Tammi Reed Ledbetter, Southern Baptist TEXAN

DALLAS (BP) -- Mike Gonzales, director of Hispanic ministries for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC), will be nominated for first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Texas pastor Juan Sanchez announced today (April 18). Sanchez, pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin and SBTC president, said Gonzales "has been a faithful brother and faithful missionary; he has a daughter on the mission field. I think that speaks volumes, not just of the character of someone but of a basic parenting commitment."

NASHVILLE (BP) -- A desire for racial reconciliation is on the minds of Southern Baptists across the U.S. as 10 state convention adopted resolutions decrying racism of any form. Other states have addressed the concern in previous years, though tensions in recent years likely motivated a return to the subject this fall. With the exception of New England Baptists, state conventions where messengers passed resolutions on racism were in the South and Southwest, including Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia.

CYPRESS, Texas (BP) -- All's good, Nicole Richert kept saying as she and her husband were "hanging out" and "relaxing" with 16 strangers and six dogs in their Houston-area home days after Hurricane Harvey's deluge and flooding. "We were just headed to the gas station when my aunt called, and she was looking for a lady named Judy who had been air boated out of her neighborhood," Richert told the Southern Baptist TEXAN. She and her husband Trent had just pulled into the very Shell station where her aunt had told them to find the woman and her husband.

IRVING, Texas (BP) -- First Baptist Church of Iowa Park has a long, committed history to giving 10 percent of its undesignated receipts to through the Cooperative Program. The only problem came when the Texas church's budget expenses outstripped income.

ROCKVILLE, Va. (BP) -- Asked to confront the lostness of the world, 26 new missionaries were approved by International Mission Board trustees Feb. 23 and commissioned later that evening at the International Learning Center outside of Richmond, Va. The event was broadcast via livestream, allowing friends, family members and churches a chance to hear the testimonies of the new group of missionaries. Only darkened silhouettes were shown in order to protect the security of Southern Baptist personnel who will be serving in dangerous destinations.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BP) -- The first Evangelicals for Life conference, co-sponsored by the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and Focus on the Family, set out to boost increased participation by evangelicals as they joined thousands for the annual March for Life today (Jan. 22) on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. "Our burden was to see the reborn stand up for the unborn and for all of those who were created in the image of God," noted ERLC President Russell Moore in opening remarks at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill. The predominantly young audience arrived days ahead of the march to select from presentations by nearly 40 evangelical pro-life leaders who taught how to extend their influence with a broader, more diverse base of support Jan. 21-22.

HORSESHOE BAY, Texas (BP) -- Church planting efforts in Montreal gained ground when the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention's Executive Board approved a $100,000 grant to the North American Mission Board to assist in coaching church planters and student missionaries as well as encouraging evangelistic opportunities for Montreal churches.

GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP)--Trustees of the nine-member International Mission Board executive committee will recommend at the March 20-21 meeting in Tampa that trustees reverse a Jan. 11 motion asking the Southern Baptist Convention to remove Wade Burleson of Enid, Okla., as a trustee.

GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP)--Trustees of the nine-member International Mission Board executive committee will recommend at the March 20-21 meeting in Tampa that trustees reverse a Jan. 11 motion asking the Southern Baptist Convention to remove Wade Burleson of Enid, Okla., as a trustee.