DALLAS—When Christians read and interpret Scripture together, it calls them to remember the story of Jesus, who transforms the church into a community of moral discourse and calls its members to lives characterized by compassion, ethicist Allen Verhey said.

Allen Verhey

Verhey, professor of Christian ethics at Duke Divinity School, addressed the relationship between the Bible, community and the moral life in his remarks to the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission conference at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas.

"Without remembering, there is no identity. In amnesia, one loses one's self. In memory, one finds an identity. And without common remembering, there is no community," he said.

Remembrance enables the church to make sense of the present and nurture hope for the future, Verhey said.

But proper interpretation of Scripture and what it means to the church today demands discipline and discernment. It means being able to see the big picture of Scripture and interpret its parts in light of the whole story, he noted.

"Discernment is learned and exercised in the community gathered around the Scripture, and it involves the diversity of gifts present in the congregation," he said.

"Discernment requires a dialogue with the whole church gathered around the whole of Scripture. It requires reading Scripture with those whose experience is different from our own and whose experience of the authority of Scripture is different from our own. It requires a dialogue in which people listen both to Scripture and to one another, muting neither Scripture nor one another."

As communities of moral discourse, churches discuss not only what they ought to do, but also why they ought to do it, he added.

"A prescription or prohibition lifted from Scripture may be and must be tested and accepted or qualified or rejected by the discernment of the community gathered around Scripture and exercising discernment. Reasons are given and heard in the community, but any and all reasons must finally be tested in the community and defended, discarded or qualified by their coherence with the gospel," Verhey said.

Rules must be evaluated on the basis of their "creative fidelity to the whole story—the story that has the remembered Jesus at the center of it, he said.

As churches remember Jesus in a world of sickness and suffering, they must respond to the call to become communities of compassion—communities that suffer with and alongside others, Verhey said. He contrasted genuine compassion with a modern "counterfeit compassion" that insists suffering should be eliminated, not shared.

"The modern compassion is formed of the expectation that the world should be—right now—the sort of place where suffering can be avoided, where we need not suffer for anything or with anyone," he said.

Modern medical technology too often leads the church to surrender sufferers to the care of professionals, Verhey said.

"At the very least, communities of faith will not neglect their obligations to visit the sick or abandon the sufferer to the technical experts," he said.

When people encounter pain, they often are struck mute by their suffering, he observed.

"In response to this first phase, a wise compassion practices silent and empathetic presence," Verhey said. "The compassionate practice of presence provides a first and fundamental break with the desolating isolation of suffering."

In time, Christians can help sufferers name their pain, find the voice to tell their stories and listen attentively, he said. Eventually, the church can help sufferers write their next chapter—provided Christians exercise a compassion marked by wisdom, piety, humility and courage.

"Suffering is always individual. It differentiates—and it alienates," Verhey said. "Compassion, on the other hand, is always communal. It shares, and it unites."

BRENHAM—Annie, one of Miracle Farm's most beloved horses, has been retired after nearly 14 years of service and countless indelible impressions on boys at the ministry near Brenham.

Annie was one of the first horses donated when Miracle Farm began its horse program in 1998. At the time, she had never been ridden, and trainers soon discovered how obstinate she could be.

"As an example of her ornery streak, Annie once sat on a Mercedes in protest of participating in a local parade," said Tim Webb, a former Miracle Farm campus administrator at Miracle Farm, a residential program affiliated with Children at Heart Ministries.

Annie gave birth to a foal not long after the incident. Through the process of becoming a mother and caring for her colt, Annie was humbled and became receptive to training, Webb noted.

"Her colt just wore her out, and she quickly realized, as many of us do after we become parents—that she couldn't just lay around and do whatever she wanted all the time," he said.

Just like many of the boys she served, Annie gained a sense of purpose through her role at Miracle Farm, Webb observed.

"When a young man arrives at Miracle Farm, he is overwhelmed with life and has often times already failed in many ways," he said. "When a boy is assigned a horse, it gives him the opportunity to succeed."

In having the responsibility to care for a horse, the boys learn to thrive by taking it one day and one step at a time. Once they've mastered their horse, their self-esteem is rebuilt, and they have the confidence to transfer those same skills into their schoolwork and their relationships.

"The key to horses—really to all relationships—is consistency," Webb said. "If the boys act rude to a horse, the horse bucks them. But if they communicate and develop a relationship with their horse, the horse cooperates and gives back."

During Annie's nearly 14 years at Miracle Farm, she became a consistent friend to more than 20 boys.

Chris formed a special bond with Annie, the first horse he was assigned at Miracle Farm. Ironically, Chris completed his goals and reunited with his family the same day Annie retired. (PHOTO/Cindy Davis)

"To me, Annie was the best horse on the Farm. She listened, never threw a fit and knew exactly what to do," said Jon Snow, former Miracle Farm resident. "I treated her right, so she treated me right. … She taught me many things including responsibility, patience and how to care for someone other than myself."

Since leaving in 2004, Snow has returned to Miracle Farm frequently to visit staff, friends he made through church, and—of course—to see Annie. He's not alone, since many other boys feel the same.

"Many times when a boy comes back for a visit, it's because they're facing a crossroads in their life and they need to reconnect to a time when they were making some good progress," said Mike Gallaway, Miracle Farm equestrian and vocational trainer. "Seeing that horse and feeling that emotional bond again helps them remember what they're capable of, and they can walk away knowing, 'I can do this.'"

"The emotional bonds our boys naturally form with their horses through caring for them each day often results in the boys' first steps in learning to consider the needs and feelings of parents, siblings and others at home," said Alex Hamilton, Executive Director of Miracle Farm.

Annie continues to be a blessing in retirement, Miracle Farm administrators noted. She has joined a family with a little girl who's just learning to ride.

NORTHFIELD, Mass. (RNS) —Jerry Pattengale's cell phone won't stop ringing as he leads four college administrators around a majestic campus built in 1879 by legendary evangelist D.L. Moody.

Calls and visitors are pouring in for one reason: The billionaire Oklahoma family that owns the 217-acre site and its 43 buildings aims to give it away to a Christian institution. Free. No charge. Just take it.

"That was a national organization in Colorado that just called," said Pattengale, a college administrator who's been hired to help find a new owner for the property. "They want to come and see."

The extraordinary offer went out to 15 hand-picked institutions in January after plans fell apart to locate a new C.S. Lewis College on the site that once housed the Northfield campus of Northfield Mount Hermon School. Moody founded a predecessor school, the Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies, here in 1879.

Now the Green family, owners of the Hobby Lobby craft store chain, is soliciting new proposals. The winner will need to demonstrate both an orthodox Christian vision and the financial wherewithal to pull it off.

Whoever gets the property will inherit a gem with hilltop views stretching to New Hampshire and Vermont. Since buying the campus in 2009 for $100,000, the Greens have poured $5 million into improvements. Visitors now stroll along new sidewalks, smell fresh paint in the 2,400-seat auditorium where Moody preached and marvel at seamlessly rebuilt buttressing for a formerly condemned stone chapel.

For the Greens, giant gifts to promote Christian education and the Bible are a stock in trade. The family saved Oral Roberts University with a $70 million donation; gave a campus in Haverhill, Mass., to Zion Bible College; and built a 1 million-square-foot complex for Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. They're currently planning a Bible museum to house their private collection of biblical antiquities, which ranks among the world's largest.

Although none of the Greens have been to college, Pattengale said, they're committed to strengthening Christian higher education. The so-called "Moody campus" here gives them an asset for doing so in a region famous for academic institutions and secular liberalism.

Dave Powell, D.L. Moody's great-grandson, visits his great-grandfather's grave in Northfield, Mass., as Christian institutions submit proposals for the former Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies that Moody founded in 1879. (RNS PHOTO/G. Jeffrey MacDonald)

"While the Northeast has become very secular, we feel like it needs to reconsider the roots that this country was founded upon and that D.L. Moody taught," Hobby Lobby President Steve Green said. "If there can be a light in that area that this campus can play a part in, we would love to see that happen."

Interest has been keen. But giving away a historic, picturesque campus is turning out to be a challenge.

So far, only the Redlands, Calif.-based C.S. Lewis Foundation has offered to take the entire property. The group still is raising funds with hopes of launching a "great books" college on the site, where students would focus on classic literature and arts. But organizers missed their Dec. 31 fundraising target by more than $3 million, thus triggering the new search.

"Everything is in place except money," said Stan Mattson, C.S. Lewis Foundation founder and president. The curriculum is ready for would-be C.S. Lewis College students, but one year's operating costs for the campus—estimated at $1.5 million—would virtually deplete its resources.

Colleges have expressed interest in owning select portions of the campus, but not the whole thing. So, the Greens are considering a scenario of co-ownership among various institutions with one serving as the anchor, like a department store in a mall.

Liberty University is a leading contender, since it has a 40-year track record, has 80,000 students—including online enrollments—and, unlike many universities, "moves at lightning speed," Pattengale said. Liberty likely would offer short-term and weeklong intensive courses in Northfield for its thousands of online graduate students who live and work in the Northeast, according to Liberty Provost Ronald Godwin.

But even deep-pocketed Liberty doesn't want exclusive ownership of the campus.

Northfield Mount Hermon broadly interpreted Moody's legacy by focusing on education, not evangelism. Some want elements of that ethos to continue. Dave Powell, D.L. Moody's great-grandson, said he hopes a Christian institution will take ownership and carry on such traditions as honoring the dignity of manual labor by having everyone do physical chores.

"I hope they sustain the Christian foundation here but are broad enough to understand that it's not the only religion in the world," Powell said. "I would hope we certainly would invite Muslims, Jews and everybody else (to speak on campus) because how else are we going to survive in the world?"

The Greens will consider a first round of proposals at their monthly family meeting March 7. After that, they might open the process beyond the handpicked candidates, although that could mean weighing hundreds of proposals, Pattengale said.

"We could hold it indefinitely if we wanted to, but our goal is to get it operating," Green said. "The sooner the better, if we could find the right fit."

SAN ANTONIO—Decades ago, most Americans generally understood they were separated from God by a chasm called sin and the only way they could cross that gap was through a relationship with Christ, said author and Christian apologist Mark Mittleberg.

Efforts to share the gospel simply meant helping people decide to embrace Christ, he said.

People no longer have that understanding, Mittleberg said. And that makes evangelism more difficult.

As people have become less connected to congregations, that common understanding of being disconnected from God—let alone that any gap between people and God can be filled by Christ—has waned significantly, Mittleberg said.

A common language and worldview no longer exist between an increasingly non-Christian populace and Christ-followers seeking to share the gospel, he said.

"People are moving farther from the cross," Mittleberg said during Texas Baptists' UnApologetics Conference at Grace Point Church in San Antonio.

Texas Baptists' evangelism team, San Antonio Baptist Association, Baptist University of the Americas, Wayland Baptist University and Grace Point Church produced the conference.

Not only have individuals moved farther from a relationship with Christ, they also have erected intellectual walls that make them resistant to evangelism efforts, Mittleberg added.

In order to bring people back to Christ, his followers must care for others as God cares about them, understand people no longer realize they are spiritually lost and commit to following Christ passionately in order to see life change in others, he said.

Christians also must be prepared to provide answers when they're needed, Mittleberg said.

Answers are exactly what author Lee Strobel said he needed. An atheist from an early age, Strobel attempted to put his journalistic skills to work investigating Christianity after his wife converted to the faith.

"I began to investigate whether it was historically credible that Jesus died and rose again," he said.

Throughout a nearly two-year-long investigation, Strobel became convinced the Bible was accurate. He noted multiple sources inside and outside the Bible during the time of Christ that confirmed the biblical narrative. Critical contemporaries of Christ confirmed portions of the biblical story. Eyewitnesses affirmed Scripture.

"I realized it would take more faith to maintain my atheism than to become a Christian," he said.

The investigation led Strobel to embrace the gospel. The decision changed his life, he said, turning from an immoral drunkard to become a better father and husband. He became a minister and now defends the faith he once tried to disprove.

"God changed my life," Strobel said. "He changed my wife. He changed my daughter. He changed my son. And now he's working in the lives of my grandchildren."

Evangelism in contemporary society requires Christians who are willing to invest in the lives of non-Christians, working through the struggles—spiritual or otherwise—that might be encountered, Mittleberg said.

"We need to learn to think like missionaries," Mittleberg said.

Thinking like missionaries means people need to be prepared to share the gospel at any time, Strobel said. Christians must look for opportunities to share their faith relationally.

"You just never know what might happen on your average and routine day," he said. "Someone might ambush you with an opportunity."

AMARILLO—Paramount Baptist Church in Amarillo has licensed 20 students to the ministry in the last six years.

Calling out ministers, missionaries and other servants of Christ is nothing new for the Panhandle church, Pastor Gil Lain said.

Pastor Gil Lain prays for Hayden Walsh, one of many students at Paramount Baptist Church who has committed his life to vocational Christian ministry. (?PHOTO/George Henson)

"It has been a characteristic of Paramount for years," he said. "Paramount has been a sending point. One of our International Mission Board missionaries … calls us a launching pad. We've got a bunch who are out there on the mission field and in place in churches right now. It's been a pattern here."

At least a half-dozen more young men who attended the church through high school have been licensed by other churches, and at least a half-dozen couples serve as missionaries, he added.

Family Minister Aaron Groff, who until recently served as youth minister, said there isn't a formula in place at Paramount that leads to so many feeling a call to ministry.

Instead, there's a climate that nurtures it.

"More than anything, we try to create a culture that is gospel-centered, where we challenge students to walk in an authentic relationship with Christ," he said.

"I think it's also important that the guys who have been in ministry that came out of Para-mount came back and shared their story. Some of them have helped us with camps and things. There's just been this heritage in place."

When young people sense God's calling and express it, Paramount begins a mentoring process.

Individual mentoring sessions have been held at least biweekly and more often weekly, Lain said. He recalled one group of young men who met with him at 6 a.m. on Thursday mornings and the sacrifice they willingly made to be there so early.

Three church staff members at Paramount Baptist Church in Amarillo—(left to right) Sharoin Tarpley, Karolyn Price and Ramona Coffman—wash the feet of three students who have committed to vocational Christian service—(left to right) Kimberly Fowlkes, Elainabeth Robinson and Kristen Coffman.

"It was the highlight of my week," Lain said. "I received so much from those guys, because they were hungry for learning, and they trusted me and believed in me. In the midst of just the everyday church life and the pressures and burdens, they were a bright light. Even when things were hard on them, they still were a bright light and gave me so much."

Young people who sense a calling on their lives also often are plugged into intern roles, even while still in high school.

Lain also credits the congregation with fostering a climate where people are open to hearing God's calling.

"Paramount is the kind of church where staff members don't just come and leave like a revolving door. I've been here 20 years, and Aaron has been here eight years," he said.

"What our young people see is a church treating a staff like a staff ought to be treated. They see staff members who have joy, who have good support—and they think it's always like that."

For those who have different experiences at other churches, it can be "a real shock to them," he acknowledged.

"But it sets the level high where they know it can be good. That's a real tribute to this church family. Not to us as staff—we're the recipients. It's the church family. It says a lot about Paramount that people want to go into ministry because they see that," Lain said.

Many in the church also emphasize the importance of finding one's purpose in Christ, Groff added.

Paramount does not "push kids toward ministry, but we do teach really strongly that everyone is a minister," Lain said. "Our job is to equip the saints for ministry. And there are a lot other young people here who aren't going into 'the ministry,' but they see what they are going to do as God's call on their life, and they plan to serve the Lord the rest of their life," he said.

The importance of serving Christ regardless of vocation permeates the church membership, Groff said.

"It helps that it's part of the DNA of the church. Our Sunday school teachers, our small-group leaders, the people who go to camp with us—they understand the bigger picture that we serve in our places of work. Not just as a place of work—it's not by accident, but with great purpose," he explained.

"When we're at school, we're to be on mission on that campus; when we travel, we are to be missionaries. Our adults understand that, and they invest that into our students as well."

This year, the congregation planned an intergenerational mission team of youth and adults to foster those mentoring relationships.

In the end, however, calling is not a thing engineered by people, Lain and Groff agreed.

"This is a God thing, not something we can claim any credit for," Groff said.

• Wesley Clark to First Church in Pearsall as minister of youth.

• Steve Dominy to University Church in Shawnee, Okla., as pastor from First Church in Gatesville.

• Jonathan Hewitt to First Church in Carrizo Springs as interim pastor.

• Chris Lang to Wellborn Church in Wellborn as interim youth and children's minister.

• Rosy Smith to First Church in Pearsall as minister of senior adults.

• Dillon International will hold a free adoption information meeting March 19 at 6 p.m. at Buckner Children's Home in Dallas. A representative will give an overview of adoption from China, Korea, Haiti, India, Hong Kong and Ghana. A domestic adoption program for Texas families and adoption programs in Russia, Ethiopia and Honduras, available through an affiliation with Buckner, also will be discussed. For more information or to make a reservation for the meeting, call (214) 319-3426.

• Hardin-Simmons University's first Honors Forum on Faith and Intellect will focus on bioethics. The March 22-23 event will feature Peter Dysert, chief of pathology at Baylor University Medical Center, and Jim Denison, president of the Denison Forum on Truth and Culture, as keynote speakers. The forum includes concurrent sessions on various bioethics themes, a disabilities panel discussion, a physicians panel and a student art show. Registration begins at 2 p.m. Thursday, and the conference concludes at 1 p.m. Friday. Fees are $20 for the conference and meals, with discounts for employees, students and honors alumni. Meal reservations must be made by noon March 20. For meals reservations or more information, call (325) 670-1531.

• Host churches still are needed to assist with volunteers and meals for the Dallas Association's Dallas Cup Hospitality Center April 2-6 in Frisco. The Dallas Cup soccer tournament brings players, coaches and fans from all over the world, and the hospitality center is one means of spreading the gospel through this event. For more information, call Carolyn Alston at (214) 319-1166. Participating congregations need to send a team leader to a volunteer orientation meeting at 10 a.m. March 22 at First Church in Frisco for final preparations and information.

• Tony Martin, professor in the Christian studies department, will speak on "The Abiding Lesson of the Titanic Catastophe" at the April 12 University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Christian Studies Forum at noon. Held in the Shelton Theater of the Mabee Student Center, the event is free and open to the public. Participants are encouraged to bring a lunch.

• Brian Bessent, David Lott and Melanie Ocana have been named the recipients of Hardin-Simmons University's outstanding young alumni awards by HSU's Board of Young Associates. The board is a select group of alumni under age 40 who aspire to assist the university in achieving its mission of providing a quality education in a Christian environment.

• Dallas Baptist University's Women's Auxiliary presented its annual Ruth Awards to Joyce Andres of Irving, Beverly Giltner of Arlington and Betty Rush of Hurst.

• Howard Payne University celebrated Black History Month with a special chapel service. Members of the African-American chapter of HPU's Alumni Association, current students and former students presented poetry, music and stories during the service titled "Pressing on with Precision and Purpose."

Anniveraries

• Mountain Church in Gatesville, 80th, March 25. John Weaver will be the guest speaker. A covered-dish luncheon will follow the morning service. Kurt Fuessel is pastor.

• Park Robertson, fifth, as pastor of First Church in Noonday, March 30.

• First Church in La Feria, 100th, April 13-15. Call (956) 797-1214 for more information.

Deaths

• Estelle Watson, 93, Jan. 14 in San Angelo. A pastor's wife, she made two missionary trips to Russia and taught Sunday school until the end of her life. She was preceded in death by her husband, Ausie, in 1993. She is survived by sons, Travis and Larry; daughter, Peggy Beeman; seven grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild.

• David Womack, 57, Feb. 26 in San Angelo. He was pastor of Eola Church in Eola. He is survived by his wife, Julia; daughter, Reanna Choate; son, David; stepsons, Michael and Daniel Farris; and sister, Brenda Young.

Retirement

• Nancy Conlin, as minister of childhood education at First Church in Bryan, March 15. She served the church 19 years.

Event

• First Church in Bryan will hold a two-hour seminar with Nabeel Jabbour on reaching out to Muslims March 25 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the fellowship hall. David Higgs is pastor.

• Roland Hill has been named police chaplain emeritus by the Pasadena Police Department. He served as the department's chaplain more than 36 years. For 31 years, he also was pastor of First Church in Pasadena, where he continues to teach and minister as a retiree.

Revival

• First Church, Poteet; March 4-7; evangelist, Jason Dykes; pastor, Michael Allen Weaver.

DALLAS—An expressed desire by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s chief elected officer to see that organization revisit its policy against hiring homosexuals prompted the new executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas to underscore Texas Baptists’ stated position on the subject.

CBF Moderator Colleen Burroughs recently told the Fellowship’s Coordinating Council she hopes CBF will take a fresh look at a policy that prohibits funding for organizations that affirm homosexual behavior and bars the hiring of staff members or missionaries who are practicing homosexuals.

BGCT Executive Director David Hardage insisted two things need to be understood regarding the BGCT—Texas Baptists are opposed to homosexual behavior, and they love all people.

First, the convention “has a very strong biblical policy” regarding homosexual behavior, he said. In 1996, messengers to the BGCT annual approved a report stating the Bible teaches “the ideal for sexual behavior is the marital union between husband and wife and that all other sexual relations—whether premarital, extramarital or homosexual—are contrary to God’s purpose and thus sinful.”
Texas Baptists subsequently reaffirmed that statement—most recently in 2007, he noted.

When two churches—University Baptist Church in Austin and Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas—publicly acted contrary to that position, the convention took action by refusing any further contributions from the congregations and asking the churches to cease identifying themselves as affiliated with the BGCT.

At the same time, Hardage insisted: “Texas Baptists love everybody. … We are a people of grace.”

Hardage also noted, “Cooperative Program dollars are used exactly as churches instruct us.” In 2011, the BGCT forwarded $1,048,352 to the CBF because that is how individual churches directed their money.

Jill Larsen, BGCT treasurer and chief financial officer, reported Texas Baptists gave $32,735,315 to the Cooperative Program unified giving plan for Texas causes in 2011, finishing the year at 99.65 percent of budget.

Churches directed an additional $14,622,952 to worldwide Cooperative Program causes—including $11,311,490 to the Southern Baptist Convention and $2,263,110 to BGCT-related worldwide causes.

In its business sessions, the BGCT Executive Board:

• Granted the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor authority to reduce the size of its governing board from 48 to 37 trustees, with 19 elected by the BGCT and 18 elected by the university effective Jan. 1, 2014. The reduction will be accomplished by attrition.

• Approved a resolution of appreciation to Associate Executive Director Steve Vernon for his service as acting executive director during the period before Hardage was elected.

• Learned almost $100,000 has been collected toward construction of a community center in Japan. Last year, Texas Baptists provided disaster relief there after an earthquake and tsunami hit.

• Approved a recommendation from the BGCT Administration Support Committee setting church starting funding for 2011 at $3,321,681, with $1,562,065 from budget funds, $1 million from the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions and the balance from other sources.

CUIDAD JUAREZ—When David Wall first came to Juarez, he saw children in need— underweight and not growing properly as a result of being malnourished. They struggled to find food to eat and struggled in school.

That's no longer the case. Wall, the pastor of Iglesia Bautista Agape and director of Agape Ministries, launched a feeding program five years ago for elementary-age children in the area. Today, Manna feeds roughly 135 children daily, providing many with their only nutritious meal of the day.

Children in Juarez receive nutritious meals at Manna, a ministry of Iglesia Bautista Agape. (PHOTO/John Hall/BGCT)

Children run from school to the feeding site, fidget as they laugh, smile and wait in line for food. When they finish their plates, some of them come back for more. They never are turned away.

The food gives the children what they need to grow and develop properly. As a result, they perform better in school and behave better at home. The children who first participated in Manna are set to complete the fifth grade this year. Their school recently was recognized as the best school in Mexico—a direct result, Wall believes, of improvements taking place within the community.

"Thanks to God, things are changing," said Maria Bravo-Silva, whose son Fernando was among the first children to come to the feeding center. "The children are reaching their goals."

The feeding center allowed Iglesia Bautista Agape an opportunity to get to know the children in the community better, as well as their families. The ministry blossomed to encompass regular medical clinics, a school for the arts as well as tutoring programs—each designed to help young people while building relationships with families through which the gospel can be shared.

"It benefits my people, children and family," said Bravo-Silva. "It benefits people in the community like children and families."

Wall's ministry is supported in part by gifts to missions through the worldwide portion of the Texas Baptist Cooperative Program, as well as Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions . Those funds are crucial to the change that is taking place in the community, Wall said.

"We are able to do great things in Mexico and in this place specifically that would not be possible without the help and support of the groups and people of the Baptist General Convention of Texas," he said.

Wall prays the congregation is known for the love it has for God and its community. Because the church has cared for people near it, residents have been open to hearing and embracing the gospel.

"When we go door-to-door sharing the gospel, people are open to receive it," he said.

DALLAS—A Korean Texas Baptist with a 17-year track record of relief ministry in North Korea made two trips there in recent months to deliver 50 tons of flour and 1,100 pairs of warm socks and other supplies for orphans.

Korean orphans benefited from a shipment of flour Yoo J. Yoon delivered, made possible by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Texas Baptist Men, the Korean community in Dallas and several individual donors. (PHOTO/Courtesy of Yoo J. Yoon)

Yoo Jong Yoon's most-recent trip to North Korea ended just two weeks before the death of the nation's supreme leader, Kim Jong-il.

Yoon—former Korean mission field consultant with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship —delivered $28,000 worth of flour and supplies provided by CBF, Texas Baptist Men , the Korean American Sharing Movement of Dallas and several individual donors.

At their recent board of directors meeting and annual convention, TBM agreed to provide another $10,000 in 2012 to meet needs in light of North Korea's longstanding food shortage. TBM's ongoing involvement in hunger relief, humanitarian aid and development projects in North Korea dates back to the mid-1990s.

Yoon anticipates delivering 60 tons of corn in May and another 60 tons in September. One ton of corn provides for about 2,200 meals, he explained.

Yoon also secured memoranda of understanding from the government that could open the doors to providing support for an English-language teaching institute and medicine, supplies and equipment for a hospital in Wonsan City in Kwangwon Province.

DALLAS—When an earthquake spawned a tsunami that devastated much of Japan last year, Texas Baptist Men provided disaster relief and recovery ministries.

Every year, twin seismic waves shake Texas as 72,000 people enter the criminal justice system and an equal number are released. And volunteers are needed to respond to that challenge, officials with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice told TBM leaders at their recent board meeting and annual convention.

About one in four released ex-offenders in Texas will return to prison within three years, but that compares to one out of two—and sometimes two out of three—in states of comparable size, leaders within the criminal justice system said.

"The difference is God," said Marvin Dunbar, manager of services with the TDCJ rehabilitation programs division.

Dunbar affirmed the role of religious volunteers and faith-based programs in the correctional system—a note echoed by Oliver Bell, chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice.

"Volunteers increase what we can do by 50 percent," Bell said, noting 20,000 volunteers serve in the prison system alongside 40,000 employees.

"We have the best faith-based dorm system in the nation," he added, pointing to opportunities for life-transforming service by leading discipleship programs and other ministries there. Offender relocation to any of the system's 52 faith-based dorms is voluntary and conditioned on good behavior, he noted.

Bell believes faith-based programs and the impact of religious volunteers in the criminal justice system have the potential to change lives.

"We would like to work ourselves out of a job," he said.

TBM Executive Director Don Gibson challenged men who have completed the Experiencing God discipleship program to participate in an Experiencing God Weekend in multiple Huntsville-area prisons April 27-28.

"We will need many volunteers to go in, perhaps as many as 150 to 200 men," Gibson said, adding he hopes the volunteer teams will be ethnically and racially diverse.

Qualified men interested in serving will need to clear a TDCJ background check. Any prospective volunteer should send a photocopy of his driver's license to jeanette.nichols@texasbaptistmen.org or to Texas Baptist Men, Attn.: Jeanette Nichols, 5351 Catron, Dallas 75227.

In other business, TBM re-elected Tommy Malone from Park Central Baptist Church in Dallas as president, along with a slate regional directors and vice presidents for ministry areas.

The organization also adopted a $2,338,127 budget for 2012, including $572,500 anticipated from the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

TBM presented Parabolani awards to Milton Schmidt from First Baptist Church in Dallas, Carroll and Tina Prewitt from First Baptist Church in Lindale and Ron Mathis from Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano. The award is named for a first-century brotherhood of Christians who risked everything for their faith.

Volunteer of the Year awards went to Cookie Slate from The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson and Jerry Vaden from Lakeside Baptist Church in Dallas.

Two longtime Royal Ambassador workers were inducted into the Legion of Honor—Mike Wade from First Baptist Church in Lancaster and Dwight Bridges from First Baptist Church in Plano.

PLAINVIEW—Trey Shirley believes there is more to his work than simply teaching his students at Wayland Baptist University the finer points of graphic design.

This poster, depicting a child drinking dirty water, was designed by Wayland Baptist University senior Kate Trejos, a graphic design student from Bogota, Columbia, as part of her work in Trey Shirley's graphic design program at the university.

"In each of my classes, I try to do one assignment that has social responsibility in it," Shirley said.

Last semester, he assigned a project on the global water crisis, instructing his students to create a poster that communicated visually the idea that out one in six people lacks access to clean water.

"When you design for something specific, you're thinking about it from so many different angles. There also is something intimate about designing for a cause," Shirley said.

Projects force students to focus on the social issue at hand, and he hopes through that process they will develop a personal connection with the issue. As a former youth minister who originally hoped to be a pastor, he sees it as part of his calling.

"I thought I was going to be a pulpit minister but found a stronger calling to teach," he said. "I love preaching. I really do. There are just so many other aspects of teaching that I'm better suited for than being a pastor. … Play to your strengths."

Wayland Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, Trey Shirley (right) works with one of his students, Timothy Garner, during Shirley's design class. One of Shirley's goals is to help his students understand how they can use their interest in graphic design as a ministry tool. (PHOTOS/Wayland Baptist University)

Part of Shirley's goal is to help students understand how they can use their chosen vocation as an instrument of ministry. He hopes students understand that as they work in graphic design or the arts, they should not lose touch with their faith.

"All work is kingdom work," he said.

Shirley encourages students to explore how they can make an impact on the world by combining their faith and their vocation.

"We're studying what it means to use imagery to make it into a visual language," he said.

Kate Trejos, a senior from Bogota, Columbia, said the assignment made her more aware of water as a precious resource.

"You can't take that for granted," she said. "From generation to generation we have to be aware of those things."

Wayland Baptist University student Gilberto Reyes designed this poster on the "Global Water Crisis."

Gilberto Reyes, a senior baseball player from the Dominican Republic, agreed the assignment was eye-opening and said he was impressed with the amount of information he was able to find as he worked on the project.

Shirley hopes social-issue-oriented design assignments will spur his students to look for more opportunities to use their talents as ministries. However, he pointed out, they will have to be aggressive and creative in their search.

"Those opportunities do come, but you have to go looking for them," he said.