Around the State: Hispanic Baptists honor Bob Sena

Jesse Rincones, executive director of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas, prays for Bob Sena, who received an award for servant leadership during a gathering of Hispanic Baptists during the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville. (Photo by Baptist Press)

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Hispanic Baptists recognized Bob Sena with the Gary Cook Servant Leader Award during a June 13 gathering in Nashville, held in conjunction with the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. Named for Dallas Baptist University Chancellor Gary Cook, the award honors those within the Hispanic Baptist community who have made an impact on church life. Cook was in attendance to present the award to Sena, noting his service to the Baptist General Convention of Texas and beyond. Sena earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Wayland Baptist University, a Master of Religious Education degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Golden Gate Seminary in California. He serves as director of the Hispanic Doctor of Ministry program at Midwestern Seminary. In 2014, he was named Hispanic relations consultant to the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. Previously, Sena was director of the church planting group of the Hispanic resource development and equipping team of the North American Mission Board, was a NAMB national Hispanic missionary and was Hispanic evangelism associate for the BGCT. He has more than 50 years of leadership in Baptist life, including service as pastor of churches of varying sizes in Texas and Georgia. He and wife Priscilla have been married 55 years.

HighGround Advisors appointed Helge Rokenes as chief investment officer, effective Aug. 2. Rokenes served as the managing director of the Meadows Foundation since 2014. Previously, he was investment manager for ABH Capital Management and an institutional sales analyst for JP Morgan Asset Management. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Texas Lutheran University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Baylor University. “Helge shares HighGround’s commitment to professional excellence and has the right combination of investment leadership and technical experience to fill this critical position,” said Jeff W. Smith, president and CEO of HighGround Advisors. “Leveraging his extensive knowledge, he will play a key role as we continue to build on HighGround’s 91-year history of providing financial services to nonprofit organizations and families dedicated to transforming lives.” Rokenes will serve alongside current HighGround CIO Joe Wright throughout the fall until Wright’s retirement on Dec. 31.

East Texas Baptist University sophomore Ethan Thurston and senior Cody Ross won the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Classic at Eagle Mountain Lake with a four-fish bag that weighed 16 pounds, 6 ounces.

Ethan Thurston, a sophomore at East Texas Baptist University, and Cody Ross, a senior at ETBU, won the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Classic at Eagle Mountain Lake on June 14 with a four-fish bag that weighed 16 pounds, 6 ounces. It marks the third championship tournament won by the ETBU Tiger bass fishing program in the last year, having the top boat at qualifying tournaments on the Ouachita River in Louisiana and Lake Chickamauga in Tennessee. The Tiger bass fishing team was named Southern Conference School of the Year in 2019, and it earned the top title in collegiate fishing with the Fishing League Worldwide 2020 Tackle Warehouse School of the Year title in December 2020.


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