JEWETT—By his own description, Lee Weiler isn’t very good at the feed-store business. Noting there isn’t much money in it, he encourages people to stay out of it.

His store remains open for one reason—its busiest day of the week, which also is the least financially profitable.

On Sundays, Weiler and a group of men move the feed that’s housed in the back of the store to the side and line up 50 plastic lawn chairs. A few hours later, the seats are filled, people are standing against the walls, and folks flow onto a patio behind the store as more than 100 gather to worship as the All Around Cowboy Church.

The church has grown from about 35 people since starting Sunday services two months ago. People who never have been a part of any  church before are excited to be part of the cowboy congregation.

Four people have made professions of faith in Christ and been baptized in a horse trough on the feed store patio.

There’s no logical way to explain the growth, Weiler said. It can only be attributed to a movement of God as people are drawn into the church’s fellowship.

An elder at All Around Cowboy Church in Jewett teaches a young girl how to use a lasso. (Photo by John Hall/BGCT)

The Baptist General Convention of Texas is in the early stages of Texas Hope 2010, an initiative to share the gospel with every non-Christian in Texas in their own language and context by Easter 2010. Western heritage churches like All Around Cowboy Church represent one way of taking the gospel to people in their own cultural context. The church was launched with the help of gifts through the BGCT Cooperative Program and the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions.

Daniel Gonzales dropped by the feed store one day for what he thought was a quick stop. An hour later, he was playing gospel songs with Weiler and learning about the cowboy church. Now he leads the congregation’s band.

Lee Weiler, pastor of All Around Cowboy Church in Jewett, baptizes a new Christian in a horse trough. (Photo by John Hall/BGCT) Watch a video of Weller's testimony.

“Just him talking to me … and the way he talked to me about the Lord and what they are doing, it just changed the way my heart felt about everything,” he said. “I want to do things for the Lord. I want to be the one who gets up there and sings my songs hoping to bring someone closer to the Lord.”

Gonzales’ enthusiasm for the cowboy church spread to his wife, Sandra, who plays the fiddle in the church’s band. The congregation is warm and welcoming, allowing people to be themselves without worrying about other people judging them, she said. Following each Sunday service, the congregation eats lunch together, which helps foster community.

Many times, people come directly from working outdoors to worship or Bible study. Wearing jeans, hats and boots, people come as they are seeking a relationship with God, Mrs. Gonzales said.

“We’re reaching people that haven’t come to church in years,” she said. “I’m one of them.”

DALLAS—Last year, Texas Baptists baptized nearly 42,000 people. More than 4,000 of them had their boots on.

About 125 cowboy churches are affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. They make up about 2 percent of BGCT congregations, but they performed roughly 10 percent of the baptisms last year.

In the last two years, the number of BGCT-affiliated cowboy churches has nearly doubled. Within weeks of launching, many of them already are serving more than 100 people a week. On average, each cowboy church baptizes 40 people a year.

And there’s plenty of room for more growth as God allows, said Charles Higgs, BGCT director of western-heritage ministries. Few cowboy churches have been started in the Panhandle or in South Texas, regions that seem ripe for cowboy congregations.

“This is not a fad,” he said. “This is a movement of God. The cowboy church is a reinvention of the rural church. It’s the best model for reaching the blue-collar population. Seventy percent of the baptisms were adults”

Cowboy churches attract people who haven’t been in a church for decades. Some of the people the congregations baptized had never been to church in their lives.

Leaders point to comfortable surroundings and a welcoming atmosphere as reasons unchurched people are coming to cowboy church in droves. Western-heritage worship gatherings are more like family reunions than structured services.

The fellowship is real, as members see each other Monday through Saturday at work or in town. It’s only natural they’d see each other on Sundays. Everyone knows everyone else in the church. They understand each other strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes. So there’s no sense in trying to pretend to be anyone but who they are, said Louis Sneed, pastor of Parker County Cowboy Church in Aledo.

A worshipper on horseback bows his head in prayer during cowboy church service at a rodeo arena. (Photo by John Hall/BGCT)

“We’re reaching people who are not phony, who are not putting on an act, who are not hiding who they are,” he said. “They are beer drinkers. They’re good people. But they’re just not fitting the lifestyle of most churches.”

By meeting together, several western heritage church leaders said cowboys don’t have to worry about being judged for showing up to church in dirty jeans, muddy boots and a cowboy hat. That’s what other people in the church wear as well.

By removing the barriers of pretence and fear of judgment, Jeromy Connell, pastor of Heart of Texas Cowboy Church in Waco, believes people go to church to focus on their relationship with God.

“We don’t care what you look like,” Connell said. “We don’t care if you have an Armani suit. We don’t care what you drive. We don’t care what neighborhood you live in. We care about your heart.”

And people are finding Christ’s love and responding positively to it, noted Tuffy Loftin, pastor of Cowboy Church of Lean County in Centerville. Not only are people coming to faith, they are growing in it as well.

“Once they get there and once they experience the true love of Jesus Christ in their lives … then they go, ‘We like this,’” Loftin said.

The Texas Woman's Missionary Union executive committee announced today that it had hired Nelda Seal, former executive director of the Louisiana WMU, as interim executive director. She replaces Nina Pinkston, whom the executive committee fired last month .

The action was taken without knowledge of the Texas WMU board of directors, which is meeting in executive session Monday, June 16. The board's meeting will continue through Tuesday, June 17.

(This article will be updated as more information becomes available).

DALLAS—Texas Baptist Men disaster relief volunteers have been dispatched to Iowa with two emergency food-service units and a shower unit to serve in the wake of devastating floods.

The Texas Baptist Disaster Relief Mobile Unit and the Top O’ Texas Unit from First Baptist Church in Plains, along with the shower unit from Lamesa, left this weekend en route to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where volunteers are prepared to serve up to 40,000 meals a day.

Widespread flooding is affecting much of Iowa, where the governor has declared 99 counties disaster areas. About 400 city blocks are flooded in Cedar Rapids alone. Cedar Rapids residents began evacuating the city Thursday.

TBM teams expected to begin preparing meals Tuesday at noon. Gary Smith, TBM disaster relief volunteer coordinator, said the men’s ministry group simply is trying to help people in need.

“Iowa is in dire need of Texas help, and we’re glad we can provide it,” he said. “We know if it were the other way around, they’d do the same.”

To support TBM disaster relief financially, visit www.texasbaptistmen.org or send a check designated “Disaster Relief” to 5351 Catron, Dallas 75227.

Additional information will be posted as the situation develops.

NEMO—Texas Baptist Men builders have nearly finished reconstructing New Prospect Baptist Church, which was partially destroyed in an April storm.

“Things have been going great. We’ve been here two and a half days, and we’ve got a lot done!” said Bill Pigott, director of retiree builders with Texas Baptist Men.

Pigott heard about the project from builder Ray Keller, who attends New Prospect with his wife Anita. Builders received word through a prayer chain managed by one of the TBM wives. In no time, Pigott began receiving volunteers.

“That’s just how it is with builders; they’re willing to step up and do what needs to be done,” Pigott said.

The new church buildings at New Prospect replace two temporary buildings swept away by high winds. Founded in 1892, the church with its new buildings will tell quite a story of generosity and survival. But it’s not the only survivor in the picture.

Pastor Denver Dugle, at New Prospect since January 2007, said he answered the call to ministry at his family’s prompting.

“They told me, ‘The Lord’s called you to be a pastor, and you ain’t sending your resumes out!’”

From Iraq to New Prospect

Dugle had returned from three combat tours in Iraq and was working in construction in Aubrey. Migraines—a result of his years in combat—made his work nearly impossible, and he had used up his sick days. Dugle decided to resign and look for something new.

Texas Baptist Men retiree builders work on reconstructing New Prospect Baptist Church in Nemo.

“I asked the Lord to take care of us. The day I ran out of money, we got 100 percent disability” from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Dugle said.

When New Prospect called Dugle as pastor, he accepted the part-time position.

“The Lord’s worked it out,” Dugle explained. “The church couldn’t afford a full-time pastor, and the Lord provided me the money with the VA disability. I used to feel like I was on welfare, but I don’t anymore. I just did what my country wanted me to do, and I earned that disability.”

The church understands Dugle’s situation and has been very flexible, he said. Although he suffers from migraines three to five times a week, each lasting up to 48 hours, Dugle said that at New Prospect, he’s never had a migraine on a Sunday.

“I’ll wake up with one, and just pray, ‘Lord, I need to preach your word.’ It sometimes comes back at night, but in the morning it goes away. He takes them away,” Dugle said.

Not long after he arrived, Dugle said he received specific instructions from God about his ministry at New Prospect.

Disciple the flock

Texas Baptist Men retiree builders work on reconstructing New Prospect Baptist Church in Nemo.

“The Holy Spirit told me he wants me to disciple the flock that’s here, to get the soil fertile, so that when others come into that church, they’ll be able to disciple them,” Dugle said.

“Instead of addition, the church should multiply. That’s what the New Testament church did.”

New Prospect ministers primarily to farmers and the surrounding rural community. The church also rents out its building during the week to a special-needs school that graduated 58 students this past year. The superintendent told Dugle he thought the church had a positive influence on the students, Dugle said.

The students certainly were helpful on the morning after the storm.

“They showed up about 8. They were like fire ants—just started cleaning up debris from around the church and other houses,” Dugle said. Their arrival ended a long morning for Dugle, who had watched the storm from his bedroom window when it hit at 3 a.m.

“I had finished building a barn that night, hammered the last nail in at dusk,” Dugle said.

“At 3 a.m. I looked out and watched it get taken up in the air, and slammed back down.”

Surviving the storm

The storm flattened a gazebo on church property, destroyed a bus barn, and uprooted seven cedars that were deposited about 30 feet away.

Despite heavy damage, New Prospect survived the storm and is reemerging with a strong foundation—and so is its pastor. Relying on God’s strength and the strength of others reinforces Dugle’s dedication to his ministry.

The call hasn’t been an easy one, Dugle said.

“I thought the hardest job I’d ever have was doing three tours in Iraq. It’s not. It’s pastoring a church—spiritual warfare goes on every day.”

“Satan wants to destroy me, my church, and my family,” but his church and his family give him the support he needs, he said.

He and his wife, Sarah, have grown especially close, he noted.

“She’s a trooper,” Dugle said.

Pigott of TBM noted his 33 years in military service helped him bond quickly with Dugle.

“It’s tough to be a Christian in the military,” Pigott said.

Though Dugle agreed that being in combat “is the ultimate fire and brimstone,” he also said the experience has formed him personally and influences his leadership in ministry.

“I say to the church, ‘I have nothing to hide.’ I know if you do that, it opens up the opportunity to get hurt, but the military taught me to lead by example. If I lead by being open and honest and transparent, I hope they’ll learn to live by that example.”

HONDO—The pastor of First Baptist Church in Hondo cooked up a new recipe for helping his church members share their faith.

Early last year, Ross Chandler approached his congregation with the unconventional notion of cookbook evangelism, an approach he learned from Bruce Webb when Webb was pastor at Central Baptist Church in Jacksonville.

“The cookbook is not an ordinary cookbook. The recipes are secondary,” Chandler said.

“The church members write what Jesus Christ means to them and their testimony along with the recipe.”

The goal of the cookbook evangelism project was to give church members an opportunity to deliver cookbooks personally to all 2,700 homes in Hondo and share the hope of Christ with the residents during last December.

The initiative enabled the Hondo church to get a head start on Texas Hope 2010, a Baptist General Convention of Texas challenge to present the gospel to every Texan by Easter 2010.

“When everyone started giving the recipes to us and we read some of the testimonies, we were blown away,” said Keni Rodgers, one of the coordinators for the project. “We quickly realized that with so many testimonies from members of all ages, we would be able to touch everyone who read it, with one story or another.”

Recipes and testimonies

In order to get the congregation excited about the endeavor, the planning team published recipes and testimonies in the Sunday bulletin, gave several humorous skits explaining the event and even had a recipe sampling lunch so church members would know how the recipes tasted.

While the cookbooks were being printed, former pastor Les Chaney set a Saturday delivery date, recruited volunteers to deliver the cookbooks, promoted delivery to the community through newspaper ads and organized all the details for that day.

“On the delivery day, more than 200 people from our church that averages slightly less than that in Sunday School each week showed up to deliver books,” Rodgers said.

Teams of two or three people were able to reach the whole city in Hondo within five hours, sharing hope and love and praying for the needs of those they met.

Goal was to say 'we love you'

“When people asked why we were doing this, our goal was to say we love you and we want to give you a Christmas gift and tell you that Christ loves you,” Chandler said.

After that experience, members became comfortable sharing their faith—even door-to-door evangelism, which many previously found intimidating.

“A lot of church members are really busy and they may not have the time to go on a mission trip or to help with a long project,” Chandler said. “But everyone has one day where they can help.”

Besides seeing members’ faith grow from serving in the cookbook outreach, the church received many letters of appreciation from the community and saw two families join the church. The members have also set another day to deliver the cookbooks again this Christmas to reach out to D’Hanis, a town near Hondo.

INDEPENDENCE—Leon McBeth, who wrote the definitive history of Texas Baptists and taught church history to a generation of seminary students, received the 2008 Texas Baptist Elder Statesman Award.

Independence Association—formed to emphasize the importance of Christian higher education and Baptist heritage—presents the award for distinguished Christian service each year in conjunction with the Baptist General Convention of Texas Baptist Distinctives Council.

McBeth, a native Texan, graduated from Plainview High School and earned his undergraduate degree at Wayland Baptist University. He went on to earn his master’s and doctorate degrees at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he taught 43 years.

In addition to numerous articles for scholarly journals and Baptist state papers, McBeth also has written nine books, including The Baptist Heritage and Texas Baptists: A Sesquicentennial History.

He was chair of the BGCT Baptist History Committee and was a member of the BGCT Baptist Distinctives Commmittee. He served as a trustee of Wayland Baptist University eight years and as a trustee of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Historical Commission seven years, including three years as chair.

He received the first George W. Truett Religious Freedom Award from the Texas Baptist Heritage Center and has been honored as a distinguished alumnus both of Wayland and Southwestern Seminary.

SAN ANTONIO—Jerry Romano is not afraid to blaze a trail.

Romano, the first member of his family to complete high school, will enroll at Middlebury College in Vermont this fall—ranked the fifth best college nationally by U.S. News & World Report. He won a full tuition scholarship through VISTA, a partner program of Baptist Child & Family Services that focuses on San Antonio high schools with low rates of students who advance to college.

Since VISTA began two years ago, all graduating students in the program—five in 2007 and eight this year—have been accepted into universities and been awarded a total of $570,000 in scholarships.

Despite not graduating themselves, Romano’s parents always encouraged him to attend college. But he never considered going to school outside of San Antonio until he met Maria Fernandez.

Jerry Romano tutors a middle school student at the Guadalupe Street Coffee House. (BCFS Photo)

Fernandez founded the VISTA, which encourages students on the West Side—where high school dropout rates sometimes approach 50 percent—to attend college, especially if no one in their families has before. VISTA partners with Baptist Child & Family Services and the agency’s Guadalupe Street Coffee House.

Fernandez “is the one who encouraged me to leave San Antonio and Texas and apply elsewhere to keep my options open,” Romano said.

Romano’s parents supported his plans to look outside the city and state for schools, which Romano appreciates.

“I have spoken to many other students, and it is very interesting to see how many of their parents don’t want them to move away,” said Romano. “I can’t say the same about my parents, and I am grateful for the encouragement.”

With that, Romano began looking for colleges with stellar language departments, since he plans to major in international studies and has a personal goal of mastering 10 languages.

Currently, Romano plans to use his education at Middlebury to one day teach in China and ultimately work for the United Nations.

Fernandez has no doubts that Romano will succeed in whatever career choice he makes.

“Students like Jerry will make it wherever they go because they truly like to discover,” she said.

Fernandez plans to take Romano to Middlebury this summer to tour the campus, since he was interviewed for his scholarship by a local Middlebury alumnus and has yet to visit the school.

While it will be hard for Romano’s parents to see him leave, they know it’s for the best.

“We’re just giving him the opportunity to do what he wants,” said his mother, Margaret Romano. “He has his mind set.”

She had to drop out of school at age 14 when her mother died, leaving her to care for her brothers and sisters. She insisted her siblings stay in school. 

“I made sure all of them graduated,” she said. “Later, I was able to get training to be a medical assistant.”

Though still young, Romano looks forward to the day when he can share his story with students.

“Whenever I have a chance to come back to San Antonio,I will enjoy speaking to the students about allowing their dreams to flourish because anything is possible,” he said.

Former missionaries joined some past members of the Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas board and others in sending an open letter to the mission organization’s board of directors, expressing concern over the termination of Interim Executive Director-Treasurer Nina Pinkston and other developments.

Meanwhile, all eight living former presidents of Texas WMU joined in issuing a call to prayer for WMU—particularly for the board’s June 16-17 meeting, for God’s direction as the organization’s personnel committee seeks a new executive leader and for the possibility of hiring “an experienced intentional interim” director.

Cindy Gaskins, who served on the Texas WMU staff as state Acteens consultant from 1986 to 1998, initiated the letter to the board, which included the signatures of 58 other “friends of WMU of Texas.”

“This esteemed organization seems to be moving in a direction contrary to her historic principles and practices. We are deeply disturbed and wonder how this could have happened,” the letter stated.

The May 29 letter came in response to Pinkston’s May 8 abrupt dismissal, as well as Executive Director-Treasurer Carolyn Porterfield’s resignation last October.

Pinkston reported her termination came without warning.

At the time President Paula Jeser of El Paso said the dismissal 'was not an easy decision' but involved 'lengthly discussion' by the board's executive committee.

Jeser was traveling and had not seen the letter to the board. So, she was not able to respond to specific concerns raised in it.

Gaskins noted she was “embarrassed, bewildered and shocked” when she learned about Pinkston’s termination and the events surrounding it.

“How could this happen within WMU?” she asked.

The letter to the board noted four issues:

• Pinkston’s dismissal “in a manner totally unlike Texas WMU.” Pinkston reported she arrived at a scheduled staff retreat, found out it had been cancelled without her knowledge, called the state WMU office and was told by Jeser she had been terminated.

“All this calls to mind the unexpected resignation of Carolyn Porterfield,” the letter said. “Were both these leaders simply trying to told the organization and staff accountable but were met with resistance? And after the resignation of Carolyn, the board was reportedly told ‘not to ask questions.’ How can this be, considering the responsibilities of the board? Something seems amiss.”

• Jeser was named interim executive director on a volunteer basis. As such, she serves as chief executive officer of the staff, presiding officer of the organization and chair of the board.

“This violates one of our historic principles of shared leadership,” the letter said. “We feel this is out of compliance with the spirit of the bylaws and the organization.”

• Four long-time employees—Waunice Newton, Ruby Vargas, Cathy Gunnin and Judy Champion—left Texas WMU in the last eight months, either resigning or taking early retirement.

“These women have worked long and hard for Texas WMU and possess a wealth of knowledge and experience that cannot easily be replaced,” the letter said. “We would like to know if anyone conducted exit interviews to determine if there were concerns that prompted their decision to leave.”

• A perception Texas WMU is distancing itself from the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Pinkston had noted some BGCT Executive Board staff felt they had been “shut out of the process this year” in determining Mary Hill Davis Offering allocations. She also noted a persistent rumor Texas WMU planned to move its offices out of the Baptist Building.

“What is happening to the faithful partnership woven with prayerful cooperation between WMU and BGCT?” the letter asked.

The letter stated those who signed it were “grieved beyond telling” by recent events.

“We wonder if any of the actions of the last months have put Texas WMU in jeopardy financially and/or legally,” the letter said. “At the very least, trust has eroded.

“Please put aside any reticence and consider your responsibilities as board members and your response to these concerns. We ask you to seek the collective wisdom of leadership represented by former WMU presidents and BGCT leaders. Certainly, we want to move ahead in truth and honor as ‘laborers together with God.’”

Gaskins did not specifically ask signers of the letter for permission to publish their names in the Baptist Standard. But representative individuals who signed the letter—and who indicated their willingness to affirm it publicly—included former WMU officers such as Kaye Glazener of Fort Worth and Earl Ann Bumpus of Mineral Wells; former missionaries such as Mary Carpenter of Brownwood; and former WMU conference leaders such as Deirdre LaNoue of Dallas.

Eight former Texas WMU presidents issued a call for prayer to Texas Baptists, noting: “During this time, when the office of executive director-treasurer is vacant, pray for President Paula Jeser and the personnel committee as they search for a new executive director-treasurer.”

Specifically, the past presidents called on Texas Baptists pray:

• “God will lead them to a strong, godly, knowledgeable woman with a proven record of service in WMU and missions.” 

• “About the possibility of hiring an experienced intentional interim executive director-treasurer to serve in the position until God’s woman is found.”

• “For the upcoming meeting of the board of directors of Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas, June 16-17.”

• “For all of the board members and members of committees … that God will give them wisdom, discernment and courage as they seek his will concerning crucial issues facing WMU.”

Issuing the call to prayer were former WMU president Ophelia Humphrey, Mauriece Johnston, Amelia Bishop, Gerry Dunkin, Mary Humphries, Jeane Law, Kathy Hillman and Nelda Taylor.

ARLINGTON—Scholars David Peterson and Bruce Leafblad challenged students at the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute’s 2008 summer colloquy to rethink the purpose and practice of worship. 

Peterson of Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia, urged church leaders to plan worship grounded in Scripture and rooted in tradition.

He warned against the “rush to be culturally relevant and to keep up with the charismatics and the Pentecostals” and advised using more Scripture and statements of purpose in church services.

“I’m a strong advocate of modern songs, but so often people get their theology from songs. How much theology is taught in our music?” Peterson said.

The distinctions among man-to-man, man-to-God, and God-to-man relationships in worship are artificial, Peterson continued, because in worship, all happen simultaneously.

Horizontal relationship 

The “horizontal relationship” of a person giving his or her testimony to another person does not exclude God’s involvement in that exchange, Peterson explained.

Distinctions between worship and “the rest of the service” indicate many churchgoers’ categorizing mentality that denies the power of each part of worship, he said.

“If we expect to encounter God and be ministered to by his word and his Spirit in corporate worship, we need to say so regularly, and pray to that end,” Peterson said.

Retired Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary professor Bruce Leafblad took a different tack. Leafblad discussed the meaning and practice of worship through close analysis of Exodus 33:2-18, where Moses meets God in “the little tent of meeting” outside the Israelite camp.

Leafblad used different elements of the scene to derive “universal principles of worship.”

Intimate communion

Through these principles, Leafblad described worship as a meeting of intimate communion with God that expresses a personal relationship in authentic conversation. This relationship is distinguished by the presence of God and an insatiable desire for his glory.

“Religion can be practiced by anyone, but true worship requires a relationship. … We express that relationship in worship, but it is neither logical, nor inevitable, nor acceptable outside of that relationship,” he explained.

Sharing a personal relationship with God is necessary for true worship, Leafblad said.  Father-child, husband-wife, and best friendship provide the three most common models of intimacy in Scripture, Leafblad noted.

“Authentic worship will always be expressed in relational terms,” he said. “God’s best gift to us is himself.

“The glory of God is both the proximate goal and ultimate purpose of worship. … The life of worship is appointed to all believers as a privilege and a gift.”

No one ever promised vocational ministry would be easy, said Michael Godfrey, executive director of True Course Ministries . That’s why he knew his mentoring program for clergy would meet an immediate need.

Godfrey’s 32 years experience in Christian ministry revealed to him a huge disconnect between seminary education and the practical demands of full-time ministry.

Bumps and bruises

“I’ve had my own bumps and bruises along the way, in terms of just dysfunctional situations, relational situations … issues with self-awareness, perceptions of others,” Godfrey said. 
After leaving one particularly difficult situation, Godfrey realized his struggles weren’t unique. 

“I came to the realization that people and systems can turn, and you can get caught in the middle of it. It just opened my eyes and I saw there was a whole lot of that,” he said.

In 2001, Godfrey began pursuing a doctor of ministry degree at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary. While enrolled at Truett, Godfrey found the direction he had been seeking during a visit to the Baptist General Convention of Texas minister/church relations office.

 “When I was working on my D.Min., I went to Jan Daehnert’s office and asked him: ‘Where’s the hole? Where’s the need?’ He said we have plenty of after-care (for forced termination), but we don’t have any preventive care. That’s the hole,” Godfrey said.

Support and education

Godfrey developed True Course Ministries as he felt God directing him to find a way to offer support and continued education to ministers. 

“About 90 percent of ministers feel inadequately trained,” he said.  
The program, now completing its fifth year, earned the Malcolm S. Knowles Award for Excellence in Adult Education from the American Association of Adult and Continuing Education in 2007.  

“It’s a ministry God put on me to equip people,” Godfrey said.  
Several months of informal survey showed Godfrey ministers were seeking mentors to help deal with feelings of isolation, loneliness, and burnout. Godfrey also wanted his program to address church struggles and prevent forced terminations. 

True Course Ministries focuses on issues of administration, leadership, social and emotional understanding and communication.
“I really knew God wanted this,” Godfrey said. “Within the first six months, I just started talking to people … and the thing we kept hearing again and again, almost without hesitation, was, ‘This is a need.’”

Mentoring

One-on-one, personal mentorship with individually customized goals distinguishes True Course Ministries. Concerned church members sometimes refer ministers to True Course, but church staff members also seek out the program themselves—often simply to develop skills and further education. At the first meeting, mentors work with ministers to write a mutual covenant of responsibility.

They continue to meet monthly to discuss issues, growth and future goals.  Official collaboration can last up to two years, but many participants keep a close friendship with mentors long after the sessions’ completion.True Course Ministries mentors are seasoned ministers themselves, well-experienced in the ups and downs of full-time ministry. 

According to the description on the ministry’s website, truecourseministries.com, they are “highly trained in adult education and experienced in leadership of volunteer organizations.”  

Mentors also must remain active in church leadership. Some serve as interim pastors. Others focus on conflict management, and counseling ministers and their families following forced termination. Pastor Taylor Sandlin at Southland Baptist Church in San Angelo recalled a positive experience with True Course. Sandlin contacted Godfrey, whom he met during seminary, after he entered full-time ministry. Sandlin wanted to continue his education after seminary, and the True Course program appealed to his desire for accountability and educated feedback, he said.

“Ministry can often be a lonely endeavor,” Sandlin wrote in a testimonial about True Course. The program helped connect him to other ministers and to transition from the close-knit community of seminary to full-time congregational ministry, he said.  “Michael and (his wife) Susan have become for my family more than mentors; they have become our friends—kindred spirits in this life of faith,” Sandlin wrote.

In his sessions with Godfrey, Sandlin said they focused on creating and maintaining long-term vision, a skill that has shaped his decisions ever since.  

“Developing goals … is probably the thing that I’ve carried with me,” Sandlin said.  “What do I want my ministry to look like? What do I want to look like, in spiritual or family life, in five years, and how do I get there? By developing those goals, and focusing on those goals, it’s allowed me to say ‘no’ to a lot of good things that nevertheless would have taken away from those long-term goals of family time and nurturing a healthy church.”

PRIDDY—Their church building may be small and unassuming, but the members of Priddy Baptist Church are making a powerful impact on children living in the ghetto of Skopje, Macedonia.

A few years ago, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel Darrell and Kathy Smith spoke at Priddy Baptist Church, about 25 miles east of Brownwood.

The Smiths told the congregation about their ministry in Macedonia—the languages, culture, ethnicities and the needs. The Smiths, who have served with CBF since 1996, have been involved in environmental sustainability projects and ministering to children and families living in poverty. 

Priddy Baptist Church—which has about 30 members and half that number in average attendance—was moved by the stories of the children living in poverty in Macedonia. A few months later, the church invited the Smiths to speak again.

“When we were invited back, the church wanted to know more about the kindergarten project,” Smith said. “The kindergarten had touched the heart of this church and given them a vision for where God was working.”

In Macedonia, there are no state-sponsored kindergartens or preschool programs, but children still are required to pass a test before they can start first grade. The kindergarten started by the Smiths and CBF field personnel Arville and Shelia Earl provides a free education to children living in the ghettos of Skopje, who otherwise might not have access to education.

In addition to their annual contributions to missions, Priddy Baptist members gave $17,000 last year to support the kindergarten in Skopje, and they have pledged to do the same again this year.

“We are a very small church, and contact and support for this project gives us a sense of contributing to a cause outside and greater than ourselves,” Pastor Butch Pesch said.

“We love the Smiths and the Earls and are thrilled to have a small part in what God is doing in Macedonia.”

The church’s funds have provided educational opportunities for 40 children, paying for the expenses of the kindergarten for half the year—utilities and rent, plus backpacks and school supplies.

“Just as hope came into the world as a small child, so hope has come to the families of the kindergarten through the efforts of a small church,” Mrs. Smith said. “Though they might never meet each other, Priddy Baptist has changed the lives of these children and their families. Only God knows how these seeds of hope that have been planted will sprout and grow.”