Texas Tidbits_53005

Posted: 5/27/05

Texas Tidbits

History & Heritage Society honors Texans. Rosalie Beck, associate professor at Baylor University, will receive the distinguished service award for outstanding contributions to Baptist history from the Baptist History & Heritage Society during the group's annual meeting, June 2-4 at Samford University's Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala. Beck has been a member of the society more than 20 years and served as its president from 1995 to 1997. The society will present the Davis C. Woolley Award for outstanding achievement in state Baptist history to the Texas Baptist Historical Collection. Alan Lefever is director of the collection, and Naomi Taplin is librarian. Dan Kent, retired Old Testament professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and his daughter, Barrett Kent Border, former catalog librarian at Southwestern Seminary, will present a paper on "The Quiet Revolutionary: Amelia Bishop" during the society's annual meeting. Other Texans presenting papers include Scott Bryant and Kenneth Scott Culpepper, doctoral students at Baylor University; Laine Scales, associate professor of social work at Baylor; Kirsten Thea Timmer, a Southwestern Seminary graduate; and Richard Taylor, assistant professor of history at Hardin-Simmons University.

Urban Training Institute slated. City Core Initiative, a Baptist General Convention of Texas-supported effort to revitalize urban centers spiritually, is sponsoring the Urban Training Institute of the Southwest, July 19-22 in Dallas. Leonard Sweet, author and evangelism professor at Drew Theological School in Madison, N.J, will be the keynote speaker during a day devoted to ministering to "emerging generations." Jimmy Dorrell, executive director of Mission Waco, will speak on urban issues and community development, and Bob Lupton, executive director of Family Consultation Service Urban Ministries, will talk about how to develop and restore communities. David Frenchak, executive director of Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education; Milfred Minatrea, director of the BGCT Missional Church Center; and Ted Elmore, who leads the BGCT's prayer ministries, will guide sessions focused on ministry models and transformational leadership. The North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church, the Dallas-Fort Worth Lutheran Inter-church Network Coalition, Central Dallas Ministries and numerous Texas Baptist groups such as Dallas Baptist Association, Dallas Baptist University and Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary have been involved in planning the event. For more information, visit www.utisouthwest.org.

Christian service scholarship set up at ETBU. The family of T.M. "Red" Davis has established a Christian service scholarship at East Texas Baptist University in his memory. Wilma Davis, his wife of 53 years, along with their three children–Vickie, Susan and Russell–created the scholarship to assist students pursuing their education in the fields of Christian service and leadership. Davis served ETBU as building program chairman and trustee, including two years as chairman of the board. He was a longtime member of First Baptist Church in Marshall.

Gift enables HPU to renovate auditorium. Howard Payne University has received a $250,000 gift from Leona Muse of Dallas to begin the renovation of Mims Auditorium. Muse held a musical recital at the auditorium when she attended Howard Payne in 1927. "Mims Auditorium is a wonderful resource that must be preserved," HPU President Lanny Hall said. "Once renovated, this great facility will continue to serve as a central gathering point for the university family and will be an attractive facility for the community's use. Because of Mrs. Muse's generous gift, we may begin the restoration process." The first steps in renovation call for the completion of detailed architectural and engineering plans and careful assessment of the condition of the existing structure. The restoration work will be done in phases as funds come available, Hall noted.