April 24, 2000

Texas Baptist Forum
Flagship church
___For a very long time I wondered why, after all these years as an independent Baptist, Jerry Falwell would join up with the Southern Baptist Convention. Well, I now know why.
___Falwell's Thomas Road Baptist Church contributed $10,000 to SBC causes, and then

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three years later Thomas Road gets a gift of $250,00 from the SBC to start a "flagship" church (April 10). Falwell even gets to hand-pick his own man to lead the church.
___Is this a new program being offered to all churches who want to start "flagship" churches?
___I was privileged to lead a mission to build its first building, but we borrowed the money and made monthly payments on the loan.
___ George F. Fournier
___ Farmersville

Noble traits
___The late Jeff Ray delineated "noble traits" about the SBC of years past that would be a blessing to kingdom work today. May the Lord visit us with this character again.
___These are the traits he saw in the convention of his day: Sincerity without pugnacity, integrity without self-righteousness, humility without Uriah Heepness, generosity without display, fraternity without gush, sociability without gossip, unanimity without a rubber stamp, tenacity without stubbornness, spirituality without Pharisaism, sacrifice without complaint, self-denial without boasting, loyalty to truth without war paint.
___Is this possible between conventions and fellowships, state and national?
___May the Lord help us all, and help us guard against praying with or about ourselves, "I thank you, Lord, that I am not other men."
___ Trey Turner
___ Kermit

Real gift
___Thank you for the article on my pastor, Gerald Mann (April 10). Riverbend Church is a real gift to my husband and me. The relationship of Gerald and Lois and the way he speaks of her are a compliment to their life together and a role model of a family that may not always be perfect but always is loving and growing together. Her death was a loss to all of us.
___Each week, he allows us to know his humanness and how he depends on God to help him through each day. We learn by walking with him as he teaches us from Scripture and shows us by sharing his life.
___He is real and practices the grace of God. His belief that we can begin again draws a hurting world to Jesus.
___ Betty B. Arrell
___ Austin

Plagues of Egypt
___The cartoon about the Lord's Supper (April 3) was highly offensive.
___First, the subject of the cartoon is the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is a holy moment in the life of the church. It is to be taken with reverence and should never be the subject of a joke.?
___Second, the point of the cartoon on the surface seems to be who should or should not administer the elements of the Lord's Supper.
___I am not a grandmother, but this cartoon is saying grandmothers (women) are not capable of grasping the real meaning of the Lord's Supper. To them it's just a tea party.
___This cartoon is an insult to the name "Baptist." I suggest you change the title of your publication to The World Standard. May the plagues of Egypt be on the creator of this cartoon and the publication that printed it.
___ Doris Crowe
___ Austin

'Best method'
___The numerous comments regarding the death penalty could be humorous if it were not so serious.
___I quote Billy Graham: "It is the Christian's responsibility to so permeate society with the message of Christ that society will not produce a murderer. Until this is accomplished, the state must use its best method to deter further killing of the innocent."
___ Roy E. Barnett
___ Alba

Pulling away
___Michael D. Morgan (March 27) makes a statement that hits to the heart of our current situation.
___He stated, "The SBC Fundamentalists should stop pulling away from us if they value a continued relationship with historic Texas Baptists."
___I hold a BA in political science, and in all my studies it was the national government that set the standard for the states to follow. The same is true when a national organization has state supporters. It is the states that pull away from the national organization rather than the national organization that pulls away from the states if there is a difference of opinion.
___Texas is one of 50 states, and contrary to popular belief, the world does not revolve around us. If the "historic Texas Baptists" have a hard time accepting the direction that the SBC is going, then they should just move along. The SBC does not have time to curry favor with state conventions.
___This whole situation has gone beyond the ridiculous. It is my prayer that those in power and authority in the BGCT would decide which way they are going and get there so everybody can get back to doing the Lord's work.
___ Philip Kost
___ Fort Worth

Dating Christians
___Regarding "liberal" and "conservative" ("fundamental") terms in recent letters: Cheer up, fellow travelers along the path the Apostle Paul preached about. Today's fundamentalists were yesterday's liberals, and today's liberals will be tomorrow's conservatives. Look at Romans 13 and 14, but remove the plank from your eyes before looking for sawdust in mine.
___Living among Christians is the same in principle as dating girls in our youth. I never told my girlfriend I did not like her perfume, dress, hair style, voice or size. Those were days for loving her as she was.
___Why do we not think of being saved and living a joyful life with Jesus, our Lord, as dating? Is it devoid of all romance? Should we die before we are dead? I have a date with Jesus today. I want to love him and praise him and respect him as I did my dating girlfriends.
___Preconceptions preconceived are conclusions without premises, called begging the question.
___ Otis Patrick
___ Fort Worth

Calling names
___In answer to Royal E. Smith's letter (April 17), I invite him to call me a "flaming liberal" if he wishes. I believe in the priesthood of the believer and the obligation of all believers to study the Scriptures and discover God's truths under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
___It was the "conservative resurgents" of the SBC who called me a "yeller dog," a "barnacle" and a "termite" and invited me to leave the convention if I did not agree with their interpretation of the Scriptures. I choose to follow the Holy Spirit rather than man.
___Jesus said, "... Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another" (John 13:34).
___ Joe Sitton
___ Cisco

Jesus agenda
___Recently I had the privilege of being on the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary campus. I wish all Texas Baptists could observe the spirit of God so evident there. I discovered a campus with a fervent heart for missions and evangelism. Students and faculty clearly are in love with our Lord and his word.
___I believe much of this is because of the leadership of its president, Al Mohler.
___He is one of the finest leaders of all Baptist life and recognized as an outstanding spokesman for the Christian faith.
___Your recent articles concerning Dr. Mohler and his address on E.Y. Mullins (April 17) are unfortunate, as they misrepresent Dr. Mohler's position on several key points.
___To name just two: First, Dr. Mohler does not have a five-point Calvinist agenda. If he did, my good friend, Danny Akin, would not be his dean of the School of Theology. Danny's theology is in the tradition of B.H. Carroll. Second, Al has written publicly that all children who die in infancy will be in heaven. How many more times will his position on this be misrepresented?
___Al Mohler does not have a Calvinist agenda, but there seems to be a political agenda in the imagination of some. What I witnessed at Southern was a "Jesus agenda." I hope all will see these articles for what they are--a mean-spirited political attack against one of our finest Southern Baptist leaders. Texas Baptists are tired of these kinds of attacks.
___ Jack Graham
___ Plano

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