August 25, 1999
Church's ministry includes
hang-gliding, coffin-building & more
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___KINGSVILLE--From hang-gliding and martial arts classes to coffin-building, a relatively small church in Kingsville uses a variety of creative approaches to present a Christian witness.
___"We're committed to doing something new every year," said Jerry Tanner, pastor of University Baptist Church, a Texas Baptist "key church." A key church agrees to sponsor multiple missions ministries and to give priority to missions in terms of the church's budget, staff and calendar.
___A deacon at University Baptist had been a nationally recognized authority on hang-gliding about 15 years ago, but he had put the hobby behind him. When Tanner preached a series on how Christians can use their "passions" as tools for ministry, though, he decided to dust off his wings.
___About three years ago, he started teaching a Friday evening ground class in hang-gliding, which included a Bible study as part of it. Then on Saturdays, he would take his pupils to a local private airport for hands-on instruction. At least one student has accepted Jesus as Savior as a direct result of the classes.
___Others in University Baptist Church who have an interest in the martial arts teach free weekly lessons for young people in the community. The lessons provide an opportunity to establish relationships with unchurched youth and to provide a Christian witness.
___Another outreach ministry into the community developed when Tanner learned from a nun at a local Catholic hospital that non-surviving premature infants born to indigents were being buried in cardboard boxes.
___"We can do better than that," he told her.
___Tanner contacted a retired carpenter in his church who designed a simple but dignified coffin that could be built from scrap lumber.
___He cut the boards, and then the youth group at University Baptist Church assembled, sanded and delivered the coffins to the hospital.
___In addition to outreach ministries based at the church, University Baptist offers Bible studies at four off-campus locations and helped launch La Parrita Baptist Church, about six miles east of Falfurrias.
___"We started meeting out under the trees in March a year ago," Tanner recalled.
___La Parrita met as a church with no walls for several months. Then with assistance from the Baptist General Convention of Texas, other churches in the area, and volunteers from First Baptist Church of Corpus Christi and a Baptist Student Ministry group, La Parrita moved into its own facility.
___"We have a small core of dedicated people who are serving and a larger group of committed people who are willing to give financially to support the work. It's a cooperative effort from all over," Tanner said.
___Initially, volunteers from University Baptist went to La Parrita every Sunday afternoon to lead the services and teach Bible study classes. Over the past year, leaders have developed from within the young church, and the pastor recently was ordained.
___Currently, La Parrita averages about 45 in attendance--about one-third of the community's total population. The new church has led 28 people to faith in Christ and baptized 17 new believers.
___Significantly, La Parrita's attendance is only about 15 less than its sponsoring church. University Baptist operates its wide range of outreach ministries and missions programs with 55 to 60 active members in attendance.
___Tanner credits much of the work to the leadership of Aaron Nutter, a 74-year-old Winter Texan who was minister of missions at University Baptist for three years, serving as a Mission Service Corps volunteer. Nutter mobilized other volunteers to work with him in starting and maintaining the missions-oriented ministries.
___"Right now, we're hoping to find another Mission Service Corps volunteer who will come work with us," Tanner said.
___Texas Baptists support Mission Service Corps, the key church program and the Church Planting Center through their gifts to the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions.
___"When we promote the missions offering in our church, it's easy," Tanner said. "We can just say, 'Look at what Mary Hill Davis has done for us.'"
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