73-year-old woman is 'bundle of
enthusiasm' for God's work
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptist Communications
___HOUSTON--Isis Tuel can't understand why women her age would want to sit and play bridge. There's too much work to do--God's work.
___The 73-year-old member of First Baptist Church in Houston has her hands in a variety of ministries--teaching English as a Second Language classes, training others in Evangelism Explosion, teaching a Sunday School class and participating in the prayer ministry and mission trips.
___The Baptist General Convention of Texas honored Tuel recently with its annual Good Samaritan Award for a "lay person in community ministry." It was presented at the Servanthood Ministries Awards reception in Corpus Christi.
___Tuel is "just a bundle of energy and enthusiasm," Cindy Pitts, minister to children at First Baptist, said of her prayer partner.
___"She's just a ball of fire, very upbeat, very positive, a real encourager to the staff," said David Self, associate pastor. "I don't know that I have a better supporter in the world other than my mother or my wife."
___Scotty Sanders directs First Baptist's Missions Training Center, where Tuel leads ESL classes four times a week. "She's so consistent, so incredible," Sanders said. "She's got an incredible relationship with the Lord."
___Ask Tuel why she does so much in the church, and she responds, "The Lord has done so much for me. ... There is so much to give back."
___Tuel was born in Sonora, Mexico, the daughter of a Methodist minister. She eventually moved to Oklahoma City, where she met Paul, who is now her husband. In 1960, legendary Baptist pastor Herschel Hobbs baptized Tuel. In 1975, the Tuels moved to Houston, where she taught school until she retired in 1988.
___"I have never been so busy as I am now, even when I was working full-time for Houston Independent School District," Tuel said.
___In 1976 she made her first mission trip to the Rio Grande Valley, and the River Ministry of the Baptist General Convention of Texas became special in her life. She has been doing annual mission trips ever since, many to the valley, some further south into central Mexico, Ecuador and Chile.
___Tuel has "a heart for evangelism," Pitts said. "Because she has a heart for God, she has a heart for people that motivates her to pray for others and to seek to evangelize others. ... It's just very, very natural for her."
___Associate Pastor Self said Tuel was "one of the first" to sign up for training in Evangelism Explosion when it began at the church about five years ago.
___"It was unreal what happened," Tuel said. "I never had such a tool." She told of going to apartment complexes early in her training and of people "coming to the Lord in numbers."
___Newton Cole is a military chaplain consultant for the BGCT and attends the same Sunday School department as Tuel. "She's very, very evangelistic-minded in a very kind, sincere way," Cole said. "She sees every prospect as a child of God waiting to be saved."
___"I don't care where you go with her," Pitts said, Tuel "tries to win people to Christ."
___She has "incorporated evangelism into everything she does," Self said. She's "just a great example of a person being trained and then using it as her gifts dictate. ... Every way the Lord has gifted and equipped her, she uses it as a platform" to get out the message of Christ.
___Three or four years ago, the ESL classes presented such an opportunity. Now, she goes to the Missions Training Center Tuesday and Thursday mornings and evenings to work with 17 other volunters in the program, which registered 463 people in 2000.
___Tuel and the other volunteers teach the ESL students English, but "mostly we tell them about the Lord," she said.
___About five years ago, Tuel added another commitment to her busy schedule. She became a prayer partner with Pitts as part of a broader prayer program linking laypersons with staff members. Since Tuel was not a children's worker, Pitts "didn't really know her;" but they began to meet each Tuesday after lunch.
___Through the prayers of both women, "the Lord has moved mightily on our behalf in her personal life and my personal life," Pitts said. "I mean she is a mighty prayer warrior for the Lord."
___Prayer, evangelism, teaching and missions are interwoven in the life of Isis Tuel.
___"She's just a wonderful person," Cole said. "Truly amazing and outstanding. ... Her life is totally devoted to the service of the Lord. ... She'll inspire you just talking to her."
___This is the second in a series of features on winners of the Servanthood Ministries Awards
The Baptist Standard
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