April 22, 2002
TOGETHER:
A big state presents big challenges
___Texas geography is fascinating. If you walked every bend of the rivers and coastline that form the borders of Texas, you would pace 3,822 miles. The longest distance in a north/south direction is 801 miles from Brownsville to Dalhart. If you tipped Texas over on its El Paso point, Houston would be in the Pacific Ocean. Of the 50 states, only Alaska is larger than Texas. Our 267,277 square miles make Texas larger than all of New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and North Carolina put together.
___But more fascinating than the land are the people of Texas. We number more than 20.8 million, and we have come here from everywhere. Seventy-five percent of the total population lives in 12 metropolitan areas. They are concentrated in the I-35 corridor, the Houston area and the Rio Grande Valley. There are five urban areas in Texas with more than a million people.
CHARLES WADE
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board
___The 3.8 million that we added to Texas in the 1990s is more than the total population of 24 of the 50 states. These people need churches that will care for them. They need Christians who will reach out to them with winsome lives and words of good news.
___There are now 11,074,716 Anglos in Texas, 53 percent of the total population. Hispanics number 6,669,666, nearly one-third of the total. African-Americans register 2,421,653, or 12 percent. And the "other" category represents the 685,785 people who come from everywhere else.
___Texas Baptists have responded to the great challenge that is Texas by starting new churches across our state. We have lost some churches, but because of your prayers and gifts, the cooperation between the BGCT and your association and churches, we added almost a church a day this past year.
___There are currently 5,707 churches and missions related to the BGCT. Of these, 65 percent are Anglo, 20 percent are Hispanic, 10 percent are African-American and 5 percent are "other." This compares to 1990, when 82 percent of the churches were Anglo, 12 percent were Hispanic, 4 percent were African-Americans and 2 percent were "other." We are growing in our presence in all the cultural groups of Texas.
___We must continue to start new churches across Texas. I have a letter in hand from a retired pastor who started a new church in the Hill Country. They had more than 50 on Easter Sunday. Since they began a year ago, the church has baptized 18 youth and adults.
___We must continue to help plateaued churches gain a new vision. It was exciting to be in a church last week that has baptized 23 people in this new church year, more than they baptized all last year. After three precious girls were baptized, the pastor told me about their Sunday School teacher who loves to reach young athletes for Christ.
___Texas is big, but it is not too big for the love of God. Texas has many needs, but there are no needs God cannot meet. Texas is diverse, but not too varied for the God who made us all. And because God loves the world, so do Texas Baptists. What can you do in your town, through your church, to reach people no one is noticing?
___Pray for this harvest.
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