PLAINVIEW—More than 30 community and church leaders—including representatives from the Baptist General Convention of Texas and associations of churches in West Texas—met recently to develop goals for Wayland Baptist University’s Missions Center.

“I formulated a plan to have key leaders as well as key missions students and pastors to come together and help us formulate a strategy for the missions center for the next five years,” Wayland Missions Center Director Rick Shaw said. The group identified five areas of focus:

• Facility. Provide a site to house the center. Wayland is addressing that need as it raises funds for a new Flores Bible Building as part of its ongoing capital campaign. Until construction begins, university officials are considering other means to house the missions center.

• Communication. Increase publicity and communication for the center, possibly through the development of its own website.

• Endowment. Create an endowment to aid the center’s objectives.

• Increased student involvement. About 18 percent of Wayland students on the Plainview campus are involved in missions projects, whether through the missions center’s mentoring program or through mission trips planned by both the missions center and the BGCT.

 Through the center’s Apostolos program, 62 Wayland students mentor Plainview High School students.

On the academic front, Shaw is working to develop an intercultural missions specialization, as well as a full missions degree.

Wayland also has increased its reach globally, conducting three mission trips this year for students and area churches, and the university is planning up to seven trips in 2010.

• Connecting to churches. Enhance connections between the center and churches that can use it as a resource and as a guide for training and implementing mission work of their own. “A lot of churches feel very close to Wayland,” Shaw said. “We want to focus on increasing the relationship between those churches and Wayland, as well as developing relationships with other groups.”

---

No comments for this article yet...

Subscribe to this comment's feed