Churches seek to help lower-income Americans caught in a never-ending loan cycle. While profits for lenders can be substantial, the toll on families can be devastating.

East Texas Baptist University, in cooperation with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, recently hosted the third annual Worship Summit. The Hendrick Medical Center board of trustees named Brad Holland as the next president and chief executive officer of Hendrick Health System.

Kurt Kaiser of Waco, Christian composer and pianist, died Nov. 12 after a lengthy illness. He was 83.

Move beyond failure and reach for seemingly unattainable dreams, such as a world without hunger, TV celebrity woodworker Clint Harp urged participants at the Together at the Table Hunger and Poverty Summit.

Hunger-fighting ministries should not allow lesser goals, such as distributing a prescribed amount of food, to substitute for truly worthy goals of eliminating hunger and helping families emerge from poverty, speakers told a Baylor University summit.

Confrontation and shaming may produce temporary victories, but shared power built on mutual trust leads to sustainable solutions, the founding executive director of the Texas Hunger Initiative said.

Kinesiology students from East Texas Baptist University staffed a field day for Washington Early Childhood Center in Marshall. The South Texas School of Christian Studies is now Stark College and Seminary. The Texas Baptist Missions Foundation Council approved 31 grants  totaling $502,550.

Texas Baptists will join Mexican Baptists in Matamoros Nov. 17 for a Border Summit to discuss ways to respond to the needs along the Rio Grande.

“Dead Man Walking”—the story of the complicated relationship between death row inmate Elmo Patrick Sonnier and Catholic nun Helen Prejean—offers a picture of Christian forgiveness that balances the demands of love and justice, ethicist John Lippitt asserted.

At least 18 tenured faculty at Hardin-Simmons University have expressed interest in a buyout offer, and 22 staff have been offered severance packages, HSU President Eric Bruntmyer announced.

Texas Baptist Men disaster relief crews continue to work in the Kingsland and Marble Falls areas after homes in the Highland Lakes region flooded. The Wayland Baptist University chapter of Enactus worked with the university’s faculty and staff to donate 42 Bibles to the Crisis Center of the Plains.

Staff changes noted for churches in San Angelo, Temple, Sterling City, Houston and Waco, as well as FIRM Baptist Area.