Presidential
Search Committee Launches
National Job Posting
February 12, 2007--
After spending the past two months listening to
faculty, staff, students, and Texas Baptist leaders, the
Presidential Search Committee has officially launched its search
with a national job posting and web page with more information.
The position announcement will appear this month in The
Chronicle for Higher Education and Baptist Standard as well
 as
in web postings with the International Association of Baptist
Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Association of Colleges and
Universities (HACU),
Asociación para la Educación
Teológica Hispana and the Hispanic Theological Initiative.
Additionally, the search committee will continue sending a
number
of personal requests for recommendations to important partners in
Christian higher education and Hispanic ministry around the country.
BUA friends and supporters
may click on
www.bua.edu/presidentialsearch.html
to learn more about the Presidential Job
Description and find links for making recommendations or
applications.
Under the
leadership of Teo Cisneros, the search committee has adopted the
following general timeline for the search process:
SEARCH PROCESS TIMELINE
November 2006 - January 2007
Input
meetings with trustees, faculty & staff, students, Texas Baptist advisory
council,
and Hispanic Baptist Convención officers
February - March 2007
Job posting and applicant submissions
due March 15, 2007
March 2007
Résumé review according to Candidate Profile Criteria
April 2007
Selection and Interviews of Leading Candidates
May 2007
Recommendation of preferred candidate to Board of Trustees
June 2007
Announcement of New
President
August 2007
Installation of New President
"We understand
what a critical decision lies before us," said Cisneros,
"therefore we invite the prayers and input of our many BUA supporters
who share our vision for cross-cultural education and who are
committed to expanding the services of
this vitally needed university."
_______________________________________________________back
to top
Piper Student
Village Progress Report
February 10, 2007--While
construction is still at the ground-level stage, work has begun
on the site for the new Piper Student Village slated to open in
2008.
According to Vice President Charlie Wedge, "The next two weeks
the contractors are working on excavation of the five building
pad sites, including water injection to stabilize the soils and
moisture testing by an independent engineering firm, and then
the pad sites will be filled in preparatory to construction of
the building foundations."
As the site
develops we will be posting progress report photos
here on the photo
gallery page of the BUA web site.
Click
here to learn more about how you can join the
Crossing Over
Together
capital
campaign and help BUA claim a new era
of
cross-cultural
ministry.
________________________________________________________back
to top
Justo González Slated to Speak to Challenges and Opportunities
Facing the Latino Church
 office
of the president--
Noted historian and author Justo González
is slated as guest speaker for the 2007 Rollins Lectures on
February 28 - March 1, along with Alberto Prokopchuk, president
of the Baptist Union of Latin America (UBLA).
The Rollins lectures are an annual academic event designed to
bring top-level thinkers and ministry practitioners to Baptist
University of the Americas and the San Antonio ministry
community.
This year's
theme,
The Latino Church: Converting Challenges to Opportunities,
will treat a host of topics ranging from challenges faced by
Baptists on mission in Latin America to the challenges and
opportunities that the rapidly growing Latino church is bringing
to the broader church and American culture.
A full agenda
of the two day event may be found by
clicking here, or going to
www.bua.edu/events.html
The event is
free and open to the public. Translation via headset will be
available in English for Prokopchuk's Spanish lectures, and
translation into Spanish will be available for González'
lectures in English.
________________________________________________________back
to top
First Youth Ministry Certificates
Awarded
 You
don't
have to work with youth very long to understand
that helping them grow spiritually, navigate relationships
and make good life choices involves a whole lot more than
good snacks, cool music and Bible studies.
Understanding the need
for sharpening their ministry skills, a number of area Hispanic youth workers
enrolled last fall in BUA's first-ever certificate course
for youth ministry. The
program was coordinated by Gabriel Cortes and facilitated by
Hispanic youth ministry experts
Adlin and Robert Cotto of Ft. Worth.
Recently, 10 of those students completed all the course
requirements and became the first recipients of
a “Certificate in Youth Ministry” from BUA. Certificate
recipients came to BUA the second Saturday morning of every
month from September through January, and received 12-15
hours of practical contextualized training in Youth Ministry
from a Hispanic perspective. Picture above are Robert and
Adlin Cotto (training facilitators), Chagy the Clown (guest
presenter), Gabriel Cortes and seven of the graduates.
Congratulations to all the graduates representing eight
different San Antonio area Hispanic churches:
José Arévalo, Iglesia Bautista Alta Vista;
Mark and
Rachel López, Buena Voluntad Baptist Church;
David
Benavides, South San Filadelfia Church;
Patricia Obregón, Iglesia Bautista Camino del Rey; Emanuel
Cerda, Iglesia Bautista Camino del Rey;
Marco
Barrón, Central Baptist Church; Bolivar Pila;
Alejandra Barrera, Iglesia
Bautista Monte Calvario;
and
Jacqueline Aguilar, Iglesia Bautista Nuevo Amanecer.
________________________________________________________back
to top
Hernandez Joins "Radical Latin
American Project"
 Isaías
Hernandez is getting radical about his faith.
For
the next eight months
he will be participating in a
mission project sponsored by the Brazilian Baptist
Convention World Missions Board.
The project’s name is “Proyecto
Radical Latino-Americano” so named because
the participating students are supposed to live within
local standards at different countries in South America
under the supervision of a Brazilian missionary.
Isaías has been in training (one month in Brazil and
currently in Uruguay) before he and his group are sent
to Bolivia and Peru for two periods of three-months in
those countries.
We
hope to share reports of Isaías' experiences
along the way, but please pray for Isaías and the
project (pictured back row,
second from right).
_______________________________________________________back
to top
Friends of
BUA Invited to Tour The Footsteps of Paul in Greece and
Turkey, June 4-12
Time again when Christians travel to the ancient sites of
their faith, the Bible comes
dramatically alive for them in meaningful ways.
This summer, friends of BUA are invited to share that
experience with the
Footsteps of Paul Tour to Greece and Turkey.
 The
quality
12-day tour experience is designed by McFatridge Tour &
Travel who have been coordinating tours to the Mediterranean
and Israel for over forty years.
Along with local tour guides, BUA's Dr. David Maltsberger,
Associate Professor of Biblical Archaeology will serve as
the group's resident scholar and
Bible teacher providing expert commentary on biblical
backgrounds and connecting the sites with biblical faith.
Imagine
exploring ancient sites in Athens, Corinth, Mycanea, Delphi
and the seven churches of Revelation! There is also an
optional tour extension that includes an Aegean cruise from
Athens to Ephesus and Patmos.
Click here to see a complete itinerary for the trip.
Reserve your
place before April 1 with a $300 deposit by contacting
Roxane Lopez at
rlopez1@bua.edu or 1.800. 721. 1396.
_______________________________________________________back
to top
Scholarship
Fund Enhanced by Estate
of Gladys Carswell
Born of a life-long
commitment to education as a public school teacher, the late
Gladys Carswell of Little Rock, Arkansas made generous plans
to provide for future students at Baptist University of the
Américas.
The scholarship fund of
the University recently received a generous gift of
$72,000
from the Carswell Estate as directed by her niece, Mrs. Elvaree Massa
of Little Rock.
_______________________________________________________back
to top
Use
GoodSearch for a Good Cause
What if Baptist University of the Américas
earned a penny every time you searched the Internet?
Well,
now we can!
 GoodSearch.com is a new search engine that donates
half its revenue, about a penny per search, to the
charities
its users designate. You use it just as you would any search
engine, and it’s powered by Yahoo!, so you get great
results.
Just go to
www.goodsearch.com
and be sure to enter Baptist University of the Américas
as the charity you want to support. You can even download a
easy access toolbar for Internet Explorer, Firefox or Mac
browsers.
Just 500 of us searching four times a day will raise about
$7300 in a year without anyone spending a dime! And, be sure
to spread the word!
_______________________________________________________back
to top
Monteiro Joins Baptist
Musicians for
Hymnal Summit
Breakout Session
Lee Hinson, music professor at Oklahoma Baptist University,
Shawnee, Okla., leads discussion with Dexter Hardy, from West
Land, Mich.; and Maria Monteiro, Baptist University of the Américas,
San Antonio.
Nashville, TN--Planning
the introduction of a new Baptist hymnal is a monumental and
historic undertaking that recently motivated BUA's Maria
Monteiro and over 100 other music professors, worship leaders
and musicians to gather in Nashville as part of "The Worship
Project" organized by the Lifeway Worship Music Group.
The summit served as a means to get feedback from
music practitioners on criteria for selecting the hymns, worship
songs and praise choruses to be included in "The Worship
Project," which includes a hardback hymnal to be released in
2008, and a 1,000-song digital hymnal repository to be released
shortly thereafter.
Monteiro described how Mike Harland, director of the project, welcomed
the participants, telling them they had been invited because of
the specific expertise they brought to the summit. Many had
served on the planning and publication of the previous Baptist
hymnal published in 1991. ""I was glad to hear about
plans for the publication of a new Baptist Hymnal. With a new
hymnal, congregations have an opportunity to renew their
repertoire (new words, new tunes), while at the same time,
keeping the hymns and songs that have stood the test of time,"
said Monteiro.
The group attended sessions on educational
resources, hymnal selection criteria, hymnal components and
products, theological review, Web portal function, and worship
song selection criteria. In each session, discussions centered
on what was needed to make The Worship Project a usable and
successful tool for churches.
"The most interesting
aspect of this project to me," said Monteiro, "has to do with the
accessibility: the new hymnal is
being designed to benefit all kinds of congregations, no matter
their size, location, financial resources, or the experience and
training of their musicians."
________________________________________________back
to top
|
