ROUND ROCK—Children at Heart Ministries shares the hope of Christ with single mothers, troubled teens and children in crisis in Texas through Texas Baptist Children’s Home, Gracewood and Miracle Farm. But the agency also is teaching those who are helped to do the same by giving to the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger.

When Jerry Bradley, president of Children at Heart Ministries, became aware of the Texas-shaped banks people were filling for the hunger offering, he immediately thought his agency could use them to teach clients the importance of helping others and also involve staff in the effort.

Fighting hunger in Texas is one emphasis of Texas Hope 2010, an effort by Texas Baptists to pray for the lost, care for the vulnerable and share the gospel, giving every Texan an opportunity to respond to the hope of Christ by Easter 2010.

“I was thinking that we feed and help a lot of people here, but this is just one way that a lot of people who are being helped can help others,” Bradley said. “Why not have those in our living units or working on our staff help with this?”

Since much of the ministry is geared toward helping children, Bradley believes this will help children see they can help others no matter what situation they are in.

“It’s just kids giving to kids,” he said.

The agency is in the process of distributing 35 banks to its children’s home cottages and other ministry sites.

For more information about the Texas Hope 2010 initiative, visit www.texashope2010.com.

BUA sponsors BGCT breakfast. Baptist University of the Americas will host a breakfast during the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting to celebrate BGCT’s role in Hispanic education, Nov. 17, 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. in Grand Ballroom A, Level 3 of the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. Tickets will be available at the BUA booth or by contacting Teo Cisneros at tcisneros@bua.edu.

Downloadable Bible study available. Diana Garland, dean of the Baylor University School of Social Work, and Vicki Marsh Kabat, director of marketing and communications, have written a five-lesson series of Bible studies on “Power and the Christian.” Produced with financial support from the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission, the Bible studies are part of the school’s ongoing project to prevent clergy sexual misconduct. The Bible study series can be downloaded free here.

DBU scholarship honors longtime Sunday school teacher. Dallas Baptist University has created the Martha Howard childhood ministry scholarship to benefit students in the Master of Arts in Christian Education—Childhood Ministry program. Trudy Christopher of Trinity has been selected the initial recipient of the scholarship, named in honor of Howard, who taught kindergarten Sunday school at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas more than 60 years.

Historical Society meet slated. The fall meeting of the Texas Baptist Historical Society will be at 11 a.m., Nov. 16, in Room 340B of the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, prior to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting. The luncheon meeting will include the election of officers, recognition of the history award winners and a presentation by Kelly Pigott of Hardin-Simmons University on George W. Truett and war. Cost of the luncheon is $25, payable at the door. For reservations, call (972) 331-2235 or e-mail autumn.hendon@bgct.org by Nov. 9.

Substance abuse ministry dinner scheduled. Ben DeLeon, an attorney who lead the Faith Partners ministry at First Baptist Church in Austin, and Gale Yandell, single adult minister at Westbury Baptist Church in Houston, will be the featured speakers at a substance abuse ministry dinner scheduled prior to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting in Houston. The dinner, sponsored by the BGCT Christian Life Commission, will be at 6 p.m., Nov. 15, in Room 340 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. Cost is $15. To make a reservation, call (214) 828-5190 by Nov. 11.

Howard Payne social work scholarship established. Dann and Melba Harrelson Barger of First Baptist Church in Brownwood have established the Harrelson-Barger Endowed Scholarship at Howard Payne University for students majoring in social work. He worked as a caseworker and administrator with the Texas Youth Commission. She is a retired educator and counselor. Both are Howard Payne graduates.

Grants benefit BCFS youth programs. Baptist Child & Family Services recently received joint grants totaling more than $225,000 from the Governor’s Criminal Justice Division and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to begin a delinquency prevention and rehabilitation program serving at-risk youth in the Kerrville community. Modeled after a juvenile justice program BCFS has offered to youth in San Antonio for 10 years, the new program will provide weekly home-based case management, counseling and around-the-clock crisis services to 100 juveniles and their families aimed at bringing stability to households. Case managers will help families connect with available community resources such as substance abuse programs and anger management courses. Since 1999, youth completing the San Antonio program have demonstrated recidivism rates of less than half that of youth placed on waiting lists. Bexar County Juvenile Probation estimates the BCFS program in San Antonio saves the county more than $409,000 per year that would otherwise be used for residential treatment. 

• Jason Anderson to Trinity Church in Sherman as pastor, where he was youth minister.

• Lloyd Bedsworth to Hillcrest Church in Mount Pleasant as pastor.

• Josh Bolch to First Church in Stockdale as youth minister from Pandora Mission in Pandora, where he had been pastor.

• Gary Chadwick to Austin Street Church in Yoakum as youth/music director.

• Amy Chestnut has resigned as minister to children at First Church in Cleburne.

• Wayne Childs to First Church in Smithville as youth minister.

• Kyle Coston to Faith Church in Oakhurst as pastor.

• Bob Elliott to Hillcrest Church in San Angelo as interim pastor.

• David Emerson has resigned as minister to children at First Church in Cleburne.

• Mitch Geisel to Marcelina Church in Floresville as minister of music.

• Zachary Harrel to First Church in Gustine as pastor from First Church in Port Aransas, where he was youth minister.

• Darren Ingram to East Sherman Church in Sherman as youth minister.

• Gabe Krell has resigned as minister of music/education at Bethesda Church in Burleson.

• Will Martin to Muldoon Church in Muldoon as pastor.

• Luis Martinez to First Hispanic Church in Navasota a youth minister.

• Patrick Mead to First Southern Church in Bryant, Ark., as pastor from Fairview Church in Sherman.

• Jim Moore to Cornerstone Church in Cumby as pastor.

• Josh Morgan to First Church in Wimberley as young adult minister/contemporary worship leader.

• Jim Poole has resigned as pastor of Elmont Church in Van Alstyne to become a chaplain at Medical City Hospital in Dallas.

• Jay Tracy to Live Oak Church in Gatesville as minister to youth.

• Jonathan Waller to First Church in Runge as pastor, where he had been youth minister.

• Wendell Williams to Fairview Church in Sherman as interim pastor.

MANILA, Philippines—When two typhoons inundated the Philippines, 10 Texas Baptist men volunteers packed their rubber boots, leather gloves and bright yellow disaster relief shirts and journeyed to the disaster zone to offer help and hope to those caught in the adversity brought by the storm.

“‘Why do you do this?’ is probably the most asked question I get from people—people back home and people here,” said Harold Patterson, a Texas Baptist Men volunteer from Scoggins. “I like it when they ask, as it just opens the door wide open for evangelism. It’s just hard for non-Christians to understand this kind of love and compassion for other people.”

TBM served in the flooded region at the invitation of Baptist Global Response, working alongside other volunteers from the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention, Kentucky Baptist Men and Oklahoma Baptist Men.

The Metro Manila area received a month’s worth of rain courtesy of Typhoon Ketsana, known as Ondoy within the country, which hit on Sept. 26 after previous days of rain saturated the ground. The Filipino government said that about 6 million people were affected by the flooding, while 287,000 people are still housed in evacuation shelters. More than 246 people died in the disaster. In some areas, stagnant water still stands waist deep, causing stench and an ever-growing threat of disease.

“The reason I’m doing it is that we are all created in God’s image,” said Larry Vawter, a TBM volunteer from Altair. “That’s the way that others will know that we are followers of Jesus. This is how to show his love to other Christians and non-believers also.”

Russell Sheik of Lubbock shares the message of Christ through art in the midst of disaster relief efforts. Sheik and nine others with Texas Baptist Men left Oct. 7 for Manila, Philippines, to spend 10 days with other Baptist groups to help with mud-out and clean-up in the disaster zone.

Vawter, who has previously helped with flood relief during other disasters, said he knew what needed to happen but saw vast needs due to the number of people affected, the density of population and the huge piles of debris remaining in the streets.

“The immenseness of the damage and number of people that it has affected is overwhelming,” he said. “There’s so much work to be done here. Yet, you still see children playing and having fun. We’re able to play with them some and put a smile on their face, hopefully bringing a little bit of respite among all this mess.”

One of the first projects for the team was to mud out the home of Felicisimo and Marieta Cables and a church across the street from there. Cables, bivocational pastor at Hope Baptist Church a few blocks away from his home, knows firsthand the extent of the disaster, as his own family was caught in the middle.

 When he received a text message from his daughter intended to warn his wife of the rising floodwaters, he rushed out of work towards his home, finding that the road near his house was blocked. So, he swam across 800 meters of raging floodwater along with cars, bits of houses and countless possessions from hundreds of thousands of homes. He made it home, only to find their house full of water.

Despite the Cables’ and their neighbors now having fewer possessions, their faith is greater in the wake of the flooding.

Mounds of debris clogged Manila's streets after Typhoon Ketsana.

“I still have my family and my faith, which is what matters and what got me through this time,” Cables said. “One item I’d like to find is my favorite Bible. Missionary Bob Harwell from Texas gave me his in 1992, and it was filled with notes and encouragement. That Bible gave me the inspiration to finish seminary.”

Moved by compassion, Ernie Rice of Stockdale, team leader of the TBM group, handed Mrs. Cables his Bible.

“In talking with Felicisimo, I learned his story and that he lost a Bible that meant a great deal to him,” Rice said. “So I gave him mine that Sunday when I preached in his church.”

While several of the volunteers led and attended area house churches in the area hit by flooding, four went with local missionaries to distribute food in some of the poorest areas. At one of the stops on Oct. 11, the team brought the first disaster relief the area had received since the Sept. 26 typhoon. At this location, seven people made a first time profession of faith. 

Disaster relief efforts are made possible through donations given to Texas Baptist Men and the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation with Texas Baptists. To support the Philippine relief efforts through Texas Baptist Men, visit www.texasbaptistmen.org  and click on the Donations tab or mail a check marked for disaster response to Texas Baptist Men at 5351 Catron, Dallas, TX 75227. To give to the efforts through the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation, visit www.bgct.org/give and click on Disaster Response or send a check marked for disaster relief to the Texas Baptist Mission Foundation at 333 N. Washington, Dallas, TX 75246-1798.

• Hardin-Simmons University presented awards to several alumni during homecoming activities Oct. 15-16. Joe Sharp received the John J. Keeter Jr. Alumni Service Award. He has served on the HSU board of trustees 13 years, is a past member of the board of development and is a lifetime member of the President’s Club. Harvey Catchings and Jack Graham were the recipients of the distinguished alumni awards. Catchings, a 1974 graduate, played 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association. After his retirement, he was the spokesman for the NBA’s “Stay In School” program. Graham, a 1972 HSU graduate, is pastor of the 28,000-member Preston-wood Church in Plano. He previously was pastor of churches in Fort Worth, Oklahoma and Florida. He was president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2002 to 2004, and he served as president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference in 1992. Elected to the HSU Athletics Hall of Fame were Micky Brewer, women’s basketball; Doyle Brunson, basketball and track; Collin McCormick, football; and Morris Southall, football.

• The Houston Baptist University School of Business and its Center for Christianity in Business, in conjunction with the Headwaters Leadership Institute, will host Wallace Henley—assistant pastor at Houston’s Second Baptist Church, a management and organizational consultant, and a former White House and congressional aide. He will present “GlobeQuake: How to Build and Sustain Safe, Sane, Stable, Successful Companies in Turbulent Times” Friday, Oct. 23 from 7:30 a.m. to noon in the Morris Cultural Arts Center on the HBU campus. The presentation will explore the nature and extent of contemporary global change and how business and other key societal institutions can be stable and effective through the application of time-tested biblical principles. For more information, see www.hbu.edu/GlobeQuake.

• The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor will hold homecoming festivities Oct. 23-24. The homecoming chapel at 11 a.m. Friday will feature a number of alumni musicians. A luncheon for the Class of 1959 will follow. Friday evening’s activities will include a dinner, pep rally, fireworks, dessert party, and outdoor music and a movie. Saturday’s events begin with a 5K run, followed by a tailgate party and the football game versus Southern Oregon University. For more information, call (254) 295-4599.

• Baylor University recently dedicated the Jay and Jenny Allison Indoor Football Practice Facility. The building will allow the team to practice year-round without regard for weather. Jay Allison was a three-time Baylor football letter award winner. The couple also has endowed scholarships for football student-athletes, named the Jay and Jenny Reid Allison Skybox Complex at Floyd Casey Stadium and funded the Basketball Hall of Honor in the basketball practice facility. He also has served on the Baylor board of regents nine years. She is a former president of the Baylor University Women’s Council of Dallas, and she currently serves the group as parliamentarian.

• Baptist Child & Family Services has named Teresa Berkley director of adoptions. She will be responsible for matching potential adoptive parents with children eligible for adoption; developing, training and certifying adoptive parents; as well as facilitating continuity of services for children moving from foster care to forever homes.

• Dallas Baptist University has added three faculty members—Bob Brooks, associate professor of worship leadership, director of the master of arts in worship leadership program and associate dean of the Gary Cook Graduate School of Leadership; Elaine Hatcher, assistant professor of English; and Sergiy Saydometov, assistant professor of finance.

• The board of trustees of East Texas Baptist University has elected its officers. Tom Lyles has been elected the board’s chairman; Sam Moseley, vice chairman; and Ray Delk, secretary.

Anniversaries

• Rick Roman, fifth, a youth minister at First Church in Skidmore, Aug. 30.

• Primera Iglesia Mexicana of Brownsville, 100th, Oct. 14-17. The church held a three-day evangelistic event led by Dimas Gomez and Beau Hesterberg to kick off the celebration. The main celebration was held Saturday afternoon and evening. Leocadio Baltazar is pastor.

• Ron Walker, 10th, as pastor of First Church in Mathis.

• Amadeo Rodriguez, 15th, as music minister at Primera Iglesia in Corpus Christi.

• Rey Escalante, 10th, as pastor of Church Without Walls in Corpus Christi.

• Colby Benavidez, fifth, as youth minister at First Church in Mathis.

Deaths

• Bill Clanton, 82, July 15 in Beaumont. A bivocational pastor, he taught school in the Fort Bend school district more than 20 years. He served as pastor of Rock Island Church in Rock Island, First Church in Shriner, First Church in Sargeant, Friendship Church in Caldwell and Batson Prairie Church in Batson. He is survived by his wife, Bethel; son, Wesley; and two grandchildren.

• James Thurmond, 88, Sept. 13 in Fort Worth. He was a member of Broadway Church in Fort Worth 65 years, serving as chair man of deacons, committee member and Sunday school teacher. He also was a longtime trustee of Buckner International, serving part of that time as chairman. He is survived by his wife, Nancy; sons, James and Stephen; daughters, Nancy Broyles and Jane Anne Thurmond; six grandchildren; and six great-granddaughters.

• Charles Wellborn, 86, Oct. 1 in Georgetown, Ky. Described by his contemporaries as one of the best preachers, he was a clear voice of conscience among his generation of Baptists. He accepted Christ at age 23 amid the Southern Baptist youth revival movement of the 1940s and 1950s. In 1948, he began preaching on the “Baptist Hour,” a weekly program produced by the Radio Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, while still a student at Southwestern Seminary. After graduation, he served 10 years as pastor of Seventh & James Church, adjacent to Baylor University in Waco. After the congregation voted to open its membership to people of all “races and colors” in 1958, the young pastor received threatening phone calls and a cross was burned on the lawn of the parsonage. He left the church to begin doctoral studies at Duke University. After graduation, he taught at a number of universities until his retirement in 1990. He was preceded in death by his sister, LaVerne Wentworth. He is survived by his sons, Gary and Jon; sister, Faye Robbins; three grandchilden; and two great-grandsons.

• Todd Trimble, 30, Oct. 3 in Tyler. Trimble, whose father is pastor of Pine Church in Pittsburg, died at the hospital a few hours after a hunting accident. He is survived by his wife, Amie; children, Kason, Kallie and Kaden; parents, Danny and Cheryl Trimble; brothers, Chad and Eric; sister, April Trimble; maternal grandmother, Pat Galyon; and paternal grandparents, Leo and Joan Trimble.

Ordained

• DeWayne Bush, to the ministry, at First Church in Tuscola.

• Noe Rodriguez, to the ministry, at First Church in Cotulla.

• Marcus Foster as a deacon at Naruna Church in Lampasas.

Revivals

• Walker Memorial Church, Bandera; Oct. 24-28; evangelist, Robert Barge; pastor, Bill McGarity.

• Chicota Church, Chicota; Nov. 1-4; evangelist, Johnny Witherspoon; pastor, Rocky Burrow.

CHICLAYO, Peru—Fourteen-year-old Thalia bounces around her school’s campus with a smile as bright as the Peruvian sky. Among her peers, she’s clearly a leader, pulling them in with her optimistic brown eyes and light laughter.

For her, the campus near Chiclayo, Peru, is a steppingstone to what she hopes will be something bigger and better. She dreams of trading in her white school uniform for the similarly colored overcoat of a doctor.

Those dreams are being made possible in part by the generosity and ministry of Texas Baptists.

Gifts through the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger supplied the necessary funds for Villa Milagro—a ministry in Peru led by Larry and Joy Johnson of First Baptist Church in San Angelo—to drill a well for the school and its surrounding community.

The well has transformed the campus, providing clean water for the students to drink and drastically improving the health of children who regularly suffered from dysentery. The water also serves as the life stream for crops grown on the school’s campus, giving young people enough food to eat and a place to learn agricultural skills.

Water pours from a pipe connected to a Villa Milagro-dug well. The water nourishes crops that feed students at a Peruvian school and provides clean drinking water for the young people as well.

Thalia’s school was one picture of success 16 Texas Baptists witnessed during a recent mission trip to a variety of Villa Milagro ministry points. The organization, which seeks to share the gospel while meeting physical needs, has seen multitudes come to faith since 1994 and has dug more than 200 wells, helped start more than 85 churches and built numerous roads.

“For the last few days we’ve seen how the Texas Baptist offering has helped drill wells for schools and communities, and it literally transforms lives,” said Bobby Broyles, pastor of First Baptist Church in Ballinger and second vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

“It saves lives because children who once were dying of dysentery and dehydration are now living healthy lives. Obviously, it has changed their lives physically. Hopefully, we’ll also have the opportunity to change their lives spiritually.”

The act of providing clean water to schools and regions has created avenues through which the gospel has been shared repeatedly, said Carolyn Strickland, member of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas and BGCT first vice president. Lives and communities are being altered in the present and in eternity.

In Matara and the surrounding villages, a series of new wells is providing clean drinking water for several thousand people and has sparked economic growth and development in the area. The success of the efforts led to Villa Milagro sending medical mission teams into the area to meet additional needs. As they continue to serve, additional opportunities arise, as do chances for volunteers to share their faith.

Marilyn Davis from South Garland Baptist Church offers high fives to students at a school near Chiclayo, Peru.

“It’s vital,” Strickland said of ministry that connects people with clean drinking water. “It’s the most important thing you can give a child, you can give a community. It’s water that’s nourishing. It’s living water. It’s what we believe in in our faith. It’s what Christ would do.”

During their trip spent primarily near Chiclayo along the Peruvian coast and near Cajamarca in the Andes Mountains, Texas Baptists saw transformed lives, but they also were confronted by vast needs and large projects trying to meet those needs.

They saw a government-run orphanage where—thanks to Villa Milagro—children have enough to eat. But their homes need significant renovation. Texans saw wells that had been dug to provide clean water, but still needed pumps to push the water throughout communities. They witnessed churches reaching into their neighborhoods, some through constructing a medical clinic and holding a youth Baptist meeting.

Grant Lengefeld from First Baptist Church in Hamilton and Van Christian, pastor of First Baptist Church in Comanche, visit with students at the Monte Scion Christian School in Cajamarca, Peru.

“I saw a lot of needs,” said Grant Lengefeld, member of First Baptist Church in Hamilton. “My eyes were opened. I have to tell you the most difficult thing for me on this trip was to see the Pharisee inside myself. These folks here have a very sacrificial faith. I look at the things they are facing with poverty, with hunger, with family abuse issues. I was amazed at the sincerity of the prayer and the sincerity of their faith.”

Throughout the trip, Texans talked about facing crises of belief. When confronted with a trying situation—an orphan in need, a church searching for the resources to do what God has called it to or a student without clean water to drink—participants were challenged to decide how they would respond to the needs before them.

Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission Director Suzii Paynter said that was precisely the point of the trip. Seeing the faces of hungry children helps people understand the gravity of the situation. It challenges them to put the principles of their faith into action.

Giving through the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger empowers believers to support effective ministries like Villa Milagro around the globe. Christians also can get involved further through direct missions work, some of which will happen as a result of the trip, Paynter said.

“I want people to see the world hunger offering as a stepping stone to missions,” Paynter said. “It’s not simply an offering that we take up and give away. It’s a partnership with ministries who would welcome congregations to come along and serve alongside them.”

A young boy rides on the shoulders of Bobby Broyles, pastor of First Baptist Church in Ballinger, in a Cajamarca, Peru orphanage.

The responses of trip participants will vary, Paynter said. Some people will give more through the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger. Others gave during the trip and will give more directly to Villa Milagro for specific efforts. Baptists will take the needs back to the congregations and try to organize a wider response, possibly even recruit volunteers to serve through Villa Milagro. Trip participants will be more mindful of the hungry around them and advocate for assisting those in need.

No matter the response, it begins with an individual’s response to how God is moving in one’s heart, Lengefeld said.

“I think my responsibility is first off to go home to my church and get my church involved in the story,” Lengefeld said. “I think my job is to serve as an advocate. And I’m going to start in my Sunday school class. I think that’s important. Hopefully it will start in our Sunday school class and have it move throughout the church, then to the community and other churches. I think that’s how great things start.”

For more information about the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger, visit www.bgct.org/worldhunger . For more information about Villa Milagro, visit www.villamilagro.net .

David Edwards, 51, pastor of Corsicana’s First Baptist Church, died Friday, Oct. 9, from injuries suffered in an automobile accident near Hubbard.

David Edwards

Edwards was involved in a two-car collision about 4:20 p.m. Friday on State Highway 31, about 2.5 miles west of Hubbard, according to the Department of Public Safety. He was pronounced dead at 5:20 p.m. at Hillcrest Hospital in Waco.

Investigators said Edwards was westbound on Highway 31 when his 2001 Explorer was struck head-on by a truck.

The driver of the truck is at Hillcrest Hospital and is said to be in stable condition.

Edwards is survived by his wife, Lyndy; daughters, Emily of Pennsylvania, and Kate Mullaney and her husband Brian; and a son, Evan, who is a sophomore at Corsicana High School.

Edwards and his wife were preparing to adopt two children from Taiwan later this year, a brother and sister. They were scheduled to leave Tuesday for a trip to Taiwan.

Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12, at Corley Funeral Home, 418 N. 13th Street in Corsicana. A memorial service will be conducted at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, at First Baptist Church, Corsicana. Milton Cunningham will officiate, along with Logan Cummings.

–-adapted from a report in the Corsicana Daily Sun

HOUSTON—When the Baptist General Convention of Texas holds its annual meeting in any city, participants hope to leave the community in a better spiritual and physical state than before it came. And the convention’s attempting to do just that through City Reach, a series of evangelistic events geared toward sharing the hope of Christ with the people of Houston through prayer, care and share efforts.

Members of Templo Bautista in South Houston embraced friends and neighbors with a back-to-school fiesta as part of City Reach.

Reach is focused on partnering with Houston churches to host evangelistic endeavors, attempting to reach the 2 million unchurched people in the area with the gospel.

“When we go into the city with a convention of Christians, we need to leave the city better than we found it,” said Jon Randles, BGCT evangelism director.

“One way we do that is to go in and help reach the community for Christ.We basically are trying to help all our churches and leaders realize that if they will be intentional about evangelism, build trusting relationships with the community, then hold a variety of events and bath it in prayer, they will see results.”

To reach out all types of people groups and cultures in Houston, City Reach volunteers are partnering with Street Life Ministries, Bill Glass Champions for Life, Real Life Outreach and Hope House to share the hope of Christ through hurricane relief, a multicultural fair, a medical clinic, block parties and an extreme sports youth rally.

As an early CityReach event designed to meet community needs, Templo Bautista in South Houston sponsored a back-to-school fiesta.

Although the majority of events will take place between a two-week period before Annual Meeting, some efforts began in September with back-to-school outreaches. Through these efforts, 81 people began a relationship with Christ.

“Much of City Reach is based on event evangelism, but they are based on building relationships,” Randles said.

On Nov. 1, Baptists will come together for a prayer rally to energize believers around the city to participate in the City Reach events leading up to annual meeting.

City Reach also will include ministry to school-age children as the youth evangelism team brings Real Encounters Outreach to schools in the area. A team of extreme sports athletes will lead a three-day program in several public schools, inviting students to attend a rally on the last night where the gospel will be shared.

Templo Bautista provided families backpacks filled with school supplies. (PHOTOS/Courtesy Templo Bautista South Houston)

Bill Glass Champions for Life also is helping Texas Baptist minister to those incarcerated in Houston prisons. The organization leads Christian pro athletes into prisons to host an entertaining program while share the gospel in the process. Volunteers partner with the athletes and become counselors for the event. This weekend endeavor is expected to be the largest on in Bill Glass Champions for Life history with goal of working beside several hundred volunteers and churches.

Participants will receive evangelism training on the night before the event and then work alongside the organization to minister in the prisons the following two days. Champions for Life will be taking a similar program into public schools the week before annual meeting in hopes to reach students with the gospel as well.

City Reach will not be able to make an impact on the Houston area unless Baptists from all over Texas become involved in the planned projects, Randles said.

“Most pastors and churches want to reach their communities for Christ but they don’t know how to build relationships or make an impact,” Randles said. “City Reach is teaching them how to do things in the community to share Christ with the lost. It’s about training people in evangelism, walking beside them and then giving them a chance to share how Christ has changed them.”

Volunteers are still needed to help with the array of City Reach projects taking place. Learn more about City Reach events by calling the BGCT Church Evangelism office at (214) 828-5126 click here or sign up to help with one of the projects.

DALLAS—Intercultural Christians know the language and customs to connect with their own people. And the Baptist General Convention of Texas is giving them an opportunity to use their knowledge to share the gospel with a culture they know inside and out.

Many intercultural Christians in Texas have a passion to reach their own people back in their native lands. The BGCT Intercultural Ministries is helping to make that possible through a new Intercultural Strategic Partners initiative.

After nearly three years of planning, the BGCT Intercultural Ministries office and a board of seven intercultural pastors ministering in Texas formed Intercultural Strategic Partners.

With $65,000 allotted from worldwide church-directed cooperative giving, the BGCT launched the initiative to provide support for the work of indigenous Christians.

“It is high time we start trusting local missionaries and raising indigenous missionaries from local people due to the financial cost and the time,” said Bedilu Yirga, pastor of the Ethiopian Evangelical Baptist Church in Garland and a board member of Intercultural Strategic Partners. “We have an urgent message to share. With indigenous missionaries, you don’t have to spend the time to teach culture.”

Patty Lane, director of BGCT Intercultural Ministries, said Intercultural Strategic Partners is about backing intercultural leaders and letting them use their knowledge, ingenuity and connections to further the gospel in their homelands.

A core group of believers stands by the church planter (center). They became followers of Jesus through the church planters work and will serve as a nucleus for new churches in the area, according to Patty Lane, director of BGCT Intercultural Ministries. (PHOTOS/BGCT)

“It’s really about connections and indigenous strategies,” Lane said. “We are letting the indigenous leaders living here in Texas call the shots. What they go and do matches with what the local group needs. It’s about connectivity. The connections are already there. It’s a matter of seed money and a person who can bless and validate the work there in their home area.”

Since the beginning, Intercultural Strategic Partners has funded seven projects involving church planting, church planter training, orphan relief, medical missions and community development and education in Africa, South East Asia, South Asia and Eastern Europe.

In May, Intercultural Strategic Partners approved funding for Sudha Jayaprabhu, an Indian Christian living in North Texas more than 20 years.

Jayaprabhu spent the summer in her hometown in India encouraging seven national pastors and training them in church planting. Each pastor will minister to seven villages, working to share the gospel by starting core Bible study groups.

Intercultural Strategic Partners funding helped with the training, as well as providing bicycles for the pastors so they can travel from village to village sharing the gospel and encouraging other Christians.

These three people became followers of Jesus through a church planter trained by Sudha Jayaprabhu (not pictured) to be part of a seven-person core group that ministers to 49 villages in their home area of India. Now they are part of a core group that helps one of the church planters share the gospel with villages in their area. (PHOTOS/BGCT)

Yirga and his church also received funds from Intercultural Strategic Partners to help with church planting and community ministries in his home county of Ethiopia. Through Yirga’s connections and networking with ministries and pastors there, he is able to support and train 23 indigenous missionaries for only $60 per person per month.

“It’s very much encouraging, because we are receiving reports from the field,” Yirga said. “It is a blessing to hear that so many people heard the gospel for the first time, and we have people committing their lives to Jesus. We want to be culturally sensitive to the work out there and to engage ethnic churches in mission work and to be good stewards of what we have been given.”

Yutaka Takarada, pastor of the Japanese Baptist Church of North Texas in Dallas and an Intercultural Strategic Partners board member, agrees the new initiative is helping further and improve ministry that is already in place in their home countries.

“Some of the leaders from different countries are already working with the people from their countries, like starting churches or sending missionaries or educating pastors in that country,” Takarada said. “The ISP enlarges the ministry we already have done (in a few places) because we can do more with the financial support of the ISP.”

To receive support from Intercultural Strategic Partners, individuals and churches must complete an application to state their intentions for the funding. Qualified projects must be focused on growing the kingdom of God, be connected to a BGCT-affiliated intercultural church, involve local Christian leadership in an indigenous setting, be within the financial capability of Intercultural Strategic Partners and state an accountability process.

Once the application is submitted, the board meets once a month to discuss the proposed project. The board does not vote on the endeavors but continues discussion until a consensus is made. Lane said this approach has allowed the Holy Spirit to guide the group’s decisions in the best way possible.

“It helps us be more sensitive to God’s leadership and build trust with others in the group,” Lane said. “It’s done more on a relationship basis than a time-efficiency basis. We need to build the relationships and that helps us be effective as a group.”

Current projects deal with intercultural individuals and churches partnering with indigenous believers, churches and missionaries in their home countries. The board would like to see intercultural churches as well as Anglo churches taking advantage of the wisdom and cultural knowledge that each congregation possesses to form cross-cultural ministry projects.

“ISP links cultural knowledge and missional strategy to change the way we think about and do missions,” Lane said. “Creativity in strategy and innovation in networking are proving that even very limited financial resources in the hands of the right people will change the world. I hope that every intercultural church that has a heart and passion to reach their people around the world knows they have a friend at ISP.”

To learn more about Intercultural Strategic Partners, contact the BGCT Intercultural Ministries office at (888) 244-9400.

PLAINVIEW—If you ask Beverly Steed or Debbie Parker who has been one of their biggest help during their ongoing struggles with breast cancer and they would likely name each other.

Ironically, the two have never met in person. They work on Wayland Baptist University campuses 460 miles apart. But that didn’t keep Steed and Parker from developing a tight friendship and support system across the state as they encouraged each other on the journey toward wellness.

Parker, who works as office manager for business and financial aid for Wayland’s San Antonio campus, was diagnosed in August 2008 with breast cancer, discovered in an enlarged lymph node. After a lumpectomy, she started chemotherapy and later underwent a bilateral mastectomy, finding out later there was cancer in the right breast as well.

With the tough road ahead of her, early on in the journey Parker asked for Wayland to include her on the employee newsletter prayer list circulated to all system employees across seven states. Right about that time, Steed was waiting on results of her own biopsy, with breast cancer later diagnosed.

“When I saw the listing for Debbie, I was compelled to write her immediately. I think it was God telling me to write her right then,” recalled Steed, who is the administrative assistant for Wayland athletics.

Steed sent a quick e-mail to Parker, telling her about her own situation and offering her prayers. That was the first of many correspondences between the pair as they have laughed, cried and encouraged each other over the past 16 months. The distance doesn’t seem to deter the friendship. Cards and letters, e-mails and packages travel both directions as part of the sunshine the two try to shed on each other.

Steed recalled an e-mail Parker sent a few days before her surgery that included a prayer for God’s angels to surround the surgeons during the procedure. Steed printed the note, took it with her to the hospital and found immense encouragement from her friend’s words.

Parker and Steed have been able to share information, advice and experiences with each other. Steed’s bilateral mastectomy actually came a month before Parker’s, so she was able to tell her frightened friend what to expect.

On the flip side, Parker had already experienced some of what Steed faced, so she was able to offer her fresh perspective. Though both women say they have supportive friends, family and coworkers in their lives, they noted something special about the bond with a sister who is traveling the path at the same time.

“Throughout this, we’ve sent each other cards and notes, and it just seems like every time I needed to hear words of encouragement, I’d go to the mailbox and there would be a card or an e-mail from Debbie,” Steed said. “It’s like we were holding each other’s hands through this whole thing.”

Debbie Parker works at the San Antonio campus of Wayland Baptist University. (PHOTO/Deanna Spruce, Wayland San Antonio)

“Beverly sent me a book called Cancer and the Lord’s Prayer, and I have ordered a few myself to give to people I know going through the same thing,” Parker said. “It was no accident that we met. God planned that. I really believe that.”

The journey is not completely over for either Steed or Parker. Steed went through chemotherapy first, and her mastectomy uncovered many lymph nodes that were cancerous. She finished up six additional months of chemo at the end of August and is waiting for radiation, although she recently received word that the cancer seems to be in remission.

After her mastectomy—performed five years to the day after her mother underwent the same procedure—Parker went through radiation and is now doing chemo and hormone therapy while waiting for reconstructive surgery. Both remain optimistic, fueled in large part by their friendship and by their strong faith.

“Once you have sat in an office and someone has told you ‘you have cancer,’ you look at life totally different than you ever have before,” Parker said. “Although I was a Christian, God has really changed me in this last year.”

Steed shares that sentiment.

“I didn’t get a personality transplant, but he has changed me. I’m a lot more patient; things that were bothering me ceased to matter anymore… immediately,” Steed said. “I’m not a hero and am very uncomfortable when people say I’m strong or brave, but I just say that God did it.”

Both indicate that experiencing cancer changes one’s perspective on life and what is truly valuable.

“You know the things that are the most important in your life. You just have to trust in the Lord. And, hopefully, you have lots of friends that are praying for you and lifting you up,” Parker said.

The pair also lauded their Wayland family, from student athletes to administrators, for being so supportive during their hardest times. Steed noted she continued to work as much as possible during her cancer journey because of the encouragement she found on the job.

And both say the experience has made them champions for breast health and preventive measures that may lead to early detection and a higher survival rate. They stress the importance of mammograms for women they know, and Steed says she preaches regularly to the female athletes at Wayland the value of self-exams while they are younger.

Steed and Parker believe they one day will be able to meet and share a physical hug to match the emotional ones they’ve shared over the past year. And even though their cancer journey will someday end, they believe their friendship will remain true.

“We probably never would have met otherwise,” Steed said. “Now we can say that we’re friends and have blessed each other on this journey we never wanted to go on.”

LAREDO—Since Venezuelan Baptist Patrick Weller began serving as a missionary eight years ago, he’s taught at a mission school in Venezuela, ministered in Germany and planted churches in Argentina. But he never thought the next step in his journey would take him to South Texas.

For three months, Weller labored under the direction of Mario Garcia, River Ministry coordinator and Laredo Baptist Association director of missions, to take part in church planting, lead Vacation Bible Schools and encourage believers in Laredo.

As part of a relationship between the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Venezuelan Baptist Convention through Texas Partnerships and the River Ministry, Weller served as the first Venezuelan to take part in the evangelistic work happening with Spanish-speaking ministries in Texas.

In 2008, Texas Partnerships committed to send teams to work with Venezuelan outreach events during the next three years. Venezuelan Baptists also committed to take part in evangelistic efforts in Texas.

Plans for Texas Hope 2010 

“The Venezuelans are serious about the reciprocating nature of our relationship,” said Steve Seaberry, director of the BGCT Texas Partnerships. “We are currently working on plans for Venezuelans to come help with Texas Hope 2010,” the Texas Baptist emphasis to share the gospel with every Texan by Easter 2010.

At a national Venezuelan Baptist meeting, Weller became aware of the convention’s commitment to help in Texas, but he had no desire to leave his ministry in Venezuela at that time.

“There was a national convention in Venezuela, and they said they needed help in Laredo,” Weller said. “It was not in my plans to come here. At the time, I was helping with a church with some missionaries in Venezuela. We prayed together, and I felt that this was from God—an opportunity to help this area.”

Since Weller served as the intercultural mission director and taught classes at a mission training school in Anaco, Venezuela, he needed to find someone to cover his duties while he was away in addition to raising support for the Laredo endeavor.

"God confirmed everything" 

“God confirmed everything,” Weller said. “I felt peace in the decision even though I had a lot of things to do there in Venezuela. God helped me fill up the training in different ways, and I had a few friends in Venezuela and two churches that chose to support me.”

Weller then traveled to Texas in June. Even though he was from a Spanish-speaking country, he had much to learn about the culture, climate and colloquialisms of Laredo once he arrived since the majority of the Spanish-speaking population was of Mexican heritage. But through God’s help, he conquered the learning curve and was able to minister to many people in the area, he said.

“Because I’m from another country, especially another country where people know about our president and the petroleum, God used that to open doors to meet people, to share,” Weller said. “I love opportunities to speak with different people.”

Weller’s main duty was to encourage the seven members of Discipleship Ministry, a Bible study that ministers to Los Presidentes, an area of Laredo without any churches. Through Weller’s leadership and the hard work of the members, the group grew to more than 30 people and is now considered a church plant.

Growth began in outreach to children 

Much of the group’s growth and progress spurred from outreach to the children in the area. Gracie Roath, a member at Discipleship Ministry who opened her home and allowed Weller to stay with her family during his time in Laredo, said she has seen many beneficial changes in the children who attended the Vacation Bible School at their home during the summer.

“We have a lot of changes in the children’s lives as far as they are more loving and more open to discuss their life at home,” Roath said. “They’ve changed in the aspect as some children had issues with anger and depression, and they are now so alive. Even if there isn’t a Bible study going on, the kids want to come over.”

In addition to his work at the church plant, Weller worked with visiting summer mission teams and preached at various Hispanic churches each Sunday and Wednesday.

“He showed us a whole lot about the way of mission work is to be done,” Roath said. “He would go out and minister to people, feeding some families and preaching at some churches. It just motivated us to want to do God’s work.”

Roath and her husband, Donald, assumed the church planting work when Weller returned to Venezuela at the end of August to resume his duties at the mission school. Garcia also shared his hopes that Weller’s time spent in Laredo encouraged him and will help his ministry in Venezuela.

“Whatever experience he had here, he can do there in Venezuela,” Garcia said. “I know Laredo is different. The culture is different, but I hope that his time here three months will encourage him to do this where he is. It takes a lot of effort, a lot of dedication, a lot of time to do what he has done. And I think he learned from those experiences.”

PULLMAN, Wash.—Leaders of Resonate Church in Pullman, Wash., believe church planters should never underestimate the power of genuine relationships, prayer, creativity—and good coffee.

Resonate Church has no permanent building—just three trailers filled with audiovisual systems and dozens of plastic buckets that transport everything needed to set up for worship. Leaders conduct worship in two cities on either side of the Washington/Idaho state line.

Most church business is conducted in a coffee shop. An illusionist, geologist, teacher and musician make up half of the staff, and all of the church’s deacons are under age 35.

Instead of going through a membership class, newcomers to the congregation go through an “ownership” class. And many of those new members are college and graduate students.

Resonate Church in Pullman, Wash., grew out of the vision of Paige and Keith Wieser, graduates of Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches.

Together with two East Texas Baptist University graduates—Josh Martin and Drew Worsham—and a couple of Washington State University graduates, the small group prayed for and helped to plant the church just two years ago.

In 2008, Resonate launched a second service in Moscow, Idaho. Matthew and April Young from Nacogdoches came aboard staff to shepherd the Moscow site.

Creative Arts Pastor Drew Worsham (with mic) and Worship Pastor Josh Martin (on guitar)—both graduates of East Texas Baptit University—welcome worshippers to Resonate Church in Pullman, Wash.

The Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board provides some funding for most of the Resonate staff. Several Texas Baptist churches—primarily Central Baptist in Livingston, First Baptist in Crosby, First Baptist in Nacogdoches and Heights Baptist in Alvin— also support the church’s mission.

Washington is one of the top two unchurched states in the nation, according to the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board. More than 19,000 Washington State students live in Pullman, and another 12,000 students live a few miles down the road in Moscow, where they attend the University of Idaho.

This unchurched generation is waiting on God’s love to be demonstrated, Pastor Keith Wieser believes.

Resonate is on mission to reveal the story of Jesus in a powerful and meaningful way to college students—not through systems or programs, but through authentic relationships in an inviting community.

Essentially, Resonate Church relaunches every fall when the school year begins.

Pastor Keith Wieser—a graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches—preaches at Resonate Church in Pullman, Wash.

After the church served both campuses for a week by offering barbecues, concerts, magic shows and free breakfasts, about 300 students showed up the first Sunday to find out more about Resonate.

“This is my first time to ever attend a church service,” one girl commented. The experience radically changed her preconceived notions about church, she added.

“Jesus does not have to be made relevant for a new generation and mindset. He already is,” Wieser said. “We seek to find ways to communicate and interpret the unchanging and authoritative truth of the Bible into the mindset of this generation.”

Intentional, compassionate relationships draw people, Resonate members note.

“If you come to Resonate, you can not slip out the backdoor or go unnoticed. People sincerely want to know your name and your story,” Kate-Lynne Logan said.

Resonate small groups meet in homes and are called villages. After enjoying a home- cooked meal, a village provides a safe environment where small-group participants wrestle with difficult questions and engage in spiritual dialogue.

Ten villages meet each week, with specific villages geared toward particular affinity groups such as college freshmen or international students. Resonate desires for 80 percent of the people who attend worship on Sunday to be involved in a village.

“The backbone of Resonate is how village functions,” Wieser said.

In villages, participants can move to a deeper level in their relationship with God and each other, Jessica McFaul noted.

“You get to dig deep into the sermon, meditate on the biblical principles presented on Sunday, and encourage one another to practically live out God’s plan for your life. It is a rare treasure,” she said.

Revealing biblical relevancy, missional living, authentic community and ongoing spiritual discovery are core values of Resonate.

“The reason I carve out time to be involved in Resonate is because it is a God- based community that makes an effort to draw people in and show them what following Christ can look like,” said BrynnWhitman, who has attended the church since its launch two years ago. “The church as a whole exudes love for people and the people who make up the church support, encourage, and inspire me to trust Jesus unreservedly.”