Archive for February 2010
Church positions
CHURCH MINISTRY POSITIONS PASTOR Rock Hill Baptist Church, Brownsboro, seeks FT pastor experienced in outreach and church growth. Church runs 250 in Sunday school with 350 in worship. Please mail resumes to RHBC Pulpit Committee, 10768 CR 3405, Brownsboro, TX 75756. Calvary Road BC seeks bi-vocational pastor to lead congregation in a rural [...]
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Seminarian sees Haitian devastation firsthand
FORT WORTH?Precois Norcilus came to America to help his fellow Haitians. Last month, the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary student left the country to do the same thing. Meeting one friend in Puerto Rico, Norcilus traveled back to his home country just weeks after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated much of the nation [...]
Continue ReadingEvangelism Conf. aims at Great Commission impact
ARLINGTON?The 2010 Empower Evangelism Conference Feb. 15-17 drew healthy crowds each day to hear preaching from pastors and evangelists like Ted Traylor of Florida and Roy Fish, the dean of evangelism professors. The several thousand who came also heard acclaimed vocalists such as David Phelps, Charles Billingsley and Allison Durham [...]
Continue ReadingGod's glory penetrates the darkness, women told
ARLINGTON?"When you glorify God, that penetrates the darkness all across this world," proclaimed Carrie McDonnall, sharing her testimony of returning to the Middle East in Iraq with her husband, David. She and two other women with Texas roots shared testimonies of God's work around the world during the women's session [...]
Continue ReadingTop Baptism Churches
The following churches were recognized at the Empower Evangelism Conference for their baptisms by total number and per capita. Per capita baptisms 2500+: Second Baptist Church Houston, 2,364 baptisms; 1,501-2,500: First Baptist Church, Euless, 285 baptisms; 1,001-1,500: The Church on Quail Creek, Amarillo, 161; 751-1,000: Willow Park Baptist Church, Willow Park, [...]
Continue ReadingCooperative Program Top Givers
The following churches were recognized at the annual SBTC CP Luncheon for their gifts to Southern Baptist missions through the Cooperative Program: Top 10 CP Givers First Baptist, Euless, John Meador, pastor, $790,952.93; Houston's First Baptist Church, Gregg Matte, pastor, $482,467.56; First Baptist Church, Rockwall , Stephen Swofford, pastor, $451,047.30; Prestonwood [...]
Continue ReadingFloyd presents GCR task force 'progress report' to SBC Executive Committee
NASHVILLE (FBW) ? When Southern Baptists meet in Orlando in June they will be faced with the choice of retreating to the past, preserving the present, or rising to a future of advancing the Gospel to the nations, Great Commission Resurgence Task Force Chairman Ronnie Floyd told the SBC Executive [...]
Continue ReadingGCR Task Force fields questions
NASHVILLE, Tenn.?Great Commission Resurgence Task Force (GCRTF) Chairman Ronnie Floyd took questions in stride as reporters wondered how GCRTF recommendations would impact and possibly upset state conventions and their working relationship with the North American Mission Board. After delivering a passionate half-hour appeal before the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee on [...]
Continue ReadingWalking the streets of Laredo
LAREDO?The rapidly growing border city of Laredo has a population of nearly 300,000. Despite the growing numbers of people, the number and effectiveness of evangelical churches pale in comparison. Chuy Avila, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention's first full-time missionary/church planter in Laredo, endeavors to change that with help from [...]
Continue ReadingArrests made in East Texas church arsons
TYLER?Authorities announced on Feb. 21 the arrest of two men in connection with a string of church arsons that began on Jan. 1. Members of the East Texas Church Arson Task Force arrested Jason Robert Bourque, 19, of Lindale, Texas and Daniel George McAllister, 21, of Ben Wheeler, Texas, in [...]
Continue ReadingAmarillo man held in Haiti back home
AMARILLO?Southern Baptist layman Jim Allen was welcomed home a free man Thursday afternoon at the Amarillo Civic Center during a community celebration of his release from prison in Haiti. His freedom, and that of seven others on a short-term humanitarian venture, came almost three weeks to the day after the [...]
Continue ReadingATF releases composites of arson suspects
TYLER?Federal authorities have released descriptions of three "individuals of interest" in nine confirmed church arsons across East Texas since Jan. 1. In all, 11 church fires have occurred in the region this year. Composite sketches of three men were posted at the website of television station KLTV in Tyler http://www.kltv.com/global/story.asp?s=11976780. Two [...]
Continue ReadingTwo more Texas churches burn
SMITH COUNTY?Two more Baptist churches, less than two miles apart, burned Feb. 8 making a total of 11 East Texas churches damaged or destroyed by fire since the New Year and nine under investigation as arsons, authorities said. The latest buildings consumed were declared a total loss despite the response [...]
Continue ReadingMotion filed for release of Texan in Haiti
A motion was filed in a Haitian court on Feb. 10 calling for the immediate release of Jim Allen, the lone Texan on the ministry team of 10 Americans who have been held by Haitian authorities since Jan. 29 on charges of kidnapping and criminal association. Former Haiti minister [...]
Continue ReadingHands-on help for Haiti
The "Buckets of Hope" ministry is one means Southern Baptists are using to meet immediate human needs amid the deadly earthquake in Haiti. WHAT IS IT? A "Bucket of Hope" consists of a white, plastic, five-gallon bucket packed with selected food. For approximately $30, any person or church group can purchase [...]
Continue ReadingPrayer, repentance key to awakening, experts say
As Southern Baptists lament their denomination's declining baptism numbers and lackluster spiritual growth, many leaders want to know what causes revival. According to two experts, the answer involves both prayer by Christians and a sovereign work by God. "The obvious cause [of spiritual awakenings] is God's people beginning to pray," said Roy [...]
Continue ReadingLecture series marks 40th anniversary of W.A. Criswell's legacy institution
DALLAS?Marking the 40th anniversary of the founding of Criswell College, 10 denominational leaders, ministers, and Southern Baptist seminary and college personnel paid tribute to the legacy of the school's founder, W.A. Criswell, in a lecture series Jan. 19-21 on the college campus. Speakers shared from the heart concerning the late pastor [...]
Continue ReadingThink twice, send once
Having graduated from two seminaries and a Bible college, I've attended a lot of chapels. One particular day sticks out in my mind. A well-known pastor of that era stood before us, opened his Bible and began a message punctuated with non-sequitur ridicule of various political figures. He commented on [...]
Continue ReadingShare Jesus intentionally, biblically
Writing an article about witnessing is always convicting. Sharing Jesus with others is like praying. We talk a lot about the need but don't do enough of it. I always feel woefully inadequate to urge others to be a witness. I am going to do it anyway. My last full-blown presentation [...]
Continue ReadingSome Texas congregations seeing revival, repentance
Several Texas churches have felt the stirrings of revival recently, and in at least one instance it spread into a movement that awakened congregations across an entire community. Such reports provide encouraging signs of spiritual awakening. Such stirrings?quite apart from whether or not they are indicators of a widespread movement?are not [...]
Continue ReadingPursuing God's agenda in local church
THE WOODLANDS?Darrell Robinson has never forgotten that God's plan for reaching the world grows out of the local church. In his newly released book, "Synergistic Evangelism," he explains that the spiritual awakening for which so many Southern Baptists are praying will unify local church members to pursue God's agenda. "They [...]
Continue ReadingRavenhill book still hot 50 years later
Until recently, this writer's knowledge of the late Leonard Ravenhill was merely anecdotal. A pastor told of he and a buddy visiting Ravenhill's home outside of Tyler in the late 1970s, hoping to glean some wisdom from the man with the pen of fire. They arrived and were invited in, [...]
Continue ReadingRely on God, not strengths, women reminded
CONROE?"God showed up big time" as did 450 women from 79 churches across the state for a SBTC Regional Women's Ministry Forum at Mims Baptist Church Jan. 29-30. That was the appraisal of Shirley Moses, event coordinator and SBTC Women's Ministry consultant. Despite ice storms that nearly prevented keynote speaker [...]
Continue ReadingIn letter, Baptists ask Obama to aid 10 held by Haiti
NASHVILLE, Tenn.--An appeal to President Obama has been made by three Southern Baptist Convention leaders in behalf of the 10 Baptist volunteers currently being held in Haiti on kidnapping and criminal association charges.The Feb. 5 letter asks the president "that you do everything within the authority of your office [...]
Continue ReadingLand: Haiti govt's behavior 'outrageous'
NASHVILLE, Tenn.--Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land added his voice Friday to those calling for the release of 10 Baptist volunteers in Haiti, and in a letter to President Obama called the Haitian government's behavior "outrageous" and asked that the president "do everything in your considerable power to secure the release [...]
Continue ReadingAmarillo church member among 10 detained
AMARILLO?With a church member sitting in a Haitian prison accused of kidnapping and child trafficking, Paramount Baptist Church Pastor Gil Lain turned to prayer as he sought to minister in a desperate situation. Lain said in a Feb. 5 interview with the Southern Baptist TEXAN he has confidence that [...]
Continue ReadingCriswell College trustees ratify separation from church
DALLAS?The church that birthed W.A. Criswell's vision of a school where ministers and lay leaders could study the Bible has relinquished control of the Dallas-based college, pending FCC and IRS approval of a new ownership agreement. The long and complex process of legally separating Criswell College from its founder, First [...]
Continue ReadingScrewtape, a peek at the enemy's playbook
The current stage production of C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters" offers a visually engaging way to consider the ways that we are tempted while maintaining the wit and essence of Lewis' classic book. The 90-minute production is fast moving and will leave you with a lot to discuss on the [...]
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