GENERAL SECRETARY Callam lauds BWA Partnership with Texas Baptists

The partnership between the Baptist World Alliance and Texas Baptists was praised by BWA General Secretary Neville Callam

while speaking at the Hunger Luncheon held during the annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) in Waco, Texas, from November 16-18, 2014. Former BGCT Executive Directors Charles Wade and Randel

Everett and current Executive Director David Hardage were in attendance. Callam said that over the last 20 years, since Texas Baptists

established what is now called the Hunger Offering, the BWA and the BGCT have partnered together in delivering relief and development aid valued at more than US$2 million to thousands of people in countries across the world. Noting that most of the projects had the aim of empowering people to overcome poverty, Callam provided examples from across five of the six BWA regions, explaining how communities had been transformed through the faithfulness in mission that the BWA-BGCT partnership exemplifies. Callam lauded the way Texas Baptists have acted in solidarity

with the oppressed in meeting hunger needs. He declared that God’s people are called into fellowship with Christ and are made for partnership with each other and for service in the world to the glory of God. The BWA leader drew attention to the state of world hunger, asserting that food is a grace given by God for the care of the

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body, the comfort of the mind and the healing harmony of community. He said progress has been made over recent years but much more needs to be done. He observed that Texas Baptists were motivated by a broad vision of God’s creation and of the obligation Christians have to fulfill the vocation God in Christ has given to the church. In his remarks, BGCT Executive Director Hardage celebrated

Texas Baptist partnership with the BWA in providing pre- packaged meals that were sent to Liberian communities facing the recent Ebola outbreak. Callam thanked Gus Reyes and Ferrell Foster for the positive

ways in which they have contributed to the ongoing vital BWA- BGCT partnership and expressed a wish for many more years of constructive engagement. This, he said, will open a window on the love of God for those who know the depth of human need.

Callam offers public thanks

to John Upton

Baptist General Association of Virginia (BGAV) Executive Director John Upton has been serving as president of the Baptist World Alliance since July 2010 and will conclude his period of service in July 2015. At the 21st

capable leadership” that Upton has exercised within the BWA, General Secretary Neville Callam expressed thanks to Upton on

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Left: Participants at the youth leaders conference in Okinawa, Japan, in October 2014

The almost 60 delegates used the opportunity to get

acquainted with each other and their various ministries, and to provide feedback on training and the preparation of future leaders.

Baptist World Alliance Youth Director Emmett Dunn led

a dialogue on the state of youth ministry in Asia. Among the concerns expressed were those for churches in Asia to focus on the needs of young people rather than upholding national and church cultures and traditions that may no longer be relevant. It was also felt that pastors and church leaders should have dialogue with youth. Presenters at the conference, which was held October 23-

ENCOURAGED TO BE MISSIONAL Baptist youth leaders in East Asia were encouraged at a

conference in Okinawa, Japan, to be missional and to reach out to those outside of the church. The participants from Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and

Macau, explored the meaning of a “marketplace” faith – the need to take the church to where the people are. They were encouraged to develop a “resurrection culture”’ and were challenged to be empowered for “spiritual warfare.”

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25, 2014, and was planned by the Asia Pacific Baptist Youth Fellowship, included BWA vice president and president of the Asia Pacific Baptist Federation Ross Clifford of Australia, and missiologist Andrew Kim of South Korea.

Bread of Life A Baptist World Alliance-sponsored evangelism seminar was

held in Lyon, France, as a continuation of its focus on French- speaking countries. Previous seminars for French speakers were held in Lagos, Nigeria, in November 2012 for Francophone African countries, and in Haute Limbe, Haiti, in early 2013.

Baptist World Congress

in Durban, South Africa, he will hand over the presidential baton to his successor. Grateful for what he described as “the resourceful, wise and