Around the State: Disaster Relief Day, awards, promotions, more

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Many Texas Baptist churches will observe the inaugural Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief Day June 25. TBM encourages volunteers involved in disaster relief ministries, including long-term recovery, to wear their uniform shirts to church that day to show their support. A downloadable bulletin insert is available here.

Shannon Sandridge of Flower Mound, a recent Baylor University graduate, has been selected to participate in the Lilly Graduate Fellows Program. Sandridge, who earned her degree as a University Scholar with concentrations in philosophy and German, is one of only 10 Lilly Graduate Fellows, which is a part of the Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities. The program supports outstanding students who want to explore the connections among Christianity, higher education and the vocation of the teacher-scholar as they pursue graduate degrees in humanities and the arts. The fellows were selected by an eight-member selection committee, who interviewed 16 finalists during the spring. The fellows will meet together at an inaugural conference with their mentors in Indianapolis July 31-Aug. 3. They then will embark on a long-distance colloquium, engage in one-on-one mentoring relationships and participate in three additional conferences. 

DBU Henry Nelson 250Michelle Henry (left) and Mary Nelson (DBU photo)Dallas Baptist University installed Michelle Henry as chair of the English Department and named the outgoing department chair, Mary Nelson, as program director for the Ph.D. in leadership studies in the Cook School of Leadership. Henry has served in the English Department since July 2005. Both began their new roles June 1. In addition to serving as department chair, Nelson has taught a variety of courses, including the Great Books seminar in the Ph.D. program in the Cook School of Leadership.

Abilene-Callahan Baptist AssociationLarry Tarver 150Larry Tarver has selected Larry Tarver as its new director of missions, effective July 10. Tarver is pastor of Clearfork Baptist Church in Hawley. Tarver is a graduate of Abilene High School and Texas Tech University, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in animal business management. He received a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and earned the first doctor of ministry degree from Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon Seminary. Tarver is a U.S. Navy veteran and has worked in farming and insurance. He has been Clearfork Baptist’s only pastor. Tarver and his wife, Dalena, have three children and five grandchildren. He succeeds Truman Turk, who retired in 2016. Robert Williamson Jr. served as interim director of missions.

ETBU nursing 200Marshall Grand (ETBU photo)East Texas Baptist University will relocate its School of Nursing to the Marshall Grand, a hotel built in 1929 in downtown Marshall. The facility will provide the nursing school with enhanced and expanded space, including a simulation learning center. Christina and Richard Anderson and Jerry and Judy Cargill donated the historic art deco building to ETBU. Renovation and new equipment for the facility are expected to cost $2.2 million, and the university has received $1.43 million, including the promise of a $400,000 challenge grant from the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation, which will be awarded when the balance of the funds have been raised. “The relocation to our new downtown campus in the historic Marshall Grand will enable our program to grow and help meet the profession’s acute nursing shortage,” said Rebekah Grigsby, dean of the nursing school. For more information, click here or contact Scott Bryant, vice president for advancement.

Carol HolcombCarol HolcombCarol Crawford Holcomb, professor of Christian studies at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, received the W.O. Carver Distinguished Service Award from the Baptist History and Heritage Society during the society’s annual meeting this month. The Carver Award recognizes individuals who have exhibited rare and unusual dedication to the cause of Baptist history through writing, teaching, denominational service, archival and library development, and historical center and society work on national and state levels. In 2001, Holcomb received the society’s Norman W. Cox Award for best article published in the society’s journal; and she served as the society’s president from 2005 to 2007.

Jay GivensJay GivensJay Givens, professor of religion at Wayland Baptist University, has been selected to participate in the National Endowment for the Humanities’ summer institute, “Challenges of Teaching World Religions.” Through the institute, Givens will rework Wayland’s curriculum for online graduate and undergraduate world religions courses.


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