Kingdom-focus, time of celebration expected at upcoming Annual Meeting

On Nov. 10-12, messengers and guests from across the Texas Baptists family will gather at the Waco Convention Center for the 139th Texas Baptists Annual Meeting. Under the theme “His Kingdom Agenda,” attendees will join together in worship and business sessions, hear from six keynote speakers, choose from among 35 unique ministry workshops and experience numerous times of fellowship throughout exhibit halls, meals and receptions, rallies and more.

Julio Guarneri, executive director of Texas Baptists, said he looks forward to connecting with church leaders across the Convention and celebrating together all that God has done. 

“I'm looking forward to being in the sessions and worship and hearing some of the great speakers that we have invited and then connecting [with] pastors from across the state and from outside of Texas,” said Guarneri. “Celebrating the things that we have accomplished…just a big time of celebration [and] enjoying being together as a family.”

Kingdom-focused speakers, worship leaders and workshops

The Annual Meeting’s keynote speakers will include Guarneri; Albert Reyes, president and CEO of Buckner International; Al Curley III, associate pastor at Cornerstone Church in Arlington; Meghan Hendrickson, director of Dallas Baptist University Baptist Student Ministry; Joel Gregory, professor of preaching at George W. Truett Theological Seminary; and Ronny Marriott, pastor at First Baptist Church in Richardson and president of Texas Baptists.

Reyes will speak on “A Kingdom of Wholeness,” Curley III on “The Gospel of the Kingdom,” Hendrickson on “Kingdom Advance,” and Gregory on “The Kingdom Has Come Near.” Guarneri and Marriott will deliver the executive director’s report and the president’s address, respectively.

Worship will be led by Art Wellborn, worship pastor at First Woodway Baptist Church; Lampsato, East Texas Baptist University worship band; DBU Chapel Worship; and Michael Glenn, worship leader at First Baptist Burleson. 

Workshops will include topics on church health, vision and strategy, identity, discipleship, kingdom giving and more. Attendees are encouraged to stop by exhibit halls throughout the three-day gathering to learn more about ministry resources from Texas Baptists staff, ministry partners and other vendors and for networking and fellowship. 

Several meals and receptions will also be hosted by Texas Baptists ministries and partners, and a new “Welcome Center” will be available near the registration area to help first-time attendees to the gathering.

Rallies a tone-setting ‘celebration of diversity’

Rallies scheduled for Sunday evening include the African American Fellowship Worship Rally,  held at Carver Park Baptist Church; TXB en Español Rally, held in Texas Rooms South at the Waco Convention Center; and the Millennial/GenZ Rally, held at Terry Black's BBQ in Waco. Sunday rallies will begin at 5 p.m. and end at 6:45 p.m. to allow attendees to join the 7 p.m. Evening Worship Session at the Waco Convention Center. 

Guarneri said he encourages attendees not to miss out on these opportunities to celebrate diversity within the Convention.

“It's meant to be a celebration of our diversity with the people, the local people in Waco, and then with our different fellowships and affinity groups,” said Guarneri. “It hopefully sets the tone for the rest of the Annual Meeting.”

Church insurance relief among business considered by messengers

During business sessions, messengers will elect officers and vote on recommendations, including a 2025 proposed missions and ministries budget of $36,716,950, worldwide missions initiatives and partnership allocations of $1.1 million, and nominations for Executive Board directors and boards of affiliated ministries.

Messengers will also hear and vote upon a recommendation for a Texas Baptists Insurance Program to assist affiliated churches amidst a challenging property insurance environment through collaboration in a captive insurance pool. Passage of that recommendation would grant Convention leaders authorization to “take all necessary steps” to successfully implement the program subject to the Executive Committee’s approval pending the results of a feasibility study already in process.

This and other recommendations are available online via the “Business” page of the Annual Meeting website.

Clarifying the call and prayers for unity

Guarneri said he is praying for a spirit of unity among messengers and guests and that attendees to the Annual Meeting will come away with a renewed clarity for the coming years of collaborative missions and ministries through Texas Baptists.

“We want to communicate what we can be doing together for the next couple of years with a sense of clarity. We have a sense of clarity about what we're going to join together for in the next couple of years, and so, we hope that that happens through the preaching, and that happens through some of my reports and other things that [attendees] experience there,” said Guarneri. 

“I'm praying, first of all, that God's presence would be felt when we're together. Second, that there would be a spirit of unity, that we would be listening to others [and] listening to God's voice,” he said. 

Attendees are encouraged to access all of the information above, including the schedule, worship and business sessions, workshop titles and descriptions, rallies, meals and receptions and more, in the Texas Baptists app, which is free to download online at txb.org/app. 

To register as a messenger or guest for the Texas Baptists Annual Meeting, visit txb.org/am. Online registration closes Nov. 11.