National group honors Texas Baptist Men
___By Dan Martin
___Texas Baptist Communications
___Texas Baptist Men has received a George Washington Honor Medal from the Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge.

JIM FURGERSON, executive director of Texas Baptist Men, receives the George Washington Honor Medal from Jill Foster of the Dallas-area chapter of the Freedom Foundation.

___The medallion and certificate were presented during a banquet sponsored by the Dallas-area chapter of the national organization, which is a non-partisan, non-profit educational foundation dedicated to communicating principles upon which the United States was founded.
___Jim Furgerson, executive director of Texas Baptist Men, received the award on behalf of the organization, which is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___"The George Washington Honor Medals are given to people and organizations who have done something to help our communities be a better place," said Betty Parrett, president of the Dallas-area chapter.
___Parrett added that the mission of the Freedom Foundation "is to preserve the ideals and principles upon which our nation was founded."
___The Texas Baptist Men's organization was nominated for the award by Jill Foster of Dallas, after she saw an article in the Dallas Morning News about the work of TBM in relieving the suffering of refugees in Kosavo.
___Foster, a member of a Disciples of Christ church, said she saw the "excellent article in the newspaper about what they had done, and I thought they had done something above and beyond to help people."
___She explained that members of the chapters around the nation nominate people and organizations to receive the George Washington Honor Medals. Then, a national awards jury, meeting in Valley Forge, Pa., reviews the nominations and selects those who will be honored.
___This year, 16 recipients from Dallas were selected to receive the honor medals, including Texas Baptist Men.
___In presenting the medal to Furgerson and Texas Baptist Men, Foster read from the summary she submitted to the national jury: 'The Texas Baptist Men ministries, once largely confined to Texas, have in recent years expanded literally worldwide. Especially in cases of natural disasters like floods tornadoes or hurricanes or human disasters like famine or disease epidemic.
___"Texas Baptist Men are equipped and ready to go anywhere in the world to meet human needs in Jesus' name."
___She described the work of Baptists in ministering in Honduras, Mexico, the Caribbean, northern Iraq, the Ukraine, Kosovo, Kenya, Mozambique and other places.
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