Deaf Deacon Hears and Meets Their Needs

It was an historic moment in the 60 year history of the Deaf Ministry at the First Baptist Church Texarkana and in the life of Terry Tribble and his wife Debbie. Terry was one of thirteen Deacons to be ordained at FBC Texarkana and the first Deaf Deacon to be ordained at the church. The service was held at FBC Texarkana during their Wednesday night service on January 30th, 2008. Dr. Jeff Schreve is the Pastor and he too was delighted to charge these Deacons with their Godly duty and responsibilities. It was also a memorable moment for the Deaf Community across Texas to see that God has not forgotten them as He continues to call forth Leaders and Servants to meet needs in the Deaf Community. Terry Tribble and his lovely wife have dedicated their lives to serving the Lord through meeting needs in the Deaf Community. Terry and Debbie are former members of the Silent Friends Chapel at First Baptist Dallas and have been serving in the Deaf work at First Baptist Texarkana for the past six years. Terry and Debbie are viewed as “the best huggers and hand-shakers” as they greet people at the church each Sunday says Dr. Larry Sims, Associate Pastor – FBC Texarkana. Terry is called on to make home and hospital visits to the Deaf Congregation. He also visits the Deaf Widows. It makes a difference to the Deaf when one of their own shows up to minister to them in their time of need. Dr. Rolf Wylie, Deaf Interpreter congratulates Terry and his wife on this special occasion. The couple was also presented a plaque from the Local Transformational Missions office of the Baptist General Convention of Texas for their dedication and service to the Deaf Community. May the Hand of God remain upon this couple as they live out their life of service to the Lord and the Deaf Community.

Healing Hands Ranch

In February of 2006 Deaf Prison Ministries Network was given the opportunity to acquire a twenty-seven acre retreat center. This facility previously provided aftercare for hearing ex-offenders. It is located approximated fifty miles north of Houston, Texas near the beautiful Sam Houston National Forest and has been named Healing Hands Ranch. This aftercare facility is also approximately thirty miles from where over one hundred deaf offenders are housed in Huntsville Texas. Our needs are tremendous but we are trusting God, and praying that all resources and programs will be in place by January 2007 so that we can begin accepting residence who are deaf ex-offenders.

Our Program at Healing Hands Ranch will consist of:

• Spiritual growth and discipleship training.
• Life skills training.
• Education and GED completion.
• Mentoring.
• Addiction rehabilitation.
• On-site job training opportunities.

For more information contact HHR at 936-856-0819 or Pastor Arthur Craig 713-467-3325 or email him at Arthur.craig@hfbc.org. Their website is: www.healinghandsranch.org

Click Here for the Healing Hands Brochure

Texas Baptist Conference for the Deaf Web Site Online

The long awaited TBCD Website (www.tbcdtexas.org) is now up and running. The website has been developed to improve communications between the Deaf and Hearing Community across Texas. The site currently contains all of the pre-registration forms and information for the upcoming Texas Baptist Conference for the Deaf which is scheduled for June 13-15 on Baylor’s Campus in Waco. It will hopefully be the place where the Deaf can come to discover the latest happenings among the Deaf. Roberta Green, Assistant Secretary made this a priority and has given long hours towards launching the site. Thank you Roberta. We have been struggling to have ongoing communications between the Deaf and the office of Local Transformational Missions and this site will definitely improve communications. We can now post the Deaf Newsletter, Contact Information for officers, Deaf Ministries and Churches in Texas. We also have plans for adding videos of deaf ministries around the state. The site will be an important link to and with the Deaf Community. Check it out and let us know what you think. It is still under construction as we try to make it the most effective communication tool between the Deaf and Hearing world.

Gerald Davis
BGCT Deaf Consultant

Texas Baptist Conference of the Deaf

59th Anniversary
June 13 – 15, 2008, Baylor University, Waco, Texas

Greetings from the President-
Grace and peace unto you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Are you here by chance? No, the Lord brought each and every one of you here at Baylor University for His purpose and pleasure! We are one year away from the great 60th Anniversary of T.B.C.D. making this year 59th Anniversary! T.B.C.D. and the officers welcome each one of you and may you receive unlimited blessings this year.

We are now at half way of F.A.I.T.H. cycle. We started with Fruit of Spirit in 2006 led by Reverend Jeff Brewer of Silent Friend Chapel, Dallas, TX. He used Galatians 5:22-23 to lead the F.A.I.T.H. conference. Reverend Danny Bice led the TBCD 2007 with Philippians 2:5 as we learn about Attitude.

We are honored to have Kevin Clark from North Carolina as our Conference Pastor as he leads us to study the word Integrity, the third letter of F.A.I.T.H. LaBretta Flores of San Antonio Baptist Deaf Mission will lead the music. Family Celebration Night will be a blessing to us all! T.A.S.B.I.D. will be teaching the interpreters during workshop on Saturday morning.

It is the prayers of the Officers and the President that after this conference, we will all go home and share with those who were not able to attend. What to share? The word Integrity and why it is important for every Christian to have this characteristic in their lives. America is in desperate need for more people with integrity.

I encourage you to pray daily for T.B.C.D. to continue to stay strong and be ready to return in 2009. We will look at the fourth letter of F.A.I.T.H. which is Trust.

In HIS Unfailing Love,
Rev. Bill Atwell
TBCD President

Deaf Ministry Across Texas, What are we going to do about it?

As the Deaf Liaison of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, I have asked several Deaf Leaders to describe the state of the Deaf Ministry across Texas from their perspective.  I’m sure that you will be enlightened by this fresh insight from individuals that are on the front lines of this very important ministry and a vast mission field.  Listen to Nancy Parrish, a very significant figure and leader to and in the Deaf Community.

“As I see it, Deaf Ministry is and always has been an after-thought of most Southern Baptist Churches.  I do not know a polite way to say this, but this is a people group that has no “VOICE” when it comes to speaking up for themselves.  Perhaps this is due to the on-going communication barrier between the deaf and hearing.  Most churches see this small group of people as a large Sunday School class and do not think of it as a rich cultural group of people with different communication needs.  In the past, churches began all services to the Deaf.  Churches provided interpreting services for appointments during the week, they provided family counseling, job placement, other social services needs all week long.  Any person with a need could come to the church for assistance.  Now, there are many other organizations who serve some of their needs.  No one, except the few churches with deaf ministries, is serving the spiritual needs.  Many years ago, people who are Deaf were educated in State Schools for the Deaf which taught Bible classes in the schools.  Then churches that surrounded the State Schools set up ministries to reach out to them as students.  Thus, grew a strong group of Deaf leaders.  Now, with many mainstreamed programs, the Schools for the Deaf are declining in numbers of students and are in fact closing in some states.  So are the churches that minister to the Deaf.  We are losing our young adults and the children as well.  We have few strong Deaf leaders left and nothing is being done to cultivate those coming along now.  The future does not look very bright as far as Southern Baptist Churches locally reaching those who are Deaf and bringing them into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  Many other denominations and especially cults are actively reaching them instead.”

Hear what Aric Randolph; Pastor of the New Life Deaf Church in Fort Worth, Texas has to say.  “The work in Texas among the Baptist Deaf Churches is going along good, however, we are in either a plateau or decline state.  In my opinion the reason for a plateau or declining state is our failure to reach the young Deaf teens/children.  During my youth, the youth and children programs across Texas were very strong and vibrant and now we have all gotten older and many of us are gone.  We have not been able to reach those young people coming up behind us.  Why are we struggling to reach this specific group?  Lord knows!  This young generation is called the Millennials, Net_Gen, and Gen Y.  They are a civic generation and they are inner driven with the information revolution, striving to get ahead. (Population of this generation is 78 million and this covers those from 1982 to 2001).  Those in the generation between 2002 and 2025 are called the Cyber Generation.  Another thing is many of the schools are mainstreaming their Deaf students and dropping the self-contained Deaf classes and they are getting lost in the system.  Thus is the reason that I started the Deaf Empower Evangelism Conference with the focus on sharing the gospel and reaching the Deaf.  I remind each one of us that we are called to go out and reach people for Christ!”

As you can see from these two significant leaders in the Deaf Community, we have a problem!  Not only do we have a problem but we have the answer in Jesus our Lord.  What are we going to do about ministering to the Deaf Community with intentionality and strategically?  Nancy goes on to suggest the following:  “I see a great need for Bible classes and training for young people and people of all ages who wish to teach, preach, or become missionaries and who may or may not feel called to go to seminary full time.  Perhaps they are supporting a family, but desire to just become a better Bible teacher and leader, but they need training.  I think one of the main weaknesses in young Deaf people who want to serve in a church is their lack of knowledge in administration.  Basic skills in these areas are needed as well as on-going Bible training.  North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee are joining hands in the tri-state Bible classes held in their states.  They have classes several times a year in various locations and these hours count toward a seminary degree.”

What will be our response?  The fields are ripe for harvest.  What can you do to help us reach this population for Christ?  Feel free to respond to this challenge via an email to me at gerald.davis@bgct.org with your suggestions or comments.  We will be dialoging concerning this issue at the upcoming Texas Baptist Conference for the Deaf, June 13 – 15 at Baylor in Waco.  Thanks in advance for your prayers on this issue.

Gerald Davis

A Deeper Insight- A Mustard Seed

He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a mustard seed, which a man took, and planted in his field.  Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.” (NIV).  Jesus again is in dialog with His disciples to help them gain an understanding of the Kingdom of God and how to recognize it once it is revealed.  He uses the idea of a mustard seed which at that time was the smallest seed in the plant world.  Picture this small seed being planted in a farmer’s field.  Note the dichotomy; a small seed verses the large field.  Although it was a small seed each seed could grow into a very large bush.  It would be 12 to 15 feet tall.  The birds would make their nests in it. Jesus was referring to this bush.

Note also the ambiguity of the scene.  How will the farmer know where he planted the seed being that the seed is so small and the field is so large?  If he didn’t have a system to identify where the seed was being planted then how would he know where to relocate the seed in order to water and nurture it to full maturity?  Perhaps this points to Paul’s idea of spiritual growth in the Lord when he says that I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. (I Cor. 3:6).  When we work for Kingdom sake then we have to leave the results up to the King.  He will nurture and produce the results.

The mustard seed is also known for its rapid and sure growth.  The Kingdom of God will come!  It will come, whether we realize it or not, it will and is happening.  God’s Kingdom will come here on earth as it is in heaven.  Halleluiah!!  I believe I saw a semblance of this the other night while observing the start of “the wave” at a baseball game.  It was in 49,000 seat stadium which happened to be an almost sold-out game.  How do you get 49,000 people to participate in this spectacular phenomenon?  I was fortunate to see it get started.  I observed this one “igniter” (cheerleader) as he shouted repeatedly with enthusiasm, One!, Two!, Three!,  Wheeee!!, as he gestured for the individuals to his left to quickly stand up, with out stretched arms, yell and then sit back down.  It took more than a dozen times but he was persistent and determined to see the anomaly take place.  This one individual out of 49,000 kept at it and low and behold it finally took.  One after another everyone did their part to quickly get up with a yell and out stretched arms and then sat back down.  There it went all the way around the 49,000 seat stadium.  It lasted almost the entire inning.  Can you see it, the Kingdom of God being realized here on earth is like that.  As we each do our part, as small as it might seem God is involving us in a greater phenomenon.  He’s at work to bring this world to where and what He originally intended it to be.  God is redeeming mankind and reconciling the heavens and the earth unto Himself (Col. 1:19-20).  He first reconciled us unto Himself and then He involves us in the ministry of reconciliation and in fact has given us this ministry of reconciliation (2Cor. 5:18-20).  How are you being used to make right the wrongs of this world?  Who are you influencing to have a personal relationship with Jesus?  What are you passionate about in this world where you will give your life for and bring glory to God?  These may seem like huge questions but the answer is in doing the small, simple things for God.  Things that we have been commanded to do; loving your neighbor as yourself, sharing Jesus with those that He puts in our way, praying for one another, and so on.

I think of the Baptist General Convention’s 2010 Initiative which is to bring hope (share Jesus) with everyone in the State of Texas by Resurrection Sunday 2010.  What a huge and awesome task.  How in the world will we get this done?  By each one of us (Texas Baptist) doing our part as small as it may seem.  If each one of us would pray for our role in the initiative, pray for its success and trust God to do what He intends.  If each one of us would care for the need(s) of someone else as God puts them in our way.  If each one of us would Share Jesus, the Gospel message with someone as God brings people one by one into our life then we will see God move in a mighty way.  So One! Two! Three! Pray for how God wants to use you.  One! Two! Three! Help somebody.  One! Two! Three! Tell somebody about Jesus.  Let’s be found faithful doing our part.  I believe if we will do this then we will see the Glory of the coming of our God.  We will see His Kingdom come here on Earth as it is in Heaven.  Amen!

Gerald Davis