AUSTIN—Hunger in Texas has increased slightly, making the Lone Star State the second hungriest in the nation and underscoring the need for Texas Baptists to continue their commitment to live out Christ’s call to feed the hungry.

From 2007 to 2009, 17.4 percent of Texas households were at risk of hunger, an increase of 1.1 percent from the prior three-year period, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture report released Nov. 15.

The findings include data from 2009, the heart of the recent economic downturn. Hunger typically lags behind unemployment, so the need possibly is greater today, according to the USDA. Nationwide, 14.7 percent of households were deemed food insecure in 2009, roughly the same as 2008 and among the highest on record.

Suzii Paynter, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission, said the figures stress the importance of Texas Baptists’ commitment to feed the hungry in the state.

“God continues calling Texas Baptists to minister to those who are hungry and hurting,” she said.

“In tough economic times, he asks us to be that much more generous with our time and our resources in order to care for those around us. When we obey that call, God uses us in mighty ways to share the hope of Christ.”

In recent years, Texas Baptists have stepped up efforts to help the hungry. In the past two years, they have given more than $1.8 million to the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger. Congregations also have started and expanded hunger ministries, including outreach programs that distribute food and those that serve hot meals.

Through the Texas Hunger Initiative—a CLC and Baylor University School of Social Work partnership that seeks to end Texas hunger by 2015—congregations mobilized last summer to provide meals for children who otherwise would go hungry. Due in part to their efforts, Texas served 2 million more meals for children last summer than the previous year.

The Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission is a convener of the Texas Food Policy Roudtable working to improve policies for access and effectiveness of feeding programs and healthy food in Texas. Regional groups of Christians have come together to create strategic approaches to end hunger.

DALLAS—Texas Baptists have the opportunity to change lives and—in the process—help shape the direction of a nation.

Texas Baptists have partnered with Siloe Baptist School in Grande-Guave, Haiti, spearheading an appeal for individuals and groups to send impoverished children to a Christian school for $15 a month. The funds pay for a student’s books, tuition, uniform, backpack and supplies.

As it does around the globe, education changes lives, said Bill Arnold, who leads Baptist General Convention of Texas disaster response efforts. Schooling opens numerous doors for people to pull themselves out of the poverty that dominates the nation. In essence, Texas Baptists have an opportunity to change Haiti’s future one student at a time, he said.

“God continues calling our attention to the people of Haiti,” Arnold said. “He calls us to reach out with compassion. This is an opportunity to do just that.”

Students at the Siloe Baptist School crave an education, Arnold said, and private schools like it are critical to educating young people. Private and church-run schools educate 90 percent of students. Christian schools in particular, like Siloe Baptist School, provide one of the few education opportunities for impoverished young people.

Siloe Baptist School is located in Grand-Guave, an area outside Port-Au-Prince where Texas Baptists have focused their disaster response efforts. The convention is seeking to carry out a multifaceted holistic ministry that addresses a variety of needs.

Disaster response funds will help pay for Haitians to dig two water wells, which should prove to be well-timed and critical to helping area residents, Arnold said. Recently, a cholera outbreak hit several regions of Haiti, killing roughly 450 people and hospitalizing another 7,000.

Hurricane Tomas hit the edges of the country Nov. 5, flooding some regions. The intense storm could foster a wet environment in which cholera thrives.

“Access to clean water is one of the basic needs for healthy living,” Arnold said. “In the midst of a cholera epidemic, access becomes even more critical. By helping supply the funds for these wells, Texas Baptists are helping prevent the spread of disease and sharing the hope of Christ in a fundamental way—meeting a physical need that will enable us to share the gospel as well.”

Texas Baptists continue facilitating mission trips for people who want to serve there. The convention has helped medical professionals, Texas Baptist Men volunteers and church teams minister in a variety of ways, including providing water filters.

For more information about Texas Baptist disaster response efforts, visit www.texasbaptists.org/disaster. For more information about sponsoring a Haitian student, visit www.texasbaptists.org/changealife. Information also can be attained by calling (888) 244-9400.

MCALLEN—Texas Baptists who want to understand leadership from a Hispanic perspective should begin by recognizing no single Hispanic perspective exists, a South Texas pastor told participants at the G5 Conference in McAllen.

“We need to address the incorrect assumption that there is a single, monolithic Hispanic environment,” Julio Guarneri, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in McAllen, told the conference for the fifth generation of Texas Baptist church leaders.

Before he moved to McAllen, Guarneri served as pastor of Getsemani Baptist Church in Fort Worth, a congregation representing more than a dozen nationalities.

“We had different culture, differences even within the Spanish language and political differences at Getsemani,” he said.

Some Latin American cultures emphasize productivity and efficiency; others emphasize relationships. That can present challenges in a multinational context, he observed.

The attitudes of first-generation immigrants also differ significantly from second- and third-generation Hispanics in the United States, he added.

“We have to understand the framework and worldview from which they function,” Guarneri said.

The Apostle Paul, who was able to work across lines that divided Jews from Greco-Roman culture, offers a model for modern Hispanic Christian leaders, he said.

“We need an attitude of servant leadership, and cross-cultural competencies are essential,” Guarneri said.

Victor Rodriguez, newly elected president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and pastor of South San Filadelfia Baptist Church in San Antonio, recalled challenges his English-speaking Hispanic congregation faced when it merged with a predominantly Anglo church.

“The honeymoon was over in weeks,” he said, even though both groups spoke English. “Language does not equal culture.”

However, the church worked though those difficult times, he said. Today, the church offers three worship services—a traditional worship style service in English, a contemporary English service and a Spanish service.

South San Filadelfia Church has given priority to servant leadership development through classroom and hands-on training, Rodriguez noted. The goal is to develop leaders not only for South San Filadelfia, but also for new churches.

Hispanic women in leadership positions face unique challenges, said Patty Villareal, national director of church and community collaborations for Buckner Children and Family Services.

“We’ve often felt pulled,” she said, noting her own exper-iences on denominational committees and other leadership positions. “Sometimes we’re fulfilling two quotas—female and ethnic.”

From “a dream born out of a complaint,” Baptist University of the Américas and Buckner Children and Family Services developed the Latina Leadership Institute. Its goal, she explained, is to provide educational opportunities for emergent and established female Latino leaders.

“We want to identify, develop and nurture Latina leaders who can serve both their churches and their communities,” she said.

ROUND ROCK—Natalie Duncan-Smith has more reasons than most to be thankful this Thanksgiving season.

She’s eager to tell everyone God has blessed her with two wonderful children. She’s a beauty school graduate studying for her cosmetology license. And she recently accepted Christ into her life.

When Natalie Duncan-Smith (seated) received a car through the Family Care program at Texas Baptist Children’s Home, it gave her a new lease on life, said Suzanne Wood, resident case manager.

Thanks to the Family Care program at Texas Baptist Children’s Home, she’s put a rocky past behind her, and her future couldn’t be brighter. She would never have guessed it, but the tipping point was a broken down car.

She and her children, Aleaha, 7, and Darrius, 4, had been at Family Care just a few months when her car stopped running.

“I needed to get to school, get my kids to doctors’ visits, do grocery shopping,” she said. “There were a lot of things going on, I didn’t have transportation, and it was really overwhelming.”

When a donated car was made available to the moms in Family Care, Natalie was fortunate enough to be selected as the recipient. The vehicle came courtesy of a long-time and faithful children’s home donor from Cedar Park who has donated two cars for Family Care moms and previously made a large endowment gift to support a cottage.

“That was a turning point. That turned it around,” Duncan-Smith said. “I remember that it clicked in my head—‘ding dong’—that I didn’t have to depend on other people. I can do it on my own.”

The difference in Duncan-Smith was readily observable, said Suzanne Wood, resident care manager in her Family Care cottage.

“She was so devastated after she lost her car, and that (gift) really brought her out of her shell,” Wood said. “She knew then that nothing was going to hold her back.”

Duncan-Smith’s children also have experienced change for the better, and their betterment was her primary motivation for entering the Family Care program.

“My kids come first. Before we came here, they weren’t happy, and I wasn’t happy,” she recalled. “My kids needed to be in a stable environment with a better future. Anything else would be putting my children at risk.”

Since moving to Family Care, Aleaha and Darrius have received help for emotional and physical issues. Most of all, they know that after moving several times in the years before coming to TBCH, they have a safe and secure place to stay.

“They used to call it a cottage,” Duncan-Smith said. “Now, they call it home.”

Most significant, Duncan-Smith decided to trust her life to Jesus and be baptized. It started when a friend at beauty school died in a traffic accident. At her funeral, she was touched by the message from Mark Westerfield, pastor at Central Baptist Church in Round Rock.

“He talked about her three kids and the influence she had been in their lives, and I started to wonder how my kids would remember me if I died,” she said. “I decided that having that kind of faith in my life can really make a difference for Aleaha and Darrius.”

Duncan-Smith is succeeding because of her “attitude and gratitude,” in Wood’s words. And it’s all due to her new walk—and her new ride.

DALLAS – For the second year in a row, the Dallas Baptist University athletic department participated in the Feast of Sharing hosted by H-E-B and Central Market at Fair Park in Dallas, providing hot holiday meals to people in need.

More than 170 DBU student athletes, along with the DBU cheerleaders and Diamond Belles, joined hundreds of other volunteers at Fair Park who served food, cleared tables, took out trash and visited with thousands of homeless and hungry people from all over the Dallas area.

By the end of the evening, volunteers served about 2,500 pounds of turkey, 350 gallons of mashed potatoes, 1,800 pounds of cornbread dressing, 9,000 rolls, and 900 pumpkin pies.

“Feast of Sharing was an awesome experience, not only for the people being served, but also for the volunteers,” said Phillip Allen, DBU sophomore tennis player. “One of the greatest feelings in the world is to serve the Lord and see people in need benefit from a program like this.”

Along with the holiday meal, the Feast of Sharing also featured health services, live music and Kids-Zone, with a bounce house and festive crafts.

“This event is a great opportunity for our student athletes to show Christ’s love in action,” said Ryan Erwin, DBU director of athletics. “It was a blessing and truly amazing to watch these young men and women from DBU serve as champions for Christ in the community.”

DALLAS—Miguel Faúndez, a Dallas Baptist University student, awoke last February to a phone call saying his home country of Chile had just been devastated by one of the worst earthquakes in the nation’s history.

DBU students gather for prayer with local Chileans before they begin helping with reconstruction efforts.

The epicenter, about 100 miles from Faúndez’s hometown, registered a magnitude of 8.8. Instantly, streets crumbled, buildings caved and power lines fell, fueling fires and causing more post-quake damage. Electricity—and telephone reception—quickly was lost, leaving Faúndez unable to make any contact with his family and friends in Chile.

Shortly thereafter, he received an-other unexpected phone call.

“I have to say I was surprised that the president of DBU called me to ask about my family after the earthquake,” Faúndez said. “It’s good to be part of a university family that takes care of you.”

DBU President Gary Cook asked what the university could do to help. DBU administration worked to secure Faúndez a flight to Chile as soon as possible. After holding a special time of prayer for him and his countrymen during chapel services, Faúndez flew home.

Dallas Baptist University student Sarah Sims takes a break from painting houses to pose for a picture with two new Chilean friends.

Following more than a week of no communication with his family, Faúndez had no idea what would await him once he arrived. All he could do was show up at his parents’ home—praying for the best.

Unlike so many others whose lives were altered by the Chilean earthquake and tsunami that hit only a few hours later, his story had a happy ending. His family was safe, and he returned to DBU a few weeks later with the good news. However, the need for help was far from over.

“After Miguel returned and told us about some of the work that was needed, we decided we wanted to send some of our students to serve in Chile,” Cook said.

Faúndez recalled the joy that overwhelmed him when he learned DBU students planned to travel to Chile to help victims of the natural disaster.

Dan Gibson, DBU assistant director of spiritual life, has some help painting a newly rebuilt house in Chile.

“It was like a dream to have students from DBU wanting to help my home country of Chile. Preparing servant leaders is not a nice quote on a brochure—it is something you live every day in DBU campus life,” he said.

The DBU Spiritual Life Office began planning a mission trip with help from Faúndez.

While Chile obviously needed help with reconstruction projects, Faúndez said, they also needed ambassadors of Christ to minister to the people.

This fall, a 14-member team of DBU students and staff traveled to Concepción, one of the nation’s largest cities and not far from Faúndez’s hometown of Florida. They worked in collaboration the Youth Hope global missions organization, a ministry partner of Especíalídades Juveníles.

The volunteers served in schools, helped paint and rebuild houses and stayed in host homes of Chileans.

“We were able to work alongside men and women who had lost their homes in the disaster. It was heartbreaking to talk with the students in the schools we worked with and hear their stories about the night of the earthquake,” said Jennifer Spain, a DBU senior.

A team of 14 students and staff members from Dallas Baptist University help paint newly built houses in Concepcion, Chile, an area that was hit hard by the February earthquake.

“I hope all of the friends we made in Chile were blessed by our team’s willingness to serve them and just listen to their stories, because they certainly blessed us.”

The team spent several days in local schools, giving students English and Bible lessons. Chris Holloway, a DBU resident director and leader on the trip, recalled: “As we talked about the will of God in one of our classes, one of the students asked us, ‘How do I find God?’ Right there, one of our team members had the opportunity to share the gospel with the entire class of 20 students.”

Questions of God and his will weighed on the hearts of people who have lost as much as many of the Chileans did, Faúndez said.

“I think God has used this tragedy as an opportunity to share the good news of Christ with the Chilean people,” he said.

“God worked through the hands and feet of the DBU students to respond to real needs of the Chilean people. Christianity is not only words, but actions as well.”

CLEAR LAKE—The hunger ministry of Clear Lake Baptist Church has one unchanging rule: Rely on God to provide.

And God has always held up his end of the bargain.

Volunteers with the ministry strictly are prohibited from soliciting donations of any kind for the effort. They don’t publicize the ministry’s needs. The ministry doesn’t hold canned-food drives or do any fundraising. Even if volunteers see someone throwing away items the ministry could use, they cannot ask for them.  

What they can do is pray—often.

God knows the ministry’s needs and the needs of the people it serves each week, and he provides, said Bill Shaver, who leads the effort that feeds about 300 families a week. The approach is inspired by George Muller, a 19th century Christian worker who ran an orphanage for more than 10,000 children without asking for help or identifying what the orphan-age needed. He prayed and waited for God to work.

Muller’s method has worked for the Clear Lake ministry, as well, Shaver said. When the food bank is low on food, people bring in donations. When donations are low, money is available to purchase items from the food bank.

“God continually opens doors,” he said. “The food comes in. The money comes in. The produce comes in.”

Prayer also undergirds the food distribution. Chaplains pray with each family who receives food, specifically asking God to meet particular needs. The prayer helps the chaplains get to know each family better. Chaplains learn people’s stories, concerns, needs and triumphs. They’re also there to celebrate when God provides.

Chaplain Lorena Ramirez (right) prays with a mother who picks up food for her family from Clear Lake Baptist Church.

God has guided people to jobs. Clients have recovered from illnesses and, in one case, a serious motorcycle accident, the chaplains noted.

“We’ve had many miracles of healing, people finding jobs,” said Chaplain Linda Sarpe. “Sometimes, it takes a while, but there are always answers to prayer.”

When people glimpse God working through the Clear Lake food ministry—which also serves smaller groups of people in Houston and Galveston—they want to experience it more often, organizers said. They see the need and recognize how God is calling people to feed the hungry.

Volunteers who come to serve for an hour often stay all morning. Many who show up for one day become regular volunteers.

“These families are really hurting,” he said. “We’ve had families come in here and tell us, ‘By the end of the week, we’ll be homeless.’”

Clear Lake Baptist Church Associate Pastor Keith Rogers sees how people are affected by serving in the food distribution effort.

Putting one’s faith into action is part of the discipleship process, and when people do it in the hunger ministry, they see God at work in lives, he said. They see prayer work. They see God move. They see the impact of following Christ’s call to feed the hungry.

“It gives our church family an opportunity to minister,” he said. “It gives our church the opportunity to see faith in action. It gives our church an opportunity to minister to the least of these.”

WACO—Baylor University has begun the public input portion of its strategic planning process by inviting faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends of Baylor to help shape the direction of the university’s next 10-year plan.

To guide the process, the university has launched a strategic planning website at http://www.baylor.edu/strategicplan. The website includes a timeline of the planning process and links to resources such as the university’s mission statement, foundational assumptions, core convictions and unifying academic themes, as well as forms for groups and individuals to provide input as the process moves forward.

Baylor President Ken Starr has appointed Elizabeth Davis, executive vice president and provost, to lead the universitywide strategic planning process.

“Dr. Davis has embraced this responsibility with great enthusiasm,” Starr said. “Working with her colleagues, she has already established a multifaceted visioning exercise that will, during the next year, inform the development of the plan that will guide and inspire our progress during the coming decade.”

Davis has provided a document titled “Envisioning Our Future” designed to generate dialogue and engage Baylor’s constituents. It can be downloaded here.

“In designing our strategic planning process, every effort has been made to ensure that all voices can be heard,” Davis said. “We are asking that faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends take considerable time to reflect on Baylor’s character and purpose, on the progress that we have made in our storied 165-year history, and then to be creative in charting the many ways Baylor University can, and should, in the future, serve Pro Ecclesia, Pro Texana—the church and the world.”

In addition to the information provided on the strategic planning website, Davis is initiating meetings with on-campus groups to explain the process and encourage participation. In early 2011, Davis said, the university will seek additional input through a series of town hall meetings, similar to those held for the presidential search process.

Davis has encouraged faculty, staff, students and alumni to consider the questions in the “Envisioning the Future” document, and think about what Baylor might be 10 or 15 years from now.

“How should our influence be felt in the graduates we produce, in the scholarship we create, and in the communities in which we live and serve?” she said. “Ahead of us lies the opportunity to do many things, but we must consider the best path for Baylor to take as a national research university that resolutely embraces its Christian identity. We occupy a distinctive place in higher education. All of us need to participate in determining how we can best act in this privileged position.”

The process will result in the presentation of a draft plan for consideration by Baylor’s board of regents at the 2011 homecoming meeting.

SAN ANTONIO—Western Christianity’s future depends on its capacity to recover apostolic movements in the present day, author and church planter Alan Hirsch told San Antonio church leaders.

Hirsch, founding director of Forge Mission Training Network and author of The Forgotten Ways, used the apostolic movements of the early church and the underground Chinese church to make his point—churches devoted solely to the cause of Christ, not organizations and programs, lead people to follow Jesus.

In the developing world, where resources are limited, the church is increasing, he noted. But in America and Europe, where resources are far greater, it is in decline.

Alan Hirsch, founding director of Forge Mission Training Network.

In talking about the Chinese church, he asked how it grew from about 2 million believers in 1950 to an estimated 120 million followers of Christ today without the benefit of buildings, programs, youth ministries and other things the American church considers essential—all while un-dergoing severe oppression.

Growth occurs when every believer becomes a church planter, and every church becomes a church planting church, he said.

That approach became essential in China because if a group grew large, it drew unwanted government attention. By necessity, some Christians had to leave one church to begin a new house church. In the process, the church experienced viral growth.

“Every believer has the potential of world transformation within them,” Hirsch said. “The church has everything in it to get its job done.”

Hirsch identified elements that come together to create metabolic growth. “These are all interconnected and inter-related; it’s a system. … You’re going to think of each of these as a silver bullet because each is paradigmatic and important, but it’s actually the whole that matters,” he said.

“The central piece is that Jesus is Lord. … Movements that change the world are what we call Jesus movements. … Jesus is taken with utmost seriousness.”

Disciple making is important as well. “If you fail here, it seems to me you fail everywhere. It’s a quality control thing. Movements seem to me to be obsessed with it,” Hirsch said.

Missional incarnation is the church spreading itself throughout the culture, not only in reach, but also in depth, he explained.

Growth demands an apostolic environment conducive to growth, and that may present the greatest challenge to traditional churches, he said.

“If you’re going to have a missional church, you’re going to have to have a missional ministry to go with it, and I’m afraid to say the pastor-teacher model isn’t going to cut it. It’s a part of the equation, but it’s what I call a nongenerative form,” Hirsch said.

“It’s an operative type of ministry, but it assumes there’s something to pastor and teach. Missional forms are creative, but pastors and teachers are by nature not generative. It’s not their calling to be. The pastor works basically within the established community and brings harmony, and the teacher brings wisdom and understanding, but what you need to create new forms is more generative types of ministry.”

Movements organize or-ganically—an approach unlike the typical Western church model. There is no headquarters, and the structure is different. “You don’t find them; they find you. … It looks more like Al-Qaeda.”

The last piece of the puzzle is communitas. “It is the type of community that forms in the context of an ordeal, a challenge, or when people, in order to do something, … change the way we relate to each other. It’s a very different way of relationship. … Rather than just association, we need each other to survive or to get this job done,” he said.

• Jay Beerley has resigned as minister of students at First Church in Wake Village.

• Mark Briggs to Choate Church in Kenedy as interim pastor.

• Larry Carson to Kingsbury Church in Kingsbury as pastor.

• Terry Carson to Spring Hill Church in DeKalb as pastor.

• Charles Collett has resigned as pastor of Lighthouse Church in Meridian.

• Patrick Hamilton to First Church in Plains as pastor.

• Jon McFarling to Richland Hills Church in Richland Hills as youth minister.

• Fred Meeks has completed an interim pastorate at First Church in Plains.

• James Ratliff to College Hill Church in DeKalb as pastor.

• James Teafatiller to Kingsbury Church in Kingsbury as associate pastor and minister of youth.

• Allen Weaver to First Church in Poteet as pastor.

• An information meeting for families interested in participating in the Angels from Abroad program will be held at 6 p.m. Dec. 14 in the second floor training room of the Buckner Child and Family Services office in Dallas. The program provides older Russian orphans a chance to learn about American culture, share their Russian culture and experience living with a family. It also raises awareness of the need for adopting older children. The children, ages 6 through 12, will stay with American host families next summer. For more information, call (214) 906-4547.

• Jimmie Keeling has retired as head football coach at Hardin-Simmons University after 21 seasons. Posting a career record of 172-53 at HSU, he led the Cowboys to 19 consecutive winning seasons and advanced to playoffs 11 times. Jesse Burleson has been named interim coach while a national search for Keeling’s successor is conducted.

• East Texas Baptist University presented alumni awards to several people during homecoming festivities. Leon Carter received the J. Wesley Smith Achievement Award; Lee and Susan Bush, the W.T. Tardy Development Award; Billy Hoffman, Alumni Acheivement Award; Brent Shook and Janae Shirley, Young Alumnus awards; Pete Ramsey; Unsung Hero Award. The College of Marshall/Golden Lightkeepers Award recipients were Francis Henderson, Margaret Unkel, Gene and Lois Grammer, and Lois Newman. The Golden Lightkeepers include graduates who have been alumni 50 years or longer.

• Joel Allison, president and CEO of Baylor Health Care System in Dallas, has been named the recipient of the Virginia Chandler Dykes Leadership Award, presented by Bank of Texas and Texas Woman’s University. The award is given annually to Dallas leaders with a longstanding commitment to improving the quality of life in the community and to furthering the importance of education.

• Howard Payne University’s speech and debate forensics team won third place overall in individual events at the Forum in the Forest competition held at Lonestar College in Kingwood, Oct. 1-2. HPU competed against 17 universities from Texas and New Mexico.

Anniversaries

• Marc Wilson, 30th, as minister of music at First Church in Mexia, Nov. 25.

Deaths

• Lloyd Conner, 79, Nov. 13 in Marfa. A graduate of Howard Payne College and Southwestern Theological Seminary, he became pastor of First Church in Clint at the completion of his education. In 1963, he became pastor of First Church in Marfa and was one of the first pastors involved in the Texas Baptist River Ministry. He was pastor of Lindell Avenue Church in San Angelo and First Church in Albany before returning to the Marfa area in 1993 to be manager of Paisano Baptist Encampment and to lead the Marfa church. Last August, he completed 50 years of service as a pastor. He was preceded in death by his wife, Cathy; brothers, O.D. and Sherman; and sisters, Odessa and Weeda. He is survived by his daughters, Eileen Conner and Karen Mills; twin brother, Floyd; sister, Wenona; and two grandchildren.

• Debbie Puett, 56, Nov. 21 in Dallas. She was a Baptist General Convention of Texas employee five years. She began as a ministry assistant in the Bible study discipleship center, but the last four years, she had been the donor relations coordinator for the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation. She was a member of Shiloh Terrace Church in Mesquite. She is survived by her husband, June, and daughter, Amanda Puett.

• Roberto Arrubla Sr., 86, Nov. 21 in Fort Worth. He was a longtime Baptist pastor. He is survived by his wife, Blanca; son, Robert; daughter, Gloria Lopez; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Events

• Woosley Church in Point honored Pastor Chris Thompson with a pounding in recognition of his first anniversary, Nov. 7. Also honored for his 32 years of service to the church was Deacon Chairman Bobby Hartley, who has served as church treasurer more than 20 years.

• Columbus Avenue Church in Waco will present four music programs as part of its “Christmas at Columbus” emphasis. An 80-person choir, ensembles, handbells and orchestra will present “Sing We Now of Christmas” at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 5. “For Unto Y’all,” a youth dinner theater production will be performed at noon and 6 p.m. Dec. 11. Barbecue and peach cobbler will be served. Tickets are $10 and must be purchased in advance. The children’s choir will present “The Best Christmas Present Ever” Dec. 12 at 6:30 p.m. A night of carols and candles will be held Dec. 19 at 6:30 p.m. For more information, call (254) 752-1655, ext. 212.

Ordained

• Barry Dunham, to the ministry, at College Heights Church in Plainview.

• David Martin, to the ministry, at First Church in Denton.

• Andrew Hurt, to the ministry, at Travis Church in Corpus Christi.

• Jose Maldonado, to the ministry, at First Hispanic Church in Navasota.

MIDLAND—Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Director Randel Everett will preach at First Baptist Church in Midland Dec. 5 in view of a call as senior pastor.

In an e-mail message to several Texas Baptist leaders Nov. 21, Everett noted the pastor search committee at First Baptist Church in Midland made the announcement that morning.

Randel Everett

“I have served as interim pastor at First Baptist during the past several months and have come to love the church and their mission spirit,” he said.

“We never seriously considered this possibility until the last few weeks, but during this time, Sheila and I both came to realize we should be open to this possibility of service.”

No final decision will be made until the church votes, he added.

“I can think of no greater honor than serving as executive director of Texas Baptists,” he continued. “I am totally convinced that the BGCT is healthy and moving in the right direction. If God leads us to First Baptist Church in Midland, I will challenge the church to continue to be a Hope 1:8 Texas Baptist congregation.”

BGCT Executive Board Chair Debbie Ferrier expressed disappointment at the possibility of losing Everett as executive director—particularly right after a BGCT annual meeting where the convention launched the Hope 1:8 challenge, based on the New Testament admonition in Acts 1:8 to bear Christian witness locally, regionally and around the world.

“That has been Randel’s vision, but we will continue working toward implementing it as Texas Baptists,” Ferrier said.

“Randel Everett has done an excellent job as executive director, and we are grateful for his service. But if he feels God calling him to serve as pastor at First Baptist Church of Midland and the church shares that sense of calling, we want him to do as God leads. We want to everything we can to pray for him and to support him, Shiela, his family and Texas Baptists.”

Newly elected BGCT President Victor Rodriguez likewise offered appreciation to Everett for his service to Texas Baptists, particularly in casting the Texas Hope 2010 vision and the Hope 1:8 challenge, “where his vision and encouragement brought much needed direction for future Baptist work and will be certainly missed.”

First Baptist Church in Midland is one of Texas Baptists’ “strongest mission-focused churches, he added.

“While leadership at the BGCT may change, our purpose remains intact. The goal will always be to keep our convention focused on ministry and missions,” Rodriguez said.

Ken Hugghins, pastor of Elkins Lake Baptist Church in Huntsville, who chaired the search committee that recommended Everett as executive director, said he was “disappointed” by the news.

“I felt like Randel has pulled us together, and we’re headed in a healthy direction as a convention,” he said. “I think he has made some tough decisions. I also think he has been well received and appreciated around the state.

“I’m disappointed, but if believes he is following God’s direction, we have to trust each other as priests.”

If the Midland church extends a call to Everett to serve as pastor and he accepts, a 15-member search committee will be named to find his successor. Seven members will be named by BGCT Executive Board officers and eight members by convention officers, and the Executive Board then will vote on that committee and initiate the search, Ferrier explained.

The board elected Everett as executive director in February 2008, and he assumed the post several weeks later. Everett came to the position from First Baptist Church in Newport News, Va.

In addition to nine years as president of the John Leland Center for Theological Studies in Arlington, Va., his previous places of service included Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, Va.; First Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla.; First Baptist Church in Benton, Ark.; University Baptist Church in Fort Worth; Inglewood Baptist Church in Grand Prairie; and First Baptist Church in Gonzales.

With additional reporting by John Hall of Texas Baptist Communications