LUBBOCK—Seventy-seven Baptist congregations in the Lubbock area worked together to share the hope of Christ with the entire city leading up to Easter.

Volunteers from congregations canvassed the area, distributing bags with gospel presentations and fliers for local churches. The effort is part of the pilot project of the Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board’s GPS —God’s Plan for Sharing campaign to share the gospel with everyone in North America by 2020. Lubbock was one of six cities across the nation that participated in the pilot effort.

The Baptist General Convention of Texas helped support the effort by providing funds to print the materials as well as leadership training through its Engage XP evangelism conference in Lubbock. The initiative dovetailed with the Texas Hope 2010 emphasis—a challenge to share the gospel with every Texan by Easter 2010 and eliminate hunger in the state.

Robert Storr, pastor of Crossroads Baptist Church, said his congregation multiplied its outreach efforts tenfold for the pilot project, distributing 3,000 bags of items that shared the gospel and promoted the church in one ZIP code. The congregation typically passes out 300 fliers near Easter.

“Our attendance has picked up,” he said. “Our giving has picked up. It has been exciting to see the commitment of our people.”

Steve McMeans, pastor of Indiana Avenue Baptist Church, encouraged the church’s volunteers to pray as they walked the streets of Lubbock. “What we are trying to do is make some sort of effort to reach out to our community,” he said.

Scott Willingham, BGCT local church evangelism specialist, praised the work of Lubbock Baptists.

“God’s people, working together collaboratively, effectively shared the hope of Christ with Lubbock,” he said. “The pilot project in Lubbock, along with five other cities across the nation, paved the way for the gospel to be presented to every home in Texas and the United States. These are exciting days!”

Ed Sena, director of church services and plants for the Lubbock Area Baptist Association, said participating churches now are being surveyed for feedback about the project. What worked and what did not work will be considered and forwarded to NAMB representatives who will use the information before launching the evangelistic initiative throughout North America next year.??

“We are receiving e-mails daily from our pastors,” Sena said. “All in all, it’s been a home run. We’ve developed unity of spirit and unity of mind in our efforts.”

AUSTIN—About two dozen Hispanic Texas Baptist leaders assembled in Austin to help legislators became better acquainted with the challenges Hispanics face as they try to achieve their educational goals, learn what could be done to help Hispanic students go further in school and discuss how currently proposed legislation would affect those efforts.

The April 21 advocacy day at the Texas Capitol was the first action of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Hispanic Education Initiative, which seeks to promote education among Hispanic students.

Gus Reyes, who leads the effort, called the day a significant and historic step for Texas Baptists.

“I believe that the voices of these Texas Baptists regarding their concern for education was heard by our legislators,” he said.

The Baptist group represented a cross-section of Hispanic Baptist leaders across the state, and included representatives from Baptist University of the Americas, Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas, Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas, Texas Baptist Men, Buckner International, the BGCT Executive Board staff and churches statewide.

“While the effort focused on the needs of Hispanic students, I am pleased to say that progress made on the bills supported will help African-American, Hispanic and all students needing academic opportunities,” Reyes said.

Nestor Menjivar, chairman of the Hispanic Education Council and pastor of Iglesia Bautista Principe de Paz in Austin, said legislators were excited to see the group of Hispanic Baptist leaders.

“It was a great day. It was a long time coming,” he said.

“It’s a great first step in helping our Hispanic pastors and Hispanic leaders in advocating for our people.”

CLC Director Suzii Paynter said Texas Baptist leaders have a critical voice in government because they see the needs of people around them. They understand what aid people are seeking and effective ways assistance can be provided. Baptists provide legislators with personal stories of how people are affected by laws.

“Several bills critical to adult literacy and career and technology education are moving through the legislative process and are on the edge of not making it through in time before the legislative adjourns,” she said.

“The group was successful in moving these bills forward and the work they did at the capitol will most definitely bear much fruit.”

Officers of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas and the Baptist General Convention of Texas have agreed to meet together to work on a revised unification agreement between the two groups.

The revised document will be made available in both English and Spanish and will be presented to messengers to the Convencion annual meeting in Dallas, June 28-30, for their approval.

The Baptist General Convention of Texas and what was then known as the Mexican Baptist Convention of Texas originally ratified a unification agreement in 1964. After a committee analyzed the agreement in the mid-1970s, it was revised in 1977, with the understanding it would be reviewed periodically.

“The main purpose of this action is to bring a better relationship between both conventions and to continue to work together in a united way to extend the kingdom of God,” said Convencion President Baldemar Borrego. He hopes the updated agreement will inspire more Hispanic Baptist churches in Texas to support financially the BGCT Cooperative Program.

“This is a new day where we have the opportunity to work more closely than ever before,” Borrego said. “We would like to thank BGCT Executive Director Randel Everett for his role and his willingness to bring together both conventions.”

GILMER—Billy Foote believes in the power of revival meetings. Some of the most important milestones in his spiritual life have been linked to revivals, and last month another occurred when he conducted his 1,000th revival.

Every meeting has been chronicled in date books going back to his first, more than 50 years ago.

“It all started at the Bagwell Baptist Church in Bagwell. We were back there this past year—50 years later. While we were there, the church voted and approved to have us come again in another 50 years,” he said with a laugh.

Evangelist Billy Foote and his wife, Winky, have served together in ministry more than 45 years. Foote recently conducted his 1,000th revival meeting.

Laughter comes naturally to Foote as he recalls the joy that has been his through his service to God, but so do tears—also from joy—as he thinks back on people who invested so much in him and his pilgrimage with Christ.

A native of Commerce, Foote will turn 70 years old later this year. “I used to think that was old, but I’ve changed my mind about that,” Foote said.

He grew up shy and retiring, but after a protracted series of invitations began attending Shiloh Terrace Baptist Church in Dallas as a high school sophomore.

In April 1956, evangelist Holland London preached a revival at Shiloh Terrace, Foote surrendered his life to Christ and “suddenly everything changed,” he said. “I’ve found something so wonderful and life-changing, I’m caught up in it.”

It wasn’t long until Foote sensed a new direction for his life.

“I’m feeling God’s call on life,” he said.

The summer after he graduated from high school, Sam Jones, a friend a year older, asked Foote if he would lead the music for a revival Jones was to conduct.

Foote had a question: “Would I have to wave my arms?”

“Well, I think that would be best,” Jones replied.

At that point, Foote said he didn’t know if he could do it.

“He told me, ‘I’ve heard you quote many times, “I can do all things through Christ.” Is that something you just say or do you believe it?’ Sam was direct like that, but I heard his heart more than his voice,” said Foote, who went home and started practicing waving his arms in front of a mirror.

“So, we rode this bus up to the church, and all these people were waiting to meet us. We had an enormous crowd that night. There must have been 30 people,” he said with a grin.

“I came back home feeling like I had been at a Billy Graham crusade, and on that bus ride home, I had a definite conviction that God had a call on my life.”

While Foote spent 12 years on three church staffs, most notably at Calvary Baptist Church in Longview, he found his calling conducting revivals.

He has been asked often about why he chose to lead revivals rather than serve on a church staff, and said that while it’s certain it’s his calling, it’s harder to explain.

“I was saved by a revival meeting, Sam Jones asked me to lead music at a revival where God confirmed his calling on my life, and I’ve just always been drawn to it,” he said. “I know the power that is in them.”

One important milestone in his life did not, however, happen at a revival—meeting his wife of 45 years, Winky. But Foote readily acknowledges she has played a pivotal role in his ministry.

“There would not be a list of 1,000 revivals without the support and encouragement I have received from her. I could not have done it without the wife I have,” he said.

For her part, Mrs. Foote said she felt a call to ministry at age 11, and she has found the fulfillment of that call through their ministry.

From 1958 until 1971, Foote led the music for revivals. In 1971, he felt the call to begin preaching them. While he still leads revival choirs, his wife performs the special music for the revivals he conducts.

Many of the revivals he has conducted have been in the churches of the young people to whom he ministered at Calvary Baptist Church in Longview who later felt their own call to ministry.

Gary Orr, pastor of many years at Trinity Baptist Church in Longview, falls into that category, he noted.

In honor of the impact Foote has had on so many lives, his alma mater, East Texas Baptist University, conferred on him an honorary doctor of divinity degree recently.

While Foote has achieved 1,000 revivals, he is not finished preaching or singing. His 1,001st already is scheduled for later this month.

And, of course, he has an appointment to keep in Bagwell in 2058.

MARSHALL—For the second consecutive year, the Baptist Student Ministry of East Texas Baptist University sponsored a powder puff football game to raise money in support of summer mission trips by students.

The freshman and sophomore women teamed up against the junior and senior women. Each participant paid a $15 entry fee, with all the proceeds going to missions.

“The event was an amazing time for awesome and hilarious fellowship, raising over $600 for the summer mission fund,” BSM Intern Jarrin Peeples said.

“Last year, the BSM council decided to hold a powder puff game, because we knew it had been awhile since the campus had a game. We knew the students and faculty would really enjoy the game if we brought the game back.”

According to ETBU BSM Director Mark Yates, a mission offering goal of $3,000 was set to fund student missionaries through Go Now Missions of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Go Now Missions sends Texas university students around the world to share the love of Christ.

“We are getting closer to meeting our goal, because $350 was received at ETBU’s summer mission commissioning chapel,” Yates said. “This summer, over 120 ETBU students will be serving in over 10 countries and five states through various mission sending organizations.”

Two ETBU students will serve this summer through Go Now Missions. Aaron Reed, a sophomore from Malakoff, will be in the Middle East, and Hallsville freshman Stuart Suddeth will be in Alaska.

“ETBU’s students, faculty and staff do well in their giving through various fun events and fundraisers,” Yates said. “Our biggest challenge is in leading our campus to give sacrificially toward missions not just at the special emphasis times but year round.”

The junior/senior team halted a comeback try, winning 26-18. ETBU Tiger Football Coach Mark Sartain was one of the guest referees, along with Vice President for Spiritual Development Alan Huesing and Post Office Clerk and Intramurals Director Kenny Elliot.

“My only close call was barely being able to get out of the way of one of the senior’s shifty, speedy running backs,” Sartain said. “I think she used me as a blocker.”

“So many people outside of the BSM helped make the powder puff game a success,” Peeples said.

The Student Activities Board, led by ETBU Student Activities Coordinator Meagan Smith, provided free concessions for contestants, as well as the fans in attendance. Director of Resi-dence Life and Summer Camps Jae Hunter was the DJ providing music and commentary between plays.

VERNON—For some, it’s rough riding on the way to heaven. There were more bumps and bruises than baskets made in a game of donkey basketball that featured area high school teachers, firefighters and a college softball team. But there were nearly as many people who came to faith in Christ.

The event was one in a weeklong series of evangelistic efforts in the Paducah, Childress, Vernon and Quanah area as part of Texas Hope 2010, a Baptist General Convention of Texas initiative to share the gospel with every person in the state by Easter 2010 and meet human needs.

About 1,000 people turned out for hamburgers, fun and camaraderie for the Vernon event. Thirty-nine people came forward to make first-time professions of faith in Christ, while others rededicated their lives. Sixty people made first-time professions of faith during the entire week of events that brought together 15 congregations.

“We thought this would be a good way to initiate getting the gospel to every person,” said Derrell Monday, Bi-Fork Baptist Area director of missions. “God’s done a good thing. It’s opened a door as we go door-to-door.”

Tommy Spencer, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Vernon, said the cooperation of churches in the area is a reflection of their desire to see God’s kingdom grow, not simply grow individual congregations. God has honored that desire and has brought people to know him as a result of the Baptists’ efforts, Spencer stressed.

Through Texas Hope 2010, the Bi-Fork Area is seeking to share the hope of Christ with every person in the region. These evangelistic events were the start of that effort.

“Texas Hope 2010 is a huge part of this,” Spencer said. “We’re doing a number of things to reach the community.”

Ronnie Lambert, pastor of First Baptist Church in Paducah, said three people came to know Christ as a result of a revival.

“It was a good experience,” he said. “It’s something we are privileged to do in the future.”

BGCT Evan-gelism Director Jon Randles praised the work of Bi-Fork Bap-tists, noting their commitment to reach people who live in their neighborhoods.

“Instead of holding associational rallies that bring together the same group of believers each year, these chur-ches planned events together that would not only reach a larger section of their communities, but pre-Christians, as well,” he said. 

“It took a lot of teamwork, planning and prayer. The re-sults were outstanding. Evan-gelism is hard work, but the bottom line is lives changed. These churches and their pastors put energy and creativity into this plan, and God blessed. This kind of effort will work in many places around our state.” 

WAXAHACHIE—The western-heritage churches of Texas and their ever-increasing brethren outside the state now have a place to look toward to get their bearings.

The Texas Fellowship of Cowboy Churches/American Fellowship of Cowboy Churches dedicated its new headquarters, dubbed the Supply Depot, in Waxahachie.

“The key is that it gives us a hub to work from to meet the needs of everybody in every direction. It provides us with a central location to communicate with the many western-heritage churches. And that communication includes the Internet,” said Ron Nolen, executive director of the Texas Fellowship of Cowboy Churches.

The facility also provides a place to store resources such as a tent, ministry trailers and a new mechanical roping calf. The “Sparky III” roping calf was a gift from Marv and Cathy Kaptain, All Around Performance Horse Weekly and RFD TV, and the Top Hand Cowboy Church of Valley Mills. The mechanical calf will be loaned out to about 50 churches a year to aid in their outreach ministries.

One important way the building will assist the western-heritage effort is by providing volunteers a location where they can come and assist, Nolen said.

“You can’t pay for all the help you need in a ministry like this, and this allows us to plug in many more people and provide them with avenues for ministry,” he said.

The facility also will provide a meeting place for Iglesia Vaquera of Ellis County, a Hispanic western-heritage church.

“Just like the Ellis County Cowboy Church was an example, a model, a flagship of success that other people could come and look and then say, ‘We can go back home and start one of those,’ we need one of those flagship-type models for the vaquero movement,” Nolen explained.

It took many hands to make the supply depot a reality, however. And it was the celebration of cooperation that marked the dedication day.

“What a privilege it has been for the BGCT to help not only with this building, but also the movement. We take no credit for that, but appreciate the opportunity to be a part,” said Steve Vernon, associate executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. “It is a joy to celebrate the way God is moving in the lives of so many.”

The 10,000-square-foot building is in large part due to the work of the Texas Baptist Men Retiree Builders.

“I can remember when we started dreaming of a facility like this,” TBM Executive Director Leo Smith said. “When this sort of started coming together, Ron said, ‘We want your builders to come help us.’ I said, ‘We’ll see what we can do.’ You can look around and see what TBM Retiree Builders can do.

“I am so excited about the cowboy church movement and the way it reaches so many people who have been overlooked. I think you have probably heard me say my dad would probably be in heaven today if there had been a cowboy church movement.”

As for the new building, Smith had only one instruction, “Let’s just wear it out.”

Lucy Havens, who along with her husband, Little George Havens, started the Cowboy Camp Meetings more than 40 years ago, said she was proud to say the reins for the camp were now in the hands of the cowboy churches.

The day also was one of remembrance as Jerry Dill, the TBM lead carpenter on the building, was honored. He died less than a month after the building was completed.

Iglesia Vaquera will be an crucial part of the movement’s outreach to Hispanics, Pastor Tye Howard said.

“This is not just for our benefit, but will serve as a model for vaqueras all over,” he said. The vaquera will reach more nominal Catholics than any other kind of church, “because we have a rodeo arena, and they don’t.”

The potential is limitless, especially if the movement stretches southward into Mexico, because most Hispanics have some connection to a rural lifestyle, he added.

Todd Hervey, regional director of the American Fellowship of Cowboy Churches, said the facility will allow the growth outside the state to come at a greatly accelerated rate.

The building signals a continued movement of God among western-heritage churches.

“Nine years ago this past March, Texas Baptist people began to join the Lord in what he had chosen to do, a sovereign demonstration of his Spirit called western-heritage evangelism and ministries,” Nolen said.

“Now in 2009, this movement of God’s Spirit has resulted in 144 Baptist way cowboy churches being planted in Texas and some 20 more outside of Texas with the probability that God will use Baptist people to plant and develop some 350 works in Texas and America by the end of 2011, with the hope that three quarters of a million souls will be won to Christ during the next 90 years.”

GRAND PRAIRIE—Brad Davidson and Jordan Clark are best friends who like to use humor to make a serious point about salvation through performance comedy. Despite living in different states, their love for God and performing skits is the glue that holds them together.

And just like the name of their drama ministry, their lives are Far From Ordinary.

After graduating from the University of Oklahoma, the two college roommates and theater majors were at a crossroads in search of how to use their degrees to glorify God.

“After graduating, we had no idea what we were going to do with our lives, but we knew we wanted to use our theater degrees for God’s glory,” Davidson said.

“I had been greatly impacted by the Skit Guys, a phenomenal skit group, and so I approached Jordan with the idea of starting our own skit ministry. After a year of planning and trying to figure it all out, we formed Far From Ordinary and have been performing ever since.”

Today, Far From Ordinary performs at Disciple Now weekends, fall festivals, youth camps, conferences and worship services. They will be performing at Super Summer at East Texas Baptist University in June.

“We use skits and videos to share God’s messages with a world that desperately needs it,” Davidson said. “Every event is different and that is one of the things that we like best about our ministry. We recently performed at a Disciple Now at First Baptist Garland. We were able to perform for their youth several times throughout the weekend and then got a chance to perform for their worship services on Sunday morning. It was amazing to—in the course of one weekend—perform in front of sixth graders and senior adults.

“Our craziest event was a fall festival down in the Hill Country of Texas. More than 3,000 people were present, most of whom were not believers, and we performed on the flatbed of a trailer. It was so loud that I couldn’t hear Jordan speaking five feet away from me, but the Lord showed up and moved in a powerful way. It just went to show us that even when the circumstances were out of our hands, God was still in control.”

Far From Ordinary writes all of their skits and enjoys the challenge of crafting scripts that integrate Scripture and drama in a fresh and exciting way.

In addition to this creative ministry, Davidson is an elementary school teacher in Mesquite, and he helps lead a college and young adult ministry called “The Link” at The Oaks Baptist Church in Grand Prairie. Clark serves as a high school intern at a church in Littleton, Colo., and is a seminary student in Denver.

“We love getting to meet and minister with thousands of random people that we never would have gotten to meet otherwise and speaking God’s word to people who may have never heard it before,” Davidson said.

“We don't know where the Lord is going to take us next, we simply rely on the fact that he is in control.”

BOULDER, Colo.—The baptistry at Boulder Chinese Baptist Church was filled with water as a small woman dressed in a white robe inched down the stairs.

“This is Sister Wang Shuang,” Pastor William Fu, a Taiwan native, said in Mandarin to his mostly mainland congregation. “She came to our church last September from Chicago. Thanks for God’s grace, she is willing to become his child.”

As the pastor immersed Wang, the congregation applauded and sang.

It was a moment Wang had never anticipated when she first arrived in the United States six years ago from her native Guangxi province, where generations had been immersed in the official government gospel of atheism.

“In two days, I will have my 29th birthday,” she said in her testimony. “But I got reborn today.”

In the three decades since the end of the Cultural Revolution, during which houses of worship were destroyed and missionary workers expelled, there has been a surge in Chinese students and scholars like Wang adopting Christianity in the United States, Purdue University Professor Fenggang Yang said.

Wang’s Boulder Chinese Baptist Church is one of about 1,000 Chinese churches scattered across the United States by Yang’s estimate. The Southern Baptist-affiliated congregation only has about 50 members, and nearly all came from mainland China. Most are computer engineers in their 30s and 40s, and Pastor Fu notes 11 have doctorates and 29 have master’s degrees.

To be sure, Christian groups have been seeking to share their faith with all varieties of international students on college campuses, but according to Yang, Chinese students are some of the most receptive.

At the University of Colorado’s Boulder campus, incoming students have their first contact with Christianity the moment they land at Denver International Airport.

Fu’s church acquires a list of the students—with names, flight schedules, e-mails, phone numbers and home addresses—from the university’s Chinese Students and Scholars Association. After picking them up at the airport, church members take them grocery shopping, buy them their first meal, and sometimes lend them their cell phones so students may call families in China.

Members of Boulder Chinese Baptist Church in Boulder, Colo., have taken in several Chinese students at the nearby University of Colorado, which has introduced them to Christianity.

After they settle down, church members invite students to their houses for welcome parties, and ferry them to a Friday night fellowship, which entails a free dinner, hymn singing and Bible studies.

Some observers say many Chinese conversion stories typically involve some sort of personal crisis—a failed marriage, domestic conflict, self doubt or fear of death. But Yang attributes the spiritual realignment to Christianity to the modernization in China that is pushing many Chinese toward seeking a new system of meaning.

“China is undergoing rapid and dramatic social changes that have brought (social unrest), and Christianity provides a spiritual and moral framework to put things in personal life and larger society in order,” Yang said.

Some observers conclude the main reason students are drawn to Christianity is the same one that has attracted immigrants of all stripes for generations—a place where they can find company and speak their native language.

Church members, meanwhile, admit they don’t always see the fruit of their labors, but like every missionary effort, they’re content simply to live with the effort.

“A lot of the time we are just sowing seeds,” said Zhan Min, a member of Boulder Chinese Baptist Church. “We planted the seeds in their heart, and you never know when they might sprout.”

IRVING—Three men from Irving—two from Plymouth Park Baptist Church, one from a nearby Church of Christ—literally let the chips fall where they might during the city’s recent ninth annual faith-based Great Days of Service.

Collectively known as “the chainsaw gang,” their job as part of Great Days of Service during two recent weekends was to clear brush or topple trees on owner-occupied properties identified by the city as needing pruning. Other volunteers worked on plumbing, painting and generl repairs.

Ray Lunsford and Chuck Halteman are veterans in Texas Baptist Men disaster relief work all over the country, so much so that Halteman keeps a duffle packed for quick departure on call. Close to home this time, completely equipped and in non-disaster mode, all they needed were designated sites.

“There’s just one reason we do disaster relief—to witness. We pray with the people, leave them a Bible and encourage them to trust Christ,” Halteman said.

He didn’t say, but he and Lunsford undoubtedly did their share of trusting Jesus on their most challenging Great Days of Service call this year—riding a cherry-picker up 40 feet or so to cut the top out of an enormous cottonwood tree estimated to be at least 100 years old.

During the two weekends of service, volunteers from Plymouth Park Baptist Church packed and delivered to workers about 400 sack lunches donated by Irving restaurants and grocery stores.

Since the program’s beginning in 2002, host church duties have rotated among five participating churches, with a sixth to enter the circuit in 2010.

This year it was Plymouth Park Baptist’s turn, which meant two members—Steve Epperson and Angie Walker—served as co-chairs. He moved among the couple of dozen work sites selected by city officials. She coordinated all aspects of food intake and lunch preparation and deliveries, plus helping handle constant cell phone calls to and from work sites needing help, running out of materials or running out of work.

Quick notes on her master control sheet include jottings like “a lot of work to do,” “7 workers needed,” “sand and replace floor,” “bath tub patch,” “tear down shed,” “build steps for shed” and “tree removal.”

The latter is where “the chainsaw gang” came in. Lunsford and Halteman particularly enjoyed being able to sleep in their own beds after each work day rather than in sleeping bags on church gymnasium floors as they often do on Texas Baptist Men missions.

A $120,000 gift to Buckner International from Memorial Baptist Church in Taylor has made a big difference for children in two countries.

Through the gift, Memorial has changed the face of care for children in La Loba, a Mexico City-area colonia, and in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The largest portion of the gift will be used to build a community center that will focus on feeding children in La Loba, an impoverished area near a landfill. The remainder was targeted to support the Babies Home in Ethiopia.

It’s an unusually sized gift that Albert Reyes, president of Buckner Children and Family Services, says will make an unusually big difference to the affected children.

“Through Memorial’s giving, we will be able to construct this feeding center, which already is feeding more than 140 children five times a week in an open-air space between two buildings. We’ll now be able to provide additional programs in the safety of a center and hope to increase our ability to feed 250 children a week,” Reyes said.

“This gift also will allow us to bring additional support to the Babies Home, giving us the ability to care for more small children needing care and waiting for adoption. This is a blessing from God.”

Pastor Dudley Marx said the direction Memorial Baptist church took reflected its desire to help impoverished children.

“We do not have very many young children in this church, and when we brought in ideas, the children really hit home. They recognized the direction this world is taking and children need help,” Marx said. “Jesus helped everyone, but the poor were attracted to him. We want to be like that, to do like Jesus does.”

Alliance urges end to Cuba travel ban. The Alliance of Baptists applauded President Obama for loosening restrictions on American’s travel to Cuba and called for more reform during the group’s recent convocation in Charlotte, N.C. The Alliance welcomed the president’s April 13 order relaxing restrictions on the ability of Cuban Americans with family members in Cuba to travel to the communist nation and send money to relatives. The group urged Obama to ease travel restrictions further and continue a thorough review of U.S. policy toward Cuba, including a nearly half-century-old trade embargo. Since 1991, the Alliance has had a formal relationship with the Fraternidad de Iglesias Bautistas de Cuba. Some Alliance churches have partnerships with congregations in Cuba, and members of those churches have traveled there in mission teams. The government fined the Alliance of Baptists $34,000 in 2006, alleging five church mission teams traveling to Cuba under the Alliance’s travel license violated the trade embargo by engaging in tourist activities. Later officials dropped the fine, saying none of the five churches did anything wrong, but warned of “criminal and/or civil penalties” for any future violation of the Cuba embargo.

State CBF groups invest in microfinance initiative. A friendly challenge initiated by one state Cooperative Baptist Fellowship organization to another may end up putting millions to work in developing nations, giving them a chance to earn more than a subsistence wage. It began when CBF of Texas decided to invest $10,000—10 percent of its reserve—in the CBF Foundation’s new microfinance initiative. Texas challenged CBF of Florida to add 10 percent of its reserve or endowment funds into the project, which provides small short-term loans to entrepreneurs in Third World countries. Then the challenge spread to all of CBF’s states and regions, who enthusiastically endorsed the idea. Now, more than $1 million is committed to microfinance, CBF Foundation President Don Durham said.

Gregory inducted into MLK College of Preachers. Morehouse College President Robert Franklin recently inducted Joel Gregory, professor at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary, into the Martin Luther King Jr. International College of Preachers. The College of Preachers recognizes pulpiteers who embody the principles of peace, justice and reconciliation proclaimed by Martin Luther King Jr. Recently, Gregory was the first Anglo preacher to address the Prairie View A&M Pastor’s Conference in the 59-year history of the conference at the historic African-American university.

Utah Missions founder dead at 89. Baptist minister John L. Smith, who founded Utah Missions in 1953, died April 5 in Marlow, Okla. He was 89. While he served as a pastor in Utah, he began an intensive study of Mormonism, and he wrote several books about how Latter-day Saints doctrine deviates from orthodox Christianity. At age 80, after he lost control of Utah Missions, he founded a namesake organization—the Ministry of John L. Smith —to carry on his work refuting Mormonism. He was preceded in death by his wife of 50 years, Winona Izez Muncrief, in 1991. Survivors include his second wife, Pearl Myree Gayle and son John L. Smith Jr., both of Marlow; daughters Winona Junelle Smith of East Asia and Bonita Barfield of Tucson, Ariz.; stepdaughter, Gail Myree Norman of Walters, Okla.; nine grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.