IN TOUCH: Marshall, Georgetown & Burkburnett

Hello, Texas Baptists! Congratulations to East Texas Baptist University on the occasion of its 100th anniversary. Kathleen and I, along with Associate Executive Director Steve and Donna Vernon, Treasurer Jill and Kent Larsen and First Vice President Jeff Johnson, attended ETBU's anniversary gala. It was a splendid affair, and we were honored to represent our Texas Baptist family. In addition to a review of the university's history, President Dub Oliver shared a challenging vision for the future. Pray with me for ETBU and its next years!

While in Marshall, I was honored with the opportunity to preach at Central Baptist Church, where Wallace Watkins now is on his second tenure as pastor. They have such a beautiful building and sweet fellowship. Wallace had just returned from a two-week mission venture in Africa, where he spent time training local pastors in preaching and ministry.

David Hardage

I do want to thank O.S. Hawkins of GuideStone Financial Resources for the opportunity to share the weekly devotional to their staff in Dallas. I was blessed by being there and appreciate the dedicated leadership and service GuideStone provides to so many in our Texas Baptist family. And I saw a couple of young adults there I have known for a few years. One young man, whom I had gotten to know through my son, John, and another young lady whose wedding ceremony I performed a little over a year ago. Special times!

Thanks to Dan Wooldridge, pastor of Crestview Baptist Church in Georgetown, for inviting me to preach for their missions and ministry emphasis. Dan has been there several years. The church has just gone through a building/remodeling program and is really engaging the world in missions. It was exciting to be a part of such a healthy and evangelistic church.

Central Baptist Church of Burkburnett is led by Pastor Duane Perkinson, and they had a revival in mid-October. It was a joy for me to preach for their Monday-night service. In attendance that night were members of a cowboy church Central sponsored earlier this year and which now has attendance of 150. I was blessed, and I hope the folks in Burkburnett were, too.

Steve Vernon and I attended the quarterly board meeting of the Valley Baptist Missions Education Center in Harlingen. The VBMEC is on solid financial ground and is enjoying a great partnership with Baptist Child & Family Services to meet the needs of young boys from Central and South America. It's a longer story than what I can share here, but lives are being changed, and the future is bright.

Hope to see you in Corpus for our annual meeting. God bless you all, and thank you for the privilege of serving Texas Baptists. You are a blessing.

–David Hardage is executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board.