February 17, 2003
Partnership leads from Central Texas to Central America
___By Scott Collins
___Buckner News Service
___WACO--When First Baptist Church of Waco needed help ministering to the changing needs of its community, the church turned to Buckner Baptist Benevolences for counsel.
___Now, the historic church and Buckner have partnered to help people from Central Texas to Central America.
___A byproduct of the partnership is spiritual growth and a means to experience "true worship" by serving others in Jesus' name, said Pastor Scott Walker.
___"Our sense of dynamic as a church is going to come from an oldBaptist church trying to get a large percentage of its members involved in hands-on ministry," he explained. "And out of that sense of experience and commitment comes spiritual growth and probably a byproduct, though not a goal, is some numerical growth."
KERRI Hanna leads orphan children in a Bible study at Fundacion Salvacion in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. The orphanage is located in an abandoned city vehicle depot and still has old cars, trucks and trash scattered in the courtyard. (Morris Abernathy/Buckner Photo)
___In January, Walker led a group of church members on a mission trip to Guatemala with Buckner Orphan Care International. But the partnership between Buckner and the church goes back nearly two years when Walker led the church to consider working with Buckner at home.
___"Our missions committee decided to explore a partnership (with Buckner), really not knowing what one was," he recalled. "So we put about eight people in a van and drove up to Buckner (in Dallas) one day and just sat down and talked. We really got enthusiastic about what we heard."
___The church that has birthed two Baptist seminaries and has been the spiritual home for generations of Baylor University administrators needed a new approach to reach its changing neighborhood. But no one was certain what those ministries should look like.
___Buckner enlisted Alan Caruthers to launch an extensive study and develop programs church members could use to minister in the community.
___As a result, teams of mentors from the church have been trained to work with local school children and their families, "trying to help them make decisions that will get them above the poverty level," Walker said.
___The church's initial aim was to work only locally with Buckner. But when church members learned about Buckner's international mission opportunities, "we just wanted to do it with Buckner as part of this partnership," Walker said.
___The January experience in Guatemala has deepened church members' desire to work through Buckner, the pastor reported. Upon arrival at the orphanage in Huehuetenango, the Wacoans were overcome by the needs they saw. Within a few hours, Walker and team members committed nearly $10,000 to buy beds, chairs, water equipment, a stove, oven and a griddle.
___Walker, who grew up as a missionary kid in the Philippines, believes that trip was the first of many to follow for his congregation.
___"I was afraid I was going to take these people down there and we were going to have a lousy week or it was not going to be tough enough for them and they were going to think it wasn't worth their time," Walker said. "That was my fear.
___"The amazement that I have is what a real spiritual experience this has been," he added. "I'm a realist and I don't go around talking a lot of 'God language.' But to put it in God language, or Texas Baptist language, the Lord really took hold of this thing and did it."
___Because Buckner handled the details of the trip, the team could concentrate on the mission work.
___"I kept feeling like I hadn't done anything to get ready or that I hadn't done enough," he said. "I kept thinking about all the things you think about when you are going to take a group. But I didn't have to do that because Buckner took care of it.
___"As a result, we probably did three times what most mission groups can do in a week. We got to do what we really are called to do."
___The partnership with First Baptist of Waco is a model for how Buckner sees the future of missions work, according to Buckner President Ken Hall.
___"For 200 years, missions has been defined in light of denominations," Hall said. "Churches and individuals supported mission work, but primarily through a denominational structure. Churches didn't actually send out missionaries; denominational boards did."
___That is changing as churches like First Baptist become directly involved in missions and ministry, Hall explained.
___"More and more churches and individuals are reconnecting with their New Testament responsibility to be directly involved in missions. People in the pew are realizing they are commanded to go as well as to give. We're just glad Buckner is being used by God to partner with churches like First Baptist in Waco to touch the lives of hurting children and families."
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