Obituary: Stewart Morris

Stewart Morris, one of the founding fathers of what is now Houston Christian University, died March 11. He was 104. He was born Oct. 28, 1919, to William Carloss and Willie Stewart Morris in Houston. He began work as an office boy at age 10, sweeping floors, running errands and tending to other miscellaneous tasks for $5 a week at Stewart Title, a company his extended family founded in 1893. He went on to become longtime president and chairman emeritus of the company, now known as Stewart Information International. Morris earned degrees from the University of Texas and Southern Methodist University Law School. He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. Morris secured the funding for the establishment of Houston Baptist College and was instrumental in its founding. HCU President Robert Sloan said Morris “sustained the university in times of economic distress, and throughout the years has given to every major project in our history.” In addition to endowing several scholarships at the university, Morris and his family gave the lead gift to establish the Joella and Stewart Morris Cultural Arts Center and the Morris Family Center for Law and Liberty at HCU. Morris House, the university president’s home, was named in his honor. The university awarded him its inaugural Founders Medal, along with its Spirit of Excellence Award on two occasions and the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The Joella and Stewart Morris Foundation also received the HCU Legacy Award. Morris was preceded in death by his wife of 70 years, Joella Mitchell Morris, in 2013. He is survived by three children: Carlotta Coffman, Stewart Morris Jr. and Lisa Simon; eight grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. A celebration of life service in his honor is scheduled at 1 p.m. on April 6 at Second Baptist Church in Houston. Memorial gifts can be made to the Morris Family Center for Law and Liberty at HCU. Call 281-649-3222 or mail Houston Christian University Advancement Lockbox, P.O. Box 4897, Dept. 527, Houston, TX 77210.




Obituary: Raymond Drake

Raymond Albert Drake, a lay leader at First Baptist Church in Arlington, died Jan. 28. He was 90. Drake was born in Gist on July 17, 1933, to Virginia Elizabeth Mahaffey and Chester Harold Drake. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur and earned his bachelor’s degree in history at Baylor University. He worked 41 years for Lockheed Martin as a facilities manager. He was a member of First Baptist Church in Arlington 68 years, where he served as a deacon, Sunday school teacher and choir member. He participated in the Master’s Singers and especially enjoyed singing the bass line in the great hymns of the church. After he retired, he and his wife Helen traveled to more than 60 countries, and he loved family campouts with his grandchildren. He was preceded in death by siblings Clyde Arnold, Chester Harold Jr. and Frances Drake. He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Helen Bacon Drake; daughter Jan Anthony and her husband Gary of Temple; daughter JoAnna Burns and her husband Kevin of Dallas; daughter Jeanine Elgin and her husband Paul of McLean Va.; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Memorial gifts may be made to Mission Arlington.




Obituary: Roberto Campos

Roberto S. Campos, longtime Texas Baptist pastor, died Jan. 20 in San Antonio. He was 72. He was born Oct. 9, 1951, to Trinidad and Felicita Campos. In his younger years, he played in youth baseball and basketball leagues. Later, he loved to read, play drums and play golf. He served in the ministry more than 40 years, notably as the longtime pastor of My Redeemer Lives Baptist Church in San Antonio. He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Maria A. Campos; daughter Leah Marie Compian and her husband Ernest; son Robert Michael Campos; five grandchildren; and sisters Olivia Henz, Alicia Cortinas, Celia Gauze, Margie Olivares and Rachel Regalado. Visitation is scheduled beginning at 5 p.m. on Feb. 1 at Funeraria Del Angel Trevino Funeral Home in San Antonio. The funeral service will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 2 in the funeral home chapel.




Obituary: Sheila Cook

Sheila Cook, former first lady of Dallas Baptist University, died Jan. 27 after a brief illness. She was 75. She was born March 6, 1948, to Oscar and Edna Raymer in Louisville, Ky. She received her undergraduate degree from Georgetown College and earned a Master of Education degree from the University of Louisville before beginning her career as a schoolteacher. She met Gary Cook, who was a student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and became minister to senior adults at her church, when he attended her Sunday school class. They were married 49 years. After he completed his studies at Southern Seminary, the couple moved to Texas, where he pursued his doctorate at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and she served 18 years as a classroom teacher. At the elementary and middle school level, she spent 14 years with learning disabled students, for two years she taught remedial reading to junior high students, and for another two years, she helped mentally challenged students at the junior high and high school levels. When she was not in her school classroom, she could be found in church, teaching Sunday school, Mission Friends classes, Vacation Bible School or young women’s auxiliary groups. She served on pastoral care committees, preschool committees and long-range planning committees, and she was an instrumental accompanist for the preschool choir. After her husband became president of DBU in 1988, she began the DBU Hospitality Committee to welcome DBU newcomers. She hosted numerous receptions, luncheons and showers in the president’s home. She also served on the DBU Women’s Auxiliary Board, and she was the chairperson of many committees and events. In her later years, she helped to develop and organize the Becoming Women of Excellence program, designed to encourage and mentor young women at DBU. In recognition for her service, DBU named her an Honorary Alumna, named one of the Colonial Village apartment buildings Sheila Cook Hall in her honor, and presented her an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree. The DBU Women’s Auxiliary Board also presented her with the Ruth Award in 1994. “For many of us, Sheila Cook was so much more than just a friend. She was family,” current DBU President Adam C. Wright said. “Mrs. Cook became like a second mother to Candice and me throughout our time at DBU. She was a prayer warrior and constant support, and I know that my story is similar for thousands of others who have been touched by her grace, wisdom, generosity and kindness. So many of us would not be what we are today without having had Mrs. Sheila Cook in our lives. She truly epitomized Christ-centered servant leadership.” Sheila Cook was an active member of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, where she taught a weekly women’s Bible study. She also served as the co-leader of a Bible study at Brother Bill’s Helping Hand, a ministry serving the needs in West Dallas, and was a member of the Brother Bill’s Helping Hand Women’s Council. She served on the advisory board of the Baylor School of Nursing and on the advisory board for the ministry Asha Partners. She is survived by her husband Gary; son David and his wife, Nicole; son Mark and his wife, Shannon; grandchildren Molly, Caleb and Gracie; and her brother, Elwyn Raymer. A memorial service will be held in her honor at 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 3 in Pilgrim Chapel on the DBU campus, preceded by a reception in the Hillcrest Great Hall beginning at 1 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be sent to the Sheila Cook Endowed Scholarship Fund, Dallas Baptist University, 3000 Mountain Creek Parkway, Dallas, Texas 75211.




Obituary: Darrell Robinson

Darrell Woner Robinson, longtime Texas Baptist pastor and evangelist, died Jan. 23 in Conroe. He was 88.  He was born Sept. 23, 1935, in Big Spring to Jesse Woner Robinson and Lillie Augusta Walker Robinson. He earned his undergraduate degree from Baylor University and a master’s degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also held a doctorate from Luther Rice Seminary and honorary doctorates from Houston Baptist University and Global Korean Seminary. His many pastorates included First Baptist Church in Pasadena, First Baptist Church in Vernon, Hillcrest Baptist Church in Amarillo, Berea Baptist Church in Big Spring and Midway Baptist Church in Big Spring, as well as Dauphin Way Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., and First Baptist Church in Liberal, Kan. He served as president of Total Church Life Ministries and as vice president of evangelism at the Southern Baptist Convention’s Home Mission Board. He traveled extensively, preaching and teaching evangelism to pastors in England, Scotland, Italy, Romania, Albania, Portugal, Angola, South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, India, South Korea, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Guyana and Brazil. He was the author of My All For Him, Synergistic Evangelism, Incredibly Gifted, People Sharing Jesus, Doctrine of Salvation, What’s Next and Total Church Life. He was preceded in death by his first wife and high school sweetheart, Betty Jean Davis Robinson; sister Zena Kay Robinson Morse; and daughter Lori Kay Robinson. He is survived by his wife Kathleen Kyzar Robinson; son D. Duane Robinson and his wife, Connie; son D. Robin Robinson and his wife, Jody; son Loren S. Robinson and his wife, Kathryn; 16 grandchildren, including five by marriage; 13 great-grandchildren; his brother Mac Robinson; and his sister Sherilyn Robinson Gilmore.




Obituary: Dickson Hughes Rial

Dickson Hughes Rial of Garland, longtime Texas Baptist pastor, died Jan. 11. He was 89. He was born Nov. 30, 1934, in McGehee, Ark., to Hubert Hughes and Ruby Helen Rial. His 73 years in the ministry began at age 16 when he was called to preach. He began serving as pastor of Eastside Baptist Church in Dewitt, Ark., at age 18, and the church led the local association in baptisms for three years. After he graduated from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark., he served three years as pastor of First Baptist Church in Antelope. He met Shirley Terry from Houston while they both were students at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. They married in September 1961 and served together at Stadium Drive Baptist Church in Fort Worth, until he was called as pastor of Orchard Hills Baptist Church in Garland in 1963, where he served eight years. He later served at First Baptist Church in Ada, Okla.; River Oaks Baptist Church in Houston; First Baptist Church in Benton, Ark.; and Hillcrest Baptist Church in Dallas. After nine years as a vocational evangelist, he returned to Orchard Hills Baptist Church as pastor in 2001. His denominational service included time on the executive boards of the Arkansas and Oklahoma Baptist conventions and the board of trustees for Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene. He was the author of five books, led tour groups to the Holy Land, and ministered in revivals in Korea, Israel, Europe, Greece and Canada. He was preceded in death by his brother Jarrell Rial. Survivors include his wife Shirley; son Randy Rial and his wife Renee; his daughter Renee Rial-Reynolds and husband Ray; 10 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. The family will receive friends from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Jan. 19 in Morgan Chapel at the Ethiopian Evangelical Believers Church (formerly Orchard Hills Baptist Church) in Garland. The memorial service is scheduled at 1 p.m. on Jan. 20, also in Morgan Chapel.




Obituary: Alicia Havens Curry

Alicia Havens Curry, the wife of one Texas Baptist minister and mother of another, died Jan. 10 in Arlington. She was 68. She was born in Quanah on Feb. 28, 1955, and grew up in Lubbock. On June 1, 1974, she married Danny (Dan) Curry, and she spent her life serving alongside him in ministry. She graduated from Wayland Baptist University and, after many years serving as an educator, earned a master’s degree in school counseling from Dallas Baptist University.  She served 15 years as a guidance counselor to students at Juan Seguin High School in Arlington. She supported her husband through more than 48 years of pastoral ministry, regularly teaching Bible studies and serving in discipleship ministries. She loved music and was deeply involved in music ministry as a part of worship teams, playing piano, and singing in choirs and ensembles. She was preceded in death by her parents, J.A. and Ruth Havens of Lubbock. She is survived by her husband, Dan Curry; son Robin Curry and his wife Jill of Tulsa, Okla.; son Craig Curry and his wife Fallon of Plano; daughter Crystal Williamson and husband Tommy of Mansfield; 10 grandchildren; and her siblings Tommy Havens of North Little Rock, Ark., and Alana Anderson of Belton. Visitation will be 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Jan. 18 at Fielder Church South Oaks Campus in Arlington. A celebration of life service is scheduled at 1 p.m. on Jan. 19 at Fielder Church South Oaks Campus. Memorials may be made in her honor to Texas Baptists, designated to the Center for Ministerial Health.




Pioneering missions storyteller Leland Webb dies at 91

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)—Leland Franklin Webb, a reporter and editor more than three decades at what is now the Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board, died Jan. 8. He was 91.

Webb helped change the face of modern Christian media, ushering in the era of popular techniques to tell the stories of Southern Baptist missionaries and their ministry. His most noted work was as editor of The Commission magazine, where he served 15 years as editor and the previous 17 as a writer/photographer.

Leland Webb

Webb had a vision to use compelling photography with on-the-scene coverage by writers to bring real missions into the home of Southern Baptists, said Mary Jane Welch, who worked under Webb. She recalled this new look was back when Life and other magazines surged in popularity and at a time when modes of communication and travel became more convenient.

“Leland [Webb] brought a contemporary shift with the use of professional photos and writing that breathed life into the details and anecdotes of missions,” said Welch, who eventually became editor of the magazine from 1995 to 2008.

“He envisioned a magazine that would bring international missions alive for a contemporary audience and built a team that could make it happen. It was a fresh take on the day-to-day life of missionaries.”

In a 2008 interview, Webb said the idea at the time was for artisans to bring the professional quality of their work together, and their primary goal was to portray the rich and varied story of missions with honesty and passion.

The photos and stories did more than show accountability of how Cooperative Program and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering funds were spent. The powerful media spurred on a generation of Southern Baptists to delve deeper as their concern and knowledge for missions heightened.

Magazine inspired Baptists to give and go

Because of The Commission magazine, “many advocates of missions bowed their heads in prayer and reached into pocket or purse to give extra dollars,” Webb said in the 2008 interview.

According to Webb’s 1993 research, the stories and photos also played a part in many seeking missionary service. Close to 46 percent of career missionaries said The Commission magazine gave them an avenue to explore this calling, sometimes even igniting a passion for a specific people group or area of the world.

For Dan and Carol Hylden, The Commission magazine was definitely part of their missions calling.

“While living in Alaska, we were feeling called to ‘foreign’ missions in 1982,” Carol remembered. “We looked through The Commission magazine and found a contact number [for the IMB]. We are now emeriti after 33 years with the IMB.”

IMB President Paul Chitwood remembered Webb as someone who always helped inspire Southern Baptists to know about their mission work around the world.

The Commission magazine was a great tool for motivating and inspiring Southern Baptists,” Chitwood said. “In his role as editor, Leland Webb always helped ensure that was the case. His contributions to the IMB and to the kingdom are remembered with deep gratitude.”

Through the years, The Commission magazine garnered national awards alongside National Geographic, Newsweekand Life. These honors, however, did not encapsulate Webb or his contributions to kingdom work, those who knew him recalled. To Webb, stories of missionaries and local believers around the world served as a testament to how God continually works through his people.

Webb traveled as a reporter and photographer to more than 35 countries. He also wrote two mission study books, How in this World and Cultivating for Tomorrow.

A native of McAlester, Okla., Webb graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. He served as a supply preacher on top of his full-time job and spoke in hundreds of churches in Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia, including a few revivals.

He was a member of Lakeside Baptist Church in Henrico, Va., since 1964, where he served as a trustee, deacon, assistant moderator and, for the last 40 years, as teacher of a men’s Sunday Bible study class.

After retiring from the IMB in 1995, Webb learned to play saxophone and became a member of several area bands. He also contributed 3,100 hours as a volunteer for Henrico County Police Division.

His wife, Geneva, died Aug. 30, 2021, three days after their 67th anniversary. He is survived by two children, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.




Obituary: Rosalind Idalia Ray

Rosalind Idalia Ray, worship leader and pastor’s wife, died Jan. 1 at her home in Fairy, near Hico. She was 83. She was born Dec. 3, 1940, in Vinita, Okla., to Vernon and Isy Weaver. She and Bob Ray married on Dec. 22, 1960, in Wichita, Kan. She faithfully served Fairy Baptist Church 58 years as worship leader alongside her pastor-husband. She loved sharing the love of Christ with everyone, especially children, and leading worship each Sunday with the church choir and directing both Easter and Christmas cantatas. She often said she felt blessed to teach her women’s Bible class each Sunday. She and her husband served the Texas Baptist Bivocational Small Church Minister and Spouse Association more than 35 years, ministering to small-church pastors and their families to encourage and equip them in ministry. She worked seven years for the Baptist General Convention of Texas. She served on the Burleson City Council seven years before moving to Fairy in 2001. She was preceded in death by a sister, Marilyn Mueller. She is survived by her husband of 63 years, Bob; sons Bob Ray III and wife Johanna of Fairy, Richard Ray and wife Monica of Fairy, and Matt Ray and wife Tiffany of Cleburne; brothers Vernon Weaver of Wichita, Kan., and Bob Weaver of Las Cruces, N.M.; seven grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. Memorial gifts can be made to Fairy Baptist Church.




Obituary: Chad James Selph

Chad James Selph, pastor of First Baptist Church in Allen, died Dec. 16 following a three-year battle with neuroendocrine tumor cancer. He was 62. He was born Oct. 8, 1961, to Bill and Edith Selph in Victoria. He made his profession of faith in Christ at age 8 and was baptized at Northside Baptist Church in Victoria. After graduating from Victoria High School, he attended Victoria College before transferring to Hardin-Simmons University, where he met his future wife Rhonda. They married in 1985 while he was working on a Master of Divinity degree at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He took his first full-time ministry position as associate pastor at Bowles Memorial Baptist Church in Grand Prairie and after graduating from seminary, he first became associate pastor at Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene and later was called as senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Stamford. He became senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Allen in 1997, where he served until his death. During his years of service in Allen, he completed dozens of mission trips around the world, led the church through three building campaigns, and served church members in all stages of life. Even in the later stages of his cancer, he continued to preach, serve and minister to his congregation. During his final days of life, he continued to say the one thing he was most grateful for was the hope that can be found in Jesus. He is survived by his wife of 37 years Rhonda; son Austin Selph and his wife Kathryn of Plano; daughter Lauren Selph of Amarillo; granddaughter Jillian of Plano; parents Bill and Edith Selph of Hot Springs, Ark.; and sister Gail Daigle of Aiken, S.C. A celebration of life is scheduled at 2 p.m. Jan. 13 at First Baptist Church in Allen.




Evangelist Junior Hill dies at age 87

HARTSELLE, Ala. (BP)—Junior Hill, a sought-after evangelist among Southern Baptists for more than 50 years, died Jan. 3 at his home in Hartselle, Ala. He was 87.

Hill conducted more than 1,800 revivals and preached at pastors’ conferences, state conventions and evangelism meetings across the country. He also spoke in various camp meeting, seminary and college settings and engaged in numerous overseas campaigns.

In 1989, he was elected as first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention at the SBC annual meeting in Las Vegas. The first of his many messages at the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference was in 1981 in Los Angeles.

In his 2005 autobiography, They Call Him Junior, Hill noted that the “most delightful joy of life on the road is the overwhelming honor of seeing so many precious souls come to faith in Christ.”

Yet, he never tallied the number of professions of faith during his 68-plus years of ministry, writing, “Only the dear Lord in heaven knows those facts, and I am perfectly content to await his final report.”

Hill entered full-time evangelism in 1967, after 11 years in pastorates at three Alabama churches and one in rural Mississippi.

At the Alabama Baptist Pastors Conference in November 2021, Hill was honored with the inaugural Fred Wolfe Lifetime Pastoral Ministry Award, named for a longtime Mobile-area pastor and former president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference who had died from COVID-19 complications earlier in the year.

Hill’s rise to SBC-wide recognition began with his preaching at the 1980 Alabama Baptist Pastors Conference when he met Bailey Smith, who had been elected SBC president in June. Smith subsequently invited Hill to preach at his church in Del City, Okla., and at the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma’s evangelism conference.

The invitation to the 1981 Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference was extended by its president, Jim Henry, then-pastor of First Baptist Church in Orlando, Fla., who had been one of Hill’s classmates at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Soon came invitations to preach to additional thousands at the Texas Baptist Evangelism Conference and First Baptist Church in Dallas, followed in the mid-1980s by the annual evangelism conference of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla.

Ministered to pastors

From the outset, Hill promised never to preach about money and never to solicit funding from any church member after a revival. Widely known as a “pastor to pastors,” that dimension of Hill’s ministry emerged from the trauma of being fired in 1962 as pastor of the Mississippi church he had led for 18 months while a seminary student.

Asked during a men’s Sunday School class whether Black visitors should be welcomed, Hill said all churches should be open to anyone regardless of race or color. He then noticed “a strange somberness in some of their faces.”

The church’s deacons voted mid-week to fire Hill, who didn’t learn about the action until returning the following Saturday.

“I can still remember how humiliating it was to walk past those laughing men, go back to the car, and sadly tell Carole what had happened to us,” Hill wrote in his autobiography.

Yet, “one of the sweetest and most far reaching of all the lessons God taught me … was the importance of loving his preachers,” Hill wrote.

Hill recounted that “after having my own heart so deeply crushed and broken, I immediately began to sympathize with other pastors who were going through similar dark valleys. … I wrote them letters, called them on the phone, and went out of my way to befriend and encourage them. … I sensed that they knew I loved them, understood how they felt, and that I was not talking down to them nor accusing them of failure.”

Even before his first sermon in April 1955, Hill had sensed a call to evangelism since coming to faith in Christ a year earlier. Nearly 19 years old and the youngest of five children, he set forth 18 points “with a pitiful absence of Biblical content,” as he described it.

Even so, his parents, William Lawton and Fannie Velma Hill, who had never talked about God in their home, responded to the invitation to turn to Christ, as did his older sister, Ruth.

Hill, whose given name was William Junior Hill, wrote 20 books largely of anecdotes and lessons from his ministry. After graduating from Samford University in Birmingham where he played two years of football, he earned a Master of Divinity degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 1962, later receiving an honorary doctorate from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.

Hill calculated for his 2005 autobiography that he had been on the road 20-plus years, accepting 40 to 42 engagements a year. He regularly returned home each week, and he called daily, sending the family’s phone bill soaring.

His wife Carole never downplayed the challenges that she, their daughter Melanie and son Mark faced over the years, but once wrote to an aspiring evangelist, “… were it not for the hand of God constantly holding our right hand, we could not have made it. The blessings far outweigh any trouble, heartache and inconvenience we’ve encountered.”

In addition to his wife of 66 years and two children, Hill is survived by five grandchildren.




Obituary: Anson Rainey Nash

Anson Rainey Nash Jr., school administrator and longtime executive director of Corpus Christi Area Baptist Association, died Dec. 11. He was 83. He was born Sept. 11, 1940, to Anson Rainey Nash and Clara May Nash in Wharton and grew up in Eagle Lake. He graduated from the University of Corpus Christi and Texas A&I University in Kingsville. He was a classroom teacher in the Corpus Christi Independent School District six and a half years before becoming a school principal. He was asked to start the Chula Vista Academy of Fine Arts and became the school’s first principal in 1977. He served as music minister, youth director or associate pastor for several churches, including Padre Island Baptist Church and Lexington Baptist Church. He was executive director of Corpus Christi Area Baptist Association for 15 years. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Linda Nash; daughter Rhonda Tumlinson and husband Gary of Corpus Christi; grandson Kaiser Creek of Corpus Christi; and sisters Mary Stoddard of Frisco and Claire McNair of McKinney. Memorial gifts can be made to Sammy Tippit Ministries, P.O. Box 700368, San Antonio, TX 78270 or to Stark College and Seminary, 7000 Ocean Drive Corpus Christi, TX 78412.