Conference Unites Deaf Community, Promotes Christianity

by Erika Snoberger, student newswriter

The Texas Baptist Conference for the Deaf will take place on the Baylor University campus from June 8-10.
Approximately 225 participants will gather in Bennett Auditorium for workshops, business meetings, worship and Christian fellowship.
"The conference develops the deaf into active leaders with opportunities to manage business affairs, to grow spiritually and to encourage other deaf people to be involved with the community," said Bob Parrish, a consultant for deaf ministries since 1980.
Those attending the conference will include pastors, missionaries, interpreters and members of the deaf community. The annual event, which celebrates its 52nd anniversary this year, begins at 1 p.m. on Friday and features a gala at 7 p.m. Saturday night in Bennett Auditorium, to which the public is invited.
The conference has taken place at Baylor since 1979 and is supported by the Baptist General Convention of Texas. It began in 1948 when a consultant for the deaf, who was also a student at Baylor, joined with area churches to begin a program supporting the role of the deaf in the Waco community.
For more information on the conference, contact Parrish at (972) 395-9149.