HONOLULU  Dodging hurricanes and wildfires, a team of eight Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Disaster Relief (SBTC DR) workers spent Aug. 4-12 on Oahu transforming an empty cargo trailer into a laundry and shower DR unit for the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention. The project, funded partly through the Cooperative Program, was a joint collaboration among several state Baptist conventions and the North American Mission Board.

“NAMB provided a SEND Relief trailer and channeled a grant from Home Depot to the effort,” Scottie Stice, SBTC DR director, told the TEXAN.

“Arizona DR towed the trailer from Atlanta to Los Angeles. Hawaii DR paid for the trailer to be shipped to Oahu. SBTC DR sent the team to build it,” added Mike Jansen, director of the SBTC crew which included four couples: Jansen and his wife, Brenda; Stice and his wife, Judy; Paul and Linda Easter and John and Arlene Harden.

Hawaii DR hosted the couples at the Pu’u Kahea Conference Center as they worked on the installation of four shower stalls and three stacking washer/dryer units following a layout designed by Jansen.

Stice said the trailer will “meet a real need of the Hawaii DR team” and called the cooperative venture a “great example of the partnership between the SBTC and the Hawaii Pacific Convention.”

SBTC involvement grew from conversations between Stice and Darrell McCain, Hawaii Pacific DR director, when McCain served in Houston with Hawaii Pacific volunteers following Hurricane Harvey.

“We are so pleased to return a favor to Hawaii Pacific Disaster Relief after their service in Texas during Hurricane Harvey,” Stice said.

While happy to assist in the Hawaiian project, team members encountered challenges.

Travel took longer than expected with slower speed limits and abundant traffic: navigating 20 miles might take an hour or more, as Stice discovered when making supply runs.

Even getting to Pu’u Kahea proved problematic.

The team landed in Honolulu on Sat., Aug. 4, only to find roads to the conference center at Waianae impassable because of raging wildfires. After attending services at nearby Waikiki Baptist Church on Sunday, they arrived at the conference center that afternoon to begin work.

The crew felt they experienced the “real Hawaii,” not the tourist version, Brenda Jansen told the TEXAN. This included seeing far more homeless people than she expected.

“I was not aware of how many homeless there are in Hawaii” said Brenda, who described a homeless village with its own “self-proclaimed mayor,” rules and laws located less than a mile from the Pu’u Kahea center. Homeless people in Hawaii prefer to be called “houseless,” she said, noting that some have jobs but still live on the beaches, their tents and tarps visible each evening after the public leaves.

While the team mainly worked on the trailer, spiritual conversations did occur.

“I am of the Buddha faith,” a kindly female store clerk replied to Brenda’s query. “I must respect your faith and you must respect mine,” the lady continued.

The landscape also surprised Brenda, who said that while the conference center was lush and green, the surrounding land was desert-like, with burnt grasslands and mountains. Smoke from wildfires and the noise of firetrucks were constant.

Hurricane Hector threatened landfall south of the islands while the group worked. They finished the job just as Hurricane Lane approached.

Jansen commended the assistance of McCain and the volunteers and staff at Pu’u Kahea. The new unit will prove invaluable on the islands, where it will be shipped from island to island to serve volunteers during disasters, he added.

The unit may well experience its maiden deployment in the wake of Hurricane Lane. Stice confirmed that a mud-out team of SBTC DR volunteers from the Panhandle is preparing to deploy to Hawaii over Labor Day weekend to assist victims of the most recent storm.

Meanwhile, a 10-person team of SBTC DR volunteers in mud-out, feeding and chaplaincy led by Monte Furrh of Bonham arrived in Bloomsburg, Pa., Aug. 26. Furrh’s team is expected to work 10 days helping victims of flooding caused by torrential rains, Stice said.

Many basements are flooded, said Furrh, adding that the crew is scheduled to mud-out the basement of the police station in nearby Benton, Pa., on Aug. 30. David Dean will lead a team of Austin-area volunteers to Pennsylvania also.

SOUTHEAST TEXAS—One year ago, Hurricane Harvey swept disaster across the Texas Gulf Coast, first pummeling Rockport and Port Aransas with destructive winds, then stalling over Houston for three days before moving to the Golden Triangle with rainfall of up to 60 inches, displacing thousands.

Separate gatherings marking the anniversary of the disaster were held at Southern Baptists of Texas Convention churches the final weekend in August, the order of the three commemorations tracking Harvey’s path through Rockport, Humble and Beaumont. 

Each event featured hot dogs, outdoor games, snow cones, music and speakers, explained SBTC Disaster Relief (DR) associate Wally Leyerle in describing the block parties.

Kevin Muilenburg, Coastal Oaks Church pastor, welcomed the crowd of around 100 assembled outside the Rockport church’s gym on Sat., Aug. 25.

It was a little different standing in this parking lot a year ago, but we are still in the process of making recovery from Harvey. I just want to give thanks to the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, their disaster relief team, all that they have done to help us,” Muilenburg said, referring not only to general DR assistance, but also the help given him and his family personally after their home was damaged.

Gesturing to the gym, he reminded the crowd that Coastal Oaks’ role was to “be available” following Harvey and that the gym served as a distribution center for relief supplies while the church housed volunteers and sent out work crews.

“We are here,” Muilenburg said, quoting from Matthew 5 and stating, “Our desire is just to be the hands and feet of Jesus, to be whatever he wants us to be and to be available in the community.”

Muilenburg thanked God for the opportunity and thanked DR volunteers attending the celebration before introducing Jim Richards, SBTC executive director, who gave the first of three evangelistic messages he would deliver at the events.

Richards spoke from Luke 8:23-27. Jesus had his ministry on the Sea of Galilee, he noted, calling the disciples “men of courage” who braved the dangers of the sea but were fearful in the face of storms.

“And so it is in our lives that storms come our way as well. Hurricane Harvey met landfall one year ago today,” Richards reminded the crowd, enumerating the cost of the storm: 125 billion dollars of damage across the southern part of Texas, 190,000 homes damaged, 88 lives lost.

“When Jesus is in the boat, we are not to be fearful of the storm,” he proclaimed.

Explaining the gospel, Richards told the crowd, “We must give him our lives. It’s what the Bible calls repentance. And we must believe. We must trust him, take him at his word that he will forgive us our sins and live in our lives.”

Afterwards, Muilenburg led in a time of prayer.

The next day, Aug. 26, 200-225 people gathered at First Baptist Church of Humble where Rick Whitaker, executive pastor, thanked the SBTC and welcomed the crowd for coming together for the unusual: “celebrating a disaster.”

Whitaker recalled spending the night in the church when the disaster hit, and wading through the water-filled parking lot hoping to avoid electrocution.

“We saw people come together like we had never seen before,” he said, emphasizing the role of churches in responding to the crisis. “This area did not receive the full force of the government’s support. The story will be told that it was the churches that stepped up. Not just one church but many churches stepped up.”

Whitaker introduced Cameron Whitley, pastor of West Lake Church of Houston, who called the occasion “a great opportunity for us as the church to come together and remember how God united not just people, but how God united his church around the mission of his kingdom.”

Not only did the floodwaters rise, but the “church rose up in a mighty collaborative effort that displayed the heart of God,” Whitley said, recognizing those who were part of the relief effort.

Richards spoke next, thanking FBC Humble and all who came out to “enjoy the nice, cool Houston humidity,” before explaining the work of SBTC DR and encouraging involvement.

 “Harvey was an unwelcome and unwanted visitor,” said Richards, introducing his text of Luke 19:1- 10, where Jesus, a “welcomed visitor” in Jericho, met Zacchaeus.

Just as Jesus saw Zacchaeus, so he sees us, Richards said, explaining the gospel and issuing an invitation: “He offers to anyone and everyone who would receive him, eternal life. Yes, Jesus knows us.”

An Aug. 27 event at Calvary Baptist Church in Beaumont marked the final Harvey commemoration.

Nathan Cothen, pastor of Calvary Baptist, kicked off the celebration by speaking to a crowd of 250 from atop a trailer the church used to haul heavy equipment after the storm.

“I am grateful tonight to be using the same trailer here in a little bit of a celebration of what the Lord has done,” Cothen said. “If I were to ask anyone here if they wished that Harvey never happened, we would all say yes, but let me tell you a little secret: there were people who came to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and their Savior in Harvey that never would have otherwise.”

Richards delivered a gospel presentation from Luke 8:22-25, relating how God used a storm to cause others to know Jesus.

Although the disaster was cataclysmic, Cothen said, it taught people who were affected that life isn’t about the stuff you have, it’s about the relationships you have with others.

“We have lived by the saying, ‘life will go on, but it will never be the same,’ during this whole process,” he said.

Cothen described how God had enabled his church to help others, offering an example:  “After Harvey, we met a couple who never knew Jesus. We brought them food and helped during their time of need and they ended up receiving Christ and are now a part of the church.”

Some 250 SBTC churches reported damages from Hurricane Harvey, Richards noted. “Some had roofs blow off, others had flood damage, but all that were affected [experienced] an immediate impact on the way they did ministry,” he said.

Many homes damaged belonged to pastors and church staff who needed to care for their congregations. The SBTC launched a strategy to restore pastors and churches so that they could focus on ministry.

“Our strategy was to go and get the pastors back in his home first, then we would assist the church to get back to functioning so that they could help their community,” Richards explained.

The SBTC was able to give around three million dollars through donations to relieve the suffering and difficulty that these pastors and churches went through, he added.

KELLER  Kason Branch knew God had led him to plant a church, but how? Where?

With ministry plan in hand—plus resources and encouragement—provided by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s church planting team, Keystone Fellowship of Fort Worth pastored by Damon Halliday as a sponsoring church and Concord Church of Dallas as a sending church, Branch started Creekstone Baptist Church in Keller in April of 2016.

Joining with SBTC “seemed to be a fit; we shared the same values,” Branch told the TEXAN. “Richard Taylor [SBTC associate for personal evangelism and fellowships] did a great job of shepherding and encouraging me through the process during the initial stages.”

“It feels like a warm family as we’re about 80 people,” Branch continued. “We’re in a great facility and have baptized 19 new believers since last August.  God is moving!”

The Reach Texas State Missions Offering helps churches like Creekstone Keller get started. 

Branch left the corporate world in 2010 to be chief operating officer at Concord Baptist Church, a sizable independent Baptist church in south Dallas, where he’d been discipled and mentored since 2005 by the senior pastor, Bryan Carter.

Being part of the leadership of an established church that grew to 9,000 members while he served there would be vastly different from planting a church, especially one in Keller, a north Tarrant County suburb of Fort Worth, where he felt led. Branch sought advice and was referred to the SBTC by trusted mentors and peers.

“The SBTC helped further my understanding of church planting, and also the encouragement I’ve received has given me great hope and has strengthened me,” Branch said. “I feel like there’s a team of people who are rooting for our kingdom success.”

The Branch family, including his wife Shanea, son Owen and daughter Kayden Grace, sold their home in DeSoto, south of I-20 in suburban Dallas, and moved into an apartment in the Keller area, north of I-30, where they’ve been living for three years as they plant the church.

Shanea Branch found a teaching job at the school their children attend. The youngsters are involved in baseball, soccer and dance, and the family has adapted well to its new culture, Branch said.

“The Lord really did bless us in the transition,” he noted. “We changed our whole life for this, but it’s been worth it because we’ve seen God move in an amazing way in the lives of other people.”

Finding a meeting place for the church was difficult. “I was told ‘No’ 22 times as to a [church] location,” Branch said. Finally a discount movie theater in nearby North Richland Hills said ‘Yes.’ Six months later the church moved to its current location in the Keller Pointe indoor/outdoor community recreation center.

While Creekstone does do some door-to-door ministry, the church’s main outreach has been through partnering with the City of Keller, and with the recreation center. 

“All the training I went to talked about ‘blessing the city,’” Branch said. “Nic Burleson [pastor] of Timber Ridge Church in Stephenville was one who talked about it, and it got me to thinking about how we could bless the city with the events they already have.”

For Keller’s Daddy-Daughter Dance in February, Creekstone Church sets up and cleans up before and after the event, with time in between to build relationships and share their faith with participants. There’s an Easter Egg Scramble, September “Rec the Park” and, in December, Holly Days, plus a “Trash Bash” twice a year to pick up along city roadways. Four partnership events with the community center last year included a carnival-type Pumpkin Splash, with dozens of pumpkins floating in the pool. 

Creekstone Church has received funds from the Reach Texas State Missions Offering in hopes that it will help establish another strong, evangelistic church, and the support is greatly appreciated.  

“The money we’ve received from Reach Texas has helped us advance the ministry,” Branch said. “There are a lot of people in the SBTC with a heart for God and his people, who want to see the kingdom of God expanded among all people.

“Creekstone Church has the same desire,” Branch said. “That’s what I see in the SBTC’s initiatives. We have the same heart.” Creekstone Church gives 5 percent of undesignated offerings to missions through the Cooperative Program, the SBC’s method of supporting missions and ministries in Texas and throughout the world.

Branch said he was drawn to Keller, with its 45,000 residents—up from 27,000 residents in 2000—because “this area is growing rapidly and all the numbers point to it continuing to grow.” In 2009 the town was listed by Money magazine as 7th of the nation’s 10 best places to live. 

“We wanted to establish a presence in the community so we can reach people here. There are a lot of people who have come to the area who haven’t connected with a church. We have an opportunity to help them come to know Jesus Christ and to grow, and to give people a great big glimpse of God.”

That being said, “We live in a culture increasingly neglectful of God and preoccupied with other things: rodeo, baseball, kids’ sports,” Branch said. “We’re battling the culture in regards to getting people to church, but those we’ve been able to reach are becoming family.

“People aren’t rushing out after services,” Branch said. “As a pastor I see us growing deep in relationship with God and with one another, and that warms my heart. You want to grow deep before you grow wide and we’re doing just that. It just confirms we’re headed in the right direction, doing it God’s way.” 

FORT WORTH—A nine-member presidential search committee announced Aug. 23 by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustee chairman Kevin Ueckert includes three Texans—Jamie Green of Katy, Philip Levant of Hurst and Danny Roberts of North Richland Hills.

Roberts, executive pastor of North Richland Hills Baptist Church, was named to serve as chairman. A 1979 SWBTS alumnus, he received a master of church music degree, and began serving as a trustee in 2016, sitting on the communications, policies, and strategic initiatives committee.

Green, a layperson who began serving in 2013, is a retired speech-language pathologist and member of Houston’s First Baptist Church, and was named to serve as secretary of the search committee. Levant began serving on the trustee board in 2015 and is pastor of Iglesia Bautista LaVid in Hurst. He received the master of church music degree in 2002 and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in theological studies.

Remaining members are Denise Ewing of Illinois, Guy Grimes of California, Todd Houston of North Carolina, Tom James of Kentucky, Andre Palmer of New York and Calvin Wittman of Colorado.  Trustee chair Kevin Ueckert and vice chairman Connie Hancock will serve as ex officio members of the committee.

The seminary’s release indicated that the committee’s composition includes two women, one African-American, and one Hispanic. The committee also is mixed geographically and in terms of trustee tenure (with five being in their first five-year term and the other four in their second five-year term). Levant and Green also serve on the executive committee, as do ex-officio members Ueckert and Hancock.

In naming the committee, Ueckert stated, “Between now and the October Board meeting, the presidential search committee will be focused on developing the candidate profile and the application process, as well as entering a time of focused prayer.” In the meantime, nominations and expressions of interest should be submitted to swbtspresidentialsearch@gmail.com. 

The full board will have an opportunity to approve Ueckert’s selections in accordance with the bylaws at their regular meeting Oct. 16-17.

More often than not, the search committee is named and approved at the same meeting that a transition is announced, however time was not allotted for that on May 14 when the board closed out their 13-hour executive session at 3 a.m. after dismissing Paige Patterson as president.

When SWBTS President Kenneth Hemphill announced his retirement April 8, 2003, to accept a position as the national strategist of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Empowering Kingdom Growth initiative, a search committee was named the same day and took two and one-half months before recommending Patterson who was elected unanimously by the board.

Hemphill had been approved unanimously by the board, four months after a search committee was announced on March 9, 1994, shortly after Russell Dilday was dismissed as president.

In contrast, the committee that ultimately recommended Dilday was announced several months after SWBTS President Robert Naylor gave trustees two and one-half years’ notice of his retirement plan. The presidential search committee took 20 months before announcing Dilday as their choice to become president-elect in at the beginning of 1978 and assume presidential duties Aug. 1, 1978 when Naylor completed a 20-year tenure.