Faced with a quickly declining economy and a drastically increasing poverty rate, the Moldovan government has entered a three-way partnership between Children’s Emergency Relief International. the United Nations Children Fund and Moldova’s Ministry of Social Protection, Family & Child.

The partnership’s first goal is to help move half of the children living in institutions into the homes of their biological families or into licensed family homes. The second is to improve and promote the network of government social workers, called social assistants, who will do the majority of the work related to the deinstitutionalization strategy.

Key to the three-member partnership is the placement of CERI social worker Jon Meyer as senior adviser to the Ministry of Social Protection, Family & Child.

Meyer plans to reduce the number of children in government-owned orphanages. He also is designing a model of professional supervision for the government social workers. Since it is a new profession, few social workers in Moldova have the education and experience needed to do their job, he said. Professional supervision will help them grow and ensure effective work.

Based on Meyer’s experience, socialist mindsets create barriers for the work. For example, many people feel because children make friends, obtain education and are fed in the institutions, orphanages are a better place to live. They believe the state can do a better job than the family in providing for children.

Meyer is co-chairing a work group that includes representatives from all the key government and nongovernment organizations addressing deinstitutionalization. In addition, Meyer has been traveling across the country visiting social assistants to obtain first-hand knowledge of their working conditions.

“The social assistants’ working conditions are very difficult because all transportation is done by foot. Many hitchhike to the regional office several times a month, and very few have computers or a private work space for counseling,” Meyer said.

Learning from American history and CERI’s role in moving institutionalized children in Texas from mass-dormitories to home settings, Meyer gives the social assistants of Moldova a basic philosophy to follow in their work—take note of human need; develop a plan; learn the necessary skills to carry out the plan; then consistently and persistently implement the plan.

“I encourage them to look for services that are needed in their communities, find support from cohorts and colleagues from all disciplines, develop solutions at their level of work and participate whenever possible in larger plans that will improve the profession and thereby improve services to those in need,” Meyer said.

CERI sent Meyer to Moldova, believing social work can dramatically impact society from the individual and family levels to community and national levels.

“We have the great opportunity to lead and develop the profession of social assistants in Moldova and thus greatly improve the social welfare of the country and, in particular, the most vulnerable among us,” Meyer said.

Some of the tasks given to Meyer are simple projects with big benefits that in the past Moldova lacked resources to accomplish. One project was creating a simple database to record the number of children discharged, admitted and living in residential institutions each month For the most part, the Moldovan government has no up-to-date knowledge regarding the flow of children in and out of its 67 institutions.

“In addition to his expertise in encouraging the profession of social assistants and equipping them with necessary resources to do their jobs, Jon has given me support through our conversations and interactions stemming from our mutual relationship with Christ,” said UNICEF Deputy Vice Minister Lucia Gavrilita. “We can pray together for various concerns regarding the deinstitutionalization process.”

• Thomas Long, the Thomas Bandy professor of homiletics at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, will be the featured speaker at the annual fall preaching convocation at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary Sept. 29-30. For more information, call (254) 710-6874.

• Houston Baptist University’s Dunham Bible Musuem will hold two lectures in October. Naseeb Shaheen will deliver a lecture titled “Shakespeare and the Bible” Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. David Brake will speak on “Greek Texts Used in English Translations” Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m. The museum will be open for tours before and after each lecture. The October lectures coincide with the opening of a special exhibit on Soldiers’ Bibles that will run Oct. 9 through Nov. 14.

• A lecture titled “American Healthcare: Past, Present and Future” will be held Oct. 15 at 3:30 p.m. at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor’s Lord Conference Center. James Rohack, director of the Scott and White Center for Healthcare Policy and president-elect of the American Medical Association, will be the speaker.

• East Texas Baptist University will hold homecoming activities Oct. 17-19. The theme is “Once Upon a Memory.” For complete information and a schedule of events, go to www.etbu.edu .

• Houston Baptist University has announced the “First Tues-day” Bible study series led by John Bisagno, pastor emeritus of First Church in Houston, originally planned to begin in October has been rescheduled to begin Jan. 6. The monthly study will be held in the University Theater from 10 a.m. to 11:30 am. on the first Tuesday through next December. Bisagno will focus the study on what the Bible has to say about heaven.

• Thirteen new faculty members have been hired by the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. They include Benoit Ballay, instructor in accounting, economics and finance; David Blair, assistant professor in exercise and sports science; Anita Coffey, assistant professor in modern foreign languages; Timothy Crawford, dean, College of Christian Studies; Terry Fox, associate professor in business information technology and systems; Dan Hoffman, assistant professor in modern foreign languages; Susan Hutchinson, professor in social work; Sandra Meeker, assistant professor in nursing; Daniel Rajaratnam, visiting instructor in management and marketing; Sharon Souter, dean, College of Nursing; Lemuel Taylor, assistant professor in exercise and sports science; Faith Teel, assistant professor in graduate psychology and counseling; and Jonathan Terrell, assistant professor in psychology.

• Dallas Baptist University has added five faculty members. They are Rodney Garrett, assistant professor of adult and higher education; Tamlyn Jones, director of the master’s in educational leadership program; Sharon Lee, director of both the master of education in curriculum and instruction and the master of education in early childhood education programs, as well as professor of education; John Tarwater, director of master of liberal arts and master of arts in professional development programs; and Shannon Wolf, assistant professor of counseling.

• David Abugraber of San Marcos, a senior at San Marcos Baptist Academy, is a finalist in the National Merit Scholarship program.

Dawn King

Phillip King

• Two Texas couples were among the 83 missionaries appointed recently by the South-ern Baptist Con-vention Interna-tional Mission Board. Monte and April Baker will be apprentice church starting missionaries in Central and Eastern Europe. He is a 1987 graduate of Hardin-Simmons University, and both graduated from Southwestern Seminary. Oak Grove Church in Burleson is their home church. They have four children: Joshua, 5, Elizabeth, 4, Olivia, 2, and Stephen, 3 months. Philip and Dawn King will work with communications and media in Western Europe. Both born in Amarillo and graduates of West Texas A&M, they are members of First Church in Carrollton, where he is director of communications. They have three children: Isabel, 5, Madeline, 3, and Jacob, 1.

April Baker

Monte Baker

Anniversaries

• Ron Davis, 20th, as associate pastor of First Church in Liberty, Sept. 21.

• David Lowe, 25th, as associate minister of music/organist at First Church in Amarillo, Sept. 21.

• First Church in Hubbard, 140th, Oct. 5. Former pastor David Burcham will be the featured speaker. A meal will follow the morning service. James Hooper is pastor.

• First Church in San Angelo, 125th, Oct. 11-12. An open house reception will be held on Saturday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday’s events will include a fellowship time at 8:15 a.m. Former pastor Kyle Reese will teach a joint adult Sunday school class, and former student minister Elias Garcia will teach a joint youth/university Sunday school class, both at 9 a.m. Former pastor Jerold McBride will preach in the morning service with former minister of music Ron Etheredge leading the music and Lance and Lori Herrington bringing the special music. A luncheon (reservations required) and a historical drama will follow. Mark Bumpus is pastor.

• Manchaca Church in Manchaca, 90th, Oct. 26. The service will be held at 10:45 a.m., followed by a meal. Former pastors and staff will share their memories of their time at the church. For more information, call (512) 282-0875. Craig Taylor is pastor.

• Hillister Church in Hillister, 100th, Oct. 31. The church will hold special events throughout the month, with a revival to be held the last week. The church also will celebrate Pastor Clark Mahoney’s seven years of service Oct. 14.

Deaths

• Phil Elder, 42, Sept. 8 in Nashville, Tenn. A native Texan and former Fort Worth resident, he was the son of Lloyd Elder, former president of the Sunday School Board and former executive vice president at Southwestern Seminary. He was in the landscape and outdoor services business. He was preceded in death by his sister, Janet Elder. He is survived by his son, Nick; parents, Lloyd and Sue; and sister, Donna Maas.

• Zane Mason, 89, Sept. 16 in Mabank. A professor of history emeritus at Hardin-Simmons University, he served the university from 1959 until his retirement in 1988 under five presidents. He was president of the faculty for two terms, a five-time nominee from Hardin-Simmons for the Piper Professor Award, Cullen Professor, the first Rupert N. Richardson Chair of Ameri-can History at HSU, faculty member of the year in 1986 and former faculty member of the year in 1999. An ordained Baptist minister, he held pastorates in Florida, Tennessee and Texas. He was preceded in death by his wife, Bobbie.

Event

• Dellview Church in San Antonio will hold a FUN (Families United in the Neighborhood) Day and picnic Oct. 11 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Games, sporting activities and food will be a part of the festivities. Phil Risley is pastor.

Licensed

• Thomas Barber to the ministry at Prairie Hill Church in Prairie Hill.

Ordained

• Zack Ailshie to the ministry at Glen Cove Church in Coleman.

• Lillian Hinds to the ministry at Meadow Oaks Church in Temple.

• Debbie Barrett, Jon Glover, Rosemary Hammond and Sara Ogle as deacons at Broadway Church in Fort Worth.

• Herb Bullock and R.C. Karnes as deacons at Center Point Church in Weatherford.

Revival

• First Church, Tulia; Sept. 28-Oct. 4; evangelist, Craig Curry; music, Tim Thornton; pastor, James Hassell.

WACO—Relationships are the key to having the happy fellowship every congregation desires, Bob Edd Shotwell told a gathering of a ministers at a Waco Regional Baptist Network seminar.

“Fellowship does not happen by accident,” said Shotwell, veteran Texas Baptist minister of education. “It does not happen without the power of God working in individual believers and in the church body. As believers share with others their salvation experiences, practice Christlike lives and demonstrate their faith by serving others, fellowship flourishes.

“Fellowship is more than just a feeling of goodwill in a congregation. It is a person-to-person relationship and a relationship with God.”

Churches can facilitate the building of fellowship by getting members involved in a smaller group within the congregation such as a Sunday school class, choir, sports team, missions action team or prayer group.

“Every person needs to be in a small group where they are known,” Shotwell said. “We have to funnel people into small groups if we’re going to get them plugged in and maintain them.”

Fellowship events such as class socials, Valentine’s Day dinners, Christmas banquets, retreats, trips and recreation programs also help build fellowship within the congregation, he said.

A key lies in helping people feel wanted and accepted from the first time they visit. People need to be welcomed “from the parking lot to the pew,” Shotwell said.

Greeters in the parking lot who can help visitors know where to go next are an asset, he said. Also, people need to be greeted in Sunday school and worship. A follow-up contact, preferably made that day, can show visitors they are valued and appreciated.

Communication is paramount in maintaining a healthy sense of fellowship within a congregation, Shotwell said.

“If the church is well-informed about finances, they will come in support of what is going on. The more open you are, the better everything works,” he added.

He counseled pastors to be open about policies and procedures, and to use the committee system to enable input from a wide section of the membership.

“Informing members will help keep harmony, unity and fellowship. Not informing members makes them skeptical and divided,” he added.

Differences between members should be mediated as outlined in Matthew 18, he said.

Maintaining fellowship involves meeting needs when they arise within the congregation. The congregation also will function better when people are making decisions for Christ and worship services result in members rededicating themselves to Christ, he added.

WACO—Leading difficult church members is a skill almost every pastor will need at some time during his ministry, veteran pastor Jack Ridlehoover said.

“Jesus walked the path before us. Study his life. His life was one of constantly dealing with difficult people,” said Ridlehoover, a retired pastor who led Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene 29 years, as he spoke to pastors from Waco Regional Baptist Network at Emmanuel Baptist Church.

The reality of a first pastorate can be very difficult for some ministers, he pointed out.

“It’s a shock to many young ministers who come in believing that everyone in the church are kind, loving people,” Ridlehoover said.

While difficult people have always been a part of the church landscape, Ridlehoover said, the problem has gotten worse in the last few decades.

“The primary problem ministers have is a people problem. … And it didn’t use to be this way. These are the most difficult times in the local church. We have not come this way before,” he said.

“Something happened in the late ’60s and early ’70s in our lives that made it change. Part of it was a generation of people who thought more deeply and expressed themselves more vocally. … We became skeptics of anyone in leadership and brought that skepticism to church.”

But the task is not too big to handle, Ridle-hoover insisted.

“In most churches, these people are in a very small minority, but they are there. Because they are there, we must learn to relate to, adjust to, love and lead them to the best of our ability,” he said. “Our call is to lead these folks as much as those who are easy to lead. It’s part of our privilege, challenge and responsibility to face the situation.”

Baptist polity can make it particularly difficult, he acknowledged.

“The democratic structure of a Baptist church lends itself to difficult people having a voice and lends itself to power plays,” Ridlehoover said. That is changing a bit, though, he said, noting, “I think we are moving in the direction of many churches becoming less democratic.”

Difficult people come in a variety of flavors. Some are unresponsive to leadership; some demand more than their share of attention. Others have unreasonable expectations or offer unfair and untruthful criticisms. In short, they have an attitude or posture that hinders the ministry and work of the church.

Not all people who wield power in the church are difficult people, he cautioned.

“There are some powerful people in the church you serve,” Ridlehoover pointed out. “There are controlling people in each church. Blessed are you if they are the same people who are helping you fulfill the Great Commission.”

Most difficult church members don’t see themselves as being difficult, he said. “Many would be shocked if you called them a difficult church member. They see themselves as people with leadership ability and spiritual maturity.”

They also are very vocal, but “sweetly spiritual” in their criticisms. “‘Pastor, I want you to know I love you,’ … and then the cleaver falls,” Ridlehoover said.

One of the first things a pastor needs to do to become better at working with difficult people is to acknowledge it is part of the job. He also needs to prepare himself mentally and spiritually. “God can make you adequate to face this,” he said.

Ridlehoover recommended Marshall Shelley’s book Well-Intentioned Dragons and Surviving Difficult Church Members by Robert Dale. He also suggested staying alert to power plays so they can be dealt with early before they grow into larger problems.

Pastors also should work to develop and follow firm and sound leadership procedures so church members can know and predict the response to whatever circumstance might arise.

At times, confrontation is necessary. “Confront caringly, but confront. If you’re wrong, admit you’re wrong. If you deal with someone one-on-one instead of in front of a group, many times you will find them more reasonable,” he said.

It’s important not to take on the characteristics of the person you are having a problem with, he stressed, suggesting: “Play fair. Don’t return meanness for meanness. Work toward a win-win solution.”

One of the greatest things a pastor can do is keep perspective, Ridlehoover said.

“Do not allow one difficult church member’s attitude and opposition to blind you to all the loving, gracious, supportive Christians you lead,” he counseled. “As a pastor or staff person, you have the greatest job and responsibility in the world without any authority except that which God gives you—until the people give it to you, and I’m convinced they will if you stick with them.”

He also counseled the problem is not always with the people in the pews. “We talk about difficult church members, but pastors can be difficult people, too. About 50 percent of the problems I see are caused by difficult pastors. Let’s make sure we’re not the problem.”

DALLAS—The Baptist General Convention of Texas has hired Carolyn Porterfield to help connect Texas Baptists with opportunities to serve people affected by Hurricane Ike.

The former executive director-treasurer of Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas will help teams and individuals connect with Southeast Texas churches for short-term missions opportunities and long-term partnerships.

More than 300 BGCT-affiliated congregations have been affected by Hurricane Ike. Numerous congregations have been damaged, some of them seriously.

Porterfield will help Texas Baptists learn about mission possibilities and fill them for the short and long term. Some people have not returned to their homes, leaving smaller-than-usual attendance in worship services. That in turn leads to smaller offerings, creating financial hardships for some ministers.

BCFS, TBM benefit from Baptist Health Foundation. Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio is providing $50,000 to assist victims of Hurricane Ike. A $25,000 grant has been awarded to Baptist Child & Family Services of San Antonio to restock items that have been depleted from their medical special-needs emergency response trailers that have been used to assist more than 2,000 mid- to high-acuity patients. Texas Baptist Men received $25,000 to help fund meals and support units the group has been providing at shelters in San Antonio. The group is working with the Alamo Area Regional Command, FEMA and the state to assist hurricane victims.

Bawcoms endow scholarship at UMHB. President Jerry Bawcom and his wife, Vicky, have endowed a scholarship for students majoring in education at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Bawcom was named president of UMHB in 1991, serving as the school’s 18th president. He has announced plans to retire as president at the end of this academic year to assume the role of chancellor.

Endowed scholarship a birthday surprise. Estelle Owens, dean of the Wayland Baptist University School of Behavioral & Social Sciences, learned an anonymous donor gave money to set up an endowed scholarship in her honor on her 60th birthday. The scholarship will benefit a female social sciences student who demonstrates strong Christian leadership in a local church, academic excellence, dedication to scholarship and willingness to risk. In addition to her duties as dean, Owens is a history professor and university historian. She joined the Wayland faculty in 1974.

Borger couple’s estate endows Wayland scholarship. The Clarence and Mildred Moore estate endowed a scholarship at Wayland Baptist University to benefit students from First Baptist Church in Borger who attend the school. The $100,000 gift was made through the church, where the Moores were longtime members. The Moores both died in 2005.

Correction: The president of San Marcos Baptist Academy was incorrectly identified in a photo that appeared on page 20 of the Baptist Standard’s Sept. 15 issue. The first sentence of the photo cutline should have stated: “Students at San Marcos Baptist Academy get the opportunity to meet the school’s newly installed president, John Garrison, and his wife, Carol, at a reception held at the end of the first school week.”

DALLAS—Citing her deep concern for children and passion to promote the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger, Pastor George Mason of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas has announced his intention to nominate Carolyn Strickland for first vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

“She is a true-blue Texas Baptist with a longstanding desire to see Texas Baptists grow in their care for ‘the least of these,’” Mason said.

Carolyn Strickland

It was a dream she shared with her late husband, Phil, who served 38 years with the BGCT Christian Life Commission, including nearly a quarter-century as its director, he noted.

“Carolyn’s desire is to carry on Phil’s legacy, in a sense, by bringing attention to causes that were so important to him,” Mason said.

Strickland traced her commitment to the issue of world hunger—and her husband’s dedication to becoming “an advocate for the voiceless in Austin”—to a 1975 missions tour that took them to five African nations, India, Thailand and China.

“We both went through culture shock, having never been exposed to so much misery,” she said. “We came back never wanting to see that kind of existence in our own country.”

Strickland agreed to allow her nomination as BGCT first vice president because it would give her a platform to promote giving to the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger as part of Texas Hope 2010.

Focused on a three-fold vision—share, care and prayer—Texas Hope 2010 includes an effort to raise $2 million for the world hunger offering and ensure every child in Texas has enough to eat, she noted.

Strickland wants to help put together a hunger advocacy network across Texas, identifying at least one person in every church who will be an advocate for the offering and for people who live in poverty.

Strickland is a deacon at Wilshire Baptist Church, where she has been a member since 1971. She has been involved in mission trips with her church to Kenya, Macedonia, Morocco and Guatemala, as well as in the KidsHopeUSA mentoring program. She also has been a leader in Companions in Christ discipleship small groups.

She is one of the founders of Mi Escuelita Preschool in Dallas, an early childhood program dedicated to teaching English and developing early learning skills in at-risk children.

She serves on the board of directors for Texans Care for Children and the T.B. Maston Foundation, the Christian Life Commission board of advisers, the Texas Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Coordinating Council and the BGCT Hispanic Education Task Force.

HOUSTON—Hurricane Ike swept through the eastern one-third of Texas, prompting a massive evacuation, leveling much of Galveston and leaving huge areas of Southeast Texas in the dark. But glimmers of hope began to emerge as Texas Baptists aided relief and recovery efforts.

Ike made landfall in Galveston as a Category 2 hurricane, and then the storm cut a swathe through East Texas. About a week and a half later, electricity was starting to return to portions of Southeast Texas, and with it the fuel supply was increasing. Debris was beginning to be cleared, and people were starting to return to their homes in some areas.

Hurricane Ike hit the Texas Gulf Coast as a Category 2 storm, causing millions of dollars in property damage and displacing hundreds of thousands of people. (BGCT PHOTO/John Hall)

More than 320 Gulf-area churches affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas were affected, and many more are included in the 29 counties declared a federal disaster area. Galveston and the Beaumont-Orange area appeared to be the hardest hit areas, said Gary Smith, Texas Baptist Men volunteer disaster relief coordinator. Galveston still had no power or services more than a week and a half after the hurricane made landfall.

Baptist Child & Family Services and Texas Baptist Men continue serving in the wake of the storm. Twenty-one Baptist conventions have sent disaster relief teams to serve in the wake of Ike, working in 38 Texas communities.

More than 1,500 TBM volunteers have given their time to help those affected by Ike. TBM feeding teams have prepared more than 420,000 meals. The TBM shower and laundry units also allowed people in affected areas to take more than 3,000 showers and wash about 1,600 loads of laundry.

BCFS, in cooperation with its partner churches, provides medical special-needs evacuees with specific dietary requirements, necessary medical attention and basic health and hygiene services during their stay.      

“We have the resources to house these evacuees as long as necessary,” said Marla Rushing, BCFS director of corporate training. “Although we hope they can return home soon, we won’t send them away until we know it’s safe.”

Members of the Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief team from Gregg Baptist Association prepare meals to help with relief operations after Hurricane Ike hit the eastern one-third of Texas. (BGCT PHOTO/John Hall)

Some evacuees were in no hurry to leave because of the relationships and care given through BCFS and host churches. One Corpus Christi evacuee was so pleased by the care he received through BCFS at Northeast Baptist Church, he plans to move to San Antonio and join the church.

“When Harvey Lopes first arrived at our shelter, we thought he was the bus driver. He was helping everyone off the bus and giving us a brief synopsis of their medical conditions,” shelter manager Skip Holman said. “We were shocked when we realized he was an evacuee.”

Lopes spent his time at the shelter serving meals and ensuring other evacuees had everything they needed. At one point, shelter volunteers even had to restrict Lopes from helping due to his own medical condition.                       

Lopes stayed at Northeast Baptist Church five days with his wife and their four children, one of whom qualified as a medical special-needs evacuee and was their reason for staying at a BCFS shelter.

Joshua and Kristin Loflin, members of Calvary Baptist Church in Beaumont, stand in front of their flooded home in LaBelle. They lost all their furniture, appliances, clothes and the toys of their two children—Michaela, 3, and Malachi, 1. (NAMB PHOTO)

After returning to Corpus Christi, Lopes immediately called the shelter to thank the volunteers once more for their kindness.

“We want to get them back to San Antonio as fast as possible,” said Ann Parsons, assistant shelter manager. “We loved their family, and they loved us.”

In addition to running medical special-needs shelters in San Antonio, the BCFS incident management team continues to provide management for the Texas Department of State Health Services operations for Texas Task Force Ike in Galveston.

Classes resumed Sept. 22 at Houston Baptist University, eight days after Hurricane Ike caused an estimated $8 million to $10 million damage to the campus.

The university’s student center and administrative complex suffered significant wind, water and structural damage during the storm, but student residences were undamaged, and classroom buildings largely were unaffected as well, HBU President Robert Sloan said in a statement posted on the school’s website.

Although the campus was without power for a week, emergency generators provided crucial support for staff and students who weathered the storm on campus, Sloan said. Cool, clear weather allowed cleanup crews to make progress on recovery efforts.

Baptist Child & Family Services personnel join other members of Texas Task Force Ike outside Ball High School on Galveston Island to survey damage and plan relief strategies to help victims most affected by Hurricane Ike. (BCFS Photo)

The university’s computer network returned to service the morning of Sept. 21 after servers were moved to an off-site location where electrical power was available, according to a statement from Charles Fix, interim director of HBU’s information technology services. By that evening, electrical power had been fully restored to the campus, and Sloan announced classes would resume at 10 a.m. the next day.

In the statement posted Sept. 19, Sloan praised students and staff for the patience and good spirit they demonstrated during the chaotic week after the storm struck.

“As we see more images from the storm’s destruction, we realize more and more how many are suffering in our area,” Sloan said. “We know that nothing happens outside the love of Christ, and it is that belief that keeps us strong. We pray for God’s peace for those who have lost loved ones, homes, pets and that sense of normalcy that we all take for granted.

“One of our challenges this week has been that our administrative team is working without access to their offices and files. Today’s wireless technology—cell phones, air cards, laptops—has been invaluable. Our remote access to our website has allowed us to keep our HBU homepage updated with information. Our emergency alert system has served us well and has given us the capability to send phone and text-message campus updates to our faculty, staff and students on a daily basis.

Bob Childres (left) from Immanuel Baptist Church in Paris visits with BGCT Executive Director Randel Everett at the Texas Baptist disaster relief field kitchen at League City. (BGCTPhoto/John Hall)

“Our students who remain on campus and have been here since the storm are in good spirits. There is a definite bond among these young people, built on prayer, friendship and youthful optimism. I met yesterday with our faculty and staff who were able to get to campus. We prayed together, hugged familiar faces and shared our stories. There was a peace to that gathering and a strength that comes from knowing God’s grace and goodness.”

Students who remained on campus helped other storm victims by volunteering for Houston’s End Hunger Network and Neighborhood Centers. The university has established a “Student Success Fund” for donations to help students and their families who suffered losses due to the hurricane.

Less than 24 hours after Hurricane Ike hit Houston, Parkway Place Executive Director Chuck Childress reported power was restored to the Buckner retirement community, and service crews already were making repairs and performing cleanup. The restoration of power also restored air conditioning to the community and halted earlier contingency plans by Buckner Retirement Services to move residents to other retirement facilities because of the heat.

Early reports from observers indicated moderate damage to Buckner Children’s Village and the Calder Woods retirement community.

Residents at Gracewood—a Children at Heart Ministries facilities in Houston for single mothers with children—“rode out the storm, emerging to find evidence of Ike’s fury all around them,” said Don Cramer, vice president and chief operating officer for the Children at Heart Foundation.

“Wood fences and chain- link fences were down, trees had blown over and debris was everywhere. The power of the storm was evident in branches and boards embedded several inches into the ground where they had been hurled by the winds. Even the children’s playscape area was damaged by a falling tree. But God is good, and no one was hurt.”

Personnel at other Chil-dren at Heart facilities helped with relief and recovery. A maintenance team from Texas Baptist Children’s Home in Round Rock provided a generator. Residents from one of the cottages in Round Rock and at Miracle Farm in Brenham helped clear away debris.

Baylor University School of Social Work students under the direction of Jim Ellor visited and comforted 20 evacuees with dementia who were relocated to a Waco nursing home when the storm knocked out utilities at the facility where they live.

The nursing home residents already had been uprooted a short time earlier due to Hurricane Gustav.

“For persons with serious dementia, numerous changes in location and caregivers are particularly stressful,” said Helen Harris, senior lecturer in the Baylor School of Social Work.

The students “calmly and competently visited with persons who needed presence and caring and reassurance,” Harris said. “They were skillful social workers. They were tender ministers. They met ‘the least of these’ and saw the face of Christ. And I saw the face of Christ in them.”

Reporting by Haley Smith, John Hall, Russ Dilday and Mark Kelly, with additional information provided by Diana Garland.

PRESIDIO—When a surge in the Rio Grande forced the evacuation of several hundred homes in Presidio and flooded 350 homes across the border in Ojinaga, Texas Baptists responded.

Rains upriver rapidly increased the river’s water level in the area, cracking one of the levees in Ojinaga. While the waters have receded a bit, additional rain was forecasted upriver, creating the possibility of more flooding.

The uncertainty has pushed 60 Presidio residents into shelters, and many others moved in with relatives in the area.

“We’re better off than we were. We’re not out of the woods yet,” said Ed Jennings, Big Bend Baptist Association director of missions who is part of the relief efforts as a chaplain to the first responders such as military personnel, firefighters and police officers.

Recently he was able to minister to first responders by helping lead a memorial service for four people who died in a plane crash while scouting the damage along the border. He continues helping them work through their grief.

During the Rio de Esperanza kick off to Texas Hope 2010—an initiative to share the gospel with every Texan by Easter 2010 and to meet human need—Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board staff leaders pitched in by filling sandbags for the levees and donating more than 200 pocket radios.

The radios will provide critical help for people in needing warning in case a levee breaks stateside, said Carlos Nieto, chairman of the Persidio School Board. The only source of information in Spanish for Presidio residents is a Mexico radio station.

The BGCT also is providing $2,500 for relief work in Ojinaga.

“Something as simple as a cheap AM/FM radio could save a life here,” Nieto said.

BGCT Executive Director Randel Everett applauded the hard work of the people of Persidio who have come together in a time of crisis.

“Texas Baptists are praying for you, as are other churches across the state,” he said.

Nieto thanked Everett for the prayers and the radios, noting churches will play a key role in the recovery effort.

“When the state and federal agencies leave, I think faith-based organizations are going to have to step it up,” he said.

A video report concerning the flooding can be seen here .

As evacuees return to Southeast Texas, early reports indicate a significant number of Texas Baptist churches in the area sustained damage when Hurricane Ike blew through the state.

Most of Southpark Baptist Church in Alvin is unusable after the storm, Pastor Bruce Peterson reported. The hurricane damaged the church’s roof, allowing rain to pour into the sanctuary and children’s building. The fellowship hall sustained limited water damage but is still usable.

First Baptist Church in Galveston was filled with water during the storm. The carpet and pews have been removed from the building.

Several Beaumont churches report significant damage. Amelia Baptist Church, Central City Baptist Church, New Beginnings Church and Westgate Memorial Baptist Church suffered water damage. West End Baptist Church and Dawndale Baptist Church sustained steeple damage.

First Baptist Church in Bridge City suffered major damage from up to five feet of water that filled its facilities. First Baptist Church in Nome sustained some damage to its steeple. Calvary Baptist Church in Nederland had some water and wind damage. First Baptist Church and McDonald Memorial Baptist Church in Orange each were damaged by the hurricane.

Ike blew the roof off Exodus Bible Church in Port Arthur, creating serious damage. Windows were blown out of First Baptist Church in Port Neches and its playground was destroyed. Central Baptist Church in Vidor had some water damage and its playground was destroyed.

At least 20 Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated churches in Union Baptist Association reported damage from Hurricane Ike. Among the worst reports is Centro Cristiano Vida y Restauracion in Houston, which saw its facilities destroyed. The roof was pulled off of Club Creek New Life Community Baptist Church in Houston. House of Celebracion in Houston sustained roof damage and is without a place to worship.

BGCT staff members are in the area surveying the damages. BGCT architectural staff will be assist congregations as they look at rebuilding their facilities.

“BGCT church architecture provides church building recovery assistance to our churches in two ways—assessment, helping determine the situation and conditions of their church buildings and two, resources, understanding funding and professional services options,” said Keith Crouch, leader of the BGCT Resources Services team. For more information on BGCT architectural resources, call Crouch at (888) 244-9400.

Texas Baptist groups serving in the wake of Hurricane Ike primarily are in need of two things—volunteers and funds.

The response to Hurricane Dolly, Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike has stretched volunteers across the state. Anecdotal reports indicate volunteers are in increasingly harder to find, especially in specialty areas. Those who are serving are being pushed by long hours with little time to decompress.

Texas Baptist Men has more than 1,400 volunteers working through East Texas in the wake of the storm and attempts to relieve volunteers within two weeks, creating a need for a vast number of trained volunteers.

Baptist Child & Family Services has many medical personnel serving in its San Antonio shelters and is looking for additional volunteers with medical experience.

People who want to volunteer through Texas Baptist groups or institutions can call the Baptist General Convention of Texas, which is serving as a clearinghouse for volunteers and volunteer opportunities, at (888) 244-9400.

“Texas Baptist Men, Baptist Child & Family Services, Texas Baptists across the state who are sheltering hurricane evacuees, and those in Southeast Texas who are spontaneously responding to the needs to those affected by Hurricane Ike are doing a tremendous job,” said Wayne Shuffield, director of the BGCT Missions, Evangelism and Ministry Team. “But with an effort like this, they need help. This is a task God is calling all Texas Baptists to.”

The scale of the devastation left by Hurricane Ike also is stretching accounts. The BGCT’s disaster response fund, which provides family support for people affected by disasters, supports some Texas Baptist Men ministry and aids the BGCT Executive Board staff in connecting needs and resources, is dangerously low, according to Shuffield.

All BGCT disaster relief efforts are funded by designated offerings.

About $150,000 remains in the account, which could seriously hamper Texas Baptist relief efforts in the area. Mobilizing a single feeding unit and its team can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and TBM has activated all of its mobile kitchens.

“Along with direct gifts to Texas Baptist Men disaster relief, the Baptist General Convention of Texas is one of the primary partners of TBM’s ministry in the wake of disasters,” said Leo Smith, TBM executive director. “The destruction left behind by Hurricane Ike is going to require substantial resources. We pray Texas Baptists will be generous in their support of disaster relief ministries as they always have so we can continue sharing the hope of Christ in trying situations.”

In the coming weeks and months, the BGCT will begin to work through local churches to provide financial assistance to Baptists who were affected by Ike.

“The BGCT Disaster Response Fund will directly help ease the troubles and pain of people affected by Hurricane Ike,” Shuffield said. “Texas Baptists are seeking to provide hope and help for people in their time of need.”

All of the money designated through the BGCT for disaster response supports disaster response ministries. To give to the BGCT Disaster Response Fund, visit www.bgct.org/disaster. Checks designated “disaster relief” also can be sent to BGCT, P.O. Box 159007, Dallas 75315-9007.
 

BELTON – Shanelle Fuse, a 23-year-old Hurricane Ike evacuee from Freeport, sat in the parlor of the First Baptist Church Belton and watched University of Mary Hardin-Baylor students play with her three children.

After eight days at the shelter, smiled as she talked about the students who visited the shelter throughout her stay there.

“They run my children ragged, and at night, they sleep all night,” she said.

Katie Leibert, a junior studying elementary education, cuddled Fuse’s two-month-old girl Nevaeh, which is ‘heaven’ backwards, in her arms.

“Nevaeh’s grandma just asked if I wanted to hold her,” Leibert said softly. “She doesn’t cry at all.”

On a nearby bench freshman Curtis Landrum, a theology and philosophy major from north Houston, worked hard to understand the words of Fuse’s oldest child, two-year-old Elijah. He smiled politely and tried to correct Elijah when he pointed to a magazine ad for a hand tool and said: “car.”

Even as Landrum volunteered his time, his own parents still were without electricity in their Houston-area home. They spent one night visiting him in the Belton area.

“If I was in this position one day, it’s what I would hope people would do for me,” Landrum said about his service at the shelter. “This could very easily have been my family.”

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor junior Katie Leibert holds 2-month-old Nevaeh providing a few moments of rest for her mother, one of nearly 80 Hurricane Ike evacuees taking shelter at First Baptist Church in Belton.

Fuse considers her family lucky. A tree fell in her yard but missed her house. She is just waiting for word from Freeport that all essential services have been restored, and she will go back home with her children and her mother.

“They come after classes or when they are not studying,” Fuse said about the students. “One of them stayed overnight last night.”

Shannon Bates, a sophomore elementary education major, is from Huffman, a 50-minute drive from Galveston. Her parents lost 14 trees in the storm and were told they could be without electricity for up to two weeks.

“During Rita we didn’t have electricity for a week and a half,” she said as she played checkers with a 6-year-old girl. “We just kind of toughed it out.”

Whether it is giving respite to a mother with three small children, talking with a person who is troubled about the state of their home or bringing wheelchair bound evacuees on tours of the campus, UMHB students brightened the spirits of people whose lives were temporarily altered by a storm.
Bethany Franz, a freshman social work major from New Waverly, said she had been blessed for trying to help others in need.

“I am learning from these people,” she said. “I think it would be hard to just leave everything and not know what is going on back home.”