TOGETHER: Texas Baptists reach out to meet need

TOGETHER:
Texas Baptists reach out to meet needs of people
___The Houston flooding has left great devastation in houses and church buildings across Harris County. Your pastor received a letter from me a few days ago asking that churches across Texas pray for and receive offerings for disaster relief efforts undertaken by Texas Baptist Men and by churches throughout the area. Already we have sent more than $100,000 to be used for families and churches. We want to do more, and we can as you

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CHARLES WADE
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board

and your church help us to do so.
___As of June 19, 37 Baptist churches were identified as significantly damaged. Most of them are small and all of them uninsured for floods. Keith Crouch, who leads our church building efforts, has been in Houston assessing the damage and preparing plans for rebuilding or refurbishing the facilities.
___Students from across the state are being mobilized by our Baptist Student Ministries to go and help. Volunteers to help with the emergency kitchens are needed. Texas Baptist Men anticipate providing 90,000 meals per day for the next three weeks. Could you help?
___You can contact Jim Furgerson's office for TBM at (214) 828-5352 for information on volunteering to help with the feeding and rebuilding projects. You can contact Bruce McGowan's office of BSM at (214) 828-5255 to help with student efforts.
___Or you can contact Milfred Minatrea's office at (214) 828-5384 for general information. He is the person I have asked to be the point person for the BGCT to help coordinate the efforts of Texas Baptists with the leaders in Union Baptist Association in Houston.
___The Texas Baptist institutions, our hospitals, childcare ministries and our universities are also making themselves available to help.

___One of the great friends I have made over the past few years is James Culp. For 19 years, he has served Texas Baptists as the director of African-American ministries for the BGCT. He has a great heart for people. He has a deep love for God. He has wanted to help Texas Baptists come together across our racial barriers and grow in our understanding and love for one another.
___He has done as much as anyone in Texas to help that happen. It has not always been easy. But when faced with disappointment, he has found God's grace able to deliver him from discouragement, and he has continued to give leadership and blessing to our people and our work. When he started working with us, there were 84 black churches related to our convention. Now there are more than 700. To God be the glory for Jim Culp and his labor of love.
___Brother Culp is retiring next month. Pray for him and his dear wife, Mary. Pray for God to continue to use him in a large way.

___Have you heard of "Shoes for Orphan Souls"? Last year, Buckner Baptist Benevolences through its international ministry to orphan children helped to collect and distribute 50,000 pairs of new shoes to 13 countries. This year, because of a large anonymous donation and the power of the Internet to communicate the story about the shoe drive, Buckner already has shipped 400,000 pairs of shoes to help children who are in great need.
___Every day, I hear stories of sacrifice and vision as God's people refuse to be limited to what has been done and commit themselves to a vision of what can be done.
___God bless Texas Baptists for your love for and your cooperative spirit in meeting the needs of people in Christ's name.
___We are loved.

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