Texas Tidbits: Baylor plans Big Idea conference

Next Big Idea Conference set. Baylor University will host the Next Big Idea Conference Feb. 9-11. The conference will explore faith-based community ministries that are fully engaged with local and global concerns. Featured speakers include Kay Warren of Saddleback Church, Lynne Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church, Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson of the Externally Focused Church and Rick McKinley of Imago Dei Community Church and co-creator of Advent Conspiracy. Joining them in more than a dozen workshops will be several Baylor professors. The event is cosponsored by Baylor’s Truett Theological Seminary, the Baylor School of Social Work and The Leadership Network. For a full list of workshops and to register, go to www.baylor.edu/bigidea or call (254) 710-3854.

 
Full house at Breckenridge. Breckenridge Village of Tyler reached two milestones recently—full occupancy and one year operating in the black financially. Forty-four developmentally disabled adults called Breckenridge Village “home” as of November. “Reaching full occupancy is a goal we … have had our sights on for a long time,” Executive Director Charles Dodson said. “Retiring our capital debt last year proved to be what BVT needed to turn the corner on how we could sustain our ministry.” Breckenridge, a ministry of Baptist Child & Family Services, is the only Baptist facility in Texas providing around-the-clock, year-around residential care for developmentally disabled adults.

 
Ethics scholarship established at HSU. An endowed scholarship to benefit Christian ethics students in the Logsdon School of Theology has been established at Hardin-Simmons University. The first missionary Journeyman group sent overseas by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Foreign Mission Board in 1965 created the scholarship in honor of Louis and Mary Vic Cobbs of Tyler. Louis Cobbs, a former campus minister and student ministry worker with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, was instrumental in creating the Journeyman program—a two-year missionary experience for college graduates—when he worked with the mission board. The missionary Journeyman class of 1965 has set a $25,000 goal for the scholarship fund. To date, more than $11,000 has been contributed. For more information, contact Russell Leavenworth in the Hardin-Simmons University development office, Box 1600, Abilene 79698.

 
CERI volunteers bring boots to Moldovan orphans. More than 60 volunteers with Children’s Emergency Relief International visited 67 orphanages and other institutions in Moldova, putting 12,478 pairs of boots on the feet of orphans and distributing 23,000 pairs of socks and other donated knitted items such as hats, scarves and sweaters. A medical team cared for more than 280 patients. Volunteers participated in Moldova Operation Knit Together through CERI, the overseas division of Baptist Child & Family Services.

 
DBU receives $1 million gift. Dallas Baptist University received a $1 million donation from John and Nita Ford toward construction of the Patty and Bo Pilgrim Chapel on campus. DBU will name the chapel’s foyer for the couple, who are members of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano.