To the ends of the earth

I write to you while I am en route from Tanzania back to Texas. I am looking forward to being back home with my family, with my staff and with Texas Baptists pastors and churches.

These last two weeks have been so full of rich experiences that are difficult for me to describe. Texas Baptists have been represented globally in multiple ways. While space does not allow me to list all of the ways in which this is true, I would like to share a few with you.

The week of July 7, approximately 100 Texas Baptists leaders, pastors, institutional representatives and church members participated in the 23rd Baptist World Alliance Congress held in Brisbane, Australia.

About 3,200 Baptists from 130 different countries converged for worship, inspiration, fellowship and partnership. General Secretary Elijah Brown cast the vision for the Acts 2 movement, which seeks the renewal of the global church in order to collaborate in the Great Commission, with specific goals for the year 2033.

I had the honor of leading a Bible study in English based on 2 Corinthians 5:17-6:2, exploring the necessity of being “disruptible” disciples, in other words, agents of reconciliation who are flexible and ready to follow the Spirit’s leading. Several of our TXB staff and pastors led Bible studies or facilitated breakout sessions.

Five ministries related to Texas Baptists were accepted as members of the BWA during the global council meeting: the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas, Hardin-Simmons University, Highground Financial Advisors, Texans On Mission and “No More Violence.” Additionally, several of our staff members made strategic connections with Baptist leaders from other countries.

Our Texas Baptist Missions Foundation president, Jerry Carlisle, was elected chairman of the BWA trustees committee, one of the three general offices. Multiple other Texas Baptists were elected to various commissions. Texas Baptists are making a great contribution to the global work of Baptists, while at the same time benefiting from this kingdom collaboration.

From Brisbane, I travelled to Dodoma, Tanzania, in order to join a small team of TXB staff, pastors and spouses. We were invited by Tanzanian Baptists to participate in their annual meeting. Approximately 400 Tanzanian Baptists travelled from all over the country via car, bus or train for this celebratory occasion.

The Sunday before the annual meeting, members of the team preached in various churches throughout Dodoma. During the annual meeting, several of us served as keynote speakers and taught at pastor’s and women’s conferences.. 

Of special significance was the dedication of a new Tanzania Baptists headquarters building. Texas Baptists contributed to the construction of this facility. During the dedication ceremony, Tanzania Baptists received dignitaries from the Tanzanian President’s office. They joined the worship services, and I had the honor of preaching a gospel message during this occasion.

We were also blessed to meet our MAP missionaries. These Tanzanian individuals are starting churches in areas where there are no evangelical churches with great diligence and often with great personal sacrifice. They are supported in part by their national convention and adopted by one of our Texas Baptists churches. Fifty US dollars a month is going a long way!

During our visit, we were introduced to four additional potential MAP missionaries from whom we will seek adopting churches. These church starters are passionate and ready to do Great Commandment, Great Commission work.

We had the opportunity of signing an MOU with Tanzania Baptists, committing to collaborate with six MAP missionaries with the goal of having ten in the course of one year. Please pray for this effort, for the church starters, for churches in Texas who will adopt them and for the gospel to advance throughout Tanzania.

As I travel back to Texas, the rest of the team is traveling to Uganda, where they will serve in the national Baptist convention in similar ways as we did in Tanzania. Please pray for a successful trip for them.

Thank you for allowing me to represent you in these international settings. Thank you for your support of the Cooperative Program, which makes this possible. Let us thank God because we get to be Acts 1:8 people in Texas, North America and to the ends of the earth!