When in Louisiana, don’t even think about sending anyone a surprise pizza, or you may face a hefty $500 fine. And, next time you’re in Denver, avoid driving a black car on a Sunday.

Even though laws like these two are outdat­ed and no longer enforced, some bizarre laws remain on the books. Many were in place more than a century ago when they may—or may not—have made more sense.

During the early years of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, the school also had its fair share of unusual rules.

Some rules from the early 1900s may seem like common sense now, like “Do not pull flowers” and “Do not throw trash out of windows.”

But many rules that guided student behavior during this time came from Elli Moore Townsend, who oversaw the first work-study program for women in Texas called the Cottage Home System. According to museum records, six of the first 12 girls in the program were orphans, and all came from abject poverty.

“They were deserving girls, but they were very, very poor and had no means to go to college,” said Beth Norvell, associate director of museum and alumni engagement.

She speculates some rules perhaps were drafted specifically for the orphaned girls, because they hadn’t been exposed to common formalities of the day.

Mrs. Townsend’s Household Directory from the early 1920s laid every­thing out for them:

• Each girl must bathe at least twice a week in summer and once a week in the winter.
• No candy making, except on the first Monday.
• Do not walk on the floor without your shoes from Oct. 1 until April 21.
• You can read but three novels a year, unless required in your schoolwork.
• With the permission of their parents, girls may spend the Christmas holidays at home. One other trip home is allowed those whose round-trip ticket does not exceed $300.

During these early years, the dining hall had some strict rules around proper etiquette—along with many other guidelines—ladies were expected to follow. Students stood behind their chairs while prayers were said.

At each meal, the head of the table appoint­ed a “table critic” whose duty was to see that proper etiquette was observed.

Table rules included:

• Do not crumble bread into the soup.
• Do not chew when passing food.
• Do not sop from the plates.
• Do not use the knife to carry food to the mouth.
• Always talk on pleasant subjects at the table, but do not talk or laugh too loudly.
• You are not excused from the supper table until after the bell rings.

Even though Mrs. Townsend was a stickler for the rules, students appreciated and respected her, even calling her their “Shepherdess.”

“The Cottage Girls definitely had a bond with her, and I think they knew she was giving them an oppor­tunity to get an education they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise,” Norvell said.

She points out Mrs. Townsend had a nurturing and motherly side to her and provided spiritual guidance to the stu­dents.

“They viewed those rules as much as an education as the education itself, because the rules taught them how to operate within a lifestyle that they had never been accustomed to,” she noted.

Mrs. Townsend always wanted her girls to feel at home and reminded them the dormitories were “home and not a boarding house.”

House­hold rules included:

• Never use a chaffing dish in your room after 9:30 on Saturday evenings and after 8:00 Sunday morning.
• Do not sleep between blankets but between sheets.
• Never sweep dirt from rooms into halls.
• Never do other people’s laundry.
• Upon the discovery of a fire … slip on kimono and slippers and hasten to assigned exit.
• Never run, whistle, call or laugh loudly in the halls; or call from one floor to another, or from one building to another, or out of the window to those on the ground, except from the first floor.

Keeping the Sabbath was not optional. The house chairman—now known as a resident assistant—had the uncomfortable job of making sure every student went to church, even if it meant pulling her from hiding places in closets and under the bed.

Students also were expected to know and follow specific correspondence rules about how, when and to whom they could write.

Rules governing correspondence:

• You must write your home people at least once a month.
• You can correspond with but one young man. Only in some special cases can you write to a young man oftener than once a month.
• All letters must be written with pen and ink.
• Do not open your mail in the dining room.
• No letter-writing during study hall or study hours.
• No mail is to be sent off until it has passed through the girl’s hands who tends to the mail. Except it be sent by Mrs. Townsend.

From the rules and regulations she has come across, Norvell said she sees a strong desire to protect not only the college’s reputation as a place where “daughters would be safe,” but also to protect the girl’s reputation.

“I feel like a lot of their value was wrapped up in how well-behaved they were,” she said. “The letters parents were writing to the college back then were very specific with instructions like ‘Don’t let my child ride with boys in the car’ or ‘Don’t let my daughter hang out with this person.’”

Strict curfews imposed

By today’s standards, the rules from around 100 years ago may now be considered unusually strict, especially when it came to leaving campus, hanging out with boys and meeting curfew.

“Students will not be permitted to go with boys on the blacklist.” And “every girl must be in by 10:10 on Saturday night.”

According to the 1928-29 Student Self-Govern­ment Association handbook, first-year students could go into Belton with permission two times each week in groups of two, but only on Monday morning or during the afternoons. Special permission to go shop­ping in Temple with a chaperone could be secured from the hostess.

Freshmen were also allowed three visits from young men friends three times a month in the college parlors, provided they had direct written permission from a parent or guardian. Permission to “go riding with friends” was granted at the discretion of the hostess, but only if they were “properly chaper­oned.”

Upper-class students unquestionably had the most freedom and could “go walking, shopping or visiting any time,” but only if it didn’t interfere with schoolwork and they were back by 10:30 p.m.

They also had the special privilege of walking to the post office on Sunday afternoons and playing “popular music in the Senior room at any time except on Sunday.”

Dreaded ‘call downs’ in chapel

For less severe offenses, students who broke the rules could receive demerits or even “call downs,” where names of the misbehaving pupils were read aloud during chapel services.

“Shame is a great motivator,” Norvell said with a chuckle, pointing out that a “call down” was probably today’s equivalent of outing a friend via a social media blast.

“It had to be super embarrassing,” she said. “I don’t think it promoted sisterly affection when you have these girls who are not only spying but tattling. I feel like that would have isolated some people, and it gave the students a lot of control. I think at that time, may­be, the mindset was a little different. They viewed it in a more protective way.”

For more serious offenses or if trouble with a student intensified, parents received detailed letters of their daughters’ mischief.

In a letter dated Nov. 25, 1919, Opal’s parents learned she got caught “riding with some boys in a car,” which was cause for a trial and fines. The letter informed Opal’s parents she “had to appear in court as a witness against them, and I hope that she has learned a lesson that will stay with her through life.”

And when students were deemed uncontrolla­ble, like Anna Bell in July 1919, they were sent back home. In a letter to her parents, the school apologeti­cally reported Anna Bell was “defiantly disobeying our rules and regulations.”

The writer continued that she was “a bright girl, and I have tried my best to help her overcome the desire to do wrong. … I sincerely hope that you can place Anna Bell somewhere where she will have a greater desire to do right than she has here.”

In 1922, the school president, John Hardy, requested no more girls “bob their hair without written permission from home.” Uniforms were part of the students’ attire in the early years.

“Ladies were required to dress in stark, unadorned clothes to promote unity within the student body,” Norvell said. There were even rules about how much jewelry one could wear and an etiquette class on how makeup should be applied.

The Bobby Sock Rebellion

But perhaps one of the most disliked rules was the one that led to a confrontation in front of Hardy Hall—the notorious “Bobby Sock Rebellion.”

Almost a century ago, students were required to wear silk stock­ings, and socks were prohibited except during physical education classes. Their hosiery constantly snagged on the wooden classroom chairs, which proved to be a costly snafu.

After protesting, the administration finally allowed students to wear socks to class the following semester in the fall of 1938, but they still were required to wear hosiery when going into downtown Belton.

“It’s one of my favorite stories because they were rebellious,” Norvell said. “It wasn’t practical anymore, and the girls wanted practicality, and the administration just wasn’t catching up.”

As the decades passed, the school saw other rules evolve, like in the 1970s when trousers became fashionable for women. Until then, women were required to wear skirts and dresses, except in physical education class. When the campus went co-ed in 1971, the rules in the student handbook changed again to accommodate more men on campus.

Readers in 2023 may find themselves chuckling or even scoffing at some of these outlandish early edicts. However amusing they may be, it’s worth considering a word of advice from the 1928-29 Student Self-Government Association hand­book: “DON’T FORGET—That the person who finds rules unreasonable is regarded as the one who usually needs restrictions.”

This article originally appeared in UMHB Life Magazine and is republished with permission. 

Mark Korenek sat in a chair in the middle of his burned-out Grand Prairie home looking a little overwhelmed. Soot-covered Texas Baptist Men volunteers swirled around him, some with wheelbarrows, moving charred personal items from the fire that burned his home in January.

The sound of a revving skid steer moving everything from sheetrock to clothing into a massive 40-yard trash container threatened to drown him out as he recalled the tragedy that burned the home he shares with his wife, Karen, and sent him to the hospital for almost two months.

“It was Jan. 12,” he recalled. “I got up and got my wife off to work at First Baptist Church Dallas and went back to bed for an hour. At 6:30, the smoke alarm sounded. The fire started far away from me but traveled through the attic.

“When I woke up, I could see nothing because of the smoke. I grabbed my cell phone, ran to the hall and saw nothing but flames.”

His call was recorded by 911 at 6:32 a.m.

 “I told them, ‘I’m going to be in the back yard, I have five dogs and no one else is in the house,’” said Korenek. “I crawled down the hall and went to the backyard. I fainted going through the back door. I felt myself fainting and rolled on my back. I knew when the firemen arrived, but I never really came out of it.”

Three of his dogs made it out with him. Two died in the home, overcome by smoke. While not injured by the flames, Korenek spent months recovering from the effects of smoke inhalation.

“The firemen hit me with a shot,” he explained. “The chemicals in our house produced cyanide. The shot was used to draw the cyanide out of my body. They took me to Parkland (Hospital), and Parkland put me in a medical coma for four weeks. Their job was cleaning my lungs. My kidneys shut down. My pancreas shut down.

“I am told by the nurses I coded (ceased heartbeat) five times,” he said. “It was awful for my wife, Karen. She’d be holding my hand, and I’d code, and they’d kick her out.”

When Korenek woke from his coma, he said his medical team “reminded me I was in the fire, and then they began the trauma of dialysis and put me on insulin because my pancreas had shut down.” He  was intubated four weeks to clean his lungs.

Still sitting in his chair, Korenek grinned as he said: “I’m happy to say I lost 72 pounds, … the wrong way. They got me up the next day and started me walking. I was there until late February. I think I witnessed to every nurse there with the message, ‘God saved me.’”

Speech therapy and psychiatric tests followed to see if the smoke inhalation had affected his brain. He began rehabilitation, and his latest round of tests indicate no permanent damage.

‘We knew we’d need an army’

As he wrapped up his story, TBM volunteers continued to swarm around him, busily moving the remains of the home to the trash dumpsters.

By the end of the week, 45 volunteers helped reduce the house down to its studs to prepare the family for the next step of recovery.

Sabrina Pinales, TBM ministry advancement coordinator, called the week “a two-team effort. We have several trained disaster relief volunteers on site, and we also have day volunteers who have a desire to serve.”

TBM volunteer Curt Neal, the on-site coordinator, called the week-long project “unique.”

“We solicited anyone and everyone who would help. We knew we’d need an army, because the house was full of things,” Neal said. “This couple are collectors, which made the cleanout task more difficult.”

By the end of the week, the TBM team removed five 40-yard and five 30-yard trash containers of material and possessions from the home.

Neal’s wife Ann served as a coordinator at the site, as well as trailer manager and chaplain to the volunteers and homeowners. She said the project embodies TBM’s desire to bring “help, hope and healing.”

“When we first come in, we’re help, but after even a few minutes, you quickly see the hope. When you get to this point in a clean out, survivors are seeing things get back on track,” she said.

“We’ve seen (Mark) break down and cry, and (Karen) has broken down and cried several times today. I told them, ‘We’re cleaning out your house, but we’re here for you, to love on you, and do whatever you need.’”

Volunteer Jan Rahmandar echoed the sentiment.

“I came out to show God’s love. I can only do one day, but God said, ‘Go do what you can do.’ I’m pulling nails because it helps the homeowner get back on his feet,” Rahmandar said.

“It’s a job that’s overwhelming for the family,” volunteer Steve Glover agreed. “We’re helping get them organized so insurance can come in.

“TBM is a family, and what a great witness it is to this family to know we’re doing it and asking nothing in return.”

Members of First Baptist Church in Matador were gathered for their regularly scheduled mid-week prayer meeting June 21 when the worship service suddenly was disrupted.

“Everybody’s phones starting going off” with weather alerts, Pastor Eddy Helms said. “So, we left early and went home.”

At 8 p.m., an EF-3 tornado hit the western part of Matador, claiming four lives and injuring 15 people. Wind gusts between 145 mph and 165 mph destroyed 29 buildings and damaged at least 34 other homes and businesses in the town of 600.

“Praise God it wasn’t further east, where it’s a more heavily populated area,” Helms said.

Neither the 90-year-old First Baptist Church building nor the parsonage sustained any damage. Within 45 minutes after the tornado hit, Helms posted on the church’s Facebook page: “I can open the church for shelter if needed.”

A member of First Baptist Church who owns an Airbnb property offered the use of that house at no cost to a Matador resident who was left homeless after the tornado.

Among the church’s members, three households—one couple and two single individuals—sustained serious damage, Helms said. A young woman with disabilities lost her home.

“She will need a lot of help,” Helms said. But he quickly added the church received a significant donation three days after the tornado specifically to assist her.

Volunteers from neighboring town help

Meanwhile, 30 miles away, Paducah barely felt the effects of the tornado that devastated their neighboring community to the west.

“All we got was a little bit of a breeze and about 12 raindrops,” said Kyle Roach, pastor of First Baptist Church in Paducah.

The day after the tornado hit, Roach and several members of his church went to Matador to offer assistance.

“Kyle was on my front porch at 7:30 on Thursday morning,” Helms said.

Roach and his church members set up a grill on the front lawn at First Baptist Church in Matador to offer free meals to anyone who needed food. The volunteers from Paducah first prepared breakfast burritos and later grilled hamburgers.

During the first 24 hours after the tornado, Roach served as the point of contact for Texas Baptist Men and community ministry, enabling Helms to ensure the well-being of his congregation.

“Eddy drove around town and went by to check on every member of his church,” said Les Griffin, director of missions for Caprock Plains Baptist Association.

‘Angry’ storm left trail of destruction

After Helms was able to care for his church members, he joined Roach and Griffin in driving around Matador to survey the damage.

“The storm didn’t cover of a lot of ground, but it was really angry,” Roach said.

They also visited with residents affected by the tornado.

“We just let people share their stories,” Roach said. “A lot of them were pretty well still in shock.”

He recalled meeting one Matador resident who ended up with a motorcycle pushed against the back of his garage after the tornado.

“And he didn’t own a motorcycle,” Roach said, noting he and others later located the motorcycle’s owner, who lived a half-mile away.

Another family discovered a car engine on their property.

“They didn’t know where the rest of the car was,” he said.

First responders on the scene

Several members of First Baptist Church in Paducah who are part of the volunteer fire department also served as first responders in Matador, including participating in the search for casualties.

“They’re doing all right, but I’m sure they’ll be affected by what they saw,” Roach said. “Since they’re members of our church, I’ll keep tabs on them. They’re doing OK. They are where they probably need to be right now in terms of processing it.”

As the three ministers drove through the community, Roach was on the phone, coordinating volunteers and relaying information to Texas Baptist Men.

Griffin noted he was “totally amazed” by how quickly TBM responded to the Matador disaster, providing a generator at First Baptist Church the day after the tornado so the church building could be made available as a cooling station.

Fortunately, electricity was restored to the town by Thursday evening, and the generator was needed only briefly. TBM also dispatched a shower and laundry unit to Matador, but it was not needed once utilities were restored.

TBM also provided a box unit crew who distributed storage boxes to help residents affected by the storm collect recovered belongings.

‘God is good all the time’

Griffin noted a group from First Baptist Church in Quitaque brought a skid-steer to Matador and volunteers to help clear debris.

“They were very kind and helpful to separate the rubble from important personal belongings,” Griffin said. “All of our groups were sensitive to personal objects of others and seeking permission to clear things away. The Christ-like spirit of FBC Quitaque was appreciated by the family.”

On Sunday, June 25, members of First Baptist Church gathered to pray, sing and testify that “God is good all the time,” Helms said.

Griffin, who participated in the worship service, noted two commonplace greetings took on new meaning as the congregation gathered.

“When people said, ‘Glad to see you,’ they really meant it. And they asked each other, ‘How are you doing?’ But then they waited for a response. They really wanted to know how other people were doing,” he said.

When Griffin briefly spoke during the service, he mentioned First Baptist Church in Muleshoe delivered two generators to Matador, including one that went to a member of First Baptist in Matador. He said a woman in the congregation immediately raised her hand and said, “That was me!”

Later in the worship service, that woman told the congregation: “It is a joy to be here, and I praise God for what he has done. I was in a closet talking to the Lord [when the tornado hit] but remained very calm. … I am thankful for my safety through the tornado, and I thank you for the electric generator.”

Helms delivered a brief sermon on “the hope of the Lord,” based on Ezekiel 37—the Old Testament prophet’s vision of a valley of dry bones restored to life by the breath of God.

‘Overflow’ of donations and volunteers

The next day, a report sent to TBM disaster relief volunteers stated: “TBM has completed all assigned work, and all volunteers and units have returned home. There was an overflow of skid-steers and volunteers from the surrounding communities, leaving the community able to take care of all needs.”

The “overflow” of donations and volunteer assistance was not limited to heavy equipment and those who operate it. Roach and his volunteers from Paducah were prepared to cook meals for an extended time, but they soon discovered other groups also offered free food at multiple locations.

“There were probably more places to go eat in Matador than there ever had been,” he said.

First Baptist Church in Matador served as a distribution center for several days after the tornado, providing donated clothing, water, toiletries and cleaning supplies to anyone who needed them.

“There was enough water donated to fill a swimming pool,” Griffin said.

About 200 cases of water filled the basement of Matador’s First Baptist Church building. Helms noted another community not far away needed water, and he hoped some of the bottled water at his church might benefit those people.

First Baptist planned to donate most of the surplus clothing to a crisis pregnancy center and a community ministry in Plainview, he added.

“We’ve just been blown away by the response of people from everywhere coming to help,” Helms said.

Griffin acknowledged he felt overwhelmed when he first learned about the tornado in Matador, and he said he hopes no other community in his area ever has a similar experience.

“But if it were to happen, I don’t think I will be as forlorn as I was last Wednesday night,” he said. “I’ve seen a reminder that God is good, and God’s people are good.”

DALLAS (BP)—It’s not about pink dresses, blue button-downs, 18-wheelers or Barbies. For theologian Katie McCoy, dispelling gender dysphoria rests on Scripture undiluted by cultural stereotypes society assigns.

Neither is Scriptural truth in conflict with the science of gender dysphoria, McCoy said upon the release of her latest book intended to guide mothers and ministers in addressing the rapid onslaught of gender dysphoria among females.

“The theology of humanity, and the evidence that we’re seeing about all of gender dysphoria, its source, its treatment and its affects, they are in harmony,” McCoy said. “In other words, what secular sociologists, psychologists, endocrinologists, sexologists are all describing from their own perspectives of expertise, harmonizes with the truth that we find in Scripture of how God created humanity.”

Some of the scientific evidence is difficult to find, McCoy said, as it is typically not reported in mainstream media, or is dispelled to protect “politically prescribed narratives.”

“But when all of the facts are known, the world of nature and the laws of nature confirm the laws of God,” McCoy said upon the release of To Be a Woman: The Confusion Over Female Identity and How Christians Can Respond.

McCoy, director of women’s ministry at the Baptist General Convention of Texas, gives guidance amid an onslaught of gender dysphoria and the denial of God’s created bilateral gender.

Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria, as termed by Brown University physician-scientist Lisa Littman, overwhelmingly affects biological females. Gender dysphoria was rare decades ago. It was more prevalent in boys, typically presenting itself between ages 2 and 4.

Long-simmering ideas boiling over

But in the last decade, McCoy’s research shows, it has skyrocketed. In 2007, the United States had only one gender clinic for adolescents. By 2021 there were at least 50.

“Gender confusion is not only just growing,” McCoy said. “It’s erupting, and by a landslide, it’s girls who seem to be most affected by the explosion.”

McCoy likens it to a crockpot of soup.

“The way we arrived at this moment is a little bit like throwing a lot of ingredients into a big pot to make a big soup. And into this soup are ideas about what it means to be human, to be happy, to be fulfilled, our relationship to society, and then even our relationship to our own bodies,” McCoy said.

“And these ideas have been allowed to simmer for decades, and we are just now seeing them come to fruition.”

McCoy wrote the book, she said, to assert that “female identity is socially guided, philosophically formed, relationally confirmed, biologically grounded and theologically bestowed.”

Address with Scripture and with love

Gender dysphoria should be addressed with Scripture and with love, two variables which are not in conflict. The problem should be addressed with an admission of societal sins and an acknowledgement of who God is.

“Jesus said the truth sets us free, and what a confession is, is to acknowledge with God what he says about who we are, what we believe and what we’ve done,” she said.

“We are presenting a truth that does not belong to us, because it doesn’t originate with us. We are messengers. We are ambassadors. And we’re not trying to make the world, somehow, exclusively, socially different. This is about protecting the image bearers of God from the self-inflicted harm that comes from denying their creator.”

She describes gender dysphoria not as a sin, but as a symptom of an underlying problem, trauma or a sense of not fitting into a societal peg.

“It can stem from things that are wrong, but the feeling of gender dysphoria is a feeling. It is something that is indicating an inner issue that is out of alignment,” she said. “And for so many girls and young women who have gender dysphoria … when they get to the root of it and fix that, so many times the gender dysphoria dissipates or resolves.”

To get to the truth of what it means to be a woman, McCoy dispels cultural stereotypes of gender that society has used for generations.

“We need to separate that which comes from the Bible and that which comes from culture,” McCoy said.

A biblical woman “will be a woman who evidences courage and boldness, but she does it according to her femaleness. And that will express itself in a different way, or present itself in a different way, than a man,” she said.

“This is where the cohesive union between our biological selves and our gender selves comes into play, because we don’t have to systematize these behaviors. Rather, if you have a woman who is trying to follow God faithfully in all of her life and relationships, she’s going to express that in her marriage relationship, in her ministry in the church, in her relationship to her children, in her priorities,” McCoy said, acknowledging that statements of faith are more detailed.

“In other words, if we allow simply how God created women to be and allow the Holy Spirit to guide them in their lives and relationships according to his word, I believe we’re going to see the true meaning of biblical womanhood.”

McALLEN—The Baptist General Convention of Texas will gather for the 138th Annual Meeting on July 16-18 at the McAllen Convention Center.

Every five years, the BGCT annual meeting is a Family Gathering, held in conjunction with the Hispanic Baptist Convention, the African American Fellowship, and other ethnic and cultural partners.

The theme, from Ephesians 2:19, is coming together as the “Household of God” (or in Español, “La Familia de Dios”) and was chosen to reflect that unity.

 “At the Family Gathering, we will join our hearts together to celebrate our unity and diversity by sharing Christ—the good news of salvation available to all people—and showing love to God and others,” said Craig Christina, associate and acting executive director of Texas Baptists.

“Though there are many Christian denominations and nondenominational groups, there is no one exactly like Texas Baptists. Why not come to McAllen and help us celebrate and protect our cherished faith and unity that makes us one in him?”

Featured speakers include Greg Ammons, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Garland; William Dwight McKissic, senior pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington; Ellis Orozco, coach to pastors for Kārooso Ministries and retired pastor of First Baptist Church of Richardson; and Thong Lun, senior pastor of Greater Houston Burmese Christian Fellowship.

Worship will be led by Ray Sanchez, pastor of worship and administration at First Baptist Church of Weslaco; the worship team from Calvary Baptist Church in McAllen; the Singing Men of Texas; Roy and Niya Cotton; and El Trio de Hoy.

During the business sessions, messengers will elect officers and vote on the 2024 proposed budget and on nominations for affiliated boards and ministries.

The committee on the annual meeting has chosen not to include resolutions in the convention’s business at the 2023 Family Gathering.

Julio Guarneri, president of Texas Baptists and lead pastor of Calvary McAllen said the decision was made in order to prioritize a focus on unity and worship among Texas Baptists.

“Because of the nature of the Family Gathering, this year our committee on the annual meeting has decided not to include resolutions in our business sessions,” Guarneri said. “Our focus will be on what unifies us both spiritually and missionally.”

Although no rallies will be held this year, several workshops and mission opportunities will be available. Attendees are encouraged to visit exhibit halls throughout the Family Gathering to learn more about Texas Baptists’ resources and partnering ministries and institutions. Several meals and receptions will be hosted by Texas Baptists’ ministries and partners.

 “The Texas Baptist Family Gathering this July will be an exciting time of celebration,” Guarneri said. “As we rally around the theme ‘Household of God’ based on Ephesians 2:19, we will rejoice in our unity in diversity.

“As our at-large family joins with the Hispanic Convention, the African American Fellowship, the Chinese Fellowship, the Vietnamese Fellowship and others, we will enjoy a rich time of worship, fellowship, inspiration and necessary business.”

Like many people around the world, Brenda and Dave Morton huddled around their TV last year, watching tensions escalate between Russia and Ukraine.

As the unrest grew and the Russian invasion of Ukraine neared, they answered countless calls from concerned family and friends.

“You’re not still going, are you?” they asked incredulously of their impending trip to Estonia, which borders Russia.

“We both just felt like God was telling us to go,” said Brenda Morton, an associate professor in the College of Education at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. “The State Department wasn’t telling us it was unsafe to go. There was no reason not to go.”

The Mortons headed to the airport Feb. 27, 2022, just three days after the invasion that killed thousands and instigated a mass exodus of refugees to nearby countries. Missile attacks continued as they waited at their gate to take off. Putting their faith in God, the couple left their doubts behind and boarded the plane to Estonia.

When they landed, American Embassy officials were there to meet them. Embassy personnel provided an emer­gency phone number for Marine Post One at the U.S. Embassy and an emergency evacuation plan to get out of the country fast—just in case.

Brenda Morton’s faith still was un­wavering. There was a reason God put her in Estonia as a Fulbright Specialist at that specific time. She just didn’t realize how big of a purpose God had in mind.

Training teachers to teach about trauma

Morton changed her clothes at Tallinn Airport and went straight to Tallinn University, where she walked into a classroom full of somber Estonians. A heaviness hung in the air.

For more than 50 years, until 1991, Estonia suffered under Soviet occupation, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine conjured memories Estonians tried hard to forget.

“They see themselves in the story of the Ukrainian people, because it was also their story—their shared story,” Morton explained. “So, the fact that I’m in a country dealing with a lot of historical trauma made it a unique time to be there.”

For four and a half weeks, Morton’s job was to pro­vide educational tools and train educators and students to teach others about trauma. It was easy to see the irony in her situation, but Morton looks back now and knows it was no coincidence she was there to teach trauma.

Because of funding, the pandemic and other reasons, her trip to Estonia had been canceled or re­scheduled at least three times. Still, every twist and turn in her journey led her to that exact time and place to help traumatized Estonians when they needed it most.

“God had a plan for all of this,” said Morton, who has taught classes online for Tallinn University since 2019. “There was never a time we felt like we were in danger or unsafe. If anything, we felt like God postponed this trip on three separate occasions, and he put us in this country three days after the war began. There’s a reason we’re here.”

Fell in love with Estonia

The Mortons’ first encounter with Estonia was during a vacation trip to Finland in 2015. On a whim, they decided to take a ferry to visit Estonia for four days and fell in love with the country.

When Brenda Morton walked into her classroom last year, her heart went out to her students as she saw the tension and fear on their faces.

“I had a student that started to cry, which is culturally unheard of,” she said. “Students were asking permission to have their phones out, because they wanted to be able to contact relatives if the sirens went off and we needed to take shelter. I even had a student who asked to bring her baby to class the next day, because she didn’t want to be more than seven minutes away from her child. You could feel the anxiety and stress in the country was just palpable.”

God prepared Morton

Morton didn’t just decide on a whim to go through trauma training.

“I thought I did, but there’s no way. I see that God prepared me to come to this place at this time to do this particular work,” she said.

God began preparing her more than a decade earlier when she was finishing her last year as a high school teacher.

“I had a foster child in one of my English courses. I didn’t know anything about foster care, and the more I got to know these kids and their backstories, I felt like God was asking us to become foster parents,” she said.

The Mortons set out to learn more. They went through the foster training and filled out all the forms.

“God’s got a sense of humor,” Brenda Morton recalled with a chuckle. “We asked to foster one child, a girl, and we wanted her to be younger than my youngest child. God sent us a sibling group of four.”

What she learned during her experience as a foster parent became the basis for her dissertation on foster care.

“No one is talking about trauma when it comes to these foster kids,” she discovered. “I started asking questions, and nobody knew the answers. I realized that these are kids hidden in plain sight.”

Eager to learn more, she enrolled in a postdoctoral cer­tification program in trauma and started working with the Oregon Department of Human Services doing advocacy around foster care.

The story of God’s preparation continues

Two years before coming to UMHB, Morton worked as a professor at George Fox University in Oregon. She was named a Fulbright Scholar to Estonia and spent seven months at the University of Tartu.

While there, a friend at the U.S. Embassy encouraged her to apply to come back again and continue her work as a Fulbright Specialist, which is how she ended up in Estonia last February to teach trauma-informed practices.

But her story didn’t end there.

After her trip as a Fulbright Scholar to Estonia, the couple began looking to move to Texas, where their oldest daughter had moved. As Morton began exploring opportunities, she was also working on a research project that connected her to Aida Ramos, who had worked as an associate professor in the College of Humanities and Sciences at UMHB. That’s when Morton learned about UMHB and an open teaching position in the Col­lege of Education.

“When I interviewed, I thought, ‘Wow, this is an amaz­ing group of people.’ At the time, I was interviewing at several other institutions and didn’t feel the same about them. When I came to the UMHB campus, I walked away feeling like there’s something different here,” she said.

After joining UMHB two years ago, she received a re­search grant that allowed her to interview 55 foster care students enrolled in a Texas college or university. The research is the basis for another book she is writing about children in the system and their experiences getting into college. She plans to use the book in her trauma class at UMHB as part of the educational advocacy program.

“There are a lot of barriers to them being successful, and all of that is trauma-based,” she said.

Since she began working with Estonians, Morton has helped train more than 300 Estonian teachers on trauma.

She also recently began a new project with a friend at the University of Tartu, creating a video series on trau­ma-informed practices, and will be offering a trauma class at UMHB next fall and spring. Most recently at UMHB, she wrote the curriculum for the first study-abroad trip to Estonia and is preparing to take her first group of students in May 2024.

“We will use the University of Tartu as our home base, and I’ll take them to see what a com­munity church looks and feels like, which is very different than anything experienced here,” she said.

When Morton reflects on the path God put her on to help Estonians through one of their most difficult times, she feels overwhelmed by God’s blessing.

“It was a blessing to be able to do something to be helpful—a great feeling like I was able to do something to help both the Estonian people and the Ukrainians in a country that was dealing with so much,” she said. “All of it was just a blessing.”

This story is republished by permission from UMHB Life Magazine.

Russell H. Dilday, whose tenure as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Fort Worth saw the school’s endowment more than double while leading the seminary to its greatest period of growth but who was fired in 1994 by fundamentalists controlling the board of trustees, died June 21. He was 92.

Dilday had been in failing health the past two years, according to his daughter, Nancy Dilday Duck. He was living in Dallas at Ventana by Buckner senior living community.

“Daddy never lost his wonderful sense of humor and his heart for ministry,” his family said in a statement. “Everyone around him loved and admired him. We are sad to lose him, but we are grateful for his amazing life and all he did for the kingdom of God. We have lost a wonderful father and Baptists have lost a great leader.”

Man of ‘character’ and ‘integrity’

Dilday served as president of Southwestern Seminary from 1978 to 1994. During his tenure, the school became the largest theological seminary in the world and was responsible for training more than half of all Southern Baptist missionaries at the time.

His time as president of the school was marked by ongoing battles with a fundamentalist board during the height of Southern Baptists’ political struggles for control of the nation’s largest non-Catholic denomination.

Toby Druin, former editor of the Baptist Standard, remembered Dilday’s grace in the face of difficult times for Southwestern and Southern Baptists.

“Russell Dilday was the epitome of a Christian leader and statesman and a staunch defender of Baptist principles. He was outspoken in his defense of the authority of the Bible,” Druin said. “He was president of Southwestern Seminary during its greatest years.

“I will always remember him for his character and integrity and his friendship toward The Baptist Standard,” Druin said.

After his firing March 9, 1994, Dilday served as president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and in leadership roles at two other BGCT-affiliated schools. He was a retired distinguished professor of homiletics at Truett Theological Seminary and special assistant to the president of Baylor University.

In 2002, he served as interim president of Howard Payne University in Brownwood, and he was instrumental in the founding of the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute, serving as its first chancellor.

William M. Pinson Jr., BGCT executive director emeritus, described Dilday as “a wonderful friend” and a “deeply dedicated follower of Jesus.”

“He greatly loved and was devoted to his personal family and his Baptist family,” Pinson said. “Brilliant with a strong sense of humor, he was willing to tackle challenging, controversial circumstances. His faith in Christ and courage, coupled with the support of his wife and family, enabled him to serve steadfastly during turbulent times in Baptist life.”

In addition to his service in institutional and denominational life, Dilday was the founding pastor of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston and pastor of Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church in Atlanta, along with churches in Antelope and Clifton. He also served several churches as interim pastor.

Throughout his career, Dilday was a prolific author, writing numerous articles and books, including his highly regarded commentary on 1 and 2 Kings for The Preacher’s Commentary series. In addition, he contributed to numerous books and anthologies.

‘Higher Ground’

Known as one of the Southern Baptist Convention’s leading statesmen during his career, Dilday was only the second president of an SBC seminary to preach the convention’s annual sermon in 1984, following in the footsteps of E.Y. Mullins, who was the subject of Dilday’s doctoral dissertation.

That sermon in Kansas City, Mo., put him in the crosshairs of fundamentalist leaders of the convention. Titled “Higher Ground,” Dilday called on Southern Baptists to put aside denominational politics and power struggles and aspire to a higher standard.

“Stay on the heights, Southern Baptists,” he urged messengers. “You’re doing a great work. Stay close to the Lord and to the task he has called you to perform. Be faithful to your historic heritage. Don’t dabble in controversies or exhaust your energies arm-wrestling for denominational control. Stay on the higher ground of spiritual persuasion, autonomous individualism, (and) the Christ-like humility where you belong.”

In 2007, Dilday released a book titled Higher Ground: A Call for Christianity Civility, in which he called for Baptists “to move beyond the lowlands of caustic controversy to the higher ground of Christianity civility.”

His firing from Southwestern Seminary sent shockwaves through the SBC. A photo of the locks on his office being changed circulated through Baptist state papers and brought a torrent of criticism on trustees. Media outlets from across the country covered the story.

Dilday later recalled a rally of students outside his home the day after the firing. “Betty and I led them in singing ‘Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see you.’ I will always remember that moment. It was a moment that said to them and to us: ‘God is at work in all things for good. God can bring good out of evil. God’s way is to leave the past behind and focus on Jesus.”

“The grace with which Dr. Dilday handled his firing amazes me to this day,” said Alan Lefever, Baptist historian and director of the Texas Baptist Historical Collection. “There was no desire for revenge, no bitterness at being unjustly dismissed, only a conviction to follow God’s call.

“I believe history will remember Russell Dilday in the same way we recall George Truett or R.C. Buckner. He was a man of grace, charity, and conviction. We should all seek to emulate his example.”

Dr. Dilday’s 2004 book Columns: Glimpses of a Seminary Under Assault, gives a detailed account of events leading up to his dismissal.

“My disagreement (with SBC fundamentalists) was always aimed at the fundamentalist spirit, the secular political methodology of the takeover party and their disregard for authentic Baptist principles,” he wrote.

Todd Still, dean of Truett Seminary where Dr. Dilday served after his firing at Southwestern, called him “an unusually gifted preacher, administrator, and leader. Dr. Dilday helped to light the way for innumerable students, myself included, as well as for congregations, institutions, and a denomination for years on end.”

Still added, “I am, and we are, diminished by his death even as we were blessed by his life. He will always be the standard of a Christian gentleman and scholar.”

Native Texan and minister’s son

A native Texan, Dilday grew up in a Texas Baptist minister’s home. His father, Hooper Dilday, served a number of Texas churches, and was on the staff of the BGCT 20 years in Sunday school, discipleship training and church services, and was longtime minister of education at First Baptist Church in Wichita Falls.

His mother Opal Spillers Dilday was born in Memphis, Texas, and was a children’s educational specialist in Baptist churches in Amarillo, Port Arthur, Port Neches, Wichita Falls and Dallas.

Russell Hooper Dilday was born Sept. 30, 1930, in Amarillo. He was the older of three brothers and a sister born to Hooper and Opal Dilday. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Baylor University, where he met his wife Betty, who died in 2018. The couple first met in a Bible class at Baylor University and were married 66 years.

He earned his Master of Divinity and his Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Southwestern Seminary.

Dilday was preceded in death by his wife Betty, a younger brother, Don Dilday, and son Robert Dilday. Survivors include his two daughters, Nancy Duck and husband Nolan, and Ellen Garrett and husband Shannon, along with six grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. He is also survived by his sister Ann Young and her husband Mack, along with a brother Jim Dilday.

The family has requested memorials be made to the Russell H. Dilday Chair in Baptist Life and Leadership at Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary by contacting Jon Sisk at jon_sisk@baylor.edu or calling 254-715-6124. A memorial service is planned for Saturday, July 8 at 10 a.m. at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas.

When 100 mph winds knocked out the power to about 150,000 East Texans and large trees fell across houses, people searched for help in the face of oppressive Texas heat.

Families struggled to eat as their electric appliances were rendered useless and food went bad in their refrigerators. Many were stuck, as trees fell on their homes or their cars.

Texas Baptist Men disaster relief teams converged on the area to help people where they were and carved a way for them to get out.

Two TBM chainsaw teams are cutting and removing the fallen trees and limbs, while a TBM emergency food service team is providing meals in multiple cities.

The affected area spans seven counties, and the Texas Department of Emergency Management has received more than 1,000 requests for assistance. The TBM hotline for chainsaw work requests rings at least every four minutes.

“There’s so much damage, it’s unbelievable,” said Wendell Romans, TBM coordinator of the East Texas response. “People don’t understand what’s here. I’m about to put all our chainsaw teams on standby, and I’m about to start rotating them through.”

This will be a lengthy TBM deployment.

“TBM volunteers are working one project at a time,” said Rupert Robbins, associate director of TBM disaster relief. “They’re helping one family at a time. We’re committed to being there for an extended time. We’re looking at being in play there for weeks.”

Hours after the storm, the TBM chainsaw team from the Harmony-Pittsburg Baptist Association deployed to help their neighbors. Since then, they’ve crisscrossed East Texas helping people, and they’ve been joined by the TBM chainsaw crew from the Collin Baptist Association.

Melissa Bernal is among the people the Harmony-Pittsburg team helped. She huddled in her closet and prayed for protection as the storm moved over her house. The storm blew a large tree over on her car, shattering the windows.

Shortly after, the TBM team showed up. With skid-steers, chainsaws and a variety of equipment, they cut up the tree and placed it where it will be removed.

“We have these beautiful people that are out here helping to clear it all up, and we’re so grateful, so grateful,” Bernal told KLTV.

TBM volunteers valiantly are fighting heat indexes above 110 degrees. They’re eating breakfast at 5 a.m. so they can start sawing earlier and still work full days.

 “It’s incredibly hot. It’s dangerously hot,” Robbins said. “We’re hammering people to stay hydrated. They’re standing up to the task to get it done.

“Everything in the first week of disaster is chaotic, but they’re being flexible, so they can feed people and take care of people who have trees on their houses.”

Romans asked Christians to pray for “strength to start with. Endurance. I feel so sorry for the guys in the heat. They come in dragging.”

“They don’t want to quit. They want to help so bad,” Romans said. “A guy came in yesterday and said, ‘I had to quit when I couldn’t lift the saw anymore.’”

 Octavia Uribe stands inside her home, a newly-added vinyl inscription over her shoulder: “Family, where life begins and love never ends.”

The phrase, she says, has new meaning. All of her family survived last week’s EF-3 tornado in Perryton.

Others weren’t that fortunate. The storm killed three people in this small town, injured at least 75 more and destroyed as many as 200 houses like Uribe’s.

The home saved her life. After tornado sirens started, she, her daughter, son and grandson ran to her car to escape. She returned for her purse, and never made it out. The storm swept away the porch and carport. She crawled to a wall in the kitchen with her English bulldog.

A few days later, structural engineers were on their way to condemn and board up the stucco home that stood in Perryton for more than 100 years.

But first, Texas Baptist Men disaster relief volunteers helped Uribe collect her few remaining possessions from the rubble.

“They came in yesterday and helped us with everything we could salvage. My house isn’t safe, the structure is bad, so it will be knocked down.

 “They made me feel like I had someone to help me take out my things—my memories—and they made me feel like I had someone to count on.”

TBM volunteer Missy Mehringer, a member of First Baptist Church in Saginaw, was among volunteers who helped Uribe clear her home.

 “It’s a daunting task, and you don’t know where to start. You’re in shock,” Mehringer recalled. “We helped her with the practical things. It was go-time. We had boxes, paper and tape. She made the hard decisions. We just helped her with the practical help of packing before the home was destroyed.”

Uribe appreciated their help.

“At a moment like this, you’re grateful for the help and grateful to be alive, and that there are people who volunteer to help you for nothing,” she said. “It makes you realize how to appreciate the small things in life. Today, it’s you. Tomorrow, it may be you helping others.”

Mehringer is one of many TBM volunteers scattered across Perryton, providing free boxes, helping homeowners sort through debris, running mobile shower and laundry units, and removing ruined homes with heavy machinery.

Jim Lawton, a member of First Baptist Church of Waxahachie, is the on-site coordinator for the Perryton tornado recovery deployment. He said the tornado caused “complete damage.” In one part of town, the trailers and homes were just destroyed. But God brought the people to Perryton who could best minister after the storm.

“We have 44 people on site,” Lawton said. “In the evening after supper, we have a debrief, and the debrief lets them talk about their experiences during the day. A lot of our volunteers are new, and they’re not familiar with the devastation a tornado causes. So, the debrief is a way for them to unwind and decompress.

 “The stories last night were wonderful about how God used them to tell people, and they talked about the children. Many people don’t realize children are devastated just like adults are. So, we had some schoolteachers deployed, and I firmly believe God puts these teams together—the teams he wants on these deployments—and he put schoolteachers on this one to respond to the children.”

TBM teams deploy with a lot of equipment, but the heart of the ministry is delivering help, hope and healing to people in their most difficult days. These certainly qualify as that for Perryton residents.

Among those tools, he said, “are a trailer-load of moving boxes for personal possessions, a shower trailer for hot showers. and a laundry that the public can bring their clothes. We wash them and fold them and give them back the next day. We have cleanout teams for debris removal. We have skid steers. But those are just tools to tell people about Jesus.”

Among the TBM volunteers responding to the Perryton disaster are college students brought together through Missouri Baptist Convention Disaster Relief. Two of the students said they had their perspectives changed by volunteering.

Brian Kinney, a student at the University of Missouri, said he came at the urging of his “college ministry pastor. He wanted me to sign up because he thought it would be a good fit for me to learn more about my faith and help me spread the gospel, too. That’s why I’m here.”

Working in the mid-90-degree temperatures, Kinney admitted the team has encountered “a lot of labor, helping people pack, moving things, cleaning things up, and moving a lot of debris.”

But he’s also encountered “a lot of emotional strength” and a connection point from survivors.

“From talking to them, I found strength in them. I know what it’s like to lose everything overnight. I was homeless at one time,” he said.

One such person is Monica Ramirez. She was on the top floor of her small two-story home altering a wedding dress when the hail started. Setting down her work, she picked up her phone to record video.

Panning the view left out of the window revealed a nightmare: A deadly tornado formed on her screen, and it was only a block from her home.

The rest of the video revealed a moment of terror and destruction as the tornado shook the home. There was the sound “like an explosion” as windows shattered from the pressure.

Then the video went black.

She survived the ordeal.  The tornado swept away a greenhouse and her garage. It stripped siding from her home.

A few days later, a TBM crew helped her locate and return her belongings. They did so with care and compassion. It’s an experience Ramirez never will forget.

 “They are very, very, special,” Ramirez said of the TBM team. “I feel like I have another family.”

Pastor Pan Yongguang prayed for his flock throughout their more than three-year ordeal, when he and members of his persecuted church feared deportation back to China.

Today, he echoes the Apostle Paul’s testimony to the Ephesian church that God is able to do “abundantly more than we can ask or imagine.”

“We never dreamed of such a beautiful place,” he said, describing his church’s new home in East Texas.

More than 60 members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church—nicknamed the “Mayflower Church” for their pursuit of religious freedom—fled persecution and harassment in China.

Initially, they moved to South Korea but were denied asylum there. They relocated to Thailand on tourist visas, but when those visas expired, the Thai government would not renew them unless members of the church reported to the Chinese Embassy.

After a deportation hearing, Mayflower Church members were fined and detained in Thailand six days.

‘A Good Friday miracle’

Following extensive behind-the-scenes work by the U.S. Department of State, the international community and several Christian human rights organizations, including Freedom Seekers International, ChinaAid and 21Wilberforce, Pastor Pan learned he and his church members would be resettled in the United States.

Rushad Hussain, ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom with the State Department, and Randel Everett, founding president of 21Wilberforce, were among the welcoming party when the Mayflower Church landed April 7 at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

 “It was a Good Friday miracle,” Everett told a 21Wilberforce luncheon crowd in Temple June 15 when he introduced Pastor Pan.

Pastor Pan described how his congregation constantly lived in fear of a knock at the door by the state police in China, until they made the decision to leave their homeland in October 2019.

“We never thought we would come to America,” he said through an interpreter, his teenaged son Paul.

Comparing his church’s journey to the United States to the Exodus experience of the enslaved Hebrews in Egypt, he said, “The ocean is much wider than the Red Sea.”

Eight babies were born to members of the Mayflower Church since members left China in 2019. When most of the church members arrived in Texas on Good Friday, one member had to stay behind in Thailand—a mother who was due to deliver a baby.

Both the mother and her baby Monica, named for the mother of fourth-century theologian Augustine, have been reunited with the rest of the church in East Texas.

Resettled in East Texas

Deana Brown, founding CEO of Freedom Seekers International, and an associate were in Thailand visiting the Mayflower Church when the deportation hearing was scheduled, and they were jailed along with members of the church.

Brown saw the timing as providential. Because American citizens were detained along with the Mayflower Church, several members of Congress intervened on their behalf, and the U.S. State Department quickly got involved to secure their release and relocation to the United States.

Since the Mayflower Church arrived in East Texas, Brown’s organization has been instrumental in facilitating their resettlement.

“We have a local lawyer working on securing work permits for them,” she said.

Language assessments have been completed, and members of the Mayflower Church now are enrolled in English-as-a-Second Language classes using curriculum donated by the Literacy Council of Tyler.

Members of the Mayflower Church planted a community vegetable garden, and they are enjoying tending it, she noted.

“It’s a big adjustment. The culture here is so different,” Brown said. “Many of them left parents and grandparents behind in China.

“But they are happy now that they are here. They’re no longer afraid.”

Educational opportunity

At the luncheon in Temple, Pastor Pan was seated at the same table with Brown and Emily Prevost, associate provost for academic engagement at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

He talked about three teenaged girls in the Mayflower Church who hope to attend a university in the United States, but Pastor Pan said he wanted to make sure they would be in a Christian environment.

Prevost introduced Pastor Pan to a Bible professor from UMHB who was attending the luncheon, and she told him about the university’s Christian mission. That afternoon, she arranged for Pastor Pan and his son to tour the UMHB campus.

In an email the following day, Pastor Pan described the girls’ reaction when he told them about UMHB, noting they want “to go to this college tomorrow.”

“I had read them a biography of [Florence] Nightingale when they were kids, and they always wanted to be nurses,” he wrote.

UMHB has one of the top-ranked undergraduate nursing programs in Texas and boasts a 100 percent job placement rate.

 “For the past 10 years, I have been encouraging them to have faith that God will help them and that God’s grace is sufficient,” Pastor Pan wrote.

“Their dreams for many years can finally come true.”

Members of the Mayflower Church would welcome the opportunity to practice their English by corresponding with Christian pen pals, Deana Brown noted. To connect with an individual member of the church or a family—or to help provide financially for Mayflower Church resettlement—click here or here.   

Texas Baptist Men distributed more than 175,000 diapers to 24 ministries around the state as a result of donations made during its Mother’s Day emphasis.

“We have been blown away at the response,” said Leslie Snyder, TBM donor relations officer. “Because of these gifts, thousands of families across Texas are being blessed.”

Ministries receiving the diapers included crisis pregnancy centers, foster/adoption ministries, border ministries and family aid organizations. These ministries had seen their stock of diapers depleted as rising costs forced parents to seek help.

TBM set out to collect and distribute 50,000 diapers in honor of Mother’s Day. As word spread about the drive, a continuous flow of Amazon boxes, diaper deliveries and donations streamed into TBM’s Dallas offices. Churches, Bible study groups and businesses pitched in to help families in crisis.

“Due to the effects of inflation, there are families in our midst that have to choose between buying food and buying diapers for their newborns,” Snyder said. “We decided that wasn’t OK and asked our TBM family to step up and help.”

They did.

The economic situation created a run on diapers at many ministries, crisis pregnancy centers and church outreaches, Snyder said.

“As soon as they’re donated, people are picking them up. Through the diaper drive, TBM friends, supporters and volunteers made sure families had what they needed,” she said.

Buying diapers may not seem like much, but “we believe there is no small act in the kingdom of God and that he will use this to impact lives in ways we may never know,” she said.

“From the bottom of our hearts, we thank everyone who gave for being the hands and feet of Jesus to those in need.”

When Sandra Sexton Welling joined the Hardin-Simmons University faculty, she not only brought a love for Jesus, a wealth of knowledge and a collaborative spirit. She also arrived with a vision for developing a program focused on Christ-centered nursing.

Welling, the founding director of nursing and associate dean of the HSU College of Health Professions, long has been drawn to helping others. It’s a lesson learned from her mother, who was a nurse.

From a young age, she saw the impact nursing has on the individual and community. Following her mother’s example, she wants to extend a helping hand wherever she can.

 “We need to give back,” Welling said. “What kind of society would we be if we just take and not give back?”

When Welling attended college, she initially was drawn to history and education. Her passion for history and understanding “why” is an aspect of nursing she practices daily. Any student who wants to see her collection of vintage bedpans (thoroughly sanitized, of course) or historical texts can visit her office.

Welling points to Nago Nagle, who founded the Presentation Sisters, as an inspiration. Nagle, who predated Florence Nightingale by a century, was known as the Lady of the Lantern, because she walked the streets at night to help the poor and lowly.

The Presentation Sisters—a worldwide Roman Catholic religious order—follow the example of Nano Nagle and “work for justice, alleviate oppression and promote human dignity, especially among the poor.”

Sandra acts as a cojourner of the Presentation Sisters, a lay group open to any baptized person who exhibits the Presentation Sisters’ spirituality, values and mission within the framework of her own life, career and responsibilities.

Dedication to servant leadership

At the core of everyone called to nursing is a need to serve, Welling believes. Her focus on service is evident in the curriculum she and Laura Wade, assistant professor of nursing, are developing for the new school of nursing.

“God is at the center of the program. Our leaders are Christ-centric and servants to the community,” she said.

The HSU School of Nursing will be dedicated to servant leadership and focused on nurturing, fostering and empowering others to generate a community of creativity, collaboration, satisfaction and successful performance, she said.

Welling noted she is “most excited about creating a program founded on biblical teaching and social justice.”

She has experience in program creation and has facilitated the development of two Master of Science in Nursing degree programs, a practical nurse program, extensive Bachelor of Science in Nursing expansions and hybrid degree programs, and she designed five simulation labs.

She received the Registered Nurse diploma from Methodist College of Nursing in Omaha, Neb., her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Detroit Mercy, a Master of Science in Nursing degree from Regis University’s Rueckert-Hartman School for Health Professions and a Ph.D. from New Mexico State University.

She and her husband, Dave, have four children—Ryan, who is deceased, Nikole, Makenna and Sidney.

When asked why she chose to join the Hardin-Simmons faculty, Welling said: “This place is different. You can feel Christ permeate the campus. It feels good.”

And, she added, teaching at HSU offered a benefit not available at every university.

“I needed to be able to pray with students,” she said.