The Last Word
Emily A. Row
Program Coordinator

I love to write. There is something freeing about putting pen and ink to paper, releasing a stream of thought and emotion. Allowing others to read what I have written is a bit of a different story. It's especially difficult when the assignment is to introduce myself to the Texas Baptists Committed constituency.

You see my training consists of academic writing filled with research and supporting arguments. That training came from spending five wonderful years at the Logsdon School of Theology completing both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in Religion. My experience is in technical writing and youth curriculum. My most recent days have been occupied in serving as the youth consultant for Woman's Missionary Union of Texas and as the technology columnist for Dimension magazine. As a result, I am a bit out of practice when it comes to autobiographical column writing. In the future you are much more likely to receive a theological treatise than a personal letter.

Still, there is the need to introduce myself, and as I do so, the words of Henry David Thoreau come to mind. "How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live." I sense the futility of introducing myself to you, as I have lived only twenty-four short years. Perhaps that is one of the reasons I am most looking forward to working with TBC. Texas Baptists Committed has never failed to speak truth. TBC has consistently fought for the preservation of historic Baptist principles. I am certain that my experiences with TBC will provide ample writing material for the future, and I look forward to the days ahead when together we will have opportunity to stand up and live!

April 2004