Missions has been foundation’s focus for quarter-century

DALLAS—Twenty-five years ago, Texas Baptists sensed God calling them to a task like none other they’d undertaken. The state’s population was exploding and diversifying. Evangelism efforts weren’t keeping pace with growth. In fact, they were losing ground, leaving a growing non-Christian population.

Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Director Bill Pinson felt something drastic had to be done to reach the state and called on Texas Baptists to be more missions-minded than ever before, aiming to start 2,000 churches in five years and triple giving to the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions two consecutive years.

To accomplish the goal would take Texas Baptists working together. It also took the creation of something new—something that hasn’t yet been replicated by any other state Baptist convention. The Texas Baptist Missions Foundation was born.

That creation plays as vital role today as it did 25 years ago, Pinson said during a recent event commemorating the group’s anniversary.

Pinson believed individual Baptists—young and old, rich and poor—had resources they wanted to use to expand God’s kingdom beyond giving to the Cooperative Program, but they lacked the mechanism to use those resources in a way that would accomplish that goal.

Pinson tapped Bill Arnold, who at the time was serving in the convention’s Sunday school division, and Fred Roach, president of a home-building company, to establish an entity that would accept financial contributions of all sizes, estate gifts and in-kind donations of any type and use those gifts to expand God’s kingdom.

“No one had ever done this before,” Pinson said. “We were in uncharted waters.”

The missions foundation has strengthened the work of Baptist Student Ministries, which help students like this one serving in Juarez to grow spiritually and serve locally and around the world.

In all, using a variety of techniques, including many personal visits, church meetings and an initiative to find “God’s 200,” each of whom would give $15,000 for three years, Texas Baptists contributed more than $22 million to the Mary Hill Davis Offering in 1985-1986, short of the “triple-triple” goal, but enough to start more than 2,000 congregations.

From that point, Texas Baptists understood the importance of the missions foundation. The foundation diversified its efforts, taking in a wide variety of donations and supporting an even wider array of Texas Baptist ministries.

In the next two decades, the missions foundation raised money for Texas Baptist Men’s burgeoning disaster relief ministry, Baptist Student Ministries, River Ministry, BGCT-affiliated institution efforts, Christian Women’s Job Corps, evangelistic block party trailers and medical needs for orphans in Mexico, among other projects.

But the foundation’s staple cause has remained church-starting. It particularly has been instrumental in helping launch the more than 135 cowboy churches across the state. These churches now account for about 10 percent of Texas Baptist baptisms each year, and roughly 70 percent of the new Christians baptized in cowboy churches are adults.

In the process of helping these ministries, the foundation has accepted gifts as small as $1 and as large as $2 million. Some estate gifts have been even larger. People have given recreational vehicles, houses and recently, more than $180,000 in sewing equipment. No matter the size or what it is, the foundation finds a way to use it for God’s purposes, said Arnold, president of the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation.

In 25 years, the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation has helped start church across the state, including cowboy churches.

Arnold believes the foundation is more than a fundraising entity; he view it as a connecting agent that brings together resources with people who need them.

“Just having the money doesn’t get the job done,” he said. “Having all the money in the world doesn’t start a church, doesn’t reach lost along the border without the people and prayer resources the BGCT brings to the table.

“The foundation has helped start lots and lots of churches. There will be people in heaven who may not have been there if those churches had not been started. There will be students reached because a BSM was strengthened.”

Roach believes the foundation’s work will continue to be a vital part of Texas Baptists’ future. Funds raised by the foundation help supplement money provided through the BGCT Cooperative Program. They help Texas Baptist accomplish tasks like “Mission Texas” 25 years ago and the current Texas Hope 2010 emphasis. So far, the foundation has raised more than $800,000 for the effort to share the gospel with every Texan by Easter 2010.

To give through the missions foundation, visit www.bgct.org/give or call (800) 558-8263.