February Pastors’ Conference
12:00 noon, February 1, 2012
Truett Seminary
Regional pastors and staff are invited to share a lunch, get acquaited with other pastors and church leaders, and hear an inspirational message.
The event will be held at the Piper Great Hall in Truett Seminary on the Baylor Campus.
Speaker: Ron Durham
Interim Pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church
The cost is $7.
Reservations can be made either by phone (254) 753-2408, email: admin@wacoregionalbaptistassociation.org
or through Pay Pal at:
http://www.wacoregionalbaptistassociation.org/pastors-conference
Please reserve your place by Thursday, January 26.
Pastor Ron Durham grew up in Waco, graduated from Baylor in ’66 and finished his MDiv from Southwestern in ’69. He was a BSU Director at Del Mar College and a minister to Students at Columbus Avenue. He has pastored Willow Grove Baptist Church of Moody, FBC Eddy, Taylor’s Valley Baptist Church of Temple and Columbus Avenue Baptist Church, where he retired in 2005. Since retiring, he has been a supply preacher to FBC Gholson, Chalk Bluff Baptist Church, Oak Grove Baptist Church and now Shiloh Baptist Church.
Durham has also been active with collegiate and statewide ministry. He has been a Trustee for Baylor University for nine years. Durham
has also served on the Executive Board of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
Ron married V.Beth in 1964. They have two children, John and Rhonda. They have also been blessed with five grandchildren, Brandon, Hannah, Reagan, Caleb and Evelyn.
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Conference will be at FBC Woodway on February 22, 2012.
Research indicates that mass mailings and television ads often turn people away from church and the Christian faith instead of encouraging them. It takes people to reach people. Join us for this 4xFour Clinic as we discuss a proven method for reaching others for Christ. Learn to Identify, Intercede, Invest and Invite with Scott Willingham, Director of Church Evangelism.
Register Online.
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Basic Coaching Clinic
This clinic is designed to equip leaders in churches and businesses with basic coaching skills that can be integrated and incorporated into their current leadership tool set and readily used in their setting.
Coach training can dramatically enhance the leader’s effectiveness and greatly increase their impact within place of business/service and the larger local community. In addition, this training will prepare leaders to effectively coach each other in coaching partnerships among their peers.
Postponed to March, 2012 || HBMC
(Located in Waco, TX)
Click here for full details.
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The Body of Believers
A glimpse of how God is at work in the Waco area.
The most common word that has come up with Calvary Baptist Church is “intentional.” From the worship service to the ministries it supports and the life groups it fosters, members of the congregation have noticed the planned focus of each effort.
Member Kay Dunlap said she has been at the church for more than five years because of “the intentionality of the members to form community and the outstanding worship experiences.”
This includes its efforts to reach out to new members.
“When I first joined, I was recovering from cancer treatments. I was bald and looked like I was a survivor of a Nazi prison camp. I was greeted with love and acceptance,” Dunlap said. “I attended a Sunday School class that included women with cognitive difficulties from a group home, seminary students and Baylor professors, and a homeless man who had just wandered in off the street. And it worked. I have been a part of many churches that wanted that kind of diversity, but could not figure out how to make that happen. At Calvary, it happens.”
The other common factor of the members seems to be their feeling of belonging.
Jim Coston said, “It’s a great church; I was called to Calvary and have had that call affirmed regularly since.”
Two-year member Walker Moore said it was “a church where people are really trying to live out a life of following Jesus.”
Moore also appreciated it for trying to live out missions.
“It’s really trying to reach out into the neighborhood and be a neighborhood church,” he said.
Among other things, Moore is a part of with Project Hope, a collaborative program between West Avenue Elementary and the church. He works “with the church and the school to find ways that would be meaningful for the church to interact with the children.”
This is only one way the church reaches its neighborhood.
Coston said, “We are willing to venture out for the Kingdom. This includes engagement with one another through small groups and Sunday school. It also encompasses our work in the local and global community. Some of these inspired endeavors work wonderfully and enrich lives. Other times we go back to the drawing board. This continually renewed willingness to risk for God keeps me excited.”
With a grounded focus in many local missions, Calvary Baptist Church has begun to look at global missions as well. Last year, the church went to China and Lebanon.
Publications Coordinator and global missions life group leader Jennifer Whitlark said, “the first trip is always the hardest…. Now that the first trip is started and the ground work is laid it’s easier to come back year after year.”
One of the seven that went to Lebanon came back to and applied with his wife to work at a Lebanese orphanage. They were accepted and are now raising support before moving there for three years.
Whitlark gave many examples of how the church is pulling together. While an occasional highlight is written about one of the senior members, each of the newsletters include an article by a staff member and another by somebody who is not on staff.
She said, “I think people want to hear from lay members and what their heart is about events and things that are upcoming in the church.”
The church is also starting a coed softball team of varying ages to play other churches.
“Any time you can get people from different age groups to get together to do something, it’s always beneficial,” Whitlark said.
Coston said, “As a church that is growing, growing pains are inevitable. We covet prayers for God’s Spirit as grow and develop.”
For more information about the church, visit www.calvarybaptistwaco.com.
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