July 24, 2000

BOB AND DOROTHY MANLEY (right) study a map of Harlingen with Community Baptist Church Pastor George Zapata and his wife, Rosa. Valley Baptist Missions/Education Center has expanded its outreach into the Rio Grande Valley in recent years with support from Texas Baptists through the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions.

Texas missions offering spurs
growth of Valley ministries
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___HARLINGEN--Teaching mission pastors to preach, Mexican children to speak English and poor women to make a living by sewing are just a few of the ministries of the Valley Baptist Missions/Education Center.
___The center offers college-level classes and basic theological instruction for church leaders, secondary school programs for internationals and local children, and job training for low-income women, in addition to other programs.
___But the center's goals cannot be met if instruction is limited to textbooks and theory, according to president Bob Manley. The institution's mission is missions.
___"We not only provide classroom instruction but also hands-on experience," Manley said. "We are developing cross-cultural international leaders."
___That vision has its roots in a 53-year-old South Texas institution, but it is a dream that has developed new dimensions in the last three years.
___In 1947, Woman's Missionary Union of Texas, the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board, the Mexican Baptist Convention of Texas and leaders of churches in Lower Rio Grande Valley Baptist Association founded Valley Baptist Academy. The boarding school offered a high school education in a Christian context for Spanish-speaking youth.
___By the early 1990s, more than 200 students--primarily from South Texas, Mexico and other places in Latin America--were enrolled each year at the academy. But in the mid-1990s, the peso devaluation in Mexico and rising tuition costs created a crisis at the school as enrollment dropped to 54 students.
___In 1997, the academy's trustees and members of the Texas Baptist State Missions Commission voted to expand the institution's purpose, making it a broad-based missions and instructional center. Valley Baptist Missions/Education Center was selected as a new name to reflect that expanded ministry. Manley, who was then serving as pastor of First Baptist Church in Robstown, was elected president.
___The Valley Baptist Academy boarding school continues to provide education for Hispanic youth in grades six through 12 as one component of the more comprehensive missions and learning center. The academy has graduated more than 750 students in five decades, and at least 2,000 have attended the school for one or two years.
___Harlingen Christian School offers day school, college-preparatory instruction for grades six through 12. While the academy attracts students from throughout Latin America, the Christian school is designed for local youth. Combined enrollment is more than 150 students--three times what it was three years ago.
___Valley Baptist Missions/Education Center offers adult training opportunities in cooperation with Howard Payne University, Hardin-Simmons University and the Texas Baptist Leadership Center that involve about 200 students.
___The training programs fill a vital need for churches in the Valley. The nearest Baptist educational institution, Hispanic Baptist Theological School in San Antonio, is 250 miles away.
___The Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions provides student scholarships to Valley Baptist Academy, makes available theology and leadership training scholarships for pastors and lay leaders, and helps to fund Christian witness and ministry programs for students. The 2000 offering earmarks $150,000 for Valley Baptist Missions/Education Center.
___In the fall, Howard Payne University will begin offering courses that can be applied toward a bachelor's degree.
___Through the School of the Prophets, a joint venture with Hardin-Simmons University, Valley Baptist Missions/Education Center offers a certificate program in ministry and lay leadership.
___Daniel Rangel coordinates the various theological education and leadership training ministries.
___Rangel, who grew up in the Valley and was pastor of First Baptist Church at Donna, also teaches at the Matamoros site of the School of the Prophets. It is one of five locations at which the practical, church-centered approach to basic ministerial training is offered.
___In addition to offering training programs for church leaders and educational opportunities for future leaders, the center also is involved in a wide variety of special ministries, ranging from church planting to Christian Women's Job Corps. Dorothy Manley, wife of the center's president, is coordinator for special missions/ministries.
___The center works directly with two new church starts--Genesis Baptist Church in west Harlingen and Community Baptist Church, which meets in the center's chapel.
___Pastor George Zapata preaches in both English and Spanish at the services at Community Baptist, which generally draw 110 to 120 worshippers.
___About one-third of those who worship at Community Baptist volunteered to work at a recent block party in Los Vacinos, a low-income neighborhood across town. Members of Community Baptist staffed event and concession booths, allowing members of Iglesia Bautista Los Vacinos to meet their neighbors, distribute tracts and share their faith.
___More than 600 attended the block party, and at least 25 made professions of faith in Jesus Christ.
___Volunteers from Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen also donated their time to conduct a health fair.___

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