November 4, 2002
BGCT moving 'beyond struggle,' Wade says
___By Orville Scott
___Texas Baptist Communications
___DALLLAS--Texas Baptists have moved beyond the struggle, ... and are going to move forward in cooperative missions efforts to reach out to a lost world, Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Director Charles Wade told about 100 BGCT retirees at a luncheon Oct. 28.
___As an example, he cited increasing partnerships between Baptists in Texas and Mexico.
___"More than a year ago, we began to feel we needed to reach into the heart of Mexico, building upon what we have done along the border," Wade said. "Some of our churches have been doing missions there, but we have not had strategic planning with National Mexico Baptist leaders."
___Discussions are under way with the Mexican Baptist Convention and the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas to start churches, meet human needs and work on theological education development, he added.
___"We are linked by the Rio Grande until Jesus comes again. Half of the international immigrants to Texas last year came from Mexico. If we don't start churches to reach out to them, this will become more and more a mission field and less and less a missions base."
___Texas Baptist churches, with the assistance of the BGCT, are on track to begin 259 congregations across the state this year, he also reported. The BGCT has set a goal of starting 777 churches in three years.
___Through a proposed world missions network, Texas Baptists will cooperate with Southern Baptist missionaries in Mexico, Wade said.
___"We're not trying to separate ourselves," he explained. "Some places have no missionaries, and our churches have connections. Through the world missions network we can reach out.
___"The world is too lost and too broken for us to be afraid we're going to do too much. We'll create in networking a strategy to reach people for Christ wherever God opens doors for our churches."
___Another country in which the world missions network can serve, Wade said, is Russia. For seven years, Buckner Baptist Benevolences has provided adoptive services and met other needs in some of the 900 orphanages operated by the Russian government.
___Wade said he recently accompanied Buckner President Ken Hall and Texas Baptist pastors on a trip to help Russian Baptist churches connect with the orphanage program.
___"Just doing the right thing doesn't mean we satisfy everybody," Wade admitted. "We've made clear who we are as Texas Baptists. At the heart of Texas Baptists, we're about missions and evangelism."
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