Posted: 1/30/08

Evangelism requires commitment–
even if it means holding church under a tree

By Loni Fancher

Texas Baptist Communications

ROCKWALL—Commitment is the key to a fruitful ministry, said Ron Evans. He should know. He’s persistently followed God’s calling to break through barriers and reach a group of disenfranchised young people as pastor of Plano’s Church Under the Tree.

During Super Summer in 2006, the youth pastor of Brown Street Baptist Fellowship in Wylie felt God calling him to reach out to unchurched and disenfranchised youth.

Shortly after, he was drawn to Haggard Park in Plano, where teenagers and young adults from all over the Dallas area gather to hang out. Many of them come from broken homes, battle substance-abuse issues or are sexually promiscuous.

The gathering meets on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons.

Later that summer, Evans and his three teenage daughters took a guitar, Bible and their Labrador puppy with them to the park. They worked their way through the crowd, claimed a picnic table and began singing praise songs, hoping to draw people into conversation. In the end, the puppy was the draw.

Evans and his family put down the guitar and spent the next six weeks building relationships with the young people.

“You’ve got to get in their heart,” Evans said during Engage, a Baptist General Convention of Texas-sponsored conference on evangelism. “You’ve got to become their friend. It’s relationship ministry, and that’s all it is.”

They still hang out every Friday night, but they also started meeting more formally on Sunday afternoons. They gather for lunch and transition into a time of prayer and preaching. In the beginning, attendance was lackluster at best. One or two scouts were sent to see if Evans and his group were authentic, but the more they proved themselves, the greater the response.

On a typical Sunday in recent months, dozens of young people will gather in the park for worship.

The group has become a church of its own, but a church of members who never would darken the doorstep of a traditional house of worship.

On any given Sunday afternoon, people ages 15 to 50, ranging from wealthy families to homeless youths and drug addicts gather to hear about God.

“They come here because they’ve been to a church or they’ve met church people. And when they came in all dressed in black with tattoos and piercing, no one would talk to them, and no one acted like they cared about them. But they come here because we did,” Evans said.

Evans and his group have challenged the Church Under the Tree family to seek depth in their faith. The group shares a prayer journal they call “The Book of Life,” which is passed around each Sunday for people to share or update prayer requests or what God is teaching them. Evans scans it into his computer and e-mails a file of the updated pages to supporters each week.

Accountability groups have started on Thursday nights and Saturday mornings. Evans hopes similar groups will multiply throughout the Dallas area.

“What we’re praying for are small groups that meet all over the Metroplex, and then we get together on Sunday afternoons,” Evans said.

Evans is quick to attribute the success of Church Under the Tree to God. He is just trying to do ministry the way Jesus did, by going to the places where people already are gathering.

“One hundred percent commitment to the students and to God’s word—that’s the only combination that accomplishes anything,” he said.

Posted: 1/30/08

Faith Digest

Catholic Charities study links poverty and racism. Poverty and race remain integrally linked in the United States, and continuing racism contributes to that linkage, according to a recently released study by Catholic Charities. The study cites evidence the poverty rate for African- Americans in the U.S. is 24 percent—three times the rate for whites. Latinos and Native Americans also suffer from poverty rates above 20 percent. On average, white families are 10 times richer than minority families, the study says. And while white families’ wealth grew 20 percent between 1998 and 2001, the net worth of African-American households decreased during that period. At the same time, “the ghosts of our legacy of racial inequality continue to haunt us,” the study says, citing racial violence as well as discrimination in housing and health care. The study, “Poverty and Racism: Overlapping Threats to the Common Good,” is part of Catholic Charities’ campaign to cut the U.S. poverty rate in half by 2020.

Creationists launch online journal. Answers in Genesis, the Christian ministry that founded the $27 million Creation Museum in Kentucky last year, has launched an online technical journal to publish studies consistent with its biblical views. The Answers Research Journal will disseminate research conducted by creationist theologians and scientists who follow a literal reading of the Creation account in Genesis. Ken Hamm, president of Answers in Genesis, said submissions will be peer-reviewed, but the journal’s guidelines discourage asking non-creationists to conduct those reviews. The journal is needed because of academic bias in most scientific journals against creationists, Hamm said.

Supreme Court rules against Muslim inmate. An inmate claiming widespread harassment of Muslims in U.S. prisons cannot sue prison guards who he says took his Qurans and prayer rug, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled. Abdus-Shahid M.S. Ali, a convicted murderer serving a sentence of 20 years to life, asserted the alleged confiscation of his religious items is part of a campaign waged against Muslim inmates since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But in a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court said the Federal Tort Claims Act blocks suits regarding property detained by law enforcement officers, including prison guards. Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, said the law applies to all law enforcement officers.

Churches on potential heritage sites list. Two Birmingham churches significant to the civil rights movement are under consideration as World Heritage sites, the National Park Service announced. Bethel Baptist Church and Sixteenth Street Baptist Church are on a tentative list that will be nominated over the next 10 years under a new category, “Civil Rights Sites in the Southern United States.” A 1963 bombing at Sixteenth Street Baptist killed four young girls and helped galvanize the civil rights movement. Bethel Baptist was bombed three times between 1956 and 1962 and served as a staging ground for civil rights leaders. There are 830 places in the world—including 20 in the United States—that have achieved recognition on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s World Heritage list.

Posted: 1/30/08

Holy Land church leaders appeal for Gaza

By Michele Chabin

Religion News Service

JERUSALEM (RNS)—Christian leaders from the Holy Land are demanding that Israel, President Bush and the world community “put an end to this suffering” of Gaza residents caught in the crossfire between Israel and the Hamas militants who rule the Gaza Strip.

“There is no time to waste when human life is endangered,” said the heads of the churches in Jerusalem and the Holy Land.

The clerics, many of them Palestinians, called on Israel to put the control of Gaza’s borders under Palestinian responsibility to ensure that fuel, food and medicine reaches those who need it.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sealed Gaza’s borders in order to pressure Hamas to stop shelling the Israeli town of Sderot and nearby communities. In recent days, Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, which Israel evacuated 2 1/2 years ago.

The situation in Gaza became desperate when fuel shortages led the Hamas-led government to shut Gaza City’s main power station. Much of Gaza City, including hospitals, was without electricity until Olmert, under international pressure, permitted the import of fuel and some humanitarian aid.

“There are a half million people imprisoned and without proper food or medicine; 800,000 without electricity supply. This is illegal collective punishment, an immoral act in violation of the basic human and natural laws as well as international law. It cannot be tolerated anymore. The siege over Gaza should end now,” the church leaders said.

“This siege will not guarantee the end to rocket firing, but will only increase the bitterness and suffering and invite more revenge, while the innocents keep dying. True peace building is the only way to bring the desired security.”

The clerics also urged the warring Palestinian factions of Hamas and Fatah “to unite in ending their differences for the sake of their people in Gaza.”

By firing rockets into Israel, they added, “you encourage public opinion outside this land to feel there is a justification for this siege.”

Posted: 1/30/08

Some worry Habitat dispute
might stall Katrina recovery

By Bruce Nolan

Religion News Service

NEW ORLEANS (RNS)—A months-long effort by Habitat for Humanity International to retool relations with its 1,600 local affiliates has raised concerns in Habitat’s operation in southern Louisiana, where volunteers have built more than 100 low-cost replacement homes since Hurricane Katrina.

The dispute recently surfaced when the San Antonio affiliate—the oldest in a far-flung Habitat organization—charged in federal court that Habitat for Humanity International sought to impose unprecedented controls on the local organizations.

The suit said the international office warned affiliates they could be stripped of the valuable “Habitat for Humanity” brand if they didn’t agree to a new U.S. affiliate agreement.

Aleis Tusa, a spokesman for the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, said: “We do have concerns about the effects it has on us as an affiliate. We’re talking with International. We’re asking them to clarify some things so we can have a greater comfort level with the new agreement.”

The local Habitat chapter is perhaps the most visible housing nonprofit in the area—a major partner in Musicians Village, a cluster of volunteer-built, $75,000 homes in the Upper 9th Ward that has attracted thousands of volunteer builders and celebrity visitors.

The organization has built 101 homes around the New Orleans area since Katrina hit in 2005—as many as had been built in the previous 21 years—and has 147 in various stages of construction now, Tusa said.

She declined to describe which elements of the proposed agreement local Habitat officials object to, but said she felt sure a rupture could be avoided.

“We have every hope they’re going to address our concerns before we sign it,” she said.

Founded in 1977, Habitat for Humanity is a confederation of Christian nonprofit ministries dedicated to building low-cost homes for the poor.

Until now, local affiliates previously have been almost completely autonomous. They do their own fund-raising, plan their own operations and are governed by their own boards of directors. The international office provides training and valuable marketing muscle that boosts donations.

The San Antonio lawsuit, the only window into the dispute so far, describes the historic relationship between affiliates and the international office as loose and highly decentralized. The Texans said they had been linked only by a brief written “covenant” that set forth broad Christian operating principles.

Under that arrangement, local groups always have been able to use the Habitat name, the San Antonio builders said. And although they were encouraged to tithe 10 percent of their income to the international office, many did not, keeping the money locally to build more homes.

The Texans said after a leadership change in 2006, Habitat International has embarked on a drive to centralize authority and redefine its relationships with affiliates. They said it is using a “commercial franchise” approach that could strip locals of control of their operations or risk loss of the potent Habitat name.

Duane Bates, a spokesman for Habitat International, said the ministry’s increasing sophistication required a detailed new affiliate agreement to supplement the basic covenant once sufficient for a younger organization.

He denied the new agreement would redistribute authority. Instead “it seeks to codify existing relationships between International and the affiliates,” Bates said.

Most of Habitat’s affiliates have agreed to sign the document, he said.

Since Katrina, Habitat for Humanity International has funneled about $20 million into New Orleans, while the local organization has raised another $20 million, Tusa said.

Bates said no matter what the outcome of talks between Habitat International and the local affiliate, the international office will send New Orleans every dollar earmarked for Katrina relief.

“Habitat International, as a matter of standard policy, honors the wishes of its donors,” he said.

Posted: 1/29/08

Posted: 1/30/08

Providential communication failure
led student to DBU and faith in Christ

By George Henson

Staff Writer

DALLAS—God must have a sense of humor.

Mamo Ishida believes God used his desire to stay away from a Christian university to bring him to Dallas Baptist University—because he “didn’t know what ‘Baptist’ meant.” More importantly, Ishida found a saving faith in Jesus Christ that he now shares with other students from around the world.

When Ishida first thought about studying in the United States so he could learn English, Texas was the only destination he considered.

“The only city I knew about in the South was Dallas because of the John F. Kennedy assassination,” he said.

The first school in the area he considered was Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. But he and his parents agreed he should not attend a Christian school because his family was not Christian.

Mamo Ishida

The next school on the list was Dallas Baptist University.

“That sounded OK to us because we didn’t know what ‘Baptist’ meant. From the first day, though, I knew that DBU was the kind of school my parents had warned me about,” he said with a broad grin and a twinkle in his eye.

The thing that caught his attention early was all the praying that went on among students on the campus, especially before meals.

“I had never seen people praying before outside of a temple or a shrine,” Ishida said. “It was my first time to see people who really had religion have an impact on their life.”

Ishida’s family has a Shinto shrine in their home and also a box that commemorates their ancestors. Most people in Japan don’t have a real attachment to any religion, he said.

“I would say people are confused in Japan. When children are born, they take them to a Shinto shrine. When they marry, some choose a Christian church. When they die, they use Buddhist rituals. Really, most of the time, they ignore all religion,” he said.

While he was struck by all the praying and how it seemed to be an integral part of the lives of Christians on campus, he was not immediately attracted to it.

“My first reaction was, no way was this going to be a part of my culture, of my life,” Ishida said. “I had a big culture shock coming to America and another level of culture shock with Christianity being everywhere I looked.”

Since his primary purpose was to learn English, he wanted American friends. And since they regularly went to a weekly Bible study, he did, too.

“I went to be with my friends,” he said.

Ishida told everyone he was not a Christian and did not believe the Bible, but his friends encouraged him to read the Bible to at least know what it said.

In one chapel service, he heard the song As the Deer, based on Psalm 42. During that song, Ishida found himself crying.

He stopped as quickly as possible and hid it from his friends, because he didn’t want them to think he was ready to accept Christ as Savior. Later, however, he tried to decipher what had prompted the tears.

“I realized that I was feeling like that deer—that I was in need of something to satisfy a need in my soul,” he said. “I also thought that maybe God is real if he can make me cry and touch my soul.”

That was the first time he had considered the possibility God existed, he said.

During Christmas break, Ishida went home with a classmate to Houston. While there, he really started to yearn for something Japanese. He had a great desire to read Japanese, but the only book he had brought with him written in Japanese was an English-Japanese Bible he had received through DBU’s intensive language study program.

“I started reading about this Jesus whose birth was such a big thing to everyone,” he recalled.

In February 1996, at one of the weekly Bible studies he attended, he again was asked—as he was at the end of every session—if he wanted to accept Christ as his Savior.

“This time, I said, ‘Yes,’ and everyone was so surprised. I was surprised, but God had changed my life,” he said.

Since that time, Ishida has become a fixture on the DBU campus. For several years, he worked as assistant director of the international students program, helping the students adjust to America and becoming their advocate as necessary.

He has earned a master’s degree in higher education and is acting director of the master of education in higher education program.

Next fall, he will lead a new program in East Asian studies that will educate American business students in East Asian history and culture to prepare them for business in the region. He also serves as a recruiter in Japan to bring other students to DBU. He also teaches a Sunday school class for international students at South Park Baptist Church in Grand Prairie.

About 500 international students attend DBU—about 50 of them Japanese. Of the Japanese students, few—if any—are Christian when they come to America, he said. But DBU has a reputation for being a safe place for Japanese families to send their children because of its strong family-type support system.

On trips back to Japan, Ishida always makes time to visit with his father, mother, brother and sister. None is a Christian yet, but he said they are very curious. And he always is happy to answer their questions.

“There are very few Christians in Japan. I don’t remember ever meeting one. If I had not come to DBU, none of my family would have heard about Christianity from someone they know. DBU is a blessing from God,” Ishida said.

Posted: 1/30/08

Islam not source of Middle Eastern
conflicts, former CIA official insists

By Douglas Todd

Religion News Service

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (RNS)—Angry, violent reformers and terrorists would have arisen out of the Middle East whether Islam had been born or not, a former top CIA official has written.

“A world without Islam would still see most of the enduring bloody rivalries whose wars and tribulations dominate the geopolitical landscape,” Graham Fuller, the CIA’s former head of long-term strategic planning, writes in the cover story of this month’s issue of Foreign Policy magazine.

Fuller, 69, who lives in semi-retirement north of Vancouver, says in the article a terrorist attack on the U.S. like that launched on Sept. 11, 2001, probably would have occurred even if the Muslim religion never had existed.

“If not 9/11, some similar event like it was destined to come,” Fuller, an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University, argues in his opinion piece, titled “A World Without Islam.”

Islam provides a convenient scapegoat for those trying to explain the origins of terrorism, he writes.

“It’s much easier than exploring the impact of the massive global footprint of the world’s sole superpower,” said Fuller, who spent most of his career with the CIA in Muslim countries, advising top U.S. government officials.

“In the bluntest of terms, would there have been a 9/11 without Islam? … It’s important to remember how easily religion can be invoked when other long-standing grievances are to blame. Sept. 11, 2001, was not the beginning of history.”

It’s too comfortable for Western observers to ignore a long history of Western colonialism in the Middle East while blindly identifying Islam as the key source of global tension, he writes.

If Muhammad had never founded Islam in seventh-century Arabia, Fuller writes, the Middle East likely would have become dominated by Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which has had a history of violent conflict with the West and the Roman Catholic Church, including during the Crusades.

“Today, the U.S. occupation of Iraq would be no more welcome to Iraqis if they were Christian. The United States did not overthrow Saddam Hussein, an intensely nationalist and secular leader, because he was Muslim. … Nowhere do people welcome foreign occupation and the killing of their citizens at the hands of foreign troops.”

He notes the “principal horrors” of the 20th century “came almost exclusively from strictly secular regimes: Leopold II of Belgium in the Congo, Hitler, Mussolini, Lenin and Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot. It was Europeans who visited their ‘world wars’ twice upon the rest of the world—two devastating global conflicts with no remote parallels in Islamic history.”

Posted: 1/30/08

Youth speaker wants to point
students to real catalyst for change

By Leann Callaway

Special to the Baptist Standard

SAN ANGELO—“Change” may be the buzzword of the moment among presidential candidates, but youth communicator Kevin Kirkland has spent the last five years telling students, “Jesus Christ is the only catalyst that exists for change in a lost world.”

Before he established an itinerant ministry in 2003, Kirkland served as a student minister. During that time, he sensed God calling him to develop a ministry that taps into young people’s desire to make a difference.

“Since surrendering my life to God’s call, he has given me a real passion for students. I believe them to be the most passionate and incredible group of people on earth, and I truly believe that revolution starts with them,” Kirkland said.

“My ministry and preaching is intentionally relational, and my expectation for students is extremely high. I am not an entertainer or professional speaker. I am simply a sinner saved by grace, qualified by a supernatural call and extremely compelled by Christ’s love to see the world come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.”

Kirkland, a member of PaulAnn Baptist Church in San Angelo, keeps a busy schedule with speaking engagements across the country, including what he calls Katalyst Weekends.

“Katalyst Weekends are not designed to be an in-depth study of just one particular topic, but to prompt students to take an honest look at whether or not they have truly given their life over to Jesus,” he said.

During Katalyst Weekends, Kirkland creatively communicates the gospel and spends time investing in the lives of students and adults.  One of his most memorable mo-ments took place during a small gathering in New Mexico when a parent’s life was changed.

“A couple of years ago, my team and I were at a Katalyst Weekend in a tiny—and I mean tiny—town in New Mexico,” he recalled. “On Saturday, we held an adult conference for parents of teenagers and community leaders. As we were starting the conference, a man came in the back door who looked like he had literally ridden his horse to the church. He sat in the back row, and from the look on his face, I figured he was not too happy about the challenge that I was putting before the adults.”

After the conference, Kirkland asked the host pastor about “the cowboy in the back row,” and he said the man’s family was falling apart at the seams.

The next morning, the man returned and sat in the same spot on the back row.

“About the third verse of the invitation song, the cowboy in the back row stood up and began to walk to the front,” Kirkland re-called.

“I was still a little nervous about his approach because I could literally hear his spurs clicking back and forth as he walked. With tears in his eyes, he came all the way to the front row and then made a deliberate, right turn and quickly knelt at the feet of his two young boys. In a moment of incredible humility, he grasped his two sons and pulled them close to himself.

“I have no idea what he said, but I know that God heard him. My heart was never the same. … God spoke to me right there in that moment. I was in the middle of nowhere, and there were no fancy posters on the wall with my name listed as the keynote speaker, but God found us. He heard the cries of a broken man, and he answered them. It was an awesome moment, and I live to see it more and more.”

In addition to Katalyst Weekends and other speaking engagements, Kirkland is leading a weekly Bible study for college students. Later this year, Kirkland’s ministry will open the Mattaw Children’s Village—an orphanage in Kitale, Kenya.

“Two of our past college team members are living there full-time, heading up the construction and ministry of Mattaw,” Kirkland said. “It is our dream that one day, we will play a huge part in not only housing the 1.9 million orphans of Kenya, but also discipling them to be strong, righteous followers of King Jesus.”

Kirkland says his favorite part of this ministry is making an impact on lives for the glory of God.

“I can’t get over the look on a young man’s face when he accepts Jesus as his Lord and Savior or the sound of hundreds of students worshipping in one accord the God who loves them,” he said.

“I love to see families healed, to see young people become passionately in love with Jesus, and I love long van rides with college students who are hungry for the things of God. I cannot think of anything better than seeing the reality of the cross radically change the reality of the lost.”

Posted: 1/30/08

Texas Baptist Forum

Applause & ‘amen’

Applause has become the modern equivalent of “amen” (Jan. 7). Surely any spontaneous show of appreciation in praise of the Lord and/or his handiwork would be a welcome “noise” to God. 

• Jump to online-only letters below

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

“Ultimately, it is Muslims who must excise the scourge of radicalism from Islam. From within. We can help by behaving like the generous, just and benevolent society moderate Muslims once considered us to be.” Oliver “Buzz” Thomas Minister and lawyer, commenting on hopes for bridging religious divides (USA Today/RNS) “I’m going to stick to the things that make it critical for me to be president of the United States. I have deep convictions about who goes (to heaven) and who doesn’t, but as far as who makes that decision, it isn’t me; it’s God. I’m going to leave that up to him.” Mike Huckabee Presidential candidate, deflecting reporters’ questions about whether non-Christians can enter heaven (Associated Press/RNS) “I ask in the name of Jesus Christ that my sins are forgiven, that my family is protected and that I am an instrument of God’s will. I’m constantly trying to align myself to what I think he calls on me to do. And sometimes you hear it strongly and sometimes that voice is more muted.” Barack Obama Responding to a Beliefnet interview question about how he prays (RNS) “We have been conducting doctrinal frisks and theological GI-tract exams of our candidates, and we have to remember that these candidates are not running for president of the seminary, and they're not running for pastor-in-chief. They're running to be commander in chief at a time of global war on terrorism.” Ralph Reed GOP strategist and former Christian Coalition leader (RNS)

Whether I choose to utter “amen,” applaud or offer a glowing smile in appreciation of praiseworthy efforts seems to miss the point in the worship experience, as God and worship touch each of us so personally and individually. 

Perhaps I’m missing Richard Berry’s point (Jan. 7), but, for one, I’ll continue to worship where I feel my spirit is unfettered by extraneous “rules” or processes. 

Travis Hunley

Plano

TV news & free press

Your editorial on a free press (Jan. 21) should be required reading for Constitution students. However, it missed a point of criticism about the national TV news media.

Anyone wanting news from TV is out of luck. Illustration: The president of the United States is visiting our NATO allies. To get a 20-second video showing him meet with a head of state, I had to watch 15 minutes of commentary on the Michael Jackson trial and two minutes of an aerial video of a car driving down a highway pursued by police, and another minute of the alleged car thief running through neighborhoods. Nor do I understand how “militants or insurgents” can set off a bomb that murders people in a market place.

Our current TV free press has questionable priorities and values best described with the word “tabloid,” not liberal.

All freedoms come with limitations and responsibility. Our TV free press is not just imperfect, but severely broken.

If you believe otherwise, then the Baptist Standard should have articles about Britney Spears to attract a younger audience. She dominates the national TV news—and supermarket checkout stands.

Fred Rosenbaum

Gainesville

Churches & taxes

Sen. Chuck Grassley needs to add an incisive question to his inquiries into televangelists and mega ministries/churches.

Each of them must register as a nonprofit corporation in order to maintain its tax-exempt status. Laws specify property owned by a nonprofit corporation cannot have a personal name or family on the deed of ownership. If that is not true, it ought to be!

Public offered business are owned by the corporation unless it goes private; but no private company/ministry/church should be able to qualify for nonprofit status.

Cyrus B. Fletcher

Baytown

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: 1/30/08

TOGETHER:
Thanks to God; prayer for blessing

As I write this last column, the names and faces of so many of you come to my mind. I cherish the times of worship I have shared in our churches and the strong ministries and testimonies the churches have in our Texas cities and communities.

I want to thank my family—Rosemary, our four children, their four spouses and our 10 grandchildren—for their loving encouragement. Rosemary has loved her opportunities to encourage pastors’ wives across Texas. Her love for them and her ability to help them laugh and rejoice in their calling always amazes me. She is a gracious gift from God to me.

Executive Director BGCT Executive Board

I always will be thankful for the encouragement and wise counsel of my predecessor, William Pinson, as he has responded to my questions and requests. His continued involvement in the work of communicating our Texas Baptist heritage is an important service he continues to give to us.

Three wonderful women served with me as executive administrative assistants; Doris Tinker, Janice Coley and Myla McClinton each served with distinction. Doris continues to work with Dr. Pinson, Janice served faithfully until her health forced her to retire, and Myla, with her smile, loving spirit and tenacious attention to her assignments, has generated great appreciation and respect from all who seek help from my office.

All our staff have cherished the opportunity to serve Christ and the churches. They have given themselves faithfully to their assignments. I give thanks and tribute to them all. I especially thank David Nabors and Ron Gunter for their service as CFO and COO during the reorganization of our structure.

Chris Liebrum became my key associate in helping shape the new Executive Board and the work of convention committees. He has carried out innumerable special assignments. Don Sewell has served as liaison with Baptist partnerships around the world and kept Texas Baptists connected to the Baptist World Alliance and mission opportunities.

The presidents of our convention—Clyde Glazener, Robert Campbell, Ken Hall, Albert Reyes, Michael Bell, Steve Vernon and Joy Fenner; the chairs of the Executive Board—Rudy Sanchez, Brian Harbour, John Ogletree, Bob Fowler and John Petty have brought distinctive gifts and passion to their service, and Texas Baptists have been blessed greatly.

I am grateful to the Baptist Standard, Marv Knox, editor, for giving us the opportunity to visit with you through this column. I have treasured the opportunity to visit with you in this way. Ken Camp and, now, Ferrell Foster have been gifted in editing my column for the available space.

The leaders of our institutions, associations, camps and partner entities all know of my admiration and appreciation for them. The members of boards, committees and study groups through these eight years are appreciated deeply.

Jan Daehnert will serve us well during the interim. His experience and love for our staff and our churches will be a great blessing to us. And I commend to you Randel Everett, who has been nominated to be the next executive director.

Thousands upon thousands of Texas Baptists have given generously, prayed earnestly and believed without ceasing that God would do exceedingly great things for and through our work together in the BGCT. For all of you, I give thanks to God and pray that God will continue to bless and encourage you.

We are loved.

Charles Wade is executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board.

Posted: 1/29/08

Teenager at South Texas Children’s Home dies

By Vicki Hewitt

South Texas Children’s Home

BEEVILLE—J.D. Gomez, a 17-year-old boy in the care of South Texas Children’s Home, died Jan. 25.

Gomez was discovered unconscious in the shower and did not respond to CPR administered by several staff members at the children’s home. The sheriff’s department and emergency medical service personnel arrived quickly, but Gomez did not regain consciousness.

Gomez, an athlete at Pettus High School, left school with a fever and respiratory symptoms three days before his death. On Jan. 23, he was taken to the doctor in Kenedy and began taking prescribed medication to treat an infection.

He had remained home from school Friday morning and had awakened to take a shower when he apparently passed out, children’s home officials said.

“All signs of this tragic event indicate that Gomez’s death is health related,” said Todd Roberson, president and CEO of South Texas Children’s Home. “We are deeply saddened by his death, and our hearts go out to this child’s family, the house parents, our caseworkers and others who have been involved in this child’s life.

The local justice of the peace ordered an autopsy, as is typical in this type of instance, Roberson noted.

“We know that staff did everything they could do to revive J.D. We also believe staff followed proper protocol and procedures for dealing with a child’s illness and seeking the proper medical treatment for that illness,” he said. “Right now, we are working hard to help our campus community deal with the shock of this sad news.”

Residents and staff of South Texas Children’s Home assembled about 1:30 on Jan. 25 when Greg Huskey, Boothe Campus administrator, announced Gomez’s death.

“We’re family,” Huskey said, “and we wanted to be the ones to tell you this news before you heard it from others.”

Mark Childs, vice president of childcare at STCH, invited the children and staff to ask questions and to talk with a houseparent, caseworker, or any staff member to get the help they needed to deal with the loss.

“We don’t have a lot of answers right now,” Childs said. “But we trust God. This is a tough time, but we’ll get through this together.”

Caseworkers and counselors were on hand to offer comfort and counsel.

South Texas Children’s Home has also offered counseling assistance to the Pettus Independent School District, and district Superintendent Tucker Rackley offered his support to the children’s home.

South Texas Children’s Home has been meeting the needs of children and families in South Texas since 1952 and never had a situation of this nature during that time, Roberson noted.

“There is a very close family atmosphere,” he said. “Children in our care live in a cottage, or house, with a couple who serve as house-parents. The cottages function much like any family would, with meals being prepared in the cottages and the family planning activities together. The children attend public school, local churches, and participate in extracurricular activities. It’s going to be very hard for everyone to deal with this sad news. Funeral arrangements are pending at this time.”

South Texas Children’s Home is a multi-service organization offering basic dependent childcare, emergency care, family counseling services and international/humanitarian efforts. It is a licensed childcare facility regulated by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. It is also an affiliate of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and is governed by a board of 24 volunteer directors. STCH does not accept state or federal funds for operation, and relies solely on the generosity of individuals, churches, businesses, foundations and other organizations for funding.

Posted: 1/29/07

BaptistWay Bible Series for February 3

Disciple=servant

• Mark 10:32-45

By Andrew Daugherty

Christ Church, Rockwall

This is the third time Jesus has tried to tell the disciples there is going to be a fatal finish to his ministry when they get to Jerusalem. Here, Jesus describes what is going to happen to the Son of Man in more specific detail—they will mock him, spit upon him, flog him and kill him—and after three days he will rise again (Mark 10:34).

Brothers James and John are unfazed by all Jesus is saying to them. They still are lobbying Jesus for seats at the head table at the feast of the coming kingdom of God. They want Jesus to promise them that when the red carpet of the kingdom of God is finally rolled out, they will look spiritually fashionable rubbing elbows with the celebrity Christ. The contrast is striking between what Jesus says right before the dense disciples ask, “Jesus, would you do us a favor?”

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James and John may have had no clue what they were saying when they told Jesus they were able to drink the cup he drank. It is the cup of suffering that Jesus would have to drink. He would be the only one who could stomach the bitter flavor of suffering he endured on the cross. Even Jesus would be tempted to push the cup away in the Garden of Gethsemane (14:36). Jesus understands there is no other way to fulfill the will of the One he called Abba but to drink the cup of suffering.

As Jesus knows, his glory is anything but glorious. As the disciples defined what was glorious, Jesus asks them a question that suggests glory is not about usurping honor. To share the glory as Jesus defines it is to serve and sacrifice for the good of others. According to Jesus, the ones who are great in the kingdom of God are the ones who are servants, not masters. Servants are deacons who are less concerned about positional influence and more concerned about personal influence. S

eems James and John were preoccupied with positional power more associated with a hierarchical structure of a corporate power. Though Jesus could have made a claim to positional power based on his status with God, his personal influence came through humbly serving the humble, hungry and hopeless people who he met in his life.

For those who like to take control and be in charge, Jesus offers an alternative model of leadership. When we become preoccupied with our status in society or even our status in the church, Jesus offers a better way. Rather than become concerned about projecting an image of power and influence, Jesus challenges us to practice serving others so their lives can be influenced for good. When we are worried about being recognized for who we know or what leadership role we have in the church, Jesus seeks to set the record straight: Whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve (vv. 44-45).

Jesus refocuses our attention on what matters most. When we settle for less than what Christ calls for, he disturbs our comforts. A 16th century prayer of Sir Francis Drake echoes the lofty call of servant leadership. It’s implications for the servants and the ones being served:

“Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess we have lost our thirst for the waters of life; having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.”

When Jesus tells us the last shall be first and the greatest shall be servant of others, he is not concerned with our comforts or our conveniences. He has a way of telling us inconvenient truths. Here are a few of them: Give to everyone who begs from you. “I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me something to drink, naked and you clothed me, sick and in prison and you visited me. … Inasmuch as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:35-40). “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18). “Sell your possessions and give aid to the poor” (Luke 12:33). “When you give a banquet invite the poor” (Luke 14:13).

All of these texts are texts that have to do with the biblical practice of serving others and doing justice. They have to do with right relationships with God and with each other that is the hallmark of Jesus’ own practice of justice. There are a wide range of ideas about justice and it certainly would be difficult to decide on a simple definition on which all people everywhere could agree.

However, the biblical notion of justice defined as right relationships with God and each other comes closest to a definition through the ways Jesus cared for the people around him. The works that Jesus did the church is called to do. Whatever practices it takes to establish right relationships under the law of Christ’s love are practices that have to do with justice.

By his deeds of justice, Jesus shapes an entire community that gives witness to an alternative to the dog-eat-dog, me-first, materialistic assumptions of world order. Jesus was counter cultural in the way he thought and lived his life. The church is called to do the same in a way that will lead to the transformation of individuals and communities.

Doing justice in this way means we are the hands and feet of Christ in the world. Doing justice means living like God has something to say about the ways we treat people, even people who may be different than ourselves; in the ways we give witness to the kind of kingdom Jesus came proclaiming. This is the secret to greatness.