TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM:
Encouraging experience
___In a time when we all feel the negative might be outweighing the positive, I want to share an encouraging experience.
___I just returned from meeting with about 160 International Mission Board personnel covering 27 countries. Their hearts and words were a beautiful reflection of our Lord. They are spread throughout some of the most sensitive regions of our world. My family and a praise team from First Baptist Church in Dallas spent a week with these missionaries. They were happy, "pumped" and excited about what God is doing in their lives and their regions.
___Each

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of these men and women have returned their statements affirming the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, but there was never any discussion of hesitation or reservation to do so. We never heard talk of politics, denominational matters or personalities. No one seemed upset, distraught or pressured. The topic of conversation was always how God was moving in such a miraculous way in the lives of people, how he had protected them and how blessed they were to be serving the Lord. I have come back with an even greater commitment to these people, missions and the IMB.
___I do not doubt you would enjoy hearing this great news from the field about our IMB personnel, who are literally putting their lives on the line every day for Christ and are doing it with great joy and with amazing results. Join me in a renewed time of prayer and commitment to these missionaries.
___ Mac Brunson
___ Dallas

Notes not inspired
___In "Texas Baptists follow Jesus & Bible" (March 11), Charles Wade has stated a thoughtful foundation for resistance to the creedalism that has pervaded the Southern Baptist Convention.
___Many, like me, would like to control the beliefs and teachings of others because we hate the increasing subjectivity of our age. The only difference is I realize my standards, motives and goals are fallible. Even with objective truth right in front of me, I'm still not infallible! Therefore, I seek basic agreement on the essentials (fundamentals) and rely on the Holy Spirit to condemn, sanctify and correct the thoughts of myself and others.
___Yet I sense another driving force behind all of the SBC changes: dispensationalism.
___Dispensationalism--evidenced in the Scofield Bible, Dallas Seminary and the "Left Behind" books--is pop theology that may scare people to convert but has serious flaws that undermine the work, efficacy and finality of Christ and the place of believers as the true "people of God" at work in the world.
___According to dispensationalism, but scarcely the Bible, the church disappears right when it is needed most!
___Hey, maybe that is the Baptist way after all. Your Bible is inspired and inerrant, but the little notes down at the bottom are not.
___ Ben Macklin
___ Fort Worth

Wooing another's wife
___I am a widow in my 80th year, and I'm so distressed over what has happened in our beloved convention.
___The letter written by SBC Executive Committee President Morris Chapman and sent to churches in Texas to suggest they decrease the amount given to the Baptist General Convention of Texas and also to persuade them to join the rival convention reminded me of a man trying to woo a wife away from a faithful husband and not caring at all how she also would be deserting all her many children--ministries of the BGCT.
___I'm so convinced the takeover by the fundamentalists has come about because the average person in the pew is either blissfully unaware or uncaring about what is really happening.
___ W.I. Sparkman
___ Kopperl

Search for Rachel
___On Jan. 10, my 19-year-old niece, Rachel Cooke, went out jogging near Georgetown and never returned. You can imagine what my brother and our family are going through.
___God is good, though! Thousands of people have been praying, distributing flyers and searching for Rachel. Please join us.
___Information, pictures, flyers and a prayer link are available at www.rachelcookesearch.org. On April 27, a 5K run/walk in Round Rock will raise awareness of Rachel.
___Thank you for your prayers.
___ David Cooke
___ Devine

Call for renewal
___I would like to correct and clarify one point of the article about the statement "The Word Made Fresh: A Call for a Renewal of the Evangelical Spirit" (April 1).
___The statement and the theologians who signed it are not calling for a "broader definition" of evangelicalism or evangelical theology. We are calling for a renewal of the traditional definition which is, we believe, broader than some of the newer definitions that wish to restrict it to fundamentalism or something like fundamentalism.
___Our statement calls for unity among evangelical Christians around evangelical essentials and liberty within evangelicalism for differences of opinion about non-essentials and charity (love) in all things.
___Our hope is for a renewal of the irenic spirit of classical evangelicalism in a time of resurgent fundamentalism.
___ Roger E. Olson
___ Waco

Lesson to learn
___A great lesson can be learned by Texas and Southern Baptists from Jesus' words in Matthew 22:37-40. It would be beneficial if all those involved in our struggle would heed these words:
___ "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind." Many involved in this conflict are so sold to their interpretation of the Bible that they fail to seek to honor God through the fellowship of his people. Honoring what we believe about the Bible seems more important than honoring and loving God.
___ "Love your neighbor as yourself." We have sought total agreement in all matters and doctrine and place targets on the backs of people groups (Jews, homosexuals, etc.) and corporations, not out of love, but with a judgmental finger pointing at them and their lives and letting them know they will never be welcome in our presence.
___ "All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments." Our debates and actions are not filled with love. We wonder why baptisms and conversions are down in our churches. It's because we have not love, but a desire to be "right." When unbelievers can once again see a people that love God earnestly, love one another dearly and love them sincerely, then our evangelistic efforts will return good fruit. Then we will see the Spirit move through our denomination once again.
___ J.D. Allen
___ Waco

Soap opera
___I am developing the same feeling for the Standard as I have for TV soap operas. The two have the same power struggle.
___Maybe we could have a Baptist soap and call it "The Big & the Powerful." I would like to play the part of the Apostle Paul, when told to sign a creed.
___ John Berryman
___ George West

Teaching tithing
___Luke 22:20 tells us Christ instituted a new covenant. New means the old is replaced.
___I can quote you many Scriptures that show the old law has been superceded. I challenge anyone to show me one verse that teaches tithing in the New Testament following Luke 22:20.
___ J.B. Sitton
___ Cisco

McBride had a big heart
___It was my privilege to live a couple of years in the same town with Dan McBride. We prayed together, traveled and worked some together and had wonderful fellowship.
___Although he was a pioneer in the field of Christian entertainment, this "Tiptoe Through the Tithers" man was also a serious Bible teacher, wise counselor and faithful friend. He had a big heart that helped the body of Christ.
___Somehow in the midst of presenting more than 4,500 programs and composing over 300 songs, he and his talented wife, Barbara, raised five wonderful children.
___I miss him but will surely see him on the other side.
___Earl W. Duggins,
___Kilgore



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