February 17, 1999
Lenamon returns to roots
with Foundation job
___By Dan Martin
___Texas Baptist Communications
___DALLAS--Mickey Lenamon, whose roots go deep in Texas Baptist life and ministry, has joined the Texas Baptist Mission Foundation as vice president.
___Lenamon, 41, whose father, Joe, is a former president of Texas Baptist Men, grew up in Travis Avenue Baptist Church of Fort Worth. During his teen years, he was a state staffer with Texas BaptistMen and worked in a number of missions projects in Texas, the nation and abroad, including church starting, Lay Renewal, encampments and Partnership Missions.
MICKEY LENAMON
___Lenamon worked with former Texas Baptist Men leaders Bob Dixon to start a church in St. Cloud, Minn.; Jerry Bob Taylor as state Royal Ambassador staff member; and Cameron Byler at Zephyr Baptist Encampment near Sandia.
___In addition, he led Lay Renewal across the state as well as in Hawaii and Australia, and worked in the Centrifuge program in Texas and Alabama.
___He is married to the former Sallie Goza, who grew up in First Baptist Church of Longview. They have two sons, Ryan, 8, and Parker, 3.
___Lenamon previously worked in Arizona as a financial planner. While there, he was chairman of deacons and chairman of the personnel committee of North Phoenix Baptist Church and launched a financial planning seminar for the young marrieds he and his wife taught in Sunday School.
___"The No. 1 reason for divorce in the United States is stress over financial matters," he said. "It is not drugs or addictions, but finances. We thought if we could help the young couples deal with their financial matters early, we could help strengthen their marriages."
___About two years earlier, Lenamon felt called to work more closely with Baptists. That happened after he had read the book "Half Time" by Bob Buford which encourages Christians to move from success to significance.
___He went to work as a fund raiser with the Arizona Baptist Retirement Centers, part of the Arizona Baptist Foundation. There, he raised money to help with the ministries of the retirement centers and also helped ministers plan for their own retirements.
___Then he felt God's direction to make a change.
___"Last August, during my morning quiet time, I felt the Lord was leading me to return to Texas," he explained. "Our roots are deep in Texas, although we had been in Phoenix nine years. I wrote two people. Bill Arnold (president of the Texas Missions Foundation) was one."
___They talked across several months, and Arnold offered Lenamon a job.
___As a vice president of Texas Baptist Mission Foundation, Lenamon will work the West Texas area while the other vice president, Don Cramer, is assigned to East Texas.
___Texas Baptist Mission Foundation raises money to help with a variety of causes sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas, including a large emphasis on new church starts.
___The permanent church starting fund now includes $10 million.Frontpage / Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!