WorldconneX forming ‘network of networks’ to create points of connection_30804

Posted: 3/05/04

WorldconneX forming 'network of networks'
to create points of connection

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS–Texas Baptists' WorldconneX missions network has an office without furniture and a computer without an Internet connection now, but it does have a plan for becoming a network of networks, staff leader Bill Tinsley said.

WorldconneX is creating four networks focused on individuals, churches, Baptist entities and international groups, Tinsley reported to the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board at its March 2 meeting.

“God is giving us a design for the dream,” he said. “We are still very much in start-up. … We have only begun to recruit our volunteer force that will make WorldconneX effective. The engines are started. We are not off the launch pad, but we can feel the vibrations. We can sense that God is doing something new and exciting in our generation.”

Together with one other full-time staff member and two part-time employees, Tinsley is putting together four networks: PeopleconneX, ChurchconneX, BaptistconneX and a currently unnamed network focusing on international connections.

The network focused on individuals will seek to “connect strength to strength (and) connect vision to vision,” said Frank Dang, who serves as pastor of the Vietnamese Church of Fort Worth in additon to his part-time position with WorldconneX.

“We will be a catalyst to connect pastors and leaders of churches who are already effective in missions” with prospective missions workers, he explained.

The network will seek out “teachers, trainers and coaches” who can mentor new missionaries.

Likewise, the network focused on churches will identify congregations that already are engaged in missions, linking them to churches that are seeking missions opportunities, said Carol Childress, who has served the last 12 years with the Leadership Network and has joined WorldconneX in a part-time role.

The Baptist network will help connect Baptist entities in collaborative missions efforts, Tinsley explained.

"Most of our 23 Texas Baptist institutions already have an international presence with missions and ministries. WorldconneX will function to relate volunteers to these ministries, to create collaborative efforts among churches, institutions and national Baptists, and to open up new connections in other areas of the world," he said. "This collaborative cooperation will be especially important as we work closely with the Baptist World Alliance and Baptist union leaders around the world."

WorldconneX already is working with Buckner Baptist Benevolences, the Baptist University of the Americas and Baylor Health Care System in a project linking churches in Texas with Baptists in Guatemala to provide child care and medical care for needy people and theological education and leadership development for church leaders, he reported.

The network also is working with Buckner on a humanitarian aid project in Asia.

The international network will link together existing networks worldwide, said Stan Parks, who served as a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship worker in Indonesia before joining WorldconneX.

Lack of collaboration and cooperation among Christians limits the spread of the gospel, he remarked.

“We want to be a global nervous system for the body of Christ,” Parks said.