October 29, 2001
Park Cities pastor defends Buckner
___By Marv Knox
___Editor
___DALLAS--A recent guilt-by-association article about Buckner Baptist Benevolences undermines the Baptist General Convention of Texas agency's ministry to people in desperate need, according to a letter distributed statewide by Dallas pastor Jim Denison.
___The letter defends Buckner from an "attack" by the Southern Baptist Texan, newsmagazine of the rival Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, Denison begins.
___The charges were made in an article originally published by Baptist Press, the public relations arm of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee. It was written by Tammi Ledbetter, wife of Gary Ledbetter, editor of the Southern Baptist Texan.
___The article attempted to link Buckner, a statewide child-care agency, with Planned Parenthood and pro-abortion causes. Buckner was one of 24 agencies that participated in an abstinence-education program for fourth- through eighth-graders in Amarillo Aug. 11. The Amarillo affiliate of Planned Parenthood also was a co-sponsor.
___"This attack greatly concerned me," writes Denison, pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas. "In praying about any possible response I might make, I felt strongly led ... to write this letter to my fellow pastors across our state."
___Neither Buckner nor the BGCT solicited the letter, and no BGCT Cooperative Program funds were used to create and distribute it, Denison notes.
___Two relationships--with Buckner itself and with its president, Ken Hall--prompted the letter, Denison states. Hall "is one of our church's most faithful members ... and is my long and dear friend."
___"Buckner is also a ministry very close to our church's heart," Denison explains. "Many of our members have traveled overseas with Buckner mission trips; we make significant financial contributions to Buckner ministries; and we believe deeply in the Buckner mission."
___Buckner's ministry is worthy of complete support, he adds.
___"Since all Buckner administrative costs are paid from endowments, every single dollar given to Buckner goes directly to meet the needs of the least, the last and the lost," he stresses. "From adoption services to elder care, this Baptist agency ministers to people in need with a passionate Christian presence. And so an attack on Buckner is of deep and personal concern."
___The attempt to link Buckner with Planned Parenthood and pro-abortion causes is both wrong and dangerous, he argues.
___"Buckner has never supported abortion or those who offer such services," he reports. "Buckner adoption services exist to prevent abortion, abuse and neglect.
___The logic employed in the Baptist Press/Southern Baptist Texan article is "fallacious in the extreme," Denison insists.
___"By such logic, any of us who has ever prayed at a public event condoned every organization or agenda present; we condone any immoral choice made by any of our church members; our church advertisements in local papers condone every other ad or statement in those papers," he tells the pastors.
___"This attack is vicious and targets those who can least afford such slander," he observes. "Already, Buckner is receiving correspondence and phone calls indicating that churches and members will be decreasing or ending their financial support as a result of these attacks. At present, due to funding needs, Buckner cannot help more than one in 10 who ask for aid."
___Denison concludes his letter with a call to prayer and unity.
___"I ask you to pray for Buckner and for Texas Baptists," he writes. "Please continue to give and increase your giving to God through the Cooperative Program of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___"We must not allow ministry to hurting people to become further grounds for denominational attack. We must show Jesus' love to our lost state and hurting world in every way we can."
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