September 2, 2002
VOLUNTEERS performed detail work on the exterior of buildings at Hispanic Baptist Theological School, reworking facia boards and other trim work to reseal the structures and guard against the elements.
Volunteers work & learn at HBTS
___By Marv Knox
___Editor
___SAN ANTONIO--While a construction crew from West Texas renovated buildings at Hispanic Baptist Theological School, President Albert Reyes remodeled crew members' worldview.
___The result is a partnership that's sure to put a shine on the San Antonio campus and strengthen ministry around the globe.
___Thirty-eight people from four churches in the Panhandle/ South Plains--First Baptist Church in Plains, First Baptist Church in Hereford, First Baptist Church in Denver City and Trinity Baptist Church in Seminole--hauled carpentry tools more than 400 miles for four days of repair work on a campus that shows the impact of age.
___Church members invested $20,000 in repair materials. Some people in the congregations kept children so moms and dads could participate in the project together. Cooks prepared three meals a day to keep the construction crew--men, women and college students--hard at work.
___They replaced trim and gutters on the chapel, removed an old satellite dish, painted the clinic, stripped paint and repainted the porches of the administration building and sealed a tile porch in front of the cafeteria. They also completed several electrical projects, including the addition of recreational vehicle plugs to be used by future construction volunteers.
___Their work added more to the campus than just paint and repairs, Reyes reported.
___"It injected a new level of enthusiasm in our school," he said, confirming the morale boost that permeated the campus as saws whirred and paintbrushes swooshed.
___The project also improved the campus in tangible ways, he added. "It provides a safe place for students to study and live, and it provides opportunities for other Texas Baptist churches to come alongside us in partnership."
___That partnership is vital, not just for the future of the school or even Texas, but for the world, Reyes told the West Texas volunteers.
___"Dr. Reyes gave us a presentation one night, on PowerPoint," said Greg McCravey, project manager for the trip and a member of First Baptist Church in Plains.
___"He told us about the goals of the school, and it lit a fire in our hearts for what they have planned for themselves," McCravey said. "In my mind, it's one of the most important schools we have. ... When you look at the population of Texas and the projections--Texas is going to be a Hispanic state one of these days. And we have only one Hispanic seminary."
___"We got blown away," added Terry Cosby, pastor of First Baptist Church in Hereford and a member of the construction crew. "Dr. Reyes has got a world vision. He's talking about training Spanish-speaking ministers from South America. And he has a historical perspective (of the Islamic Moors who settled parts of the Americas) to win the Muslim world to Christ. This expanded our vision."
___The Hispanic Baptist Theological School project expanded mission opportunities for the West Texans, too.
___They learned about the need through Bill Wright, pastor of First Baptist Church in Plains. Until last year, he served on the Baptist General Convention of Texas' State Missions Commission, which until recently oversaw operation of HBTS for the state convention. Now the school relates to the BGCT through the Christian Education Coordinating Board.
___The school is a vital part of the BGCT's strategy to reach Texas for Christ. Training Spanish-speaking pastors and church staff members especially is important, since Hispanics are expected to become the state's majority group by about 2020.
___Reyes helped him see the "impending need" for improving the campus, Wright said.
___"With what they've got, they've done a very good job; the buildings are in pretty good shape," he explaind. "But they need a lot of maintenance--lots of repair work."
___"Repair work" could be the Plains church's other name. Members have conducted 10 mission construction projects in 10 years. Most of those endeavors have been in Mexico, and they have included pouring cement floors and building pews for churches, constructing a learning center with basketball court for an orphanage, building a dorm where missions teams can stay and constructing two preaching/feeding sites.
___This summer, First Baptist in Plains was thinking about several projects, McCravey said. The construction crews compounded the summer ministry of the church, which also sent its disaster-relief van to help feed workers and victims of forest fires in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico and flood victims in Abilene.
___"We looked at some other things, but that seemed to be what we needed to do," McCravey said of the Hispanic School project. "It definitely was God's will for us to go."
___Fortunately, that divine design included some neighboring churches, Cosby said. Although First Baptist in Hereford had sent its youth on mission trips before, this year "we came to see we need to be more personally involved," he added.
___"We looked for an opportunity. We're not going to the Amazon; we're not there yet. But FBC Plains has a construction crew, and they said, 'Come go with us,' and we could.
___"I've never laughed so hard and worked so hard in a long time. Everyone who went wants to go back."
___The West Texas churches plan to return to the San Antonio campus for more work next March, he said.
___"We're committed for the long haul," Wright added.
___"This partnership shows Texas Baptists at their best," Reyes responded. "It was a real shot in the arm that we will not forget."
___And neither will members of the construction crew, who say Hispanic Baptist Theological School "shows Texas Baptists at their best."
___
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