SBC Life Articles by Dan Martin

AUBREY, Texas (BP)–A Baptist pastor concerned about the disappearance of several children in recent weeks has issued an appeal for believers to activate an “Angel Alert.” Preston Harrison, pastor of Antioch Baptist Church, Aubrey, Texas, noted Dallas/Fort Worth law enforcement agencies and broadcast outlets undertake an “Amber Alert” when a child is reported missing. “So […]

AUSTIN, Texas (BP)–Sexual abstinence is “100 percent certain” to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, “100 percent of the time,” Texas Governor George W. Bush told more than 2,500 Baptist teens gathered on the grounds of the Texas capitol in Austin. Bush was addressing a rally in support of True Love Waits, a worldwide campaign […]

SAN ANTONIO (BP)–As Bruce Tippett unfolded the story of the tragedy at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Ark., his calm retelling was in sharp contrast to the horror of the March 24, 1998, act of random violence which left five dead and 10 injured. Standing in the chapel at First Baptist Church, San Antonio, Texas, […]

SAN ANTONIO (BP)–Random violence is like flipping a pebble into a pond. The ripples eddy out, reaching farther and farther from the epicenter. Joe Williams illustrated the reach and depth of random violence by telling of a young man who had been married only a few months when the Oklahoma City federal building was bombed […]

SAN ANTONIO (BP)–Often, when random violence strikes, congregations and communities react by pulling back from the survivors and victims, Dick Maples said. “One of the strangest phenomenons of violent death is that, as the community tries to cope with the shock that such a thing could happen in their town and to find a rational […]

SAN ANTONIO (BP)–There is a high cost to caring, Joe Williams told participants at a conference on “The Church and Random Violence.” Williams is chaplain to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Oklahoma City. A longtime veteran police and sheriff’s department chaplain, he was among those who arrived on the scene after the federal building […]

BELTON, Texas (BP)–On Feb. 22, 1991, Dwayne and Bonnie Wheat’s lives changed forever. The Wheats had gone to Lubbock, Texas, that day where Dwayne, who now serves as bivocational pastor of Berea Baptist Church in Big Spring, was to take a test required of Texas teachers. They talked to their 19-year-old daughter, Charla, about 11 […]

DALLAS (BP)–Even with severe drought afflicting key parts of Texas, Baptists have given during the first seven months of 1998 a record $42 million to the work of Baptists at home, in the state, in the nation and around the world, according to Roger Hall, treasurer of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. In reports […]

DALLAS (BP)–The first load of Midwestern hay arrived in Texas in late August, destined to feed hungry south Texas cattle. Dick Talley, a member of First Baptist Church in Dallas, delivered the tractor-trailer load of 38 round bales of hay — about 48,000 pounds — to Mount Lebanon Encampment near Dallas after receiving it at […]

JARRELL, Texas (BP)–The loss of 27 people in the killer tornado which struck this small village of 400 May 28, 1997, is still a sensitive subject more than a year later. There have been community events which have helped the healing process, such as the placement of a memorial to the victims and the planting […]