Around the State: Maston Foundation honors Paynter; Parkway Place residents help employees after Harvey

Suzii Paynter received the Christian Ethics Award from the T.B. Maston Foundation at its biennial awards dinner, Oct. 6 at Dallas Baptist University. Paynter is executive coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and former director of the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission. Wendell Griffen, circuit judge of the 5^th Division, 6^th Judicial District for the State of Arkansas, and pastor of New Millennium Church in Little Rock, delivered the keynote address on “Prophetic Answers for Our Divisive Time.” Griffen challenged Christian to recognize they are part of “God’s big work” in the world, and God calls his people to “speak a different language” that is courageous, liberating and inclusive.

Parkway Place, a Buckner Retirement Services community in Houston, was unharmed by Hurricane Harvey. However, 31 employees of the senior living community lost nearly all their possessions. So, residents collected donations of money, clothing and cleaning supplies for them. They raised more than $17,000 to divide evenly between each employee.

Baptist Temple in San Antonio will celebrate its Highland Park Community Assistance Network ministries Nov. 19. Ferrell Foster, director of ethics and justice with the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission, will preach in the 10:55 worship service. An open house will follow, and guests are invited to tour the network’s thrift store, client choice food pantry and community garden. Jorge Zayasbazan is pastor at Baptist Temple.

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor will dedicate the Sue & Frank Mayborn Performing Arts Center Oct. 13. The ceremony begins at 1 p.m. in front of the new building on the corner of North Pearl St. and West Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. in Belton. A brief program will include remarks by Randy O’Rear, UMHB president, and Ted Barnes, dean of the College of Visual & Performing Arts. Following a prayer of dedication and the ceremonial ribbon cutting, the university will offer tours of the 40,725-square-foot facility. The $20 million building was completed debt-free.

Dallas Baptist University broke ground for the John and Nita Ford Village Sept. 21. The 20-acre Ford Village will house about 500 future DBU students who will be involved in DBU’s first residential college. The first phase of building begins this fall with construction of a two-lane car bridge over O’Guinn Creek to access the land and the initial buildings of the residential college. John Ford long has been a leader in the North Dallas and Collin County business community and helped to establish DBU’s annual Tom Landry Leadership Award, which honors community leaders in Collin County and Arlington. Nita Ford has served 16 years on the DBU board of trustees and remained an active member of the DBU Women’s Auxiliary Board as well. She was honored with the Ruth Award in 2006, and he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree in 2011.

Hardin-Simmons University’s “Lights, Camera, Free Ride” contest offers an incoming student a chance to win a one-year full tuition, room and board scholarship to the university. Prospective students create short videos to enter the contest, celebrating their “#going2HSU” decision and showcasing their dreams, expectations and reasons for selecting HSU. The grand prizewinner will receive a tuition, room and board (shared campus residence hall room and campus meal plan) scholarship, not including miscellaneous student and course fees for the 2018-19 academic year. The scholarship is valued at up to $40,000. The runner-up will receive an on-campus, shared residence hall room and campus meal plan, valued at up to $10,000, for the 2018-19 academic year. Up to 25 honorable mention winners may be awarded a $1,000 one-time scholarship to attend Hardin-Simmons University for the 2018-2019 academic year. The contest entry period ends Dec. 7. Online voting will take place Dec. 8 through Jan. 31. Winners will be announced at the Winter Preview event on Feb.17, 2018. See full contest entry information and official rules here.

At Volunteer Villages set up at churches along the Texas Gulf Coast, Texas Baptist Men volunteers are coordinating churches groups that are helping with recovery and rebuilding after Hurricane Harvey. Through the Volunteer Villages, workers have provided about 27,000 volunteer hours. TBM volunteers continue to serve in nine sites, providing disaster relief and recovery in partnership with Baptist volunteers from about two dozen other states. Through Oct. 8, they contributed more than 237,000 volunteer hours and made about 19,000 personal contacts. They have prepared more than 1.4 million meals, delivered more than 47,000 boxes for survivors to use, provided access to 20,000 showers and washed more than 12,000 loads of laundry. Heavy equipment operators have logged more than 1,000 hours. Volunteers completed mold mitigation in about 900 water-damaged homes. They have presented the gospel more than 1,100 times, distributed more than 4,700 Bibles and recorded 215 professions of faith. To contribute financially to TBM disaster relief, click here or send a check designated “disaster relief” to Texas Baptist Men, 5351 Catron, Dallas 75227.