Leaders of Dallas-based Buckner Retirement Services and Baptist Memorials Ministries in San Angelo have signed an affiliation agreement. Buckner and Baptist Memorials had entered into a letter of intent in May to begin proceedings for an affiliation, which starts Jan. 1. The boards of both organizations met in July and voted to proceed with the affiliation following due diligence investigations by both entities. Messengers to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting in Houston approved the decision. Buckner operates five Texas campuses in Austin, Beaumont, Dallas, Longview and Houston, offering independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled care. Baptist Memorials offers a full continuum of care at its San Angelo campus and independent living at the Woodlands in Burnet.

BCFS program awarded major contract. The Office of Refugee Resettlement in the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services awarded a $21.5 million contract to Baptist Child & Family Services to expand its International Children’s Services program. The funding will enable BCFS to expand its program in San Antonio and into northern California, providing shelter and care to unaccompanied children from foreign countries while the federal government determines the appropriate next steps toward reconnecting youth with their families. Under the terms of the contract, for the next five years, BCFS will provide shelter, counseling and intense case management and educational support to children placed in the residential facilities in San Antonio and northern California.

Seminar focuses on faith and science. “Christian Faith and Modern Science: Breaking Down the Dividing Wall” is the theme of a seminar sponsored by First Baptist Church in Austin and Baylor University’s Center for Ministry Effectiveness & Educational Leadership. The Jan. 23 seminar at First Baptist Church of Austin begins at 9 a.m. and concludes at 4:30 p.m. A panel discussion will feature Baylor professors representing three disciplines. Barry Harvey, professor of theology, will discuss “Mystery and Well-Formed Intellect—Why Science and Theology Are Not in Competition.” Gerald Cleaver, associate professor of physics, will speak on “Faith and the New Cosmology.” Phyllis Tippit, who holds a Ph.D. in geology and is completing a doctorate in Old Testament studies with a focus on Genesis, will address the question: “Does Life Have a History?” The $35 registration fee includes refreshments and the noon meal. To register, contact Karen Cappolino at (512) 476-2625 or KCappolino@fbcaustin.org.

Looby Scholarship established at Howard Payne. The family of Elizabeth Looby established an endowed scholarship in her memory at Howard Payne University. Looby, a former teacher and homemaker who helped coordinate the Heart of Texas Christian Women’s Job Corps, died April 9. Her husband, Jim, and sons, Jim of Stephenville and John of Jacksonville, Fla., established the scholarship in the HPU School of Education to benefit students majoring in education. The scholarship will be endowed completely when the fund reaches at least $10,000.

First Baptist Church in Commerce plans to provide a hot meal and hope for 700 needy people this Christmas.

Each family that attends the Dec. 23 event will receive dinner and a Texas Hope 2010 evangelistic compact disc containing Scripture, gospel presentations and links to the New Testament in more than 400 languages. The effort is part of the congregation’s participation in Texas Hope 2010, an initiative to share the gospel with every Texan by Easter 2010.

The dinner—the first of its kind at the church—will be the congregation’s latest effort to help people in need this Christmas season. The church also is involved in the Angel Tree program as well as CASA, both of which enable people to purchase Christmas gifts for children.

“We’re extending ourselves to our community,” Pastor Johnnie Henderson said.

“We feel like this is a way of saying to the Lord, ‘We’re going to give back what you’ve blessed us with.’”

Henderson hopes the meal will let people know Christians care about them and want to help where they can. Through conversations, church members will share about the birth of Christ.

“Each of our people will share with them what the meaning of Christmas is for their family,” he said.

HOUSTON—George and Novice Bruner’s Christmas list includes the names of more than 200 needy Houston children.

Even more impressive, the Bruners’ ministry to children began more than 50 years ago.

In 1956, the principal of Burnet Elementary School in Houston called Bruner. The principal, who had been a mentor to Bruner through the Big Brother program, said he needed help supplying gifts for more than 25 children. That first year, the Bruners delivered more than 200 gifts.

Over the years, about 4,000 children have received more than 40,000 gifts from the Bruners.

For about the first 15 years, the Bruners didn’t tell many people about their ministry. But when wrapping presents grew to be such a gargantuan task, they enlisted the help of family, friends and their church, Tallowood Baptist in Houston. The church’s Acteens, in particular, have provided great help in wrapping gifts.

In addition to wrappers, the number of Santa Clauses making deliveries also has increased. Each gift is delivered to the child’s home by Santa on Christmas Eve.

“When you pull that gift out of the bag and call out that first name, you should see their eyes,” said Bruner, who is nearing his 82nd birthday. “They can’t figure out how you knew their name. After we have that moment when their eyes light up, I leave the rest of them for Mom to pass out, because I have a lot of other stops to make.”

Those Christmas Eve deliveries make the year-round shopping worth it, Bruner said.

“They’ll see me coming in with my bag, and say: ‘Mama, I told you he was coming! I told you he was coming.’ Every time, something happens to make it a special blessing,” he said.

Each child receives six to 10 gifts, the Bruners said, so that they will feel special. Every gift is wrapped and has the child’s name on it. Each child also receives a stocking stuffed with treats.

The Bruners try to tailor the gifts to each family. If there are multiple children in a family, each child receives a ball for a different sport rather than duplicates. The Bruners also try to give each family a game the parents and childen can play together to create bonding times. Each child old enough to read also receives a Bible.

The number of clothing items is minimal, Bruner said.

“This is Christmas, and they don’t get too excited about clothes. Even the people who help me with the wrapping don’t want to wrap the clothes. They move them out of the way so that they can wrap more toys,” he explained.

The number of gifts has necessitated the erection of a storage building behind the Bruners’ home.

“After I fell out of the attic one day crawling around up there, I thought it was time,” Bruner quipped.

“Especially since he fell on me,” his wife added with a laugh.

This year, the Bruners received the Jefferson Award from a local television station that described the award as “the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for public and community service.” The couple finally made someone else’s list.

The Singing Men of North Central Texas 2010 mission trip to Ukraine will mark two firsts for the musical group—travel by boat rather than bus through the Eastern European nation and an invitation for “mission partners” to join the musicians in ministry.

“It’s different than ever before,” said Don Blackley, a director of the North Central Texas chapter of the Singing Men of Texas and a worship leader at Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall.

Rather than making a slow journey by chartered bus over questionable roads, the group will take a Viking River Cruise ship up the Dnieper River—which bisects Ukraine—beginning April 20 in the Black Sea port city of Odessa and concluding April 30 in Kiev, he explained.

Working in cooperation with the Ukrainian Baptist Union and international evangelist Michael Gott, the Singing Men of Texas will perform in churches and concert halls in six cities along the way. Following a one-hour concert at each venue, Gott will preach an evangelistic message and offer a public invitation to profess faith in Christ.

“The objective is getting lost people to the concerts,” Blackley explained. “Churches in the Baptist Union have agreed their members can only come to the concerts if they bring someone with them who needs to know Christ.”

Gott’s evangelistic organization has a long history of using conversational English seminars as an avenue for sharing the gospel with young professionals and university students in Eastern Europe.

In each city along the choir tour, Gott’s organization will invite alumni of those seminars to attend two-hour refresher classes in conversational English—and invite their friends to accompany them—prior to every concert.

Mission partners will participate in the conversational English classes, as well as distributing invitations to the concerts in each city where the choir performs.

“Members of the mission team will do everything the rest of the group will do except sing at the concerts,” Blackley noted.

A complete itinerary is posted on the Singing Men of North Central Texas website at www.smonct.org.

For more information, contact Blackley at (972) 231-8302 or e-mail donblackley@sbcglobal.net.

PERRYTON—This Christmas season, three Perryton Baptist churches are sharing hope with Ochiltree County as they pray for local needs and go door-to-door delivering gift bags to their neighbors.

Bags are filled with homemade bread or cookies, information about the churches and a Texas Hope 2010 evangelistic multimedia compact disc containing Scripture, gospel testimonies and links to the New Testament in more than 400 languages.

More than 130 members from First Baptist Church, Key Heights Baptist Church and Southside Baptist Church are in the process of delivering goodie bags to all 3,000 homes in Perryton before Christmas. The group will deliver CDs to the remaining 400 homes in Ochiltree County after the holidays.

“My initial goal is to get people to see that there are people in our community who are unchurched,” said Pastor Richard Laverty of First Baptist Church. “I think we know that, but this puts a face to that. I want to see a genuine consensus from our churches to be a part of their lives.”

The effort is part of Texas Hope 2010—an emphasis by Texas Baptists to pray for the spiritually lost, care for the hurting and hungry, and share the hope of Christ with all Texans by Easter 2010.

“We want to see the Texas Hope 2010 goal of seeing people find the Lord as their Savior,” Laverty said. “We are hoping to see people come to the Lord by Easter, but also we want people to know that Christ is out there to help with their issues. There are a lot of people with broken marriages and hard lives, and Christ can help.”

Alta Williams, coordinator of the Ochiltree County CD distribution, said the plan was kept simple, allowing people of all ages with various talents to take part. Some stuffed the CD bags, while others baked bread or delivered the gifts to the 19 areas mapped out in the city.

“We have tried to keep it as simple as possible to help lay people understand that they can just go to the door and be who they are,” Williams said. “We told them to prayer-walk their area and drive through to see who may be home. Then the Lord will open doors if he sees fit.”

A few volunteers performed skits in a worship service to show how to knock on someone’s door and initiate conversations, helping relieve any fears about the outreach efforts, Laverty said.

“We walked them through presenting the CD and how to answer people’s questions,” he said. “We are doing this to alleviate some fears that have surfaced a little bit of going out and sharing with other people. As people have gone out, the testimony has come back that this isn’t as bad as they thought. We want to take away the intimidation and help people actually share Christ.”

Williams told the volunteers that as Christians, they already are equipped to share the hope of Christ and have an opportunity to share that with their community.

“Basically, if you have Christ in your heart, you can share,” Williams said. “You can share what he has done in your life.”

Terry Williams, pastor of Key Heights Baptist Church, sees the effort as a way to open the eyes of his church members to the needs in their community, as well as invite the town to be a part of the church family.

“The main emphasis is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, and this is a way to do it,” he said. “We are a close-knit community, and we have several churches in town. But we also realize the vast majority of our population doesn’t go anywhere.”

Alta Williams agreed, adding she hopes the lives of people who receive the CD will be affected by the word of God and the volunteers’ lives will be changed as they allow the Holy Spirit to use them to share the gospel.

“My hope and dream is that the people of my church and the churches in the area will come to know and see the need in our community, to see how many people are lost in our area and see that they can reach out to those,” she said. “I hope they will be open to building relationships and see no matter how small the effort they make, it can help.”

Laverty also is using the outreach project to encourage his congregation to build intentional relationships so they can share the hope of Christ with someone by Easter 2010.

“Our goal is for each person in our congregation to personally witness and lead someone to Christ by Easter Sunday 2010,” Laverty said. “We want them to be prepared and then go by the leading of the Holy Spirit and share through that. I’ve been teaching some sermons on sharing your faith, and we’ve been encouraging them to establish relationships and witness through that.

“The church is very strong in foreign missions, but the heart of the church is to say missions is also right here. This is our Jerusalem. The church has taken it to heart, and it’s exciting.”

SUGAR LAND—In the weeks leading up to Christmas, some Texas Baptists have been learning that purchasing with a purpose has the power to pull people out of poverty.

Within the last month, several congregations—Williams Trace Baptist Church in Sugar Land, First Baptist Church in Austin, Willow Meadows Baptist Church in Houston and Second Baptist Church in Lubbock—held fair-trade shopping markets produced by Good News Goods, the fair-trade initiative of the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission.

The events provided opportunities for Texas Baptists to learn how buying fair-trade goods—made by people around the globe working fair hours and earning a fair wage—can help people emerge from poverty. Then, the markets give people the opportunity to purchase items.

Mike Massar, executive pastor of Williams Trace Baptist Church in Sugar Land, said Christmas has provided an ideal time to introduce the concept of purchasing with a purpose because people already are planning to buy gifts for their friends and family.

“It is Christmas. Because of that, people are naturally thinking about how they can give,” he said.

“This gives a direction, gives a purpose for folks to give. It’s a possibility to help people who are really good people who are working hard to get themselves out of poverty. We’re hoping we can give them a helping hand and at the same time buy some really wonderful things for people who deserve them.”

Good News Goods markets and events especially engage younger generations, asking them to think about the impact their purchases have on people around the globe, Massar noted.

Stephanie Nash, minister of education and outreach at Second Baptist Church in Lubbock, said the Good News Goods marketplace fit perfectly into the church’s emphases. Prior to the late November market, the congregation went through a stewardship study that emphasized being satisfied with what God provides. Following the marketplace, the church has focused on the need to be happy with a simple life during the Advent season, as Christians think about the birth of Christ.

The timing of the market empowered people to purchase Christmas gifts that helped make a difference in someone’s life, Nash said.

“We kind of beat black Friday,” she said. “We had people buy Christmas presents at the market.”

Todd Ferguson, associate pastor for children and youth at Willow Meadow Baptist Church in Houston, said the church he serves wants to take a countercultural approach to Christmas, away from the consumerism and toward the heart of the season. He hopes the Good News Goods market helps the congregation do that.

“Christmas is all about Jesus coming into our world and freeing us from our bondage,” he said. “If I can—through my shopping—offer someone freedom from poverty or sexual trafficking, then I am joining God in building God’s kingdom.”

Phil Lineberger, pastor of Williams Trace Baptist Church, said Good News Goods events provide a practical way for people to make a difference in global issues such as human trafficking.

“We hope to bring attention to the fact that the people of the world deserve to be able to partake of the resources of the world in order to earn a living, to be lifted out of poverty, out of human trafficking and those kinds of things,” he said. “We want our people to be aware of that so they can pray about it and do something about it.”

Charlotte Bumbulis, who leads the Good News Goods effort, said people across the state are catching the vision for how fair-trade purchasing provides Christians a practical way to tackle biblical justice issues that were at the heart of Jesus’ ministry, such as freeing people in bondage and caring for the poor.

In the markets, Bumbulis said, people are excited to put their money to work pulling people out of poverty and trafficking. Many Christians want to make a difference in these issues but do not know how. Good News Goods provides practical steps for believers to take and opens a door to considering the impact their purchases have on people around the globe.

“Pastors and ministers see the need,” she said. “They see the gap where we might be missing the mark on fighting injustice. This ministry steps right in that gap.”

In preparing for the Good News Goods market, the issues of human trafficking and child labor became personal for Griff Martin, associate pastor for young families at Williams Trace Baptist Church.

After reviewing Good News Good resources and videos, he came to understand the children working around the globe are no different than his young daughter. They deserve a chance at a better life, he realized.

“God just clearly spoke to me as I was looking at Blake: ‘These are all my children, Griff. Thus, they’re all your children. You have to do something about this. Your church has to do something to be part of the solution—to fix this crisis,’” he said.

For more information about Good News Goods, visit www.goodnewsgoods.com or call (888) 244-9400.

DALLAS—Due to changes in associational strategy and approach, two Texas Baptist associations are changing their funding structure for Baptist Student Ministries on local campuses.

Bluebonnet Baptist Association has supported the BSM at Texas State University in San Marcos, and Corpus Christi Baptist Association has supported the BSM at Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi/Del Mar College.

Both associations have notified the affected campus ministries they will reduce or eliminate direct program budget support in 2010.

“The shift has come both because of finances and philosophical shifts in the associations,” said Bruce McGowan, Texas Baptists’ director of collegiate ministries. “The association is an autonomous group, and we respect what they do with their money. We have been grateful for what they have given in the past or will give in the future.”

In both associations, leaders said the change comes from a desire to see more church involvement with collegiate ministries.

In an attempt to foster direct collegiate ministry partnerships and direct involvement in 2010, Bluebonnet Baptist Association no longer will provide program money through the associational budget but will encourage churches to fund the BSM program budget directly.

“It is an attempt to more directly include local churches in student ministry,” said J.K. Minton, director of missions for Bluebonnet Baptist Association in New Braunfels.

Traditionally, funding for salaries of BSM staff workers has been provided through the Baptist General Convention of Texas budget or through self-supported campus missionaries and interns. Meanwhile, Baptist associations, churches and alumni have provided program money, and the campus ministries have been accountable to them.

“Although that has perpetuated a BSM ministry, it has not incurred direct involvement in churches in college ministry. So, we have a disconnect between BSM ministry and churches,” Minton observed.

The $15,000 Bluebonnet Baptist Association has given in the past to the Texas State University BSM for its program budget leaves a gap the BSM will have to fill from other funding sources.

“What we are attempting to do is transfer the support, involvement and ministry through the association to a direct funding through churches,” Minton said. “Our hope is to have more direct involvement with the local churches and students. I believe what has come through the association will be more than picked up by the local churches as they take more responsibility for the ministry.”

Corpus Christi Baptist Association will reduce its giving to BSM from $15,000 to $9,000 for 2010.

“We have gone back to ground zero and said why are we here and how can we help the churches,” said Ed Jump, director of missions for the association. “And we can’t do everything or help all the ministries here. It is basically us getting back to the very basics, which is to strengthen, support and grow churches.”

As the association developed its focus, leaders realized only five out of 70 associational churches have allocated money toward BSM ministry. Because of this, Jump and other leaders decided funding needed to be revised and a method to encourage more church involvement should be established.

“We decided that we didn’t want to cut off BSM funding in 2010, so we put it at a level that is more compatible with our budget,” he said.

“Along with that, we have these priority teams, and the BSM will be under the community impact team. We think in the long run that BSM will be coaxed into engaging with more churches. This will give them the opportunity out of necessity to work more closely with churches, increasing their funding base and creating a healthy partnership with the churches.”  

In the last few years, the BSM at the University of Texas in Austin had to make the same funding shift and has been able to raise more support through alumni and individual church involvement than the previously pledged amount by associational budgets, McGowan noted.

Lamar University in Beaumont  has been funded by more than 50 churches in the area for some time and is doing quite well with this system, he added.

McGowan is optimistic the Baptist Student Ministries will be able to raise adequate funding while strengthening bonds with local churches, stating they are not in “crisis mode” because some provision already has been provided through individual churches and donors, as well as the staff positions still being covered by the BGCT budget.

“We will be letting people know the need through churches, friends of BSM and alumni,” he said. “In BSM history, we have relied on local church and association program dollars. That isn’t new. There just has been a shift in the role of the association that has made us seek funds in some other areas and new ways.”

Another change caused by the funding change for these two BSMs will be the formation of a new accountability structure. In the past, when a Baptist Student Ministry received the majority of program money from the association, it then was held accountable by the associational director and its governing structure.

Since this will not be in place, a new advisory group of eight to 10 local church leaders and BSM alumni throughout the state will be established by the BSM directors and churches for each of the two BSMs and be used as the accountability source that will make budget and structural decisions for the organizations.

BEDFORD—First Baptist Church in Bedford hopes the Jump for Joy Festival—its collaborative project with the Hurst-Euless-Bedford school district—causes needy children to do just that.

The festival began four years ago after the school district asked if the congregation could raise money to help underprivileged children.

The Jump for Joy Festival brought in more than $3,000 that first year, and the 2009 goal was $10,000.

Headliners for the day are the multiple bounce houses and other inflatables set up on the church’s back lot. Indoors, church members display donated items as part of a silent auction that continues throughout the Saturday event.

Also, in the church gym, volunteers offer carnival games and staff a food court where children can buy treats.

All the money raised from the food, games and auction go to the school district to help needy children.

To keep a steady flow of visitors coming throughout the day and to give children an opportunity to display their talents, school musical groups perform at scheduled intervals. Performers include choirs, a string orchestra of elementary-age students and a group learning ballroom dancing.

The event requires almost 100 volunteers to coordinate, Pastor Marty Akins said.

“Hundreds, if not thousands, of hours go into the preparation, planning and implementation” of the event, he said.

Not only do volunters from the church and school district make the Jump for Joy Festival a success, a Boy Scout Troop and an Alcoholics Anonymous group that meet at the church also help, he added.

“It really is becoming a community event in which we focus on the children who need Christmas and especially need the Christ of Christmas,” Akins said.

Church leaders hope their investment in the event communicates something larger to the community.

“Our church is committed to being a viable part of the community—not just as we pray, but certainly as we care for them and as we share with them the hope and reason for the season, who is the Jesus Christ,” he said.

• Billy Burchfield to Williams Creek Church in Axtell as pastor

• Matt Cheevers has resigned as pastor of First Church in Avery.

• Craig Curry to First Church in Dripping Springs as pastor from First Church in Cisco.

• Doug Dawson to Crimson River Cowboy Church in Cooper as pastor.

• Jeff Dooley to Capshaw Church in Huntsville, Ala., as executive pastor from First Church in Sanger, where he was minister of education.

• Andy Hollinger to First Church in Crowell as pastor from Conklin Avenue First Church in Binghampton, N.Y.

• Stephen Leach to Cross Country Cowboy Church in Sulphur Springs as pastor.

• Chris Thompson to Woosley Church in Point as pastor.

• Kyle Tubbs to Trinity Church in Sweetwater as minister of youth from Eula Church in Clyde.

• The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor will feature Kelly Cherry and Andrew McKnight during its writers’ festival set for Jan. 6-9. The four-day literary event is open to the public. Fees depend on sessions attended. Cherry will present the George Nixon Memorial Lecture Jan. 7 at 7 p.m. McKnight will perform a concert Jan. 8 at 7:30 p.m. To register or request more information, call (254) 295-4561.

• A Ruth Graham “Get Growing” conference sponsored by Crestview Church in Midland will be held Jan. 29-30. The conference is presented without charge and is open to the public. Graham, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham, will speak Friday evening to open the conference. A variety of speakers will lead workshops throughout the day Saturday. Topics will range from Graham’s discussion of the meaning of forgiveness to others such as depression, divorce, abuse, abortion, pornography, anger and body image. Recording artists Jason Catron and Huntley Brown will lead worship. An offering will be taken. Reservations are required for attendance due to limited seating and can be made at www.ruthgrahamandfriends .org. For more information, call (432) 694-7701.

• Sarah Carbajal has received endorsement of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship as a chaplain. She serves at Vitas Innovative Hospice Care in Fort Worth.

• Carson Runge won a mini-trial competition Dec. 7 to garner the title of Baylor Law School’s newest Top Gun. As winner of the competition, he received a bronze statuette of the competition’s founder and $3,000.

• Hardin-Simmons University presented degrees to 307 students during winter commencement ceremonies Dec. 12. Ninety-seven students received master’s or doctor’s degrees.

• Dallas Baptist University honored Mike Arnold and Ed Spann at an alumni banquet Nov. 20. Arnold, a member and past chairman of the board of trustees, received the distinguished alumnus award. Spann, former dean of the DBU College of Fine Arts, was named honorary alumnus.

• East Texas Baptist University named Paul Tapp director of alumni development. He previously served as director of alumni relations. Also, Lindsay Culbertson moved from director of annual giving to director of alumni relations.

• Baptist Child & Family Services received a contract to provide comprehensive statewide emergency management support during public health events, including emergencies and disasters, by the Texas Department of State Health Services.

• Linda Pehl and Margaret Prydun, professors of nursing at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor’s Scott & White College of Nursing, received the designation of Certified Nurse Educator from the National League of Nursing.

• Two Houston Baptist University mock trial teams competed in an invitational tournament at Baylor University Dec. 4-6. One team finished second and the other sixth in the 18-team competition.

• The Howard Payne University Model United Nations team participated in a conference in Washington D.C. The ten students represented Bosnia and Chile during the three-day simulation of a U.N. meeting.

Anniversaries

• Diamond Hill Church in Fort Worth, 100th. Chris Galbraith is pastor.

• Larry McGregor, fifth, as youth minister at Eastridge Church in Red Oak, Dec. 1.

• Clay Hopkins, fifth, as youth minister at First Church in Midlothian, Dec. 1.

• Tommy Culwell, 30th, as pastor of Colonial Hill Church in Snyder, Dec. 6.

• Earl Hahn, 55th, as pastor of Faith Temple Church in Spring, Dec. 15.

Retiring

• Ronnie Laughlin, as associate pastor of education and administration at First Church in San Angelo, Jan. 31. He has served the church 20 years, and served churches in Louisiana for the remainder of his 48 years of ministry.

Deaths

• Robert Noland Jr., 77, Dec. 8 in Wylie. A graduate of Southwestern Seminary, he served as business adminstrator at the Baptist Hospital in San Angelo, First Church in Arlington and First Church in Garland. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Bettie; sons, Rob and Rick; and two grandchildren.

• Othal Brand Sr., 90, Dec. 12 in McAllen. A former mayor of McAllen, he was an active Baptist layman. He also was a guest on the television program “What’s My Line?” as the world’s largest grower and shipper of onions. He was a member of Calvary Church in McAllen, which began meeting 54 years ago in his backyard. Active in matters of faith, he served as national director of the Religious Roundtable, a director of the Baptist Foundation of Texas, president of the Rio Grande Valley Baptist Brother-hood Association and as a deacon and Sunday school teacher for more than 25 years. Working in various states in Mexico, he carried his Bible and his pistol throughout the rural countryside earning the title “pastor con pistola.” For his service, he received an honorary doctorate in law from Hardin-Simmons Univer-sity and an honorary doctorate in business administration from Howard Payne University. In addition, he was awarded the Freedom Medal from HPU’s Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom. He served as chairman of the academy’s board from 1962 to 1972 and also from 1973 to 1986. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Kathryn; daughters, Marjorie Ferrell, Karyn Purvis and Cynthia Brand; son, Othal Jr.; 18 grandchildren; and 19 great-grandchildren.

• Mary Vic Cobbs, 83, Dec. 12 in Tyler. She served as a volunteer missionary with the Foreign Mission Board on a multitude of assignments, and traveled with her husband, who worked for the FMB, to visit missionaries in more than 40 countries. Following their retirement, they returned to Texas and became members of First Church in Tyler. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Becky Fanning. She is survived by her husband of 63 years, Louis; sons, Bobby and David; brother, Shelby Weir; nine grandchildren; and two great-grandsons.

Ordained

• Jonathan Krake, to the ministry at Southwest Park Church in Abilene, Nov. 15.

• Josh Woodard, to the ministry at Southwest Park Church in Abilene, Nov. 15.

• Gilbert Ramirez, to the ministry at First Church in Devine, Nov. 29.

Email Around the State info to ghenson@baptiststandard.com

TYLER—About 1,200 friends of Breckenridge Village of Tyler, a faith-based residential community for adults with mild to moderate cognitive or developmental disorders, joined residents for the fourth annual Christmas in the Village celebration.

Entertainment included live music from the Upper Neches band, performances by students from the Candy Crocker Dance Studio, a petting zoo and an opportunity for children to have their pictures taken with Santa.

Residents sold T-shirts, hand-knitted winter hats, framed examples of their artwork, homemade goodies, candles and Christmas decorations. The event raised more than $25,000 for the Breckenridge Village scholarship fund to help subsidize costs for residents.

Several residents emphasized how much they love Breckenridge Village and enjoyed helping at the event. And their family members expressed appreciation for the residential community, a ministry of Baptist Child & Family Services.

“My wife and I searched all over the country for a place for our daughter. We know firsthand that there is no place better place,” said Dan Tracey, whose daughter, Deborah, has lived at Breckenridge Village 11 years.

For more information on Breckenridge Village of Tyler, visit www.bcfs.net.

ROUND ROCK—Children at Texas Baptist Children’s Home are wearing blessings provided by an 8-year-old girl whose birthday wish was to make a difference and a mother who knows how important it is to feel loved.

Donna DeLaCruz was proud when her daughter, Mary Beth, decided to ask for donated shoes for Texas Baptist Children’s Home rather than presents for herself on her birthday. (PHOTOS/Children at Heart Ministries)

Birthday parties seem like a pretty good excuse for children to think mostly of themselves. But for Mary Beth DeLaCruz it was her opportunity to give to a group of children she had never even met.

Meanwhile, Lisa Kaminski, who knew the feeling of abandonment and loneliness that often comes from being a child raised in poverty, saw an opportunity to wrap loving arms around a 9-year-old girl at the children’s home.

Mary Beth’s giving spirit was evident when her parents started to think about ideas for her birthday party, and she informed them she’d rather give presents to children who don’t have any than receive them herself.

“She came up with the idea all by herself with no prompting from us whatsoever,” said her mother, Donna DeLaCruz. “It was one of those moments where you are really proud of your child and think that maybe something you have taught them is getting through.”

Mary Beth’s mother knew about Texas Baptist Children’s Home through her father and stepmother, longtime friends of Don Cramer, vice president of the Children at Heart Foundation. After a tour of the ministry, Mary Beth asked if she could bring presents to the kids. Texas Baptist Children’s Home Volunteer Coordinator Brenda Gilbert suggested a better idea—shoes.

“I knew this little girl really wanted to make a difference, and shoes are sometimes one of the most-needed but under-donated items we receive,” Gilbert said.

Mary Beth was thrilled by the idea.

“To an 8-year-old girl, any reason to buy shoes is a good one,” her mother said, chuckling. “She was so excited.”

Each of her birthday party guests brought at least one pair of shoes to be donated and some bought more than one. Mary Beth’s grandmother brought four pairs of new shoes.

Donna DeLaCruz, who was raised by a single mother, felt a connection to providing something for displaced children. Now she has started planning her own shoe party for mothers in the Texas Baptist Children’s Home Family Care program.

“It’s contagious. We want to find new ways to give back and are excited about it,” she said. “Mary Beth’s idea to give to others less fortunate made us all ask ourselves, ‘If a child can give up their birthday presents, then what can I sacrifice?’”

Emily and Lisa Kaminski provided clothing for Texas Baptist Children’s Home Campus Life resident Veronique. (PHOTOS/Children at Heart Ministries)

Lisa Kaminski began in a much different way but with a similar spirit. She worked as a preschool teacher at Round Rock Christian Academy, where she met Barachel Toner, daughter of longtime Texas Baptist Children’s Home house parents Brenda and John Toner.

“She asked me if (the children’s home) could ever use donated items, and I said, ‘Absolutely!’” Barachel Toner recalled. “Her first donation was actually a large set of books, CDs and computer games that were in pristine condition.”

Then, when she was sorting through her daughter Emily’s school clothes, Kaminski decided to donate outfits that were too small for her.

Meanwhile, 9-year-old Veronique, a children’s home Campus Life resident, had returned to her cottage from a visit with her mother a bit discouraged. When she told her mother that she needed some school clothes, all that her mom could afford were some socks.

“Veronique’s mother is ill and doesn’t make a lot of money,” said Charlotte Sherburne, a house parent. “I wasn’t sure what we were going to do, but I knew we had to get her some clothes. School was about to start and she had literally nothing to wear.”

Within the week, two bags of clothes landed at the Sherburnes’ door, each item in near-perfect condition.

“It was everything Veronique needed—shirts, jeans, hoodies, sweaters, even shoes,” Sherburne said. “It’s just amazing how God provided for her needs. I didn’t even ask for these things, God just gave it. I didn’t have to worry.”

When Lisa was told the impact of the clothes she donated, she was almost speechless.

“It makes me want to cry to know God used our donations in such an important way,” she said. “I’m a mom, and I know what it means to feel loved.”

She also knows from personal experience what a gift like hers can mean. Raised in what she calls “ the ghetto,” Kaminski has seen the temptation to become bitter and angry at the world around you.

“Whenever I received gifts as a child it always made me feel like someone cared,” she said. “So, if the things I give to (the children’s home) can be a set of small arms to go around a little girl, then let those arms show her someone loves her so she will turn towards the Lord and know that is where her blessings come from.”

For Kaminski, that confirms the Scriptures God places on her heart regularly.

“He is calling us to take care of the less fortunate,” she said. “If we don’t feel an ‘ouch’ when we give something away, then we aren’t sacrificing enough. These children need to know God is not too busy to know what’s happening in their lives or to provide for what they need.”