Around the State: DBU recognizes servant leaders; Sadler moves to new role at Wayland

Dallas Baptist University awarded the Frank and Martin Moore Servant Leader Award to Staci Beene, a business management major from McKinney, and Jacob Alger, a Christian studies major from Round Rock. Beene led DiscipleNow weekends at several churches throughout the spring and participated with the DBU Beach Reach missions team to South Padre Island during spring break. She attends First Baptist Church in Grand Prairie, where she is a volunteer youth leader, and she has been an English conversation partner through the DBU international department. Alger serves with Soaring Eagles, a ministry for adults with disabilities, and as a mentor at Youth World in South Dallas. He is a DBU Ambassador and also works in the university’s Rec Life office. He attends Watermark Church, where he is a small-group leader.

Paul Sadler Paul Sadler, who recently stepped down as dean of the School of Religion and Philosophy at Wayland Baptist University, has accepted a new position as Wayland’s director of church and denominational relations. Sadler, who has been at Wayland 26 years, will work closely with churches throughout West Texas to develop and maintain positive, mutually beneficial relationships, and he wants to focus on strengthening relationships between Wayland and the denominational entities the university serves. A graduate of Baylor University, Sadler has 20 years experience as a pastor, serving three Waco area churches from 1970 to 1990. While working at Wayland, he has served as interim pastor at churches in Plainview, Farwell, Hart, Petersburg, Springlake and Lubbock. He and his wife, Jimmye, a longtime educator for Plainview Independent School District, are members of First Baptist Church in Plainview.

Students and faculty in HPU’s master of education degree program in Sport and Wellness Leadership are pictured with staff from the Cerner Corporation’s Employee Wellness Program. Graham Hatcher, professor of kinesiology at Howard Payne University, led 15 students from HPU’s master of education degree program in sport and wellness leadership on a journey of more than 4,000 miles to engage with national leaders in the industry. Sites included the Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ national offices and the headquarters for the National Collegiate Athletic Association, National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and National Junior College Athletic Association. They also visited the Green Bay Packers’ Lambeau Field, the U.S. Olympic Training Center and the headquarters of the University Interscholastic League. Students attended the annual meeting of the National Wellness Institute, met with the leaders of corporate wellness providers and heard presentations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on international efforts to manage the Zika outbreak and from the Texas State Health Services Department on statewide health promotion initiatives.

Anniversaries

125th for First Baptist Church in Tulia.

125th for Highland Baptist Church in Denton.