TOGETHER:
Paint-by-numbers: Goals shade Texas Baptist portrait
___Last week, I asked leaders of your Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board staff to give me a list of their goals for the next three months. Let me tell you some of the things I learned.
___Church music is providing free music for bivocational and smaller membership churches. At this time, 750 bivocational music leaders are receiving free music. For more information, call (214) 828-5235.
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CHARLES WADE
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board
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___Baptist Student Ministries works with college students on campuses all across Texas. Right now they are enlisting and preparing to train more than 1,300 students who will serve this summer in mission ministries across the United States and around the world. Pray for them.
___River Ministry is looking for a couple to serve as Mission Service Corps volunteers in the new Laredo Baptist Association. They would help coordinate mission groups serving in border ministries. River Ministry also is seeking to respond to requests from Mexican national Baptist leaders who are asking Texas Baptists to help strengthen existing churches far beyond the border.
___The Center for Strategic Evangelism is working with the "Jesus" video project team, directors of missions and churches to distribute "Jesus" videos to 1,162,000 homes in Central Texas by Palm Sunday. Our evangelism staff has prepared materials that churches can use in follow-up initiatives.
___Additionally, 153,000 inmates in 120 Texas prison units will be able to view the "Jesus" video in both Spanish and English. The BGCT will provide resources so that those who speak Tagalog, Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese and Hindi will be able to receive the video in their own language. Please pray for this project.
___Texas Partnerships is preparing to assist and resource every Texas Baptist church that sends short-term volunteers outside Texas. The staff is working to develop the lay envoy movement so that Texas Baptist lay people will be able to make contact with and offer assistance to missionaries and national Christians across every continent.
___Missional church strategy is seeking to develop Key Churches in areas where the population has outpaced church growth most dramatically. Missional church strategy is encouraging every church to have a mission council chairperson or other identified leader helping to develop mission strategies for member involvement in their community and beyond.
___The office of theological education is working with East Texas Baptist University to establish a certificate in ministry center in multiple locations in East Texas and to correlate the work of the Hispanic Baptist Theological School with theological education in the eight Texas Baptist universities.
___Minister/church relations is developing more minister/congregation support/accountability teams. These teams promote healthy communication between ministers and churches. This strategy is helping. The number of forced terminations in our Texas Baptist churches went down again last year.
___Church and membership resourcing is developing the ChurchLife Resourcing Database, which will be ready later this year. It will enable members of local churches to access the specific help they need from the BGCT website.
___Resources will be available for Bible study, stewardship, worship, leader training, mission opportunities, facilities and other areas of church life.
___I could go on. You can see why I am so excited to be part of a team with men and women who have you and your church on their hearts and minds every day. I pray for all our churches, and I pray for success in all you do in obedience to Christ.
___We are loved.
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The Baptist Standard
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