DALLAS—First Baptist Church of Midland voted unanimously Dec. 5 to call Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Director Randel Everett as senior pastor, and he accepted.

Everett, 61, has served several months as interim pastor of the West Texas church. He becomes pastor effective Jan. 16.

BGCT leaders will name a 15-member search committee to find Everett’s successor as executive director. Seven members will be named by BGCT Executive Board officers and eight members by convention officers, and the Executive Board then will vote on that committee and initiate the search, said BGCT Executive Board Chair Debbie Ferrier.

Convention leaders are recommending to the Executive Board that Associate Executive Director Steve Vernon be empowered to assume all authority and responsibilities related to the executive director’s role while the position is vacant.

For updates on the search process, visit baptiststandard.com.

The board elected Everett as executive director in February 2008, and he assumed the post several weeks later. Everett came to the position from First Baptist Church in Newport News, Va.

In addition to serving as president of the John Leland Center for Theological Studies in Arlington, Va., his previous places of service included Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, Va.; First Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla.; First Baptist Church in Benton, Ark.; University Baptist Church in Fort Worth; Inglewood Baptist Church in Grand Prairie; and First Baptist Church in Gonzales.

In a video statement posted on the convention’s website, Everett thanked Texas Baptists for the opportunity to serve them as the BGCT executive director and indicated he believes Texas Baptists are poised to continue reaching the state for Christ.

“I want you to know how excited I am to continue being a part of the Texas Baptist family,” he said. “In these past three years, I’ve been able to see face-to-face what’s going on in many our churches and in our institutions.

“I’ve never been more ex-cited to be part of the Texas Bap-tist family than I am right now. God has brought together a wonderful resource of people, of institutions, a great heritage and a great future. When we really cooperate together, we can do things like end hunger in Texas or share the hope of Christ with every person in our state.”

During Everett’s tenure as executive director, Texas Baptists launched Texas Hope 2010, an initiative to share the gospel with every person in Texas by Easter 2010. The effort emphasized praying for non-Christians, caring for people in need and sharing the gospel.

As a result of the emphasis, Texas Baptists distributed more than 860,000 multimedia gospel compact discs, as well as multitudes of Bibles, throughout the state.

Texas Baptists gave more than $1.8 million to feed the hungry through the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger. The Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission partnered with the Baylor University School of Social Work to launch the Texas Hunger Initiative, an effort to end Texas hunger by 2015. An initial project involved recruiting Texas Baptist churches to serve as summer feeding sites for children in school reduced- or free-lunch programs.

The BGCT recently began building on the Hope 2010 momentum by launching Hope 1:8, an initiative based on Acts 1:8 that encourages Texas Baptists to share the hope of Christ locally, statewide and around the world.

—Based on reporting by John Hall of Texas Baptist Communications

More than 1,000 people made professions of faith as a result of Valley Reach, an evangelistic effort centered on the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting.

About 130 churches participated in Valley Reach, hosting a variety of efforts that included block parties, the distribution of multimedia gospel compact discs, taco distribution and an apologetics conference.

The outreach activities resulted in 1,024 people making first-time professions of faith and 430 people rededicating their lives to Christ.

BELTON—Hundreds of Central Texas children will have new toys to play with this Christmas, thanks to students from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

For the eighth year, UMHB students in the Sports Medicine Association partnered with Toys for Tots of Waco to provide new toys for underprivileged children in the region.

The U.S. Marine Corps Reserve organizes Toys for Tots each year. In 1991, the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation was created and has provided the funding for the program ever since. Since the foundation was created, it has supplemented local toy collections with 81.3 million toys.

Billy Laxton, head athletic trainer at UMHB, sees the Toys for Tots program as a perfect opportunity to help athletic training students serve others.

“We wanted to do something positive for the community. Eight years ago, no one in this area was working with this toy drive, and it was at the height of deployment to the Middle East, so it just seemed like a good fit,” said Laxton.

“The Marine Corps Reserve brings us boxes every year, and we do our best to fill them up with new toys. In recent years we’ve had such a good turnout, they had to bring us more boxes, because we had so many toys.”

Laxton continues to be surprised by the amount of toys received from the Temple and Belton area.

“We get anywhere from 80 to 160 toys each year,” he said. “I’m just inspired and overwhelmed by people’s continued generosity.”

Whitney Rodgers, a senior athletic training major and president of the group, donates to the cause every year.

“I just went out and bought like 20 toys,” said Rodgers. “It’s our way to give back. It’s better to get a new toy than a hand-me-down.”

Junior athletic training major Tara Humphrey plans to continue to participate in the Toys for Tots drive in the future.

“I think Toys for Tots is a great cause,” said Humphrey. “It gives children a chance to have a good Christmas. And after all, isn’t the true gift of Christmas giving rather than receiving?”

Friends of Texas Baptist Men gathered in east Dallas recently for the dedication of the John LaNoue Disaster Relief Complex—a 15,000-square-foot expansion of the Robert E. Dixon Mission Equipping Center.

John LaNoue (left), longtime leader in Texas Baptist Men and a pioneer in disaster relief ministries, visits with Paul Michael Smith, a TBM disaster relief volunteer from First Baptist Church in Plano during the dedication of the disaster relief complex named in LaNoue’s honor at the Robert E. Dixon Mission Equipping Center in east Dallas.

Texas Baptist Men disaster relief volunteers prepare and serve a meal to guests attending the dedication of the complex.

The building— about 80 percent completed— includes bays to house the fleet of TBM disaster relief vehicles.

It also has a secure communications center with its own auxiliary generator to enable the disaster relief command center to stay in communication with teams on the field regardless of weather conditions.

An open house on dedication day featured booths displaying varied TBM ministries.

Bob Dixon, who led Texas Baptist Men more than three decades as executive director, recounts the “activity of God” in TBM disaster relief ministries during the dedication of the new complex at the mission equipping center in east Dallas that bears Dixon’s name.

The new John LaNoue Disaster Relief Complex will include bays to house the fleet of Texas Baptist Men disaster relief vehicles.

BEEVILLE—No noisy gobbles or flapping wings announced the arrival of Charles “Turkey Guy” Morris at South Texas Children’s Home Ministries before Thanksgiving. But that’s one of the only things that marked his arrival as different from the first Turkey Guy who began delivering a truckload of turkeys to Baptist children’s homes 70 years ago.

For seven decades, one Robertson Country resident after another has assumed the Turkey Guy mantle. Morris, who took over the duties in 1994, is the sixth to bear the responsibility. People throughout the county give year-round to a designated fund at Wells Fargo Bank in Franklin to purchase the turkeys.

“Turkey Guy” Charles Morris (center), representing the Robertson County Turkey Fund, visits South Texas Children’s Home Ministries before Thanksgiving. The Turkey Fund has provided holiday turkeys more than 70 years to benefit children such as (left to right) Samuel, Shelley and Elena. Expressing appreciation are (left to right) house parent Buffy Lee, President Todd Roberson and Vice President Mark Childs from South Texas Children’s Home Ministries, and house parent Michael Lee. (PHOTO/STCHM)

“It all started in the early 1930s with a man named William Anderson,” Morris said. “He and his sister, Sudie, lived at Buckner’s Children’s Home for several years during their childhood. After growing up, Will moved away and became very successful.

“But when the Depression hit, he moved back to Calvert and started raising turkeys and other animals. He remembered what Buckner had done for him, and out of gratitude, he decided to take them a load of live turkeys for their holiday meals.”

Anderson continued the practice many years. After his death, J.L. Wallace, pastor of Franklin Baptist Church for 30 years, continued the tradition. Over the years, Wallace expanded the ministry to include other Baptist children’s homes at sites throughout Texas and was instrumental in involving other individuals and churches in Robertson County.

Many people, even in Robertson County, don’t know Morris by name, he acknowledged, but they immediately recognize any reference to the Turkey Guy. He makes the need for funds known by announcing it in various churches and posting notices in area newsletters and newspapers.

“It is the good people of Robertson County that make it all happen,” Morris said. Seven churches in the county participated in 2010, allowing for the distribution of $2,400 this year to Baptist children’s homes in Texas.

“South Texas Children’s Home Ministries has been the recipient of turkey funds for the past 25 years,” STCHM President Todd Roberson said. “Holidays can be stressful for kids whose lives have been disrupted by family crises, but the love and generosity of others help our kids realize that they are not forgotten. It is heartwarming to know that caring people have continued this tradition year after year for the sake of children all over Texas.”

This year, the children’s home surprised Morris with a campuswide lunch when he visited.

House parents Michael and Buffy Lee served the traditional Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings in Love Cottage where they care for girls between ages 3 and 16.

“We have found it to be so important to give the children a family setting with great food to help them make it through the holidays,” Lee said. “We send a special thanks to all those that made our Thanksgiving dinner possible. God bless you for being so generous.”

Brandee has lived in Love Cottage only two months, but she was thankful for the warm home and meal on Thanksgiving.

“I think it is really wonderful that people care enough to help us have what we need,” she said.

“And it is also nice that people provide the special extras. The extra things really mean a lot.”

PASADENA—Most churches would be happy to say they baptized 100 people during a year. But First Baptist Church in Pasadena expects to baptize 100 more than last year.

Baptisms numbered 159 in 2008, and the church baptized 169 last year. This year, through October, 245 had stirred the baptismal waters.

J.J. Cox, youth minister at First Baptist Church in Pasadena, prepares to baptize three young women, while others await baptism. (PHOTO/Courtesy of First Baptist Church in Pasadena)

“It’s not like we’re doing anything unique. God is just blessing in a faithful way,” Pastor Charles Redmond said.

Redmond does not attach a cause/effect relationship to a visit he made to the Billy Graham Retreat Center in North Carolina earlier this year. But he noticed a upward trend in people making a decision to follow Christ after he returned and taught his people to use an evangelism tract.

“I felt impressed to come back and teach people to use it through the pulpit,” he said. At the conclusion of the service, worshippers took all 3,000 of the tracts. The church ordered another 3,000, and about half of those were taken the next Sunday.

“Very, very soon—almost immediately—we began to see people being saved beyond anything we had experienced,” Redmond said.

The Holy Spirit was the emphasis during Redmond’s visit to the Graham retreat center, and he brought that focus back to First Baptist Church.

“That’s never been one of our major emphases, so we began to teach what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit. I think God has honored that, and God has blessed that. But having said that, God has just spoken to a lot of hearts,” Redmond said.

Many in his congregation have brought more friends and neighbors to church, he noticed.

“We’ve tried every way in the world to share Christ where we are, just like all the other churches do. But the real key is if you can get those members, in their daily lives, bearing the witness of Christ however the Holy Spirit gives them opportunity. They’re around the people who need the Lord,” he said.

“We’re out of the trap of passing out a card and saying, ‘Go visit this person.’ We’re just saying, ‘We’re going to equip you to share Jesus and see what happens.’”

He preaches in two services each Sunday morning and at a community lunch each Tuesday that draws hundreds from outside First Baptist’s membership. His son, Jon, is associate pastor and preaches in the Sunday and Wednesday night services.

People continue making public professions of faith in all four services, Jon Redmond said.

“The preaching has not been anything fancy or out of the ordinary. There’s no gimmicks—just simple, biblical preaching,” he said.

Charles Redmond—now in his 21st year of ministry at the Pasadena church—agreed.

“Our style is different, which is refreshing, I’m sure, for our congregation. But though we do it in different ways, we’re both just simply preaching what the word of God says. We’re not trying to have a production. We’re just trying to teach what the word of God says,” he said.

Baptism can be a catalyst for the start of spiritual inner conversations in others, Jon Redmond said.

“The baptism experience is a sermon in itself. We’ve seen a lot of older people baptized, and when you see someone in their 80s … who barely has the physical strength to get in the baptistery and yet they go through the process, I think that says to other people who are watching that, ‘If she can do that, if he can do that, then I can do that,’” he said.

Those baptisms have the added effect of drawing others to the church, perhaps for the first time. First Baptist has seen visitors at baptisms rise this year after emphasizing the need for the person being baptized to invite others to the occasion.

“Many people who have just become a Christian, they don’t have many Christian friends. We say: ‘When you have a birthday party, you send invitations. So, when you’re going to be baptized, send invitations and invite friends to your baptism.’

“They may be coming out of friendship or family respect, but they’re going to be in that room, and they’re fixing to hear the gospel. And we’re going to plant seed, even if we don’t see all the fruit,” Charles Redmond said.

During each baptism, friends and family are asked to stand.

“It’s to magnify the fact that this is really a great deal,” he said. “A person getting saved is kind of a big event around here, and it’s a big event in heaven.

“We baptize a lot of people around here, and after every person, the congregation claps. It’s not like a clap at a Dallas Cowboy game. It’s a strong clap, but it’s a reverent clap. People are just rejoicing to see people saved.”

The congregation comes with an expectation not only that people will be saved, but also a sense that God is at work, he continued.

“There is an expectancy. You can feel that. We feel God is going to do some mighty things here that we haven’t even fathomed. We don’t know what they are, so we’re sure not trying to orchestrate them,” he explained.

Jon Redmond said the congregation has a warmth that others find inviting. An as example, he mentioned a support group for people with addictions of all kinds.

“They not only come to their meetings, but they come to church and are saved and are welcomed warmly. There’s not a holier-than-thou attitude in the church. I think we all just recognize that we’re all sinners, we all need God’s grace, and nobody is better than anyone else. Nobody is so bad they can’t be saved, and nobody is so good that they don’t need to be saved.”

ABILENE—Bobbie Neal picked up a picture of a dragon drawn by her 9-year-old nephew, Chase. “He’s an excellent little artist,” she proclaimed, sitting in the motel room where her extended family has lived for almost a year.

Bobbie and Robert Neal have been caring for Chase, his 6-year-old brother, Braiden, and their little sister, Sarah, in their parents’ absence. The Neals are one of five families with children enrolled at Johnston Elementary School in Abilene who received toys and a decorated Christmas tree from students at Hardin-Simmons University.

“These five families would not be able to give the kids much for Christmas, if anything, if it were not for the efforts of students at HSU. They have really come to the aid of these families,” said Rosalyn Muzaurieta, special events coordinator at Johnston Elementary School.

Students filled bins in university dorms with donated toys, and some gave money so toys could be purchased for the 19 children in the families.

Brittany Suell, student activities director at HSU, noted students enjoyed participating in the toy collection the past, and she wanted to rees-tablish the tradition.

“Students are looking for projects to become more involved in the community. They really want ways to give back to folks, especially during the holidays,” she said.

Mindy Morris, Title One social services coordinator for the Abilene Independent School District, oversees the needs of students at 11 schools that include low-income students.

“AISD has over 700 students living in families who have been identified as homeless just this semester. That’s more homeless children than we had in all of last year,” Morris said.

Ben Johnson from HSU delivers toys to Bobbie Neal, who has been keeping her nephews and niece for close to a year. The children’s parents are unable to care for them. Robert Neal has been working at the motel in exchange for the room where the family lives.

“The Neals are absolutely one of the families in the greatest need—and certainly worthy of any help that comes from the community.”

Bobbie Neal was diagnosed with cancer in July and underwent surgery in September. She hopes she soon will be authorized by Medicaid to take the five weeks of chemotherapy and six weeks of radiation treatments her doctor has recommended.

Her husband works at the motel in exchange for the room where he and his family live.

“The owner here has really been nice to us. He didn’t have to give me a job. He could have just kicked us out of here,” he said.

The motel room is decorated with Chase’s penciled drawings, tacked above a shelf near the twin mattress Chase and Braiden share.

Toys provided to the children by HSU students included two Barbie dolls, three board games, Playdoh, toy cars, a foam dart gun, some large coloring pages and crayons.

“We really didn’t know what we could give the kids this Christmas. We were just hoping we could come up with something. This really helps,” Mrs. Neal said.

WACO—Christmas on Fifth Street brought more than 8,000 people to the Baylor University campus Dec. 2 for a live nativity scene, musical performances, carriage rides, a petting zoo, pictures with Santa and the 45th annual Kappa Omega Tau tree lighting ceremony.

“We were pleased with the attendance and the way the event unfolded,” said Michael Riemer, associate director of student activities at Baylor. “We offered some new things that we’ve not offered in the past.”

This year’s event included ice skating on Fountain Mall and caroling by the Baylor department of modern foreign languages, as well as a performance by Mandisa, ninth-place finalist in season five of American Idol, who joined the Baylor Religious Hour Choir for their “Cocoa, Cookies and Carols” concert.

“Performing with Mandisa can only be described as electric,” said Ryan Anderson, Baylor senior and program coordinator for the concert. “The energy she brought to the stage was contagious, and it was hard for anyone in the audience to even sit down. … Singing with her will probably go into my top three memories of being a Baylor student. Mandisa loves the Lord, and her spirit and encouragement was something the choir will not quickly forget.”

The 45th annual Kappa Omega Tau tree lighting ceremony—along with numerous musical performances—drew a huge crowd to the Baylor University campus for Christmas on Fifth Street. (PHOTOS/BAYLOR)

A live nativity scene in front of the Bill Daniel Student Center on the Baylor University campus drew attention during the annual Christmas on Fifth Street celebration.

The purpose of the concert was to raise awareness of Baylor Religious Hour’s international mission trip to Ghana, where the choir will work with the ministry OneWay, singing at churches schools and hospitals.

Other Christmas on Fifth performers included The Kappa Pickers, Scott & Clare, the handbell choir from Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco, Phil Wickham and Matt Wertz.

Kappa Omega Tau used the tree-lighting event as a fund-raiser to generate support for the Mocha Club charity’s educational project, which funds job training centers in schools in Kenya and South Africa.

Events like Christmas on Fifth are what endear people to Baylor, Riemer said.

“It’s programs like these that students experience over the years that connect them back to the university and connect them to other alums and to people who will come to Baylor after them,” Reimer said.

ETBU council considers vision. The East Texas Baptist University centennial council held its first meeting to develop a vision of how ETBU best may fulfill its mission over the next 25 years. The university invited 100 alumni, faculty, staff, students, trustees and friends of ETBU to form the council. The group’s mission is to “investigate the strengths and challenges of the institution, consider where we have come from over the past 100 years as well as the current context of Christian higher education, draw conclusions about the best direction for the future growth and development of the university, and recommend how we might advance that vision,” ETBU President Dub Oliver said. Members of the centennial council are organized into six working groups—mission, academic program, students and student life, church and society, resources, and leadership and governance. The council is scheduled to meet again April 7-8 and Sept. 15-16 before presenting its report and recommendations to the school’s board of trustees in November 2011.

Foundation awards $4.8 million in grants. Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio recently announced 76 grants totaling $4,825,574 for health-related programs to organizations in the eight-county region around San Antonio. Since 2005, the foundation has awarded 390 grants totaling about $25.5 million. Baptist recipients this year included: Baptist Health System School of Health Professions, $548,790 for 623 scholarships; Baptist Health System clinical pastoral education, $10,500 for 35 scholarships; Wayland Baptist University, $19,000 for 12 scholarships; Oakwood Baptist Church in New Braunfels, $25,000 for a counseling center; Baptist Temple Church in San Antonio, $7,500 for a community health fair; Canaan Missionary First Baptist Church in San Antonio, $7,500 for Canaan Cares; First Baptist Church of Bandera, $7,500 for playground equipment; and True Vine Baptist Church in San Antonio, $7,500 for its Health Trackers program. Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio was established in September 2004 from sale proceeds of Baptist Health System to Vanguard Health Systems.

Discipleship discount available. The Baptist General Convention of Texas has partnered with NavPress to offer discipleship materials to churches at a discounted rate. By using the discount code D12L24QB6, Texas Baptist congregations can receive a 10 percent discount on discipleship materials. A portion of the money used to buy materials also will be invested into Texas Baptist ministries. To order from NavPress, call (800) 366-7788 or visit www.navpress.com. 

BCFS, UTSA help foster care youth. Only 2 percent of foster care youth in Texas earn a college degree, but Baptist Child & Family Services and the University of Texas at San Antonio are teaming up to help young people make the transition from foster care to higher education. With the help of a $600,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, BCFS and UTSA will provide enrollment and financial aid information, leadership training and housing support to prospective college students served by BCFS’ San Antonio Transition Center. The center is a one-stop-shop for resources to help foster and at-risk youth as they enter adulthood. The center offers life-skills training, job placement, counseling and educational support.

Journal honors HBU. First Things, the journal of the Institute on Religion & Public Life, recognized Houston Baptist University in two categories during a special issue on higher education. Journal editors asked, “Is there anywhere to go to college in the United States today where you’ll get a socially useful diploma, you’ll have the chance of getting an actual education, and you won’t get your faith beaten out of you?” After collecting information on more than 2,000 schools, HBU ranked No. 3 in the “Schools on the Rise, Filled with Excitement” category and No. 11 in “Seriously Protestant Schools.”

Foundation awards prize to BCFS. The San Antonio board of the BKD Foundation presented $10,000 to Baptist Child & Family Services, naming the agency the recipient of its second annual Community PRIDE (Passion, Respect, Integrity, Discipline and Excellence) award.

• Kerry Horn to First Church in Eagle Lake as pastor.

• Joe Loughlin has completed an interim pastorate at First Church in Corsicana.

• Jonathan Raffini to First Church in Big Spring as minister to students.

• Danny Reeves to First Church in Corsicana as pastor from First Church in Edna.

• Chris Tucker to First Church in Quitaque as pastor.

• Milton Tyler to First Church in Sonora as interim pastor.

• The B.H. Carroll Theological Institute will hold an open house at its new office location at 301 S. Center, Suite 100, in Arlington from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 14.

• Dallas Baptist University will present 503 degrees to students during winter commencement ceremonies Dec. 17. Included will be 284 undergraduate degrees, 216 master’s degrees and three doctoral degrees. Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert will be the keynote speaker for the morning ceremony, while Norman Blackaby, professor of biblical studies at DBU, will speak at the afternoon graduation.

• Leroy Kemp, professor of Christian studies at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, will present “George Whitfield: Pioneer Evangelist” at the Jan. 13 ministers’ forum on the UMHB campus. The noon meeting is free, and participants are encouraged to bring a lunch.

• John Meier, assistant director of music at The Church of St. John the Divine in Houston, will be the featured organist at a Feb. 4 organ recital at Houston Baptist University. The 30-minute recital will begin at noon.

• Epsilon Pi Alpha, a service fraternity at Hardin-Simmons University, joined with Abilene firefighters to sell T-shirts to raise funds for breast cancer research. The group sold about 200 shirts and presented a check for $3,050 to the firefighters. A softball tournament whose winner played the HSU baseball team raised more than $2,000, which was donated to the Alliance for Women and Children to help provide breast cancer screenings.

• Howard Payne University’s moot court team competed in two recent competitions. In a competition of 46 teams from 13 schools held at Texas Wesleyan Law School, all five HPU teams placed in the top 17, with four teams advancing to the round of eight finalists. The top HPU team took second place. Robert Davis, a senior from Universal City, was named the top speaker of the tournament. At their next tournament at Texas Tech Uni-versity, all five teams advanced the round of eight, and three teams made it to the final four. Davis was named second-best individual speaker at the tournament.

• East Texas Baptist University’s football and baseball fields have been named fields of the year by the Texas Turfgrass Association. This is the second consecutive year for the baseball field to be recognized.

Anniversaries

• Iglesia El Buen Pastor in Fort Worth, 50th, Oct. 17. Robert Arrubla is pastor.

• Ferguson Road Church in Dallas, 60th, Dec. 12. Wayne Wible is pastor.

• James Miller, 30th, as pastor of The Heights Church in San Angelo, Jan. 18. A celebration will be held during the 10:45 a.m. service Jan. 16. John Hatch will be the keynote speaker. A luncheon will follow.

Retiring

• Gene Meacham, as director of missions of Caprock Plains Baptist Area, Jan. 31. He was pastor of three Texas churches—Dawn Church in Dawn, First Church in Ropesville and First Church in Hale Center. He and his wife, Lavonne, were missionaries with the Foreign Mission Board, serving from 1975 to 1985 in Malawi and Transkei, now part of South Africa. He has been director of missions for Caprock Plains Area 10 years. He also has served on the Executive Board of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and has been a trustee at Wayland Baptist University.

Deaths

• L.D. Monical, 76, Nov. 19 in Lake Jackson. After serving several years as a deacon at First Church in Lake Jackson, he was interim pastor of more than a dozen area churches. In 1967, he became pastor of Holiday Lakes Church in Angleton, where he served more than 20 years. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Deanna; son, Marcus; daughter, Marty Lynn Dunn; brother, Harold, and five grandchildren.

• Glen Godsey, 86, Nov. 20 in Plainview. He served in the U.S. Army in World War II and received a Purple Heart medal. He was a 1952 graduate of Wayland Baptist University. After his ordination at First Church in Plainview in 1949, his ministry has been directed toward Hispanics. He was pastor of Mexican Mission in Plainview, Mision la Trinidad in Olton and Primera Iglesia Mexicana in Plainview. He also served on the associational staffs of Tierra Blanca Association, Big Bend Association and Permian Basin Association prior to joining Caprock Plains. He was preceded in death by his wife of 65 years by one month. He is survived by his son, Lynn; daughters, Yolanda Rodriguez, Corina Cavaness and Betty Godsey; brothers, W.P. and Clyde; sister, Margaret Stout; six grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

• Jim Byrd, 73, Nov. 23 in Dallas. He was a professor and pastor, serving churches in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Germany. He also served as vice president of the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation. He was preceded in death by his brother, John; sister, Marie; and infant daughter, Kimberly. He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Wencie; sons, Scott, Lance and Bart; brother, Bill; sisters, Alice and Lela Mae; and five grandchildren.

• Sadie Jo Black, 80, Dec. 5 in Waco. She was an alumnus and retired professor of Baylor University. She supported the university and its students through endowments to beautify the campus and scholarships to support the education of students. She graduated from Baylor in 1950, and returned to the campus as an assistant professor of home economics, where she retired in 1992 after 35 years of service. For her exemplary service and philanthropy to Baylor, she was awarded the James Huckins and Pat Neff medallions within the Baylor University Medallion Fellowship. In 2010, she received the Baylor Legacy Award. She was a member of First Church in Waco.

Ordained

• Justin Perez, to the ministry at New Life Church in Beeville.

• Caleb Hixon to the ministry at First Church in White Settlement.

• Frank Burg as a deacon at Friendship Church in Abilene.

WACO—While her children attended Fort Bend Baptist Academy in Sugar Land, Evelyn Janssen already was in the habit of gathering weekly with fellow parents to pray for their children, teachers and school.

Once Janssen’s children, Hayley and Corbin, moved on to college at Baylor University, she found a natural extension of that call to prayer through the Fort Bend chapter of the Baylor Parents League.

Baylor parents Robin and Ricky Baker are actively involved in “First Call to Prayer” as part of the northeast Tarrant County chapter of the Baylor Parents League.

Each month, 67 groups of Baylor parents from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., Minneapolis to the Rio Grande Valley, meet together for “First Call to Prayer,” blanketing the Baylor campus in prayer and bringing peace of mind to participants.

“It’s been such a gift to be able meet together and pray for the kids,” said Janssen, whose family attends Sugar Creek Baptist Church in Sugar Land. “It’s such a support for the parents, especially those of freshmen. Our kids even look forward to it. They give us lists of things they would like for us to pray about for them. For the kids to know that all the parents are praying is really special.”

Judy Maggard, director of the Parents League at Baylor, said the Parents League creates a network of parents who receive encouragement and support from each other through shared experiences. As one of many activities, the League’s call to prayer allows Baylor parents to “stand in the gap” for Baylor students, faculty and administrators through monthly prayer and fellowship.

Maggard said the First Call to Prayer has three objectives:

• Encourage, support and gain strength from other parents as they spend time talking with God about the needs of the students, faculty and administrators.

• Unite with individuals who are not able to join the group physically but will join online to pray at the same time

• Gain peace of mind in knowing each student is blessed with prayer.

As the fall semester winds down at Baylor, many Parents League chapters throughout the country combine taking care of their children’s spiritual as well as physical needs. The Keller home of Jim and Lori Horvath was loaded with healthy snacks and homemade treats for the Dec. 2 gathering of the northeast Tarrant County chapter of the Baylor Parents League. While parents assembled care packages for their students, roommates and friends, they focused their prayer time on their students’ health as they study for finals.

Baylor parents involved in the Boerne chapter of the Baylor Parents League met at the home of Debbie and Mark Littlestar for a combined First Call to Prayer/Boxing Party.

“Our December prayer was based on exams, covering heavily over health during exam time and flu season,” Lori Horvath said.

A mother of two Baylor graduates, Ryan and Daniel, and a Baylor junior, Garrett, Lori Horvath said the call to prayer has been invaluable to Baylor families.

“Even though our children may be from different walks of life on the Baylor campus, their common denominator is that all of their moms and dads get together every month and pray for them,” Lori Hovath said. “We give such thanks that there’s a place like Baylor that stands firm on that commitment and doesn’t waver and continues it in their Parents League with First Call to Prayer.”