Texas Baptists Annual Meeting

Joel Gregory

Dr. Joel C. Gregory holds the George W. Truett Endowed Chair of Preaching and Evangelism at Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary and is director of Truett Seminary’s Kyle Lake Center for Effective Preaching. In 2023, the Baylor Line Foundation, founded in 1859, inducted Gregory into the Alumni Hall of Fame. He was named one of the “Twelve Most Effective Preachers in the English Language” by a poll of more than 500 professors of preaching in American seminaries and universities. He was also recognized by the E.K. Bailey International Conference as a “Living Legend.”

He served four student pastorates and three pastorates after his student days, including Travis Avenue Baptist Church, the largest Baptist church in Fort Worth, and First Baptist Dallas. In addition to being a professor at Baylor’s Truett Seminary, he is also the president of Joel Gregory Ministries. He served two terms unanimously as president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Among other investments, Gregory actively works with Compassion International in an advisory role and has traveled with them recently, introducing pastors to their work in Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, as well as helping forge a relationship between Baylor and Compassion.

Albert Reyes

Albert L. Reyes is the sixth president and CEO of Buckner International and has worked for Buckner since 2007. He previously served as president of Buckner Children and Family Services.

 Prior to joining Buckner, Reyes was president of Baptist University of the Américas in San Antonio, where he led the school through dramatic changes in its name, accreditation and structure.

He has been involved in numerous roles with the 2.5 million-member Baptist General Convention of Texas, serving as its president in 2005. He currently serves as vice president of the Baptist World Alliance, USA Region.

 He is a member of the board of trustees of the Christian Alliance for Orphans, Angelo State University Foundation and Stark College and Seminary. 

 Reyes and his wife, Belinda, have three adult sons. He enjoys reading, writing, hiking, movies and travel. The Reyes family are active members of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas.

Meghan Hendrickson

Meghan Hendrickson serves as the director of the Baptist Student Ministry at Dallas Baptist University. Most recently, she was the minister to women and discipleship resource director at Park Cities Baptist Church, where she enjoyed being a member of the church’s teaching team. Meghan holds a Master of Divinity from George W. Truett Theological Seminary and a BBA in Business Journalism from Baylor University. She has served on three different church student ministry teams, helped pioneer campus ministries at Texas A&M University and the University of Amsterdam, and has written for the International Mission Board in South Africa. Meghan’s passion is to use writing and teaching to inspire the church to love God with everything she’s got and shine bright his light in the darkness.

Al Curley, III

Rev. Al Curley, III, or “Pastor Al,” is a native of Long Island, New York. He currently oversees various ministries as he develops as executive pastor at Cornerstone Church of Arlington, TX. Al is married to the beautiful Mrs. Brianna Cheyenne and is the father of Albert IV “Quad” and Bryce. He received his Bachelor of Science in History from the State University of New York at Old Westbury and his Master of Divinity with a certificate in preaching from Princeton Theological Seminary. Currently, he is pursuing a Doctor of Ministry with a concentration in homiletics and intergenerational church health at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary. During his free time, you can find him cheering on the Baltimore Ravens, watching home renovation shows or being a butler to his wife and sons. He strives to promote the good news of Christ to all generations in a way that impedes not only the soul but the very course of one’s life. He also seeks to impact communities needing love and support so that they may thrive and create infrastructure for the success of future generations. It is his prayer that God is pleased with his service and people can see that he loves God and loves them as well.

Ronny Marriott

Ronny Marriott is the pastor of First Baptist Richardson. He served at First Burleson from 2016 – 2024. Marriott served as pastor of First Baptist Church of Temple, First Baptist Church Corpus Christi and Sunset Baptist Church in Dripping Springs. He also served at Shady Oaks Baptist Church in Hurst—initially as youth minister and later as senior pastor. He also served on staff at Northlake Baptist Church in Dallas as their youth pastor.

He earned his undergraduate degree from Howard Payne University. He holds a Master of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

He has served on the Texas Baptists’ Theological Education Council, the BGCT Executive Board and the Christian Life Commission.

He and his wife, Robin, have three children—Molly, Morgan and Ryan.

Julio Guarneri

Dr. Julio Guarneri has a long history of service within the Convention. Prior to being elected executive director, Guarneri served two terms as BGCT president and two terms as first vice president. He has served as the chair of Buckner International, vice-chair at Buckner, chair of Stark College and Seminary and on the BGCT Executive Board.

Guarneri has also served as a faithful Baptist pastor for about three decades. He has led Calvary Baptist Church since 2010, and before that, he served as senior pastor of Iglesia Bautista Getsemaní for 17 years. Additionally, he has served as the minister of education and youth at Segunda Iglesia Bautista in Corpus Christi, founding pastor of Shalom Baptist Mission in Corpus Christi and pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in Taft.

Guarneri completed his undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University in Kingsville. He also earned a Master of Arts in Religious Education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in leadership studies from Dallas Baptist University.

He and his wife, Monica, have four children and two grandchildren.

Art Wellborn

Art Wellborn serves as worship pastor at First Woodway Baptist church. Art has served as worship pastor since May of 2023, but he has served in various worship ministry roles at First Woodway since he was a high schooler in the student ministry. He graduated from Baylor University in 2015 with a degree in Church Music. Art and his wife, Maddie, are both from Waco and have two children, Wesley and Ruby. 

Lampsato

Lampsato is an auditioned worship band utilizing an instrumentation consistent with modern worship music ensembles. The band represents the East Texas Baptist University in chapel performances and in a variety of events both on and off campus. The ensemble composes and records original worship music, recruits for the Department of Music and Theatre Arts and the University at large and serves as a public relations arm for the music program. 

DBU Chapel Worship

A vibrant and diverse community of students from Dallas Baptist University that exists to glorify God through authentic worship, songwriting, musical training and developing disciples for Jesus. 

Michael Glenn

317 Collective was formed out of a small group of worship leaders and musicians from the Residency program at First Baptist Burleson and has grown to include many others from local churches in the DFW area. We have one goal in mind - To worship and glorify Jesus through song. We believe that one moment in the presence of Jesus can change someone forever. You can learn more about the heart and vision of 317 Collective by going to 317collective.co.