More than 200 alumni, donors and students gathered Oct. 19 in Lubbock to dedicate the Robert H. Pinder Student Center, home of the Texas Tech University Baptist Student Ministry. Pinder, who gave the lead gift for the building, is a former pastor and missionary who worked 23 years as a professor at Texas Tech. He served on a capital campaign advisory team led by Larry Landusky. The advisory team worked through the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation to raise $3.9 million to fund the building and create an endowment to support the BSM in the future. Other team members were Jerry Ashcraft, Joyce Ashcraft, Jerry Joplin, D.L. Lowrie, Don Schroeder and David Wilson. Lubbock Baptist Association raised the funds to provide the kitchen in the new BSM center. Each week, the BSM at Texas Tech reaches 400 to 600 students through various ministries, BSM Director Jeff Kinnon said. The night before the building dedication, many BSM students served up to 200 fellow students at “Pancakes on Broadway,” an outreach event the BSM sponsors prior to all home football games.
The B.H. Carroll Theological Institute recognized Gerald E. Marsh, a military chaplain for 32 years and seminary professor of pastoral ministry for 25 years, at a recent dinner sponsored by its Marsh Center for Chaplains Studies. Twenty-five of the chaplains in attendance agreed to serve on the center’s advisory team. The Marsh Center works with seminaries to develop material to train new chaplains and engage experienced chaplains in lifelong learning. “It is specifically designed to develop competencies for a unique ministry,” said Gene Wilkes, president of B.H. Carroll Theological Institute. “In doing this, we recognize the growing influence and value of well-trained chaplains who minister in settings where other religious workers rarely go.” Jim Spivey, senior fellow at the Carroll Institute and retired U.S. Army chaplain, is director of the Marsh Center.
East Texas Baptist University, in cooperation with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, sponsored the fourth annual Worship Summit on Oct. 17. The event focused on encouraging and training church music ministers and worship leaders by providing instruction focused on congregational music, songwriting and technology in music. Guest speakers included musical artist Caroline Cobb, Christian singer-songwriter; Nate Harrison, associate worship minister at Mobberly Baptist Church in Longview; and Andrew Pressley, music minister at First Baptist Church in Lindale. The ETBU Lampsato and Hilltop Singers led worship and performed at the conference.
Gregg Matte, pastor of Houston’s First Baptist Church, was elected chair of the Houston Baptist University board of trustees. Matte has been senior pastor at the church since 2004. He joined the HBU board in 2011.
Howard Payne University announced a freeze of tuition rates from the 2019-20 academic year extending to the 2020-21 academic year. “Our administration understands the significant financial commitment that attending college represents for students and their families,” HPU President Cory Hines said. “We hope this tuition freeze will financially assist our students and provide stability for them going into the new academic year.”
The Keston Center for Religion, Politics and Society at Baylor University marked the 50th anniversary of the Keston Institute on Oct. 15. Founded in England, the Keston Institute collected and reported information about people facing religious persecution in the Soviet Union and other communist countries. Baylor acquired Keston’s archive and established the Keston Center for Religion, Politics and Society in 2007. The event at Baylor also launched the release of Voices of the Voiceless: Religion, Communism and the Keston Archive, a book published by Baylor University Press featuring archival materials. Julie deGraffenried, a history professor at Baylor, edited the volume with Zoe Knox from the University of Leicester.
Anniversaries
150th for First Baptist Church in Sherman and 20th for Mike Lawson as pastor. The church will celebrate the anniversaries Nov. 17. A free luncheon follows the morning worship service. For details about the schedule and to make a reservation for the meal, click here.
150th for First Baptist Church in Grapevine. Doug Page is pastor.
We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.
Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.