Author: Jayson Larson

‘Brother, I need a hug’: SBTC DR volunteers sharing love of Christ in wake of Hurricane Ian

FORT MYERS, Fla.—The Southern Baptists of Texas Disaster Relief volunteers working at McGregor Baptist Church serving Hurricane Ian survivors had a 5,000-gallon truck full of potable water and plenty of electricity from generators to power the mass feeding unit they operated.

They needed ice.

A lady from the church knew someone who knew someone and within a few days, a local businessman provided 200 pounds of ice, easily available in normal times. But little is normal in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane like Ian.

Looking for ice, receiving encouragement

A law enforcement officer pulled up near the yellow-tented feeding operation two hours after the ice arrived.

“I’m looking for ice,” the badged and armed man called out to the group of SBTC DR volunteers gathered outside the tents. The crew had just finished preparing more than 5,000 meals to be distributed that day to survivors by the Salvation Army.

The officer emerged from his vehicle and told volunteers his story.

“He looked exhausted,” said DR chaplain Debby Nichols of DeKalb.

“He was broken,” said feeding unit director Irvin McWilliams from the Unity Baptist Association in Lufkin.

The officer was not only a homicide detective but also a rescue diver who had been recovering bodies of Ian victims. The gruesome scenes had overwhelmed him, as did the fact that several looters had been shot by police.

“Brother, I need a hug,” the detective told McWilliams.

The SBTC DR volunteers surrounded him, prayed for him, listened to him, and, of course, gave him ice—a whole chest full when he had merely wanted enough for a small personal cooler.

“It’s a mess out here,” McWilliams observed.

Not just physical help

In addition to preparing thousands of meals since Oct. 4 as the waters have receded, SBTC DR volunteers in the Fort Myers area have visited survivors, assessed their damaged homes, offered spiritual comfort, and arranged for recovery assistance. Shower and laundry units are also staffed by SBTC DR volunteers serving workers.

“We’ve done a lot of laundry,” said volunteer Shirley Spencer of Spring. “Satan has been alive and well in this camp. We’ve had one mechanical breakdown after another. But God has been good. We’ve kept on going and gotten it done.” Spencer said they had “probably averaged 15 loads per day” since their arrival Oct. 2. Most laundry has been done for rescue teams, DR volunteers, and truck drivers bringing in supplies, water, and fuel.

One survivor with whom Nichols prayed while accompanying a team of assessors told a harrowing story of how she and her husband escaped with their lives. Like so many in Fort Myers, the couple had not expected to experience the brunt of the hurricane and had remained in their home.

As water rose precipitously, the woman climbed atop kitchen cabinets and then into the attic. With her first step in the attic, she broke through the sheetrock flooring and fell back down to the kitchen, badly spraining her ankle and compounding the trauma.

Still, she was grateful to be alive and, as a believer, appreciated the opportunity to pray with other Christians, Nichols said.

The McGregor Baptist feeding operations will continue with volunteers from New Mexico and Arizona manning the SBTC DR equipment as Texas volunteers return home, many to deploy again as needed.

“We’ll come back at some point,” McWilliams said, complimenting the smooth transition among SBDR teams rotating in to relieve their colleagues.

SBDR—a national ministry

Meanwhile, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief recovery crews from across the nation—including Texas teams—are now also serving in Florida, mudding out homes, removing soaked sheetrock and belongings, and spraying anti-mold treatments.

An SBTC DR recovery team from Bellville will arrive in Florida today, SBTC DR Director Scottie Stice said, adding that a Mount Pleasant recovery unit under the direction of Paul Easter is also en route.

Stice confirmed that mass feeding operations staffed by SBTC DR volunteers supporting the Red Cross have ceased at Riverside Baptist in Fort Myers, but Arkansas Baptist DR workers are using the Texas equipment to prepare meals for their own volunteers. The Riverside site is expected to close entirely and be integrated into the McGregor Baptist operation by Oct. 22.

“I am grateful for our yellow cap volunteers who drive halfway across the country to serve and share the gospel with Hurricane Ian survivors,” Stice said.

Those who wish to give to Hurricane Ian relief efforts can do so here.

Prestonwood gives $100,000 to SWBTS; Second Houston will match gift

FORT WORTH—Because of the “love and affection” he and his church have for Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, gave a $100,000 gift to the institution, seminary officials announced Monday.

Joined by Southwestern’s interim leadership team of O.S. Hawkins and David S. Dockery, Graham said a matching gift would be given by Second Baptist Church of Houston, he announced on behalf of the church’s pastor, Ed Young.

“We are so encouraged by this latest sign of God’s provision for our seminary during this time of transition and financial challenge,” said Hawkins, senior advisor and ambassador-at-large of the seminary. “I want to thank my dear friend, Jack Graham, and his wonderful congregation for this generous gift, as well as Ed Young and his congregation. We deeply appreciate gifts of all sizes from individuals and churches and other friends in our Southern Baptist family. Together, these gifts will ensure a strong future for our seminary to provide conservative theological education for God-called men and women.”

In a statement, Young said, “I’m delighted that my congregation is able to join my friend Jack Graham and Prestonwood in giving this special gift to Southwestern Seminary. Although I’m not a graduate, Southwestern has been a blessing to our congregation, and I know how important Southwestern is to our state and beyond in providing doctrinally sound theological education. With David Dockery and O.S. Hawkins leading Southwestern, I’m hopeful about the future of the school. I invite other churches to join us in this worthy cause.”

Dockery, interim president, also expressed his gratitude to Prestonwood and Second Baptist Church Houston.

“Southwestern Seminary is grateful for the confidence placed in our institution by these two great churches, the leadership of these pastors, and for their generous support during this time of special need,” he said. “We are working tirelessly to ensure that confidence is well placed. We also ask Southwesterners and other friends to join our faculty, students, and staff in prayer for the seminary with Psalm 90:17 as our theme for this year. We are hopeful about the future of Southwestern Seminary.”

Graham said Prestonwood wanted “to be a part of investing in the future of the seminary and to do something now that is just the beginning of what I believe is going to be an incredible recovery of stability and strength of our seminary going forward.” Graham grew up in Fort Worth with Hawkins as the two were teenagers at Sagamore Hill Baptist Church and mentored by the late Fred Swank.

Graham, Hawkins, and Dockery are all graduates of Southwestern Seminary.

Graham said he was “excited” to have Hawkins and Dockery in the interim leadership roles at Southwestern. “This is stability. This is strength. This is maturity,” he said of the longtime Southern Baptist leaders.

Graham encouraged other “pastors, regardless of the size of the church, to financially come along side Southwestern during these days supporting our seminary with surplus funds with which they may be blessed as they near the year’s end.” He noted he and his wife, Deb, “want to be a part of this personally as well.”

“It’s about building a new generation of young men and women who are going to serve Christ around the world,” he added. “And so, we’re investing in the seminary, but that means we’re investing in young men and women, really, men and women of all ages, who hear the call of God and want to get as prepared as possible to take the message of Jesus to the world.”

Greene marks 50 years at Lufkin’s Harmony Hill Baptist Church

LUFKIN—Harmony Hill Baptist Church had 74 members when John Greene became its pastor in 1972. Over the next five decades, the church grew to more than 2,100 members as Greene served the church.

This November, Harmony Hill will commemorate Pastor Greene’s 50^th year as pastor of the East Texas congregation.

The most often-cited average pastoral tenure is about four years, with Baptists staying much longer at around 10 years. This number makes pastoral ministries of several decades remarkable. Greene believes a long stay is a crucial part of leadership.

“In the average Baptist church, the deacons are the recognized leaders” he said. “I realized this had come about because pastors were not staying long enough to gain the confidence and trust of the people. Since the deacons were the only consistent leadership, as pastors came and went, the people learned to trust the deacons.”

Greene believes it took 17 years for Harmony Hill to transfer that recognition from the deacons to him as pastor. But that wasn’t the primary reason he stayed, though he had opportunities to move on.

“I believed that was God’s call on my life. I was called to stay. God’s promise was that if I obeyed His plan, He would bless me and prosper the work,” he said.

Greene believes the temptation to move too easily is based on a false premise.

“The idea of a ‘better deal’ someplace else than where you are is an illusion,” he said. “I don’t think the challenges I faced here on The Hill are different from other ministries. Every pastoral assignment will have its crisis events.”

Todd Core has served Harmony Hill as teaching and student pastor for the past seven years. The church has called him to follow Greene as senior pastor. After serving with him, Core notes some advantages he will gain from Greene’s tenure.

“In practical terms, his faithful leadership over these last five decades has created a strong trust among the people to follow the leadership of the church,” he said. “That is quite the head start to have for an incoming pastor. Pastor John has also been instrumental in changing the perception of our church in the community during his time as pastor. This is an incredible gift to me as the next pastor to already have goodwill and a good name in our area.”

Core also noted that Harmony Hill has developed a heart for missions under Greene’s leadership. “Our church has a marvelous history of giving to missions, raising up members who go to the mission field, and providing member care to our missionaries on the field,” he added. “I am grateful to follow a man of God like Pastor John, who has kept the Great Commission at the heart of the church.”

Both men said they had seen God keep His promise to bless Greene for being faithful to the place he was called.

“Being at The Hill has been a blessing to me and my wife in this: the incredible relationships we’ve built and the people we’ve loved as family,” Greene said. “We [also] had the privilege of seeing God move and work in marvelous ways in acquiring land, building a master plan, and then seeing families come to faith in Christ. And now their children are serving in missions and ministries around the world.”

Greene is a graduate of Southern Arkansas University and the Baptist Missionary Association Seminary. He has served on the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Executive Board and received the W.A. Criswell Lifetime Achievement Award for Pastoral Evangelism from the convention.

John and his wife, Kathryn, have two sons and 12 grandchildren.

Southern Baptist DR busy in Florida; SBTC DR volunteers serve Ian survivors

FORT MYERS, Fla.—Hurricane Ian turned from Tampa toward Fort Myers, slamming a population center that had expected to avoid the worst of the Category 4 storm with its 155-mile-per-hour winds and devastating storm surge. As of Oct. 4, the Florida death toll from the hurricane had climbed to 105, with 55 in Lee County, where Fort Myers is located, according to CNN.

Lee County residents received evacuation orders Tuesday morning, Sept. 27. The hurricane made landfall at Cayo Costa at 3:05 p.m. the following day, CNN reported. Many found it too late to evacuate and thousands chose to ride out the storm in downtown hotels and apartments. They emerged to scenes of unimagined destruction made worse by utility outages and infrastructure damage.

Southern Baptists of Texas Disaster Relief volunteers quickly joined first responders, other Southern and Baptist DR state teams, and additional relief groups to serve the survivors amid the devastating loss of life and property.

SBTC DR teams arrived in Fort Myers Oct. 2-3 to set up a mass feeding kitchen from Lufkin staffed with volunteers from across Texas. The Lufkin unit, stationed at McGregor Baptist Church in Fort Myers, is supporting the feeding efforts of the Texas division of the Salvation Army there. The Baptists cook; the Salvation Army distributes the meals to survivors and first responders.

On Oct. 4, feeding volunteers prepared 5,100 meals in the unit’s first operational day.

Wade Harmon, McGregor missions pastor, was on the fifth floor of the Larsen Health Center in Fort Myers where his wife works as a nurse when the storm rolled in.

“They let family members in while she was working, and so we saw the whole [storm] blow by … the surge coming in, the winds blowing,” Harmon told Baptist Press. “The building is swaying. It’s powerful beyond anything you would think.”

Typical of churches aiding their devastated communities, McGregor Baptist is not only hosting SBDR volunteers on its property, but the church is also accepting and distributing clothing donations and managing a community network meeting the needs of survivors.

A second SBTC DR feeding unit from Pflugerville has also established operations at Riverside Baptist in Fort Myers, assisting the American Red Cross there.

Texas and other state DR volunteers will be supported by shower and laundry units either currently en route to or on-site in Fort Myers. SBDR volunteers from Florida and Arkansas will rotate in as Texas volunteers eventually head home.

SBTC DR chaplains, assessors, communications, and incident management personnel are also arriving in Florida daily, and a quick response kitchen (QRU) is due on Oct. 7 to support volunteers.

“We are asking for two-week deployment commitments at this time, said Scottie Stice, SBTC DR director.

“How long we’ll be there is hard to tell,” Stice said. “Most likely, we will extend our assistance. There’s much to be done,” he added, noting that all units remain on alert status.

Stice asked for prayer for the survivors and volunteers.

To learn more about the response and how to donate, visit sendrelief.org. To give to a local state SBDR group, visit https://www.sendrelief.org/southern-baptist-disaster-relief/. Support for Hurricane Ian relief can also be given through the SBTC.

This article also contains reporting from Baptist Press.

Southern Baptists of Texas Convention gives $250,000 gift to Southwestern Seminary

FORT WORTH—Nathan Lorick, executive director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC), presented a $250,000 gift to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary interim leadership O.S. Hawkins and David S. Dockery to support the faculty and to help the school with its current financial challenges on October 3.

“It’s our honor and joy to partner with you, Southwestern, and to present to you a check for $250,000 to help with the expenses, and to come alongside your faculty during this time of transition,” Lorick said in presenting the gift. “The SBTC stands with you and we’re for you, and we love our partnership alongside you.”

Hawkins, named by the Board of Trustees as senior advisor and ambassador-at-large in a special-called board meeting on September 27, said “On this day in 1910, the first classes were held here on Seminary Hill. This was made possible by the sacrificial gifts of Texas Baptist churches and members who adopted the vision of our founder, B.H. Carroll. It is fitting that on this memorable date Dr. Nathan Lorick and our friends at the SBTC present us a $250,000 gift to say, ‘We still believe in the future of our seminary.’”

Hawkins noted the gift, in support of the faculty and other needs, “will free up much-needed funds as another step in reestablishing our school on sound financial footing. May this be a seed that brings forth a multitude of churches and individuals to invest in what was, is, and will continue to be the gold standard for conservative theological education with a heart for evangelism and missions.”

In comments on September 27 about the state of the seminary, Hawkins said, “It is no secret the seminary has serious financial challenges and going forward we will be giving oversight to aggressively manage costs and implementing best business practices with the intent to move our school to a more solid financial footing.”

Dockery, interim president of Southwestern Seminary, said, “The entire Southwestern community joins me in expressing deep and heartfelt gratitude to Nathan Lorick and the Southern Baptists of Texas for their generous investment in the Southwestern faculty at this key time in the life of the seminary. We look forward to enhancing the ongoing partnership with the Southern Baptists of Texas in the days to come.”

Lorick added, “I want Southwestern to know that the SBTC has been a long-term partner, and we look forward to continuing that partnership to train the next generation of students to take the gospel all across Texas and the world. We believe that it’s a great partnership here in Texas to train, equip, and send out those students to advance the gospel like never before. The SBTC is excited about the future of Southwestern and grateful for the leadership of Dr. Hawkins and Dr. Dockery during this time—we’re expecting and anticipating great things.”

3 practices for pastoring our own children

Ministry is a team sport. Our wives and children do so much to support our ministry to the local church. As we pastor everyone else’s families, we can also establish healthy rhythms in pastoring our own family.

Dedicate your children to the Lord in prayer

I was not looking forward to the carpool line when my son started middle school, but my perspective completely changed when I used this as an opportunity to pray daily with my son and his friends. Since we know that God works through prayer, the best thing we can do as pastors is to regularly dedicate them to the Lord in prayer.

In Scripture, Hannah was mocked for not having children and she brought her concern to the Lord in fervent prayer. When her son Samuel was born, she knew her child was a blessing from the Lord, so she dedicated him back to the Lord in prayer, saying, “For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore, I have lent him to the LORD. As long as he lives, he is lent to the LORD” (1 Samuel 1:27-28, ESV).

Our children are gifts given by God for us to steward and we cannot pastor them properly in our strength, so “let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 14:6, ESV). Consider when you can privately and publicly pray over your children—for their salvation, interceding for them, for their friends, and even for their future spouses.

Debrief everything from a biblical worldview

Prior to pastoring my church, I was a college minister for 10 years and had dozens of students spend their summers serving with Centre Kid and Fuge camps. One skill these students learned is the art of “debriefing everything.” These college students could take any activity or any situation and point it back to a scriptural truth about God. They could seriously take a game with shaving cream, rubber chickens, and water balloons, then have a group of wild kids take a knee as they debriefed the game in a way that pointed the kids to God and shared the gospel.

This is a skill that will serve us well as we pastor our children. Deuteronomy 6:4-7 says, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

In this Scripture we have received what is known as the Shema and the Greatest Commandment, along with instructions to teach these truths to our children every day and all day long. Consider how you pastor your kids by pointing them to scriptural truths about God. As we do this consistently, we help our children develop a biblical worldview by putting their days and experiences in proper perspective.

Devote time to family worship

In 2006 my wife and I bought our first little house, and it included the most pitiful little oak tree. For three years, I consistently watered that tree and saw no growth or improvement. This past summer, I drove the family by our first little home where, to my amazement, that little tree had grown into a towering oak tree that now canopied over the home and gave shade to the whole yard.

When we pastor our home by consistently leading our children in family worship, it may seem like a fruitless task, but over time, we can trust God to grow our children into “oaks of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:3). In his book Family Worship, Donald S. Whitney encourages families to spend about 10 minutes daily reading narrative passages in Scripture, praying, and singing together. Whitney encourages families to “have realistic expectations” about family worship. During family worship, your toddler may be having a tantrum, you may feel like you’re competing for attention with your kids’ phones, and the dog may come in and throw up on the floor. As Whitney shared about his own family worship, he said he never felt like there was an atmospheric movement of God in his living room and he often wondered if anything of value was accomplished.

But with family worship, it’s the faithful and consistent pastoring of our homes that we pray will result in God making oaks of righteousness. Consider how you can pastor your children by consistently incorporating family worship at home.

How do I know they’re ready?

In the last two days, I’ve had three different parents tell me they had kids asking about baptism. Then the pressing question came: “How do I know they’re ready?”

After all, baptism is an outward sign of an inward reality. This is why we immerse ourselves in water: to identify ourselves with Jesus Christ in His life, death, burial, and resurrection. Baptism is how we respond to believing in the Lord Jesus and profess to both the church and the world, “I am His and He is mine forever!”

As a parent, there is nothing more I look forward to than my kids professing faith in Jesus—and when they do, I cannot wait for them to be baptized. And as a parent (the spiritual leader of my kids), it is my biblical responsibility to instruct them in the ways of the Lord, as I trust Him to give them faith.

Because baptism is the way believers profess their faith in Jesus, we want to be sure that we are baptizing true believers. So on one hand, we want to be diligent to ensure we are not baptizing anyone before their regeneration. But on the other hand, we do not want to delay entry into the covenant family of God and enjoyment of the covenant privileges (membership, the Lord’s Supper, etc.).

So if you are wondering, “How do I know they’re ready?” here are three helpful questions to consider when weighing your child’s readiness to profess their faith through water baptism:

Do they articulate their salvation in Jesus?

This will look different depending on your child’s age. For instance, when I was baptized as a 6-year-old, I couldn’t even spell “substitutionary atonement.” But I was able to articulate that I was a sinner, that through Jesus’ living, dying, and rising I can be forgiven of my sins, and that by the power of the Holy Spirit I could be made like Him. I knew what Jesus did and I responded in repentance and faith.

Do they apply their salvation in Jesus?

How does your kid respond when he or she sins? Do they try to hide their sin, or is their heart broken? Do they seek to find fault with someone else or do they seek to find forgiveness from God and the person they sinned against? When they confess and repent of their sins, do they thank God for the cross of Jesus that pronounces them forgiven and free from all condemnation? And then do they see the gospel (not guilt) as a motivator to become more like Jesus? The goal here isn’t merely changing behaviors but rather transforming the heart by the power of God’s Spirit through the application of Jesus’ finished work.

Do they adore their salvation in Jesus?

This gets at the heart. Are they grateful for what they have in Christ? Do they love Jesus? Does it burden them when they know of others who don’t believe in Jesus? Is the gospel so deeply anchored in their hearts that it drives their affections?

If you are a parent, I implore you to pray that God will work in your kids’ hearts so that you can answer, “YES!” to these three questions. In the meantime, continue to labor diligently in pointing them to the good news of Jesus any and every opportunity you get. But remember that only God can give your child the ability to articulate the gospel, a life that applies the gospel, and a heart that adores the gospel. And when He does, praise Him for His gracious salvation—and encourage your kids to proclaim it in baptism.

SBTC DR crews prepare to assist Florida as Hurricane Ian expected to make landfall

GRAPEVINE—As Hurricane Ian, with winds up to 155 miles per hour, heads for anticipated landfall at Sanibel Island in Florida on Wednesday, Southern Baptists of Texas Disaster Relief teams are preparing to deploy.

SBTC DR feeding teams have been asked to provide support for Texas Salvation Army crews, as well as the American Red Cross. SBTC DR mass feeding teams are expected to produce 7,500 meals per day beginning Tuesday, Oct. 4. Quick response (QRU) food trucks are also on alert for deployment to other Florida locations as canteens.

The actual location of the feeding deployments will depend upon the trajectory of Hurricane Ian, SBTC DR Director Scottie Stice said. Then, plans for housing crews and the sending of shower and laundry support will be finalized, he added.

“We’re ready to help,” Stice said.

Una cosecha divina en el retiro Florece—2022

El tema Diseño Divino fue el lema de la conferencia anual para las mujeres hispanas de la Convención Bautista del Sur de Texas (SBTC), basado en Efesios 2:10 que dice, “Porque somos hechura suya, creados en Cristo Jesús para buenas obras, las cuales Dios preparó de antemano para que anduviésemos en ellas” (RV).

Más de 570 mujeres hispanas, de más de 20 países hispanoparlantes, se reunieron en el campamento Riverbend en Glen Rose, Texas, para orar, adorar a Dios, y ser animadas por oradoras hispanas. Al escuchar el evangelio, más de 25 mujeres aceptaron a Cristo como su Señor y Salvador, y muchas otras mujeres cristianas reafirmaron sus ministerios, reconocieron sus faltas, ¡y aceptaron que Dios las ama y siempre lo hará!

La oradora Ana Meléndez, nativa de Tegucigalpa, Honduras, compartió de Lucas 7:35-49 y guio a las participantes a reconocer que una pecadora entendía la misión de Jesús mientras otros no. Meléndez les dijo, “El creador del universo estaba sentado en su mesa con Simón, pero Simón no entendía quién era Jesús; pero ella sí. ¿Cuántas veces estamos nosotras como ese fariseo?”

“Si usted ama a Dios, nadie le tiene que acordar a leer su Biblia. Si usted esta apasionada por el Señor y tiene compasión por un mundo perdido, necesita compartir el evangelio,” añadió Meléndez. Ella animó a las participantes diciéndoles, “Los cristianos estamos enlistados en una carrera maratón y necesitamos correrla con paciencia y resistencia. No se detenga por las adversidades porque lo espiritual toma tiempo”.

La Dra. Zoricelis Dávila, nacida en Puerto Rico, profesora en la universidad Liberty, autora, y consejera profesional, enseñó sobre las diferentes maneras como la mujer, al ser una creatura nueva, puede proteger su identidad en Cristo como creyente. Dávila les dijo, “cree lo que Dios dice de tu identidad, acepta tu identidad, protege tu identidad, nutre tu identidad, y vive tu identidad en Cristo.”

La Dra. Dávila también ministró a las jóvenes que asistieron a la conferencia.

La oradora Carla Arriola, nativa de México, que fue misionera con la Junta de Misiones Norteamericana, dirigió a las participantes a descubrir bíblicamente como es que la mujer cristiana esta creada con propósito. “¡Si Dios te tiene aquí, Él tiene un propósito para ti! Dios nunca te va a decir, ‘Ya no me sirves’ porque Dios no ha terminado contigo”, dijo Arriola. “Para hacer buenas obras, necesitas la preparación espiritual, emocional y mental”, añadió Arriola. Ella terminó animando a las participantes a reconocer y aceptar el amor de Dios que sobrepasa a todo entendimiento y fortalece a la persona interior basándose en Efesios 3:14-21.

La Dra. Clara Molina, nacida en la Republica Dominicana, autora y profesora adjunta del Seminario Bautista Southwestern (SWBTS), compartió sobre las diferentes mentiras que usa el maligno para hacernos creer que no somos obra maestra. “Somos creadas por Dios con Su amor, con excelencia, con propósito, y según el Salmo 139:13-14, somos obras maestras admirables”. Molina, basándose en Genesis 1:27, agregó que “fuimos creadas con valor porque somos creadas a la imagen de Dios”.

Molina también dirigió un concierto de oración para las esposas de los pastores y mujeres líderes de ministerios con la ayuda de Jesse Contreras, Asociado de Ministerio en la SBTC y Arlene Sanabria. Sanabria la directora del misterio Germinarás, conferencista y miembro del equipo de mujeres de la SBTC en español, corresponsal para Baptist Press en español, también dirigió un hermoso tiempo de adoración en una fogata el viernes en la noche.

El servicio de adoración y oración durante la fogata estaba basado en Zacarias 4:6 que dice, “Entonces respondió y me habló diciendo: Esta es palabra de Jehová a Zorobabel, que dice: No con ejército, ni con fuerza, sino con mi Espíritu, ha dicho Jehová de los ejércitos”. Según Sanabria, los temas durante la fogata eran “retomar o reconstruir la oración, el arrepentimiento, el dar acción de gracias, los matrimonios, el uso de dones y el evangelismo personal.” Durante la fogata, las mujeres de la iglesia Bautista Agua de Vida presentaron una dramatización basada en mujeres bíblicas.

El tiempo de alabanza fue dirigido por el equipo de adoración de la iglesia Fielder Road, en Arlington, Texas, bajo la dirección de Gimena Monterrubio.

El próximo retiro Florece, dirigido por Juanita Shelton de la SBTC, se llevará a cabo del 15 al 16 de septiembre del 2023.

REACH TEXAS 2022: Not just hoops, but hope

Editor’s note: The Reach Texas Week of Prayer is Sept. 18-25. This week, the Texan will highlight brief stories of how God is using the Reach Texas offering to impact the kingdom across Texas.

“It was the saddest moment giving up what I loved so much,” said Laureano, a native Filipino who lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

As he worked to finish his degree over the next three years, Laureano didn’t play basketball and thought he’d lost his passion for the game. But God had a bigger plan to unite Laureano’s passion with a kingdom purpose.

Laureano is the founder of Redeemer Sports, a ministry that uses basketball to share the gospel and disciple those who have decided to trust and believe in Jesus.

“Basketball courts become a refuge for people who are longing for fellowship,” Laureano said. “Basketball becomes a way to cope for spirits who are hurt.”

Before long, relationships that were forged on basketball courts developed into Bible studies and, eventually, led to the planting of Redeemer Community Church. Today, many who attend the church began as people who were reached through the basketball ministry.

Along the way, Laureano credits giving through Reach Texas for what God has done with the ministry. Reach Texas funds have been used to cover many of the costs associated with the basketball ministry, including court rentals, uniforms, equipment, and trophies.

“We have been able to continuously meet with our friends, [make follow-up visits], and know each of [the participants] deeply,” Laureano said. “We are so blessed to be able to partner with Reach Texas. Redeemer Sports can be a vessel to change the culture of secular basketball into a basketball fellowship. We pray and we play.”