2023 Texas Baptists Legacy Awards honor Dorso Maciel and Dick Maples

On Sunday, June 4, Texas Baptists will present the 2023 Legacy Award, celebrating the heritage of Texas Baptists, to Dorso Maciel, a faithful pastor and community leader, and Dick Maples, a longtime pastor and devoted Baptist denominational leader.

The Texas Baptists Legacy Award is presented annually at the Independence Baptist Church in Independence, Texas, in recognition of lifelong Christian service.

Dorso Maciel

Called to pastoral ministry as a teenager, Dorso Maciel was a student at Baylor University when he took his first pastorate May 30, 1959, at Primera Iglesia Bautista Marlin. There, he met his wife; on June 15, they will celebrate their 63rd anniversary. Now in his sixth church, he is in his 31st year as pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in Laredo.

Along with Marlin and Laredo, Maciel pastored churches in Goliad (Primera Bautista), Mathis (Primera Bautista), McAllen (Iglesia Bautista Getsemani) and Beeville (New Life Baptist).

Maciel has served on Texas Baptists Executive Board and in various capacities in the Baptist associational life (with the Blanco and Rio Grande Valley Baptist associations) and the South Texas Children’s Home. He has also served in various civic leadership roles including school boards and other civic boards. He has served with the Salvation Army, the Laredo HIV/AIDS Services Consortia and the Webb County Emergency Food and Shelter Board.

Maciel has been honored by the Hispanic Baptist Convention, South Texas Children’s Home and Baylor University. His consistent desire is to preach the gospel and to live out 1 Peter 4:10-11, seeking always to point others to Christ rather than drawing attention to himself.

Dick Maples

Born in Goodnight, James Richard (Dick) Maples has served Christ faithfully in multiple roles, both in the local church and in denominational life. He served as pastor of four churches, including First Baptist churches of Texas City, El Paso and Bryan, and First Baptist of Waynesville, N.C. Additionally, he served in Texas Baptists staff roles including coordinator of minister/church relations and associate executive director.

After retirement from the state convention, Maples served as interim pastor for several churches and as special assistant to the president and adjunct professor at Dallas Baptist University. He was named pastor emeritus of First Baptist of El Paso.

Maples also served Texas Baptists as BGCT president and first vice president, and as a member of the Executive Board, the Administrative Committee and the Christian Life Commission. He served as a trustee of Hardin-Simmons University, East Texas Baptist University and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Additionally, he served as a member of the board of directors for the North American Mission Board of the SBC.

He earned a B.A. from Mississippi College, a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and received honorary degrees from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Dallas Baptist University and Baylor University.

Maples currently resides in Guntersville, Ala., where he and his wife, the former Mary Jo Drake, collaborate in teaching a Bible study class and are active members of First Baptist Church. The couple has two children, eight grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

The Texas Baptists Legacy Awards will be presented during the Sunday morning worship service at Independence Baptist Church, with lunch to follow. To attend, please contact Becky Brown at becky.brown[at]txb.org or (214) 828-5301.