Around the State

Three Tarrant Association churches are teaming up to celebrate their adoption of the Celebrating Grace Hymnal with a hymnody workshop and joint congregational concert. Gambrell Street and Agape churches in Fort Worth and Ash Creek Church in Azle will hold a hymnody workshop at Gambrell Street May 22 from 9:30 a.m to 2:30 p.m. The workshop will feature Terry York of Truett Seminary, David Music of Baylor University, Stan Moore of the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute and Mark Edwards, vice president and worship resource manager for the hymnal. Topics will include “Hymns for a Lifetime of Worship and De-votion,” “History of Baptist Hymnody” and “Trends in Hymnody.” Several rounds of singing from the host churches will be interspersed through-out the day. The weekend will culminate with a joint worship service at Agape at 6 p.m. May 23. Both events are free, but people wishing to participate in the Saturday lunch for $6 need to make reservations at (817) 926-1785.

Nursing student Andre Brown checks the pupils of a classmate during a skills lab in the Wayland Baptist University’s School of Nursing. Brown, a 30-year-old Army medic from San Diego, has hopes of becoming a nurse anesthetist in military hospitals. After being at Fort Sam Houston for two years, he learned the Army would help put him through nursing school in return for his long-term commitment. Wayland’s program, format and location were most convenient for Brown, and he started classes in the fall toward a bachelors of science degree in nursing.

Dillon International will hold a free adoption information meeting at 6 p.m. May 27 at the Buckner Children’s Home campus in Dallas. A representative will give an overview of adoption from China, Korea, Haiti, India, Hong Kong and Nepal, plus new opportunities in 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 a reservation to attend the meeting, call (214) 319-3426.

The annual Hispanic Preaching Conference at Baptist University of the Américas has been renamed Congreso Hispano de Predicacion Rudy Sanchez. Rudy Sanchez died in February 2009 after a ministry that included pastorates in Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston. He was the first Hispanic elected chair of the Executive Board of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

The Logsdon School of Theology at Hardin-Simmons University has named René Maciel, president of the Baptist University of the Américas, and David Morgan, pastor of Trinity Church in Harker Heights, as distinguished alumni.

Kelly Duguay has been selected to serve as program director of Baptist Child & Family Services’ extended-care program for its international children’s services division. The international children’s services division is a program of the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement. The program provides shelter and care to unaccompanied children from foreign countries while the federal government determines the appropriate next steps toward reconnecting youth with their families.

Sue Kavli has been named Dallas Baptist University’s faculty member of the year. She has taught in the College of Business and Gary Cook Graduate School of Leadership since 2005, serving as a professor of research and leadership. She and her husband, Steve, are members of First Church in Lewisville.

Virginia Burroughs, Maridell Fryar and Royston Crane Jr. have been named to Hardin-Simmons University’s Hall of Leaders.

Rosa Esparza, a member of the San Marcos Baptist Academy laundry staff, was honored for 45 years of service.

Two Howard Payne University students were honored at the National Christian College Forensics Association’s national championships. Freshman Charity Chambers was the most decorated novice speaker at the tournament. She was national champion in informative speaking and also the first place novice parliamentary debate speaker. For the total of her efforts, she was named individual novice sweepstakes champion. Adam Hardy, a sophomore, was named national champion in open division program oral interpretation.

Joseph Perez, vice president of the pastoral services department for Valley Baptist Health System in Harlingen, received the outstanding local leadership award from the Association of Professional Chaplains.

Cherry Sorrels, transportation coordinator at East Texas Baptist University, received the Leading By Example Award at the school’s Women of Distinction luncheon.

Wayland Baptist University packed a time capsule with blue jeans, flip flops, a sling backpack, an MP3 player, current magazines, a 44-cent postage stamp and numerous other items representing the current culture. The last thing added to the capsule was a list of predictions for the future and current challenges. The capsule was buried outside the Gates Hall porch and is set to be opened in 2058.

Anniversaries

North Park Church in Abilene, 75th, May 20-23. Revival services will take place May 20-22, with former staff members Randy Evans and Jonathan Jones preaching and leading worship. A celebration service will be held Sunday morning. A hamburger supper will be held at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and a barbecue lunch will follow Sunday’s service. A service of music and memories will begin at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. To make a reservation for the meals, call (325) 672-5300. Louis Johnson is pastor.

Mike Woodard, 25th, at Southwest Park Church in Abilene, May 23. He began his service at the church as associate pastor and has been pastor the last 22 years. A reception will be held in his honor at 5 p.m., followed by a recognition service at 6 p.m.

Phil Tilden, 70th, in ministry, May 25. He was the founding pastor of Sunrise Church in Kerrville, and the church will hold a recognition service in his honor May 30 at 6 p.m. A reception will follow. He is pastor of First Christian Church in Fredericksburg.

Retiring

Nathan Booth, as pastor of Pidcoke Church in Gatesville, March 7. He was in ministry 60 years. A graduate of Howard Payne University, he was pastor of several churches in Central and South Texas. He and his wife, Joyce, served as missionaries in Guadalajara, Mexico, nine years. While serving in Mexico, they founded the Spanish Language School and the Lincoln School, where missionaries and their children study before going to the countries where they will serve. He was pastor of the Gatesville church more than eight years, and they continue to live there.

Deaths

Travis Crutchfield Jr., 56, April 15 in Austin. A graduate of Southwestern Seminary, he was pastor of several Texas churches. For several years, he was nursing home minister for Abilene Association. He was a member of First Church in Buffalo Gap. He was preceded in death by his father, Travis Crutchfield. He is survived by his wife of 16 years, Linda; brother, Stanley; sister, Karen Blazi; and mother, Doris Crutchfield.

J.D. Bowman, 86, May 2 in Lancaster. A retiree from the Dallas County clerk’s office, he also was a bivocational music minister at First Church in Richardson, Park Street Church in Greenville and Pleasant Run Church in Lancaster. He helped start DeSoto Church in DeSoto as music minister there. He also served First Church in Hutchins as minister of education. He was a member of First Church in Lancaster. He was preceded in death by his son, Reggie; and brothers, T.C. and Allen. He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Virginia; sons Rodney, Ernie and Terry; brother, Oral; 13 grandchildren; and 23 great-grandchildren.

Event

J. Gordon Henry will conduct a prayer seminar at Windsor Park Church in DeSoto May 16 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Topics will include how to establish prayer as a daily priority; how to organize prayer in a biblical pattern; how to worship, praise, confess and give thanks; and how to pray for one’s self and others. Chris Seidlitz is pastor.

Ordained

Terry Shirley, Harvey Manning, Keith Rhone and Roy May as deacons at Central Church in Crockett.

Revivals

West End Church, Freeport; May 9-11; evangelist, Homer Martinez; pastor, Barry Foster.

First Church, Bronte; May 9-12; evangelist, Robert Barge; music, Jeff Gore; pastor, Corey Cornutt.

Velasco Church, Freeport; May 21-23; evangelist, Barry Creamer; pastor, Nathan Otto.

 




On the Move

Joel Bartlett to First Church in Sanger as co-youth minister.

Doug Beck to First Church in Dorchester as pastor.

Mack Caffey has resigned as interim pastor at First Church in Mathis.

Ryan Dunn to First Church in Sanger as co-youth minister.

Bonnie Helton to Cross Timber Church in Burleson as preschool minister.

James and Laura Holder to First Church in Petersburg as youth ministers.

Trip Jackson has resigned as minister of music at First Church in Lake Dallas.

Simon Keizer has resigned as youth minister at Fairview Church in Sherman.

Larry Martin to Cadiz Church in Beeville as pastor from West Shore Church in Sandia.

James Ostic to Cedar Creek Church in Whitney as associate pastor.

Zack Pannell to First Church in Sanger as interim minister of education.

Adam Perkins to Bethesda Church in Burleson as minister of music.

Dale Pogue to First Church in Taft as interim pastor.

Ryon Price to Second Church in Lubbock as pastor from United Church in Colchester, Vt.

Russell Shires to Bethel Church in Whitewright as interim pastor.

Billy Stockton to Cannon Church in Van Alstyne as pastor.

Ryan White has resigned as minister of music and youth at First Church in Refugio.

 

 




Church uncovers, serves hidden hungry

WHITEHOUSE—Many people would see an elementary school student stealing food off a teacher’s desk as a behavioral problem. Teachers and administrators in Whitehouse found something much more problematic, and First Baptist Church stepped up to help resolve the issue.

Arlene McDonald, children’s director at First Baptist Church in Whitehouse, distributes food-filled backpacks to students. (PHOTOS/Jim Jackson)

Last fall, a Whitehouse student stole his teacher’s lunch. When the teacher figured out who was doing it and eventually caught the young man, he ran out of the classroom and stuffed the entire lunch in his mouth, hoping he wouldn’t have to surrender it.

It was his first decent meal in days.

In a school staff meeting, Amy Culpepper, a third-grade teacher at Higgins Intermediate School and a member of First Baptist Church, quickly discovered this young man may not be alone. In Whitehouse, roughly 200 students in that one school receive free or reduced lunches. The program provided something for them eat to during the week, but left many of them lacking on the weekend, and they came back hungry on Mondays.

“I think we just take it for granted that everybody has three meals a day and a safe place to sleep,” Culpepper said. “That’s just not so.”

While the presence of hungry children surprised some people at the school, it shocked Ray Davis, pastor of First Baptist Church, when Culpepper brought it to his attention.

“We’re a pretty affluent community,” he said. “We found hidden hunger that we didn’t know existed.”

Amy Culpepper (left) and Jan Powell (right) from First Baptist Church in Whitehouse inspect canned goods before students arrive to pick up their food-filled backpacks for the weekend. (PHOTOS/Jim Jackson)

First Baptist Church members knew they had to do something to help the hungry children in their community. Working with the school, each family in the free-lunch program received a note asking if they would be open to receiving food for the weekend. Many of the families jumped at the opportunity.

“When we started seeing our teachers having an issue with hunger, we knew we had to be involved in that,” Davis said.

The church contacted the East Texas Food Bank and became involved in its backpack program. Each Thursday, church members fill backpacks with food for each child through the weekend. Those backpacks are distributed on Fridays for students to take home. The young people return the empty backpacks on Mondays.

Culpepper said the church rallied to help these children. Quickly, more than 55 people volunteered to help with the cause. The congregation and other individuals pitched in $7,500 to make the program last through the end of the school year. The church recently received a Texas Hope 2010 Care Grant made possible by gifts through the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger that will enable the congregation to continue serving in the fall of 2010 as well.

“I think the whole thing has been a God thing,” Culpepper said.

The assistance has excited the children, Culpepper said. They enthusiastically look forward to backpack day. When they receive it, many of the students hug the people they receive it from.

Don Branam helps distribute food-filled backpacks to students as Arlene McDonald, children’s director at First Baptist Church in Whitehouse, supervises. (PHOTOS/Jim Jackson)

“It’s rewarding when you see those kids, and they hug you when they get their food,” she said.

The church currently is looking for ways to expand its feeding efforts to other schools and throughout the summer. Nearly 1,300 students who are on the free-lunch program in Whitehouse are facing the same situation as these students at Higgins Intermediate. Culpepper hopes other churches will get involved in the effort.

The need moves Culpepper when she thinks about it.

“If it’s true some kid in school is going hungry, it’s hard to go home and eat a meal,” she said. “I just can’t stand the thought of a child going hungry.”

The situation in Whitehouse is a reminder that hunger occurs across the state. More than 40 percent of students in Texas public schools are on the free or reduced lunch program. Texas has the highest rate of child food insecurity in the nation.

“We live in a pretty well off school district,” Culpepper said. “It’s not inner city. We live in a rural community outside Tyler. I think it would be shocking to know how some people live. It was shocking to some people in the church.”

Davis praised Culpepper for bringing the situation before the church and the congregation so readily taking action. It is a prime example of God using a person in the church to reach out to people in need, he said.

“All of our mission work is at the intersection of someone in our church and the activity of God,” he said.

 

 




Katrina evacuee graduates with honors from ETBU

MARSHALL—Despite the loss of her home in New Orleans to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Lynn Wartberg refused to allow a hurricane to stop her from achieving a life-long goal—earning a college degree.

Wartberg received her undergraduate degree in history at East Texas Baptist University's spring commencement . She graduated with distinction in history by writing an honors project paper titled “Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant: International, Social, and Environment Perspectives in East Texas.” The paper won a national award from the Alpha Chi National College Honor Society.

East Texas Baptist University Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Paul Sorrels with help from Jerry Summers, dean of the School of Humanities, adjust the honors hood on graduate Lynn Wartberg. Wartberg, a Hurricane Katrina evacuee from New Orleans, received her undergraduate degree in history during spring commencement. (PHOTO/ETBU/Jason John Cowart)

Wartberg enrolled in Tarleton State University after she graduated from Stephenville High School in 1982, but she dropped out her first semester to help take care of her mother who had a chronic disease. 

“I spent the next 20 years helping care for my mother who passed away six years ago,” said Wartberg. “I was preparing to enter the University of New Orleans the spring semester after Katrina hit.”

When the London Avenue Canal levee brook, it sent five feet of water into her home a mile away, even though it was built four feet off the ground.

“Seven weeks after the hurricane, we were allowed to go back and check on our homes,” said Wartberg. “The hardwood floors looked like every other plank had been kicked out from below the house. The mold was growing up the walls, and the kitchen cabinets had fallen off the walls.”

When she and her family fled New Orleans, they first they took refuge in Jackson, Miss., eventually settled in Marshall. Wartberg made her way to ETBU at a friend’s suggestion.

“I became friends of Kristi Hook through our children. Her son was a friend of my daughter, Taylor.” said Wartberg, a member of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Marshall “Kristi was a junior education major at ETBU, and I told her that I was planning to go back to college but was unable to because of the storm. She encouraged me to look into attending ETBU and even brought me to the campus for a personal tour.

“I will always be grateful for the blessings brought into our lives here, and there is no doubt that I have found a second home, at least in my heart.”

Looking back at her family’s experiences since Katrina hit, she said, “I am not sure that my daughter and I would have done as well had we ended up anywhere else. There is no doubt in my mind that God had a purpose in sending us to Marshall and ETBU. He knew exactly where we needed to be.” 

Several professors at ETBU described Wartberg as an engaged student with a deep passion to learn. She is a student who will read beyond the assigned reading topic just out of curiosity, they noted.

“She has thrived in an academic environment,” said Jeanna White, who had Wartberg as a student in three English classes. “If Lynn is anything, she’s resilient. Losing her home in Hurricane Katrina became a catalyst for her to change her life and to pursue her dream to become a college history professor.”

Wartberg and her daughter will leave Marshall in August.

“Taylor and I are returning home to New Orleans,” she said. “I am going to the University of New Orleans for my master’s degree in history, and will continue on for my PhD.” 

Her daughter hopes to return to Marshall after high school to attend ETBU.

“Thanks to everyone for taking my daughter and me in and making us a part of the family here at ETBU.” said Wartberg. “It has been an amazing time in our lives, and this community has impacted us in ways you cannot imagine.”

 




Hospital, clinic partner to bring hope to working poor in Garland

GARLAND—Steven Arze works two jobs. He hopes the place where he serves as a volunteer significantly decreases traffic at the place where he makes his living. And his employer agrees wholeheartedly.

Charlotte Greenhaw from First Baptist Church in Garland provides spiritual counseling for patient Karen Pruitt at Hope Clinic in downtown Garland. (PHOTOS/Ken Camp)

Arze, a member of Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall, serves as medical director of Hope Clinic, a Christian health care provider for the working poor in Garland, and works as director of the emergency department at Baylor Medical Center at Garland.

“I would love to decrease my business in the emergency department,” he said.

Specifically, Arze wants to see Hope Clinic become the primary health care provider for uninsured or underinsured workers in Garland who need help managing chronic illnesses, freeing the hospital’s emergency room to focus on the mission for which its staff is trained.

“There’s a real misperception in this country that emergency departments can do everything. In reality, I know we can’t do it all. Our mission is to care for people with immediate, life-threatening illnesses and injuries,” he said.

Baylor Medical Center at Garland has developed a partnership with Hope Clinic to help the hospital emergency department and the faith-based clinic each perform its mission better. The partnership involves referrals, coordination of services and investment by Baylor in the ongoing ministry of Hope Clinic.

Jenny Williams, a registered nurse and member of Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall, serves as executive director of Hope Clinic. Previously, she worked in a similar capacity at another faith-based clinic, Mission East Dallas.

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Hope Clinic offers a variety of service, including a women’s clinic, a pediatric clinic, a walk-in evening clinic and a diabetic education program. Hope Clinic serves about 70 patients a weeks—at least three-fourth of them Spanish-speaking, many of them undocumented and all of them fitting into the category of the working poor—living at 200 percent of the federal poverty line or less, Williams explained.

“We want to provide them a medical home where they can learn to manage long-term health conditions,” she explained. “We want to emphasize prevention and management.”

The clinic occupies two small buildings behind First United Methodist Church of Garland, which leases the property to Hope Clinic for $1 a month. The city of Garland provided a $25,000 grant to renovate one of the buildings, with labor donated by volunteers from First Baptist Church, First United Methodist Church and Lake Pointe Church-Firewheel Campus, all in Garland.

Area churches that provide ongoing support for Hope Clinic include South Garland Baptist, Mount Hebron Baptist, First Baptist and Lake Pointe.

A half-dozen physicians volunteer their services at Hope Clinic on a weekly or every-other-week basis, and another 35 serve on a rotating basis, she explained.

Scott Wang, a graduate of the family medicine residency program at Baylor Medical Center at Garland, works on staff at Hope Clinic each Monday and Wednesday. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he works at Irving Interfaith Clinic. Both clinics are part of the HealthTexas Provider Network, a subsidiary of the Baylor Health Care System.

Scott Wang, a recent graduate of the Baylor family medicine residency program at Baylor Medical Center at Garland, works on staff at Hope Clinic each Monday and Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Wang works at Irving Interfaith Clinic. Like Hope Clinic, the Irving clinic is part of the HealthTexas Provider Network, a subsidiary of the Baylor Health Care System. The Project Access Dallas community service program provides funding for Wang’s position.

Service at the two faith-based clinics enables Wang to fulfill two objectives that initially drew him to family medicine—a desire to build relationships with patients and to provide essential services for people in need in an atmosphere where he can share his Christian faith freely.

“I am able to spend ample time with patients,” he said. “Because the clinics are Christian-based, I don’t have to be cautious about crossing boundaries by talking freely about spirituality. Even some non-Christians are open to my offer of praying for them.”

Physician Jennifer Kampas listens to the lungs of patient Florencia Cruz at Hope Clinic. Kampas volunteers regularly at the faith-based clinic in Garland.

Wang acknowledged his surprise at experiencing the raw emotions of people who live at society’s margins.

“They don’t have as much materially to cover up their pain. They are depleted, and the emptiness is so evident,” he said. “If you say the right thing and ask the right questions, the floodgates open.”

Chaplain Mark Grace, vice president of Baylor Health Care System’s office of mission and ministry, sees Baylor’s commitment to Hope Clinic, Irving Interfaith and other community-centered, faith-based clinics as an outgrowth of its dedication to the Christian ministry of healing.

“It’s a real commitment to the cause of Christ,” he said.

Grace, who serves as co-pastor of Iglesia Bautista Bill Harrod in West Dallas, pointed to the impact Baylor makes through the community-based clinic it helps support at Brother Bill’s Helping Hand ministry.

“I can see the people helped and see the difference that care is making in my community,” Grace said.

 

 




Bike Out Hunger cyclists ride 415 miles, raise $9,400 for hunger efforts

SAN ANTONIO—For Job Gonzalez, cycling 415 miles during the Bike Out Hunger tour April 19-24 wasn’t just a test of his own strength and competition. It was a personal journey driven by the hungry children and families he sees daily as he rides through the colonias near his home in McAllen—areas that lack clean running water and adequate sewer systems.

Gonzalez, worship leader at Baptist Temple in McAllen, cycled hard and fast, because he knows what it’s like to be hungry. His family didn’t always have enough to each when he was a child, he recalled.

Eight riders from Howard Payne University rode 20 miles from Santa Anna to Brownwood to raise money and awareness for world hunger. The team included (left to right) students Remington Reed and Laura Driggers, adjunct faculty member Jeff Mitchell, student Angelie Lara, faculty member Derek Smith, tennis coach Dalton Hutchins and student Jeff Chaumet. Participating but not pictured is faculty member Gary Succaw. (PHOTOS/Kalie Lowrie)

Because God provided for his family when they were hungry, he wanted to pass along the blessings, riding to raise awareness about the 1.3 million hungry people in the state and to raise money for the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger. The offering supports more than 100 hunger and development ministries in Texas and around the world.

“I’m doing something for a great cause, raising awareness about hunger,” Gonzalez said. “I’m here riding across Texas, about 415 miles, just loving what we do. I feel like I am representing the area where I am from, and I do it with all my heart. There are moments with steep hills, and I just want to give up. But I picture myself and all these people from all over Texas on the side of the road cheering me on to finish.”

Through the ride, the cyclists raised more than $9,400 for the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger. The offering will provide food and meal distribution, agriculture and livestock initiatives, clean water and sanitation, micro-enterprise development and job training for people around the world, attempting to bring them out of the cycle of poverty. The offering supports more than 100 feeding ministries in Texas, the nation and abroad.

Each day of the Bike Out, cyclists stopped to hold hunger rallies at Baptist universities and churches along the way, where riders and hunger offering advocates talked about the reality of hunger in the state. One shared the story of a child stealing a teacher’s lunch because he was so hungry from having nothing to eat during the weekend. Others talked about students intentionally failing classes so they could attend summer school and receive free lunches they otherwise would not have.

Gonzalez also shared his heart with those he encountered, emphasizing the church must be willing to meet physical needs as they share the hope of Christ.

Cyclists stopped at Truett Seminary in Waco on day three to participate in a hunger rally. Students who attended took time to pray for the riders and hunger issues in the state. (PHOTO/Texas Baptist Communications)

“It is time that we come together as one body, as one community and start serving our community with whether it is one meal or whatever we can do,” Gonzalez said. “We have to feed their stomach so that they can hear us.”

In Texas, hunger affects more than 1.3 million people, and the state leads the nation with the highest percentage of children who are food insecure. More than 47 percent of Texas children in public schools are on the free or reduced lunch program.

But hunger is not only an issue in Texas. It affects more than 1 billion people worldwide. It leaves more than 16,000 children a day dead from hunger-related causes. Every five seconds, a child dies from hunger.

Because the need is great, Bike Out Hunger brought together more than 50 cyclists, the Texas Hunger Initiative and Baptist universities in the state to help raise awareness of hunger issues. Five cyclists complete the entire 415 miles, riding about 70 miles a day. Seven additional riders completed multi-day rides, and more than 30 others joined to ride for one day.

There is enough food in the world to provide for everyone who is hungry, Jeremy Everett, director of the Texas Hunger Initiative, told a hunger rally at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary. The problem is distribution, he said.

The Texas Hunger Initiative is a Baylor School of Social Work and Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission partnership aiming to make Texas food secure by 2015.

To help with distribution problems, volunteers through the initiative are trying to connect the faith-based community to share resources and provide adequate distribution sites around Texas. 

Everett spoke strongly to those who attended several Bike Out Hunger rallies, stressing the church must take responsibility for the issue of hunger and start acting, striving to change the reality at hand.

“You are your brother’s keeper,” Everett said. “Right now, we live in a world that says it is all left up to personal responsibility. You pull yourself up by your bootstraps, and I’ll pull myself up by mine. But we know that is not the way that Jesus modeled time and time again in Scripture.”

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Bike Out Hunger participants reflect.

For Steve Dominy, pastor of First Baptist Church in Gatesville, hunger is at his doorstep daily. Church members hand out half a ton of food each year to people in need in the Gatesville area.

“Poverty is an issue here in Gatesville,” Dominy said. “Approximately 50 percent of our kindergarteners and first graders are at or below poverty level. We work with our local care center to help them raise food and funds. We have a ministry here that sells food at reduced cost. And we work with boys and girls clubs to make sure that there are no kids that leave the club Friday and are hungry until Monday.”

The church helps because “he whose stomach is empty stomach has no ears to hear,” Dominy said. Even with the church being involved with hunger ministry, Dominy said there still is much more to do. And churches in Texas must unite with others in order for all hungry people to be helped.

“It ticks me off that Texas is hungrier than any state in the nation,” Dominy said. “Texas is the greatest state in the nation, and there is no way that that should happen. And I am willing to bet that 99 percent of the population doesn’t know about that. So, I hope they raise awareness about hunger issues in the state and mobilize some people to … do something about it.”

To help raise hunger awareness among his students, Jeff Mitchell, an adjunct math professor at Howard Payne University, cancelled his classes to ride for a day in the event and to open the door for his students to do the same. Also, a weekly breakfast group that Mitchell attends decided to skip breakfast that week to support the hunger offering and Mitchell’s efforts.

“You can give money to lots of things,” Mitchell said. “You think about that for a moment, but when you get involved, you think about that for a lifetime. Several students asked why we didn’t have class, and I got to explain about Bike Out Hunger. Actually, one of my students rode here. It was great to ride with one of my students and to see the other students excited about getting involved.”

For Ryan Musser, student minister at First Baptist Church in Hewitt, and Morgan Woodard, pastor of First Baptist Church in Golinda, the ride wasn’t just about raising awareness in others. It was about letting Christ continue to teach them what it is like to be in poverty, to be the ones needing help.

More than 60 days ago at the beginning of Lent, both men decided to give up something for Lent that would help them understand poverty on a new level. For 40 days, the two men set aside their car keys and used bikes for transportation.

The men wanted to understand what it was like to be part of the working poor who lack adequate transportation. During Lent, Musser and Woodard learned about Bike Out Hunger and knew it would be a great way to share with others the lessons they learned about hunger.

For three days, the two men rode, learning additional lessons on the way about the sacrifice Christians need to make in order for the state to be completely food secure.

“I learned something today about mile 42 in the middle of a hill,” an exhausted Musser said after he arrived at the finish in San Antonio.

“I was reminded that the call to take up our cross is not an easy task, and it involves sacrifice. So many times, we talk about world hunger, and we say that task is just too big. The kingdom of God isn’t about doing easy things. It’s about doing right things. And we were given a way to live, and a sacrificial way to live. And if it hurts, we are supposed to continue pressing on because that is what our king has already done.”

 




Changes underscore Baylor’s commitment to ministry of healing

DALLAS—Commitment to Christian healing ministry has guided Baylor Health Care System since its founding, but creation of an office of mission and ministry has given renewed emphasis to that defining sense of purpose, hospital officials said.

Chaplain Mark Grace, longtime director of pastoral care at Baylor, was named vice president of the new office of mission and ministry. The office brings together three ministry components—spiritual care to patients, their families and hospital staff; pastoral education programs for ministers, seminary students and laity; and faith in action initiatives.

“It pulls together all facets of the health care system that relate to faith,” Grace said. “It’s more than token banner-waving. It’s identifying at the corporate level in an explicit way that this is how we’re going to do business.”

Baylor President and CEO Joel Allison described the organizational change as “the beginning of a new era in Baylor Health Care System’s commitment to its Christian ministry of healing.”

Allison pointed to a four-fold purpose in creating the office:

• Re-envision ways to strengthen and streamline Baylor’s historical Christian ministry of healing.

• Explore new ways to engage and support Baylor employees as they live out their faith and values in service to others.

• Embed mission and ministry programs across the expanding health care system.

• Partner with other Christian mission and ministry agencies to help meet medical missions needs locally and around the world.

“I think we’re seeing a resurgence of enthusiasm among our trustees, executive officers, medical staff and employees toward our mission as a Christian ministry of healing,” said John McWhorter, president of Baylor University Medical Center.

Grace sees the office of mission and ministry as a place where Baylor can help employees and staff explore “the interchange between practice and faith and to see their work as sacred vocation.”

While individuals on the Baylor Health Care System staff long have been involved in volunteer service and mission trips, the new faith in action initiatives program provides a coordinated approach to offering employees a way to “put feet to faith,” Grace said.

“It’s taking it to another level by embedding this in the daily life of the organization,” he explained.

Don Sewell, who served 12 years with the Baptist General Convention of Texas in the areas of Partnership Missions and as liaison to worldwide agencies and who has worked most recently with the Baptist World Alliance, directs the faith in action initiatives.

Baylor works closely with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, Buckner International and other ministry partners, both globally and locally, and the health care system expects to see that emphasis grow, McWhorter noted.

For example, Baylor employees volunteer to serve meals to the homeless at Cornerstone Baptist Church in inner-city Dallas once a month. Baylor also provides staffing for Cornerstone’s medical and dental clinic.

“We have a waiting list of departments wanting to serve,” McWhorter said.




Adopted daughter a ‘perfect fit’ for Hamilton pastor’s family

HAMILTON—Maya Sitota grabs her mother’s hand and leads her to the bedroom, instructing her in 2-year-old babble to turn on the music.

“Oh, oh, oh,” she says, pointing to the radio on the window ledge.

Last year, Maya Sitota of Ethiopia joined the Felton family of Hamilton—mother, Sharon; father, Keith; and brothers, Carter and Dakota. (PHOTOS/Russ Dilday/Buckner International)

“She loves this song,” Sharon Felton replies, turning on Beyonce’s hit ‘All the Single Ladies’ as Maya bounces up and down to the half chanting, half singing lyrics, “oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh.”

It’s hard to believe the happy toddler who loves hair bows and football, dancing and wrestling with her big brothers, might never have lived to see her first birthday.

When Maya arrived at Buckner International’s baby home in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in June 2008, she was malnourished and starving. Malnutrition is the cause of half of all deaths among children 5 and under in Ethiopia, a country where extreme poverty and AIDS has left 4 million children orphaned.

But just as Maya was abandoned, God’s redemptive plan for her life began. Thousands of miles away, Keith and Sharon Felton began the adoption process in Texas. And now, after being home with her family for six months, it’s as if she’s always been a Felton.

“It’s amazing how much love you can have for someone you didn’t give birth to,” Sharon Felton said. “She’s the perfect person for us, a perfect fit for our family.”

Ten years and waiting

Maya Sitota loves music, including the sounds she makes on the Felton family piano.

Ten years ago, Keith Felton, now pastor at First Baptist Church in Hamilton, went to Ethiopia on a mission trip to lead basketball camps for children.

“While I was there, I fell in love with the Ethiopian people and learned about the percentage of orphans and the need for adoption,” he said.

He came home from that trip and talked to his wife about adopting, but they were a young couple without children.

“We always talked about adopting one day,” she said. “You know how you just throw things out over the years. But I always had so many excuses. I would say that I didn’t want to adopt internationally because I couldn’t keep them connected with their culture. I thought that was so important.

“But one day I was talking with a friend, and he responded (sarcastically) saying, ‘Yeah, that’s more important than having parents,’ It was like a knife in the heart.”

His words became a wake-up call that changed her heart toward adoption. But it was their children, Carter, 9, and Dakota, 6, who helped them move forward.

Keith Felton, pastor of First Baptist Church in Hamilton, plays with his daughter, Maya Sitota. He and his wife, Sharon, adopted their daughter from Ethiopia last year. (PHOTOS/Russ Dilday/Buckner International)

Dakota had been asking for a sister since he was 3, but his mother always told him no. But once they discussed adoption with the boys, they were both excited to have a new member of the family. One day, Dakota walked out into the living room and dumped his piggy bank in a large jar of change the family had started collecting to pay for the adoption.

“He said, ‘OK, I’m ready to help bring my sister home,’” Sharon Felton recalled.

The boys’ support made the process that much easier, her husband added. “They are the very best big brothers,” he said.

Much of the Hamilton community, a rural town of about 3,000 people, pitched in to bring Maya home. Strangers would come up to them and want to help. Even Carter’s second grade class collected books for orphans of Bantu, Ethiopia, where Buckner operates a school and community center.

“Ninety-nine percent of the folks here didn’t know about the cost,” Keith Felton said. “But when they found out, they all wanted to help. Almost every time we had a bill due, the money was there.”

Maya’s adoption was “more or less a fulfillment of what was put on my heart so long ago,” he added. “God has taught me that he will complete things in his own timing. He who began a good work in me would be faithful to complete it.”

Long-term effect

Keith Felton, pastor of First Baptist Church in Hamilton, plays with his daughter, Maya Sitota.

The Feltons were matched with Maya in January 2009. When they received the paperwork about her, the first thing they noticed was her name. Sitota means “gift,” and the day she became available for adoption—June 24—was Sharon Felton’s birthday.

“Seeing my birthday on her paperwork was definitely an ‘aha’ moment,” she said.

The couple was first scheduled for court in Ethiopia in July 2009, but their date was postponed due to a three-month delay in adoption proceedings in Ethiopia. In Ethiopian adoption, the court date is when a judge declares a child legally adopted. Families typically travel several weeks after their court date to pick up their child and finalize their adoption at the U.S. Embassy.

The Feltons finally traveled to Ethiopia to pick up Maya in September 2009, one year and three months from the date they started the adoption process.

“That’s short in the adoption world,” Keith Felton said.

Sharon Felton was most surprised by the quality of care and love provided to Sitota at the baby home. They receive plenty of individualized care and attention, and a registered nurse visits them every other day.

“All the kids were so great, beautiful and healthy,” she said. “They are so well cared for and loved. The caregivers cried and kissed her when we left. The older kids did, too.”

The shared bond of adopting from the same baby home in Ethiopia has brought together a group of adoptive families living in Texas and Tennessee in a very special way, she said. The families meet regularly to celebrate birthdays and holidays, and share life via Facebook and e-mail. “We will always be connected. We’re like family,” she said.

When Maya arrived at Buckner International’s baby home in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in June 2008, she was malnourished and starving.

Maya’s adoption has profoundly affected the community of Hamilton, too, Keith Felton said.

“We could not be in a better town. They all love her,” he said. “I think having Maya here in Hamilton will impact people in ways we may never see. I’m hoping it will plant a seed in their hearts toward adoption.”

The Feltons get a lot of questions about being part of an interracial family, but the obstacles they will face “are not insurmountable,” Sharon Felton said. “I know there will be issues with race that we will face along the way, but it’s really a non-issue right now. We have had more positive encouragement and support than I ever expected.”

The Feltons agree adoption isn’t for everyone, but they think more families are capable of adopting than do.

“Adopting is hard. Kids are hard. Parenting is hard,” Keith Felton said. “But it’s not so hard that you can’t handle it.”

“It’s not as scary as you might think,” Sharon Felton added. “Don’t let anything get in your way—money, culture. It’s so worth it, and it’s so fun. She makes us laugh every day. You just don’t know what you’re missing.”

To learn more about adopting from Ethiopia through Buckner International and the agency’s affiliation with Dillon, visit www.dillonadopt.com.

 




Drawings draw children into Bible stories

ROUND ROCK—Seeing isn’t always believing, but it sure can help children connect with the gospel.

New BaptistWay Press Vacation Bible School materials are featuring illustrations meant to help children connect with Bible stories and the gospel. The meticulous color artwork is designed to draw the children into the stories, helping them gain a sense of what it was like to have stood next to the disciples or Christ.

BaptistWay VBS materials, including lesson plans, teacher resources, worship slideshows and scripts, can be downloaded for free at www.baptistwaypress.com, and the illustrations can be downloaded there for a small fee.

Scott Byers, a member of Woodlawn Baptist Church in Austin, produced the images as a way to use his design abilities to share the gospel.

For years, Byers has designed artwork for a range of companies, but he wanted to use his talents to make a difference in people’s lives. At a chance meeting with Texas Baptists’ Preschool/Children’s Ministry Specialist Diane Lane, Byers discovered the convention wanted to add illustrations to its VBS materials in 2010. The match was ideal.

“I’m really looking for meaningful work,” he said. “That’s why the BGCT work appealed to me.”

Diane Lane is thrilled the illustrations are part of the BaptistWay Press VBS materials, themed “The Big Sea Adventure: Exploring the Depths of God's Love.”

“Children often have problems understanding abstract messages or stories,” she said. “These images help given them an idea what it was like during Jesus’ time, help them picture the stories they are hearing about during the week. That goes a long way in helping them connect with the stories and the gospel the stories share.”

Vacation Bible School remains one of the most effective ways congregations use to share the gospel with their communities and touch the lives of people who otherwise remain unconnected to churches.

By offering free downloadable VBS materials, Lane hopes every church—no matter its size or budget—can afford to hold a VBS.

“We want every person in Texas to know about the love and hope of Christ,” Lane said. “One of the best ways to work toward that goal has been—and continues to be— Vacation Bible School.”

For more information about BaptistWay’s VBS materials, visit www.baptistwaypress.com or call Lane at (888) 244-9400.

 

 




Church in Alvin restored 18 months after Hurricane Ike

ALVIN—After a long and trying renovation, South Park Baptist Church in Alvin has emerged from the destruction caused by Hurricane Ike 18 months later to stand restored. And members testify they are more dedicated than ever before to reaching their community for Christ.

Although the church experienced about $1 million worth of damage to its facilities, the members stood strong, joining together, continuing to share the hope of Christ in the midst of disaster and forming a plan to restore the church campus.

“The church has been drawn closer together,” said Mike Webb, a deacon and chairman of the church’s transitional building committee. “This has just been a time for us to learn to adapt, to learn to reach the lost of our city and to work with other churches in the city.”

The church’s sanctuary, children’s building and two education buildings were damaged severely, leaving only the fellowship hall usable after the hurricane.

“The inside of the buildings became very large terrariums,” said James McGlothlin, interim pastor at South Park Baptist Church. “What the storm didn’t knock over, it ruined through dumping buckets of rain.”

First Methodist Church in Alvin allowed the church to hold worship services in its building the Sunday after the storm hit so the members could continue to worship together. In the following weeks, South Park Baptist Church members split into two worship services and met in the fellowship hall, the only building not harmed by the storm.

Church Strategist Richard Mangum offered the church funds from the Baptist General Convention of Texas to help with the immediate rebuilding efforts needed after the storm, but the church declined, stating that there are churches with greater needs than theirs. 

“It just shows the sensitivity of the church to other churches,” Mangum said. Pastor Bruce Peterson, who retired after 18 years at South Park Baptist, “said we are a strong church, and we will be OK, so take those funds and use it for a church that needs it more than us. And I did.”

To help with the restoration, the church established a transition team to choose contractors and to work with the insurance company to begin making repairs to the building. Although insurance covered the majority of the storm damage, the church had to use additional funds to pay for removal of asbestos found in the children’s building and to update the baptistry.

“I don’t think that things happen by coincidence,” Webb said. “Now that (the renovation) … is over and even in that time, we think God was helping us see a different path and preparing us for something. I think the church was really good about coming together and supporting one another.”

The church held its first service back in the sanctuary on Christmas Eve 2009, but the remainder of the buildings were not completely restored until February 2010. To celebrate the completion of the renovation, the church held a rededication service, recognizing the journey God had carried the church through and looking forward to the ministry God has for the church in the coming months and years.

The service was “just a time to refocus saying we want you (members) to place your heart back into the church during 2010,” Webb said. It was “a rededication of the facilities but also a dedication of the people back to the church.”

Gratitude to God characterized the church throughout the ordeal, Mangum said.

“I think basically it was my sense from the pastor to the members that they were very resilient and grateful that they had not received more damage,” he said. “They knew that God was going to see them through and help them get to the other side of this and have something better on the other side.”

Webb agrees, noting that the church believes God sustained them for a reason, recognizing that he isn’t done using the church to influence the community and even the world for his kingdom.

“There is something bigger out there that we think God is preparing us for,” Webb said. “I think he is just preparing us for the next step. I don’t know that he has revealed that next step to anyone. We are still in the building stages of learning what that is.”

As the church settles back into the facilities and continues to search for a new pastor, the members continue to search for ways to share the hope of Christ with all people groups in the city. 

“We are getting information from the city of Alvin, what unreached groups are here,” McGlothlin said.  “They are in process of seeing that their location is good for the future growth of Alvin. They see they need to reach the people who come here. We are ever discovering in Texas that the Lord has brought the world to our doorstep. Though foreign missions is important, we are seeing that you can do missions without even leaving our block.”

Above all, the church recognizes that the last 18 months has been a story of God’s provision in all types of circumstances. As the congregation continues to look for a pastor, members are excited to see how God will continue to use the church to reach the community with the gospel.

“It is the testimony of the faithfulness of God in trying circumstances,” McGlothlin said.




Port Neches drama yields 32 professions of faith in Christ

PORT NECHES—When First Baptist Church in Port Neches decided to perform the evangelistic play Last Chance, members wanted to share the hope of Christ with their community. By the end of the three days of performances, the church saw 32 people make decisions to follow Christ and 65 renew their commitments to him.  

In the past, the church has been focused on reaching its community with the gospel, but sharing the message in a new way with the community was part of the church’s Texas Hope 2010 efforts, an emphasis by Texas Baptists to pray for the lost, care for the hurting and hungry and share the hope of Christ with all Texans.

“I thought it was a great challenge for our people and a great way to understand that we aren’t working by ourselves but working with the convention to reach our state for the kingdom,” said Pastor David Mahfouz about the church's involvement in Texas Hope 2010.

The play, by Reality Outreach, portrays scenes of real-life tragedies that people might find themselves in, such as a high school shooting or an abusive marriage relationship. In the midst of this, the reality of every person’s life and death as well as Christ’s redeeming love is shown.

The church hired the organization to direct the production, while church members served as the actors. Additional church members participated in the outreach event by counseling people who wanted to follow Christ after seeing the play.  

“It is a presentation of the reality of Jesus Christ—his death, burial and resurrection, and it talks about people’s choices in life and that it makes a difference in where they will spend eternity,” Mahfouz said.  

For 40 days before the play, the church prayed for the outreach efforts and for those who don’t know Christ in their community. One week before the play, church members delivered more than 300 Texas Hope 2010 multimedia compact discs that include the Gospel of John and have an option to download the New Testament in more than 400 languages to homes surrounding the church and invited residents to attend the play.

Reaching out to the community “is important because as you know we are living in a pretty tough world right now,” said Aron Arceneaux, a member of the church and actor in the play. “It’s not only important for our church but all churches to be involved in the community in some way.”

For many church members, outreach is not a new idea, but the play was an additional avenue for many to share the hope of Christ to touch the hearts of people in the community in a different way through the play, said Cheryl Hernandez, a member of the church who volunteered with her daughter to be in the play.

“This was important because there are so many people that are lost in every community,” she said. “It is very important to reach out to them on a level that they can relate to. I think the play was effective because they could see their lives portrayed right in front of them, especially the student scene because there have been so many shootings at campuses and people are just amazed at how it happens.”

Participating in the play hit close to home for Hernandez as she played an abused wife and mother because it was portraying the same real-life situation some of her family had endured a few years ago. Through this, Hernandez desired to share the hope of Christ even more with women and children stuck in these situations.

Marcie Cate, a sophomore at Lamar University and a member of the church, wanted to see her community influenced by the gospel presentation. But she noted she was challenged in her faith as she saw young and old alike within the church unite and work together for the cause of the gospel.

“It was awesome and you think about the audience being affected,” Cate said. “One of the first things the director said is that the cast will be most affected. And it was so true. You have people from middle school to great grandmas working together, and we don’t get to have that very often. The group really grew together through the effort and through the prayer time.”

But unity wasn’t the only thing gained within the church. Cate also grew in her own walk with God as she allowed him to place her in a counseling position at the end of the play where she was able to lead a lady to faith in Christ.

“God just led me into things like the counseling, things where on my own I normally wouldn’t do things like that,” Cate said. “I got to be with my church family and with them show Christ in a different way. I got a lot of courage and confidence in that, in my ability to tell people about Christ.”

The church recognizes that sharing the gospel with the city through the play is only the beginning. As people in the community made decisions to follow Christ, members were paired with many to disciple them and help them grow in their relationship with Christ.

“As they came, we worked with them to get an individual to work one on one with them in a disciplining process,” Mahfouz said. “They were given the hope CD and are now involved in discipleship material about how to grow in their faith and how to read their Bible.”

On Easter Sunday, Mahfouz baptized six children and teenagers who had made professions of faith in Christ during the play. Many others are scheduled to be baptized in the near future.

Through the efforts, Mahfouz and the church members said they were looking for God to restore their city, bringing hope and eternal life to many. And they saw that happen.

“We were hoping for a revived church and a revived people,” Mahfouz said. “It has been a hard time this year coming out of our storm experience. Within the last five years, we have had five major storms, and it makes it hard for long-term planning because just when we’ve recovered from one another on has hit. So it is exciting to see people seeking the Lord and coming into the church.




Making disciples key to the missions imperative, experts insist

WACO—A clear sense of mission for the 21st century demands understanding the theology that underlies the missionary imperative, commitment to teaching the next generation and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s guidance, speakers told participants at a Baylor University symposium.

A theologian, a missiologist, a pastor and the director of a missions network spoke on “Renewing Evangelism for the 21st Century: Catechesis and Missions Outeach” at an April 26 symposium sponsored by Baylor’s Center for Ministry Effectiveness and Educational Leadership.

Message, means and mission

Michael Stroope

In examining the theology and practice of evangelism among Baptists, keynote speaker Curtis Freeman, research professor of theology and director of the Baptist House of Studies at Duke Divinity School, identified three significant shifts in theology related to message, means and mission.

First, Baptists recovered the missionary message of the Great Commission, he noted. Prodded by William Carey and Andrew Fuller, Baptists rejected high Calvinism’s insistence that the invitation of grace should be reserved for the elect and insisted Christians must extend the “open offer” of the gospel to all people in every nation.

Next, Baptists developed a means for advancing the gospel mission and carrying the message to the world. Fuller became secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society for the “propagation of the gospel among the heathen,” and the society sent Carey to India as its first missionary.

By the time Carey died in 1834, England was home to 14 mission societies. In the United States, the missions impulse led Baptists to form the General Missionary Convention to support Ann and Adoniram Judson in their mission to Burma. The Southern Baptist Convention, the National Baptist Convention and the African-American Lotty Carey Foreign Missions Convention followed.

Eventually, Freeman noted, Baptists grew in their understanding about the theology of missions, seeing it as joining in the mission of God—the Father sending the Son, the Father and Son sending the Holy Spirit, and the Father, Son and Spirit sending the church into the world.

Making disciples

Looking to the future, Freeman observed, Baptists must wrestle with what missions means after the death of Christendom—the end of Christianity’s position of established privilege in society.

“With the future of post-Christendom era now all but certain, the question that remains is whether Christians can learn anew to practice the faith without privilege,” he said.

Freeman recommended Baptists consider reclaiming the ancient Christian practice of catechesis—providing new believers instruction in the faith. Age-graded Sunday school as it often is practiced in many churches seem more indebted to principles of educational psychology than goals of evangelism and spiritual formation, he asserted.

“I am afraid the guiding philosophy of Christian education often has more to do with (psychologists Erik) Erikson, (Lawrence) Kohlberg and (Jean) Piaget than it does with Jesus or the gospel,” Freeman said. “If the Sunday school is to be of use for evangelizing and catechizing Christians in the 21st century, it is in dire need of theological reimagination.”

Sometimes, the call to baptize and make disciples means following God’s leadership “when you don’t have it all figured out,” he added.

Citing an example from his own experience as long-term interim pastor at West End Baptist Church in Houston, he recalled a young Hispanic woman who had been attending regularly the church’s Spanish-language Bible class and who wanted to make a public profession of faith in Christ and be baptized.

When Freeman met with the church’s deacons to plan the baptism service, one deacon objected to her baptism, noting that the woman was “living in sin.” Her husband—the father of several of her children—remained in Mexico, and she was living out of wedlock with a man who was the father of several more of her children.

Eventually, Freeman appealed to the deacons to follow Jesus’ command to go and make disciples, baptizing and teaching them.

Curtis Freeman

“I think we’ve made a disciple and should baptize her,” Freeman recalled saying. And looking directly at the deacon who had raised the objection, he continued, “After we baptize her, we’re going to teach her what it means to be a faithful follower of Christ.”

“Jesus is calling his church today to join him on mission,” Freeman concluded. “You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to practice the faith, follow the plan and go with God, because you can rest assured that if you go, God will be with you every step of the way.”

Move toward multiformity

To the shifts in message, means and mission Freeman identified, missiologist Mike Stroope added a shift toward multiformity.

The uniform methods and monolithic structures that once characterized Baptist missionary enterprises are giving way to multiple structures and means, said Stroope, associate professor and holder of the M.C. Shook Chair of Christian Missions at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary.

“Missions for Baptists is becoming multiform in its structures and multiform in its essence,” he said.

Churches are reclaiming a central role in joining the mission of God, Stroope observed.

“Rather than one path that leads to the whole world, determined by the denomination or an agency, churches are discerning where God would have them be involved locally and internationally,” he said.

“Pioneers and early adopters of the multiform paradigm are not waiting for someone in a denominational office or a seminary classroom to give them permission or tell them what to do.”

Instead, they are realigning themselves with networks of like-minded Christians who share their sense of mission and reshaping their notions of methods and missions practices to include an array of activities that address the whole person, Stroope said.

Baptists—and other Christians—should recognize the present as a transitional period, not a final destination, he suggested.

“It is as if we are in a hallway between what was and what will be. Because of what we believe about God’s purposes and because of what we know of our past, we can be assured that we have a mission future. Our aim must be to read the signs along the way and keep moving toward that future,” Stroope said.

Reclaim catechesis

Serious evangelism involves a commitment to making disciples, and that means giving individuals a compass for navigating through faith and life, said John Lockhart, pastor of First Baptist Church in Richmond, near Houston.

John Lockhart

John Lockhart

Many Christians have difficulty relating the Bible stories they have learned in Sunday school or the principles they have heard in sermons to the overarching themes of Scripture, he observed. They lack the vocabulary to express their faith in meaningful ways.

“We have not given the language for conversations about what God is doing in the world,” Lockhart said.

That realization led the Richmond church to develop its own catechism—a series of questions and answers about Christian faith taught to fifth-grade students in Sunday school.

Children are “natural theologians” who wonder about ultimate questions, but they need help in framing those questions, Lockhart said. He compared the foundational catechesis to a lens—“not to look at but to look through.”

Rather than just imparting information, the goal is to teach children how to think, talk and ask questions about their faith, he explained.

Too often, Lockhart observed, the same children who are expected in school to offer critical analysis of literature and to absorb complex scientific principles are not similarly challenged at church.

“Take seriously your children,” he said. “If you do not take them seriously, they will not take you seriously.”

Centrality of the church

Cindy Wiles

Cindy Wiles

Missional awareness begins with recognizing Christ commissioned his church to be “an invasive presence” in the world—not a fortress into which Christians retreat—and “awakening to the reality that God is a missionary God,” said Cindy Wiles of First Baptist Church in Arlington, executive director of the Global Connection Partnership Network.

“We are empowered by the Spirit of God with access to the mind of God,” Wiles said, emphasizing the need for churches to seek God’s guidance as they determine how to strategically implement the Great Commission.

“The Holy Spirit defines what is strategic,” she said.

As churches become informed about what God is doing in the world through other Christians who share a similar passion for a particular place or people group, strategic networks develop, Wiles noted.

Collaborations and partnerships often cross over denominational lines as churches exercise their autonomy and follow God’s direction, she added.

“Effective 21st century missions happens as the church reclaims her primary role of the Great Commission task,” Wiles said.

Lines between local missions and global missions blur as churches follow God’s leadership to work with particular people groups, she added. For instance, First Baptist Church of Arlington’s work with the Fulani people in Tarrant County connected them to the Fulani community in New York who in turn connected them to the Fulani in West Africa.

“As the unreached come to your city, they leave a beautiful breadcrumb trail,” she said.