Chaplains’ personal stories called pathway to faith_110303

Posted: 10/31/03

Personal stories called pathway to faith

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

BURNET–Stories may be the pathway to faith, but few believers know how to put their personal narratives together, according to a Houston chaplain.

10/31/2003 - By John Rutledge

Oldest Chinese church faces toward the future_110303

Posted: 10/31/03

Oldest Chinese church faces toward the future

By Craig Bird

Special to the Standard

SAN ANTONIO–The past is a great place to visit, but it's not where First Chinese Baptist Church of San Antonio believes God wants the church to dwell.

10/31/2003 - By John Rutledge

ANOTHER VIEW: Healthy faith leads to healthy life_gushee_110303

Posted: 10/31/03

ANOTHER VIEW: Healthy faith leads to healthy life

By David Gushee

Abundant research evidence now demonstrates a connection between spirituality, moral choices and health. Some of us are, quite literally, making ourselves sick through our spiritual emptiness and misdirected moral choices. Others are moving toward health by reconnecting to God and to the resources of faith.

Harold Koenig of Duke University has argued from research data that church attendance, religious practices and good health are correlated. He reported on a six-year study of 4,000 people over the age of 64. The report found that frequent attendance in religious services was correlated with a lower risk of dying, lower blood pressure and healthier immune systems. He also claimed that prayer “boosts morale, lowers agitation, loneliness and life dissatisfaction, and enhances the ability to cope.”

David Gushee

10/31/2003 - By John Rutledge

American Baptist leader says Dobson misrepresented views_110303

Posted: 10/31/03

American Baptist leader says
Dobson misrepresented views

Bob Allen

EthicsDaily.com

American Baptists' top leader has accused religious broadcaster James Dobson of misrepresenting the denomination by fostering “untrue, broadly brushed stereotypes” that American Baptists are strongly pro-homosexual.

10/31/2003 - By John Rutledge

DOWN HOME: Furious moments & fervent thanks_110303

Posted: 10/31/03

DOWN HOME:
Furious moments & fervent thanks

Take some deep breaths. Feel your heart beat. Name five people you love. Now, thank God you've still got breaths to breathe and a heart to beat so you can go on loving them.

I admit I took breaths and heartbeats and, yes, even the love of family and friends a little bit for granted until a couple of Sundays ago.

Joanna, our daughter Molly, Molly's friends Ashton and Malsi, and I neared the end of a great weekend. We had driven from our home in Lewisville out to Abilene for Hardin-Simmons University's homecoming.

MARV KNOX Editor

10/31/2003 - By John Rutledge

EDITORIAL: Promise & peril of president’s plan_110303

Posted: 10/31/03

EDITORIAL:
Promise & peril of president's plan

President Bush's latest trip to Texas illustrates why he's enamored with faith-based initiatives and points to the peril of government entanglement in religion.

The president visited Dallas Oct. 29 to shine a spotlight on Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, already one of the brightest lights in the south part of the city. The trip commemorated completion of the new $25 million, 172,000-square-foot Christian Education Center that houses the church's school, athletics facilities and outreach ministries. It's home base for Project Turnaround, the mentoring program that helps children and youth avoid gangs and drugs.

“I'm glad to be with people who are transforming a community one heart and soul at a time,” Bush declared. Who wouldn't? Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship has grown from 10 people meeting in Pastor Tony Evans' home in 1976 to 7,000 members today, plus ministries that touch many times that number. The church could be Exhibit A in any discussion of how faith-based initiatives can change lives and communities, and it has done so without government funding.

10/31/2003 - By John Rutledge

EDITORIAL: World hunger merits response_110303

Posted: 10/31/03

EDITORIAL:
World hunger merits response

Little things make a difference, even when you look at the big picture. Take hunger, for example.

All over the world, people are so poor they go to sleep hungry every night. That's not hunger like most Texas Baptists know it, when the preacher goes too long on Sunday morning and our stomachs growl or when we're too busy to stop for lunch and feel like we're “starving” by late afternoon. No, it's deep hunger, malnutrition. Mothers too undernourished to nurse, fathers too weak to work, children dying before they're old enough to go to school if, indeed, they have a school to go to.

All this is horrifying enough, but then one detail brings it right on home. Maybe you saw it in the last Baptist Standard: Americans spend almost 50 times more on fast food than they do on helping poor children. The average U.S. household provides only $5 a year to assist children in poverty, and half of all households had not donated anything to help the poor in the past year.

10/31/2003 - By John Rutledge

LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Nov. 9: Paul desires ‘good things to run wild’ in hearts_110303

Posted: 10/31/03

LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Nov. 9

Paul desires 'good things to run wild' in hearts

Colossians 1:24-2:5

By John Duncan

10/31/2003 - By John Rutledge

LifeWay Family Bible Series for Nov. 9: God will provide his followers a bold witness_110303

Posted: 10/31/03

LifeWay Family Bible Series for Nov. 9

God will provide his followers a bold witness

Acts 4:1-31

By David Jenkins

10/31/2003 - By John Rutledge

San Antonio church keeps food flowing_110303

Posted: 10/31/03

San Antonio church keeps food flowing,
because 'children need to eat'

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

SAN ANTONIO–Children need to eat.

10/31/2003 - By John Rutledge

Religious funding battle in Georgia could impact other states_110303

Posted: 10/31/03

Religious funding battle in Georgia could impact other states

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–A battle over government funding of religious institutions that could have national implications is shaping up in Georgia.

10/31/2003 - By John Rutledge

Judicial complaint dismissed against Fort Worth judge_110303

Posted: 10/31/03

Judicial complaint dismissed against Fort Worth judge

FORT WORTH (BP)–A complaint has been dismissed that was filed with the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct regarding a judge who appeared in advertisements for Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Tarrant County Judge Brent Keis, a master of arts in lay ministries student at the Fort Worth seminary, appeared in his judicial robe in an April 2002 advertisement in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The advertisement promoted the seminary's study programs for laity.

Keis was informed by the judicial conduct commission in February 2003 that he had made a mistake by appearing robed in the advertisement. After the ads subsequently appeared in Houston and San Antonio papers in May, Keis was summoned to appear before the commission Oct. 8. That complaint was dismissed.

10/31/2003 - By John Rutledge