Posted: 4/25/08

Calvinism: Tiptoe through the TULIP

By Keb Camp

Managing Editor

Can Calvinist and non-Calvinist Baptists work together?

It depends, some advocates of Reformed theology say, on whether Christians on both sides are willing to tiptoe through the TULIP–the acrostic for five doctrinal points that set apart Calvinists.

TULIP stands for total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace and perseverance of the saints. Those five doctrines, delineated by the Synod of Dort in the 17th century, summarize distinctive elements of the theological system taught by John Calvin—particularly as distinguished from the teachings of James Jacobus Arminius.

Proponents of what often is called “five-point Calvinism” emphasize the sovereignty of God and the doctrine of predestination—the teaching that God ordains specific human beings to be saved on the basis of his good pleasure, not on the basis of his advance knowledge of their repentance and belief.

Historically, some prominent Baptists identified themselves as Calvinists, including 19th century British pulpiteer Charles Haddon Spurgeon and James P. Boyce, founding president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. On the other hand, the first Baptists in England—John Smyth and Thomas Helwys—rejected Calvinism.

Calvin’s cool on campus

Calvinism is gaining in popularity in some Baptist circles today. A study by the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board and LifeWay Christian Resources showed about 30 percent of recent Southern Baptist seminary graduates identify themselves as Calvinists, compared to 10 percent of Southern Baptist pastors in general.

Renewed interest in Reformed theology—what Calvinists refer to as “the doctrines of grace”—also is evident among university students, some Baptist college professors have noted. In part, observers attribute the growth of Calvinism on college campuses to the popular Passion conferences, featuring Louie Giglio and Reformed pastor-theologian John Piper.

The Passion movement and related One Day events serve as gateways into Calvinism, said Roger Olson, professor of theology at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary.

“My experience is that many young Christians swept up by this wave know little about the details of this kind of Calvinism,” Olson said. “Many of them are simply shocked to find out that it entails belief in limited atonement. However, after awhile, many of them gradually accept it lock, stock and barrel because they don’t know any alternative. Southern Baptists—and offshoots—have not been very good at offering young people sound theology.”

John Calvin

Hunger for theology that is “rigorously biblical and satisfies the desire to hear from God in his word” accounts for much of Calvinism’s popularity among students, said Thomas Ascol, executive director of Founders Ministries, an organization that promotes Reformed theology in Southern Baptist life.

“The rising generation is looking for authenticity,” Ascol said. Students read biblical stories about faithful people who suffered martyrdom, and they hunger for “the radicalness of biblical Christianity,” he noted.

“Then they look at the slick and oftentimes superficial Christianity that dominates American evangelicalism, and they wonder why there is a difference. What did those early believers see we don’t see? Part of the answer is they saw the majestic supremacy of God over every sphere of life.”

Dancing to Piper’s tune?

Ascol believes Piper “has been used of God to help cast a vision of radically biblical Christianity to a younger generation of believers.”

“There is no fluff in Piper’s ministry. It is rock-solid Bible teaching that does not shy away from the hard sayings and clear calls of discipleship,” he said. “It is authentic in its devotion to the text of Scripture. That resonates with many in the younger generation who are hungry for truth.”

Critics of resurgent Calvinism, on the other hand, see it as appealing to the desire for clear-cut, black-and-white answers.

“The present, new Calvinists claim to know way, way too much about the mind of God,” Olson claimed.

He draws a distinction between the gentle and nuanced Calvinism held by many Christians in Reformed churches and the aggressive new form of Calvinism.

John Piper

“My experience is that this new wave of Reformed theology—inspired by John Piper who is inspired by Jonathan Edwards—appeals mostly to young men who want to avoid any hint of ambiguity in their theology,” he said.

Divided by doctrine

In part because its adherents hold to its teachings so tenaciously, Calvinism has divided some congregations—particularly when Calvinist pastors have asserted their beliefs in historically non-Calvinist churches. To some degree, division may be inevitable, some Calvinists have asserted.

“Any given doctrine will divide. The gospel itself is a doctrine that divides,” said Jonathan Leeman, director of communications for 9Marks, a ministry founded by Reformed Baptist pastor Mark Dever.

“There has been a renewed emphasis on the doctrines of grace, and that could lead to some level of divisiveness. That’s almost necessarily so, in the same way that an emphasis on inerrancy led to division within the Southern Baptist Convention.”

But other Calvinists believe they have been unjustly tarred with the brush of divisiveness.

Timothy George

“What I have discovered is that Calvinism is blamed far more often for dividing churches or associations than is actually the case,” Ascol said. “Closer investigation has often revealed that Calvinism is often the tail on which the donkey is pinned. I know of more cases where the real issue behind a controversy is biblical Christianity—what is a Christian and how does a person become one—not Calvinism.”

Missions and evangelism

Ascol also believes Calvinists often have been unfairly stereotyped as anti-missionary.

“Look at who has been going as career missionaries over the last few years. A significant percentage would classify themselves as Reformed,” he said.

Olson acknowledged the current wave of Calvinism—which he calls “Piperism”—is characterized by fervent missionary spirit.

“However, I think those who follow it out to its logical conclusion may eventually decide that there is no point in evangelism or missions,” he said.

“If you are told that your evangelism and missionary work is nothing more than a ‘foreordained means to a foreordained end,’ and it cannot alter what God has already decided, you might conclude that there is no urgency.”

Roger Olson

Leeman frames the impetus for sharing faith in terms familiar to most evangelicals, whether Calvinist or non-Calvinist—love and obedience.

“Being that Christ is my greatest love, I will want to share him with others,” he said, adding that Jesus commanded his followers to share the gospel. “The call to repentance and obedience is not optional.”

But concern about Calvinism’s impact on fulfilling Christ’s Great Commission is a valid concern, even if it’s not well founded, Leeman added.

“The primary cause of division over the issue (of Calvinism) is concern on the part of the non-Reformed crowd that it will hurt evangelism and missions, and those of us who are Reformed need to be entirely sympathetic to that concern,” he said.

“At the same time, instead of debating issues with us, I would like to see the non-Reformed crowd give us the benefit of the doubt. Accept that a Reformed congregation means what it says when it affirms evangelism and missions.”

Show some grace

Ironically, the debate over the doctrines of grace often has been characterized by a lack of grace by proponents on both sides, and much of the division caused by Calvinism could be avoided if Christians treated each other a bit more graciously, some Calvinists and non-Calvinists agreed.

“I love my Calvinist friends and students,” Olson said. “I have no quarrel with them; it is only with their theology I have a quarrel. And I do not attempt to convert my Calvinist students to non-Calvinism. I only ask them to study all the options and make sure they are thinking biblically and logically.”

Shared belief about Jesus Christ and biblical authority should be sufficient ground for Calvinists and non-Calvinists to share the same pews peacefully, Ascol said.

“Our church has Calvinists and non-Calvinists joyfully laboring together for the gospel, and I know of many other churches that do, too,” he said.

“We do that by focusing on the gospel—who Jesus is, what he has done and why that matters. We may not agree on every detail of how the gospel works—such as election, predestination, effectual calling and particular redemption—but we are all committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and his supremacy over all of life.”

Leeman acknowledged some Calvinists are so adamant about their position that they have failed to show “pastoral wisdom” in making distinctive Reformed doctrines a test of fellowship.

“A wiser course is to avoid the language of theology and use the language of the Bible instead,” he suggested. “It’s not so much about Calvinism. It’s not so much about the doctrines of grace. Just preach the Bible.”

Posted: 4/25/08

Posted: 4/25/08

Spirituality plays significant
part in children’s happiness

By Ron Csillag

Religion News Service

TORONTO (RNS)—Spirituality contributes significantly to a child’s overall happiness—even more so than for adults, according to a new study from the University of British Columbia.

The study tested 315 children ages 9 to 12, measuring spirituality and other factors such as temperament and social relations that can affect an individual’s sense of happiness.

“Our goal was to see whether there’s a relation between spirituality and happiness,” said Mark Holder, associate professor of psychology and the study’s co-author. “We knew going in that there was such a relation in adults, so we took multiple measures of spirituality and happiness in children.”

Past studies have shown that in adults, spiritual feelings and higher levels of religious behavior typically account for about 5 percent of a person’s overall happiness, said a university statement.

The results of the study came as a surprise to researchers: 6.5 to 16.5 percent of children’s happiness can be accounted for by spirituality.

“From our perspective, it’s a whopping big effect,” said Holder. “I expected it to be much less. I thought their spirituality would be too immature to account for their well-being.”

Children in the study were asked to rate statements such as: “I feel a Higher Power’s presence.” They also answered questions including, “How often do you pray or meditate privately outside of church or other places of worship?”

Parents also were asked to describe each child’s apparent happiness and spirituality, and teachers rated each child’s happiness level.

The study’s authors plan to conduct the same research in India to see whether children score similar results in a country not dominated by Christianity.

Posted: 4/25/08

2nd Opinion: Facing fears & global warming

With all of the pending disasters blamed on global warming blasting their way through the media, I can understand why many might fear the future climate. We are told emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide (CO2), are destroying not only polar bears and petunias, but the planet as a whole. If we don’t “stop global warming,” The End will surely come.

I am a climate scientist. My research and that of many others does not lead me to be afraid for the climate’s future. However, I am fearful for other reasons:

• I fear for my science. The truth is, our climate system is so complex that we cannot predict its state even into next month. Nonetheless, I see high-profile individuals (usually untrained in science) making claims with unwavering confidence about the climate’s trajectory and a looming catastrophe.

I do not see the humility this science demands. In fact, I suspect an anthropologist, isolated from the media, would observe this global-warming fervor as a religion complete with anointed authority figures, sacred documents, creeds, sins requiring absolution, castigation of heretics and even an apocalypse.

But science doesn’t work by arguments-from-authority or depth-of-feeling. Lord Kelvin said, “All science is numbers.” Our scientific discoveries should be the same, whether one is a Baptist, Buddhist or Bahai.

However, if I’ve learned one thing in this business, it is that we scientists are mere mortals, and we succumb to pride as easily as anyone else. Claiming to know exactly how the climate works and what it will do decades from now has as much to do with belief as science.

• I fear for humanity. When people speak about “doing something about global warming,” please listen carefully. What they advocate are “solutions,” which lead to rationing of energy while having no climate impact. A hidden consequence of these “solutions” is to make energy more expensive—a regressive burden disproportionately inflicted upon the poorest among us.

Is this what we should promote?

Is this the message of Christ?

One fact I learned as a missionary in Africa is this: Without energy, life is brutal and short. Denying energy expansion in the developing world, which many advocate, is to condemn them to suffering and poverty.

The simple truth is that whatever the climate does—and our research at the University of Alabama in Huntsville does not support predictions of an impending disaster—the regulations proposed to date and promoted by the green agenda will have no measurable effect. Even a Herculean effort to build 1,000 nuclear power plants in the next 15 years will impact CO2 emissions and the climate by a tiny margin. (By the way, CO2 is not a toxic gas; it is “plant food.” Indeed, fully one-sixth of the world’s food production is due to the extra CO2 we’ve put back into the atmosphere!)

Am I advocating a scorched-earth policy for energy extraction? No. Energy advances are needed and will come as scientists and engineers develop them. We should promote research that delivers energy in new ways. I believe we can do it—just as we de-horsified transportation in the 20th century, I predict we will largely de-carbonize energy in the 21st.

But I believe we should not sacrifice those who need affordable energy now on the altar of impotent solutions to “save the planet.”

• Lastly, I fear for our faith. As a life-long Southern Baptist, though hardly a fundamentalist, I see that we are being sought after by well-funded environmental groups whose agenda is far from that of the mission of Christ.

When these activists lobby our denomination and its leaders, we risk a diversion of our attention and resources away from our commissioned purpose toward one based on an uncertain science whose advocates call for actions which inflict suffering on the “least of these.”

Be aware! Behind that activist agenda is the intent to elevate the creation to a status inconsistent with Scripture. The Christian doctrine of creation is clear: Mankind is the peak of the creation pyramid (Genesis 1) and the center of life (Genesis 2).

Scientifically, we cannot prove the biblical value of human life. This is one of our faith-claims. My fear here is that some of us will fall victim to these tempting notions of “Creation Care” to “Save the Planet,” when in fact they subvert our theology and promote poverty under the veneer of giving evangelicals the comfort of claiming a 21st century sense of sophistication and political-correctness.

Please understand, we should not waste energy and the resources needed to produce this life-enhancing gift of creation. We should not destroy whole environments in its pursuit, as we now see most dramatically in the poorest countries where forest wood is devoured for low-grade fuel. I believe we will solve the energy issue with scientific research—and an optimistic heart—without increasing human suffering.

Amidst this contentious debate, I pray our eyes will never stray from the One who is our ultimate hope (Luke 1:50).

John Christy earned a master’s degree from Golden Gate Seminary and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Illinois. He is the distinguished professor of atmospheric science and director of the Earth Systems Science Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, studying global climate since 1987. He is an adult Sunday school teacher and sings in the choir at Farley Community Church, a Baptist congregation in Huntsville. He and his wife, Babs, served as Southern Baptist journeyman missionaries in Kenya 35 years ago. His website is www.nsstc.uah.edu/atmos/christy.html.

Posted: 4/25/08

DOWN HOME:
A lesson learned while pulling weeds

Every once in awhile, I stare face-to-face into the reality I have become someone very different than the little boy I used to be.

Of course, I’m still me. Yet the line of continuity between the boy I was and the man I am somehow unraveled along the way. I think it happened out in the yard.

When I was a kid, if you’d given me the option between pulling weeds or getting spanked by Daddy every day for a week, I would’ve bent over and grabbed my ankles.

Back then, Baptists believed in spanking. Unfortunately, I got my share, probably because I was the oldest child. Oh, yeah, and probably because I had ’em coming. (However, I developed a theory that corporal punishment related proportionally to birth order. Maybe parents became more permissive with each new child. Or maybe their arms just wore out.)

Anyway, I would’ve preferred a paddling to pulling weeds. I remember once, when Mother commissioned me to the back yard to pull weeds, I imagined I’d been unjustly sentenced to “a fate worser’n death.” So, there I crouched, in the middle of a lawn full of dandelions, singing my made-up version of an old-time hymn: “When we do the best we can, and they do not understand/They will understand it better bye and bye.”

Ironically, I was as surprised as a Judean shepherd a couple of weekends ago, when I found myself crouching in the middle of a flower bed on the east side of our garage, pulling weeds like nobody’s business. And having fun.

“This can’t be right,” I thought. “I should feel sorry for myself.”

But I just kept pulling away, happy as the spiders, doodlebugs, earthworms and slugs that shared their little patch of heaven with me.

I haven’t figured out exactly why I enjoy pulling weeds. Maybe because I spend nearly all day every day making decisions, and in the yard, all the decisions are pre-made: Keep on weeding, pruning and trimming until nothing is left to weed, prune and trim. Or maybe because progress in the “real world” develops slowly, but in the yard, you can tell exactly what you’ve done for the past three hours. And, to quote the Lord’s response to creation, “It is good.”

The other possibility—and I’d guess this was at least one of Mother and Daddy’s motives for dispatching me to the yard—is that I’ve learned many disciplines of ordinary life are both good and good for you. Like pulling weeds.

This thought occurred to me one morning after a weed-pulling session, as I sat down to read my Bible and pray. When I was a kid, life seemed too short to take time for daily devotions. Now, life seems too long not to take that time.

And on really good mornings, when I am silent before God, I realize the weeding, pruning, trimming hands of my Maker turn my life far more than my hands ever turn my garden.

–Marv Knox

Posted: 4/25/08

EDITORIAL:
Reversal builds case for moratorium

Ironically, Thomas Clifford McGowan Jr. became a free man the same day the U.S. Supreme Court freed states to resume executions.

McGowan’s case illustrates why Texas and other states should maintain a moratorium on capital punishment.

McGowan was a 26-year-old day laborer in 1985, when a 19-year-old rape victim picked his picture out of a police lineup. Tentative at first, when pressed for a decision by a police officer, the young woman said McGowan was the man who raped her.

So, McGowan went to prison for more than 22 years—almost half his life. This spring, DNA tests proved McGowan did not commit the crime. Judge Susan Hawk recommended McGowan go free, and he’s out of jail while the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals considers Hawk’s decision. He became the 16th Dallas County inmate to be exonorated by DNA tests during the past seven years.

The same day McGowan walked free, the Supreme Court ruled the three-step process Kentucky uses to administer capital punishment does not violate the Constitution’s ban on “cruel and unusual punishment.” The ruling virtually freed states to move forward with lethal injection as a method of execution.

Fortunately, McGowan’s wrongful conviction couldn’t earn him the death penalty. He might have died an innocent man.

Strong advocates of the death penalty might counter that McGowan was not sentenced to execution, so his case has no bearing on capital punishment. Of course, they would be wrong.

McGowan’s case illustrates the fallibility of the U.S. justice system, which is fallible simply because human beings are fallible. Problem is, a mistake that takes a person’s life is irreversible. And courtroom mistakes do happen.

Nationwide, 215 people convicted of crimes have been exonerated by DNA evidence, according to The Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to reversing wrongful convictions. Sixteen of the people who have been exonerated spent time on Death Row. Without intervention, they could have been executed for crimes they did not commit.

Thirty-two states have exonerated convicts. Texas leads the way, with 31 reversals. As science improves, the pace of exonerations increases. In the first 11 years DNA-based exonerations were possible, 63 people were set free. In the past eight years, 152 wrongful convictions were overturned.

The Innocence Project identifies at least seven causes of wrongful conviction. Those causes and the number of cases involving Texans are eyewitness identification, 24; unreliable/limited science, 9; false confessions, 3; forensic science misconduct, 4; government misconduct, 3; informants/snitches, 2; and bad lawyering, 0. (The number totals more than 31, because some cases involved multiple causes.)

While many Christians—for theological reasons—are among the strongest advocates of capital punishment, the McGowan case should prompt Christians and other citizens of goodwill to promote a moratorium on capital punishment. Several reasons stand out:

• We seek justice. Justice for murderers is one of the strongest arguments for capital punishment. But in light of so many wrongful convictions, justice should be an equally strong argument for refraining. Putting an innocent person to death is the ultimate act of injustice that can be imposed by the state.

• Life is precious. Set aside whatever you think about actual murderers and rapists, we cannot contend anything but that the lives of people who are wrongfully convicted are precious and should be protected, even if the guilty die in prison of old age instead of on a gurney by lethal injection.

• We say we love others and want them to go to heaven. Then how can we consider the possibility of wrongfully sending an innocent person to eternity in hell?

Posted: 4/25/08

Faith Digest:
Bible tops America’s bookshelf

The Bible is the favorite book of all time for American adults, regardless of demographic group, according to a new 2008 Harris Interactive Poll. Researchers said it’s rare to find such consensus among Americans, regardless of gender, education level, geographic location, race, ethnicity or age. Yet, more than 2,500 Americans who responded to an online poll agreed the Bible is their No. 1 favorite book. The poll also found political affiliation did not affect reading preference. Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike agreed on the Bible and Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind as their top two favorite books. Other top five choices were Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling and The Stand by Stephen King. Rounding out the top ten were The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

Former bishop elected Paraguay president. A former Roman Catholic bishop was elected president of Paraguay after being criticized by his church for running for the office. Fernando Lugo, 56, defeated the Colorado Party, which had reigned in the country 62 years. The Vatican opposes clergy members holding political office and had demanded that Lugo halt his political pursuits. Lugo said he resigned from the church and no longer must follow its laws. His five-year term begins Aug. 15.

Judge torches pot smoker’s religious claim. Robert George Henry told a Pennsylvania judge smoking marijuana is vital to his efforts to connect with God. But 10 seconds after Henry finished testifying, Judge Edgar B. Bayley dismissed a motion Henry filed seeking to avoid prosecution on drunken driving and drug possession charges on religious grounds, claiming the U.S. Constitution’s protection of the free exercise of religion includes drug use. Henry joined the Hawaii Cannabis Ministry, which promotes marijuana use for religious enlightenment, and was ordained as a minister of the Universal Life Church after his arrest. He argued that if children can drink wine during Holy Communion, he should be able to smoke pot in his search for God.

National observance includes fly-over prayers. On the National Day of Prayer, petitions to God will be made from the ground and from the air. Plans for the annual observance, on May 1, include private pilots who intend to fly and pray over all 50 state capitols. Tens of thousands of events, organized through a Colorado-based task force, will be held in churches, on courthouse steps and in parks. Organizers range from military members to teenagers. For the first time, the event will be marked at a memorial chapel in Shanksville, Pa., which commemorates the 9/11 crash site of United Flight 93. Christian scholar Ravi Zacharias is the 2008 honorary chairman. He will address observances on Capitol Hill and at the Pentagon. The National Day of Prayer was established by Congress in 1952 and is observed on the first Thursday of May.

Posted: 4/25/08

Scholars cast critical eye on Graham’s legacy

By Cecile S. Holmes

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Ecumenist, prophet, peacemaker. Friend of presidents and queens. Evangelical powerbroker who was sometimes too closely tied to politicians. Each description applies to Billy Graham.

An official 1991 biography by William Martin called America’s foremost evangelist a Prophet With Honor. The editors of a new book largely agree, but not without casting a more critical eye on Graham’s remarkable career.

There are many reasons to appreciate Graham, say the authors of The Legacy of Billy Graham without granting him iconic status.

The book examines Graham’s political influence, his relationships with Richard Nixon and other American presidents, his views on women, sexual ethics and poverty, and the content and style of his preaching.

And while it notes the moderation that came with age, the book’s 14 essays nonetheless ask critical questions about whether Graham could have done more to harness the power of his popularity to address public concerns.

“Graham’s admirers frequently speak of his moral integrity, and they are right to note his efforts to lead a ministry without Elmer Gantry lurking in the background,” says Michael G. Long, editor of Legacy and an assistant professor of religious studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania.

“But if we’re honest about his legacy, we’ll also recognize that Graham was shockingly deceptive when he told us that his relationship with Richard Nixon was primarily spiritual.”

Like some others who have listened to the Nixon tapes, Long concludes Graham rarely discussed spiritual matters with Nixon in the Oval Office. Indeed, Graham apologized in 2002 for telling Nixon that Jews held a “stranglehold” on the country.

Graham, now 89 and in failing health, has retired to his home in his beloved mountains of western North Carolina. His public ministry has been taken up by his son, Franklin, who displays some of the edgy fire of his father’s early years.

J. Philip Wogaman, the former pastor to President Bill Clinton and now a professor at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, noted the opportunities facing Graham as the man who “has spoken directly, in person, to more people than anybody else in human history”—an estimated 110 million around the world.

“Could he not have said more? Could he not have created more sympathy for the marginalized and stigmatized and thus effected more lasting change?” asks Wogaman.

The essayists noted the simplicity of Graham’s message. Time and again, listeners at his crusades were shown a world on the brink of disaster, a world that might only be saved by each person committing his or her life to Christ.

“Starting as a raw-boned fundamentalist, Graham ma-tured and broadened and soon became much more than the icon of evangelicals,” writes Harvey Cox of Harvard University. “Polls showed him to be the most respected religious leader in the country. Still as he shook off his early shell, his actions took a prophetic turn.”

That turn included cooperating with more liberal Christian denominations in many crusades. And though he neither joined demonstrations nor went to jail over civil rights, Graham insisted his crusades—even in the South—would not be segregated. Later, he called for the abolition of all nuclear weapons after visiting behind the Iron Curtain.

Thomas G. Long, a professor at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, noted Graham’s enduring popularity—and power—in a changing world.

“In a windstorm of changing values and shifting circumstances, Graham is the still point in the American moral universe,” Long says. “He has maintained for six decades the same message, the same seemingly untroubled convictions, the same unblemished ethical record. In an age of anxiety, he calms the national soul.”

The breadth of Graham’s legacy can be seen in both the emerging Christian left, with its hope of alleviating poverty, and the Christian right, with its push for a socially conservative public agenda. Both could evoke Graham as spiritual forebear, Long says.

“Graham is worth studying and remembering because he is the face of American noninstitutionalized religiosity,” says Long. “When Americans are in their private chapels, or none, they believe very different things, but when they come together in the public square, they believe essentially a version of what Billy preaches.”

Posted: 4/25/08

Court dismisses Baptist church-state case

By Adelle M. Banks

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—A federal court has dismissed a 10-year-old legal challenge brought by Kentucky taxpayers who questioned government funding of a Baptist social service agency.

The case involving Sunrise Children’s Services, formerly known as Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children, initially centered on the dismissal of Alicia Pedreira, who the agency learned was a lesbian. In 2001, a federal judge in Louisville, Ky., dismissed her claims of religious discrimination.

Pedreira and other taxpayers continued the suit, claiming that public funds were used for services “infused with the teachings of the Baptist faith.”

Citing a recent Supreme Court decision, the same judge again ruled in favor of the agency, saying taxpayers did not demonstrate standing, or their right to sue the government.

In Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation, the Supreme Court ruled taxpayers affiliated with an atheist group did not have standing to challenge President Bush’s faith-based initiative.

“We find that the claim of the taxpayers in this case is comparable to that in Hein,” wrote U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Simpson III in a recent opinion.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American Civil Liberties Union had represented the taxpayers in the case.

Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, called the decision “a very sweeping reading of what I thought was a narrow ruling by the Supreme Court last year.”

Posted: 4/25/08

Mission Lubbock fights
hunger, delivers hope

By Kaitlin Chapman

Texas Baptist Communications

UBBOCK—When people think of Lubbock, they think of unending cotton fields, hearty dust storms, flat plains and Texas Tech football. Few think of people like Cheryl Tannery.

Tannery, who raised three boys as a single mom, is just one of thousands of people in the Lubbock area who have been stricken by poverty and experienced hunger firsthand. But Mission Lubbock has stepped in to help rebuild the lives of people in need by providing food, clothing and furniture and showing hope that only can come from Christ.

“People just need to understand that there are people going to bed at night without food,” said Judy Cooper, director of Mission Lubbock and multihousing coordinator for the Lubbock Area Baptist Association.

“There are children who are leaving school on Friday and not having another meal until Monday when they get back to school. We are trying to help make a difference in that.”  

When Cooper started Mission Lubbock two years ago, her focus was to provide clothing and other household items. Soon she found there was a greater need—food.

“We realized that so many of the people we were trying to minister to had nothing,” Cooper said. “We had to meet the need that they had before they would ever listen to what we had to share about Jesus and how God has worked in our lives.”

That is exactly how Mission Lubbock helped Tannery, who came to the ministry in October looking for food. Meeting Tannery’s immediate needs provided Cooper and the other volunteers an open door to love, encourage and pray for her.

“I came in, and I asked if they were hiring,” Tannery said. “They said ‘no,’ but they needed volunteers. I said I’ll be back, and I’ve been working with them ever since. They have been real good to me. They are some good people.”

Tannery, who cleans homes for a living, said the volunteers and ministry of Mission Lubbock made such an impact on her life that she now volunteers her time the two days a week the ministry is open.

“They are like my second family,” Tannery said. They are about “helping the people and doing God’s work. It has changed my life a whole lot.”

In the last year, Mission Lubbock distributed 556 food boxes and assisted more than 1,000 families.

“I feel certain that we will surpass that this year with still being open just two days a week,” Cooper said. “We would like to extend our hours, but we have got to find some funding.”  

Cooper said nearly 60 percent of children in the Lubbock Independent School District are considered impoverished and are on the free- or reduced- lunch program.

“Lubbock does have quite a bit of poverty,” Cooper said. “The deal is they are the working poor. They have jobs. They just don’t get paid enough to make ends meet.”

For 2008, Mission Lubbock was chosen to receive funds from the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger. These funds, as well as donations from individuals and churches, will allow Mission Lubbock to provide food boxes to people in need.

“We just don’t have near enough donations,” said Billie Downing, one of the volunteers who helps run the ministry. “To know we have a fund there—it’s something you can rely on. It’s so nice when people have a need to be able to do more than say, ‘I’ll pray for you.’ And that’s a wonderful thing in God’s economy.”

The Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger supports about 100 ministries around the world by supplying temporary relief for people in need, addressing the causes of hunger and poverty and providing hunger relief and development to children.

For more information, visit www.bgct.org/worldhunger.

Posted: 4/25/08

Missouri Baptist groups
agree to peace committee

By Bill Webb

Word & Way

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP)—Seven members of rival groups in the Missouri Baptist Convention will go to mediation in an effort to bring about peace within the battle-torn statewide group.

The Missouri Baptist Convention Executive Board voted to create a peace committee that will submit to Christian mediation.

The committee makeup and its methodology were proposed by board member Jody Shelenhamer, a layman from First Baptist Church of Bolivar, Mo., according to convention President Gerald Davidson.

Shelenhamer proposed four members who have been associated with the Missouri Baptist Laymen’s Association. Three others represented a group called Save Our Convention, which has criticized what it calls an inordinate amount of control in convention life by a small group of Laymen’s Association adherents.

The Laymen’s Association led a successful effort in the late 1990s to wrest control of the convention from the moderates that had dominated its leadership.

However, Save Our Convention supporters—many of whom were foot soldiers in the association’s battle against moderates—have taken issue with their former allies on a handful of issues in the past year.

Save Our Convention successfully swept officer elections during last fall’s Missouri Baptist Convention annual meeting. That is proof, they say, that rank-and-file Missouri Baptists have grown weary of intraconservative dissension and of what they say is a tightening of trustee representation on boards and agencies.

All seven members of the committee are men.

The four closely identified with the Laymen’s Association leadership include Roger Moran, the organization’s founder and research director; Jay Scribner, retired pastor of First Baptist Church of Branson, Mo; Jeff White, pastor of South Creek Church in Springfield, Mo.; and Jeff Purvis, pastor of First Baptist Church of Herculaneum-Peveley, Mo.

The Save Our Convention representatives are John Marshall, pastor of Second Baptist Church of Springfield and the current Missouri Baptist Convention second vice president; Bruce McCoy, pastor of Canaan Baptist Church in St. Louis and current first vice president; and Wesley Hammond, pastor of First Baptist Church of Paris, Mo.

Two weeks prior to the board meeting, Laymen’s Association supporter Kent Cochran, a member of Calvary Baptist Church in Republic, Mo., proposed a similar committee, modeled after the 1985 Southern Baptist Convention Peace Committee.

Cochran’s proposal, mailed to every member of the Executive Board, called for a committee to “research the perceptions, activities, expectations, history, present and future of Missouri Baptists focusing particularly on … issues of theology, methodology, political activity and any related matters that involve Missouri Baptist life.”

“I’m hopeful that it will work,” Davidson said. But the effort will have to be more successful than the SBC Peace Committee, which resulted in one side winning and the other withdrawing from the SBC, he said.

Davidson, retired pastor of First Baptist Church of Arnold, Mo., was himself once a supporter of the Laymen’s Association’s efforts to drive moderates out of Missouri Baptist Convention leadership.

However, he became one of Save Our Convention’s organizers last year, and he said he believes the solution to the impasse between Missouri conservatives is not complex.

“We don’t have any big differences except in turning loose and letting Missouri Baptists make Missouri Baptist decisions they think are under the leadership of the Holy Spirit,” Davidson said.

“People have to say: ‘Hey, we’re going to have to quit fighting. I’m tired of all the bickering, fussing and fighting.’”

But, he added, “I am strongly opposed to a handful … taking control” of the convention.

There is no timetable for completion of the committee’s work, he said.

Posted: 4/25/08

On the Move

• Martin Akins to First Church in Bedford as pastor from First Church in Hobbs, N.M.

• Dan Baker to First Church in Amarillo as minister of music from First Church in Saginaw.

• Patrick Berg to First Church in Breckenridge as youth minister.

• Jamey Burrus has resigned as pastor of West Texas Cowboy Church in Midland.

• Oscar Contreras has resigned as pastor of Iglesia La Hermosa in Skidmore.

• Major Dalton to Living Proof Church in Grandview as pastor.

• Red Frye has resigned as administrator of Big Country Assembly in Lueders.

• Sam Griffin to First Church in Levelland as minister to students.

• Bob Hendricks has resigned as pastor of First Church in Pettus.

• Truman Johnson to Bacon Heights Church in Lubbock as pastor of senior adults from First Church in Baird, where he was pastor.

• Paul Kipgen to Pilgrim’s Way Church in Sanger as pastor.

• Brian Lambert to First Church in Breckenridge as pastor.

• Todd Pebbles to Lebanon Church in Cleburne as pastor.

• Curtis Pierce to Cross Pointe Church in Texarkana as minister of youth.

• Greg Robinson to Bluff Dale Church in Bluff Dale as pastor from Sunnyside Church in Wichita Falls.

• Larry Searcy to Big Country Assembly as administrator.

• Larry Soape has resigned as minister of education and administration at First Church in New Braunfels.

• Tank Tankersley has completed an interim pastorate at College View Church in Abilene and moved to San Antonio.

• Mike Tisdal to Deermeadows Church in Jacksonville, Fla., as minister of education from First Church in El Paso.

• Robert Webb has resigned as pastor of Highland Terrace Church in Greenville.

• Doyle White to Eylau Hills Church in Texarkana as minister of music.