Hello, Texas Baptists. Sometimes, some of us confuse the words “want” and “need.” Oh, I think we really do know the difference. Yet we blur the lines a bit and, maybe, a bit too often. For example, I want the athletic teams I follow to do well, but I don’t really need them to.
David HardageThere also are occasions when our wants and our needs really do coincide. I want to be fed and clothed and, it just so happens, I need these things as well. As I think about the future of our Texas Baptist family—and I do that a lot!—I have concluded what I/we want and need are very much in line with one another. And this particularly is true when it comes to engaging the next generation of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
I very much want the generation that is coming behind me and the one behind them to be aware of what we are doing and the difference we are making. At the same time, a need the convention has is for these same men and women to put that awareness into action. A genuine need we have is for them to act on those matters of which they have become aware.
To put this another way, I want those Texas Baptists who are in their 20s and 30s and 40s to be informed about the missions and ministries of our collective Baptist family. Additionally, there is a need for them to be involved in this work. This means we need them to serve on our Executive Board and to be willing and available to serve on other boards, commissions and councils. We need them to become leaders—not down the road, but today.
Therefore, I am asking you to let me know of people who could and would come alongside us in service. Please send me (david.hardage@texasbaptists.org) or Steve Vernon (Steve.Vernon@texasbaptists.org) their names and contact information.
This is one of the reasons we have begun our Leadership Texas Baptists class. The next one begins in September, and David Adams (david.adams@texasbaptists.org) on our staff can answer all your questions about this group. Please consider becoming a part. You are wanted and needed.
David Hardage is executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board.
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