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LAREDO—Lorenzo Ortiz, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Emmanuel in Laredo, believes God opened his eyes to the needs of vulnerable people and led him to minister to immigrants in his South Texas border city and its sister city across the Rio Grande.

Since 2017, Ortiz has ministered to immigrants—first working with Cubans in Nuevo Laredo and more recently with undocumented Mexican immigrants who are being deported from the United States.

He works alongside his family—particularly his daughter, Ruth, and his sister, Micaela—as well as his church and other congregations in Laredo and neighboring Nuevo Laredo.

Ministering to Cubans in Nuevo Laredo

Evangelism training Texas Baptists provided in Laredo a few years ago opened his eyes to ways he could share the gospel, Ortiz said.

When President Obama ended the ‘wet foot, dry foot’ policy, which gave permanent residency to any Cubans who reached American soil, many Cubans instead sought to enter the United States through Mexico.

A dozen churches in Nuevo Laredo provided lodging to Cubans in their sanctuaries and fed their guests breakfast and lunch each day. They included four Baptist congregations, with whom Ortiz worked.

Caring for deported immigrants

Now, Ortiz is seeking to minister to undocumented Mexican immigrants who are being deported from the United States.

“Laredo is the border town from where 60 percent of immigrants are deported, and that number will increase,” Ortiz said.

“It is already difficult for us to provide shelter and food for all of the people. We are not ready to receive more people who are going to be deported.”

More than 150 newly deported immigrants enter Nuevo Laredo every day, and it can take a couple of days for them to find a way back home, Ortiz noted.

Most of the Nuevo Laredo churches that ministered to Cuban immigrants now are helping care for deported immigrants. The churches often provide assistance to more than 300 deportees each day, Ortiz said.

Ortiz finds lodging for immigrants, helps deportees obtain documents, and connects them with agencies that can help them go back to their home state.

Incarnational evangelism

But he sees his service as more than social action. He views it as incarnational evangelism—being with people in their suffering, their search for hope and their longing for justice.

“This is what evangelism should be like. It should have an impact on people’s lives,” Ortiz said. “There is a difference between impacting lives and just giving them information about the gospel.”

Just as people have left their home, family and possessions in order to search for hope, the church also must imitate Christ and walk with people in their search for hope, he said.

Texas Baptists’ River Ministry has committed to provide funding assistance and kitchen appliances so churches have better equipment to prepare the food they serve. First Baptist Church in Missouri City, near Houston, also provides financial support.

But the congregations along the border still need more help, especially if the number of deportees is going to increase, Ortiz said.

Processing facilities in Laredo area

Ortiz begins his ministry to deportees when they arrive at two Laredo-area facilities, the Laredo Processing Center and the Rio Grande Detention Center—both operated by private companies.

In a report released in mid-December, the office of the inspector general in the Department of Homeland Security pointed to serious problems discovered in four of the five facilities where they performed unannounced inspections.

Although the Laredo Processing Center received high marks from the inspector general’s office, some others were cited for inappropriate treatment of detainees and delayed medical care—including one Georgia facility operated by the Laredo center’s parent company, CoreCivic.

GEO Group, parent company of the Rio Grande Detention Center, faces class action lawsuits for alleged mistreatment of detainees at a Colorado facility and federal civil rights complaints regarding abuse at some other facilities.

In last year’s report, the office of inspector general recommended U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement improve its oversight of detention facility management and operations after hearing concerns from immigration rights groups and complaints from detainees.

“CoreCivic is deeply committed to providing a safe, humane and appropriate environment for those entrusted to our care, while also delivering cost-effective solutions to the challenges our government partners face,” said Jonathan Burns, the company’s director of public affairs. “We work in close coordination with our partners at ICE to ensure the well-being of the detainees at our ICE-contracted detention facilities.”

ICE detention service managers who work full-time at facilities including Laredo Processing Center “have unfettered access to the facility and detainees, and report independently to ICE headquarters,” Burns added.

Ortiz noted he has heard reports from detainees at the Rio Grande Detention Center regarding their poor treatment at the facility. GEO Group did not respond when contacted by the Baptist Standard for comment.

‘They feel cast off’

Once deportees are dropped off at the border, they cross over to Mexico and stop at the Instituto Tamaulipeco para los Migrantes , Tamaulipan Institute for Migrants. At that Mexican state agency, Ortiz seeks to make sure the deportees have clothing, food and hygiene items when they try to journey home.

“When they go across the border, they feel ruined. They feel cast off,” Ortiz observed.

Many times, going back to the state they left means returning to nothing, Ortiz said. Their families are no longer there, they no longer have a home, and they return as outsiders.

“The church has to be responsible for what happens in the community,” Ortiz said. “We are the ones who have to present solutions to the problems people have.”

If people feel they are in a dark place, the church has a responsibility to be the light of Christ, he insisted.

Needs are great, and a limited number of churches are seeking to respond with severely limited resources, Ortiz noted. The congregations trust in God to bless their efforts, he added.

“God is the one that plants the seed, and God is the one who gives it growth,” he said.

Ortiz challenged additional congregations to become involved in ministry to deported immigrants.

“All they have to do is go outside and see the need around them,” he said.

As the church grows closer God, it also cares more and more for other’s circumstances, Ortiz said. He points to the words of Jesus in Matthew 25 as his guide—ministry to the most vulnerable, people with whom Christ identifies.

“We realize God is not working in our ministries but that we are working in God’s ministry.” Ortiz said.

HULL—When Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas Gulf Coast last year, rain began falling in Hull—an unincorporated community about 40 miles northwest of Beaumont—on Friday, Aug. 25.

By Sunday night, water began to invade homes and buildings, compromising the town’s safety. The rain didn’t stop until Wednesday, and the community was paralyzed until Thursday. Fear and heartache remained long after.

Like many congregations in similar circumstances, First Baptist Church in Hull immediately began to respond to needs throughout Liberty County.

“We were focusing on people in their homes here,” Pastor John Guedry said. “When people who already in the last days of August didn’t know if they would be able to afford rent for September 1 and didn’t know where their last few days of groceries would come from, we wanted to keep these realities in mind and at the forefront of what we were doing.”

First Baptist coordinated numerous volunteers, not only from their own congregation, but also from several other churches around the community.

“Broken relationships from years past went by the wayside, and people have jumped back in to work hand in hand with us,” Guedry said.

In the first week after the hurricane hit, First Baptist served more than 1,700 hot meals and distributed 500 loads of supplies all in a town of 600 people. Churches around the state, food vendors, willing individuals and organizations helped make the ministry possible.

Green Acres provides assistance

However, First Baptist needed assistance making repairs to its own building. Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, three hours away, provided the help, working through Texas Baptists’ Church2Church partnership.

“I got a call from Dale Pond, missions minister at Green Acres, and he said they had contacted Texas Baptists to find a church that they could partner with,” Guedry said.

Representatives of the Church2Church partnership office put Green Acres in touch with Ernest Dagohoy, the Baptist General Convention of Texas area representative for Southeast Texas, who already had visited First Baptist in Hull.

“Dagohoy walked through our facilities and was able to tell Green Acres what we were doing in our community, and it fit what they were looking for,” Guedry said.

“Pond contacted me, and then the next day, I got a phone call from David Dykes, pastor of Green Acres, confirming that they would be partnering with us. They collected information, photos and stories from me. They showed a presentation to their church making the partnership official.”

A few weeks later, 20 volunteers from Green Acres arrived in Hull to help First Baptist distribute remaining donated items, assess the damage of both the church and the community, and begin making plans.

That same weekend, students from Green Acres’ college ministry helped finish demolition work at the church.

Encouragement in a dark time

A few weeks later, volunteers from the student ministry and singles ministry at Green Acres helped hold a Second Chance Initiative event for the community that included bounce houses and face painting for children and an outdoor praise service. The volunteers from Green Acres focused on both the physical and spiritual needs of community members in Hull.

“Things were looking pretty deep and dark there for a little while,” Guedry said. “The willingness of Green Acres was, if anything, the encouragement to keep pressing on.”

Once demolition was completed at First Baptist, Green Acres sent experienced construction volunteers to Hull.

Green Acres also moved its shower unit to the parking lot at First Baptist to serve the needs of volunteers and others working in the community.

The church members at First Baptist in Hull “have been a blessing to work with,” said Andria Horton, missions special projects coordinator at Green Acres.

“Every team returns home with glowing reports on the hospitality of the church members, who provide guidance and meals for the team members,” Horton said.

The Bible commands Christians to care for fellow believers and support them in times of need, she stressed.

“It is a blessing that we can give back in our time of surplus and help rebuild Hull into a stronger community,” she said.

Based on his church’s experience, Guedry emphasized the importance of churches being proactive about disaster relief and recovery.

“There are going to always be crises, disasters and needs somewhere near you and somewhere around the world,” he said. “Begin now thinking of the terms of the basic Christian responsibility to respond—to let no one in need go without when we have much. If we have something, we can’t let someone else go without it. Be ready and active and have a plan in place.”

The East Texas Baptist University baseball team traveled to the Dominican Republic before Christmas to lead sports clinics for children, work on neighborhood renewal projects and share the gospel.

The Tigers also played four games—two against Dominican winter league teams and two facing Dominican national teams.

Fifty-one student athletes participated through the Tiger Athletic Mission Experience program, an ETBU initiative designed to allow students to use athletic talents as a platform to connect with people and share the gospel of Jesus globally.

“Watching Dylan Sumpter share the gospel with the D.R. Naval Academy made me realize that it can be as simple as a game of baseball to bring people closer to Christ,” ETBU junior Kepen Florence said.

“I have been reminded what it looks like to play for the love of the game. Throughout the trip, I was humbled because the people of the D.R. do not complain about their circumstances. They were welcoming and always had a smile on their faces. I was blessed to serve in the Dominican Republic.”

The Tigers experienced local culture as they toured the downtown colonial area of Santo Domingo. They learned the history of Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the Americas and the settling of Espanola. They also visited the Fort de Ozama on the Ozama River and spent time in the downtown Spanish cathedral.

Following the excursion, the ETBU team competed in Boca Chica against Los Caneros, a team in the Dominican league.

“After the game, Blaine Parker shared his testimony and our appreciation for allowing us to play against them,” ETBU freshman James Veloff said. “A member of Los Caneros shared with us about his journey in baseball and how we should play the game the right way.

“After dinner, we attended a local church, Iglesias Fe’ Apostolica, where Tiger Infielder Jesse Burns gave a challenging sermon to the congregation from Romans 1:15-17. It was a great experience to witness how the Dominican culture worships the Lord.”

The ETBU baseball team conducted two-hour youth baseball clinics in Boca Chica and Gautier that involved more than 100 children. The clinics consisted of 10 stations, including hitting drills, ground balls, fly balls and a presentation of the gospel.

“It was an absolute joy to watch our Tiger Baseball players serve the people of Dominican Republic,” said Ryan Erwin, ETBU vice president for athletics. “To have a group of student athletes give up part of their Christmas break to travel to a Third World country and use the sport of baseball to impact the kingdom shows what type of dedicated Christian players we have at ETBU. The coaching staff and I were blessed to be able to observe the guys outside of their comfort zone to use their talents in baseball to teach others about Christ.”

The trip to the Dominican Republic was the third TAME project. Head Coach Cameron Burger will take the ETBU bass fishing team to Brazil Jan. 3-12. The team will live on a boat 10 days as they travel along the Amazon River, stopping at various villages to fish and minister to the people. For more information on TAME, click here.

AUSTIN—Licensed handgun owners can pack pistols at church unless congregations post notice they are banned, according to a Dec. 21 opinion from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

In his written opinion, Paxton stated licensed handgun owners legally can carry loaded weapons into churches unless the congregations explicitly prohibit them.

“If a church decides to exclude the concealed or open carrying of handguns on the premises of church property, it may provide the requisite notice, thereby making it an offense for a license holder to carry a handgun on those premises,” Paxton wrote.

“However, churches may instead decide not to provide notice and to allow the carrying of handguns on their premises. Unless a church provides effective oral or written notice prohibiting the carrying of handguns on its property, a license holder may carry a handgun onto the premises of church property as the law allows.”

Churches that hold their worship services in leased or rented property may be subject to contractual agreements between the congregation and the property owner, he noted.

“Thus, to the extent a church operates on property other than its own, it should consult with the owner of the property to determine the extent to which it may prohibit or allow the carrying of handguns on the premises of such property,” he wrote.

Kathryn Freeman, director of public policy for the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission, noted churches that choose to ban weapons on their premises still are free to do so, but they need to post clearly visible signs in accordance with Texas Penal Code 30.06 and 30.07. For guidance on proper signage, click here.

“Churches who have posted signs are not affected by this opinion,” Freeman said. “Every church has different needs, and whether to ban weapons remains a local church decision.”

Church security exempt from fees

Paxton also ruled churches that create volunteer security teams are exempt from state fees normally required of private institutions with their own security forces,

Texas lawmakers passed SB 2065, providing an exemption to the Private Security Act for volunteer church security teams, because some religious groups asserted the fees imposed a significant financial burden on small-membership congregations.

“The regulations of the Private Security Act, including the fees required thereunder, do not apply to Texas churches when providing volunteer security services” consistent with pertinent sections of the state’s Occupations Code, Paxton stated.

Paxton issued the opinion at the request of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who sent a letter to the attorney general Dec. 1 seeking clarification regarding handguns on church property and a waiver of private security fees for churches.

Patrick asked the attorney general to expedite his responses “so that churches may know what legal options they have to improve security” in the aftermath of the Nov. 5 shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs.

AUSTIN—A conservative Southern Baptist pastor from Austin joined other community leaders from around Texas in urging Congress to pass permanent legislation as soon as possible to benefit Dreamers—young people brought to the United States as children.

Tim Moore, pastor of Walk Worthy Baptist Church in Austin, a congregation affiliated with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, participated in the Texas Support for Dreamers call to Congress Dec. 19.

Others included Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and Liz Cedillo-Pereira, director of the Dallas Office of Welcoming Communities and Foreign Affairs.

The Trump administration announced in September the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program would end in March 2018. The program protects about 800,000 individuals, said Jacinta Ma, director of policy and advocacy for the National Immigration Forum.

‘Out of the shadows’

“They did what the government asked them to do,” Moore said. “They came out of the shadows and have contributed $5 billion a year to the economy.”

DACA allowed children of undocumented workers to step forward, but failure to implement new laws that would allow them to stay in the United States would send them back into the dark, Acevedo said. That would damage the relationship immigrant communities have with law enforcement, he noted.

Legalized immigration status helps state and local law enforcement to know residents better, and that allows public safety officers to operate more efficiently, he asserted.

“The very vast majority of DACA recipients are law-abiding and successful people who came to this nation as children and, but for their birthplace, are American through and through,” Acevedo said.

Contributions to U.S. emphasized

Without immigration reform, the United States will be the loser, said Cedillo-Pereira. That’s why Congress needs to act now, she added.

Increasing numbers of Dreamers lose their hope of staying in the country every day Congress does not pass a new immigration reform, participants in the call insisted.

Because Dreamers see themselves as Americans, speak English as their main language and contribute to the economy, Moore believes they should stay in the country.

“If there is anyone who deserves this, it is the DACA recipients,” he said.

Moore is not alone in that opinion. A CNN poll released this month shows 83 percent of Americans support letting Dreamers stay in the country. That includes 68 percent of self-identified conservatives.

Moore believes without Dreamers, the unemployment rate would increase drastically, and the economy would not be as robust.

Five percent of DACA recipients have started their own businesses, and it increases to 8 percent for those who are 25 years or older. For the U.S. population as a whole, the figure is 3.1 percent.

Need for immigration reform

U.S. immigration laws are outdated and need to be updated—not only to provide better border security, but also so capable individuals, many of whom have given so much to the country already, can stay in the United States and work for its betterment, officials with the National Immigration Forum maintain.

Reform would involve fixing a broken work visa system, which currently does not account for the needed number of workers, nor is subject to the changes of economic growth, advocates insist.

The process is so time-consuming and expensive to obtain agricultural and temporary work visas, employers choose not to go through the hassle and instead bring in workers with no permit to work, they note.

Moore addressed the projected demographic changes, in which non-Anglos will make up more than 50 percent of the U.S. population by 2050.

“In 25 years, we will live in a much different Texas. It will even be a much different United States,” he said.

Guided by the Bible, not politics

The same thing will be said about the church in the United States, Moore said, and he believes that is why Christians need to act now.

“Christ laid out the criteria for the separation of the sheep and the goats,” he said. “That criteria is how you treat the least of these.”

On the basis of his work with the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Evangelical Immigration Table, Moore thinks Congress is getting closer to reforming immigration laws.

Republicans might be ready, Moore noted, but how far they will go depends on Democrats agreeing to increased border security.

However, he emphasized the importance of change beginning in the hearts of individuals. In particular, Christians need to allow God to reform their attitudes toward “those who are different than themselves,” he said.

“Be guided by the teaching of God’s word, rather than by the divisiveness of our politics,” Moore said.

The Bible illustrates how the people of God always are on the move, he noted. So, it is not surprising to see people move to the United States from countries plagued by war, famine and drug violence, he asserted.

After the command to worship God, the command most repeated in Scripture is to welcome the stranger, Moore observed.

“It is clear to me what we have to do here,” he said.

WESLACO—In a town of 50,000 with two high schools, rivalries run deep. But one thing united Weslaco High School and Weslaco East High School—student athletes’ desire for Joe Aguilar to pray with them.

Aguilar was youth pastor nine years at First Baptist Church in Weslaco, before he became pastor of the church’s Spanish-language congregation in 2016.

Several years ago, a member of the football team at Weslaco High School asked Aguilar if he would pray with his team before their games. Before long, members of the Weslaco East team extended him the same invitation.

After that, Aguilar said, other sports teams asked, “What about us?”

Aguilar can’t remember exactly when he started praying with the high school teams, but he knows his willingness has opened doors of opportunity for expanded ministry.

Availability creates opportunities

“If you make yourself available to the schools, they will take you up on that offer,” he said.

Now, Aguilar coordinates with coaches to visit with students during training. After training, he sometimes leads Bible studies off-campus, attended by the majority of the athletes.

Student athletes also have asked him to help coordinate convocations where students share their Christian testimonies and worship together.

“I am on campus two to three times a week,” Aguilar said.

He understands “being there” for students, means he has to be available when the unexpected happens. For example, because school administrators and coaches know how much students trust Aguilar, they have called on him to offer support when students are dealing with difficulties, such as the death of a respected faculty member.

“A couple of my kids have gone through personal issues, and they feel comfortable talking to him,” said Griselda Fino, Weslaco High School girls’ basketball coach.

Sometimes Aguilar can talk to athletes about issues they may not share with her, Fino said.

Coaches are glad to be able to call on Aguilar, because they know their players have lives beyond the field of competition.

“The coaches know there has to be character in the lives of the students,” Aguilar said. “Otherwise, the team is not going to work.”

Relating to rivals

Since Aguilar started working with student athletes, he insists he has seen students become better people—and to learn how to relate to their athletic rivals.

Teams from both high schools in Weslaco—concerned about trouble the longstanding rivalry between their schools might spark—called on Aguilar to help them promote positive competition and “prevent bad blood,” he said.

Aguilar met with both teams several times to foster harmony, and on the morning of the game, he attended a “Breakfast of Champions” with both teams.

On game night, players from both teams came out together with arms around each other.

“You could have heard a pin drop when they came out together,” Aguilar said.

Fans were shocked by the harmony both teams showed, he added.

Aguilar has a special way of connecting with people, Fino said, but she notes other people could imitate his service to the students.

“Something like an outreach program with coaches would be helpful,” she said.

Coaches interact with students who are going through a lot, she noted. Anyone who could help coaches understand how to communicate better would be offering a valuable service, she said.

“I have seen my students go through everything,” Fino said. “It would be nice if we had direction on how to relate with students who are going through difficulties.”

For Aguilar, working with students and coaches is not about pursuing a personal agenda. It’s about being available to meet needs.

“You have to serve in whatever way they need,” he said.

BURNET—As a songwriter, singer and pastor, Matthew Butter realizes the importance of crafting songs with rich theological truths to connect future generations with the gospel message.

In performances ranging from coffee shops to concert venues, his goal remains the same—to point people where they can find the truth.

‘Called to share my stories’

While keeping a busy schedule and sharing the gospel in a variety of settings, Butter is able to reach people with messages of Christ’s love and forgiveness in unexpected ways.

“I have always felt called to share my stories with others to inspire, encourage and motivate people to a closer relationship with God and the people they encounter through their lives,” said Butter, pastor of Hoover Valley Baptist Church in Burnet.

One of his most meaningful experiences occurred while performing at a secular venue, when God presented him with an opportunity to bring hope and healing to a family in need.

“One evening, I was playing at a venue in Wimberley and met this young boy who was 10 years old and had just found out he lost his uncle to cancer,” Butter recalled.

“I was able to comfort him and encouraged him to remember the good times they had together. … I was able to minister to his family in a place that was not a church, camp or retreat center. It was a live music venue/restaurant, but God showed up and spoke through me that night, and it was a special night to remember.”

Grew up in church

Growing up, Butter witnessed firsthand the importance and influence of ministering within the local community. His father served as a youth minister for 10 years and now serves as the pastor of Crosspoint Fellowship in Pleasanton.

“We were literally at church every time the doors were open because we had the keys,” Butter said.

“My mom grew up singing in family bands all over Texas and playing country music in restaurants and clubs. When my parents were led to the ministry, my mom started leading worship for our youth group on Wednesday nights.”

Butter played tenor saxophone seven years in a school band, and his mother taught him to play guitars. He also sang in the church choir and performed in musicals.

“In junior high, I started writing poetry and really enjoyed words and how to make a story come together or evoke an emotion in meter and rhyme,” he said. “When I started playing guitar, I put those lyrics to melodies and started writing songs, performing in churches, camps, retreats and leading worship for our youth group and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes where I was a member and later became the president of our local chapter.

“When I went to Baylor University, I continued leading worship during FCA meetings, as well the college praise team at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church and eventually the youth ministry program at Baylor.”

After attending Baylor University and receiving his undergraduate degree from Tarleton State University, Butter went on to pursue his master’s degree from Truett Theological Seminary, which deepened his desire to encourage and equip others with strong, biblical truths through spoken word and songs.

‘People are really what it’s all about’

With a desire to reach audiences with the message behind the music, Butter is raising funds in hopes of recording his first full-length album and also looking for innovative platforms to combine the unique gifts he believes God has given him through music, preaching, teaching and writing.

Wherever the journey takes him, Butter looks forward to seeing how God will open doors and bring people into his path with the purpose of sharing the gospel message.

“I love sharing music that entertains, inspires and comforts people,” Butter said. “People are really what it is all about—meeting them, listening to them, hearing their stories—along with sharing my faith through song and spoken word. God has been teaching me to trust in him and not seek my own way around things to shortcut his plan.”

SAN ANGELO—More than 400 students at a San Angelo elementary school will have a merry Christmas this year, thanks to members of nearby Calvary Baptist Church.

More than six years ago, when Calvary Baptist was filling shoeboxes with small toys for Operation Christmas Child, a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse, some members suggested the congregation pack a few extra shoeboxes for children locally.

“That first year, we took 15 or 20 boxes to Bradford Elementary School,” Pastor Bobby Roger said. “The next year, it was about 100 boxes. But the teachers had to pick and choose which students received them. So, we decided, why not do it for every kid in the school?”

Annual ministry grows

Calvary Baptist launched Operation Bradford Child as an annual ministry to the predominantly Hispanic elementary school, where 80 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced lunches based on family income.

The needs of the students at the school became clear to Roger early, when one of his church members suggested including a toothbrush and toothpaste in each child’s gift package.

“I wasn’t so sure about that until one little girl opened her box, got all excited, held it up and said, ‘Look, I’ve got my own toothbrush,’” he recalled.

The ministry has continued to grow beyond the small gifts capable of fitting inside a shoebox. Now, the school provides Calvary Baptist a list of the numbers of boys and girls by grade level for all 23 classes, and church members provide gender-specific and age-appropriate gift packages for each student.

In addition to toys, each child receives a stocking cap, gloves and a Bible provided by the local Gideons International chapter.

“We turn our fellowship hall into a toy warehouse,” Roger said.

This year, members spent one Wednesday evening sorting donated presents and another Wednesday assembling packages and wrapping them.

“We had two 90-year-old members who were helping,” Roger said. “It’s something everybody can participate in.”

The church budgets $2,000 per year for the ministry that costs about $8,000.

“This year, we didn’t have to spend a dime from our budget,” Roger noted. In addition to donations from the congregation, other members of the community give to Operation Bradford Child.

Members of Calvary Baptist deliver the presents to each classroom, and Roger plays his guitar and leads the students in singing Christmas songs.

“We’ll sing ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘Rudolph,’ and we’ll laugh and cut up with them,” he said.

‘Has to be consistent’

Calvary Baptist’s involvement with Bradford Elementary School began more than 10 years ago when the church began occasionally providing meals for teacher appreciation lunches.

The partnership between the church and the school has continued to grow, with members volunteering to help with carnivals and other special events at the school.

“One thing I’ve learned is that it has to be consistent,” Roger said. “You can’t just be a one-trick-pony. We’ve built a relationship.”

For the last three years, the congregation has provided a back-to-school banquet in August for all the employees at Bradford Elementary—administrators, teachers, cafeteria worker and custodians—and their families.

A Christian country musician entertains, and the church gives away door prizes. Guests in attendance have a chance to participate in a drawing for a flat-screen television, and the church also provides a variety of restaurant gift cards and teacher supplies.

“Everybody gets something,” Roger said.

‘A burden lifted’

Recently, Calvary Baptist presented a check to the school to pay off the past-due school lunch accounts for 47 students, allowing their families to begin the New Year with a clean slate.

“It was only about $350,” Roger said. “It’s not that much for us, but it was a burden lifted from those families.”

While the partnership between the church and the neighborhood school demands consistent attention, the rewards outweigh the effort required—even if that doesn’t translate into people joining the congregation, he insisted.

“It’s not about building our church. It’s about building the kingdom,” he said. “We run about 100 on Sunday morning on a week when everybody shows up. If we can do something like this, any church can.”

LONGVIEW—John Ramsey, age 77, had devoted his life to serving God.

A former pastor who served 45 years in the ministry—27 overseas with the International Mission Board and 18 stateside—Ramsey had led countless people to faith in Christ, bridged cultural boundaries and sacrificed comforts for the sake of the gospel.

Life-changing prayer

Still, after retiring, he sensed his faith growing stale and felt a strong conviction to go deeper.

“I felt that I really didn’t love God as I should,” Ramsey recalled with tears. “So, I began to pray about it, and while praying remembered the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. I began to pray in more of those terms, that I would love God and love my neighbor.”

At the time, Ramsey had no idea that 10 years later, the prayer would lead him to a Vietnamese immigrant, a transplant center and, ultimately, death’s door.

From Southeast Asia to East Texas

Cuong Manh Tran, a Southern Vietnamese naval officer and reeducation camp survivor, escaped to the United States in 1979.

During the seven-day voyage from Vietnam to California, Tran, a Buddhist, surrendered his life to Christ. That commitment led him to Longview, where he was baptized alongside his family and later became pastor of Mobberly Baptist Church’s small Vietnamese congregation.

Soon after taking the role of lead pastor, Tran’s kidneys began failing. For the next 30 years, he would be in and out of medical appointments, on and off medication and eventually relying on 9-hour dialysis treatments each night.

“I wanted more and more people to know the Lord. So, I kept working,” Tran said. “I wanted to find the lost people and bring them back to God.”

When Ramsey met Tran in 2012, he was still serving as pastor but losing strength daily. By 2016, he could no longer work, and doctors placed him on a kidney transplant list.

‘Give him yours’

Ramsey remembers praying for Tran during a daily devotional.

“I was praying for Brother Tran, and it was as if the Lord said: ‘What’s wrong with your kidney? You give him yours.’ And I just knew I had to do this.”

Tran accepted the proposition, but struggled to comprehend his friend’s decision.

“I couldn’t imagine someone giving a part of their body to me,” Tran said. “We had prayed for a kidney, but I thought it would come from someone who had already gone to be with the Lord. God had other plans for me, and he had other plans for John Ramsey—for us to be used for his glory.”

The two began the six-month process to prepare for a transplant. Every two weeks, Ramsey made the trip to Tyler to see different doctors, have more tests and verify the procedure was safe. Aware of the risks, Ramsey still never worried.

“I had the understanding that Lord would close the door if he needed to,” he said.

Complications and another prayer

The morning of the procedure dawned with hopeful certainty. Both surgeries ran smoothly. Tran’s new kidney went to work just as a kidney should. Ramsey even got to go home early.

“Everything went well,” Tran recalled. “Mr. John came by before he went home, and I was very happy to see him. In my mind, everything was good.”

One week after the surgery, however, Ramsey developed serious stomach pains. Emergency room doctors diagnosed him with acute respiratory distress syndrome, a rare condition from which only two percent of patients survive. Even after an emergency surgery, his body began to shut down. Family and friends prepared for the worst.

Tran, still recovering from his own surgery and under doctor’s orders to stay home, was distraught. Helpless, he begged God for his friend’s healing.

“I didn’t know what to do except pray to God for a chance to see each other again, a chance to get on with our lives,” Tran said.

Their prayers were answered, and two weeks later Ramsey was released from intensive care. He had to relearn everything from walking to swallowing during months of physical therapy, but his wife, Ann, said she knew this was all part of God’s plan.

“God didn’t want to just heal one man,” she said with a tearful smile. “He wanted to heal two. He multiplied the miracle.”

‘More than a friend’

Today, both Ramsey and Tran are healthy. Tran is back working at the church occasionally. Ramsey is back enjoying resident activities at Westminster Place. They even spent Thanksgiving together.

“To me, he’s more than a friend,” Tran said. “Before this we were brothers in Christ, but now he’s my brother in life by blood too.”

As the two pastors sat inside the simple double-wide trailer that is the Vietnamese church and shared their story, a red banner with gold-threaded Vietnamese lettering stood behind them.

The words on the banner? “From morning to night, we remember what The Lord gives us.”

WACO—For many, one of the most cherished parts of the holiday season is gathering to sing and listen to Christmas carols. However, a Baylor University expert in black gospel music treasures the rich sounds of Christmas spirituals, which differ from Christmas carols.

“So many of the spirituals are written in what has been performed as and what scholars call the ‘eternal now,’” said Robert Darden, professor of journalism and founder of Baylor’s Black Gospel Music Restoration Project. “If you read the lyrics as they were transcribed, many of them are in the present tense.”

To illustrate his point, Darden referenced the spiritual “Were You There?” Its lyrics read, “It causes me to tremble.”

Since slaves in America were not book educated and struggled with the concept of time, the Bible was a contemporary account of what was going on for them, Darden noted. In their minds, they conflated Abraham in the Bible with Father Abraham Lincoln who was going to free them and associated Harriett Tubman with Moses and the Ohio River with the Jordan River.

Immediacy and power

The powerful resonance in these spirituals is unmatched because of the passion of the people who sang them, Darden said.

“When you hear the Christmas spirituals, you’re hearing people who (believe) this is a real live event,” Darden said. “Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born, not was born. That gives them more of an immediacy and a power than songs that are in the past tense.”

Darden listed eight Christmas spirituals as some of the most influential songs that help him reflect on the true essence of Christmas:

• “Rise Up Shepherd and Follow” from Odetta: Christmas Spirituals.
• “Mary, What You Gonna Call That Pretty Little Baby?” featuring Marion Williams and Princess Stewart from Black Nativity.
• “Sweet Little Jesus Boy” from The Harmonizing Four.
• “Silent Night” by the Mighty Clouds of Joy from A Gospel Christmas Celebration.
• “Christmas Hymn” by Karen Kraft from The Texas Christmas Selection.
• “Go Tell It on the Mountain” by the Mighty Clouds of Joy from The Legendary Groups of Gospel.
• “Joy to the World” featuring Marion Williams and Princess Stewart from Black Nativity.
• “Hallelujah Chorus” by Pastor Donald Alford and the Progressive Radio Choir from A Gospel Family Christmas.

‘In the middle of the Bible story’

Darden also said slaves had a more intimate understanding of the nativity story because they identified with the conditions into which Christ was born. They understood what it was like to come from a foreign land to a place where they were despised and enslaved in the same way Christ was born as a refugee child with people seeking to kill him.

“The spirituals reflect a people who believe they’re in the middle of the Bible story,” Darden said. “I think that gives them a power that’s hard for others to match and why the gospel artists, who would later record these songs, tried to capture that and keep that immediacy and intimacy that I think a lot of Christmas carols don’t have.”

The modern world still needs Christmas spirituals, Darden asserted. While commercialism gets people excited and inspired for the holidays, people in 2017 need something that will help them reflect on what truly matters about the season, he insisted. They need something that will not only remind them of history but will also evoke the sensation of gratitude for a needed Savior.

“By noticing and listening to the words of the spirituals, you see how they focused on what really matters—a child is born under the most desperate of circumstances,” Darden said. “This season isn’t about shopping malls. The season is about remembering that the King chose to be born in the most despised, hated and vulnerable of times.”

Darden founded Baylor’s Black Gospel Music Restoration Project more than a decade ago. The project is the world’s largest initiative to identify, acquire, preserve, digitize and catalog recordings from the black gospel music tradition. This music from the Golden Age of gospel, 1945 to 1975, was vanishing quickly as albums made the transition to CDs.

Recordings from the project are available online in the Baylor Libraries Digital Collection, which includes, in some cases, taped interviews, photographs, press packets, tour books and programs, newspaper and magazine clippings, and sheet music.

The project also provides the gospel music for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

McKINNEY—Many mid-20^th century Texas Baptists spent Sunday mornings gazing beyond the preacher in the pulpit to stare at a painted scene of the Jordan River in the church baptistery.

Before all those memories fade and all those images are lost, a McKinney woman wants to preserve that piece of history.

Joann Loughlin, a retired English teacher and member of First Baptist Church in McKinney, wants to photograph baptistery paintings and other gospel art in Texas Baptist churches, as well as write brief historical sketches about the artists who produced them and the congregations that commissioned their work.

Disappearing legacy

Loughlin’s family moved frequently when she was young, and she admired the Jordan River paintings she saw in the baptisteries of many of the churches they attended.

“Over the years, I noticed they seemed to disappear,” she said.

In some cases, rural churches that were home to baptistery paintings disbanded. In other instances, as churches grew, they built new sanctuaries or expanded and modernized their worship spaces—painting or plastering over chipped and fading paintings.

Loughlin recognized the paintings as reflections of the importance earlier generations of Texas Baptists placed on sharing their faith and bringing new believers into the fellowship of a congregation. She wanted to honor their commitment to evangelism and discipleship by preserving that legacy.

So, she contacted one of her former students, Naomi Taplin, associate director of the Texas Baptist Historical Collection in Waco, to discuss the matter.

Taplin and others at the historical collection and archives recognized the value in her ideas about researching and preserving a slice of Texas Baptist history, and they encouraged her to present a written proposal.

Loughlin proposed visiting churches around the state to photograph not only baptistery paintings, but also other examples of artwork in Texas Baptist congregations.

Work in progress

She wants to research the artists who produced that work, learn what she can about how and why the churches commissioned the art, and then publish a book collecting those photographs and written historical sketches.

So far, she has discovered, photographed and researched a half-dozen churches with baptistery art—New Hope Community Church, formerly Dunn Memorial Baptist Church, near McKinney; Chestnut Community Church in McKinney; First Baptist Church and Austin Street Baptist Church in Yoakum, about 40 miles north of Victoria; and Prairie Lea Baptist Church and Staples Baptist Church, southeast of San Marcos.

She also has photographed and researched a painting and sculptures at First Baptist Church in Temple.

“Everyone at all the churches I have visited have been so gracious,” she said. “I’ve gained a real sense of how the kingdom was advancing in those churches.”

Through her research, she has learned the background behind the baptistery backdrops. Artists from throughout the United States traveled around the country in the early 20^th century to paint commissioned works for congregations. One artist she learned about painted more than 500 pieces—baptistery scenes and murals—for churches throughout the nation.

“The artist would stay anywhere from two weeks to six weeks, and the church would feed him,” Loughlin said. “When he finished, the church would collect a freewill offering to express their appreciation.”

‘Not just decorative’

Many of the churches were in rural areas, and most averaged about 100 in attendance, she said. No doubt, many congregations had other places where they could have invested their resources, but they chose to draw attention to the spot in their sanctuaries that represented lives Christ transformed, she observed.

“The people cared so much. They wanted to show in a tangible way how the Lord was working in their church,” she said. “It was not just decorative.”

Loughlin’s initial goal is to photograph and research art from 40 churches, but she hopes to surpass that number. In addition to baptistery paintings, she wants to expand her research to include other ways Texas Baptist congregations used original artwork to teach gospel lessons.

Her greatest challenge lies in locating Texas Baptist churches where baptistery paintings and other distinctive artwork remain. To provide information about congregations she might want to research, contact her at slaterjot@gmail.com.

Texas Baptist Men disaster relief workers may have wondered this time last year how they ever could top the 12,000-plus volunteers days they gave in 2016. If so, they could not have foreseen surpassing 40,000 volunteer days this year.

Due primarily—but not exclusively—to Hurricane Harvey, TBM and its out-of-state partners who worked alongside them in Texas set new records in 2017 in most categories for disaster relief ministry.

Year to date, TBM volunteers responded to 19 disasters at 54 sites, beginning in mid-January and continuing throughout the year with few breaks.

As a result, Baptist disaster relief volunteers working in Texas made 25,925 personal contacts with affected individuals, compared to 8,294 last year, and they prepared more than 1.6 million meals—about 10 times the number they cooked the previous year.

They distributed 5,592 Bibles so far this year, compared to 762 in 2016. Consequently, they recorded 265 professions of faith in Christ, compared to 23 the year before.

‘Largest response in our history’

“This has been the largest response in our history,” said Terry Henderson, state director of disaster relief with TBM.

In particular, Hurricane Harvey stretched TBM beyond its available resources—but not beyond its ability to respond in partnership with other Baptist volunteers, he noted.

“Our mutual aid plan went into effect, and we had 31 states come here to help,” Henderson said. Baptist groups from as far away as Canada, Hawaii and Guam have worked in Texas after Hurricane Harvey, he noted.

Because of the rapid response by volunteers, TBM was able to begin rebuilding efforts in some locations while continuing disaster relief at other sites.

Volunteers needed for TBM Rebuild

All that has contributed to “volunteer fatigue,” Henderson acknowledged. The rebuild currently is on hiatus until January, and disaster relief also expects to suspend its operations Dec. 16 and resume as needed after Jan. 1.

While TBM Rebuild projects are scheduled in January, the demand currently exceeds the number of groups who have volunteers so far, he noted.

“We need volunteers for rebuilding,” he said.

For more information about the TBM Rebuild, click here or email TBMrebuild@texasbaptistmen.org.

To contribute financially to TBM disaster relief, click here or send a check designated “disaster relief” to Texas Baptist Men, 5351 Catron, Dallas 75227.