Archive for April 2010
SBTC Exec. Board hires mission strategist, hears favorable reports
FORT WORTH?The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention will have a new ministry associate to help engage international people groups and connect Texas Southern Baptists to related ministry opportunities in the Lone Star state. The SBTC Executive Board, in its spring meeting April 27 in Fort Worth, elected Chad Vandiver, a [...]
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Rankin: IMB unlikely to appoint missionaries, planters in North America
NASHVILLE?The proposal of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force to remove geographical barriers preventing the International Mission Board from working with unreached people groups on American soil will not likely result in missionaries being assigned stateside, nor will it result in churches planted by IMB personnel, outgoing IMB President Jerry [...]
Continue ReadingSeminary trustees elect board officers, affirm redeveloped counseling program
FORT WORTH?The trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary approved six new faculty members and a $34 million budget, and affirmed plans for a modified counseling degree program during their spring meeting on April 7.Trustees elected as chairman Geoffrey Kolander, vice president and general counsel of the Austin-based Citizens insurance holding [...]
Continue ReadingCP trending up in some churches
In an era when the average Southern Baptist church's giving through the Cooperative Program missions funding channel has steadily declined, a few Texas churches have bucked the trend, according to recent giving figures released by the SBTC's financial department.Some of the increases can be attributed to membership growth, pastors said. [...]
Continue ReadingFor Ft. Worth church, annual spring break mission trip opens gospel-sharing doors
NEW ORLEANS?More than 100 people ages 6 to 72 loaded up the Glenview Baptist Church mini-bus and vans to participate in their fourth consecutive spring break family mission trip. "The trip made a difference in our lives, not just [the lives] of the people in New Orleans," said Zach Zettler, [...]
Continue ReadingIf 1% shift from Exec. Committee budget approved, entity would require deep cuts
NASHVILLE?Great Commission Resurgence Task Force Chairman Ronnie Floyd believes Southern Baptists want to see more of their dollars reaching the nations with the gospel. By cutting a slightly more generous slice for the International Mission Board's piece of the Cooperative Program pie, another $1.4 million will be provided for this [...]
Continue ReadingCooperative missions cannot run on designated giving
Southern Baptists in the early 20th century had a problem: Their various benevolent causes, including foreign and domestic missions, had uncoordinated fundraising campaigns that resulted in unpredictable revenue streams and hobbling debt. Although the SBC was denominational in many ways, its ministries also worked as a collection of independent "societies" [...]
Continue ReadingShare God's love as God's family
Recently I preached a revival meeting near my hometown. God blessed with some coming to Christ and others expressing a renewed commitment to follow Him. On the other hand, it was a surreal experience. There were high school classmates, friends of my parents and former church members in attendance. Maybe [...]
Continue ReadingDR work in Haiti continues
Beginning this month, the SBTC will be assisting Baptist Global Response, the International and North American mission boards, and Florida Baptists in rebuilding areas around partner churches in Haiti with concrete block homes. SBTC DR Director Jim Richardson said the projects are good mission opportunities for Adult Sunday School [...]
Continue ReadingRegional Bible Drill winners
The SBTC Regional Bible Drill/Speakers' Tournaments were held last month in Spring and Euless. Those receiving a perfect score of 24 receive an award of State Winner Perfect. The top six youth and high school drillers, along with the top six Speakers' Tournament winners from each location, competed for [...]
Continue ReadingDiverse options available for those traveling to Israel
JERUSALEM?Many Christians would cherish the opportunity to travel to Israel and visit the places where our Lord Jesus Christ walked, taught, died and rose again. Such a trip, which some say is akin to a spiritual journey, takes much prayer, money, and preparation.Unless, of course, you're a Southern Baptist TEXAN [...]
Continue ReadingChurch positions
PASTOR Valera BC, seeks FT or Bi-vocational pastor. Salary & parsonage provided. Must be conservative in theology and values. Biblically centered. Please send resumes to: Pastor Search Committee, Valera Baptist Church, P.O. Box 75, Valera, TX 76884. First Baptist Church seeks full time pastor. Please send resume to: Pastor Search Committee, [...]
Continue ReadingSBTC communicators win awards
CHICAGO ? Members of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention's communications team received awards from the Baptist Communicators Association during the group's annual workshop, held April 6-9 in Chicago. Russell Lightner, the convention's graphic artist, won second-place honors in the design division, news and information category, for his design of [...]
Continue ReadingIMB unlikely to appoint missionaries in North America, Rankin says
NASHVILLE ? The proposal of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force to remove geographical barriers preventing the International Mission Board from working with unreached people groups "on American soil" will not likely result in missionaries being assigned stateside, nor will it result in churches planted by IMB personnel, said IMB [...]
Continue ReadingGCR Task Force: Move CP promotion from Nashville to the state conventions
NASHVILLE?There's no denying that Southern Baptists individually, corporately and as a denomination are lagging in their stewardship of God's resources. While the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force recommends shifting primary responsibility for Cooperative Program and stewardship promotion to state conventions, task force chairman Ronnie Floyd is counting on local pastors [...]
Continue ReadingView church ministry through 'family lens,' conference speakers urge
Drawing on an agricultural picture from his West Texas background, Richard Ross described the landscape of church life as a cluster of silos?one for preschoolers, one for school-age children, one for students, one for adult ministries, and so on. "What we don't need is one more silo that is the [...]
Continue ReadingTexas-produced film links eugenics, abortion, and targeting of blacks
DENTON?The window dressing may be benign, but behind the curtain remains the dark elitism of the eugenics movement, which continues to flourish in the 21st century with a disproportionate focus on black Americans. That's the message of a relatively new video documentary, "Maafa21: Black Genocide in 21st Century America," from Denton-based [...]
Continue ReadingSBTC Foundation's 'Treasure Hunt Experience' offers inspiration, education on stewardship
GRAPEVINE?What do artwork depicting the widow's mite and a Rolex print ad have in common? The answer lies within the one-of-a-kind Biblical Stewardship History Collection now available to Texas Southern Baptists through the SBTC Foundation. Thanks to a partnership between the foundation and the collection's curator, historic stewardship artifacts, art, [...]
Continue ReadingThe essential component of family ministry
I heard an ad campaign some years ago that prompted us to ask ourselves one simple question before doing most things: "Is it good for the children?" The campaign's motives were noble and its point was fine, as far as it went. The problem was that it addresses most problems [...]
Continue ReadingFaith at home philosophy brings growth to Austin church
AUSTIN?After radically changing his church's culture to reflect a family emphasis, Pastor Ryan Rush has seen homes healed and new growth at Bannockburn Baptist Church in Austin. "Over the last 20 years, [family] has been my heart and passion," said Rush, also a radio host and author of a life-management [...]
Continue ReadingPushing discipleship at home challenging
Understanding the need for family ministry isn't hard. Finding a way to do it, with so many ministry plates already spinning, may seem impossible. How do church leaders stop being the primary faith trainers of children and youth, and transition that role back into the homes? Have any churches done [...]
Continue ReadingHow do we get there?
As the family ministry wave builds momentum, more and more church leaders are beginning to deliberate over how to lead their families to become Deuteronomy 6 families where discipleship takes place daily, "along the way?as you lie down, and as you rise up." In those efforts of deliberation, Lance Crowell, [...]
Continue ReadingChurch positions
PASTOR FBC, Yorktown, is accepting resumes for the full time position of pastor. This is a small church in a town of about 2,200 and a church membership of about 125. Experience is desired along with some seminary training. Send resumes to P.O. Box 792, Yorktown, TX 78164 or fbcyorktown@sbcglobal.net. Keeler Baptist [...]
Continue ReadingState convention leaders weigh in on NAMB "reinvention"
Fifteen years after the adoption of a strategy called a "Covenant for a New Century" turned the Home Mission Board into the North American Mission Board (NAMB), the Southern Baptist Convention is once again considering recommendations from a national study committee to "reinvent" the North American missions agency. In [...]
Continue ReadingIMB unlikely to appoint missionaries in North America, Rankin says
NASHVILLE ? The proposal of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force to remove geographical barriers preventing the International Mission Board from working with unreached people groups "on American soil" will not likely result in missionaries being assigned stateside, nor will it result in churches planted by IMB personnel, said [...]
Continue ReadingSBC leaders disagree on whether new GCR vision is really new
NASHVILLE?The first "Component" of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force's interim progress report calls Southern Baptists to rally around a missional vision focused on the Great Commission and to "create a new and healthy culture within the Southern Baptist Convention." The report, released Feb. 22, proposes a "missional vision" to [...]
Continue ReadingBaptists debate whether 'Great Commission Giving' undermines CP
UPDATED April 23, 2010NASHVILLE?When Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt took the stage at the first listening session of the newly-appointed Great Commission Resurgence Task Force, no one doubted his desire to see the 22 members put any idea on the table to "discover how Southern Baptists can work more [...]
Continue ReadingExhibit requirements set for 2010 SBTC Annual Meeting
Approved exhibitors at the SBTC Annual Meeting include (subject to available space) SBTC ministries, SBC agencies, SBTC ministry relationships (under the oversight of the Facilitating Ministries Committee of the Executive Board), Baptist associational ministries, and any host church. All other entities desiring booth space must submit their request in writing to Joe Davis at the SBTC, [...]
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