Texas Baptists launch 2020 Annual Meeting Workshops in September

Beginning Sept. 8, 2020, Texas Baptists Annual Meeting workshops will be offered in a weekly online format Tuesdays at 2 p.m. With the annual gathering moving online due to the pandemic, the decision was made to offer workshops to churches in advance of the meeting through Zoom webinars with live question and answer sessions each week. Registration is required for each individual Annual Meeting workshop and can be found at txb.org/am.

The first workshop will be held on Sept. 8 at 2 p.m. on the topic of “Children’s Ministry and Missions: The Complete Ministry for Children Includes Missions.” Workshop presenters will include Diane Lane, (retired) Children’s Discipleship specialist for Texas Baptists, Jonathan Brown, Children's minister, First Baptist Church, Temple; and Joanna Jespersen, Minister to Children and Families, Shiloh Terrace Baptist Church, Dallas.

On Sept. 15, Preston Cave, Mission and Discipleship coordinator for TBM, will present a workshop on “The Why and Where of Missions.” The workshop will discuss why to be involved in missions and where missions should be lived out. T

On Sept. 22, Chad Selph, pastor of First Baptist Church of Allen, and several leaders from the Internal Commission, including President Brent Edwards, will lead a workshop entitled “Equipped to Evangelize.”

The next workshop will be held on Sept. 29, led by David Miranda, director of Urban Missions and MAP, and Josue Valerio, director of Missions. It will feature a conversation with mission partners from around the world on the topic of “Fulfilling the Great Commission through MAP.” Additional leaders will include Milton Monte, Junta de Missões Nacionais Brazil; Rev.Joseph Fornah, Baptist Convention of Sierra Leone; Pastor Luiguii Olortegui, Església Evangèlica Baptista de Roses; Pastor Danilo Antunes, Texas Baptists Ministry Grid; Pastor Pepe Flores, Baptist Convention of Peru; Pastor Thong Lun, Greater Houston Burmese Christian Fellowship; and Pastor Larry Mayberry, Queens Church, New York.

On Oct. 6, Tamiko Jones, executive director/treasurer of WMU of Texas, will be joined by Julie Forrester, executive director of CWJC of Greater Arlington, to discuss “WMU of Texas: Partners in Missions.” They will discuss the legacy of WMU of Texas and the ways the organization can walk alongside and engage in local missions, establish partners for missions and empower others for worldwide missions.

The following workshop on Oct. 13 will be hosted by David Scott, director of BOUNCE Student Disaster Recovery, on the topic, “BOUNCE: Mobilizing your students for life transformation.” Scott will be joined by Carlos Montoya, associate pastor, Fielder Church, South Oaks Campus, to discuss short-term mission experiences for students and the role the events can play in transforming lives.

On Oct. 20, Valerio will be joined by Israel Loachamin, pastor and director of La Puerta Ministries at First Baptist Church, Waco, to discuss, “The Church and Community Transformation.”

The final workshop will be held on Nov. 3 and will feature Vanessa Lerma, River Ministry missionary along the Rio Grande Valley, and Mario Alberto Gonzalez, director of Texas Baptists River Ministry/Mexico Missions. They will discuss “Ministry Along the Border” and ministry opportunities for churches.

Recordings will be made available after the event on the Texas Baptists Annual Meeting page at txb.org/am.