May 29, 2000

Texas Baptists gather around Wade for time of blessing
___By Marv Knox
___Editor
___DALLAS--Charles Wade offers three prayers for Texas Baptists every day, he reported during his inauguration as executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas May 23.

A REPRESENTATIVE GROUP of Texas Baptists gathers around Charles and Rosemary Wade to lay hands on them and pray for them during Wade's inauguration as executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. (Photo by Melody Loggins)

___About 400 Baptists from across the Lone Star State gathered for the ceremony to pronounce a blessing upon Wade and his wife, Rosemary, for the task before them. Like a worship service, hymns, prayers and Scripture spiced the occasion.
___"It says something about Baptists that we can do such a solemn thing as this in the public square," Wade said, standing in the Grand Hall of Union Station in downtown Dallas.
___"We don't require a cathedral or a great church building. We believe the church is the people, called out by God," he explained. "We can make any place sacred if we take a little time to pray and sing."
___Wade was elected leader of the BGCT last fall after serving as pastor of First Baptist Church in Arlington 23 years. He became executive director-elect Nov. 15 and assumed the executive directorship Feb. 1, after the retirement of Bill Pinson.
___Wade's hopes and dreams are shaped by three prayers first prayed by Jesus, which Wade now prays for Texas Baptists, he told the crowd.
___"First is the prayer of our Lord, 'Thy will be done,'" he related.
___That task--doing the will of God--is not always easy, but it is vital, he said, pointing to the number of times Jesus prayed that same prayer.
___"It is the prayer he taught us to pray," he said, noting the request for submission to God's will is included in the Model Prayer. In addition, Scripture records Jesus prayed that he might do God's will at least three times--once at the beginning of his ministry and twice at the end.
___"In the fire of personal agony," both the night before his crucifixion and the next day on the cross, "the prayer that he taught his disciples was still on his lips: 'Thy will be done.'"
___Wade's second prayer echoes what Jesus prayed for his disciples, "Protect them from the evil one."
___"This does not mean that they be delivered, but that in the pain they would have the full measure of Christ's joy," he elaborated.
___Christians should not be taken "out of the world" and isolated from the challenges of living in the world and ministering to and among unbelievers, he insisted. "Jesus didn't say for us to withdraw from the world, but to be in it, and you must be protected from it."
___The third prayer for Texas Baptists, "that we all be one," reflects Jesus' intimate evangelistic prayer for his followers, Wade added.
___"This does not mean that we all agree, but that we find deep underneath us the unity that is in Jesus Christ--so that the world may know," he said. "This is an evangelistic imperative," presenting a Christ-like unity that would attract unbelievers to the faith and to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
___Accepting the challenge Texas Baptists have handed him, Wade recalled "a moment when I felt God empowered me for this task."
___It occurred during the BGCT Evangelism Conference on Jan. 31, Pinson's last day in office and only hours before Wade officially took the position. The two leaders bowed together for a special time of prayer.
___"We knelt, and he put his hands on my shoulder and prayed for me," Wade remembered, "and I've felt from that moment this was the task to which God called me."
___Wade received words of encouragement from Denton Lotz, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, comprised of 100 million Baptists in 196 conventions.
___"Keep Texas Baptists together," Lotz urged, citing six elements that historically have unified Baptists.
___Those unifying factors are advocacy for religious freedom; support for separation of church and state; commitment to a "believer's church" comprised of regenerate baptized Christians; prophetic ministry that promotes justice, human rights and peacemaking; missions and evangelism; and identity marked by unity.
___BGCT President Clyde Glazener, pastor of Gambrell Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth, delivered a three-part charge to Wade.
___"It seems almost arrogant on my part" to offer a charge to Wade, noted Glazener, who has been a fellow pastor with Wade in Tarrant Baptist Association for nearly a decade. "He is the one who always is charging us and leading us forward."
___Glazener's first charge to Wade is to "lead with wisdom and courage."
___He recalled the courage of the Old Testament leader Joshua, who guided the Hebrew people out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land. Echoing ancient words, Glazener told Wade: "Be thou courageous; be strong; know God is with you; and we will pray for you."
___Regarding wisdom, he told Wade: "You have much resident wisdom, but you need the wisdom of God. You know that."
___Second, Glazener exhorted Wade to continue to be a servant leader.
___"You model that kind of leadership," Glazener said. "I've never seen anything in you that smacked of arrogance and a quest for power.
___"You have a marvelous challenge to help us serve in freedom. … Lead us to stand strong in freedom, free to serve and free to accomplish God's purposes."
___Third, Glazener called on Wade to "help us wage peace."
___Noting Wade is a peaceable person, he recalled that Jesus blessed peacemakers and promised they would be called "the children of God."
___"Under your leadership, Texas Baptists will be the kind of peace-wagers so the world can look at us and see the favor of God," he predicted.
___Pinson presented Wade with a Bible, recalling he had received a Bible from his predecessor as executive director, James Landes.
___"The basis of continuity is the Bible," Pinson said. "Executive directors come and go, but God's word remains.
___"I know you love this book," Pinson said, raising the Bible. "You are committed to it." He told Wade the Bible would be his "benchmark for every decision, … rudder through stormy times, … light in a dark world … and comfort during hard times."
___Five prayers also consecrated the occasion:
___Mark Wade, the Wades' son and a deacon in First Baptist Church of Arlington, expressed thanks for "seeing God's love in my father's eyes" and for being blessed with a father who lived the kind of life at home he advocated in the pulpit.
___Rudy Camacho, president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas, asked God to give Wade "wisdom to listen to a hurting people across our state, wisdom to understand and wisdom to speak boldly and firmly but with compassion and grace."
___Jeane Law, president of Woman's Missionary Union of Texas, prayed for Wade's family. "Their mother and father are gifts to us," she said. "Give to them a joy in the work their parents are doing and a very special pleasure in it."
___Bill Brian, chair of the search committee that recommended Wade, urged God: "Put your hand on Charles Wade. … You have equipped him for this task, and you have called him. You know exactly what is required. You have shaped him. … Turn your eyes to this man. Give him your words, … vision, … confidence and determination to do what you expect."
___Mateo Rendon, chairman of the BGCT Administrative Committee, pronounced the benediction, asking God to grant his blessings upon Wade and Texas Baptists, now and into the future.
___

Send this story to a friend

---

Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!