Greetings from the State Office and the Executive Board!
This quarterly update provides a brief recap of another busy summer. This year’s State Meeting, the 105th Annual Session, was held June 5-6 in Abilene, hosted by the Heritage Parks FWB Church. The theme was “Local Church Transformation”, with keynote speaker Rev. Charles Cook from Cookeville, Tennessee providing thought‐provoking messages and leading an insightful discussion in the Thursday morning Ministry Conference. The New Mercy ministry team from Welch College did a fantastic job providing our music during the evening services and the TWAC Thursday morning worship service.
For next year’s meeting, we will be hosted by the Lakehills FWB Church in Cedar Park; the specific date of the 2020 meeting will be announced when details are finalized with the host church, but it will likely be the first or second week of June. We also accepted the gracious invitation of the First FWB Church in Duncanville to host the 2021 meeting, so we will look forward to returning to the Metroplex soon.
We experimented with a shorter State Meeting schedule this year, combining all of the business activities into one session on Thursday afternoon. Some have provided their feedback on the schedule, but if you have not yet done so, please let us know what you liked about the schedule and meeting arrangements, as well as what you think we can improve on.
The Executive Board saw some turnover at this year’s meeting, as some members had either moved out of state or desired to take on a different role within the association. Following the results of the elections at this year’s meeting, the Executive Board for 2019‐2020 is as follows:
Moderator: Marcus Brewer (Fellowship, Bryan) Assistant Moderator: John Collier (New Beginnings, Bryan) Clerk: Kevin Williford (First, Duncanville) Assistant Clerk: Wesley Hood (Lakehills, Cedar Park) Board Member‐at‐Large: Richard Rust (Faith, Wichita Falls) Our other boards also saw some new members added to their ranks this year. You can see the entire list of our boards and officers, along with contact information, on our website at: http://www.texasfwb.org/boards.shtml
One other item for consideration is a motion from the Texas Women Active for Christ to amend our constitution to change their status from an auxiliary organization to a standing board within our association. Per their request, the motion was tabled to be considered and acted upon at the 2020 meeting. If you have questions about this proposed change, or you would like a copy of the amendment text to review, please contact the State Office. One additional change at this year’s meeting was the Executive Board’s decision to formally hire Kyle Howell (Authentic, Victoria) as the new editor of the Texas Challenge, assisted by his wife, Beth. If you have previously subscribed to the Challenge, you have already seen a number of posts containing, news, updates, and commentary over the last month and a half. We look forward to seeing and sharing more information in the coming months and are glad to welcome Kyle aboard. If you would like to subscribe to the Challenge to see each new story come straight to your e‐mail inbox, or if you have news items to share, please contact Kyle at fwbtexaschallenge@gmail.com. You can also visit the website https://texaschallenge.net/ at any time to see stories that have been posted previously.
As your various youth camps and Vacation Bible Schools conclude for the summer, a brief write‐up and some pictures of your activities are perfect items to send to the Challenge, along with announcements about upcoming meetings, special services, and other events, just to name a few.
This year’s National Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio is just completed. Over 4,000 people attended the convention this year, where delegates unanimously elected a new Executive Secretary to succeed the retiring Keith Burden. Those of you who attended our 2018 State Meeting in Huntsville will recognize our new Executive Secretary, Dr. Edward E. Moody, Jr. The full recap report of this year’s convention can be found online at the ONE Magazine site at https://www.onemag.org/19nafwb.htm. That page also contains links to the recap of this year’s Vertical Three Youth Conference and the daily newsletter updates that were distributed at the convention. You can also peruse and download photos from the many activities during the week, made available at the convention photographer’s website: http://www.yerbyphotography.com/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=10143#page=thu mbs. Next year’s National Convention will be in Oklahoma City, a relatively short drive for many of us. We encourage you to start considering now whether you can attend and start making plans to be there July 19‐22, 2020.
Another note from the national level: Randall House is in the early stages of looking at publishing a Randall House Arminian Study Bible. Obviously, this project would be a monumental undertaking. They are in the midst of a feasibility study and would like your opinion on three questions (total time to complete the survey will be less than 60 seconds on average). They request that you visit the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RHPstudyBible to share your thoughts on that potential project. Remember that the TWAC Ladies’ Retreat is planned for September 27‐28 in Duncanville, with more information to be distributed soon. As a reminder, please visit the State Association website at http://www.texasfwb.org and review your district’s and church’s information in the directory. If you see any information that needs to be changed, please send updates and corrections to me at the State Office. We appreciate all that you do for Texas Free Will Baptists and for the work of God. As always, you can contact us with any questions at stateoffice@texasfwb.org.
