Posted: 2/15/08

Faith Digest

Lost bird helps raise funds for English church. A tiny bird blown across the Atlantic Ocean from North America on winter winds is helping raise funds to repair the roof of an ancient church in the tiny English village where it landed. The white-crowned North American sparrow, a rare visitor to Britain’s shores, has become an attraction for “twitchers”—birdwatchers—in the Norfolk village of Cley-next-the-Sea, and a fund-raiser for the settlement’s Church of St. Margaret of Antioch. The twitcher tourists turning up in their thousands to view the seven-inch sparrow already have chipped in more than $6,000 in donations—with possibly more to come—that will be used to mend the east England church’s 13th century roof.

A minister walks into a bar … . Chuck Kish, 44, pastor at Bethel Assembly of God in Carlisle, Pa., is launching a program at a local pub to put chaplains in bars. They’ll offer help to people who might have ended up there for reasons other than relaxing and socializing. Kish said he and the chaplains he trains will not be there to preach against “the evils of drinking” or to make converts. Chaplains will work in teams, one male and one female. “Some people may think this would be a strange place to find a chaplain. But we need to go where the people are,” Kish said.

Mormons name new president. Thomas Monson was elected the 16th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Monson, 80, was the longest-serving member of the church’s top leadership body. He succeeds Gordon Hinckley, who died Jan. 27 at age 97, as leader of the world’s 13 million Mormons. Monson chose Henry Eyring, 74, as first counselor, the church’s No. 2 position. Dieter Uchtdorf, 67, was named second counselor—the third man in the church’s triumvirate.

Pope defends Catholic uniqueness. Pope Benedict XVI has defended a controversial Vatican statement on the uniqueness of the Catholic church, saying it would enhance, not derail, ecumenical dialogue. The pope made his remarks in a meeting with members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the church’s highest doctrinal body. The pope commended the body on a document it published last July, which reaffirms the teaching that the “one Church of Christ … subsists in the Catholic Church” alone. The document describes non-Catholic Christian churches as defective, and it says Protestant denominations are not even churches “in the proper sense.”

Egyptian court OKs conversions. Egypt’s Supreme Civil Court has permitted 12 Coptic Christians who had converted to Islam to revert to their original faith, the second such recent victory for religious minorities in the predominantly Muslim nation. The ruling, which overturns an April decision by a lower court, allows the 12 Christians to carry government identity papers indicating their religious choice. The National ID cards are required for education, employment, financial transactions and other purposes.

Posted: 2/15/08

Family Place helps mother leave fear behind

By Analiz González

Buckner International

MIDLAND—Ambra Riley spent the night in her daughters’ room holding her baby tightly in her arms. She put something over the doorknob so she’d know if her husband tried to enter.

Her husband may have stolen her self-esteem and robbed her family of happiness, but he would not take her son, she reasoned.

“He probably wanted him because he was a boy,” Riley said. “He was verbally abusive to my oldest daughter, always telling her she was fat and to get off the trampoline because she’d break it.”

Riley spent two years hiding in her daughters’ bedroom before she finally left the abusive household. And when she did, her world changed.

“I don’t know why I didn’t do it earlier,” she said. “I guess I was trying to keep the family together. After I left (my husband) the first time, he told me I was going to hell for breaking up the family. I felt powerless, so I took him back.

“When we’d come back from church and turn the corner to come to our trailer home, the kids would be waiting to see if his truck was there. If it wasn’t, there would be this sigh of relief. If he was, they would zip their mouths and go straight to their bedrooms.”

After leaving the abusive situation, she sought help at Buckner Family Place in Midland. Family Place is a self-sufficiency program where single parents who are going to school can live with their children under a rental cost based on their family income.

Since Riley came to Family Place, she’s been inspired to pass on the blessing she’s received.

“I want to help people,” she said. “I don’t know what, but something amazing… .”

“They’ve really helped me out a lot. This is a wonderful program. If you want it to work out for you, it definitely will. The means are there. I never had a bed so pretty. I had a mattress that I slept on the floor before this. They furnished the apartment, and if we graduate, we get to take it with us. When I found Buckner, I was overwhelmed that I’d finally come to something that was going to help me.

Anxiety attacks

“My oldest daughter used to have anxiety attacks because she thought my husband was going to kill me. She’s having fewer breakdowns, and they all feel good that Mommy isn’t stressed all the time.”

Riley credits God with giving her the strength to leave her husband and for guiding her to Family Place. Before she left the abusive situation, she met a friend who was going to church. She contacted the pastor and attended that Sunday.

When the service ended, the pastor’s daughter asked Riley her name. When she told her, she asked if she had a sister named Ashley.

“Apparently, the pastor’s daughter had babysat for my sister, and my sister had asked her to pray for me,” Riley said. “She told me she’d been praying for me for years.”

Since then, the Riley children learned a lot about God’s concern for them and how God will fill the hole where their father used to be.

When Riley’s middle child was celebrating her birthday, she was scheduled to attend a supervised visit with her father. But she didn’t want to see him.

Power of prayer

“She was crying, so we got on our knees and prayed together,” Riley said. “We asked God to find a way for her to not have to see him on her birthday. Then we drove there and she started crying when we pulled into the parking lot. Right when I parked the car, we got a call from the building and the visit was canceled. She started screaming. She turned to me and said, ‘Mama, God really does hear my prayers, huh?’

“That same day, the pastor’s daughter threw her a big birthday party with a theme of Disney princess. The whole wall was filled with presents. I could not have done that for her. God did that for her.”

Her son, now 3, used to feel bad that he didn’t have a father. But not anymore, she said, straightening up in her chair.

“Just because we don’t have a dad doesn’t mean we’re crippled. For Father’s Day, my son made me all this stuff and said, ‘I am so thankful that you are my Mom and my Daddy, too.’”

And Riley has grown a lot since she and her husband parted.

No more fear

“I don’t fear him anymore,” she said. “I don’t fear. If he wants to do something to me, I’m ready for him. … God has healed my mind. Now I know that I’m smart. I can learn. I can do this. I can take care of these kids. I don’t need a man in my life. … I can wear whatever I want. I can come and go as I please. I can go to church all I want. My oldest daughter doesn’t have to worry about the way she looks. I tell her every day that she’s beautiful.

“Sometimes we’ll drag my mattress out, and we’ll all have a campout in the living room. All of us sleep together sometimes like we used to when I was with my husband. Back then we did it out of fear. Now, we do it because we want to.”

Posted: 2/15/08

In Between:
New Reformation: Shared ministry

The great Reformation of Luther and Calvin left unfinished business. What the Christian world has not taken seriously is the ministry of all believers, whether lay or ordained, male or female. The Apostle Paul described it as “equipping all believers for ministry” (Ephesians 4:12).

Greg Ogden writes in his book, The New Reformation: Returning the Ministry to the People of God: “Serious signs of strain have become visible in traditional American church life. Overworked and stressed pastors and staff worry about large numbers of inactive and passive members who look to the church during times of need, but who often give very little in the form of regular committed service. Fast-growing churches and younger denominations are growing because they have found ways to entrust ministries to nonordained people.”

One Texas pastor agrees and said it this way to me just a few days ago: “I am overwhelmed, while laypersons in my church are totally underwhelmed and unchallenged because they see their primary task is to pay and pray for the staff to do everything. I was even told, ‘Preacher, you’re trained and paid, so it is up to you to get ministry done the best way you can.’”

In between Charles Wade’s and the BGCT’s next executive director, I have the wonderful privilege of listening to the concerns, questions and prayer requests of Texas Baptists—both inside and outside the convention staff. I plan to share some of those relevant matters with you during these next few weeks.

Let me give you some really good news. I am finding more and more congregations that want to be engaged with really important rather than urgent concerns. Folks keep saying to me, “We must make the first thing the first thing.” That is to call women and men and girls and boys to faith in Christ Jesus. Therefore, it appears to me that placing evangelism, disciple-building and missions above all else is a must.

Why do we spend so much time growing church and committee members, instead of growing disciples, in all of our efforts? One answer is for pastors, staff and for lay leaders to be more intentional in their work together of disciple-building rather than church-building.

One of our congregations in North Texas has been incredibly successful at this because of the way staff and elected lay leaders work together. One of their primary ministries is helping folks, as they like to say, “with hurts, hang-ups and habits.” Bible study also is central to the equation. Along with this is a concentrated focus on life groups. Instead of bickering, fussing and disagreeing as to how the church will grow disciples, these leaders concentrate on the call to be faithful to Christ, and not about turf or control. And they are finding results that give glory to God instead of their own egos.

Egos leave the room, credit is seldom mentioned, and God is glorified. Think of it—staff and laypersons glorifying God, reaching a very lost Texas and agreeing that ministry belongs to all of us. What a wonderful idea.

Jan Daehnert is interim executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board.

Posted: 2/15/08

Texas Baptist Forum

Hypocrites everywhere

You do not have to do a survey, but have you noticed how many hypocrites we have at ballgames, malls, movie theaters, driving down the highways, lecturing/teaching in our schools, colleges, universities, seminaries and the Congress? 

• Jump to online-only letters below

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

“What do I do? Do I go up to them and say, ‘Can I see your documents before I give you free spaghetti?’ It negates Matthew 25, where Jesus says, ‘What you do for the least of these, you do for me.’” Dave Lewis Pastor in Shawnee, Okla., about a new state law, which makes it a felony to knowingly shelter or transport illegal immigrants (Presbyterian Outlook/RNS) “In spite of their best efforts to steer people to another candidate … they failed. Why? Because the people said: ‘I don’t care who you think I should vote for. I’m going to vote for who I want to vote for.’” Richard Cizik Vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals, speaking about religious right leaders’ political influence (RNS) “Far too often, religious services in the USA are of the adults, by the adults and for the adults. And don’t think young people aren’t noticing.” Stephen Prothero Chair of Boston University’s religion department (USA Today/RNS)

You bet, we have hypocrites in the church—I’m probably one of them. 

But I am thankful I have a church that gives me the opportunity to continue “working out” my salvation.

Jack R. Peters

Tuttle, Okla.

Unfit article

The Baptist Standard never fails to surprise me in printing politically correct secular worldviews.

The report on Foreign Policy magazine’s article by Graham Fuller, a former CIA official, creates a fairy tale world in which Islam wasn’t born (Feb. 4). The imaginary scenario is of how “Islam wouldn’t be a convenient scapegoat, which is easier than exploring the impact of the massive global footprint of the world’s sole super power” (that eee-vil America). With CIA officials like that, who needs Che Guevara?

The article is not fit to be in a serious newspaper, especially one that claims to bring Jesus Christ to an atheistic secular humanist world. Any serious investigation of Islam in the real world knows that Muhammad organized a disarrayed society into an aggressively violent campaign to conquer the world, which has cycled throughout history. Europe, even though being inhabited by sinful humans, endured over 300 years of attacks and encroachments before initiating an offensive that was flawed with human characteristics.

The Christian worldview has no need to fantasize in order to defend Islam and divert the blame of evil mainly on Europe and America. I am very surprised Fuller didn’t manage to put some blame on the Jews too. I am not surprised Fuller lives in leftist British Columbia, nor that he is a propagandist at Simon Fraser University. I am very glad to know that he is no longer in a government agency, especially the CIA.

Darell A. Clem

Humble

Suspect connection

I have been a pastor of a Baptist General Convention of Texas church since 1988. Recently, I was impressed to know the names of the executive director search committee. I was curious as to the convention associations of the members. With limited but accurate research, I discovered that the majority of the members of the committee are affiliated by church or personal association with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Understandably a person or church can affiliate with whomever they wish. I do not know the search committee personally but do find it puzzling that the majority of the members who are looking for a BGCT executive director are connected to the CBF. It is apparent that their CBF affiliation was important in order for them to be on the committee. This is very disheartening to the majority of us in Texas who still understand the need to be in partnership with the fallible Southern Baptist Convention.

Did we forget that the overwhelming majority of BGCT churches are affiliated with the SBC? Have we become so out of touch with our churches in Texas to think that this does not matter anymore? Maybe I am the one who is out of touch with the “new” BGCT?

My sense is that many of us who remained with the BGCT believed that things could be turned around. Unfortunately, the continued actions of our leaders convey a much different outlook.

Joe Worley

Groves

False prophets

The TV preachers who preach a prosperity gospel and who solicit huge amounts of money over the airwaves and then use the money for their own self-gratification are scam artists or false prophets. 

A true prophet is a spokesperson for God. God does not speak through preachers who run a scam. I find it amazing so many people in America fall for the false prophets’ pitches.  

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley is right in his attempt to expose the preachers who hide behind the First Amendment to practice fraud.

Paul Whiteley Sr.

Louisville, Ky.

Posted: 2/15/08

Love leaves no room for
‘us and them,’ Dallas pastor says

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

ATLANTA—Peace and reconciliation require people to move beyond categories of “us and them” that always become “us versus them,” said George Mason, pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas.

Mason spoke at a prophetic preaching conference held as a part of the New Baptist Covenant celebration in Atlanta.

“There are two kinds of people in the world—those who view the glass as half-full and those who see it as half-empty. There are two kinds of people—those who suck the life out of every day and the ones who let the day suck the life out of them. …There are two kinds of people in your church—those who agree with you and the bigots,” Mason began.

“OK, we could go on and on with this. But that’s also the problem. Any time you go down that trail of dividing up the world into two kinds of people, it goes on and on.”

Danger of Categorizing

Lumping people into categories of “us and them” leads not only to division, but also to arrogance and antagonism, he said.

“We somehow need to believe that we are the good, and yet doing so requires we believe that others are the bad. But it’s hard to love your neighbor—let alone your enemy—if you spend all your time trying to figure out who’s who or which is which,” Mason said.

Baptists have plenty of practice dividing people into categories, he acknowledged, whether splitting internally over theological and political issues or separating all humanity into easy-to-grasp categories of “lost and saved, counting ourselves among the saved and looking upon the majority of the world as damned to hell.”

Missions and evangelism rightly call people to faith, Mason stressed, but God’s work of salvation does not depend upon human efforts.

“It’s not up to us to account for the standing of others before God,” he said. “It is up to us to stand before God and give account of our witness of good news to the poor, the captive, the blind and the oppressed. They, too, are included.”

The division of people into clear-cut categories leads far too easily to armed conflict, as in the United States’ occupation of Iraq, Mason asserted.

“We are told over and over that we are the good; they, the bad. We are the righteous; they, the unrighteous. We are the do-gooders; they, the evildoers. We are told that nations are either with us or with our enemies—us against them,” he said. “But isn’t this just a mirror image of the very thinking of those who flew planes into the World Trade Center buildings?

Religions of peace

“Christians question whether Islam is a religion of peace. We ought to be asking whether others can believe by our witness that Christianity is a religion of peace.”

Evil must be acknowledged and confronted, Mason said. The challenge Christians face is to oppose evil without playing by evil’s rules.

“For example, employing the tortured logic of the greater good in order to justify torture only damages us all,” he said. “Never mind the Geneva Conventions. The Golden Rule on which they are based is broken in every torture chamber.”

Mason termed it “presumptuous” for any preacher to label any sermon in advance as prophetic. The prophetic nature and “gospel truth” of any message is determined in the lives of God’s people over time, he insisted.

But, he stressed, the world needs more prophetic preaching if Christians are serious about wanting all people to recognize the gospel’s power.

“But that will not happen by our climbing up on public perches of privileged piety and scolding people for their bad behavior,” he said.

“It will happen by climbing down to join them at the foot of the cross and loving our neighbors—and even our enemies—as Jesus did.”

Posted: 2/15/08

Sexual exploitation alive in
America; churches can end it

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

ATLANTA (ABP)—Many church-goers know human trafficking and sexual exploitation are global issues. But more than 200,000 children in the United States have become “sex commodities” as well, Baptist social workers say.

Ellyn Waller and Brenda Troy led a discussion about exploitive sex at the New Baptist Covenant meeting in Atlanta—a city with the nation’s second-highest rate of human trafficking, they noted.

The seeds of exploitation start early, they said.

“The exploitation of women doesn’t just happen when they become women,” Waller said. “The intent is encouraged starting when they’re young. We also need to be thinking differently about what exploitation really is. It’s not necessarily the thing with sex acts. You can exploit women and children in the mind first.”

Both women lead outreach ministries in their churches to women and men who work as prostitutes. The victims—as do the pimps—come from every race, age, gender, ethnicity and religion, they said.

Most Christians do not understand the variety of circumstances that can push someone into prostitution. The women called on church members to recognize that pimps or sexually exploited women and children may be within their numbers. And they challenged Baptists to take note.

A wake-up call

“This is a wake-up call to any of us—anyone who benefits from the child prostitution is guilty,” Waller, who attends Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Philadelphia, said. “When you go play the lottery, gambling money is all tied up in child prostitution.”

But when Christians work with people who are sexually exploited, “your perception changes about the lifestyle,” said Troy, who attends New Salem Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio. “Not all of them were poor. Not all of them were homeless. A lot of them were successful people who just got dealt a bad deck of cards.”

Many of the people first lured into commercial sex acts—prostitution, exotic dancing, stripping and pornography—are children. One out of every three teens living on the street will be lured to prostitute within 48 hours of leaving home, Waller said. In the last eight years, 150,000 minors were lured into prostitution, at an average age of 12.

God loves them no matter what they do

Troy works with New Salem Baptist members on Friday nights, talking with women who they find on the street. They tell them God loves them no matter what they do.

“We tell the young ladies that they can trust us,” Troy said. “Second, we want them to learn the truth, which is in the Bible. We let them know we’re not here to judge you; we’re not here to tear you down—we just want to lend a helping hand. We want to help them break the stronghold of this lifestyle.”

The lifestyle can be a tough habit to break—even though 99.8 percent of the women who live it want out, Waller said. Women and children lured to a life on the street often are promised love and safety, which they desperately lack.

“A lot of things are promised to them,” Troy said. Pimps tell them: “Your family will be taken care of. Your family will never want for anything. Don’t tell anyone, … but I’ll make sure your family is taken care of.”

Warning signs

Churches wanting to reach out to men, women and children who are exploited should take the time to get to know strangers who attend services, earn their trust and be aware of the warning signs of sexual coercion.

Look for physical and psychological control, because victims are trained to lie about pimps, Waller urged.

Many victims are deliberately kept transient and distrust law enforcement officials—more than 90 percent of the arrests in relation to the sex trade are of the victims, not purchasers or pimps.

Many victims have their names changed and are subjected to isolation and physical or emotional abuse. Others have been convinced they will be cut loose from their servitude after they pay off a debt or favor.

Someone who is being exploited may have excessive amounts of cash, hotel room keys, chronic homelessness, signs of branding like tattoos and jewelry, false IDs, a tendency to lie about their age, and the presence of “an overly controlling, possessive and abusive individual,” Waller said.

Overcrowding a problem

One problem Troy and Waller said they face is overcrowding in women’s shelters and a refusal to take in women who work as prostitutes—“they come with a lot of junk,” one shelter leader told Waller. In Philadelphia, only the hospital will take in a woman during the night without an ID.

Besides providing shelter or counseling for the women, churches have multiple options to start a ministry for the sexually exploited. Troy said night evangelism by small groups of church members has proved a strong tool to stop the “epidemic.”

Church leaders also can contact local attorneys, community activists, health-care providers and even postal employees for advice on reaching potential victims.

Troy said her church had to insist something be done to effect change in her community. They work closely with policemen in unmarked cars to monitor the neighborhood for suspicious activity.

“We demanded: ‘You need to help us clean up this community. … We want this cleaned up and now,’” she said. “You’ve got to find someone who is willing to make a difference in your community. Once people begin to see that you’re serious, you’ll begin to make a difference.”

Posted: 2/15/08

Team-based ministry changing church culture

By Jennifer Harris

Word &Way

Organization makes a huge impact on the effectiveness of a church’s ministries, consultants agree. the way leadership groups are organized—in committees or teams—may mean the difference between short-term obligation and long-term service.

Deserved or not, committees often have a negative connotation, said Don Simmons, owner of Creative Potential Consulting and Training.

“The terminology and methodology is borrowed from government and corporate cultures,” Simmons said. “Committees have a reputation for long, boring meetings where little is accomplished and for structures that rarely take a person’s giftedness and passion into account, but rather their availability and inability to say ‘no.’”

While committees focus on tasks and agendas, ministry teams place emphasis on personal development and relationships, he insisted.

“Teams require a very human element—trust—that may not always be operable in committees,” Simmons said.

The team concept allows everyone to bring their ideas to the table, said Jim Dees, director of equipping ministries at Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, Calif. Instead of the top-down leadership of committees, teams give the freedom to brainstorm ideas.

Relationships mean longer active life for teams

The personal element generally means teams have a longer active life, as people often choose to serve longer when they have developed relationships.

“At First Baptist Church (Jefferson City, Mo.), committees are nominated by the enlistment committee and then voted on by the church to serve mostly 3-year terms,” said Jeanie McGowan, associate pastor of equipping at the church. “Teams are led by volunteer leaders, and they can enlist anyone they choose, and folks can serve for as long as they choose, making one-year commitments as they go along. You may serve on more than one ministry team, but we try not to have anyone serving on more than one committee at a time.”

At Calvary Presbyterian, mission teams are lay-driven. While a minister or member of the equipping team may come up with an idea, the new team quickly is passed on to a member of the congregation.

Dees said the change to a team-based structure really changed the church’s ministry.

“It changed our church culture. Teams have greatly impacted the mobilization of people,” he said. “We’ve seen an increased number of church members involved in ministry in the community.”

Team-building requires commitment to a clearly defined mission, Simmons added.

“While some committees may function as teams, in order to build and sustain teams, leadership must be intentional and driven by a definitive purpose,” he said. “Teams do not happen accidentally—they are built with time, trust and tenacity.”

It took Calvary nearly two years to get the systems in place to start their equipping ministry, Dees said. The mission teams continue to evolve as new people get involved.

Changing an organizational structure takes time. Committees cannot—and should not—be changed into teams overnight. Simmons recommends changing one team at a time. “Start with the most obvious areas where teams may already exist, and then work to make them models for the rest of the church.”

Youth or student ministries may be a good place to start. Churches also may have worship or mission teams already functioning that can be a model for other changes.

Simmons emphasized that “a committee becomes a team through their behaviors, not just their language.”

The team that plays together, stays together

The next step in building a team is practicing essential relationship functions. “Good teams eat together, drink together, play together and pray together—usually in that order.” Simmons said.

One of the most joyful teams Simmons served on was designed to provide services for a large hospice facility.

“With deep respect for the patients, our team knew that it was important to sing, dance, laugh and joke with one another and with the hospice staff in the face of great pain,” Simmons said. “Our fun was contagious, and we were often asked to train other teams of volunteers about the need to ‘lighten up’ with one another, to encourage long-term service and to prevent burnout.”

The team’s laid-back nature wasn’t accidental, however. “The fun we had was evidence of our care for one another, and was borne out of time with each other outside of our service time,” Simmons said. “We shared meals often and committed enough time to knowing each other to be authentic with our joy.”

Another step Simmons recommends is putting together a team covenant. Covenants are designed by team members to provide relational boundaries and guidelines on how the team will function together. “Some believe that developing a covenant is useless time consumption, and if the covenant is not authentic and practical for the ministry team, then it may become just that,” Simmons said. “If the covenant is developed and written by the team, for the team and used intentionally, then the covenant can be the guidestar for the team’s work.”

Developing a covenant

Simmons gives six guidelines for developing a covenant that supports the work of a ministry team:

• Write the covenant as a team. Use time in the first two team meetings to develop the covenant, based on the “norms” the team needs to function.

• Keep the covenant focused on behaviors that are authentic and practical. Be sure to covenant areas such as attendance, punctuality, fun, contributions, conversations, confidentiality and documentation.

• Review the covenant at each team meeting. Allow for revision if a covenant area is being ignored or bypassed regularly.

• Discuss behaviors as a violation of the covenant, not as sin or personal disappointment.

• Review and re-covenant each time a new member joins the team to ensure ownership is understood and valued by the entire team.

• Write the covenant in everyday, authentic language. Even the Bible was written in the language of the ordinary person; so, church team covenants also should be easily understandable and accessible.

“A team covenant can make the difference between a cordial work group and a highly functioning team if the process of developing the covenant is authentic and realistic,” Simmons said. “The time invested in covenant creation will greatly benefit the team in fluidity and performance.”

Ultimately, Simmons believes teams benefit the church because “people matter. The fun that we have with one another exhibits to people that we are not only willing to share the work and tasks, but willing to share our very lives.”

Posted: 2/15/08

Texas Tidbits

BGCT launches Spanish website. The Baptist General Convention of Texas has launched a Spanish website to provide resources for Spanish-speaking congregations. The site, www.bgct.org/espanol, pulls together the convention’s Spanish resources for churches and makes new materials available to them. Many of the items have been written by Hispanic Texas Baptist leaders.

CERI staffer will shape national policies in Moldova. Jon Meyer of Children’s Emergency Relief International begins a two-year stint Feb. 20 as senior consultant to the newly created Ministry of Social Protection in Moldova. He will help the government develop a national strategy and draft policies related to the care of displaced children. He also will teach social work in the government university. CERI—the international arm of Baptist Child & Family Services—began work in Moldova with summer camps for orphans in 1999. Later efforts included Christmas camps, social work and medical support for orphanages, and a drive to provide winter boots for orphans.

Buckner sponsors Global Missions Conference. Buckner International will sponsor its “Go.Be.Do.” Global Missions Conference from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 12 at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas. The conference will feature international Buckner staff and experienced missionaries from eight countries. Participants can learn more about the needs of orphans in each country and discover opportunities available to transform lives through missions during specialized breakout sessions. The $20 per person registration fee includes lunch and snacks. Maximum cost per church is $200, and students can register for $5. To register for the one-day conference, go to www.buckner.org/gobedoconference or call (800) 442-4800 ext. 8061.

Howard Payne meets challenge grant. Howard Payne University met and exceeded the $7,625,000 challenge goal presented by the Mabee Foundation of Tulsa, Okla., qualifying the university for a $750,000 grant from the foundation. Howard Payne met the goal two weeks before the challenge deadline and exceeded it by $100,000. Funds will be used to renovate the Faith & Life Leadership Center and the art program facility, add a welcome center to its administration building and increase current gifts for scholarships and increase endowments for scholarships and academic programs.

Baylor regents approve geology research building. Baylor University’s board of regents approved construction of the $1.3 million Carlile Geology Research Building, which will be built adjacent to the Baylor Sciences Building. The new 5,400-square-foot building will include six faculty labs, a small teaching classroom for use with lab sections and storage space for soil, sediment and rocks. The building also will provide a location for the department of geology to process samples and stage field activities. Baylor plans to break ground this spring, with anticipated completion in fall 2008. Regents also approved a new research institute—the multidisciplinary Institute for Ecological, Earth and Environmental Sciences. The board also approved two doctoral degree programs—one in ecological, earth and environmental sciences and the other in information systems.

Posted: 2/15/08

CBF council approves budget, reports
revenue shortfalls at February meeting

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

ATLANTA (ABP)—Leaders of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship approved a $16.5 million budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year and heard of budget shortfalls during the CBF Coordinating Council’s February meeting in Decatur, Ga.

The council’s finance committee reported that, as of the end of January 2008, CBF’s revenue had reached only 89 percent of its projected 2007-2008 budget. Meanwhile, expenditures by the end of calendar year 2007 reached 91 percent of the projected budget. January expenditures are still being processed, said CBF spokesman Lance Wallace, although the term’s total expenditures will probably parallel last year’s figures.

“Obviously, I think they were hoping for 100 percent, and we’re behind on revenues. But we are containing costs, keeping it down near 90 percent,” Wallace said.

December, January and February tend to be CBF’s most active months for revenue, he added.

“We’ll know better after this three-month period as to where we stand on revenue. It’s hard for us to draw any conclusions until we get past February.”

CBF supporters who attend the group’s General Assembly, scheduled for June in Memphis, Tenn., will give final approval to the budget.

CBF moderator Harriett Harral said that while CBF leaders are “being practical” about spending, they continue to “leverage every resource we have, and that’s dollars of course as well as everything else.”

They’re able to do more work than the dollar figure would seem to imply, she said, especially considering that designated funds for specific projects and money given to regional CBF partners are not included in the 16-million figure.

“There are a lot of different ways to look at the finances, and one of the things that has become clear to me is that we are blessed in some ways that we don’t acknowledge, in a way,” she said.

Harral said that instead of dwelling on the group’s financial situation, she left the meeting thinking about “how wonderful it is to get to be a part of” the fellowship. There was a lot of excitement among council members because of the recent Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant meeting, she added.

Vestal says New Baptist Covenant a gift

In his coordinator’s report, CBF Executive Coordinator Daniel Vestal discussed the covenant celebration, held in Atlanta.

“It had more of the feel of a revival,” Vestal said of the celebration. “There were several times when I literally sat in my chair and wept. The New Baptist Covenant was a gift. A gift of the people who gave money to make it happen, the people who gave leadership, the people who gave their gifts of preaching, teaching, music, platform leaders and volunteers. And most of all, God gave us a gift.”

The convocation highlighted efforts to reach across dividing lines to partner with others—and that’s one of the things CBF has done well throughout its history, Harral said.

Mercer University President Bill Underwood addressed the CBF group at lunch and similarly acknowledged the contributions of CBF in the overall success of the meeting.

“The Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant could not have been a moving event for thousands of people like it was without the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship,” Underwood said.

Former President Jimmy Carter—one of the main organizers behind the historic gathering—has invited leaders of participating organizations to meet at the Carter Center March 12 to discuss possible follow-up ministries. Both Vestal and Harral will attend the March meeting.

Other action

Other items discussed at the Coordinating Council meeting include:

• Emmanuel McCall, CBF’s past moderator, said the nominating committee has selected an individual to serve as the next moderator-elect, but that person has not yet accepted the nomination. The council will vote on the nomination by mail later this spring, he said. The general assembly gives final approval to new officers.

• Jack Glasglow, CBF’s moderator-elect, provided a report on the group’s involvement with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The Coordinating Council endorsed the goals for global poverty reduction at its October meeting, and Glasglow said the U.N. has been notified of the endorsement.

Glasglow has worked with CBF staff to compile an inventory of Fellowship-sponsored ministries around the world that do work to meet the goals. As of Feb. 4, the inventory included 102 projects, representing the ministries of 67 CBF field personnel.

“Being the presence of Christ to the most neglected means being involved in the things the U.N. goals address,” Glasglow said. “We are doing this not because the U.N. is leading us, but because Christ is leading us, and it is important to partner with others in this work.”

• On recommendation of the legal committee, the council formally established the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship 403(b) Retirement Plan.

• CBF has begun the partnership-application process for the Micah Challenge, a global campaign to mobilize Christians to end poverty.

Patricia Heys of CBF Communications contributed to this article.

Posted: 2/15/07

BaptistWay Bible Series for February 24

The Worst and Best of Times

• Mark 14:61b-64; 15:9-24, 37-41; 16:1-8

By Andrew Daugherty

Christ Church, Rockwall

Imagine that Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary the mother of James probably pulled an all-nighter that first Easter eve. Their commitments to keeping Jewish Sabbath kept them from paying their respects to Jesus the day before. So in the pre-dawn darkness they dressed, gathered their purses full of perfumes and crept nervously to the cemetery. Cemeteries tend to have that effect on people. They are places we go to visit. They are not places we go to stay. Cemeteries are places where we whisper if we have something to say not places where we feel comfortable making too much noise.

Hear these women whisper to each other as they bundle up on a chilly spring morning and shuffle their feet along the damp ground through the early morning fog. They will try to keep their voices down, but there’s no guarantee these women will stay silent once they lay their eyes on the empty tomb!

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I’ve never visited a cemetery on Easter Sunday before, but I can imagine what the feeling might be to want to shout, “Alleluia, Christ is risen!” But instead of hearing a whole chorus of voices shouting back, “Christ is risen indeed,” you only hear birds chirping.

These first preachers of the resurrection may have had a similar experience. The women had groundbreaking news to announce: He is not here but has risen! Like the sound in the room after you’ve just told a corny joke, Luke’s Gospel suggests that the disciples considered the women’s words tabloid news; a tall tale and they did not believe them. Only Peter bothered to go and see for himself.

When the women fled from the tomb, they were struck with terror and amazement (16:8). They could hardly believe the Sunday morning news.

Few of us are ready to believe “news too good to be true” without some suspicion. We don’t believe just because people tell us to; or because it’s expected that’s what a good Christian is suppose to believe. We want to draw our own conclusions. Part of our suspicion comes from our sense that good seems to be a perennial underdog to evil. We are so bombarded by the bad news of the latest car bombings and political scandals and rehab meltdowns and hurricanes and homicides, that when good news comes, we can hardly hear it and barely believe it.

Seems suffering and struggle and death are endemic to the human experience more than resurrection. “Good Friday Christians” is an apt characterization of many who hear the hope of resurrection. Yet such persons can become so accustomed to bad news that they end up camping out at the foot of the cross hoping that the next life will be better than this.

Sometimes it’s easier to think of resurrection as a past event that happened to Jesus or as a future event that will one day happen to us after we die. But all the joy and pageantry we relate to resurrection is about something more than just praising God for what will happen when our lives are over. In the meantime, we yearn to know what it is about Jesus’ resurrection that can help us live with God’s power and joy and justice and love now.

Kentucky novelist, farmer, and poet, Wendell Berry once wrote a poem that ends with the phrase, “practice resurrection.” It is a reminder that resurrection is more than just a belief in a past or future event. It is more to do with what we do than what we think. The poem begins “Love the quick profit, the annual raise, vacation with pay. Want more of everything ready-made. Be afraid to know your neighbors and to die. And you will have a window in your head. Not even your future will be a mystery anymore. Your mind will be punched in a card and shut away in a little drawer. When they want you to buy something, they will call you. When they want you to die for profit, they will let you know.” For Berry, this describes the consumer news report of our lives—that we are prisoners to profit…dominated by the fear that we never have enough stuff to keep up! But the Jesus of the resurrection insists there is a different way to live.

Fellow Texas pastor Kyle Childress once said that if a hospital practices medicine and a legal firm practices law, the church ought to be a place that practices resurrection. Of course, resurrection is something God does. But it is also something God can keep on doing through us. Resurrection isn’t confined to an empty tomb. We don’t need to spend any more time looking for the living among the dead. Resurrection lives and breathes among us every time we come together for worship; every time we pray for each other; every time we feed a person whose hungry; every time we are gentle and kind to someone who’s angry; each time we offer a good word to somebody else; or ask for forgiveness and offer forgiveness. And as we practice these things together, we are better able to see and know Christ among us.

Resurrection takes practice.

Posted: 2/14/08

Human Rights Watch blasts
U.S. on Kenya violence

By Greg Trotter

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—As blood continues to be spilled on Kenyan streets in fierce protest of the disputed presidential elections in late December, the head of Human Rights Watch demanded that the U.S. government take more responsibility for that violence.

“It’s easy to see why every two-bit tyrant around the world thinks he may qualify as a democrat,” Kenneth Roth said in releasing the group’s annual report on human rights. “Kenya is the latest example of that.”

The dominant theme of the group’s 2008 report is that the United States and other influential Western democracies undermine human rights by allowing countries, such as Kenya and Pakistan, to pose as democracies while holding flawed elections and violating other civil rights.

The yearly report is the culmination of researchers’ opinions based on interviews with citizens and officials in more than 75 countries. Human Rights Watch is an independent, nonprofit organization that started in 1978.

Though the presidential elections sent Kenya into political turmoil, Chris Albin-Lackey, senior researcher for Human Rights Watch in Kenya, said the U.S. government could be doing much more to end the violent revolt.

“The U.S. cannot just simply turn away from a crisis like this while still trying to cultivate the relationship (between the U.S. and Kenyan governments) and influence events,” Albin-Lackey said.

The U.S. government has substantial leverage over the Kenyan government because of the amount of aid money it contributes to Kenya, Albin-Lackey said. The two countries also have a close relationship because of shared counterterrorism objectives, he said.

Sean McCormack, spokesman for the State Department, said in a briefing that Washington is monitoring the situation. Though most humanitarian money will continue to be sent to Kenya, he said, there are some counterterrorism funds that are being reviewed and may be withheld.

“It will be an issue that is dealt with down the road,” McCormack said.

Posted: 2/13/08

Bible Studies for Life Series for February 24

The model

• John 4:4-10, 13-18, 24-26

By Steve Dominy

First Baptist Church, Gatesville

If there is any one thing about the Christian life that scares us the most, it is evangelism. Part of the reason for that fear is the fear of rejection—none of us cares for that. Part of the reason is that we fear we won’t know enough, that we won’t have the answers the person we are witnessing to might ask. Or, it might be that we have been immersed in a confrontational style of evangelism that just doesn’t fit.

Whatever the case may be, we are practicing evangelism less and less.

Today’s lesson proposes to help us with that. It makes a point that Jesus “had” to go through Samaria. John makes a point to tell us that. There are numerous reasons offered for why Jesus might have had to go through Samaria, however I think the one that is most likely is that Jesus was obedient to the prompting of the Spirit.

We rarely think of Jesus’ ministry being accomplished by the power of the Spirit, but Luke makes it clear in 3:21-23 that Jesus did not begin his ministry until the descent of the Spirit. It is Jesus’ attentiveness and obedience to the will of the Father that is most distinctive about his ministry. This is the case with the necessity of traveling through Samaria.

Jesus’ obedience also tells us something about our part in salvation as well. Salvation is God’s work. We get to participate in it, but God does the work. Jesus says in Matthew 4:19, “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

The natural result of following Jesus is sharing his good news with those around us. It should not be something we have to contrive, but something that should be a natural part of who we are as followers of Christ. If sharing the good news is not a part of our lives, then the best place to look is not at a formula for evangelism but at our own relationship with Christ. If we have become so confident of our salvation that we are not concerned with the salvation of others, then we need to take an honest look at the work God is yet to do in our own lives.

If salvation is God’s work then we need to make it a priority of prayer. Make a list of five people you know who are not Christians and pray for them each day. If you don’t know whether a person is a Christian or not, then if you know that they do not attend church anywhere, put them on your list. Make it a point to pray that God will open their eyes to all he has done for them in Christ and that God would use you or someone around them to share the gospel with them.

The first thing Jesus did with the woman at the well was make contact with her. Praying for someone makes contact easier. Evidently the woman was surprised Jesus would even recognize her. It is no secret that Jews did not have much to do with the Samaritans, but that Jesus would speak to her is made even less likely by her gender. Evidently she expected Jesus to sit, not speak, and completely ignore her. Jesus refused to accept any societal barriers set between people and consistently challenged those barriers that separate us.

Jesus did more than arouse the interest of the woman at the well, he raised the conversation to a different level. When Jesus began talking about living water the content of the conversation changed. Prior to that, their conversation was no different than one we might have with the wait staff at a restaurant. The conversation was mundane, it centered on daily and immediate need. Jesus raised the conversation to a spiritual level, taking the ordinary and giving it new meaning. It is evident from her response that she had not yet raised her level of conversation, “Give me some of this water so that I won’t have to come here and draw water again.” But Jesus wouldn’t let the conversation reverse so quickly.

There is an old African proverb I have heard, “He whose stomach is empty has no ears to hear.” Meeting physical needs is an important part of evangelism, but it cannot end there. Jesus used the physical needs of the woman to approach the spiritual. Much of our mission work does the same thing, we gain a hearing on spiritual needs by first addressing physical needs. Jesus saw beyond the physical need of the woman at the well to her spiritual condition. More than that, he helped her recognize it as well.

One of the things we believe as Christians is that we have the answer to the world’s problems. All we really need to be able to share is, “Who is Jesus,” and, “What has Jesus done in my life.”

When his neighbors questioned the man born blind, his response was, “Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. I went and washed, and then I could see.” He said the same thing before the Pharisees, “One thing I do know, I once was blind but now I see!” You don’t have to have all the answers to all the questions, just know and share that the answer is Jesus.