Hello everyone,
Attached is the quarterly update from the State Office and the Executive Board for your information and sharing among your districts, churches, and members.
In addition, here are a few additional announcements and reminders from National Agencies:
- The recap and other information from this year’s National Convention in Memphis can be found at https://nafwb.org/convention/.
- Nominations for national boards and committees are now being requested by the nominating committee, with more details at https://nafwb.org/nominations/.
- A series of webinars this fall from the Executive Office will focus on key information for church leadership, outreach, and training. The first will be the webinar on “Questions Every Church Should Ask”, to be posted on August 12 at 10:00 AM Central. Also, on August 12 at 9:00 AM Central, they will launch a series called “Off the High Dive: Five Steps for Better Communication”. This short, six-part series will help you “take the leap” into better communication in your life and ministry.
- November 21 is Mission North America Offering Sunday for 2021. Also, dates for the 2022 WMO and the “Rest of the Family” offering will trade places between April and August. More details and reminders on all of the 2022 Together Way emphasis offerings will be sent as we get closer to the end of the year.
- You can subscribe to weekly NAFWB News e-mail updates at www.nafwb.org/news.
As always, feel free to send along any questions you may have about any of this information or other ways we can help your church or district.
Blessings,
Marcus
Marcus Brewer
Moderator/State Office Coordinator
Texas State Association of Free Will Baptists
P.O. Box 2716
Bryan, TX 77805-2716
(979) 774-3125
August 7, 2021
Greetings from the State Office and the Executive Board!
As the calendar turns to August, we have reached the end of “convention season” that occupies much of summer’s activity in the State Office. We want to again thank the good folks at Lakehills FWB Church in Cedar Park for hosting this year’s State Meeting, the 107th Annual Session, on June 9-10. While attendance was somewhat lower than previous years, it was not unexpected given the uncertainty for many people’s travel plans, and those who attended enjoyed a great meeting. Faron Thebeau (pastor of Mosaic Church in Rolla, MO) was an excellent keynote speaker and one of our panelists in the Ministry Conference that discussed multicultural outreach that our churches can emphasize in their local areas. Additional panelists included Don Matchett (International Missions), Sam McVay (North American Ministries), and Dino Urena (pastor of Iglesia Bautista Libre, Houston), and they provided valuable insights on reaching the mission field (i.e., the “Regions Beyond”) here at home.
During the meeting, we also heard exciting updates from our Texas mission works. Woodforest Church in the northwest Houston metro area is at the beginning of the construction phase of their new permanent building, with completion expected later this year (weather permitting). CV Church in Princeton has successfully completed a leadership transition and has great plans for future growth and becoming self-supporting. Authentic Church has all but outgrown its facilities and is looking at expansion options.
Meeting attendees were also introduced to Jim and Tracey Kilgore, new church planters to establish Quest Church as the focus of Mission: Waco. You can follow them and the mission on Facebook, and you can contact them about coming to your church to talk more about their vision and how you can support them.
At this year’s meeting, delegates approved the constitutional change that was tabled in 2019 to formally organize Texas Women Active for Christ as one of the State Association’s standing boards. This unanimous decision, initiated at TWAC’s request, will align TWAC with the State Association in a similar manner as Women Nationally Active for Christ did a few years ago and provide some additional organizational benefit.
For those of you who were able to attend, we enjoyed seeing each one of you again and were glad to have great times of fellowship and worship. Whether you were able to attend this year or not, we look forward to seeing everyone the same time next year as the Duncanville First Church hosts the 2022 meeting, and early thanks to the Woodforest Church and the Henderson First Church for providing invitations to host the 2023 and 2024 meetings, respectively.
This year’s National Association of Free Will Baptists in Memphis, Tennessee was also an exciting event. Official attendance was a little over 3,300 people registered across the main NAFWB convention and Vertical Three, exceeding organizers’ goal of 3,000 by 10 percent. While there were some hiccups at venues and hotels due to short staffing, the convention staff and the venue staff did a great job in hosting everyone in Memphis’ first major event since early 2020.
A recap of the convention can be found at https://nafwb.org/convention/. The recap is a summary article discussing highlights too numerous to do justice to here, but it will give you a good sense of the key events and happenings that took place at the convention. Key highlights of the convention include approval of a 2022 denominational budget of $30.1 million, the adoption of a Manual for Board Members into each national board’s operating procedures, and changes to the nomination process and terms of service for national officers. The convention website also contains links to the 2021 Resolutions Committee report, the online convention photo album by photographer Rodney Yerby, the official 2021 obituary video, copies of the daily NAFWB News newsletter from the convention, and copies of the programs and Digest of Reports. We encourage you to visit the NAFWB convention website to get the full scoop on the convention’s activities, and to make plans for the 2022 convention in Birmingham, Alabama.
Finally, if you have news from your youth camps, Vacation Bible Schools, and other summer activities from your churches and districts, please take some time to send a short recap of your event (with pictures) to the Texas Challenge. We want to know and share all of the great events that our churches are involved in! For more information, or to submit write-ups and photos, contact Kyle Howell at fwbtexaschallenge@gmail.com.
As a reminder, please visit the State Association website at www.texasfwb.org and review your district’s and church’s information in the directory. We want to make sure that the contact information is all up to date. 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.
texaschallenge.net 