz., performed with both the band and the choir throughout the trip. She said touring the venues and seeing the homes of composers such as Bach was amazing and increased her interest in their lives.

“It was neat to see where all these people came from,” she said. “And it would have meant even more if I knew everything there is to know about them.”

The group toured the home of Martin Luther, father of the Protestant Reformation, as well as palaces, famous concert halls and churches where major composers had their beginnings.

“This is the Mecca of the world as far as music is concerned,” Kelley said. “The Prague Philharmonic is on one side of the street, and the Prague Symphony performs across the street, and both are world-renowned. Every major cathedral is recognized as a famous concert hall. The ones we performed in were all along that recognized list.”

The band’s concluding concert took place in the Orangerie, a wing of the Shonbrunn palace in Vienna, where Mozart and Antonio Salieri worked. Perform-ing in the venues was an incredible experience, because the acoustics in the concert halls and cathedrals were amazing, adding another dimension to the concerts, Ritter said.

“One of my favorites was when we got to sing in Vienna,” she said. “There was so much energy, and you could hear us echo throughout the whole place. The church was beautiful. Then we ended up getting a standing ovation, and that just made it better.”

For some students, spring break means a chance to see new sights and participate in new experiences. Young people at Baptist Student Ministries across the state share that desire, but they express it in a drastically different manner.

While many students visited vacation destinations or relaxed at home, BSM spring break mission volunteers discovered new people and groups to serve—often not far from their campuses.

Brenda Sanders, who leads Go Now Missions, Texas Baptists’ student missions program, said Baptist Student Ministries found avenues through which they can share the hope of Christ.

“We have seen many BSMs choose to do mission trips in Texas this year,” she said. “That could be due in part to gas prices. We’ve also been emphasizing ministry in our own backyard. As a result, we’ve seen an increased number of students involved in Beach Reach and more trips along the Texas-Mexico border.”

University of Texas-Pan American BSM students conducted a five-day camp for special-needs children in Edinburg. Christo Vive International provided a camp for children who otherwise may not have an opportunity for such an experience, and it allowed parents a little time for themselves, something caregivers don’t often get, said BSM Director Robert Rueda.

The camp also helped students understand the commitment required to care for special-needs individuals, as well as the challenges special-needs children face, Rueda said. The students were charged with helping care for the campers around the clock.

Spring break volunteers with the Baptist Student Ministry at Texas A&M University erected an outdoor pavilion for Mission First in Jackson, Miss.

“This camp opened the eyes of our students to a group of our people they never thought they could minister to,” Rueda said. “They found it’s easier than they thought. God simply looks for a willing heart.”

Students came to understand they provided the only picture of Jesus some of the campers have seen, Rueda said. “Many were not Christians and were not connected to churches. Through the care and activities they provided, the students were attempting to show the children how Christ loves them as well.”

“I had an amazing experience helping out with Cristo Vive Camp, because it makes you realize that God’s love is the same for everyone,” said Fabian Pacheco, a UT-Pan Am student. “And it made me realize I am that love to this special camper.”

Joyce Ashcraft, ministry/regional director of Texas Baptists’ Collegiate Ministries, led more than 30 students from the University of Texas Southwest Medical School and five Dallas-Fort Worth-area physicians who partnered with El Paso Baptists to conduct medical clinics in 16 churches. 

The clinics provided a way for students to learn how to exercise their faith with the practical medical skills they are attaining at school.

The medical clinics also provide evangelistic opportunities for churches, Ashcraft said.

The mission team saw more than 400 patients and at least 10 professions of faith in Christ. Churches also have information that allows them to follow up on every patient.

“What these clinics do is give churches and pastors the opportunity to interact with their communities and build relationships,” she said. “The people come for medical help, and the church members get to visit with them.”

Texans also saw God at work when they ministered outside the state. More than 20 students with the Texas A&M University BSM ministered through Mission First in Jackson, Miss.

Students served through a feeding kitchen and doing yard work for widows, but primarily focused their efforts on building a pavilion that would lay the groundwork for future ministry. There, Mission First will reach out to young people with the love of Christ.

“The kids are going to be having picnics and doing stuff outside,” said David Bond, a Texas A&M senior who helped build the pavilion.

“This is their refuge, and we are helping to make their safe place a little bit nicer. Hopefully for years to come, kids will be enjoying this facility.”

Sanders expressed gratitude for the commitment BSM students showed in sharing their faith throughout spring break. She heard numerous reports of people growing in their faith as a result of their experiences. They will continue to carry those experiences with them.

“We heard great stories, not only of students getting to share their faith and people coming to Christ, but of the impact on students,” she said. “They feel used by God, and that translates back to campus.”

—With additional reporting by Kimberly Roberts, Texas A&M University BSM

HUNTSVILLE—When Johnny Flowers Jr. told his story, one could almost see his mind taking in the world around him, trying to make sense of it all and gain his bearings, like a newborn child.

After six prison stints and more than 20 years behind bars, Flowers had been a free man nine days.

In many ways, he still was adjusting to life outside the walls. He slipped in and out of first person when speaking about people in prison. He just received his driver’s license and hoped to open a bank account.

Life, he said, looks different than before—not because of the societal changes that took place during his incarceration, but because he views life differently.

Dramatic conversion

For years, family, friends and prison ministry volunteers encouraged Flowers to change his life by turning away from alcohol—the source of many of his problems—and developing a relationship with God. But pleas fell on deaf ears.

“I didn’t know what love was,” he said. “I didn’t even love myself. But I knew there was something powerful about the

Spirit, about God. But I didn’t know how to get it.”

Bill Kleibler with Restorative Justice Network prays with former prisoners just after they are released from the Walls Unit.

During Flowers’ sixth time in prison, he got into a phone argument when his stepfather pushed him to change his ways. Flowers became frustrated and hung up on him. The next day, his stepfather died.

Flustered, Flowers began searching for meaning to his life. He started reading a Bible at night.

After years of struggling in secret, he gave his life to Christ, he said. He asked God to forgive his sins and pledged to follow Jesus. He knew immediately God was there.

“It was weird. I felt different,” he said. “I started telling people I loved them.”

He devoured every piece of Christian literature he could find. He regularly attended chapel services and participated in Bible studies. David Valentine, now pastor of Covenant Fellowship in Huntsville, and other volunteers began discipling him.

He wanted to give himself completely to God but felt trapped in the pain others had inflicted on him, he said. One night, he finally let go of that, writing down every person and everything that had hurt him. When he was finished, he crumpled the paper and threw it in the toilet.

Texas has 150,000 people in prison, 75,000 people in county jails, and 70,000 a year enter the prison system.

“Everything that hurt me, I wrote it down and flushed it away,” he said. “That little voice said: ‘Now I can use you. You’re pure.’”

One of many

Flowers said many of the 150,000 incarcerated people throughout the state feel like he did. They want their lives to change but do not know how to change. They are afraid to take a chance on God, fearing what others will think of them.

“I speak not only for myself, but for my other brothers that are behind the walls still lost. We need people to help us take that step,” he said.

“A lot of us in there are afraid. We’ve never been told what love truly is. Love is an action word. But we never have experienced it. The average guy in there is searching for love, but they don’t know how to find it. They don’t know how to talk. They’re afraid to talk because they’ve always been told: ‘Be quiet, you’ll never amount to anything. You’re no good.’”

The clock at the Walls Unit in Huntsville is ticking for inmates once they are released and given a $50 check, a bus voucher and an onion sack with the few belongings they had with them in prison. Ex-offenders have 24 hours to get home and report to a parole officer in order to stay in good standing with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.  (PHOTO/Kaitlin Warrington/ Texas Baptist Communications)

Valentine agreed. His congregation ministers to prison staff and offenders, seeking to share the hope of Christ how-ever possible. Through their ministry, they have seen Delvin Mouton, an imprisoned Dallas gang leader, turn his life over to Christ. Although his gang is “blood in, blood out”—meaning a person has to shed another person’s blood to become part of the gang and endure a beating to get out—he exited the gang without harm. He has since led another gang member to Christ and helped him exit the gang unharmed. Recently, he felt called to ministry.

“I am stepping into the life God has for me right here in prison,” Mouton wrote. “I have come full circle with what God was calling me to do at the age of 14.”

The criminal justice system directly affects about one-third of the state, Valentine said. Beyond the 150,000 people in prison, 75,000 people are in county jails, and 70,000 a year enter the prison system. About 450,000 people are on probation. Statistically, each person in the criminal justice system has five family members.

The Baptist General Convention of Texas recently retooled its restorative justice ministry efforts, seeking a more collaborative approach with the Texas Baptist Men Restorative Justice Committee by bringing together leaders such as Valentine, the Restorative Justice Ministry Network in Huntsville and Texas Baptist Men’s Inmate Discipler Fellowship.

The effort—funded by the Texas Baptist Cooperative Program and gifts to the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions—will help groups work together and use funds as effectively as possible.

“What we’re trying to do is turn these guys into better husbands, better men of God,” Valentine said of his church.

“Eventually, some of these men will be called to be pastors.  What we’re trying to do is a church-planting movement of raising up men who can start Bible study groups with ex-offenders and sex-offenders, because the truth is it’s going to be real hard to get them in our established chur-ches,” he said. “So, we’re going to have to start new churches to reach this unreached people group.”

An open door

Bill Lewis, warden of the Walls Unit, believes faith-based programs make a significant difference. He sees it each day. Chaplain Larry Hart recruits and trains volunteers to minister to inmates. He also counsels inmates when they enter the institution and when they are dealing with issues such as family deaths.

Faith-based volunteers are beacons of hope for offenders, Lewis said. They provide Bible studies, marriage classes, literacy classes and other opportunities designed to improve inmates’ lives.

“If you can have a positive influence in the middle of your offender population, bringing positive virtues on them, it’s going to give them some incentive to act right and behave correctly,” Lewis said.

Flowers calls himself a testimony to the effectiveness of faith-based volunteers and chaplains. Because of their commitment to help him, his life changed.

“If it weren’t for David and the guys coming in and studying and working with us and the chaplains working with us, it wouldn’t have been possible,” he said, standing outside the Walls Unit. “Over 20 years of my life were spent on the other side of these walls. If they take the chaplaincy from these people, it’s going to be chaos. The chaplains, they bring these people in to help us.”

When Flowers was released, volunteers with Restorative Justice Ministries Network and Covenant Fellowship were waiting on him. They’re helping him find a place to live and food to eat. Valentine has introduced Flowers to several Christian business leaders, seeking to help him find a job.

It’s help Flowers appreciates. In many ways, prison became a comfort to him—a place where he had a role, he noted. Now, many people see him as an ex-convict who can’t be trusted, a stigma he struggles to deal with each day.

“When I was first released, I felt safer in prison,” he said. “When I got released, all these people look at you different.”

Flowers knows he’s made mistakes in the past, but he’s seeking to follow God as he restarts his life. He hopes other former inmates attempting the same journey he has begun find Christian helpers like the ones he found at Covenant Fellowship.

“I wish the churches would give us an opportunity to show what we really are,” he said. “Don’t judge us by the paper that we have on our back. Judge us by what we’re doing now—the present.

“If you judge us by the paper that’s on our back, you’ll never like us, because we were lost sinners. Judge us for what we are now. We’re new crea-tures now. That’s why I wish the church would just give us the opportunity. Invite us into the church. Come visit us.”

HUNTSVILLE—Two young men spent the day listening to music and weaving beaded bracelets, laughing and talking, seemingly nonchalant.

That abruptly changed when their grandmother entered the room cursing angrily, shouting, then sobbing uncontrollably. She had witnessed the execution of her son—the father of the two young men.

“The eldest fell into my arms sobbing,” said Debra McCammon, executive director of Hospitality House in Huntsville, where the scene unfolded. “I began praying over him and talking to him gently as he hugged me so tightly I felt my ribs would burst. … I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man cry like that.”

Whispering in his ear, McCammon told the young man about Jesus’ love and about the peace and comfort that Christ offers. “It was one of the hardest days I’ve had.”

Hospitality House is a nonprofit ministry of the Texas Baptist Prisoner Family Ministry Foundation that provides a home away from home for families who come to Huntsville to visit loved ones behind bars. The Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger helps provide meals for the ministry.

On execution days, the ministry takes on a special rhythm of its own as the Texas Department of Criminal Justice prepares to carry out capital sentence.

Hospitality House is a place of comfort for people whose lives have been turned upside down by the actions of a loved one.

In advance of the day, TDCJ sends a letter to family members and others selected by the prisoner telling them to go to the Hospitality House on the execution day. The state has tried different venues as this gathering place, but the house has worked best, McCammon said.

On the execution day, the family and others arrive at the house by 9 a.m. McCammon has seen as many as 32 people come, and she has also seen days when no one comes. Whoever comes is going to be fed and cared for throughout the day, she said.

TDCJ drives up to 12 of the visitors to the Polunski Unit for a visit with the prisoner between 10 a.m. and noon. Afterward, the visitors return to the Hospitality House, where a meal has been prepared.

Not all, however, can eat. “So many are nauseated because of nerves” and don’t feel like eating, McCammon said. By about 3 p.m., most have eaten. About this same time, the prisoner arrives at the “Death House,” a separate facility of the Walls Unit where the execution will occur. It’s about two blocks from the Hospitality House.

Chaplains from TDJC have been a part of the whole day of activities, shuttling between the Hospitality House and the prison.

At 4 p.m., the visitors receive a call from the prisoner, who has one last hour to talk. “They pass the phone around” from one person to another, McCammon said. The conversations elicit a wide range of emotions from laughter to hysteria. Stories, the sharing of memories, are also a common element of the final call.

Only five people selected by the prisoner can witness the execution. They are escorted to the Walls Unit at 5 p.m. Witnesses representing the crime victims will be there as well; but they never encounter the witnesses chosen by the prisoner.

The others remain at the Hospitality House. They can hear the megaphones of protesters in the streets—some for and some against capital punishment. Media vans are parked near the Walls Unit, and helicopters sometimes fly overhead.

The atmosphere in the House changes. Until the late afternoon, the day is filled with hope as the family prays and hopes for a stay of execution, McCammon said.

“That hope continues all day, but reality sets in at about 5,” she said. “You see the expressions change. They walk around with this heaviness of spirit.”

The life of their loved one is over at 6 p.m. or shortly thereafter.

Most days, of course, do not include executions. Seven days a week, the Hospitality House provides lodging and meals for families visiting inmates. The House is a place of comfort for people whose lives have been turned upside down by the actions of a loved one.

“Hospitality House is like a home,” McCammon says. “It makes it easier for families to relax. And it’s also a place where hurting people can hear the ultimate message of love, peace, hope and forgiveness of sins.”

• Clint Anderson has resigned as director of missions for Williamson Association to become a church consultant.

• Travis Bundrick to Williamson Association as director of missions, where he had been associaite.

• Tony Celelli to First Church in Portland as interim pastor.

• Allen McClure to Waller Church in Waller as pastor.

• Keith Pate to New Hope First Church in Cedar Park as pastor

• Ricky Roman to Iglesia El Buen Pastor in Beeville as pastor from First Church in Skidmore, where he was youth minister.

A five-person medical team from Mission Waco worked alongside Haitian health care professionals to serve 360 patients in three days recently at a newly dedicated clinic in Ferrier, Haiti.

Volunteers from Mission Waco joined a Haitian medical team and area residents in dedicating a new clinic in Ferrier, Haiti. It was built on the same site where a Christian volunteer began offering health care to her neighbors 28 years ago.

The nine-room clinic—with one room and a pharmacy furnished—was built on the same ground where Paulan Pierre began treating patients in a two-room building behind her home 28 years ago, providing the only health care for a village of 13,000 people.

Her son, Zenas Pierre, now serves as pastor of Beraca Church and continues his mother’s dream of offering church-based health care for his neighbors.

In addition to medical care, the team shared the gospel and a meal of beans and rice with people in the village.

“As we prayed that last day in English, Spanish and Creole, after a very productive two-hour discussion about how to move the church-based clinic to include prevention and community-based health education, I was personally moved how God had been orchestrating this amazing healing effort through the years,” said Jimmy Dorrell, executive director of Mission Waco.