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Nov 26, 2024 | 
erlc.com | Sandra Peoples
My mom, grandma, and I were shopping for clothes for my 9th birthday. For the first time, I had strong opinions about what I wanted to wear, and everything I liked was on the boys’ side of the store. That year, I had stopped going by my name and had asked my teacher and friends to call me “Tom” instead, as in “tomboy.” In 1988, that’s what girls who acted like boys were called. Everyone around me saw it as a phase I would grow out of, and in fourth grade, I did.
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Jul 24, 2024 | 
texanonline.net | Jane Rodgers |Sandra Peoples |Jayson Larson
For Michael Visy, senior pastor of Grace Church Hewitt, connections make the difference. Through a series of divine connections, he has found friendship, encouragement, and accountability via the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s Young Pastors Network. The Maryland native was on staff at Grace Church Waco when a non-denominational church in Hewitt, its attendance declining, closed its doors.
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Jul 22, 2024 | 
texanonline.net | Sandra Peoples |Jayson Larson
Each month, we keep our eyes open looking for ways God is moving in our churches across the state. That’s what this Leading Off page is all about—as you read each month’s issue, we want to start you off with something to encourage you. Though a relatively new feature, we’ve already highlighted churches with members helping their neighbors recover from deadly storms and a dispatch from our ever-busy Southern Baptists of Texas Disaster Relief team. Jesus is using His people to do big things.
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Jul 21, 2024 | 
texanonline.net | Sandra Peoples |Jayson Larson
DALLAS (BP)—The historic sanctuary at First Baptist Church Dallas burned Friday evening, July 19. The cause of the blaze is not yet known. The Victorian-style, red brick sanctuary building was erected 1890 and is a recognized Texas Historic Landmark. According to media reports, Dallas Fire and Rescue received a call at 6:05 p.m. Friday evening regarding a building on fire in downtown Dallas. Firefighters responded and within 15 minutes of the first call, a second alarm was requested.
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Jul 19, 2024 | 
texanonline.net | Jayson Larson |Sandra Peoples
You’ve probably never heard of First Baptist Church of Woodsboro. In fact, you’ve probably never heard of Woodsboro. Woodsboro is a little pocket of a town hanging off the southeast side of State Highway 77, about 40 miles north of Corpus Christi. There’s no Walmart there, but they do have a 2A high school equipped with a hurricane shelter (standard issue for that part of the state), a Dairy Queen (standard issue in many a small Texas town), and a dollar store.
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Jul 18, 2024 | 
texanonline.net | Jane Rodgers |Sandra Peoples |Jayson Larson
The small Levelland church of about 75 had been praying for a way to serve its Hockley County community, 30 miles west of Lubbock. When a microburst with vicious straight-line winds swept through the city in the early morning hours of Wednesday, May 28, they got more of an opportunity than they anticipated. “Since I’ve been here, we’ve been praying for an opportunity to be a beacon of light to the community,” said Tony Ward, pastor of College Avenue Baptist Church since March.
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Jul 9, 2024 | 
texanonline.net | Laura Erlanson |Sandra Peoples |Jayson Larson
MATAGORDA, Texas (BP)—Disaster Relief units from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention have already deployed even as now-Tropical Storm Beryl makes its way northeast along the eastern edge of Texas and parts of Louisiana. Beryl made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane near Matagorda around 4:30 a.m. Monday (July 8), about 95 miles southwest of Houston. The storm pummeled coastal areas like Galveston as well as the outskirts of Houston, America’s fourth-largest metro area.
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Jul 8, 2024 | 
texanonline.net | Arlene Sanabria |Byron Mcwilliams |Sandra Peoples |Jayson Larson
Erika Meza had been praying for her husband, Luis, to come to faith in Jesus for nine years. But spiritual conversations with Luis could feel tense and he would tell Erika he did not want to feel pressured to walk away from the Catholic religion he had always known. But something began to change in Luis’ heart one day after he received a personal invitation from Hiram Ramos, the leader of First Baptist Church Odessa’s Hispanic ministry, and his wife, Saraí.
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Jul 7, 2024 | 
kentuckytoday.com | Sandra Peoples
We walked up to the registration area for the children’s classes one Sunday at the church we were visiting in North Carolina while staying with family. The woman we met there asked questions to figure out where the boys should go and typed the answers into her computer. “What are their names? When are their birthdays? Do they have any allergies?”The questions were easy to answer for our older son, but our younger son took more explanation. His birthday does not represent his developmental stage.
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Jul 3, 2024 | 
texanonline.net | Jane Rodgers |Sandra Peoples |Jayson Larson
RUIDOSO, N.M.—Eleven Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Disaster Relief volunteers rolled into Ruidoso, N.M., on Tuesday, June 26, quickly setting up the SBTC DR mass feeding unit from Flint Baptist Church in the parking lot of First Baptist Church in Ruidoso. Their task? Partnering with New Mexico Baptist DR, they would support the American Red Cross in feeding evacuees at shelters and survivors in the community displaced by the devastating summer wildfires still partly burning around Ruidoso.
