LUBBOCK—As the Justin Cofield Band travels around the country leading worship at student events, the group is earning a reputation for heart-felt lyrics and solid melodies in their original songs.

In 1997, while he was attending Texas Tech University, Cofield and local ministers such as evangelist Jon Randles established Paradigm Bible study. Every Thursday night, students from area universities gathered together at First Baptist Church in Lubbock.

“Paradigm was such a valuable experience,” Cofield said. “I started leading worship for them during my junior year at Texas Tech, and I learned so much about engaging people and being sensitive to the Holy Spirit.”

In addition to leading worship at Paradigm Bible study, the Justin Cofield Band began responding to requests for out-of-state engagements. 

Through the years, the band has been presented with many opportunities to share about Christ’s love with students and young adults at events.

“We’ve had the opportunity to lead worship all over the United States and Canada,” Cofield said. “It’s fulfilling to lead people in worship—who really want to worship—no matter the size or the place. I love getting to be a part of God working in people’s lives. It’s humbling, exciting and profound all at the same time.”

The Justin Cofield Band maintains a busy schedule, performing concerts and leading worship at youth camps, retreats, conferences and Disciple Now weekends. This summer, the band led worship at Mt. Lebanon Baptist Encampment in Cedar Hill and one session of Super Summer at East Texas Baptist University in Marshall. 

“We want to be intentional about being a catalyst for life change through music. Our goal is not only to lead people in worship, but to also create an atmosphere where people can connect with something greater than themselves. Our desire is to be God-glorifying, not only in our music, but also in the way that we live. We believe that worship is something that should permeate your entire life.

“We always want to be fruit-bearing in what we do, focused on helping people connect with God through music and encouraging students to love God and love people. I tell people all the time, ‘It’s easy to sing about Jesus.’”

TYLER—African-American Baptists from across the state gathered to celebrate the diversity of their churches during the recent African-American Fellowship annual conference.

The event featured a different preacher representing a different style each night, a break from past conferences that featured one preacher. Featured speakers came from Texas, Louisiana and New Jersey.

“I’m always concerned about being inclusive because Jesus was radically inclusive,” said Charlie Singleton, director of BGCT African-American Ministries. “There are a lot of small and mid-sized churches here. There are people from across the state. We’ve come together to celebrate the richness of our diversity and heritage.”

Fellowship President John Ogletree, pastor of First Metropolitan Baptist Church in Houston, encouraged conference participants to increase community outreach.

Many African-American churches already have multi-faceted ministries in communities, but more needs to be done, he insisted. People are hurting and in need. They are looking for hope.

By increasing outreach, African-American congregations can help people to find what they are looking for in Jesus, Ogletree said.

Building on Ogletree’s message, Bernadette Glover-Williams, executive pastor of Cathedral International in Perth Amboy, N.J. said a church’s spiritual health can be determined by examining how it interacts with its community.

A healthy congregation meets people physical and spiritual needs, said Glover-Williams, the first female preacher to address the conference. People are drawn to it and transformed by the gospe, she said.

“Our outside witness makes a commentary on our inside influence,” Glover-Williams said.

Worship and song was part of the African-American Fellowship annual conference.

During the James Culp Banquet, held in conjunction with the fellowship meeting, Solomon Ishola, general secretary of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, encouraged African-American Baptists to have churches shaped by God’s heart. That kind of congregation sacrifices in order to restore people’s lives in the name of Christ, he said.

“The church after God’s heart seeks the soul, one by one,” he said.

If churches follow God’s heart, they also will rejoice in God’s work in front of them, Ihola insisted. Referencing Texas Hope 2010—a Baptist General Convention of Texas initiative to share the gospel with every non-Christian in Texas by Easter 2010 and meet urgent human needs—Ishola said he hopes to see many people come to Christ soon.

“We should eat and dance because so many have come home,” he said. “Before 2010, cannot we have more celebrations?”

The fellowship re-elected all of its officers. Ogletree was elected president, Michael Bell, pastor of Greater St. Stephen First Baptist Church in Fort Worth, as vice president; Michael Evans, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Mansfield, as secretary; Marvin Delaney, pastor of South Park Baptist Church in Houston, as treasurer Steven Young, pastor of New Generation Baptist Church in Tyler, as assistant secretary; and Elmo Johnson, pastor of Rose of Sharon Baptist Church in Houston, as assistant treasurer.
 

TEXARKANA—In the New Testament, Jesus looked at the crowd that gathered to listen to him teach and took compassion on them, instructing his disciples to distribute the few loaves of bread and fish they had to feed the masses.

Two thousand years later in East Texas, crowds still gather and volunteers at the Texarkana Friendship Center International continue spreading Christ’s teachings and caring for the needy around them.

Many of the people who find assistance at the center come back to help others. View a video of the ministry below.

The outreach center, begun as a ministry of several area churches, provides food for about 1,000 people a week. Donated food and free warm meals create an avenue to connect with people and meet their deeper needs, said Bryan Bixler, Texarkana Friendship Center International executive director.

One-on-one relationships enable the center to help people with job skills and placement. The ministry helps people become nurse’s assistants and teaches auto-repair skills.

“I believe we’re building relationships,” he said. “We’re showing them we care. Then when a crisis comes about—when they have an electric bill that needs to be paid—they can come to us. That’s when we really get to talk to them one on one.”

The Friendship Center, supported by Texas Baptist through the Baptist General Convention of Texas Cooperative Program, exemplifies the goals of Texas Hope 2010, an initiative that encourages Texas Baptists give every Texan an opportunity to respond to the hope of Christ by Easter 2010 and to ensure nobody in Texas goes hungry.

Change comes in small steps, Bixler said. Sometimes it’s a person admitting they he or she lied on an application for aid. Other times, a person gets a job or a home, he explained.

For some, change comes from the inside, he added. They begin attending weekly chapel services and God works in their lives, changing their behavior.

“Feeding is core because it gets them here,” Bixler said of the center’s ministry. “But we want to do more. We want to offer more than that for their soul and their relationship with the Lord.”

Many of the people who find assistance at the center come back to help others. Raymond Rudd receives food from the ministry, but also volunteers some of his time. He enjoys visiting with the people, relishing the selflessness of the people related to the outreach.

“It’s love,” Rudd said. “It’s real love. They will help you if there’s a way they can help you. If you’re starving or anything, come down here. They can help. If you need a place to stay, come talk to them.”

After Tropical Storm Edouard proved less dangerous than originally feared, Texas Baptists are shifting to the recovery phase of ministry in the wake of Hurricane Dolly.

Texas Baptist Men teams initially were placed on alert to serve following Tropical Storm Edouard, but were instructed to stand down as it became apparent assistance will not be needed. The move allowed the group to continue focusing on needs in the Rio Grande Valley.

TBM feeding teams wrapped up their service in the wake of Hurricane Dolly Aug. 5 after preparing more than 375,000 meals. Ten recovery teams are helping people sort through and box their items and remove debris and damaged walls.

“The Edouard response preparation did not affect our ministry following Valley,” said Gary Smith, TBM volunteer disaster relief coordinator. “And Edouard was not as ugly his sister Dolly, so we’re not having to respond to his needs. We’re going to continue to respond to the needs of recovery related to Dolly.”

Buckner International also has moved into helping people rebuild in the wake of the hurricane. The group is providing building supplies such as shingles and black tar paper, as well as clothes and canned goods.

As many as 100,000 families in 700 colonias were affected by Hurricane Dolly. Some families lost their homes, while others sustained significant damage to their living quarters.

Baptist General Convention of Texas staff has distributed $15,000 for immediate family assistance. An additional $4,600 went Primera Iglesia Baustista in Santa Maria to help the congregation meet hunger needs in the area.

“Texas Baptists are responding again in significant ways following the onslaught of Hurricanes Dolly,” said Wayne Shuffield, director of the BGCT Missions, Evangelism and Ministry Team.

“Every time disaster strikes, Texas Baptists respond with relief and recovery. Dolly has left hurting people and families in her wake, but Christians in Baptist churches throughout the state continue to demonstrate compassion by offering hope through volunteerism contributions, and prayer. I am filled with gratitude and appreciation for our BGCT family for their generosity and concern.”
 

BAYTOWN—When Memorial Baptist Church Pastor Brad Hoffman heard Trinity Baptist Church was struggling and looking for help, he knew the solution—merging congregations and renovating the building—would require a big step of faith for Trinity’s members.

But Hoffman never dreamed how much it would transform his own church’s ministry and evangelism.

Only 16 members remained at Trinity Baptist Church fall 2007 after about a decade of steady decline; the church was at its largest in the mid-1990s with 200 members. Trinity Pastor Bill Herrin approached Hoffman in September 2007 about offering Trinity’s facilities as a Memorial Baptist satellite campus. The conversation was timely, Hoffman said.

“About two and a half years ago, we began praying at Memorial about having a second campus and moving into the multi-site concept of doing church,” Hoffman said.

Church leaders at Memorial had set their sights on the northeast side of Baytown to focus new ministry in the fastest-growing part of the city. When Herrin called Hoffman in September about combining efforts, Hoffman realized Herrin’s church, situated in the heart of northeast Baytown, would provide a perfect location.

The remaining members of Trinity Baptist Church faced a dramatic and difficult change, however. Instead of trying to revive Trinity Baptist Church’s ministries, Hoffman determined it was time for a fresh start. The Trinity congregation had to merge with Memorial Baptist Church for healthy ministry to continue.

“Zero plus zero equals zero. You can’t keep something perpetually on life support,” Hoffman said. “Our solution was to shut [the church] down, have them relocate to our original campus and integrate.”

Trinity Baptist Church finally closed the building in December, and for the next few months Memorial and former Trinity Baptist members worked side-by-side to renovate the building and reinvent its purpose for ministry.

“There are some families out there that I could not be more proud of for taking this on as their mission,” Hoffman said. “Our church just pulled together.”

The doors of what was formerly Trinity Baptist Church reopened Easter 2008 to a completely transformed venue for worship and fellowship, known now as Memorial Baptist’s north campus. More than 200 people attended the church’s first service, and for the former Trinity Baptist Church members, seeing the church building filled was a realized dream.

During renovations, Hoffman maintained a vision for reaching out to the immediate community.

“We knew the demographic (of the northeast area). They’re young families out there. We designed something specifically targeting young adults,” Hoffman said.

A coffee bar with 16 kinds of coffee opens 30 minutes before each Sunday worship service.

Memorial’s original campus offers Sunday school classes and other weekly functions for members, representing a more traditional model of church life. In contrast, the north campus only provides Sunday morning worship but with a distinctly modern edge. Fog and lights flood the stage during services of music and prayer. The north campus features a coffee bar with 16 kinds of coffee, which opens 30 minutes before each Sunday worship service.

But the church isn’t just a Christian coffee shop with a lights show. It’s designed to appeal to younger generations as part of an intentional evangelism strategy, Hoffman said.

“It is highly relational,” he explained.

“We are able to work our relationships … to earn the right to share Christ, to witness to authentic, live faith.

“People come before the service just to talk, and stay 30 to 40 minutes after the service just to talk or grab a cup of coffee. Not to say that the traditional model can’t be that, but in essence it’s not driven by the same priorities.”

For smaller, generational churches considering the future, Hoffman expressed hope that donating property to churches with “a vision for multi-site ministry” becomes a viable option. Herrin’s generosity and his congregation’s flexibility enabled a ministry for Memorial Baptist that “seemed impossible,” Hoffman said.

“We call it a God thing in the sense that he gave us an asset that we really weren’t searching for, and he placed it in our laps. As it came together it became very apparent that God was in this in a huge way,” he said.

DALLAS—Members of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Future Focus Committee voiced both their dreams and their fears for the state convention during their Aug. 5 meeting in Dallas.

Unity, commitment to missions and evangelism, strengthened Cooperative Program giving and engagement of the young generation in BGCT life topped the list of dreams, said Stephen Hatfield, co-chair of the committee and pastor of First Baptist Church in Lewisville.

Empower churches 

Failure to achieve each of those dreams and consequently “slide into irrelevancy” marked the greatest fear noted by committee members, he reported.
“There was a clear consensus that we want to move forward and help the BGCT empower churches to perform their kingdom assignment,” Hatfield said.

The Future Focus Committee grew out of a motion introduced at the 2007 BGCT annual meeting by Ed Jackson, a layman from First Baptist Church in Garland, that called on the BGCT president and executive board chairman to appoint a committee to consider a shared vision for the BGCT for 2020.

Jackson’s motion called on the committee to bring interim reports to the Executive Board at its February, May and September meetings and bring its final report to the 2008 BGCT annual meeting.

Messengers to the annual meeting subsequently approved a substitute motion by Philip Wise of Lubbock, chair of the committee on convention business. The substitute motion called on the committee to meet after the selection of a new executive director and set the 2009 BGCT annual meeting as the deadline for a final report.

Hatfield stressed the committee’s desire to be thorough in its research, deliberations and recommendations.

“We want to produce something that is not just put on a shelf but that is authentic, meaningful and memorable,” Hatfield said.

Next meeting Nov. 3 

The Future Focus Committee will meet again Nov. 3, spending time in subcommittees devoted to studying issues related to finances and resources, institutions and Executive Board staff. The committee also will schedule a two-day retreat in January.

Hatfield chairs the finance subcommittee. Other members of the subcommittee are Elizabeth Hanna of Nederland, chair of the BGCT Executive Board’s administration support committee; Fred Roach of Richardson, chair of the BGCT Executive Board’s finance subcommittee; Russell Dilday, chancellor of the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute and former seminary president; Jeff Harris, pastor of GracePoint Church in San Antonio; Jackson of Garland; Tom Lyles of Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler; and Gary Morgan, pastor of Cowboy Church of Ellis County in Waxahachie.

Andy Pittman, co-chair of the Future Focus Committee and pastor of First Baptist Church in Lufkin, chairs the subcommittee on institutions. Its other members are Paul Armes, president of Wayland Baptist University; Jeane Law of First Baptist Church in Lubbock; Joanna Berry, vice president of South Texas Children’s Home Family Ministry and International Childcare; David Lowrie, pastor of First Baptist Church in Canyon; Rene Maciel, president of Baptist University of the Americas; Bob Schmeltekopf, retired director of missions; and Mark Wingfield, associate pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas.

Steve Vernon, BGCT immediate past president and pastor of First Baptist Church in Levelland, chairs the subcommittee on Executive Board staff. Its other members are Randy Babin, director of missions for Soda Lake Baptist Association; Michael Evans, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Mansfield; Frankie Harvey of Nacogdoches Bible Fellowship in Nacogdoches; Peter Leong, pastor of Southwest Chinese Baptist Church in Stafford; Joseph Parker, pastor of David Chapel Missionary Baptist Church Austin; Taylor Sandlin, pastor of Southland Baptist Church in San Angelo; Noe Trevino, BGCT church starter; and David Keith, pastor of Carlton Baptist Church in Carlton.

WACO—Elizabeth Davis has been appointed interim provost at Baylor University, Acting President Harold Cunningham announced.

Davis, who has served the provost’s office as vice provost for financial and academic administration since 2004, will assume the duties of Baylor’s chief academic officer. She fills the post previously held by Randall O’Brien , who has been named president of Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tenn.

Cunningham met with various university groups to solicit their recommendations to fill the position.

“While in the process of discussing this interim appointment, Elizabeth Davis was the consensus choice to provide leadership in our academic area during this period of transition,” Cunningham said. “She is a very talented academician and administrator who will keep us moving on our upward trajectory."

As interim provost, Davis will have responsibility for all of Baylor’s academic enterprises, including 11 schools and colleges and more than two dozen centers and institutes.

“I am honored by this appointment and humbled that friends and colleagues in the Baylor family believe that I can be of service to Baylor as interim provost during this important time,” Davis said.

“Randall O’Brien has built an adept team in the provost’s office, and we are well prepared to provide continued leadership in the academic areas of the university.”

Davis earned her bachelor of business administration degree in accounting cum laude from Baylor in 1984, and joined the Baylor faculty in 1992 after completing her doctorate in accounting at Duke University. In addition to her vice provost duties, Davis is professor of accounting in the Hankamer School of Business. She also has served the business school as associate dean for undergraduate business programs.

The recipient of the Hankamer Teaching Excellence Award in spring 2003, Davis taught managerial accounting, with her research focusing on the effect of accounting information on judgment and decision making. She has published in various journals.

As vice provost for financial and academic administration the past four years, Davis has served as a liaison between the provost’s office and Baylor’s academic units, primarily in the areas of financial matters and enrollment management issues. She also has been responsible for coordinating faculty development opportunities offered by the provost.

Davis is a member of the American Accounting Association and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Davis’s husband, Charles, is chair of the department of accounting and business law. They are members of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco.
 

Less than two weeks after responding to Hurricane Dolly in South Texas, Texas Baptist Men disaster relief volunteers were placed on “alert status” Aug. 4 in anticipation of Tropical Storm Edouard growing to near hurricane strength as it made its way toward the Texas Gulf coast.

The tropical storm formed in the Gulf of Mexico Aug. 3, and forecasters expected the storm to produce high winds and several inches of rain in Southeast Texas. Warnings were in effect from Port O’Connor to Beaumont, and storm trackers expected the storm to make landfall south of Houston around 2 a.m. Aug. 5.

The Texas Baptist Men East Texas mobile disaster relief unit from Gregg Baptist Association was staging in Longview, with tentative plans to be deployed to the Conroe area. The South Texas unit in Corpus Christi was prepared to move to Humble.

The mobile disaster relief unit from Bluebonnet Baptist Association also was prepared for deployment to an undetermined location.

Earlier, Texas Baptist Men volunteers prepared more than 287,000 meals for South Texas residents affected by Hurricane Dolly. They also made available shower and laundry services for storm victims, and TBM activated disaster recovery volunteers to help with mud-out and repair services in the Rio Grande Valley.

The size of the Baylor University board of regents will get bigger, not smaller.

Regents voted to increase the size of the board to 24—up slightly from the current 21 members and significantly larger than the targeted goal of 16 members.

For many years, the board was composed of 36 members, and it had been getting smaller through attrition.

But the increase back to 24 members is designed to position Baylor for success, board Chairman Howard Batson said.

“Our goals are ambitious, and we are going to need increased diversity of talents within our board structure to achieve the level of future success we envision,” Batson said. “Our board is strong now, and with this action, we believe we can create an even more representative governing body that will help Baylor to reach new heights in the coming years.”

Wes Bailey, chair of the regents’ governance-review committee, explained the recommendation came after study.

“We have spent significant time over the past several months looking at governance issues and considering an array of best practices in higher education,” Bailey said. “The board determined today it would revise its plans to downsize to 16 and instead adopt a plan to transition to a steady board size of 24.”

One-fourth of Baylor’s regents will continue to be elected by the Baptist General Convention of Texas. So, the move will allow the BGCT to choose six regents, instead of the targeted four.

DALLAS—Buckner Adoption and Maternity Services received its official accreditation certificate from Russian authorities July 28, completing a two-year process that caused Buckner to suspend Russian adoptions.

“We are so thrilled to receive this good news,” said Debbie Wynne, director of Buckner Adoption. “Russia is our oldest international adoption program, so it’s a privilege to be able to continue serving these children and to find them loving homes.”

“It has been a long process, but we’re so thankful to the Russian government for working with us to get to this point,” added Albert Reyes, president of Buckner Children and Family Services. “Having this accreditation means Buckner is able to provide loving homes for Russian orphans.”

In May 2006, Buckner Adoption’s annual accreditation expired. Laws required Buckner to file paperwork as an official Non-Governmental Organi-zation in Russia before reaccreditation would be renewed. From that point, the Ministry of Education had to review paperwork and receive signatures from multiple government agencies in regions across the country.

Thirty-eight U.S. agencies are accredited to facilitate Russian adoptions.

“The good news about all of this is that Russia passed a law which provides accredited adoption agencies with a non-expiring certificate,” Wynne said. “We used to have to reapply for accreditation each year.”

The non-expiring certificate requires stricter regulations and close monitoring to assure adoption agencies are working with utmost integrity, she said.

“It has been our goal all along to continue to operate with the highest standards in adoption,” she said. “We want to show them that they made a good decision.”

Twenty families have waited more than two years with Buckner to adopt children in Russia.

Felipe Garza, vice president of the ministry and missions group at Buckner, said his heart goes out to the families who have been waiting for so long to complete their adoptions.

“Talk about faith and patience. There’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. Buckner’s goal is to move these families forward as quickly as possible, he added.

“Buckner will seek new ways to develop its Russian adoption program to help meet the needs of Russian children,” he said.

Part of the new process includes providing the government with support, education and training to facilitate its own domestic adoption and birth-parent counseling programs.

There will be some “starting over,” Wynne explained, to establish new relationships and learn new regulations in the country. “It’s going to take a little time. We need prayer to help us … re-establish things quickly.”

With more than 700,000 orphans in Russia, a huge need exists for adoptive families, especially those open to adopting older children and sibling groups.

“Most of the children we see available for adoption are 5 years old or older,” Wynne said.

In addition to facilitating adoptions from Russia, Buckner works with several orphanages, providing consultation, staff development, foster care and humanitarian aid. Russia was the first country Buckner entered in 1995, when the Dallas-based organization began working outside the United States.

To learn more about Buckner Adoption, visit www.beafamily.org or call (866) 236-7823, toll-free.

SANGER—At Ridin’ for the Brand Cowboy Church, Pastor Jack Blease tells visitors, “You can wear your boots and jeans,” and the morning prayer ends with an “Amen” and a “Yeee-haw!”

Located in the Wagon Master RV Park Dance Hall, Ridin’ for the Brand Cowboy Church ministers to full-time cowboys, part-time ropers and team sorters, horse and cattle owners, and Western culture fans. “It’s a little bit of everybody,” Blease acknowledged.

Blease and his wife, Ruscella, started the church in response to the need among many Texas cowboys for a comfortable place to worship that appeals to the Western-heritage culture. The Bleases had been ministering to cowboys on the road for several years and were searching for a church of their own when they decided to start a cowboy congregation near their home in Krum.

The project couldn’t have been possible without the help of Ron Nolen, coordinator for the Texas Fellow-ship of Cowboy Churches, and Charles Higgs, the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ director of western heritage ministries, Mrs. Blease said.

The BGCT recently launched Texas Hope 2010, an initiative that calls Texas Christians to give every person in the state an opportunity to respond to the gospel of Christ in his or her own language and cultural context.

With a specific mission to reach “people who are more at home in a saddle than in a pew,” Ridin’ for the Brand helps spread God’s hope to Texans invested in Western culture.

“For many of these people, all the trappings of a traditional church just didn’t work for them,” Blease said.

After a meeting to investigate interest in such a ministry in fall 2007, Ridin’ for the Brand held its first service Dec. 9 with 13 in the congregation. Now, an average Sunday draws more than 100 people, and often visitors make up as much as half the attendance.

“We’re attracting so many people who haven’t been to church in a long time,” the pastor’s wife observed.

“It’s just awesome. That’s our mission.”

Church member Eddie Flemister agreed. “A lot of times, (cowboys) wouldn’t go to a conventional church,” Flemister said. He and his wife, Tammie, help with the children’s ministry at Ridin’ for the Brand on Sunday mornings. They’ve been attending the church since Jan. 1, after the pastor stopped by to compliment the Flemisters’ lawn decor.

“We have a life-sized praying cowboy (figure) in our front yard,” Flemister explained. “Pastor Jack stopped to say he appreciated our testimony.”

Musician and worship leader Dan Johnson said the church attracted him because he likes “small churches and friendly folk.”

Ridin’ for the Brand Cowboy Church members make welcome and accessibility top priorities as they reach out to the Western-heritage community. Cowboy stories, ballads and Western terminology help Blease and his church create a familiar atmosphere for people devoted to Western heritage.

Tammie Flemister helps with Ridin’ for the Brand’s children’s ministry, providing snacks and activities during the Sunday sermon.

Instead of creating prayer teams and evangelism committees, Ridin’ for the Brand invites its members to join the “picket line” to pray for the church or get involved with the newly created “great round-up team” to spread the word about Ridin’ for the Brand.

Prayer, evangelism and small-group study are key to the church. During each Sunday service, about 15 minutes are devoted to talking about and praying over people’s blessings and burdens. It’s Blease’s favorite time of the morning, he said.

Discussing evangelism, Blease acknowledged many people feel nervous to talk about Jesus.

“If you’re shy about talking about Jesus, talk about your church,” he encouraged in a church business meeting.

“That’s evangelism—that’s reaching out.”

Many Christian cowboys choose to pursue their faith independent of a church. Worshipping in community can seem to threaten privacy; some feel judged within the organized church and feel pressure to conform to a suburban culture that’s not their own. Others choose not to attend simply because of inconvenience.

“Lots of people love Jesus but don’t think they need that public worship,” Blease said. “And they do.”

Through Ridin’ for the Brand’s small-group ministry, Blease hopes to disarm skeptics and invite them into a comfortable experience of Christian community. Members of Ridin’ for the Brand don’t have Sunday school classes, but instead are prompted to join a men’s or women’s small-group Bible study. These groups meet in members’ homes throughout the week.

“In that setting, people are freer to ask questions,” Blease explained, saying trust levels are built among the congregation through focused, intimate community.

“It’s much more interactive,” he said.

Soon, a coed study also will be offered, and Blease hopes to see a youth ministry develop as the church continues to grow.

As relationships deepen among members, the church’s mission remains to reach out to the unchurched cowboy community.

“Fifteen percent of Texans … make their living (in) Western culture,” Blease said.

“Then you’ve got your ‘weekend cowboys,’ who sort and rope calves and such, … and there’s this whole other group of ‘windshield cowboys’ who watch Western movies. Add them together—you’re talkin’ about a lot of people in the state of Texas, and lots of them are lost.”

GARLAND (BP)—Russell Rogers is a pastor with a passion for encouraging church families to adopt or provide foster care for displaced children.

Rogers’ congregation, Trinity Life Baptist Church in Garland, hosts an annual celebration of foster and adoptive families, and Rogers serves as a spokesman for a faith-based program called CHILD—Congregations Helping in Love and Dedication.

Even before they were married, Rogers and his wife, Shelly, planned to adopt children. After marriage, news that they could not have children of their own prompted the couple to seek licensing by the state in 1996 as foster parents. Over the course of 11 years, they fostered nearly 20 children and adopted three. Also during that time, the couple was surprised with two biological children.

“We got to the point where our quiver was full,” Rogers said, adding although there was no more physical room for additional children in their home, there was plenty of room in their hearts.

“The burden didn’t go away,” he said.

That was when Rogers and the families of Trinity Life Baptist began celebrating adoptive and foster families. After all, Rogers said, it was a family from his own church who introduced him to the idea of foster care and adoption from the state.

State vs. private foster care and adoption 

Before then, the Rogerses inquired about adoption through private agencies. The $26,000 price tag—on a pastor’s salary—put adoption out of reach. That was until they began speaking with a couple at their church who arrived one Sunday with a baby placed in their care by the state of Texas.

Rogers now hopes he can be “that person from church” who introduces others to the idea of state foster care and adoption. His goal is to present the need and allow the Holy Spirit to lead.

Some people have a calling to this ministry but do not know where or how to begin the process, Rogers said. From the 23 informational meetings he hosted last year, more than 35 families indicated an interest in becoming foster families.

Felicia Mason-Edwards, a program specialist for CHILD, said religious people serve as the majority of foster families in Texas, and the state draws heavily from churches to meet the needs of displaced children.

While not everyone can be foster parents, everybody can do something, Mason-Edwards said. Congregations can act to support adoptive and foster care parents in a variety of ways.

She applauded the efforts of churches to minister to people in foreign lands but added: “Those children are in your community. Here, in Texas, you have your own mission field.”

Churches should lead 

Rogers said the church should be the first to step up and take on the ministry of foster care and adoption. According to the Texas Child Protective Services overview for last year, there were 71,344 confirmed cases of child abuse and/or neglect, and 33,615 children under 17 years old were placed in foster care. About one-third of those eventually were reunited with their families, but the others remained in state supervision in homes with foster families, group homes, the homes of relatives, treatment facilities or other care facilities, and 4,158 children were adopted.

Because the children have been removed from their homes due to neglect and/or abuse, they need the love and care that a Christian home can offer, Rogers said.

“Imagine how awesome it would be if the church would rise up, and Christian homes could be a place of healing,” he said. “There are kids who will go to bed tonight in Texas thinking no one wants them.”

True religion, Rogers said, is defined in James 1:27: “Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

“I believe God calls and equips specific people, in strategic places, for significant purposes,” Rogers said.

The state has asked him to speak to congregations throughout a large swath of Texas, and he hopes to hold 70 informational meetings at churches by the end of the summer.

“Children were important to Christ and therefore should be a priority to us,” Rogers said.