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AFTER TERRORIST ATTACKS caused the demolition of the World Trade Center towers in New York City, Texas Baptists held spontaneous and organized prayer meetings all across the state. (Photos by Reuters, Baptist Standard staff and UMHB)
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Texas Baptists turn to prayer & Bible as nation mourns
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___Texas Baptists turned to prayer and Bible reading Sept. 11 in response to the deadly terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.
___All across the Lone Star State, churches opened their buildings for noontime and evening prayer services, which were reported to be well attended despite little advance notice.
___At Miller Heights Baptist Church in Belton, several dozen people of all ages attended a 6:30 p.m. prayer service that had been announced on local broadcast stations and on the church's outdoor marquee.
___Pastor Billy Johnson opened the service with a prayer and Scripture reading, then invited members of the congregation to share Bible verses they deemed appropriate for the day. Later, the participants joined in an extended prayer time.
___At nearby First Baptist Church of Temple, several hundred people turned out for a 7 p.m. prayer service led by Pastor Jerry Carlisle. Grieving parishioners sat quietly, many with heads leaned on the pews in front of them, as one-by-one individuals rose to voice public prayers for help and healing and hope.
___Carlisle recounted meeting earlier that day with representatives of 30 other churches in the city and announced that group had declared Thursday, Sept. 13, to be a citywide day of
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A MAN buries his face in his hands as he grieves and prays at First Baptist Church of Temple.
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prayer and fasting.
___In Corpus Christi, Primera Iglesia Bautista held a prayer service on the night after the terrorist attacks. Pastor Mateo Rendon called for the church's outdoor sign to proclaim "God Help America," with the time of service.
___Many passersby stopped and joined the church in prayer. The congregation also watched President Bush's address to the nation on a large-screen television.
___"When the president gave his speech to the nation, we lifted him up to the Lord and prayed for all," reported Pauline Gonzalez, director of the church's school.
___At South Garland Baptist Church, northeast of Dallas, Pastor Larry Davis and Youth Minister Jeremy McMahan led an hour-long prayer service attended by more than 200 people. The service attracted a significant number of people in the community who had seen the event announced on the church's marquee.
___Davis and McMahan called on Christians to pray for peace and justice and to ask God to grant wisdom to national leaders. They read Scripture and called on members of the church to lead in prayer for those who were injured, for the families of those missing or dead, for the rescue workers who continued to search the rubble, and for military personnel who were on alert.
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A MARQUEE at Miller Heights Baptist Church in Belton announces a Tuesday night prayer meeting.
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___McMahan also invited adults to gather around the young people in attendance and lay hands on them, praying for their future in an uncertain world. And he asked everyone to pray for the children and young people who had been "robbed of their innocence" by the events of the day.
___Scenes like this played out all across Texas in the hours and days after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
___Texas Baptist pastors also were called upon to bring words of hope to their communities through media interviews.
___In San Antonio, radio station WOAI, a Clear Channel Communications station with a vast listening area, repeatedly interviewed Gerald Mann, pastor of Riverbend Church in Austin. The station also called upon Buckner Fanning, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio, to offer a special prayer for America in the hours after the tragedy. Fanning's prayer was replayed throughout the afternoon of Sept. 11.
___Mann, who has a radio program broadcast on the Clear Channel network on Sunday nights, urged listeners not to assume that all Muslim people endorse terrorism simply because some Muslim extremists are suspected of launching the attack on the United States. He asserted that the vast majority of Muslim people worldwide are peaceful and kind.
___Like Islam, all major world religions are plagued by fundamentalist factions, Mann said, explaining that even American Christians cannot claim immunity.
___He called on American Christians to foster dialogue with people of other faiths to reduce stereotypes and create mutual understanding.
___Mann also admonished American Christians to retain a hopeful spirit fueled by their faith in Christ.
___Baptist laity with positions of influence in the state also spoke out with a message of
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STUDENTS at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor form a prayer circle on the campus between classes.
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faith.
___Steve Blow, a member of Shiloh Terrace Baptist Church in Dallas and a well-known columnist for the Dallas Morning News, used his Sept. 12 column to remind readers that life is fleeting and eternity is coming.
___He closed his column by quoting the words of Micah 6:8--"What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
___"Yesterday, we sure walked humbly, numbly with our God," he concluded. "Today, we can cry. Or scream. Or we can move forward with mercy and justice--our best hope for never seeing another such day."
___News of the attacks in New York City and Washington rocked the campuses of Texas Baptist universities as well.
___Early reports of the tragedy were received as Baptist dignitaries from across the state converged on Abilene for the inauguration of Craig Turner as president of Hardin-Simmons University. What was intended to be a joyous day of celebration turned into a bittersweet occasion.
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| AT MILLER HEIGHTS Baptist Church in Belton, Pastor Billy Johnson leads a community prayer service the night after the attacks in Washington and New York._ |
___At Baylor University, students began praying as soon as they heard the first news reports, according to students on campus at the time. When the scheduled chapel speaker for the day could not get to Waco due to flight cancellations, the chapel hour was turned over to a period of corporate prayer.
___Students also participated in a candlelight prayer vigil at the university's Floyd Casey Stadium Sept. 12.
___Meanwhile, the minds of many in the Baylor community were focused anew on the plight of two Baylor graduates who are imprisoned and on trial in Afghanistan because of their Christian faith.
___Due to the suspected connections between the bombings in the U.S. and terrorist groups in Afghanistan, the plight of the imprisoned Americans was considered to be even more dire than before.
___Meanwhile, Baylor administrators cancelled a President's Forum address by former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno that was to be given on campus Thursday night, Sept. 13. Baylor officials and Reno's representatives made the decision to cancel the speech, which was to focus on the importance of public service, according to university spokesman Larry Brumley.
___Brumley could not say whether the speech would be rescheduled.
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AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, students participate in a candlelight prayer vigil Sept. 12.
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___Although several political groups had announced plans to protest Reno's presence on campus, Brumley said Baylor officials did not cancel the speech because of those protests.
___The heightened security brought about nationwide due to the terrorist action brought a different problem for Wayland Baptist University.
___Many of the university's external campuses are located at military installations, most of which were placed on high-alert status with tight security. That forced Wayland to suspend operations temporarily at all campuses based at military installations.
___Texas military bases affected by the suspensions included Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls and Lackland Air Force Base and Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.
___The Fairbanks, Alaska, campus cancelled classes indefinitely at its teaching sites on Eielson Air Force Base and at Fort Wainwright. Likewise, in Anchorage classes were suspended at Elmendorf Air Force Base and Fort Richardson.
___Classes also were cancelled at Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis, N.M., Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, Ariz., and Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista, Ariz.
___Meanwhile, at the university's main campus in Plainview, students organized a citywide prayer vigil in Harral Auditorium Sept. 11.
___The uncertainty created by the terrorist attacks also led Buckner Orphan Care International and its Shoes for Orphan Souls program to cancel five trips planned for this fall involving more than 150 volunteers.
___Mike Douris, vice president of Buckner Orphan Care International, said the trips were canceled "out of concern for the safety and peace of mind of our volunteers. We believe this is the most prudent decision for us to make in light of the events of Sept. 11 and the current national crisis."
___Volunteers were scheduled to travel to China, Romania and Russia in September, October and November.
___Buckner President Ken Hall said the 100,000 pairs of new shoes collected this year through Shoes for Orphan Souls still will be distributed to orphan children throughout the world. Buckner will hire additional personnel in those countries to ensure the shoes are delivered.
___"We are disappointed that our volunteers will not be able to experience the joy of putting the shoes on the children's feet, but we believe this is the right decision," Hall said. "However, we are asking for financial support to help us defray the added expenses associated with hiring nationals to distribute the shoes."
___Another problem with not taking volunteer groups, according to Douris, will be Buckner's inability to deliver more than $250,000 in much-needed medicine and other supplies that would have been transported personally by volunteers.
___"We will now be looking to purchase these supplies in the countries where they will be distributed if we can secure enough financial support," Douris said. "We realize that as Americans, our first commitment is to our own country and the immediate needs here, but we are asking for people to consider what they can do to help with what will undoubtedly be a stressful period worldwide. Many of the orphanages count on the medical supplies our volunteers bring each year."
___With additional reporting by John Hall, Ken Camp, Teresa Young, Scott Collins and Marv Knox____
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Baptist ministry after the terror
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