April 22, 2002
TALL STEEPLE, BIG STEER:
Church buys grand champion
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptist Communications
___HUNTSVILLE--First Baptist Church sent a tremor of excitement through Huntsville April 4 when the pastor opened bidding on the grand champion steer at the Walker County Fair youth livestock sale, said one local businessperson.
___"People almost couldn't believe their ears."
___Eventually, it came down to two bidders, and every time Pastor David Valentine upped the bid, "people in the crowd would break out in applause," the businessperson said.
POSING with the grand champion steer after First Baptist Church's successful bid are Bryan McNair, associate pastor for family ministries (left) and Pastor David Valentine (center), along with other fair officials and Chelsea Jones (right), who raised the steer.
___The bidding stopped at $15,000. First Baptist Church had bought itself one of the best steers in the county. The money had come from several anonymous businesspeople in the church, not from church funds.
___"Some very godly businessmen in our church approached me" prior to the sale, Valentine said. "They had money in their businesses to do something" at the fair, but instead of purchasing livestock in their companies' names, they asked about doing it for the church.
___No church had ever purchased livestock in the 24-year history of the fair, the pastor said.
___The Walker County Fair sale is "huge" in the hearts of local residents, one of the anonymous donors said. "The community really responds to the auction."
___By purchasing the grand champion steer, First Baptist "told everyone in the community that we want to be involved, ... that we support the youth of the community," the pastor said.
___One businessperson said people tend to think that everything a church does "has to have a sacred theme around it." First Baptist, however, is "going to where our community is," getting involved in whatever is important to the people.
___Purchase of the steer also served a practical end. The steer will be slaughtered for a church barbecue to be held in June for employees of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice who_work at the Walls Unit, which is adjacent to the church property.
___First Baptist is making a priority of ministering at the Walls Unit, and the steer purchase and barbecue are intended to show prison officials "just how serious we are about ministering," Valentine said.
___This is one part of a broader ministry push. Twenty to 60 people wait outside the Walls unit each day to greet family members released from prison. Soon, the church will open restroom facilities in its family life center for the use of those waiting. It also will help the families get information about release times.
___Through those contacts, First Baptist hopes to gather information about the parolees and their families and forward it to churches and ministries in the areas where they will be living.
___First Baptist also ministers to crime victim families during executions, which the state of Texas carries out at the Walls Unit. Families of the crime victim are able to gather in "a place of privacy and security" in a church parlor prior to an execution, Valentine said. "It's a very warm atmosphere for the chaplains to visit with the family."
___The anonymous businessperson doesn't know if the church, which averages 300 to 350 in Sunday School, will participate in next year's livestock sale. "If the Lord provides and wants us to do that, we'll do it."
___As for this year, "all I know is it opened a lot of doors" as it got the community's attention. "They see that we're serious."
___
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