State Office Update

August 6, 2022

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 First FWB Church in Duncanville for hosting this year’s State Meeting, the 108th Annual Session, on June 8-9. Daniel Webster, Director of Enrollment Services and Adjunct Instructor at Welch College, was our keynote speaker and provided rich messages in our evening services as well as our Ministry Conference. The Ministry Conference also provided an opportunity for our pastors and church members across the state to share ideas on methods and programs they have implemented over the past couple of years to improve the ministry and worship in their churches. Texas WAC had a great conference on Thursday morning as well, with opportunities for fellowship, fun, and encouragement.

For those of you who were able to attend, we were glad to see each one of you again and were glad to spend time with you conducting business and enjoying fellowship. Whether you were able to attend this year or not, we look forward to seeing everyone the same time next year as the Woodforest Church hosts the 2023 meeting, and an early reminder that the 2024 meeting will be hosted by the Henderson First Church.

This year’s National Association of Free Will Baptists in Birmingham, Alabama was also an exciting event. Just over 4,000 attendees registered across the main NAFWB convention and Vertical Three. A recap of the convention can be found at https://onemag.org/22_NAFWB_Review.pdf. The recap is a summary article discussing numerous highlights, which will give you a good sense of the key events and happenings that took place at the convention. Key highlights of the convention include adoption of over $31.4 million in denominational budgets, updates from missions and boards, reports from Randall House and Welch College, and news from national boards and commissions. Hundreds of photos from the convention photography team can be found through their website. 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 2023 convention in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Another item from this year’s convention was the announcement from Randall House that, in response to a number of requests across the denomination, they have compiled a set of reading lists for pastoral licensing and ordination candidates. These recommended reading lists are appropriate not only for the candidates themselves, but also for church deacons and pulpit committees as well as district credentials boards/committees. The two lists (one for licensing and one for ordaining) are available for you to save to your files and share with your church or district as needed.

Congratulations are also in order to our Texas youth who competed in a variety of Bible, music, and arts categories in this year’s CTS Ministry Expo at the Vertical Three conference. The following students placed in the top three of their respective categories and we congratulate them, but we also applaud all of our students, parents, and coaches involved in preparing, studying, practicing, and presenting their entries over the previous year.
Age Category
Entry Name
Competition Code / Category
Church Name
City
Place
A – Grades 1-3
Duncan Ely
0.02 – Bible Memorization – Grade 2
Kings Oaks Fellowship
Iola
2
A – Grades 1-3
Heidi & Harper
0.02g – Group Memorization – Grade 2
Fellowship
Bryan
2
B – Grades 4-6
Jenny Cook
5.10 – Keyboard Solo
Fellowship
Bryan
1
B – Grades 4-6
Jenny Cook
6.11 – Individual Sign Language
Fellowship
Bryan
2
C – Grades 7-9
Elizabeth Dickey
6.11 – Individual Sign Language
Fellowship
Bryan
3
C – Grades 7-9
Elizabeth & Jenny
6.12 – Group Sign Language
Fellowship
Bryan
2
D – Grades 10-12
Danielle Dickey
7.80 – Conceptual Art
Fellowship
Bryan
2


If you want to know more about how you and the youth at your church can get involved in CTS Ministry Expo competition for the next year, please contact us at the State Office or contact Teressa Voltz with the Christian Education Board.

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 http://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.