By Stephanie Embree
sembree@dallasnews.com
2:42 pm on June 18, 2014 | Permalink
The convention center in downtown Dallas has become home to 40,000 people in town for the National Baptist Congress of Christian Education.
Church leaders, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, will join Baptists from all 50 states, the Caribbean islands, Germany and Africa for one of the largest African-American meetings this year.
“We are a Christian body, and our overall objective is to follow the biblical direction and make disciples,” said the Rev. George W. Waddles Sr., president of the National Baptist Congress.
Through Saturday, members can attend over 300 morning classes dealing with topics such as Christian doctrine and how to be an effective deacon. In the afternoons, there are youth or children rallies and lectures from leaders who will address issues facing church members.
sembree@dallasnews.com
2:42 pm on June 18, 2014 | Permalink
The Rev. George W. Waddles Sr. is president of the Congress.
The convention center in downtown Dallas has become home to 40,000 people in town for the National Baptist Congress of Christian Education.
Church leaders, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, will join Baptists from all 50 states, the Caribbean islands, Germany and Africa for one of the largest African-American meetings this year.
“We are a Christian body, and our overall objective is to follow the biblical direction and make disciples,” said the Rev. George W. Waddles Sr., president of the National Baptist Congress.
Through Saturday, members can attend over 300 morning classes dealing with topics such as Christian doctrine and how to be an effective deacon. In the afternoons, there are youth or children rallies and lectures from leaders who will address issues facing church members.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson will speak tonight. (AP photo)
Waddles said the convention aims to teach church leaders and members how to “be more faithful to the call of Christ,” and how to build a family and community on a foundation of faith.
Jackson, the civil rights leader who worked with Martin Luther King Jr., is speaking at a scholarship banquet where college students will be presented with the Dream Makers Scholarship. The program, a partnership with Office Depot, has distributed over $300,000 in the last four years.
The National Baptist Congress, which represents around 7,000 churches in the U.S. and abroad, chose to hold its convention in Dallas after being invited by local reverends. Waddles said that Dallas has been more welcoming than cities they’ve visited in the past.
“There are two things I want the citizens of Dallas to know,” he said. “The first is that we are a diverse group. There’s no one mold that fits us except that we believe in the Lord. The second is that we come as witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don’t come to offend anybody or shove it down their throats.”
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