Posted: 4/11/08

Veteran pastor sees last five years in
for-profit hospital as expansion of ministry

By Karen May

Baptist Health Systems

SAN ANTONIO—George Gaston served 25 years as pastor of Texas Baptist churches. For the last five, he has been vice president of a for-profit hospital system. And Gaston has found the latter role fulfilling—and the fulfillment of God’s calling for this season of his life.

Gaston serves as regional vice president of ministry for Baptist Health System in San Antonio. In that role, he has led efforts to strengthen the Christian mission and pastoral presence in the health system’s five hospitals and various other health-related businesses, as well as its presence in the community.

Gaston offers a prayer, asking God’s blessing on a Habitat for Humanity House built by volunteers from the hospital system.

He left First Baptist Church in Corpus Christi to accept the position about the time Vanguard Health Systems acquired Baptist Health Systems— a change that took the health system from a nonprofit to for-profit status.

“I was one of the people who was against the sale to a for-profit health system,” Gaston acknowledged. “I didn’t want to lose this strong influence and opportunity to witness here in San Antonio and south Texas. When the sale became a reality, the calling was clear to me. I felt God’s leadership in my life to help get the mission off the ground from the beginning.

“Vanguard was looking for someone with a doctorate in pastoral ministry, deep ties to the BGCT and healthcare experience. I fit all those criteria and had a strong sense of God’s clear desire of this for my life.”

Gaston was pleasantly surprised by what he discovered when he arrived Baptist Health System. Vanguard had promised to continue the faith-based focus of the health system, and he soon discovered the company planned to follow through on that commitment. The first step was to give Gaston vice president-level authority within the health system. In the past five years Gaston has used the influence of his position to the fullest to accomplish what many thought could never happen.

“The fiscal and organizational stability of Baptist Health System under Vanguard has allowed us to not only maintain, but also enhance our Christian pastoral presence in the hospitals and in the community as well,” he said.

“I am in a position, along with all of our chaplains, to help shape the culture of the entire health care system. My office is right next door to the chief executive officer, Trip Pilgrim, who is a great support for our mission and values. I share retreats and planning sessions with senior management, and minister to the leadership team, which allows for the involvement of our pastoral mission in everything we do as a health system.”

Pilgrim is convinced Vanguard’s promise to keep the faith mission at the heart of what Baptist Health System does was the right thing to do for many reasons.

“The strong association that Baptist Health System had with good works was something we did not want to lose. Healing means more than just addressing the physical problems a person may have,” says Pilgrim. “We believe that it is our mission to help heal the whole person, and that’s what our pastoral program does. Beyond that, the faith and community aspect of what George and his team does, strengthens our internal culture and adds to the wellbeing of the community as a whole.”

“We have rewritten the mission statement and our values statement so that they strengthen a clear understanding of the Christian mission here, and we have enabled the pastoral care team to be leaders in instilling the mission and values into the people that work here,” Gaston added. “With more than 5,500 employees modeling the Christian healthcare mission, that has a huge impact on the community at large.”

Under Gaston’s leadership, the pastoral-care team maintains 11 full-time chaplains in the hospitals. Eight part-time chaplains handle all of the on-call work over the weekends. The team provides 24/7 coverage in case a nurse calls in the middle of the night with a request from a patient or family member in need of counsel and support for end of life, grief and other needs. The clinical pastoral education program has grown, as well. Two clinical pastoral education supervisors work each year with six full-time students and 12 interns. Each year 18 to 20 students go through the program, learning about pastoral care.

The Christian mission of Baptist Health System is felt not only among patients, their family and friends, and the staff of the hospitals, but also extends outside the hospital walls.

“The health system has become even more community focused in interacting with community partners in efforts to improve life in San Antonio,” Gaston said.

One way the mission is felt in the community is through the preaching and teaching provided by the health system’s team of pastoral care leaders in San Antonio-area congregations. As interim pastor at First Baptist Church of Boerne and Baptist Temple in San Antonio, Gaston found himself back in the pulpit almost every Sunday during his first three years in San Antonio.

“If I’m preaching, I’m happy. I feel disconnected if I’m not,” he said. These days, Gaston preaches on average every other Sunday and consults with church committees and with pastors.

“The pastors can turn to me to talk about personal issues in their lives and in their churches and leadership issues in their churches. Because I am no longer identified with just one congregation, I am free to be available to all as a resource. As a pastor, you’re focusing on your one church. Here, as a leader of a faith based enterprise, I get to consult with any and all.”

With five hospitals located across San Antonio, Gaston constantly is in motion, traveling often to meet with chaplains in the hospitals in an effort to make sure everyone is moving in the same direction. “On a daily basis I consult with our pastoral care team in their work to help keep them unified in how we do our pastoral care. Together, we’ve set goals, and so it’s my job to facilitate the fulfillment of those goals in the hospitals.”

If he’s not in the hospitals, Gaston is consulting with ministers in the community or managing the large community-based projects in which the health system is involved. In the past four years, more than 950 employees have volunteered their time and money to build six Habitat for Humanity homes. United Way giving in the health system has gone from $109,000 in 2002 to $416,320 in 2007.

The health system is involved in more than a dozen nonprofit health organizations that support the health and wellness of children and families. Other outreach projects bring health care educators and information into local churches.

Gaston also helped re-establish an employee crisis fund that raises money for employees who find themselves in financial need because of illness, divorce or other unforeseen circumstances. “Our employees have embraced this opportunity to help their fellow workers, which has been very gratifying to see,” Gaston said.

Gaston and his team also are working to create a Center for Pastoral Ministry in San Antonio. “This will expand our ability to teach ministry students about pastoral ministry and pastoral counseling, and to provide actual ministry for persons in the crisis times of life.”

Gaston hopes to have the program up and running by January of 2009. “We are in the process of establishing the endowment now, so anyone interested in helping out with that can give me a call,” Gaston said, grinning.

He believes the biggest impact that’s been made since Baptist’s transition from a nonprofit to a for-profit system has been the ability to help shape the Christian mission and values of an entire health system and to connect those up with its employees.

“We challenge and encourage our employees to work in ways that reflect the compassionate Christian mission and values of our health system. We ask all of them, whatever their faith, to simply respect the fact that we are a Christian faith-based organization and share in the mission of the BGCT.

“In addition, our promise as a system is to practice business and medical ethics that are consistent with the Christian faith—the very same ethics that were practiced when we were officially affiliated with the BGCT. You would not expect to have this focus in a for-profit health system.

“I always like to quote Kent Wallace, the COO of Vanguard, in saying ‘our tax status does not dictate our culture.’ We are paying taxes, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a Christian set of values. People think that when you sell a nonprofit, that you give up the ability to render Christian care. We have not done that at all. We have strengthened and built upon what was done before us. We’ve got a wonderful ministry here.”

Posted: 4/11/08

Some Jews ‘uneasy’ with
high-profile Christian allies

By Omar Sacirbey

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—In re-cent years, conservative Christians have emerged as some of the most vocal supporters of the state of Israel—support many Jewish groups have welcomed at a time when they feel Israel is under siege.

One of the loudest voices has been John Hagee, the San Antonio megachurch pastor who recently endorsed John McCain’s White House bid and raised the ire of Catholic groups with statements that even some Jews called vicious and inflammatory.

The Catholic flap has sparked a new round of questions among Jewish groups over the support from Christian Zionists like Hagee. Where is the line between embracing their support and keeping their politics at arm’s length?

“On the one hand, there’s a desire to have as strong a support for Israel as possible,” said Joel Meyers, who heads the Rabbinical Assembly, an umbrella group of Conservative rabbis. “On the other hand, there’s concern that no one wants to back any religious extremist. And some of the comments coming from some of the leaders of the evangelical movement are certainly extreme when they talk about other faiths. That makes a lot of people, including myself, very uneasy.”

Christian Zionism has various interpretations, but the central belief is that ancient Israel must be restored to bring about Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ.

Christian Zionists believe Israel’s birth in 1948 fulfilled biblical prophecy and an intact Israel also must include Judea and Samaria—the predominantly Pales-tinian West Bank captured by Israel in 1967. As such, they have resisted returning any land to the Palestin-ians as part of a peace deal. And a war with Iran, some say, could usher in Armageddon.

Estimates on the number of Christian Zionists in the United States range from 20 million to 40 million. The movement is mostly evangelical, and its most potent force is Christians United for Israel, established two years ago by Hagee, the pastor of the 18,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio. The group’s executive board includes Gary Bauer, Jonathan Falwell and other evangelical leaders.

Hagee, in an interview, said he can “understand” why some Jews would “shy away from Christian support,” but blamed that reluctance on 2,000 years of anti-Semitism, not political or social differences.

“We have made a clean break with the past replacement theology and have embraced the Jewish people for whom the Bible says they are—the apple of God’s eye,” Hagee said. “And we would say to our critics you need to take a closer look at 26 years of unconditional support of the Jewish people.”

Many Jewish leaders have been turned off by some statements leaders of the Religious Right have made about Catholics, Muslims and gays. Hagee has stepped away from previous comments that called the Catholic Church “the whore of Babylon” and that seemed to blame Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans’ willingness to host a gay parade.

“I am not now, nor have I ever been, an anti-Catholic,” Hagee said, arguing the media have misconstrued his statements. “I have never called the (Catholic) church the Antichrist or a false cult system.” Katrina, he said, was either a blessing or a curse, and “it was not a blessing, I can tell you that.”

Ohio megachurch pastor Rod Parsley, a director of Christians United for Israel, has said “Islam must be destroyed” and issued a “lock and load” call against spiritual enemies. Hagee has been equally critical of Islam, but said, “my remarks about Islam are always … about radical Islam.”

Still, Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, said such bombastic rhetoric is bound to raise eyebrows—and concerns.

“I think we need to be very, very reluctant to partner with anyone who isn’t fundamentally respectful towards other religious traditions,” Yoffie said. “His comments on Islam are a legitimate and important factor here when Jewish groups consider whether they should join with him.”

Some Jewish groups have tried to draw a line between Hagee’s views on Israel and his views on practically everything else.

“Will I welcome Hagee’s support? Absolutely,” said Jerome Epstein, executive vice president of the United Synagogue of Conserv-ative Judaism. “Would I want his endorsement, or would I appear with him? No, because I don’t want to be associated with his positions.”

Some Jewish leaders said they welcome the support of Christian Zionists—but reserve the right to openly and publicly disagree.

“I don’t have to agree with anybody 100 percent in order to welcome their support, as long as their support is not conditioned on my agreeing with them on everything or accepting them 100 percent,” said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League.

Posted: 4/11/08

Rising food, transportation costs
raise need for gifts to hunger offering

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS—The rising cost of food and transportation heightens the need to give to the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger, according to leaders of the effort.

Faith-based and secular agencies worldwide are facing an economic crunch as they battle soaring fuel and food costs globally. The increased costs mean fewer people can be fed with the same amount of resources.

Food aid from the U.S. government has fallen 43 percent between 2002 and 2007, due in part to the soaring cost of transporting food to other countries. It has been estimated nearly two-thirds of the $2 billion marked by the government for food aid is being spent on transportation, storage and handling costs.

The result of the economic and aid situation is that more dollars are needed to feed the same number of hungry people around the globe, said Joe Haag, who coordinates the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

The Texas offering, like other faith-based hunger efforts, largely eliminates the issue of having to pay for the transportation of food. Area ministry leaders buy items locally.

“Money given through the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger supports local re-lief and development projects around the world,” Haag said. “Our ministry partners buy food locally or help people grow their own food, helping stretch dollars further than if they were used to purchase food here and ship it overseas.”

But Haag acknowledges the $700,000 he hopes the offering will raise will not buy as much food as it would have last year. Add that financial reality to the fact that hunger ministries typically are in need of funds anyway, and there is a serious issue.

“The truth is, there were hungry people when the economic situation was better,” he said. “With the downturn in the economy, there could be even more people left hungry if people don’t share what we have with people in need.”

The Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger supports about 100 relief and development projects around the globe. The designated date for churches to give to the offering is April 27, but congregations can give throughout the year. Undated resources are available.

Posted: 4/11/08

IN FOCUS:
Focus on & share the hope of Christ

“Four hundred sixteen children are taken from a West Texas polygamist compound.” “A 48-year-old grandmother and her 5-year-old granddaughter were killed by a gunman when a child’s birthday party turned violent.” “Home sales decline last month, the steepest so far, putting the entire first quarter into a double-digit downturn.”

We are reminded of the sorrow and fear in our world each morning when we read the paper. Our own lives also are interrupted by challenges and heartache at unexpected times. Yet we still are called on to proclaim a message of hope. How can we do this with integrity?

In Colossians 1:27 we read, “Christ in you the hope of glory.” Hope is not what we wish to experience or imagine. Hope doesn’t come from pretending that bad things are not happening. The hope we proclaim is the transformational hope we know in Christ. As Texas Baptists, we must focus continually on the hope of Christ that God makes available to the world through us.

As I begin this journey with you as your executive director, I am filled with hope. I am certainly not looking at the world through rose-tinted glasses, yet I am reminded constantly of the power of Christ.

Sheila and I have worshipped with three of our BGCT churches already and each time heard powerful biblical messages. Each church celebrated baptism the Sunday we were with them. Some of these were accompanied by video or live testimonies of the new believers about the hope they have found in Christ. Baptism reminds us that God still rescues and transforms.

One of our first opportunities was to attend the Baptist University of the Américas Hispanic Preaching Conference at Theo Avenue Baptist Church in San Antonio. I read some of the history of this church led by Pastor Efraim Diaz and saw that for several years the church had baptized more than 100 people. Many of the attendees were bright, young, enthusiastic students from the Baptist University of the Américas merging with the presence of men and women of other generations who have been faithful leaders in our Baptist life. I was filled with the hope of Christ when I was reminded that God continues to raise up men and women in each generation who will share this hope with the changing world around us.

Saturday evening, April 5, Sheila and I attended a dinner at Dallas Baptist University, where we celebrated the 20th anniversary of Gary Cook as president. It had been years since I had been on the campus, and I was absolutely amazed. During these past two decades, the enrollment has tripled and dozens of buildings stand as testimonies to the vitality of this great Baptist institution. The real story, however, was listening to Dr. Cook tell his own personal story about the healing power of Christ in his own life. The miracle of DBU is the miracle of prayer.

We must not focus on the real problems of the world or even the challenges we face as a family of faith. We must focus on the hope of Christ and be committed to sharing this hope with every person in Texas.

Randel Everett is executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board.

Posted: 4/11/08

Children’s home offers belated Christmas
celebration for single mother and daughter

By Jessica Schmale

Children At Heart Ministries

ROUND ROCK—Robyn James and her daughter, Bailee, missed celebrating last Christmas. But Texas Baptist Children’s Home recently gave them reason to be festive.

Bailee, who turned 4 in December, and her mother were living in an old Buick after they lost their apartment last October. The little girl was hospitalized several times for pneumonia, and that made it difficult for her mother to work as often as needed.

While all of these things were hard on James—a single mother and recovering drug addict—the hardest was when Bailee started asking about Christmas.

“The year before, I had gone overboard with Christmas. Having moved to a new apartment, I was excited about showering Bailee with gifts. This Christmas, I didn’t know what I was going to do,” James said.

Bailee was worried that Santa wouldn’t know where to bring her gifts. Her mother told her, “He’ll come if he can.” But Christmas came, and Santa did not. Bailee told her mother it was because they didn’t have a Christmas tree.

“It was the worst I’ve ever felt as a mom,” James said. “Bailee hated living in that car, and I couldn’t even give her Christmas.” 

When a friend told her about Texas Baptist Children’s Home’s Family Care program, James hesitated, her pride getting in the way. It took a policeman finding the mother and child living out of the car in a church parking lot to push James to pursue Family Care. In mid-February, the James family moved into the Family Care Program on the Texas Baptist Children’s Home campus in Round Rock.

Bailee was ecstatic. Her mother remembers her “running all over the house telling everyone she saw that she finally had a bed.”

Not long after they moved in, James told someone how disappointed she was when they weren’t able to celebrate either Bailee’s birthday or Christmas—stories she hadn’t planned to share.

“I don’t even know why I told anyone about that,” she recalled later. “I never told anyone before how hard that time was for us, and I certainly didn’t plan on telling anyone in our cottage.”

After hearing the story, Family Care Case Manager Jaymie Clark couldn’t sleep that night, because God had laid the James family so heavily on her heart. She was burdened to do something for them to make up for the missed Christmas.

The next morning, it was all Clark could do not to shout her plan out to anyone who would listen. Within days, she had purchased gifts and pulled Christmas decorations out of the attic. “It took some help from other TBCH staff, but we pulled it off,” she said.

On Tuesday of her second week at Family Care, James brought Bailee home after a long day of job searching. She was tired and discouraged.

The moment that she and Bailee set foot in their bedroom in the cottage, they were surprised by out-of-season Christmas lights, Santa decorations and a Christmas tree overflowing with gifts.

“Bailee’s eyes were like sand dollars,” James recalled.

The note left by Santa on the door sealed the deal. Bailee was convinced that Santa really had waited to bring her gifts because he couldn’t find her until she had a home.

“The gifts were perfect—clothes for both of us that fit great and toys for Bailee to play with. We couldn’t have dreamed up anything better,” James said.

Posted: 4/11/08

Texas Baptist Forum

Creationism

We were stunned to see a prominent photo of our president, Ken Ham, standing next to the dinosaur exhibit inside our new Creation Museum accompanying your story on religious fundamentalists and their alleged anti-modernism (March 31).

• Jump to online-only letters below

Letters are welcomed. Send them to marvknox@baptiststandard.com; 250 words maximum.

“As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say, ‘That’s a terrible statement,’ I grew up in a very segregated South, and I think you have to cut some slack. And I’m going to be probably the only conservative in America who’s going to say something like this, but I’m just telling you, we’ve got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told: ‘You have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can’t sit out there with everyone else. There’s a separate waiting room in the doctor’s office. Here’s where you sit on the bus.’ And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say: ‘I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had … more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.’” Mike Huckabee Former presidential candidate, governor and Baptist pastor, on the preaching of Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama’s former pastor (MSNBC)

Neither Ham nor the museum was actually mentioned in the article, which suggests that one of your editors made an ill-informed decision in the photo selection. It shows an ignorance of our ministry and its methods.

First, Answers in Genesis does believe in scientific inquiry. That is why we employ staff with doctorate degrees in astronomy, geology, medicine and biology. Also, contrary to what was implied, our identity is not defined by what we oppose; it’s defined by our adherence to proclaiming the positive message that the Bible is true.

In addition, we are not afraid of opposing points of view. Our new museum presents the arguments for evolution, and then rebuts them. Further, we have never been involved in any political causes. We don’t even push for creation to be taught in public schools.

Finally, our museum features state-of-the-art exhibits, yet by implication we are caricatured as “anti-modern.” Perhaps you can see why we rubbed our eyes when we saw ourselves being depicted as Exhibit A of backward thinking.

And since when is believing in the Bible a bad thing in Baptist circles?

Mark Looy, CCO

Answers in Genesis/Creation Museum

Petersburg, Ky.

I wanted to comment that comparing peaceful, thoughtful Christian groups such as Answers in Genesis with insanely violent cults such as al-Quaeda is borderline criminal. There is no comparison. I am glad the AiG photo has been removed from your website, since it is not applicable.

One of the issues in the world—and AiG points this out—is that in certain areas mortal mankind cannot know or prove what is truth.  This is the case even for concepts that so-called “progressive” humanist fundamentalists believe, such as the dogmas of evolution and that the universe is billions of years old. These are hypotheses that have not been and cannot be proven. 

Since no one, not even “science,” can prove everything, everyone has some belief system based on faith—faith in God, faith that there is no God, etc. 

To each person, his belief system is absolute truth. Thus, everyone potentially is a fundamentalist, because everyone has a belief system. The real problem is when violent, unlawful actions are taken.

However, ultimately, there is one and only one Truth. All the other belief systems are not true. That’s not fundamentalism. It is fact.

Bill Boger

Scottsdale, Ariz.

The article on fundamentalists had some vital and accurate information, but why the picture of Ken Ham and the Creation Museum?

Personally, I know nothing of this museum, and there was no mention of this issue in the article at all. It seems to insinuate and imply that anyone who believes in and promotes Creationism or Intelligent Design has to be considered a fundamentalist. Many who do not consider themselves part of the fundamentalist camp or agree with their tactics believe strongly in Creationism.

This is highly inappropriate and misleading journalism.

Larry Venable

Garland

I am so saddened whenever I see Christians deny the magnificence of God and going to all lengths to explain “creation.”

“Evolution!” Just go outside and yell, “Evolution!”

See, Christians can say the word. The sky didn’t fall; Christ didn’t return. 

God made dinosaurs. He made the cosmos. And he didn’t do it in 24/7. It evolved. We evolved. God is not lying to us in the marvels in our earth, or when we turn our eyes to the heavens. He did not set up some great scheme just to confuse us. He allows us a glimpse of his magnificent creation when we scour the earth, read the bones and see the footprints of dinosaurs at Glen Rose.

What other generation could appreciate what we see? Other peoples down through the ages had no idea what these things meant. God has privileged us with this awesome discovery. Isaac Newton would be honored to have this knowledge—and we discard it.

We send our kids to private schools where “evolution” is a dirty word. Christians are afraid this will negate the Bible. How ridiculous. God doesn’t need our belief in a seven-day creation. 

If we want to leave our Christian beliefs to our children, we must give them a bigger God. A God big enough to have created untold galaxies, to have been here before the dinosaurs, and old enough for their eternity.

Shirley Taylor

Willis

Wright’s sermons

I have not always been proud of every member of my race, which is white. But I have always been proud to be an American.

I am 83 years old. In elementary school, I learned about Nathan Hale, Benedict Arnold, Patrick Henry, John Paul Jones, Betsy Ross, George Washington and many more Americans, both good and bad. When I was a junior in high school, Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese. My fellow students and I could hardly wait to finish school and give this nation from three years up to our entire lives in brutal and terrifying places far away from home.

When I heard Jeremiah Wright “damning” the United States, I didn’t think of his color; I thought of his allegiance. Your phlethora of articles seemed intended to lecture your readers on clinging to racial prejudice, but not one word was said about Pastor Wright’s treasonous diatribe against our country (March 31).

So the things he said from the pulpit are OK because they belong to the black prophetic heritage? What book of the Bible is that phrase in?

I don’t see skin color when I look at a person, but I know treason when I hear it.

William B. Crittenden

Houston

I certainly would not have used the fiery rhetoric Jeremiah Wright used in criticizing America from his pulpit. But I have to admit I agree with some of the criticisms he expressed.  

For starters, God must be very displeased with how America treated Native-American Indians and enslaved Africans via an evil institution called slavery. And during my lifetime, it was America’s toleration of segregation, Jim Crow, the precedent-setting dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and currently the unwise invasion and occupation of Iraq. 

If the Old Testament prophets were alive today and living in America, I believe they would be persons of hope who would deliver some harsh criticisms of our country. As individuals and as a nation, in a cause-and-effect way, we pay for our sins and the sins of our ancestors.  

Prophets who speak truth to power are unpopular and often say things we don’t want to hear. Martin Luther King Jr. was a modern-day prophet who told it like it was in a spirit of love, knowing all along that what he said and did would probably cost him his life. 

Despite our many glib “God Bless America” pleas, America’s past and current national sins keep her from earning a God’s most-favored-nation status. 

Paul L. Whiteley Sr.

Louisville, Ky.

Fundamentalism

Rob Sellers’ flexible definition of fundamentalism as being “a defense of the faith … against whatever is perceived to be a threat or a challenge, or whatever is judged to be heretical or liberal” is sorely lacking (March 31).

The book of Acts chronicles the apostolic preaching of the truth that confronted accepted patterns of worship, both Jewish and pagan. Once established, however, the Apostle Paul repeatedly tells Timothy and Titus to defend the faith, stand firm and resist false doctrine.

Fundamentalism’s flaw is not its defense of truth, but the lack of love by which it accomplishes its means. We are to “boldly persuade people concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 19:8), but do so “serving the Lord with humility and tears,” not arrogant militancy (Acts 20:19). To “not shrink back from declaring the whole purpose of God” (Acts 20:27), but to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). To be “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:20), but to “keep (our) behavior excellent among the Gentiles” (1 Peter 2:12).

We are to be Christ’s loving truth tellers. To avoid our duty to challenge falsehood, whether “heretical or liberal” is to bring guilt upon ourselves (see Acts 20:26, Ezekiel 3:17-19). I am against fundamentalism because of their arrogant and spiteful attitudes as the owners of truth, when in fact, if they are Christ’s, truth owns them!

Ben Macklin

Vernon

What do you think? Send letters to Editor Marv Knox by mail: P.O. Box 660267, Dallas 75266-0267; or by e-mail: marvknox@baptiststandard.com.

Posted: 4/11/08

Pastor describes McCain’s
devout—but low-key—faith

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

PHOENIX (ABP)—John McCain has a deep and personal Christian commitment despite his reluctance to speak publicly about it, according to the man McCain calls his pastor.

Dan Yeary, pastor of North Phoenix Baptist Church, described the Arizona senator and his wife, Cindy, as “very unobtrusive” people who don’t seek special attention when they are able to come to worship. “They come in the side door. They’re very pleasant. They talk to people. They’re very approachable.”

But the man McCain calls “my family’s pastor” said his relationship with his most famous parishioner has not been a particularly close one. Yeary said he’s done the normal things a pastor would do but “no more than I would do for any church member” in the 7,000-strong congregation.

McCain, a lifelong Episcopalian, has been attending the Southern Baptist-affiliated church in Phoenix at least 17 years. But the presumptive GOP presidential nominee has neither officially joined the congregation nor been baptized. He has continued to list his faith as “Episcopal” in official congressional biographies.

Arizone Sen. John McCain

But, the pastor said, lack of membership hasn’t kept McCain from becoming deeply involved in the church. “I have a good relationship with John,” Yeary said, recounting their first in-depth conversation. “I respect him as a friend. He is a very courageous man. And he has a delightful sense of humor.”

McCain is a religious enigma to many reporters and observers because he does not fit squarely into the religio-political mold many other Christian conservatives have in recent years. For instance, he has voted consistently in opposition to abortion rights during his Senate career—but also supported government funding for embryonic stem-cell research, which many conservative evangelicals consider tantamount to abortion.

McCain also opposed an attempt to amend the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, citing states’ rights. He voiced support for a similar measure on the statewide level in Arizona. During a speech in his 2000 presidential campaign, he famously labeled Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson “agents of intolerance.”

Many prominent evangelicals have been mute on McCain, but radio personality James Dobson said flatly in February he would not vote for the candidate or either of his potential Democratic rivals, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Dobson has moderated his tone more recently but was quoted in an April 2 Wall Street Journal story saying McCain had insufficiently wooed social conservatives.

On the other side of the coin, many moderate Republicans and independents remain skeptical of McCain because he has courted two far-right evangelical leaders. The candidate endured some criticism in February after San Antonio pastor and Christian Zionist leader John Hagee endorsed him. Catholic and Jewish leaders denounced Hagee for statements he has made in the past that could be interpreted as anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic.

Hagee claimed the critics had misunderstood and de-contextualized his comments. Nonetheless, McCain’s campaign issued a statement in which he distanced himself from the preacher’s more controversial remarks without rejecting or repudiating the endorsement.

The senator has received less media scrutiny for a separate endorsement of his candidacy by Ohio pastor Rod Parsley. Parsley, who leads a charismatic multi-media empire, has been criticized for statements insisting Islam must be “destroyed” and for denigrating gays, the separation of church and state, and secularists.

But looking for clues to McCain’s faith from his association with such religious endorsers would be misleading, according to Yeary.

“I think John reaches out to everybody,” Yeary said. “He’s not afraid to spend time with people who have radically different views. I think that’s smart. That’s intelligent.”

Yeary, who said he also is a Republican, stopped short of endorsing McCain himself. Asked if he would throw his support behind the candidate, he responded with Solomonic nimbleness. “It is a privilege and an honor to be this close to a man I’ve learned to love, who has the potential to be a great president for our country,” he said. “I certainly am in favor of God’s endorsement on his life.”

Asked if Christians should be pleased if McCain is the next president, Yeary said: “I will be pleased. I trust him. He will seek wise counsel, spiritual counsel. This man is devoted to his country—there’s no maybe about it.”

But don’t expect McCain to talk easily about his faith—perhaps a reflection of his Episcopal upbringing rather than his recent church affiliation.

“His personal history means he’s not going to use ‘the language of Zion’” to talk about his faith, Yeary said, referring to the biblical terminology typical of evangelicals.

Cindy McCain, meanwhile, is a Baptist—baptized at the Phoenix church in 1991, two years before Yeary became pastor. The couple has attended faithfully since, the pastor said, as have their children— although they have not been baptized.

Yeary said McCain and then-pastor Richard Jackson had a conversation about membership and baptism when Cindy McCain joined the church. Likewise, Yeary said he continues to talk with the senator about his membership. Yeary did not reveal the details, but said the dialogue is ongoing.

“You have to be baptized by immersion to be a member” of North Phoenix, Yeary said. “John and I have dialogued about that. … John is an Episcopalian, and he and his family attend North Phoenix Baptist Church when he is in town.”

In an interview last year with InsideCatholic.com, an on-line Catholic forum, McCain said he attends North Phoenix Baptist because he likes Yeary's “message of reconciliation and redemption, which I’m a great believer in.” He added: “… I’m grateful for the spiritual advice and counsel that I continue to get from Pastor Dan Yeary.”

Yeary said he got to know the senator soon after becoming pastor at North Phoenix, which during the 1980s was one of the Southern Baptist Convention’s most prominent congregations. In the early 1990s, Yeary interviewed McCain on videotape about his experience as a prisoner of war in Vietnam for more than five years.

“He just came up and sat in my office for a good two hours and talked about how prayer and his faith sustained him in that setting,” Yeary recalled. “It was a wonderful day. From that moment on, John and I forged a friendship. It is not the kind where we talk every week or even every month. … (But) I would tell anyone who asks me it has been a privilege to serve as their pastor.”

Posted: 4/11/08

Texas missions offering goal
set at more than $5.2 million

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

The Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas board approved a $5,220,075 goal for the 2008 Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions—a slight increase over last year’s $5.2 million goal and more than $800,000 beyond the total received in 2007.

The increased goal reflects the great needs that can be met through ministries supported by the offering, as well as faith that God will touch the hearts of Texas Baptists to give in response to those needs, said Texas WMU President Nelda Taylor.

“Stay at the same goal, and we stagnate. Decrease the goal, and we become defeated,” she said. “We desire to meet the goal this year, and we are going to do everything possible to make this happen.”

Allocations for the 2008 offering include about 50 new missions projects or ministry programs—the largest new item being $447,000 for mobile equipment to provide bottled water that Texas Baptist Men can distribute to disaster victims. A label on each bottle will include a brief Christian message.

“Just the thought of giving a bottle of water with the name ‘Jesus’ on it to a thirsty person who has no way to secure one on his own opens the doors of opportunity to share about Jesus,” Taylor said. “This is taking the gospel to the streets where disasters and hopelessness abide.”

While the offering includes multiple new ministries, it reduces funding for some areas such as church starting, Border/Mexico missions and community ministries. Some items—ministries to at-risk children and youth, literacy missions and Special Friends Reteat—have been dropped altogether.

Texas WMU received 161 funding applications for this year’s offering, compared to 134 last year, and accepted 105 of the applications, said Christine Hockin-Boyd, missions and ministry consultant with Texas WMU.

The 2008 offering includes:

• $596,300 for associational missions, including new line items for camp scholarships, a youth camp in the Rio Grande Valley and equipment to assist with fruit production at the Valley Baptist Retreat in Mission. Proceeds from the sale of fruit benefit missions projects in the Rio Grande Valley.

• $28,000 for the Immigration Service and Aid Center (ISAAC), a ministry of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission and Buckner Children & Family Services that helps churches legally minister to immigrants and guide them through the citizenship process.

• $38,000 for collegiate ministries, including $15,000 for Go Now student missions summer and semester projects and a new $5,000 allocation to fund two interns with Baptist Student Ministries in El Paso.

• $52,500 for African-American congregational relations, including a new $30,000 line item for a multi-ethnic tutorial ministry, as well as $7,500 for a children’s camp and $15,000 for a youth camp.

• $53,000 for bivocational and small-church congregational relations, including funds to provide regional events for pastors and their families.

• $46,000 for Hispanic congregational relations, including $10,000 for a new regional missions summit and $10,000 for a pastors-and-wives retreat.

• $93,250 for intercultural congregational relations, including $20,000 for a two-year pilot residency program to equip ministers in a cross-cultural setting.

• $46,000 for congregational relations with western-heritage churches, including funds for evangelism at major stock shows and rodeos, cowboy church-planting schools and $15,000 to start Spanish-language “vaquero” churches.

• $800,000 for church-starting, a $300,000 reduction from the 2007 allocation.

• $20,000 for a new pastor-and-spouse orientation retreat.

• $429,975 for institutional ministries, including $94,000 for the Mary Hill Davis Ethnic/Minority Scholarship Program; $75,000 to fund three student-led missions teams from Baptist University of the Americas to assist graduates and their churches in Hispanic outreach; and $60,000 to provide direct missions opportunities for Truett Theological Seminary, Logsdon Theological Seminary and Baptist University of the Americas ministerial students.

• $1,067,000 for the missions, evangelism and ministry area of the BGCT, including $150,000 for LifeCall Missions and $120,000 to produce Bible study curriculum in seven languages. One new item is $15,000 to hold four regional soccer tournaments as evangelistic His-panic outreach events.

• $554,800 for Texas Baptist Men, including $447,000 for the mobile equipment to provide bottled water that TBM volunteers can distribute at disaster sites.

• $1,395,250 for Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas, including $100,000 for Christian Women’s and Men’s Job Corps, $40,000 for a partnership with Montana Southern Baptist Women and the operating budget for Texas WMU.

Posted: 4/11/08

On the Move

• Omar Aguilar to Primera Iglesia in San Marcos as pastor.

• Bill Austin to Park Lake Drive Church in Waco as pastor.

• Kevin Boyd has resigned as pastor of Lifepoint Church in Red Oak.

• Blake Brewer to First Church in Paducah as youth minister.

• Curtis Crofton to Central Church in Carthage as interim pastor.

• Will Easler to First Church in Joshua as minister of children and preschoolers.

• Bill Fowler to Calvary Church in Brownwood as interim pastor.

• Joe Franklin to First Church in Brownwood as minister of education and administration from Northside Church in Victoria.

• Randy Gilchrist to San Jacinto Association as executive director. He had been a church-starting strategist with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

• Steven Griffin to Cornerstone Church in Mineral Wells as interim pastor.

• Paul Guthrie to First Church in El Campo as pastor of student ministries from First Church in Canton, where he was interim youth pastor.

• Bryan Hutchinson has resigned as pastor at First Church in Argyle.

• Bryan James to First Church in Duncanville as associate minister of music.

• Tamera Kimmell has resigned as minister of children at First Church in Godley.

• Jeff Lancaster to Calvary Church in Denison as interim pastor.

• Patrick LeBlanc to First Church in Duncanville as associate pastor.

• Ken Lovelace has resigned as pastor of Grace Fellowship in Rockwall. He can be contacted for revivals, interims and supply preaching at www.kenlovelaceministries.com.

• David Mills to Crestmont Church in Burleson as interim pastor.

• Guadalupe Montoto to Primera Iglesia in New Braunfels as pastor.

• Jim Mosley has resigned as pastor of Builders Church in Abilene.

• Cory Mullins to Rockett Church in Rockett as pastor.

• Craig Odem to Tolar Church in Tolar as pastor, where he was minister of youth.

• Randall Perry has resigned as pastor of First Church in Paris.

• David Plunk has resigned as director of the Family Life Center at First Church in Paris.

• Vern Richert to Crestmont Church in Burleson as minister of praise and worship.

• Ross Robinson has resigned as associate pastor at Prestonwood Church in Plano.

• Glen Schmucker has resigned as pastor of Cliff Temple Church in Dallas.

• Ron Sear to First Church in Joshua as minister of education.

• Pedro Serrano to First Church in Duncanville as associate pastor.

• Chad Smith to First Church in Gunter as associate pastor of worship and creative arts.

• Tommy Smith has resigned as associate youth minister at First Church in Denton.

• Jeff Stehle to Baptist Temple Church in Big Spring as pastor from Calvary Church in Brenham, where he was youth minister.

• Danny Stinson to Downtown First Church in Texarkana as minister of youth and outreach.

• Phil Williams has resigned as minister of music at First Church in Tom Bean.

Posted: 4/11/08

Foster families eager to share lives with children

By Jenny Pope

Buckner International

Percy Huaroc and his wife, Nancy, don’t have any children of their own. They’ve spent most of their married lives focused on their careers.

But when they heard about Peru’s pilot foster care program, they jumped at the chance to impact a child’s life and show God’s love to others.

The Huaroc family is one of the first foster families in Buckner's program in Peru. (Buckner Photo)

See Related Articles: • Buckner programs make history in Peru • Foster families eager to share lives with children

“Our decision to foster was a process, but it was a process that began in our Lord’s heart,” Huaroc said. “From time to time, the Bible verse came to our mind: ‘Whoever receives one child like this in my name receives me. And whoever receives me does not receive me, but him who sent me.’ This verse is why we decided to receive two children into our family.”

The Huarocs are making history in Peru as one of the first seven families chosen to participate in the pilot foster care program, established by Buckner and government officials. They have an opportunity to shape and influence future generations of childcare services in their country.

Because foster care is not widely known or practiced in Peru, the families participating in the pilot program often have to explain to others what it means to take in a child who has been abandoned or abused.

“When people find out about what it is, they are eager to share their lives and their homes with kids,” Huaroc said. “Most of the time, they want more information and wish to have someone walk with them through the process.

“Buckner Peru has been great from the start, because they provided foster families with all the facilities to help us through this process.”

Huaroc was raised by his grandparents from age 5, when his mother remarried, moved away and left him in their care. Had foster care existed, he might have been a child to benefit.

“This program is a great opportunity to learn about the different realities in our country,” he said, “and to develop ourselves spiritually, giving and receiving love. All of us have to think that if we have the opportunity to overcome adversity and help others, these kids can achieve unimaginable goals.”

Posted: 4/11/08

For pope & president, a chasm over Iraq

By Tom Feeney

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)— On social issues like abortion, gay marriage and stem cell research, the conservative Pope Benedict XVI and the conservative President Bush find much common ground.

But when Benedict makes his first visit to the United States, his meeting with Bush is likely to underscore an issue where a deep divide remains between the Vatican and the White House—the war in Iraq.

Pope Benedict XVI	George Bush

From the start of the five-year-old war, the pontiff and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, have spoken out against it. “Nothing positive comes from Iraq,” Benedict said during his Easter message last year.

Bush will greet Benedict when his plane lands April 15. The pair will meet the next day to kick off the pope’s six-day U.S. visit that includes two stadium Masses and a speech at the United Nations. Observers expect the Iraq war will come up during the White House visit.

“If it doesn’t, I’d be disappointed in the pope,” said Richard P. McBrien, a professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame. “If it does, however, I would expect Benedict XVI to be a bit softer in his approach than John Paul II. But the effect will be the same; namely, the war will continue through the remainder of the president’s second term.”

Meetings between popes and sitting U.S. presidents have become fairly common over the past four decades. During that same period, popes also have become more likely to speak out against war, experts say.

Shortly after the end of World War I, during a tour of Europe,Woodrow Wilson became the first U.S. president to meet with a pope while in office when he had an audience with Pope Benedict XV.

The next papal audience for a sitting U.S. president wouldn’t come for another 40 years, when Dwight Eisenhower met in Rome with Pope John XXIII.

Since then, every U.S. president has met with the pope. Ronald Reagan met seven times and Bill Clinton four with Pope John Paul II. The upcoming papal meeting will be the fifth for Bush.

“What is most important here is how Catholic teaching on war has been changing in the post-World War II era, especially since John XXIII’s 1963 encyclical, ‘Pacem in Terris,’” said Una Cadegan, a professor of history and director of the American studies program at the University of Dayton.

“The unique destructiveness of modern warfare makes it almost indefensible even within the tradition of Christian just war theory, and popes have been speaking out increasingly strongly about nonviolent means of resolving conflict, the importance of diplomacy and the need to seek justice as a way of cultivating lasting peace.”

Benedict’s public statements against the war date to the time before he became pope.

When he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he dismissed the idea that a preventive strike against Iraq could be considered a just war.

“The concept of a ‘preventive war’ does not appear in the Catechism of the Catholic Church,” he said in interviews in the months leading up to the war.

This will be the second meeting between Benedict and Bush.

The Iraq war was a topic of conversation at the first, which took place last summer at the Vatican. The pope told Bush he was concerned about the “worrying situation in Iraq.” “We didn’t talk about ‘just war,’” Bush told reporters after meeting with Benedict. “He did express deep concerns about the Christians inside Iraq, that he was concerned that the society that was evolving would not tolerate the Christian religion.”

Chester L. Gillis, a professor of Catholic studies at Georgetown University, said he doesn’t expect the upcoming meeting between Bush and Benedict to be terribly contentious.

“I think in general they agree on more things than they disagree on,” he said. “I think the pope is probably pleased with a lot of the positions the president has taken on moral issues.”

He said he expects the pope to discuss Iraq and possibly even to caution Bush against American aggression against Iran.

“The reality is we have a lame-duck president,” Gillis said. “Benedict’s bringing up his opposition to the war in Iraq does not mean there’s going to be a change in American policy.”

Posted: 4/11/08

Texas Tidbits

Foundation seeks mini-grant requests. Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio is accepting mini-grant applications from nonprofit organizations in South Central Texas—including churches and church-based ministries—helping meet community health needs. The application deadline is noon on June 2. This year, the maximum grant is $7,500 for programs that serve residents in the foundation’s eight-county geographic area—Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, Kendall, Medina and Wilson counties. For more information, visit www.bhfsa.org or call Eusebio Diaz at (210) 735-9009.

Valley Baptist earns national recognition. The emergency department at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville and outpatient radiology team at Valley Baptist-Harlingen each received a five-star customer-service award from Professional Research Consultants. The award is given annually by the national healthcare research firm to facilities that score in the top 10 percent nationally, based on patient ratings. The Brownsville inpatient nursing unit and Harlingen emergency department each earned a four-star award for overall quality of care.

Family establishes two endowments at HSU. The Skiles family recently established two endowment funds at Hardin-Simmons University—the Elwin K. Skiles Faculty Development Fund and the Win Skiles Memorial Speakers Endowment. Earnings from the faculty development fund—named for the 11th president of Hardin-Simmons University—will help enable faculty to participate in extended study, sabbaticals, research grants, lectureships and professional conferences. Earnings from the speakers endowment—named in memory of the HSU president’s son, an attorney and executive vice president at Texas Instruments—will be used to retain selected speakers in varied disciplines who will bring instructional, informational or inspiring messages to the campus.

Wayland trustees approve budget, tuition increase. Wayland Baptist University’s board of trustees approved a $49.7 million budget for 2008-2009 and a tuition increase. Undergraduate tuition will increase from $355 to $380 per semester hour in Plainview, from $170 to $185 at Wayland’s external campuses and from $250 to $265 for its virtual campuses and interactive televideo classes. Concurrent students—those attending while still in high school—will pay $15 more for a total of $115 per course in Plainview and $185 per course for external campuses.

Hendrick a ‘great workplace,’ Gallup says. Hendrick Health System in Abilene has been recognized with a Gallup Great Workplace award for the second year in a row. Hendrick was among 20 organizations worldwide receiving the designation. To receive the award, Hendrick participated in Gallup’s survey of employees around the world, which evaluates 12 criteria of engaged workforces using a 12-question survey. The Gallup Great Workplace Award is based on survey results and a best practices portfolio summarizing the steps the organization has taken to increase workforce engagement.