Texas church receives $800,000 Lilly grant

Texas church receives $800,000 Lilly grant

DALLAS — Wilshire Baptist Church of Dallas received $800,000 from Lilly Endowment Transition-into-Ministry Grants Program. The church’s pastoral residency program is one of only two funded in a Baptist church. The other Baptist church funded is Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Wilshire’s grant will fund seven recent seminary graduates who will work in two-year cycles as ministry residents at the church.

Nationally, the program has funded 15 congregation-based efforts and seven institution-based residencies.

The purpose of the grants, according to Lilly literature, is to “nurture a new generation of talented pastors and give them an opportunity to develop their leadership capacities and skills within the setting of healthy and dynamic congregations.”

(TAB)