Texas Baptists Executive Director, Dr. Julio Guarneri, Speaks in DBU Chapel

Dr. Julio Guarneri, who was recently installed as the new Executive Director of Texas Baptists, spoke to students in DBU Chapel this November.

In his message, Guarneri urged students to remember the people of faith who have gone before us, not that they be raised on a superhuman pedestal, but that we might learn from them and imitate them as they walked by faith in the face of their challenges and uncertainties.

Guarneri directed students to Hebrews 11, a gallery of historical biblical figures who lived by faith and waited for what was promised to them. He looked at three individuals in particular, Noah, Abel, and Abraham, and asked what they would say to us today who are called to believe in what may not yet be seen.

Noah acted on his faith to build a boat long before the coming of the flood. Consider the time it took and the ridicule he must have faced. Might Noah have struggled with uncertainty? Yet Noah believed God’s promise as sure as if it already happened, obeyed what God called him to do, and his faith was counted as righteousness. Abel was made right with God by his faith. He lived before the Law of Moses and the time of Jesus, yet he offered up a pleasing sacrifice of faith to God. Abraham also obeyed God’s call and believed his promise, though he did not know where he was being led. He lived in tents and believed in God’s promises from afar.

Like Abraham, we who are the children of Abraham, are on a pilgrimage toward the promise of a better, eternal city, which we believe in from afar. God’s Word, which created all things, can be trusted even if we cannot see the promises yet. Though circumstances and contexts change, the same God provides for every generation and relates to them all by one essential: faith.

Dr. Guarneri grew up in Monterrey, Mexico, and South Texas to parents who were leaders in missions and discipleship ministry. He holds a Master of Arts in Religious Education degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies with a ministry concentration from Dallas Baptist University. He has more than 40 years of pastoral experience, including most recently at Calvary Baptist Church in McAllen. Previously, he was the pastor of Iglesia Bautista Getsemani in Fort Worth. He also served on staff at Segunda Iglesia Bautista in Corpus Christi, was the founding pastor of Shalom Baptist Mission in Corpus Christi, and was pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in Taft. He has preached around the world and served as a denominational leader, as moderator for the Tarrant Baptist Association, and as Chair of the Board of Buckner International. He and his wife Monica have four children—Josh (a DBU graduate), Rachel, Mia, and Stevan—and two grandchildren—Daniel and Antares.