Month: November 2021

Richards, Lorick to address Annual Meeting on Day 1

FLINT—The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Annual Meeting kicks off today at Flint Baptist Church on the outskirts of Tyler.

Among the highlights on today’s schedule will be the ceremonial passing of the torch from SBTC’s first executive director, Dr. Jim Richards, to his successor, Dr. Nathan Lorick. A recognition dinner for Dr. Richards and his wife, June, will be held at 4:45 p.m. Richards will then bring the Biblical Challenge sermon beginning at 7:20 p.m.

Lorick will address the meeting with a Biblical Challenge at 8:15 p.m., and he and his wife, Jenna, will greet attendees at a come-and-go welcome reception at 9 p.m. (immediately following the evening session).

Registration information

Pre-registration ends at noon today. Messengers are encouraged to call their church office to be registered as a messenger. Registration will also continue onsite throughout the Annual Meeting.

Those unable to attend the Annual Meeting in person can follow the main sessions by watching the live stream provided online. Registration is required.

Tell us your stories!

Make sure to check out the SBTC and the Texan on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram for powerful stories, live tweets and up-to-date info from the Annual Meeting.

Southern Baptists of Texas Convention: Facebook; Twitter; Instagram .
Texan: Facebook; Twitter

If you are an individual or church leader and have a story you want to tell, you can use the hashtag #sbtcAM21 or submit info using this link.

So What’s Your Story?

Inspired by the testimony of one of the stories you’ll read in this issue, I decided to let the psalms guide my prayer time one morning recently.

I landed on Psalm 19, which says in part: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge. There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard. Their message has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world” (Psalm 19:1-4, CSB).

There’s so much good stuff there—much more than I’ve got space to lay out here. But notice two things:

1. There is a constant, 24/7/365 testimony being proclaimed by creation. Like a rambling, loquacious child full of wonder, the creation just can’t stop testifying of God’s greatness—and amen to that!

2. Creation does this without the benefit of voice. Not that it can’t—Jesus says if we don’t testify, the rocks will cry out. But I’ve yet to hear a sedimentary singing soprano. Its mere presence testifies to God’s greatness.

Humans are unique in countless ways, one of them being that we do have a voice with which we can sing the praises of our Mighty Creator and God. Psalm 105 encourages us to not only worship the Lord by singing praises to him, but to speak of all his wonders and make his deeds known among the peoples (v.1-2).

But I didn’t come here to preach—I came here to testify, and to encourage you to start doing the same.

You’re going to start frequently hearing us ask you, dear reader: “What’s your story?” It’s a simple-but-powerful question. If Jesus has saved you, you’ve got a story. I don’t care if you’re a dog catcher, a lawyer, a teacher, a college student, a stay-at-home mom … if you’re in Christ and he is in you, you’ve got a story to tell. Like every starry night, you’ve got a testimony to proclaim.

More often than not, I run into followers of Jesus who feel like there’s really nothing special to tell about their lives. Consequently, our churches are often devoid of testimony. We’re pretty good at proclaiming the testimony of Christ, but the other side of that coin is testifying about what he is doing in our lives. In doing so, we proclaim our God to be living and active, not passive and disinterested.

Here’s mine, in a nutshell: I didn’t grow up in church but chased a girl into First Baptist Church of Tool in junior high. While there, I went through the motions of getting saved and baptized, but my relationship with Jesus was about as deep as it was with that girl (who dumped me almost as soon as I started attending). Years later, in my early 20s, the challenges of life were crushing me and I came to realize that only Jesus could lift the burden. He so changed my life that I eventually walked away from a successful career in the newspaper business to serve him first as a missions and evangelism pastor at FBC Vidor in Southeast Texas, and then as lead pastor of a small church in Central Oregon.

And now the Lord has me back home to Texas, giving me the opportunity to seek and share the testimonies of what he is doing in the lives and congregations of our people across the state.

So friend, let me ask you—what’s your story?

What's Your Story

Tell us the stories of what God is doing in your life and your church by visiting the “What’s your story?” or by e-mailing jlarson@sbtexas.com.

IMB helps Ukraine become a missionary-sending force

Pedestrians walk on the street in Kharkov, Ukraine. IMB Photo

Twenty-seven years ago, Mick and Dalese Stockwell left Texas and flew to the newly opened Eastern European country of Ukraine to plant churches. The former Soviet Republic was battered and bruised, having endured years of suppression by Communists, but the church remained viable, even robust. In 1991, when Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union, the country had the second largest Baptist community in the world, second only to the U.S.

As Mick served alongside Ukrainian brothers, he saw their potential as a mission-sending force. Fifteen years ago, he helped them begin their fledgling Ukrainian Baptist Union Foreign Missions Department.

Mick and Dalese Stockwell have served in Europe for 27 years. They currently live in Prague, Czech Republic, but are still involved in catalyzing Ukrainians on mission.

This year, Mick and other International Mission Board leaders are meeting with Ukrainian Baptist Union leaders to establish six new mission training centers around the country. Initial meetings were so successful that IMB leaders from other regions of the world are also now seeing the potential for Ukrainians to help them reach the unreached in their part of the world.

Mick, IMB’s European globalization strategist, is celebrating seeing his vision become a reality.

“It’s like a mustard plant that was planted in the ground 15 years ago is now exploding,” Mick said. “The potential is huge. Ukrainians’ economic, political and geographical position gives them an advantage that we, as Americans, no longer have. Because of the investment and equipping IMB has given over last 30 years, they are now taking their place on the global stage as missionary equippers and senders.”

How the IMB invested and equipped

The Stockwells are just one example of Southern Baptists who have invested their lives in Ukraine.

A steady stream of missionaries has served faithfully over the past 30 years to plant churches, teach at seminaries and share Christ. Even this year, Ukraine was one of the first European countries to open post-COVID, allowing student teams to come. One family hosted three students in Ukraine’s capital last summer, in part to evangelize in the ethnically diverse region. Their city is a religious hub with more than ten mosques and one of the largest Hindu temples in Europe.

This international presence is one reason Ukraine has great potential for missionary activity and is a prime place to teach the importance of a global focus in missions. According to Mick, there are 80,000 international students in Ukraine each year, most from the parts of the world that are most resistant to the gospel. In addition to training Ukrainians to go abroad, IMB is helping Ukrainians develop a strategy to reach these students so they can take the message of hope to their own people.

Much of this training takes place in two seminaries that are heavily influenced by IMB personnel. Dan and Lori Upchurch helped start an evangelism and church planting degree program in Kiev decades ago that prepares pastors to minister in the Russian-speaking world. The program now has a Ukrainian director.

The Upchurches, along with Russell and Ingred Woodbridge, went on to help in a seminary in Lviv, Ukraine, which has seen phenomenal growth in the past few years. In 2013 they had 40 students; in 2019 they had nearly 800. This growth was partly due to the forced displacement of many due to the war with Russia in the Crimea region, but it was also due to “the addition of church planting, international missions and young leaders programs that train students to be biblical, missional and accountable leaders in the local church,” according to Preston Pearce, IMB’s theological education strategist for Europe.

Their current Ukrainian director is a Ph.D. graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Missions has been deeply implanted in their DNA through the Southern Baptist model.

Joe Ragan spent 26 years serving with the IMB in Eastern Europe.

Another big influence in the Ukrainian missions movement is the late Joe Ragan. Ragan began serving in Ukraine in 1994 and ended his tenure in 2020 as he succumbed to cancer. He was pivotal to the current missions focus in Ukraine.

“No one loved Ukrainians more than Joe. He literally gave his life for the Lord and his ministry. Joe helped mobilize the first Ukrainian mission team, recruiting and sending college/seminary students from Ukraine on short-term mission trips to Kazakhstan starting around 2005. He also recruited a Ukrainian family to go to there in a partnership with Mississippi Baptists,” Mick said.

When Ragan died, part of his estate went to establish the six missionary training schools being started now across the country. And in his honor there is a giving project set up to continue work in Ukraine.

U.S. Southern Baptist churches have also sent volunteer groups, funded programs and provided funds for the new training school.

How IMB is partnering today

Today, IMB is helping launch new missionary training centers in Ukraine. This partnership is intended to develop Ukrainians as Global Missionary Partners (GMP). GMPs are cross-cultural missionaries who are affirmed and sent by a local church and sending entity in their home country. The GMPs are nurtured and affirmed by IMB personnel and work in cooperation with an IMB field team.

GMPs are being developed around the globe, not just in Ukraine.

“There are 140 Baptist conventions and unions around the world that our researchers have been able to locate,” IMB President Paul Chitwood said. “They are the fruit that remains from 175 years of work. We want to work with those partners and help them send their own missionaries.”

D. Ray Davis, IMB’s church mobilization manager, explains why developing GMPs is integral to IMB’s long-term mission strategies.

Ukrainian partner, Vitaly Sorokun, director of the Ukrainian Baptist Union’s Foreign Missions Department, will help IMB host an event in late November for all seminaries and training institutions across Ukraine that are equipping students for missions. This event will lay out how to become GMPs with IMB.

“Instead of U.S. churches sending internationals, we’ve recognized it is healthier, more sustainable and more appropriate for IMB and our churches to invest our 175 years of experience in assessment, sending-support structures, training and strategic areas into national partners,” Davis said. “We provide training and guidance to local churches and conventions overseas in helping them organize to send, but we also are expanding our overseas IMB teams to include global partners as team members.”

These partnerships help both parties, because the GMPs are not funded by IMB, but have access to IMB’s infrastructure of support — emotional care, resources for language learning and childhood education, logistical support, and practical help like finding housing and transportation.

“We can lend our robust support infrastructure to partner organizations until they develop the resources to provide these services for their workers. Training partner support personnel is part of the strategy to expand their capacity to send and support missionaries,” said Amanda Dimperio, director of globalization for the IMB.

IMB’s goal is to send 500 GMPs from across the globe to partner with our already existing missionary teams. In addition, IMB is helping to fuel the mission vision by taking Ukrainians on vision trips to see the need for Christ in far-to-reach places that are no longer accessible to us as North Americans. Ukrainians can help further the Matthew 28 mandate to take the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Pray

Please pray for ongoing meetings with other Russian-speaking counties that take place this month to help in partnering together to cross-train, interact and mobilize believers from the former Soviet Union.
Pray for IMB personnel as they take on the job of mentoring and discipling new missionaries from our partnering countries.
Pray for meetings this month led by IMB and Ukrainian leadership as they present the GMP vision to seminaries and training institutions across Ukraine.

Karen Pearce is a contributing writer for the IMB who serves among European peoples.

The post IMB helps Ukraine become a missionary-sending force appeared first on IMB.

Texan campaign invites churches, individuals to share testimonies

Scripture instructs “the redeemed of the Lord to say so” (Psalm 107:2). The Texan is giving Southern Baptists of Texas Convention churches and individuals a way to “say so” in a way that will be heard across the State of Texas and beyond.

The Texan has unveiled a campaign called “What’s your story?” on its digital and print platforms. Using a form on its website, the Texan is offering churches and individual followers of Christ a chance to share what God has done or is currently doing in their lives.

Texan Editor Jayson Larson, who joined the SBTC in September, said one of his mandates is to tell the stories of what God is doing throughout the convention’s nearly 2,700 churches. Yet the idea of sharing testimonies, he said, is often misunderstood and, in turn, becomes a major part of worship that goes missing in our conversations and gatherings.

“As a church member and, later, as a pastor, I’ve heard so many followers of Jesus say they don’t really have an ‘interesting’ testimony, so they simply don’t share them,” Larson said. “The truth is, if you are in Christ and he is in you, you have a story to tell. So it’s exciting that the Lord might use the Texan as a bullhorn for believers across Texas to tell their stories and shine a light on what he is doing in their lives and in their churches.”

Church leaders and individuals interested in sharing what God is doing are encouraged to click the “What’s your story?” logo on the homepage of Texan.Digital and fill out the form, including contact information. A Texan representative will follow up with each person who provides information, which could then be used in either the print or online editions of the Texan.

So what’s your story?

5 Things for Pastors to Consider as the Holidays Approach

01. Use the season as an opportunity for ministry mobilization

The upcoming holiday season is one where you will certainly talk from the pulpit about being thankful and preach the birth of our Savior. But for many, the holidays are difficult reminders about loved ones who are no longer here. You’ve always been faithful to minister to the grieving, but this year, share that ministry opportunity and equip the saints by challenging your members to be intentional about reaching out to others who are hurting this time of year. It will bless them, and it will bless you.

02. Preach the gospel to others and yourself

The Christmas season presents a unique opportunity to preach the gospel to people you may not see again for months—if ever again. But as you proclaim the hope the birth of Christ brings, be sure to take time to meditate on that same hope as it applies to your life. As you study to preach about Jesus’ life on earth, take time to reflect not just on how he offers new life to others, but how he has given new life to you.

03. Consider community outreach opportunities

For this year’s churchwide Thanksgiving meal, challenge your members to bring one unchurched friend as the cost of admission. Enlist a few members to give brief testimonies during the meal so your guests can hear how God is real and active in the lives of his people. Go door-to-door and sing 2-3 Christmas carols while handing out invitation cards to an upcoming service. Don’t get overwhelmed with the endless opportunities here. Just start with one and see what the Lord does with it.

04. Plan a next step

It’s one thing to be able to get contact information from your holiday visitors so you can follow up with them. But now what? It’s time to follow up. Again, this is a great opportunity to mobilize your membership. Appoint an ad hoc team to follow-up on Thanksgiving and Christmas visitors for the first quarter of 2022. Plan a sermon series or start a small group focused on the basics of faith and invite those same visitors. If they came to church, assume God is doing something in their hearts, minds and lives.

05. Make the time to take the time

We’ll say it again for those in the back—no, pastor, it is not honorable to grind yourself into the ground for the sake of ministry. The end of the year can be a great time to catch your breath, spend time with family and, most importantly, rest your mind and your body in the Lord as the world (mostly) slows down between Christmas and New Year’s. What can you give to your people in 2022 if you already gave them everything you had to give in 2021?

Mabank church goes from gift to giver for God’s glory

MABANK—Grace Community Church enthusiastically voted recently to forward 15 percent of a significant monetary gift to missions, demonstrating by faith that God is able to supply their needs when they are generous to others.

The giver? According to Pastor Michael Cooper, someone who occasionally attends the church but isn’t a member and who “believes in what God is doing at Grace Community Church” handed a large undesignated check to him after a worship service.

Cooper said he immediately recognized the gift as a “direct answer to prayer” because the church of about 150 people is at maximum capacity in its current worship space and has been praying about next steps.

Before considering a new building, though, the church was motivated by the principles of Scripture to give generously, Cooper said.

With 2 Corinthians 9:8-15 as their guide, the church voted—no questions asked—to forward 6 percent to the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, 5 percent to the Kauf Van Baptist Association, 2 percent to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions, and 2 percent to other missions and ministries supported directly by the church.

The total amount forwarded is larger than the church’s annual budget was when Cooper became pastor eight years ago.

When Cooper placed the recommendation on the screen at the church business meeting, the “sheer excitement of our folks” was “palpable,” he said. “Before I could make the motion, people were already giving seconds and saying, ‘Let’s do this. What are we waiting for?’”

After being diligent to give to others, Grace Community’s building committee is researching the costs of constructing a new worship center, believing the gift is a “green light” from God to proceed. The church property straddles three counties, Cooper said, and is strategically located to serve a booming population.

“What was given was actually over the number that I had in mind to start our initial building project,” Cooper said. “We can legitimately right now start pouring concrete.”

The pastor chose to keep the gift amount confidential for publication and said, “Our people are still talking about it a few weeks after, saying they’ve never been part of a local church that loves missions to the extent that we do and actually puts that into practice.”

Behind on sermon prep? Look up, in and out

When I first became a senior pastor, I felt like a kid at a buffet—I had too much on my plate. I preached Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday nights as the senior pastor, though I was also the education minister, administrator, part-time janitor, and fill-in music minister.

Did I mention I was also in the final stages of my dissertation at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and my wife was pregnant with our third child?

Because this was a lot, efficiency in my sermon preparation was essential as the alternative would have been a dumpster fire. While we must figure out our own rhythms and work them, there were more times than I’d like to admit that I was up way too late on Saturday trying to finish before Sunday, and sometimes, I was still working on my sermon as the sermon began!

So what would I say to the busy pastor behind on his sermon preparation?

Look Up

It seems that prayer should be the persistent practice during a preacher’s preparation, but sadly, it is often neglected or outright ignored. When you feel that your sermon hasn’t had the attention it needs, look up and pray. Prayer isn’t passive; it’s a reminder to rely on the one you need to help craft the message.

Look In

At times, I’ve been so busy for the Lord that I haven’t spent time with the Lord. Even when busy, as a pastor, you have a responsibility to cultivate your own heart. If you’ve been busy, pause and examine your heart to see where your affections are for Jesus. If your heart is only 10 percent engaged with the Lord, you’ll be less than effective when you preach and lead.

Look Out

When I’ve been busy or in a hectic season, I remember the flock that God has called me to shepherd and consider their struggles and joys, pains and successes. Each story helps me think about my sermon (and ministry) with greater compassion and enthusiasm as I consider how a message will benefit them.

Tuesday annual meeting to feature persecution panel

FLINT—The Tuesday morning session of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Annual Meeting at Flint Baptist Church will include a mainstage panel on the Persecution of the Church in America.

Nathan Loudin, pastor of Milwood Baptist Church in Austin and chairman of the SBTC’s Texas Ethics and Religious Liberty Committee, will moderate. Panelists scheduled include Bart Barber, pastor of First Baptist Church Farmersville; Bob Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid; Keisha Russell, counsel for the First Liberty Institute; and Juan Sanchez, pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church of Austin.

Loudin, Barber, Fu and Russell were among several contributors to the Persecution Journal, a 70-page book edited by the TERLC and published by the SBTC. The new release, which contains essays regarding modern-day persecution of Christians in the United States and globally, will be distributed to attendees on Tuesday.

Register for the annual meeting at sbtexas.com/am21 and then scroll down to or click on “meals” to sign up for the various times of food and fellowship.

Give & Go: Garland church’s partnership with IMB underscores the “why” of giving to Lottie Moon offering

The stories got Lee Varnado’s heart pumping.

The visiting International Mission Board missionaries told of their work discipling new believers and paving the way to start new churches. It didn’t sound like an easy task, but the engineer couldn’t help but get excited and yearned to go.

Varnado watched as members of his church, North Garland Baptist Fellowship, rose to the task of partnering with the IMB missionaries. He heard more stories as the church sent one, two and even three different teams overseas to minister. The stories were a little different in the physical tasks the short-term missionaries from North Garland told, but the essence was always the same: “God is working in amazing ways!”

Finally, the day came for Varnado to minister in Ecuador and see the benefits of churches partnering with IMB missionaries firsthand.

“Before we even arrived, we were part of their strategy for bringing the gospel to an unreached people group,” Varnado said, explaining they underwent months of preparation for their assigned tasks. “As soon as our feet hit the ground, they had us plugged in and being productive.

“This was no vacation or missionaries carting us around like tourists. It was missions in its purest form—believers working together to share Christ’s redeeming love.”

North Garland is no stranger to partnering with IMB missionaries. The church has struck up partnerships in all corners of the globe. Barry Calhoun, North Garland’s director of missions and support ministry, said it was a way to help them become more “holistic” in ministry by praying for those who have not heard about the saving grace of Jesus Christ, giving to missions through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering which supports the very missionaries they partner with and sending laborers to the nations.

"The IMB knows how to take a people group from unreached to reached, so we just hopped on their wheel instead of reinventing it."

Barry Calhoun, North Garland Baptist Fellowship Tweet

Rather than reinvent the wheel on “going to the nations,” North Garland joined the IMB in its work. Their missionaries were already trained, knew the language, established relationships and had strategies that involved how to enter a ministry in a specific country and how to exit, leaving the work to local believers. Calhoun said this “entry-exit” plan was one of the most appealing aspects because they didn’t want to create something that would be dependent on them but something reproducible by locals.

“I can’t imagine trying to figure all of that out on our own. The IMB knows how to take a people group from unreached to reached, so we just hopped on their wheel instead of reinventing it,” Calhoun said.

by the numbers

Through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, Southern Baptists have given more than $5 billion to international missions yielding:

new missionaries

new Churches

people baptized

new believers

heard the gospel

The partnerships look different in each place and even from visit to visit. Varnado’s team was made up of professionals who taught workplace skills. The workshop was used as a way to gain trust in a new community. Another partnership in Sub-Saharan Africa involved sending church member George West to live onsite with missionaries for two months in Madagascar. The semi-retired judge house-sat another missionary’s home and lived within walking distance of the church’s partner. He worked in conjunction with local believers in going door-to-door to share the “Creation to Christ” stories. West walked around the community with a translator visiting and sharing while two local believers walked the countryside.

“Because I had been to this location many times to minister, our partner had confidence to send me out with a translator. He didn’t need to babysit every day. He trained me on what was needed and set us loose,” West said.

The judge acknowledged that he benefited from the relationships already established by their IMB partner and the numerous trips North Garland made to this community. He and the translator were welcomed into homes for the sole purpose of listening to the stories of God.

“Having a person onsite like this is important. They know where to go and where not to go,” West said. “They pass on relationships to you. They have a vision and a strategy. I was blessed to be one small part of the bigger picture of reaching this people group with the gospel.”

EC special called meeting set for Nov. 10

NASHVILLE (BP) – The trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee are planning to meet in special session on Nov. 10, according to Chairman Rolland Slade. The announcement of the meeting was issued Wednesday (Nov. 3).

“We want to formally vote for our new officers and appoint vice chairs and secretaries for the committees,” Slade said. He also plans to give a general update on the work of the EC staff in Nashville.

“I will compliment the staff for carrying out their work truly as unto the Lord,” he said.

The meeting follows the resignations of Ronnie Floyd as president and CEO and Greg Addison as executive vice president.

It is also scheduled to take place within the 30-day window of a request by one-third of the members to address leadership and conduct issues related to the committee.

Ricardo Avila, a trustee from Georgia, resigned over the weekend dropping the total number of trustees to 71. Committee bylaws call for 86 trustees.

Other details concerning the meeting, including whether it will be livestreamed, are still being discussed.