“Greetings from the State Office and the Executive Board!
As of this writing, we have just concluded our annual All Boards Meeting. Many of the plans we
put in place a year ago did not materialize, as is the case for many of you; however, as we prepare to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is time to start making plans again. We are
moving forward with the expectation that we will have an in-person State Meeting in 2021. This year’s State Meeting, the 107th Annual Session, will be June 9-10 (Wednesday-Thursday) at
Lakehills FWB Church in Cedar Park. We appreciate the congregation at Lakehills being willing to shift their plans forward one year, after not being able to have the meeting in 2020.
Many of the details were already being finalized last spring, so once we have updated a few more items, we’ll be releasing additional details. In particular, a block of rooms has been arranged at a nearby hotel for this meeting, so we’ll be sharing information on how to make reservations, along with the specific schedule, as we confirm the details, but we are looking forward to a great
event and a time of fellowship, worship, and business at Lakehills on June 9-10.lso, as we have shifted our 2020 meeting plans to 2021, we are also grateful to the First FWB Church in Duncanville, who originally offered to host the 2021 meeting and agreed to postpone their meeting to 2022. So we will look forward to returning to the Metroplex the following year, tentatively scheduled to begin on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. We have just wrapped up our annual All Boards Meeting, and in addition to the details of the State Meeting, we have several other dates and events that you need to be aware of:
– The Ministry Expo (aka CTS Youth Competition) will be held May 1 at Fellowship FWB Church in Bryan, beginning at 10:00 AM. Entry forms for all entries need to be sent to Teressa Voltz by April 16. Please contact the Christian Education Board for more
information and registration forms.
– The State Youth Retreat is scheduled for June 16-19 in San Antonio. Conference fee will be $125 for each participant, and the deadline for registration is May 15. Participants will
be responsible for their own lodging; arrangements will be made at a designated hotel. Conference fee includes 4-5 meals. Theme and speakers will be announced soon.
– TWAC has tentatively scheduled their fall “Girls’ Time” Retreat for October 1-2 at First Church in Henderson. The theme for the retreat (as well as their conference at the State Meeting) is “Promise” from Hebrews 10:23. More details will be released as they are
finalized.
– TWAC’s State Project for 2022 is the Provows, missionaries to Bulgaria.
– The Christian Education Board has scheduled a Men’s Retreat for October 8-9 at Lakehills. Cost will be $25 each participant. Participants will be responsible for their own lodging. Meals for Friday night and Saturday lunch will be covered with Retreat fee. Anyone needing financial assistance to attend needs to let the CE Board know. Details for theme and speaker to follow.
Both the CE Board and TWAC have offered support to students attending Truth & Peace or E-TEAM this summer. If you have a student that will be attending one of these ministry events
and would like more information about financial support, please contact them or me. In addition, if you would like to share your student’s information with other churches to ask for support,
please send me an e-mail containing the appropriate details and I will send it out to the e-mail distribution list.
We continue to see a variety of news items, announcements, and thoughtful articles coming through the Texas Challenge blog site (https://texaschallenge.net/), and we are appreciative of Kyle and Beth Howell embracing this new role and keeping us informed. New posts appear on
the blog site, in your e-mail inbox (if you subscribe to the updates), and on the TSAFWB Facebook feed. If you have news items to share, please contact Kyle at fwbtexaschallenge@gmail.com. You can also visit the blog site at any time to see stories that have been posted previously and to sign up for e-mail updates.
As we work toward returning to normal operations, we are providing a reminder that state and national dues will be coming due, along with local and district reports. National dues are $175 per church and the state dues are $175 per church (a total of $350 per church per year). Those dues do not have to be paid in a single transaction (they can be spread out over multiple months if a church’s budget or financial condition requires smaller payments), and you can contact State Treasurer John Davis or me if you need more information on this. If you need information or blank forms for completing and submitting your local church and district reports, please contact State Clerk Kevin Williford or me.
Finally, we remind you to please visit the State Association website at
http://www.texasfwb.org/churches.shtml 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.
Also, we send these quarterly updates to everyone on the State Office e-mail list, but there are surely some who would be interested in receiving the
information that we do not have on our list. Pastors, please share these dates, events, and details with your congregation so that everyone can be informed and involved. If someone has
forwarded this information to you and you would like to be on the mailing list in the future, please contact us at the e-mail address below.
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.”
texaschallenge.net 