Missions take forefront among ministry awards recipients

Posted: 11/02/07

Missions take forefront among
ministry awards recipients

By Marv Knox & Ken Camp

Editor & Managing Editor

AMARILLO—Passion for missions provided the theme of the 2007 Texas Baptist Ministry Awards, presented during the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting in Amarillo.

Elmin Howell accepted the W. Winfred Moore Award for lifetime ministry achievement. Cindy and Dennis Wiles took the George W. Truett Award for ministerial excellence. And Dick Hurst—who was unable to attend—was named the recipient of the Marie Mathis Award for lay ministry.

Cindy and Dennis Wiles Elmin Howell

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Posted: 11/02/07

Missions take forefront among
ministry awards recipients

By Marv Knox & Ken Camp

Editor & Managing Editor

AMARILLO—Passion for missions provided the theme of the 2007 Texas Baptist Ministry Awards, presented during the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting in Amarillo.

Elmin Howell accepted the W. Winfred Moore Award for lifetime ministry achievement. Cindy and Dennis Wiles took the George W. Truett Award for ministerial excellence. And Dick Hurst—who was unable to attend—was named the recipient of the Marie Mathis Award for lay ministry.

Cindy and Dennis Wiles Elmin Howell

Baylor University and the Baptist Standard confer the awards annually to recognize excellent ministers and to highlight role models for ministry. They present the awards during Truett Theological Seminary’s banquet at the BGCT meeting.

Howell’s philosophy of ministry centers on a simple conviction—the spiritual needs of the world are too great to be met by preachers alone. From the colonias along the Rio Grande to an urban neighborhood in transition, he has focused on mobilizing all God’s people—clergy and laity—for missions and ministry.

In the spring of 1968, Howell—a former coach—put his team-building ability to the test when he accepted the challenge of launching a ministry to meet spiritual and physical needs along both sides of the Texas/Mexico border. Initially, the BGCT and its State Missions Commission envisioned a two- or three-year program. Howell led what came to be known as River Ministry 30 years, coordinating the work of more than 10,000 volunteers a year much of that time.

During his tenure as director, River Ministry started 706 churches and two Baptist associations on the Mexico side of the Rio Grande, established six children’s homes and built 67 health clinics. Under Howell’s leadership, River Ministry also developed a volunteer field staff of 45 regional consultants, and about 900 summer missionaries served in hands-on ministry along the border.

After he retired from the BGCT Executive Board staff, Howell discovered 40,000 people representing nine ethnic groups lived within a five-mile radius of Shiloh Terrace Baptist Church in Dallas, where he and his wife, Betty, are members. He also found out more than half lacked medical insurance.

In response, the church helped start Mission East Dallas, and Howell served for a time as president of the nonprofit ministry’s board of directors. Mission East Dallas has provided health care to more than 5,000 patients in eastern Dallas County, and at least 600 people have come to faith in Christ through its ministries.

The Moore Award recognizes a Texas Baptist minister, in any area of specialization, for a lifetime achievement in ministry. A minister meriting consideration should have a cumulative record of service that exemplifies commitment, stability and effectiveness.

Just about everyone who knows Cindy and Dennis Wiles associates them with two passions—church and missions. So, it’s no surprise they would lead a movement to equip congregations for hands-on missions. She is executive director and he is chairman of the board of the Global Connection Partnership Network, which helps churches train, send and support missionaries.

Cindy Falkner and Dennis Wiles intended to pursue careers in medicine when they met as students at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. But as their love blossomed, God revealed new plans. After they married in 1981, they headed to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary to prepare for ministry in local churches.

Along the way, they have served Jimtown Baptist Church in Jimtown, Okla.; First Baptist Church in Mertens; Southside Baptist Church in Tyler; Calvary Baptist Church in Garland; First Baptist Church in Huntsville, Ala.; and First Baptist Church in Arlington, where he currently is pastor. In every church, he has provided pastoral direction to guide members toward missions, and she has committed herself to missions education, action and support.

Under the Wileses’ leadership, First Baptist in Arlington has created a department, Global Ministries, that has sent mission teams to New York City, Costa Rica, Mexico, Washington state, San Antonio, Niger, Guinea, Cuba, Southeast Asia, Senegal, Macedonia, Russia, France, Alaska and Switzerland.

Now, working through the Global Connection Partnership Network, First Baptist in Arlington has appointed two overseas missionaries. Cottonwood Baptist Church in Dublin also is sending a missionary family abroad through GCPN, and more than 10 candidates are in the organization’s missionary pipeline.

The Truett Award recognizes a Texas Baptist minister, in any area of specialization, for a singular ministry achievement in the recent past. Achievements meriting consideration combine and exemplify imagination, leadership and effectiveness.

Hurst enjoyed a happy reunion in Eastern Europe this fall. He spent time with Denis, a little boy from Macedonia who has a healthy heart, thanks to Hurst’s medical expertise and Christian compassion. Hurst first met Denis a couple of years ago, when the Tyler physician traveled to the boy’s home in the backwater of the Balkans and realized Denis suffered from a congenital heart defect.

So, he came home and raised funds for Denis and his mother to travel to Bulgaria, where the boy underwent heart surgery. Now, he’s a “run and go” child.

Denis is but one of countless people whose lives—and eternities—have been changed by encounters with Hurst. Shortly after graduating from Baylor Medical School, Hurst opened a family medicine practice in Tyler, where he raised a family and also taught Sunday school and served as a deacon in First Baptist Church.

Down through the years and around the globe, one of Hurst’s defining characteristics has been his passion for missions and commitment to share the gospel in some of the world’s “hard places.” Hurst, a Vietnam veteran, has been to Iraq seven times, and his work on behalf of Kurdish refugees placed him on Saddam Hussein’s “hit list.” He also has visited Kosova seven times.

Other mission trips have taken him to Brazil, Thailand, Iran, Indonesia, Syria, Northern Ireland, Albania, Macedonia, the Chechnya region of Russia and throughout other parts of Europe. Hurst has shown a proclivity not only for providing healthcare to some of the world’s poorest people, but also making sure they have food and clothing and, quite often, church houses—donated and delivered in the name of Christ.

Closer to home, Hurst has served on the Tyler Race Relations Task Force, the Texas State Board for Jail Standards and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Coordinating Council. He also has been a volunteer leader at the Smith County Juvenile Center.

The Mathis Award recognizes a Texas Baptist layperson for a recent singular or lifetime ministry achievement. A layperson meriting consideration should have achievements that combine and exemplify imagination, leadership and effectiveness or whose cumulative record of service exemplifies commitment, stability and effectiveness.




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