December 15, 1999

Texas Baptist Forum
Pot & kettle
___Your editorial on churches' relationship to the Baptist General Convention of Texas (Dec. 1) is as "tunnel visioned" as you claim dually aligned churches to be.
___You strongly implied it was the failure of the BGCT to endorse the amended Baptist Faith & Message that led most of the churches to "sign up" with Southern Baptists of

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Texas. Many additional reasons that go back many years led them to this difficult decision.
___You also implied SBT leaders "walked out" on the state convention. Those whom I know did so with a broken heart, which could be said of most pastors who have led their churches to give less funds to the BGCT.
___The fact that most SBT-supporting churches are dually aligned verifies they, at least in part, believe many ministries of the BGCT are worthy of support. While your statements point out that dual alignment takes support away from important BGCT ministries, they also imply there will be no God-inspired, Christ-honoring and Spirit-led ministries of the SBT worthy of support.
___So, it appears your reference to SBT supporters being "tunnel visioned" is the proverbial pot calling the kettle black.
___ Mike Tignor
___ Baytown

God's wonders
___The summary of Texas Baptists' forward march in the '60s brought delightful memories. Among my fondest is the day state missions Director Charles McLaughlin shared his dream of a new kind of evangelism with Eula Mae Henderson, executive secretary of Woman's Missionary Union, and me:
___Would WMU join with the missions division to challenge Texas churches to adopt "portions" of land along the Rio Grande and begin creative, long-term ministry and witness as if they were part of the up-state church?
___In 1967, Dr. McLaughlin led a tour of the river. As we met with leaders of the few churches scattered along those many miles, we tried to share his vision. The presentation was met with instant doubt: "Texas Baptists don't know we exist down here." With incredulity, struggling to believe, hope followed doubt.
___Curriculum for the September Week of Prayer for State Missions was written, sharing the dream with the churches. Then, just as the calendar turned to September, Hurricane Beulah devastated South Texas. The WMU director in a San Antonio church wrote of the refugees from the storm filling the facilities of their building: "We expected to be praying for these people this week. Little did we dream we would be praying with them."
___God works in mysterious ways to work his wonders. The River Ministry was launched and continues to this day to be one of his wonders.
___ Ophelia Humphrey
___ Amarillo

Appalling photo
___"Appalled" would be the best word to describe my feelings when I picked up the Dec. 1 issue. Regardless of former publications of a human fetus in its womb, and regardless of our firm stance on anti-abortion, I am disgusted with your lack of prudent judgment.
___ Joylee Z. McCoy
___ Cleburne

'Trash' talk
___Former SBC President Bailey Smith declared America today is "trailer-park trash" (Nov. 24) in a sermon to the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.
___Some of the finest Christians and most faithful Baptists I know live in trailer parks. They are not "trash." They are sinners saved by God's grace, just like Bailey Smith.
___ Earl D. Mercer
___ Monroe, La.

Two minds
___When I read the report of the Southern Baptist Convention president's message at the Arkansas Baptist Pastors' Conference, I thought Paige Patterson had rediscovered the historic Baptist emphasis on "unity in the midst of diversity." He said that while five-point Calvinism lacked scriptural justification, its promoters would not be run out of the convention.
___Is this the same Paige Patterson who wanted Roy Honeycutt fired at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary because of his interpretation of a remote Old Testament text but now defends a president who does not believe Christ died for all? Is this the Patterson who wanted me fired at Southern Seminary because on a "Donahue" show I said I had a rabbi friend who knew God, and the Patterson who now is comfortable with five-point Calvinism, which teaches that some infants are born to damnation?
___Even as Patterson talks about diversity, he and his friends systematically eliminate people from every institution who question their control. His "tolerance" is an effort to mask his fear that admitting they made a mistake in placing Al Mohler at Southern Seminary will cause them to lose face and power.
___They fear ordinary Baptists will start thinking, "We don't need someone who does not believe Christ died for all as the president of a seminary, nor our future leaders exposed to the nonsense that some infants are born to damnation."
___ Kenneth Chafin
___ Houston

Different details
___I could never see myself being anything other than a Baptist. Therefore, I am sad to see Baptists splitting apart over issues that should never have become issues in the first place.
___Baptists have never agreed on everything and always disagreed on something. This was understood as being part of Baptist life. But now, if you don't agree with some, they will label you a non-Bible-believing liberal and no longer call you a brother in Christ. It sounds as if some Baptists are entering into a type of Landmarkism characterized by the way you interpret Scripture. If you don't interpret the same way they do, you aren't a true Baptist or, possibly, Christian. They are not qualified to make that judgment.
___I am a fundamentalist, but I would never presume to label my brother or sister and discontinue fellowship with him/her simply because we disagree. As a believer living in a non-believing world, I need them to lift me up. As long as they are Christian, they are my brother and sister.
___Therefore, instead of calling others names and breaking fellowship, accept them as someone who sees the details differently, but not the picture. And if you cannot, step aside quietly in love. Let there be an end to seeing Baptists at each other's throats and not the devil's.
___ John Franklin
___ Valley Mills

Pejorative terms
___The letter "Behold hypocrisy" from Michael Chancellor (Dec. 1) was inaccurate and offensive. He used pejorative terms similar to those used by Texas Baptists Committed.
___The deacon committee report of First Baptist Church in Dallas, though similar in organization and findings, was not "taken from a questionable report" from Missouri. Only authoritative primary sources were considered in the preparation of the report. How can you libel someone if you report facts? The report identifies the connections of the BGCT leadership to other organizations that cooperate with causes that promote abortion on demand, the gay and lesbian political agenda, and oppose prayer and Bible reading in public schools. The current giving program of the BGCT is an injustice to the historic Cooperative Program of giving. In recent years, a majority of the BGCT leadership were involved in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Texas Baptists Committed.
___ R.E. Smith
___ Southlake

Reaching singles
___I am a 38-year-old who recently married for the first time. Your article on singles in the church (Nov. 24) was so true.
___I attended a large Baptist church in Dallas for five years before my marriage. It has a wonderful singles' program that is one of the largest in the area. But as advanced as it is, the church caters to couples.
___I don't remember a single being elected to a board, and I know of only two men asked to serve as a deacon. There very well may have been many asked to serve, but I was not aware of them.
___All our singles' projects and functions had to be self-supported. We were asked to work on the churchwide projects and to contribute our tithe. The issue ends up being the same one that led the colonies to revolt--no representation.
___I now attend First Baptist Church in McKinney. Our pastor gave a sermon addressed at reaching our youth. He said the church is one generation away from extinction.
___We need to put that thought with a statistic in your article. Almost 44 percent of American adults are single, and we are not reaching them. It frightens me that we may be on that road to extinction right now if we don't wake up.
___ Krista Grant Northcut
___ Plano

Amazed at lack of single emphasis
___I appreciated your story on single adults (Nov. 24). Growing up in a small Southern Baptist church, I know the attitude that "singles" didn't quite have it together, because that was the attitude I had along with most church members I knew.
___As a single in Dallas, I continue to be amazed at the lack of emphasis placed on single adult ministry when singles comprise over 40 percent of the adult population. When one looks at the New Testament without the pro-marriage bias, the church's attitude is even more amazing, since the New Testament is primarily by, about and for singles. John the Baptist was surely single. Jesus was single. Paul was single. Luke was reportedly single. This would mean that the primary characters were single and the primary writers (Paul and Luke among others) were single. And then there is the message--Paul encouraged others to "remain" single. Nowhere did he encourage marriage--except for those whose passions "burned" and thus required it.
___I would like to know how this "single" message was converted to a "married" message--other than the accusation that the Catholic church wanted more Catholics and, therefore, encouraged marriage, very large families and opposed birth control. Or is it from the agrarian experience that marriage and large families were the way to success on the farm? Is there some other explanation? I would like to know. I really don't think this preference for marriage is very scriptural--New Testament scriptural, anyway.
___ Jim Rogers
___ Dallas


Bad taste
___I found the color photograph of the surgical procedure (Dec. 1) to be in poor taste and completely inappropriate. There was no article in the Standard relating to this photograph, which raises the question of why it was printed.
___ I think it showed poor judgment on the part of the Standard's editors.
___ D.C. Carter
___ Wichita Falls


Pass a purity test?
___ It is sad that First Baptist Church of Dallas and others have moved away from the Baptist General Convention of Texas to the ill-conceived Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (Nov. 24).
___ All of my life, I was proud to be a Baptist and associated with the SBC, but not any longer. Today, the folks in charge of the SBC are narrow-minded and are not focused on passing on God's message, but busy hearing their own message.
___ Whatever happened to each church and church group's having freedom and yet enjoying broader Baptist association? Now we have to past a purity test by the SBC management. I do not expect them to wake up and expect to see the gradual demise of the SBC.
___ At this point I see no reason for any church in the BGCT would send any contributions to the SBC as general funds. If they want to pass it on for missions, it should be made direct and avoid the SBC elite. These are sad times for Baptist in Texas.
___ Sid Greer
___ Daingerfield

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