Month: October 2016

Five faculty elected by Criswell College trustees

DALLAS–Criswell College trustees approved five faculty members and re-elected current board officers during their regular meeting Oct. 6.

Having previously taught under appointment, the newly elected faculty members include Vickie Brown, assistant professor of education and program director for Bachelor of Science education; Jeffery Campbell, assistant professor of preaching and dean of students; Craig Mitchell, associate professor of philosophy, politics and economics; Katherine Pang, associate professor of psychology and counseling and program director of the Bachelor of Arts in psychology and Master of Arts in counseling; and Brandon Seitzler, assistant professor of politics and economics, and program director of the Bachelor of Arts in philosophy, politics and economics.

Trustees re-elected Tony Rogers of Bowie as chairman, Chris Lantrip of Forney as vice chairman and Jack Pogue of Dallas as secretary. With the decision of trustee Andrew Hebert of Hobbs, N.M., to decline a second term, the board approved David Galvan of Garland to serve as trustee at large beginning in January of next year.

Policies related to board assessment, gift acceptance and investment were approved on second reading. Initial approval was given to a whistleblower policy that establishes the right of trustees, faculty, staff, volunteers and contract service providers to raise concerns without the prospect of retaliation, as well as an intellectual property policy that ensures compliance with accreditation standards and legal regulations.

Criswell College is affiliated with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and provides accredited Bachelor of Arts degrees is biblical studies; church planting and revitalization; ministry; philosophy, politics and economics; and psychology. The newest degree, a Bachelor of Science in education, received approval from the Texas Education Agency State Board for Educator Certification as well as the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

In addition to the Master of Divinity, graduate programs are available for the Master of Arts in Christian leadership, Christian studies, counseling, and theological and biblical studies.

Church adds Spanish service to serve families with English and Spanish speakers

FORT WORTH When Dave Koenig planted NewBrook Church in 2014, he had a vision to see Spanish speakers in Fort Worth reached with the gospel. Now, almost two years later, Koenig said his church is starting to see that dream come to life.

When NewBrook launched, the church’s leadership hoped to reach out to the large Hispanic community around them. Koenig estimates about one-third of the population speaks Spanish in the county where the church meets.

“Where we are, there are thousands and thousands of people that Spanish is their first language, a whole community that’s not being reached as much. … The number of churches we have in Fort Worth that are reaching the English-speaking population are great, but those reaching the Spanish-speaking population are much less,” Koenig said.

Initially, most of the people who joined the church—including Koenig, who is a native English-speaker—did not speak Spanish. The congregation began hosting community events to connect with Spanish-speaking families living around the church, and through events like free movie nights during the summer, friendships developed and more families began to visit NewBrook.

However, as attendance grew, Koenig realized many of the families coming to church were split between Spanish-speaking and English-speaking members.

“The wives and the kids spoke English, and very little Spanish, but the dads and husbands were fluent in Spanish and spoke very little English. … That family can’t go to a Spanish-speaking church because the kids don’t know Spanish and the wife isn’t very fluent in Spanish, but if they go to an English-speaking church, the husband is lost.”

—Dave Koenig, church planter, NewBrook Church

“The wives and the kids spoke English, and very little Spanish, but the dads and husbands were fluent in Spanish and spoke very little English. … That family can’t go to a Spanish-speaking church because the kids don’t know Spanish and the wife isn’t very fluent in Spanish, but if they go to an English-speaking church, the husband is lost,” Koenig said.

To meet the needs of these families, NewBrook hosted its first Spanish worship service earlier this summer. The service is now held monthly and follows immediately after the regular service in English so families with both English and Spanish speakers can attend a church together.

“We’ve had Spanish speakers come to events over the past year, but now we finally have something in Spanish to invite them to. Even for people who are bilingual, it’s really important what their heart language is, their worship language. If someone is bilingual but they’re predominantly Spanish-speaking, then when they are worshipping in Spanish, that’s when they feel the most connected to God.” Koenig said.

NewBrook church is continuing to find new ways to expand its growing Spanish ministry, but it is not without dedication and a few challenges, Koenig said.

Koenig studied Spanish in college, but continues to strengthen his language skills in order to preach in the Spanish services and to more effectively reach his Hispanic neighbors.

“It’s been an incredible challenge, something that’s been exciting and fun, but it’s been challenging. I can’t exactly remove myself from the English-speaking world, but I try to immerse myself as much as I can in Spanish. I listen to Spanish radio all day. I read the Bible in Spanish now; I listen as much as I can to Spanish.” he said.

While the church is celebrating what God has done in establishing a Spanish worship service, NewBrook is still in the early stages of casting a vision for becoming a truly multi-cultural church, Koenig said. His dream is that one day NewBrook would not be “an English church that has a couple of people who speak Spanish, but we’re going to be a bilingual church.”

Despite the difficulty of language learning and cross-cultural ministry, Koenig hopes these challenges will lead to NewBrook becoming a church that better reflects the community in which God placed it.

“It’s been really exiting to see how we’ve grown to show diversity in culture and background,” he said. “That’s something people are excited about and comfortable with now, and I feel like that better reflects Revelation, where there are people from every tribe and tongue worshipping God together.”

5 Reasons You’ll Want to be in Austin in November

My fellow pastors and church leaders, please consider coming to our annual meeting in Austin Nov. 14-15. If you have fallen out of the habit or maybe even never got into the habit, here are some reasons you should come.

The gathering of pastors and leaders from our 2,600 local churches in Texas will lead to the praise and glory of Jesus Christ. Pastors old and young leading churches that are inner city, urban, suburban, rural, and house churches, ranging in size from 20 to multiple thousands, is “other worldly” and can only be explained by the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are secure enough through unity in primary doctrines, the gospel and mission that we are free to celebrate and enjoy vast methodological differences.
The Holy Spirit is going to speak to us from the pages of Scripture. I’m so excited about the preaching plan this year: The subject is the Holy Spirit. We have made sure the preachers are all very good preachers. The six sermons will be verse by verse through Romans 8. The stage is set for us to hear from the Lord. (Bonus: All the preachers in attendance will leave with a six-part series on the Holy Spirit through Romans 8!)
You will receive deep, soul-level encouragement and renewal. We have intentionally designed times to address difficult ministry issues common to all pastors that often leave us hurt and discouraged. For example, during the Monday night session and again during the Tuesday President’s Lunch, we will address issues like loneliness, resentment, when our families hate the church, and the burden of unrealistic expectations.
We have a plan to bless and encourage the Christian community of Austin. The Tuesday night session will be a non-denominational worship gathering with three key pieces. Jeremy Camp will lead the singing to draw Christ’s disciples from all over the city. Then Austin’s prayer network will lead us in a time of prayer. If you aren’t aware of it yet, the Holy Spirit has prompted a unique prayer movement in their city. Anywhere from 200-1,000 Christians from a variety of denominations gather regularly to pray for their city. Kie Bowman, one of our key SBTC leaders, is also a major player in the prayer network. Finally, Greg Matte, pastor of FBC Houston will preach. The event has the potential to draw many believers from all over the city for encouragement in kingdom work. We want the kingdom of light to be greater and the kingdom of darkness smaller as a result of the SBTC annual meeting coming to town.
The essential administrative business of our annual meeting has been boiled down to a minimum and streamlined in its presentation. I believe that what will emerge from the reports and presentations is a picture of a convention of churches in which the Lord is clearly present and working.

Make plans to attend our annual meeting. If you know of likeminded pastors whom you would love to see join the SBTC, this is the annual meeting to which you should invite them. See you there.

“Culture of invitation” leads many to salvation in San Antonio

SAN ANTONIO After years of invitations to join a friend at church, Mary Grace Gonzales finally accepted the offer Aug. 28 to go hear a guest speaker preach at Castle Hills Baptist Church in San Antonio, where her friend, Joy McAnear, is a member.

Gonzales grew up in the Catholic tradition, knowing about the Christian faith since her childhood but never regularly attending a church. After enduring recent trials, Gonzales said she felt like her life was “all scattered,” but that Sunday at Castle Hills changed everything.

As guest speaker Tony Nolan presented the opportunity to make a commitment to Jesus, Gonzales said she was moved.

“I felt like I really had to make a commitment to God and stand up for him, and not just go wherever anything else leads me,” she said. “I had stood up before, but I had never really committed. This time, I am actually going to be baptized. That’s a big thing for me.”

Gonzales is one of more than 100 people who made commitments of faith to Jesus during a recent weekend at Castle Hills. With summer winding down and a new school year beginning, church staff decided it was a good time to invite families and individuals from the community to re-engage in church.

“It naturally kind of dips in the summer, and you’ll see an increase in attendance during this time of year, so we really wanted to capitalize on that,” said castle Hills campus pastor Jonah Easley.

Castle Hills hosted a youth dodgeball tournament that Saturday night, where nearly 50 teenagers professed faith in Christ, followed by a breakfast the next morning and services at both campuses where guest speaker Tony Nolan presented the gospel, leading to many more professions of faith.

“I think it’s very biblical to have opportunities for people to invite their friends to some kind of evangelistic outreach,” said pastor Matt Surber. “We had lots of participation from our people, both in serving and in inviting.”

While Nolan spoke at the Leon Springs campus, Easley stood in the back of the room, watching and listening as Nolan invited the audience to follow Jesus.

“When the hands shot up across the room, I was almost overwhelmed, not only by the number, but some of the people who raised their hand—blown away in a great way. … It was an emotionally overwhelming moment to see God do what God does, and for us to be a part of that,” Easley said.

The weekend of evangelism outreach opportunities was part of an ongoing effort at Castle Hills to better engage the surrounding community, Easley said. The church has been around for more than five decades, but over the past two years has restructured into a multi-site church, which now includes two campuses, with plans for a third.

“Our vision from the beginning has been to create a multi-site model to maximize our presence in the community, as we meet people where they’re at, not only spiritually, but geographically,” Easley said.

By placing campuses throughout the city and providing many opportunities for evangelism, Easley said the hope is to create a “culture of invitation,” where church members don’t merely rely on church staff to do ministry but are actively inviting friends, neighbors and coworkers to join them in hearing the gospel.

Seeing so many church members take this to heart during the recent outreach event was “very rewarding,” Easley said.

“We are called to equip people for ministry, and when we actually see them doing that ministry and grasping that this is a body-wide journey we’re on, it fills my heart with joy to see the body of Christ understanding what the body of Christ is supposed to do and who they’re supposed to be.”

Moving forward, both Easley and Surber said following up with individuals who made decisions of faith at the evangelism outreach event is a top priority.

“We saw a lot of people saved, so that’s great that they’re in the kingdom, but we want to see the full gospel, the full great commission fulfilled in their lives,” Surber said.

Ultimately, he wants to see “lives transformed with the gospel,” and disciples being multiplied, Surber added.

“Hopefully, people who are saved and people who will be discipled will grow in God’s Word and can replicate that in other people, too. That’s when you really see the fruit is when somebody comes to an event like this and someone disciples them and leads them to Christ and then they end up doing the same thing, leading other people to Christ.”