SBTC Texan
Publication of the Southern Baptists of Texas

SBTC Texan
  • Southern Baptists grieve death of Filipino Luis Pantoja Criswell College professor and evangelical leader in Asia
      KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia-Pastor Luis L. Pantoja, Jr., 63, an early professor at Criswell College, died Sept. 6 after suffering a heart attack while attending a spiritual retreat in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. Southern Baptist leader Richard Land called Pantoja "one of the most important leaders of Evangelicalism in all of Asia."A private service is planned for the family, followed by a memorial service at Greenhills Christian Fellowship in Pasig City, Philippines, where Pantoja served as pastor of the largest evangelical church. Survivors include his wife, Liwayway Pantoja, son Calvin Wesle...

  • Engage Teams reignite passion for evangelism
       “I read this much of Genesis last night!” a young boy, whose faith in Christ was only one day old, shared with Hailey Christian. The change in his attitude—a stark contrast to the one he had a few days earlier—occurred during the children’s and youth outreach of a weeklong revival.“It’s great to know we made an impact [in the lives of] the youth,” said Christian, of Orange. She served as a children and youth leader this summer on an Engage Team, a group of college students serving in an SBTC summer revival ministry.During the day the Engage Teams led Vacation Bible School for chil...

  • Local congregations go global in engaging unreached groups
      Someone has observed, “Why should some hear the gospel twice when others haven’t heard once?”That sentiment motivated Hillcrest Baptist Church in Cedar Hill and First Baptist Church of Keller to each adopt an unreached people group (UPG).FBC Keller adopted the Yalunka people of West Africa; the name of the UPG Hillcrest adopted in East Asia is withheld for security reasons.“The work is difficult,” said Jay Goolsby, Hillcrest’s minister for missions. “Most of the work is accomplished by our young people who use a GPS to trek into the boondocks and find the villages where the people live....

  • Sex ed: Parents have rights, input
      Sex education in Texas public schools—and across the nation—has been a flashpoint of controversy. But Texas parents can avoid the angst associated with the subject matter by asking questions, reading curricula, and serving on a state-mandated local advisory board with direct influence over the content of health instruction in their school district.A primer on sex education vocabulary could be helpful. School districts have two options for sex education curricula in Texas if they choose to teach it: abstinence-only or abstinence-plus. Parents can choose to “opt-out” their student. And th...

  • Our man in Alpharetta
      The announcement of Kevin Ezell as the presidential candidate for the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board answers a couple of important questions for our denomination. Those who thought much about NAMB knew this would be a hard slot to fill with the right man, because it has proven to be so since NAMB’s beginning in the 1990s. There was even some discussion regarding whether or not the SBC could justify having two mission boards. For now we know the name of NAMB’s likely president and we know that we will have two mission boards for the foreseeable future. Our North American b...