Hello Texas Baptists.This is my first article, as your new Executive Director, in The Baptist Standard. I have been a reader of this paper for years and have appreciated the leadership provided by editors Presnal Wood, Toby Druin and, now, Marv Knox…Texas Baptists have benefited from the information, insight, and opinions shared on these pages. I appreciate the opportunity to communicate about our work and ministry together through this “In Touch” article.

I begin with a heartfelt “Thank You” for the kind and gracious welcome I’ve received from those serving at the Baptist General Convention of Texas building here in Dallas. They have made me feel right at home and I’m grateful. Additionally, I’ve had many notes, calls, cards, emails, etc. from Texas Baptists all around the state passing along words of welcome and assurances of prayer and support. These have meant so much to me…I have been blessed!!!

Let me use this means to share another “Thank You”…For the past year or so our Associate Executive Director, Dr. Steve Vernon, has been writing these articles and has done a wonderful job with them…So, thanks, Steve and well done!…

One of my first goals is to get around to some of our great Institutions to listen and learn about the good things going on at their various campuses. I have already had the privilege of visiting with Dr. Randy O’Rear on the campus of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and Dr. Gary Cook on the campus of Dallas Baptist University. I would encourage you to visit these campuses and see the beauty of the campus and the continued construction for growth going on. Check out their websites at umhb.edu and dbu.edu.

I’m very excited about the Pastor, Mike Toby, who serves you as an Executive Board member, and the Staff from FBC Woodway coming to our Baptist Building for a Staff Retreat later on this spring. It’ll be a very good time of prayer, planning and preparation for them but also a sweet time for us to say “welcome” and “let us help any way we can.” If you’d be interested in bringing your Church Staff to Dallas for a Retreat please contact my Assistant, Myla McClinton, at 214-828-5301 or email myla.mcclinton@texasbaptists.org This is your building and we want you to feel at home here. Besides, there are leaders here who would be pleased to walk alongside you with ideas and expertise.

It was a good experience, for me, to visit Dr. Randy Wallace, pastor at FBC Killeen. With soldiers returning home to Ft. Hood this area is booming. Fortunately FBC has begun implementing an exciting church starting model. See their website at fbckilleen.com.

I look forward to the days ahead and continue to request your prayers and support. Texas Baptists ARE making a difference for the Kingdom!!

Thanks to the social ministries started by Wall, that’s no longer the case.

The pastor of Iglesia Bautista Agape and director of Agape Ministries launched a feeding program five years ago for elementary age children in the area. Today, Manna as it’s called, feeds roughly 135 young people daily, providing many of them with their only nutritious meal of the day.

Children run from school to the feeding site, fidget as they laugh, smile and wait in line for food. When they finish their plates, some of them come back for more. They are never turned away.

The food gives the children what they need to grow and develop properly. As a result, they do better in school and at home. The children who first came to the outreach are set to graduate the fifth grade this year. Their school recently was recognized as the best school in Mexico, a direct result, Wall believes, of improvements taking place within the community.

“Thanks to God, things are changing,” said Maria Bravo-Silva, whose son Fernando was among the first children to come to the feeding center. “The children are reaching their goals.”

The feeding center allowed the church an opportunity to better get to know the children in the community as well as their families. The ministry blossomed to encompass regular medical clinics, a school for the arts as well as tutoring programs – each of which is designed to help young people while building relationships with families through which the gospel can be shared.

“It benefits my people, children and family,” said Bravo-Silva. “It benefits people in the community like children and families.”

Wall’s ministry is supported in part by gifts to missions through the worldwide portion of the Texas Baptist Cooperative Program as well as Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions. Those funds are crucial to the change that is taking place in the community, Wall said.

“We are able to do great things in Mexico and in this place specifically that would not be possible without the help and support of the groups and people of the Baptist General Convention of Texas,” he said.

Wall prays the congregation is known for the love it has for God and its community. Because the church has cared for people near it, residents have been open to hearing and embracing the gospel.

“When we go door-to-door sharing the gospel, people are open to receive it.”

People no longer have that understanding, Mittleberg said. And that makes evangelism more difficult.
As people have become less connected to congregations, that common understanding of being disconnected from God – let alone that any gap between people and God can be filled by Christ – has waned significantly, Mittleberg said. A common language and worldview no longer exists between an increasingly non-Christian populace and Christ-followers seeking to share the gospel.

“People are moving farther from the cross,” Mittleberg said during Texas Baptists’ Unapologetics Conference at Grace Point Church in San Antonio. Evangelism training conferences like this are made possible by gifts to missions through the Texas Baptist Cooperative Program, the primary giving channel for Texas Baptists.

The UnApologetics Conference was produced by Texas Baptists’ Evangelism Team, San Antonio Baptist Association, Baptist University of the Americas, Wayland Baptist University and Grace Point Church.

Not only have individuals moved farther from a relationship with Christ, they have erected intellectual walls that make them resistant to evangelism efforts, Mittleberg added. In order to bring people back to Christ, His followers must care for others as God cares about them, understand people no longer realize they are spiritually lost and commit to following Christ passionately in order to see life change in others. Christians also must be prepared to provide answers when they’re needed.

Answers are exactly what Author Lee Strobel said he needed. An atheist from childhood, Strobel attempted to put his journalistic skills to work investigating Christianity after his wife converted to the faith.
“I began to investigate whether it was historically credible that Jesus died and rose again,” he said.

Throughout a nearly two-year-long investigation, Strobel became convinced the Bible was accurate. He noted multiple sources inside and outside the Bible during the time of Christ that confirmed the biblical narrative. Critical contemporaries of Christ confirmed portions of the biblical story. Eye witnesses affirmed Scripture.

“I realized it would take more faith to maintain my atheism than to become a Christian,” he said.
The investigation led to Strobel embracing the gospel. The decision changed his life, he said, turning from an immoral drunkard to become a better father and husband. He became a minister and now defends the faith he was once trying to disprove.

“God changed my life,” Strobel said. “He changed my wife. He changed my daughter. He changed my son. And now He’s working in the lives of my grandchildren.”

Evangelism in contemporary society requires Christians who are willing to invest in the lives of non-Christians, working through the struggles – spiritual or otherwise – that might be encountered, Mittleberg said.

“We need to learn to think like missionaries,” Mittleberg said.
Thinking like missionaries means people need to be prepared to share the gospel at any time, Strobel said. Christians must look for opportunities to share their faith relationally.

“You just never know what might happen on your average and routine day,” he said. “Someone might ambush you with an opportunity.”

People wander in off the streets and into the sanctuary during services asking for food and money. Kids are asked to step outside if they misbehave during worship. People sing off key. The service itself can seem disorganized.

“We don’t do anything well,” said Co-Pastor Fred Kinney. “I’m just being honest with you. If you came to our service, you’d freak out.”

There is one other thing the Baptist General Convention of Texas-sponsored church start does weird, Kinney admits – the transformational way it cares for others, which models Christ’s love for people and has driven the new church to baptize 20 people in the past six months, many of whom were unchurched and experienced dramatic lifestyle changes as a result of embracing the gospel.

Drug addicts have broken free from their chains. Drug dealers are now distributing the hope of Christ. People who may not have much to eat are giving food to those who have none. Church members are providing for homeless people when they can. At least two of them have taken a homeless man into their homes on a cold night.

A church modeled after what its members see in the book of Acts appropriately is seeing God-sized changes take place.

“I preach the same thing every Sunday: missions. Go and make disciples. And I’m not doing it. Ed’s not doing it. They’re doing it. They are making disciples. They are crossing racial barriers. They are not looking at age,” Kinney said.

“We went back to going into people’s homes, hanging with them while they smoke cigarettes and drink beer. We go into their homes, some of them with bugs crawling across your shoulders, and we sit there and spend time with them. That’s it. That’s what Jesus did. He spent time with people. As a matter of fact, He made it His purpose to go up to people who weren’t saved. He didn’t hang around the Pharisees. He went to Zacchaeus’ house. He went to the sinners, the prostitutes, the drunkards.”

Terri Mital might be the most dramatic transformation of them all. A gang member who dropped out in the sixth grade, she met Kinney while walking down the sidewalk. Kinney asked her if she needed any help, which she did. He gave her some food, talked to her about the issues she was facing and invited her to church.

She came, and her life changed, she says. She embraced the hope of Christ, was baptized and her outlook on life shifted. She saw how Christ had blessed her life. She was able to read for the first time. The physical ailments that were troubling her faded.

“This is the best church in the world I’ve ever come to,” she said. “They accept you whoever you are, what you wear, what nationality you are – they don’t care.”

She has become the congregation’s leading evangelist, bringing person after person to church with her.

“I [have] brung one person, to the next to the next to the next to the next to the next,” Mital said. “Now 15 people have been baptized.”

That includes Humberto Espitia who came to Fort Worth to sell drugs. Now he’s been baptized and feels a call to preach. Within three years, the congregation hopes to send him out to start his own congregation.

“My calling is to preach. It’s one thing I didn’t know until I started reading the Bible, understanding it and seeking Him,” he said. “The Holy Spirit started talking to me and telling me ‘This is what you’re here for. This is your purpose in this world.’”

Mital introduced Kinney to Christina Evans. She, her two sisters and two children started coming to the church. Evans started bringing Anita Tate’s children. Now Tate comes as well. Recently, Tate’s husband came.

People are intrigued by what they see church members doing in the community, Evans said. The community witnesses lives changing and wants to know what’s going on. Christ’s love is leading the church to care for others.

“[People] see,” Evans said. “As much as you don’t think they see, they see. If they see you doing something, they’re going to be like hmm and start noticing it and be like ‘Where is that influence coming from?’ And start coming to church.”

Transformation is still taking place, Kinney noted. Members still are facing issues. People still need food. The overwhelming majority of the congregation is unemployed. There are child protective services issues, including a 12-year-old prostitute and a four-year-old boy who drinks beer and smokes cigarettes. Change is difficult, requires determination and the power of God. It’s no different than people in the Bible.

“We wouldn’t have a New Testament if people weren’t screwed up,” he said. “Paul wouldn’t have written any letters, Peter wouldn’t have written any letters, John wouldn’t have written any letters, James wouldn’t have written any letters, if people weren’t screwed up. We forget about that. So it hasn’t changed.”

Like in Scripture, God continues to work in people’s lives, said Co-Pastor Ed Elliot. His followers are bringing others to Him as they were commanded to do in the Bible.

“God has really been blessing the work and what we’re doing. Just like in the books of Acts, people are just bringing more people. All these kids are just coming. We’re really not trying to do any efforts to bring in more people. The people who are here are doing it.”

Texas Baptist Men wrapped up its disaster relief efforts with the end of its new sawmill ministry that transformed burnt trees into lumber that can aid people in the recovery process. Since September, Texas Baptist Men has performed more than 400 “jobs,” ranging from clean-up to preparing meals.

The relief portion of ministry is complete, but recovery and rebuilding efforts will continue. Following the model established in recent years, Texas Baptists have picked up those latter efforts and will help churches and mission teams connect with opportunities.

Dick Talley, TBM’s logistics coordinator, praised the way TBM’s volunteers responded to wildfires across the state in 2011, including Bastrop. When units discovered needs, teams assembled and provided what was needed quickly and efficiently.

“Texas Baptist Men is all about meeting the needs of victims in the time of disaster,” he said. “We have trained our men well. They responded well.”

TBM was honored to serve Bastrop residents in their time of need, Talley said. As a result of what the volunteers did, Talley believes people in the area received practical help as well as emotional and spiritual encouragement.

Talley also thanked Bastrop leaders for their willingness to help TBM respond to the crisis. Their assistance proved invaluable.

“The entire community, no matter where you went in a yellow hat, would thank you,” he said. “The stores would bend over backward to provide what you needed to help their people.”

Mission opportunities still remain, said Marla Bearden, Texas Baptists’ disaster response specialist. No matter what skills people have, there is a place in the on-going rebuilding and recovery process in Bastrop. To help fill the need for help, the convention is attempting to mobilize 100 volunteers to serve March 12-16 in the Bastrop area.

“Texas Baptists volunteers are needed in Bastrop to assist with clean up, new construction, distribution center work and spiritual care,” she said. “A Disaster Relief Center is being created to store donated building supplies. Volunteers are needed to assist in setting up this center. Also, the Bastrop County Fire Distribution Center is in need of volunteers and donations.”

Bearden praised the ministry of Texas Baptist Men and believes it is crucial for Texas Baptists to continue serving in areas affected by the wildfires.

“It is important for Texas Baptists to be involved in the long term recovery in Bastrop and Smithville,” she said. “First Baptist Church in Smithville is working with the faith-based community to create ‘Faith Village’ – a facility that will house volunteers for up to two years. These areas have experienced the largest wildfire in Texas History, destroying over 1,600 homes. The faith-based community is pulling together to assist these who have been affected. Texas Baptists are part of that community being the hands and feet of Jesus to those who need our help.”

For more information about mission opportunities in Bastrop and Smithville, visit www.texasbaptists.org/disaster. For more information about Texas Baptist Men’s ministry, visit www.texasbaptistmen.org.

The strategists – Texas Baptists’ staff members across the state – will help TBM find locations where disaster relief units can set up to serve and will serve as a conduit for congregations to report their disaster relief needs to TBM.

The move is the latest step in a decades-long relationship between the two entities. Through the Cooperative Program – the primary giving channel for the convention – Texas Baptists support Texas Baptist Men. The convention encourages churches to be involved in TBM disaster relief efforts. The organizations also cooperate in the response to disasters, with TBM responding to immediate needs and the convention responding later to long-term rebuilding and recovery needs.

“It is an honor for our Texas Baptist congregational strategists to be in a position to serve hurting folks in a time of disaster,” said Chris Liebrum, who leads Texas Baptists disaster response efforts. “This new arrangement with TBM continues our 40-plus year partnership in disaster relief ministries.”

The partnership with congregational strategists will help deepen the on site disaster relief response network as more point men will be on the ground around the state, said Don Gibson, who serves as the TBM executive director.

“We believe that the more point men we have across Texas, the greater opportunity we have to know when they need something of a critical nature in a disaster,” Gibson said. “The more point men we have, the greater the opportunity to help people.”

Through having additional point men around the state, Gibson hopes to connect with more needs, resulting in more relief units being dispatched, whether that be in the wake of a disaster or to help with other feeding opportunities through associational meetings, mission fairs or community and regional events.

“We have plenty of regional units in the state, and we hope to see more of them called out. We have more than 10,000 volunteers and we would like to see them serve more and in whatever manner God calls us out to,” Gibson said.

It’s a place where people come because they want to be there, want to feel loved. Here, people are family –whether it’s their first time to visit or the latest in a long relationship with the congregation.

Taking in the scene, it’s hard to believe there wasn’t such a demand to be in a place so warm.

But it’s true.

Roughly 18 months ago in these buildings, Faith Temple Baptist Church in Irving clung to life with about 18 aging members. It had baptized only “a handful” of people in three years, according to Pastor Jody Nichols. Families with young children occasionally visited, but they didn’t return after they discovered the church offered nothing for their children. The congregation faced a crossroads many churches face: change in an effort to reach people for Christ or count down the days until the last person closed the doors.

For people who have attempted to live their lives faithfully for decades, the decision was simple. They decided to do whatever it took to share the hope of Christ with a community it felt called to reach. Quickly they discovered God was calling them to do more than change. They were to re-brand as a cowboy church in the heart of urban Irving. Thus, Western Heritage Church of Irving was born.

Almost as soon as the sign changed, people started coming. The community was intrigued by a cowboy church in the city. It was a place where they felt comfortable coming, an environment where they could connect with the newly-formed cowboy band and relaxed worship.

“It just surprised us,” said long-time member Jere Ward. “People we’d never seen before started coming. There’d be four or five visitors in this service and four or five different ones in the next service. Then people began signing up.”

From that point forward, growth came naturally. Members easily share information about the church with people in grocery stores, courthouses and other places during their daily routines. Irving residents want to know more about it.

“You tell people ‘I go to the cowboy church in Irving,’ Ward said. “Immediately they stop. They say, ‘Where is it? Tell me about it.’ There’s interest in it.”

Many of the people who ask questions have come to visit the congregation. A large portion of those who check out the church have either fallen away from church or never attended one before. In the past 15 months, the congregation has baptized 20 people. More than 100 people came for the one year anniversary of the church’s rebranding.

“It’s just thrilling the way it’s growing,” said Chuck Campbell, one of the initial core members of the church.

The congregation now averages about 80 people who participate in Sunday service. A group of children can be found moving to the worship music. People of all ages are genuinely glad to each other each week. The congregation regularly refers to itself as a family where people are accepted.

For Bing Money, a member who has seen the highs and lows of the congregation, the hustle and bustle of the growing Sunday morning crowd is a beautiful site.

“I’m on cloud nine seeing all these good things happen, all these people coming in,” he said. “Some of them haven’t been in church in years. Some of them are looking for a church they feel comfortable in and loved in. We’ve got that to offer. I’m so glad things are going the way they are. I’m just looking for better things to happen. I believe they will.”

Pastor Jody Nichols prays Money is correct. He credits the congregation’s impact for God’s kingdom to God’s wisdom and glory as well as church members’ willingness to follow wherever God calls them. When times were tough for the church, they had the “spirit of Caleb,” referring to the Old Testament Israelite who saw the promised land and believed God would take His people there.

“It’s been an awesome experience as a pastor to see a small group of about 18-20 people, primarily senior citizens, and how in a real sense they were renewed with a spirit of Caleb even in their serving the Lord these many years. This whole transition, rebranding so to speak, re-invigorated them and renewed them.”

Working in partnership with Timberline Fellowship near Bastrop, the men’s ministry organization birthed a new ministry last fall when it borrowed a portable sawmill from East Texas Baptist Encampment. Instantly, the very trees that were burned by the wildfires were seen as fuel to help people begin their recovery.

Jim Long, a TBM volunteer and veteran sawyer, helped to put the ministry together. “It broke our hearts to see all the timber lost in disaster. I am glad we have found a way to capture some of it for kingdom use.”

Using the sawmill, TBM volunteers turned charred trees into usable lumber for the recovery process in Bastrop. Volunteers cut and sort the lumber into “packages” to be used to build specific sized storage buildings. Plans were produced by a draftsman and are given to homeowners to use to assemble the building they have chosen. Other homeowners that need a porch or steps or a ramp brought their needs list to be filled by the ministry. The church receives the requests for the lumber then prioritizes the list with the most urgent need at the top of the list.

The ministry worked so well, Timberline Fellowship bought its own portable sawmill to continue the ministry past January.

“Our folks need temporary structures as they rebuild their lives,” said Timberline Fellowship Pastor Gordon Friday. “This raw lumber affords them a fast remedy for porches, ramps and storage buildings that they need.”

Ernie Rice, the TBM volunteer who led the sawmill effort, said he is pleased God creatively used TBM volunteers to meet the needs of people in Bastrop, giving volunteers and Timberline Fellowship the opportunity to share about God’s love. Rice looks forward to seeing how God uses the sawmill and TBM in days ahead.

One couple who lived in the area brought a tree to the TBM volunteers to mill. The tree had been planted 47 years earlier by the woman’s grandfather on the day of her birth. As a result of the fires, the husband and wife had to cut it down. They wanted to use some of the lumber from it in their reconstruction. Most of it went to help others in the community. TBM volunteers visited with the couple for about 90 minutes and invited them to visit Timberline Fellowship.

“We are just trying to be obedient to God’s call.” said Ernie Rice, team leader of this happy band of sawdust makers.

Compiled from TBM reports.

The award honors an increase of baptisms between 2009 and 2010 of at least 390, according to voluntarily-reported statistics. The latter year was the final period of Texas Hope 2010, an evangelistic effort spearheaded by Texas Baptists to share the hope of Christ with people throughout the state.

The BGCT is one of only four Baptist conventions across the country to receive the Excellence in Evangelism Award.

Wayne Shuffield, director of Texas Baptists Evangelism and Missions Team, praised the work and efforts of Texas Baptists who sought to share the gospel with those around them. He noted that many other churches did not report the results of their outreach initiatives, meaning the reported increase is only a glimpse of the impact Texas Baptists had for God’s kingdom in 2010. Texas Baptist churches remain committed to sharing the hope of Christ.

“We celebrate the cooperative efforts of churches and partner organizations across Texas who engaged Texas Hope 2010 strategies,” Shuffield said. “They deserve the recognition of this award. This proves the tremendous efforts and hard work of Texas Baptists in evangelism, and we are grateful partners in the priority to reach our state for Christ.”

Shuffield urged Texas Baptists to continue in their commitment to sharing Christ with their neighbors, co-workers, relatives and others. As Texas Baptists now move forward in Hope 1:8, an effort encouraging Texas Baptists to carry out the Acts 1:8 missions mandate, people still need to hear the gospel, people still need to discover the hope of Christ.

“We must not let up now or become diverted from the goal of giving every person in Texas an opportunity to respond to the hope of Christ,” he said. “The task is unfinished with more than half of the population still unchurched. I believe together we can do more. This award recognizes we can.”

Harold Branch was the pastor of 19th Street Baptist Church in Austin, which affiliated with the BGCT in 1954 alongside Ebenezer Baptist Church in Austin. The congregations also were the first African American churches to join the Austin Baptist Association.

Branch, who was known for encouraging equality through the Civil Rights movement, also was the first African American elected as a convention officer. He was elected second vice president of the convention in 1973.

Branch, who later was pastor of St. John Baptist Church in Corpus Christi, was a leader in bringing the community together across racial lines. He was particularly helpful in the relationship between the African American community and the police department. In 1971, Branch became the first African American city councilman in Corpus Christi since 1889.

“Dr. Branch was a trailblazer, especially considering the atmosphere of the 50s,” said Charlie Singleton, director of BGCT African American ministries. “In 1954, he, along with Dr. Robert Row who at that time was pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, stepped forward in the face of all odds to apply for affiliation through the Austin Baptist Association to become part of the BGCT. They were the genesis of the over eight hundred African American churches presently affiliated with BGCT. In 1973, he again blazed the trail by being elected second vice-president of BGCT, the first African American holding any elected office in the convention.”