February 9, 2000
Camp reports suggest Texas
baptisms could top 70,000 for year
___FORT WORTH--If history is any guide, Texas Baptists should have recorded about 70,000 professions of faith in Christ during the past church year.
___Traditionally, the professions of faith made at the 30 encampments affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas are a harbinger of the total number of baptismsrecorded by churches affiliated with the state convention, according to W.L. "Red" Colquitt, camp consultant with the BGCT's State Missions Commission.
___Usually the number of professions of faith recorded at the camps equal 9 percent or 10 percent of the total number of baptisms in BGCT-related churches.
___Colquitt reported the camps recorded 7,487 professions of faith last year, which would mean the total number of baptisms from the 6,000-plus churches of the BGCT will come in between 67,400 and 74,000.
___All 30 encampments set new records for professions of faith last year, Colquitt said.
___A total of 304,405 people attended the camps, which range from the balmy shores of the Gulf of Mexico to the high plains, to the mountains of New Mexico and the piney woods of East Texas.
___In addition to the 7,487 professions of faith, the encampments also recorded 1,223 people committing themselves to vocational ministry and 8,690 rededicating their lives to Christ last year.
___Camp attendance has grown from 225,189 in 1994 to 304,405 this year; professions of faith increased from 6,580 in 1994 to 7,487 this year; rededications gained from 6,768 in 1994 to 8,690 this year; and individuals committing to vocational ministry rose from 663 in 1994 to 1,223 this year.
___"We are especially pleased with the reports concerning people feeling the call of God on their lives," Colquitt said. "For several years, there has been a renewed emphasis on giving people an opportunity to surrender their lives to God's call. Across the years, many people have told us that they first felt God calling them to missions or evangelism or ministry at a camp."
Send this story to a friend
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!