Church gives away 24,000 books in one day inside S.C. prisons

October 19, 2007

Posted: 10/19/07

Church gives away 24,000 books
in one day inside S.C. prisons

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (ABP)—Giving Rick Warren’s best-selling The Purpose Driven Life to prisoners is nothing new for church volunteers.

But St. Andrews Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., is distributing the book on a much broader scale than most groups. Church members gave a copy to every prisoner in the South Carolina Department of Corrections, distributing 24,000 copies in one day.

Pastor Greg Barr came up with the idea after his involvement with a 30-year-old Bible study group at a prison in Columbia. The group had gone through Warren’s 40 Days of Purpose program together and wanted to expand it.

As a result, in a single day, prison workers and Baptist volunteers transported thousands of books to the state’s 29 prisons.

“It was a surprise for some of our folks because in a lot of the prisons, they were expecting that we’d set up tables at the chapel and let inmates come to us, but it wasn’t like that,” Barr said. “They just sent us out to the dorms. It wasn’t a real sterile deal. You were out there just interacting with the guys.”

Leaders at Warren’s congregation, Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., sold the church special prison-tailored versions of the books for $1 a copy. South Carolina corrections officials, who normally limit the number of books inmates can have at a given time, agreed to waive the limit for 30 days so Warren’s book wouldn’t count against it.

Volunteers from the two local Baptist associations and the South Carolina Baptist Convention worked with Prison Fellowship and Changing the Way, a group that helps ex-offenders readjust to life outside of prison. The groups have trained their volunteers to teach Bible studies based on the book, with the hope that prisoners will return to their cell blocks and lead additional studies there.

A former inmate who works for Changing the Way Ministries, Chris Batson, said he cared deeply about the book-delivery project because of its impact on him.

“While I was incarcerated, I was given a copy of The Purpose Driven Life, and it changed my life by reminding me that God had not given up on me and that he still had a plan for my life,” he said.

Walter Andrews, a member at St. Andrews, said the experience even affected his prayer life—now he can “put faces to the needs that are there” on his list, he said.

“I must say I had mixed emotions about visiting the prison, especially after I realized we would actually go into the dorms and interact with the inmates,” he said. “It turned out to be a very positive experience for me.”

It’s a project that will continue, if Barr has anything to do with it. His church has purchased 35,000 books so far, and his next plan is to send thousands of them to the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and other county jails.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Churches use podcasts as portable outreach tool

October 19, 2007

Posted: 10/19/07

Churches use podcasts
as portable outreach tool

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

ONTGOMERY, Ala.—Little white headphones that began, about five years ago, revolutionizing the way Americans listen to music may also revolutionize the way they learn about God.

Hundreds of churches and other Christian institutions are using podcasts or other easily downloadable audio and video files to spread the good word around the globe—literally—with the simple click of a mouse.

“Podcast” is a term that originated with brief audio programs that artists or television celebrities would submit to Apple’s popular iTunes audio-file clearinghouse. People would then download them to their iPods, the portable digital-audio players that, in the past five years, have revolutionized the way many Americans listen to music.

Now it commonly refers to any audio or video program placed online and made available for customers to subscribe to and download automatically to their computers, to be placed on a portable audio device for later listening.

See Related Articles:
• Same story, new language
• Churches use podcasts as portable outreach tool
• Churches of all sizes can use technology

“A lot of our members don’t live in Alabama, so this is a way for them to get Jay’s message everywhere. And you can take it with you,” said Amanda Smith, communications director for the First Baptist Church of Montgomery, Ala. The congregation began podcasting Pastor Jay Wolf’s sermons in January.

Smith said the feature has been very popular among students away at college or former members who have moved away.

She noted podcasting only requires a minor investment of her time and the church’s resources. She uses a “feeder program” to translate digital audio files of the sermons into the kind of computer code needed to distribute them on iTunes. Members can then log onto iTunes, search for the church on the site’s podcast page, and subscribe—for free.

The iTunes site then automatically downloads new sermons to each subscriber’s computer as soon as they become available. Subscribers can transfer those files to their portable audio devices.

“It’s relatively easy to do, so it’s not anything—I mean, it’s cost-effective,” Smith said.

At First Baptist Church in Lubbock, the communications staff has provided varied content—not only sermons, but also short interviews, videos and promotional material.

While the Lubbock and Montgomery churches have thousands of worshippers on an average Sunday, smaller congregations also are getting into podcasting—and not just simple sermon files. At First Baptist Church of North Kansas City, Mo., music minister/tech guru Kevin Gibson has taken the church’s historic commitment to missions online.

“We have a lot of connections with missionaries in our congregation here, and it’s a good way for our members to connect with missionaries in places like Cambodia or Thailand,” Gibson said. He has used Skype—a free program that allows people to converse over the Internet as if they were on the telephone—to interview missionaries. He then edits the conversations and posts them online.

The Missouri church is not actually using an iTunes feed yet to syndicate the downloadable files, but that may come in the future.

For now, Gibson said, he’s experimenting with content—spending a few hours a week on creating professional-sounding podcasts with editing software—and getting good feedback from members of all generations.

“I think it will be worth the payoff in the end,” he said. “And particularly with the younger generation. They have iPods, mp3 players, what have you. And they’re used to multitasking—they’re listening to a podcast, they’re doing homework, they’re eating all simultaneously.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Churches of all sizes can use technology

October 19, 2007

Posted: 10/19/07

Churches of all sizes can use technology

By Vicki Brown

Missouri Word & Way

A Christianity Today survey, published in the summer issue of its Leadership journal, points out communication has taken a decidedly visual turn, and churches must take steps in that direction.

Does a church have to have at least 1,000 members, media experts on staff and a multi-million-dollar budget to take advantage of today’s technology?

No, according to media ministers in those large churches. Some technologies are available even small congregations can tap. And media ministers argue that churches, regardless of size, must begin to use those technologies or risk losing young churchgoers.

“Today, young people expect technology,” said Brian Bird, media minister at First Baptist Church in Arnold, Mo.

Hank Garner, minister of communications at McGregor Baptist Church in Fort Myers, Fla., and a member of the Metro Media Ministers Association, recently pointed out all a church or pastor needs to get started is Internet access.

“Any pastor with Internet access can have a blog (short for web-log, an online diary or forum). Blogs are simple to set up, and lots of free hosting is available,” he said.

Podcasting also is inexpensive, he added. (See related story.) McGregor Baptist Church has been podcasting for about eight months. Most of the positive comments the church has received have come from the area’s large senior adult community, Garner said.

See Related Articles:
• Same story, new language
• Churches use podcasts as portable outreach tool
• Churches of all sizes can use technology

Many congregations today already utilize websites, which are inexpensive. Some Internet providers even offer free space to clients. Members need to be aware, however, that a poorly designed and seldom-updated site can harm the church’s image and create a negative witness.

The cost of projectors and presentation software has come down enough in the last couple of years to put video use in worship within reach of most congregations. “For just a few thousand dollars, a church can have video capability,” Garner said.

Churches that can afford it probably should consider how to utilize more video in their services. “Five years ago, media in churches for the most part was PowerPoint and sound. Now to attract younger people you almost have to have video to keep their attention,” Bird explained. “If you don’t, they’ll start text messaging one another during worship.”

Volunteers may be the key for many churches to get started. “It’s our role as church staff … to equip others … to help a volunteer who is technologically savvy or a volunteer church member have a deeper discipleship ministry through technology,” Garner said.

The pastor or congregation first should make sure any volunteer is “a hundred percent on-board with the direction the church is heading,” the Florida expert said. The volunteer needs to know and accept that direction in order to make the best choices in media support for sermons and worship.

A volunteer also should demonstrate good technique or creative skill or both, he said.

Bird agreed that training volunteers is one of his most important responsibilities at the Arnold church. He looks for volunteers who are not afraid of technology, who are willing to serve and who have from six to 10 hours available each week or every-other week.

Age doesn’t have to be a factor. In fact, many churches find younger members are more techno-savvy and have more time to volunteer. They often are more willing because of their fascination with technology and desire to sharpen their skills. The young people can be an asset to the church’s media ministry, provided they are mature and reliable.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Same story, new language

October 19, 2007

Posted: 10/19/07

New technology helps churches tell the gospel story.

Same story, new language

By Jennfier Harris

Missouri Word & Way

Many scholars believe the church must bridge a divide before it can minister effectively in today’s world.

In a rapidly changing environment, they insist the church still speaks the language of pen and paper while the culture around it communicates using technological advances.

Len Wilson, cofounder of Midnight Oil Productions, believes using technology is a new form of translating Scripture into a language people can understand. In what he refers to as the Ezra Principle, he recalled an Old Testament passage in Nehemiah 8, where Ezra rediscovers the Law, and the people are able to understand the word of God for the first time.

See Related Articles:
• Same story, new language
• Churches use podcasts as portable outreach tool
• Churches of all sizes can use technology

By bringing the message of Christ to people in culturally appropriate ways, the church is able to provide that understanding, he said.

“People often don’t recognize the use of technology in ministry because they become comfortable with certain technologies” they already are used to, Wilson said. “Technology has always been present in the church.” The Apostle Paul used technology in the form of letter writing and roads.

Texting

“When something new comes in, there is controversy, but it eventually settles down,” Wilson said.

“John 1 says, ‘Jesus is the Word.’ The problem is we confuse big-w ‘Word’ with the little-w ‘word.’ Ultimately the Word of God is Jesus. Often we think the printed word is the most important medium, when really it is just a medium, one way to point people to the Word of God—Jesus.”

Jason Moore, Wilson’s partner in Midnight Oil Productions, suggests the use of technology can help the church with metaphor. On their website, www.midnightoilproductions.com, Moore and Wilson define metaphor: “a tangible way to express an abstract story, thought or idea. Applying a metaphor to the message simply means communicating potentially abstract stories, principles and/or ideas with present-day tangible equivalents. Substituting familiar objects, stories and situations can make archaic and hard-to-grasp texts easy to understand.”

“We’ve gotten so far from the method Jesus gave us,” Moore said. “Most sermons are informational, mostly removed from story and parable. Jesus gave us the model for a reason. If Jesus didn’t say anything without using metaphor, what does it mean that we don’t use it at all?”

Moore recommends taking small steps to reclaim metaphor. “You don’t have to do everything the first time,” he said. “Do one thing really well.”

“Figure out how to tell stories—God’s work in lives,” Moore said. “One of the best ways is to use the youth. Parents and grandparents are excited when they see the youth excited about their faith.”

Podcasting

“Students and young people have access to equipment and incredible skill sets,” said Corey Carbonara, professor of telecommunication in the film and digital media division and director of the digital communication technologies project at Baylor University.

Carbonara suggests beginning with video. As technology has improved, the cost of video equipment has gone down considerably, making it easily assessable. “Most computers have the ability to create mini-movies,” he added.

By tapping into this medium, churches have the ability to create mini-documentaries or narratives, providing awareness of outreach programs, soup kitchens or mission trips.

With the rise of Web 2.0, or the second generation of the Internet, video is extremely important. “Now video is about two-way interaction,” Carbonara said. “Social networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, are rapidly evolving to include video.”

YouTube, a website that allows people to view and share videos, has escalated the idea of video as a form of interaction. Individuals are able to watch videos and post their own video response.

Churches can use the prevalence of video to stay in touch with missionaries and see coverage from life on the mission field.

The communications team at New Tribes Mission, which operates a training facility in Roach, Mo., is working to improve communications between missionaries and churches. The team runs the organization’s website, ntm.org, which is published daily and translated into four or five languages.

RSS Feeds

The site is updated daily with prayer requests and news articles, which are sent by daily or weekly e-mails or RSS feeds. RSS, or really simple syndication, allows people to keep up with updates to their favorite websites by channeling subscriptions into a single feed.

New Tribes Missions recently has given missionaries the opportunity to create their own personal sites using a template program the communications team designed. Missionaries are able to post updates quickly and easily with the fully automated system.

“Our job is to help missionaries communicate what God is doing through their ministry,” said Andy Corley, who serves on New Tribes’ communications team.

Corley has seen the missionaries’ message spread as people forward stories to friends and family, send e-mail responses to missionaries and donate funds to support missions. More than $1.4 million each year is contributed through the website, he noted.

In order to fully utilize technology, churches must do more than simply use it, Moore and Wilson said.

“Churches need to learn not just how to put graphics on a screen, but how to communicate,” Wilson said. “Many churches don’t understand it is a different language. You have to learn the grammar—just like in written language.”

A majority of churches are using screens, but most use them poorly and struggle with ways to be more effective, he said.

“A screen is more than just a hymnal or bulletin replacement,” Moore said. “We hope people come to realize there is a whole discipline and field of study on how to use screens.”

“We all have and use technology. It’s around us all the time,” Wilson said. “We think of Sunday morning as an escape from the world, but Jesus is in the world, and we need to communicate.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Texas Tidbits

October 19, 2007

Posted: 10/19/07

Texas Tidbits

Wade retirement reception set. A reception honoring Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Director Charles Wade will be held Oct. 29 following the second general session of the BGCT annual meeting that day. BGCT-affiliated institutions are hosting the event. Wade is set to retire at the end of January.

Missions banquet planned. “Catching the Winds of Missions” is the theme of a missions celebration banquet at 5 p.m., Oct. 29 in the Regency B Ballroom of the Amarillo Civic Center. The event, scheduled in conjunction with the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting, will honor Cecil Deadman and Nelda Gerbine for their leadership in LifeCall and Mission Service Corps. There is no cost, but a donation to the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions is requested. To make a reservation, e-mail stacey.rice@bgct.org.

Substance abuse ministry spotlighted. A dinner meeting designed to help churches gain practical insights about how to minister to people dealing with substance abuse issues is scheduled at 7 p.m., Oct. 28, at Randy’s at 817 South Polk, Suite 105 in Amarillo, prior to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting. Nichole Holt, director of the Texas Standing Tall coalition, and Nobel Schear, youth minister at Royal Haven Baptist Church in Dallas, are featured speakers at the event, sponsored by the Christian Life Commission. Cost is $10. To make a reservation, call (214) 828-5190 or e-mail deby.irby@bgct.org.

Nurses’ group honors Baylor Health Care. The American Nurses Association has recognized Baylor Health Care System with a Best Practices Award in seasonal influenza immunization. Baylor was one of only five health-care providers in the nation that received the honor. Baylor’s influenza vaccination campaign achieved an employee vaccination rate of 64 percent, far exceeding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-reported national rates of 36 percent for health-care personnel, said Rosemary Luquire, chief nursing officer with Baylor Health Care System.

Emerging leaders to have breakfast. The Baptist General Convention of Texas is hosting a breakfast Oct. 29 for Baptists under 40 that features David Coffey, president of the Baptist World Alliance. The Emerging Leaders Network gathering will take place just before the start of the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting. The breakfast will be at 8 a.m. in the Sabine Room of the Ambassador Hotel in Amarillo. To make a reservation, e-mail Blake Killingsworth at blake@dbu.edu.

Baylor professors named among top religion authors. The American Library Association has included the works of two Baylor University professors—The Listening Heart: Vocation and the Crisis of Modern Culture by the late A.J. “Chip” Conyers, a founding faculty member of Truett Seminary, and Discovering God: The Origins of the Great Religions and the Evolution of Belief by Rodney Stark, university professor of social sciences at Baylor—in its list of top 10 books in religion for 2007. Conyers’ book was published posthumously.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

TOGETHER: Staff reduction better sooner than later

October 19, 2007

Posted: 10/19/07

TOGETHER:
Staff reduction better sooner than later

The question has been raised with me as to why I decided to reduce the size of our BGCT staff before messengers at the annual meeting have a chance to vote on the 2008 budget. They understand personnel decisions are the responsibility of the executive director, not the messengers, but the timing bothers them. Let me try to explain my reasons.

• If we had not dealt with the personnel positions until after the convention, then we would have had a month in which all of the staff would have been in limbo regarding their futures, and rumors would have been out of control, and morale would be worse, not better.

Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board

• Messengers would have felt they were determining the fate of 25 to 30 employees without sufficient information to make a good decision. They would have felt emotionally undone to have to make a decision affecting the lives and families of so many.

• If we had waited, we simply would have been prolonging worry and frustration on the part of the staff and messengers.

• If we waited until the new executive director was in place to make the final decisions, we would not have money in the budget to pay salaries from January until the new leader could decide what to do. Plus, morale would tank because the staff would know that one of the first tasks facing the new director was to reduce staff. I did not believe that was the healthiest or most productive way for us to proceed.

• This process we are going through is the culmination of reorganization and restructuring decisions we have been working on for three years. If you look at the list of decisions regarding positions, you can see something of how and why the process unfolded as it has. In my judgment, it would not be right to have left this effort incomplete insofar as I could help to bring the process to an appropriate conclusion.

• I will not be filling key positions in the next few months. Those all will be available to our new executive director, and if he feels we have made some bad moves in these decisions, he will be able to redesign and shape it in the fashion he would like.

Living together in the life of a local church or in an association or convention of Baptists is not easy. Disagreements will arise. Relationships will be strained and tested. This situation has strained and tested Texas Baptists.

I have asked God to guide us through this entire journey, and I am grateful for the times I have felt his wisdom and strength. The mistakes I have made are mine alone. The strength he has given to help me make right what I could is deeply appreciated.

Please encourage those you know that the work of the convention in serving the churches, winning the lost and ministering to the needs of all people remains our focus. All of us—older and younger, pastors and laity, men and women—need to be involved in helping the BGCT continue to be a truly great people with Texas and the world on our hearts.

We are loved.

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

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

UMHB student makes service part of daily life

October 19, 2007

Posted: 10/19/07

UMHB student Felicia Cano makes a new friend at an orphanage in Haiti.

UMHB student makes service part of daily life

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor recognized senior Felicia Cano for her service both locally and internationally, presenting her the Gary and Diane Heavin Servant Leadership Award.

Cano began as a freshman working with children in low-income housing projects through the Belton nonprofit group Hope for the Hungry. She later made trips to Haiti with that organization, and she has worked at orphanages in Russia with Go Now Missions and in South Africa with Do Missions.

During the school year, she has volunteered at the Belton food bank and has served as co-president of UMHB’s Ministry Leadership Council.

Cano is a member of Hope Community Church, a Belton congregation affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

She plans to donate $250 of her $1,000 cash award to Hope for the Hungry to support the Haitian orphanage where she served.

“We are proud of Felicia, who demonstrates such a heart for Christian service,” said UMHB President Jerry Bawcom. “We hope all of our students view her as a role model for what they can achieve when they make service and philanthropy a part of their daily lives.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Women in ministry describe journey together

October 19, 2007

Posted: 10/19/07

Hardin-Simmons University student Megan Donohoue plays the guitar during the conference on women in ministry.

Women in ministry describe journey together

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

ABILENE—Dorisanne Cooper’s story isn’t simply her own. It’s the story of a Sunday school teacher, a mentor, classmates and church members, as well.

And it’s much like that for the more than 220 people—including students from Baylor University, Hardin-Simmons University, Baptist University of the Americas, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Wayland Baptist University, Howard Payne University and Dallas Baptist University—who participated in the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ first conference specifically for women in ministry. The gathering was a cooperative effort with Logsdon Seminary.

Participants said multiple people helped them identify and clarify God’s calling upon their respective lives. For Cooper, those people included a Sunday school teacher, seminary classmates, a pastor who served as a mentor and the church members she currently serves as pastor of Lakeshore Baptist Church in Waco.

Julie O’Teter, BGCT associate coordinator of strategic leadership training and planning, said the body of Christ works together to nurture a person’s faith and help people fulfill God’s calling upon their lives.

“It’s true for everyone—men, too,” she said. “It’s really representative of all the influential people in their lives.”

That’s exactly as it should be, BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade said. Texas Baptist churches already certify women for ministerial programs, making them eligible for ministerial scholarships through the convention. They also need to be open to hiring them, as well, he said.

A congregation “should invite all its children—girls and boys—to answer God’s calling. (Churches) should not only invite them to do so, but encourage them in it and be open to the opportunity and to their responsibility for them to serve.”

Cooper testified that growing up, she always believed women could fulfill God’s calling upon their lives in any position, but she only truly applied that to herself after seeing a woman serve as youth and children’s minister at her church.

In seminary, “the Bible came alive” to Cooper “in whole new ways,” invigorating her Christianity and reinforcing her call to ministry. A statement to a professor one day clinched her calling for her.

“If I were Presbyterian, I would definitely be going into the church,” she recalled saying, believing there would be more job opportunities for her in that denomination than in Baptist life. Shortly after, she came to understand if God was calling her into a church staff position, God could make that position in a Baptist church.

After graduating from seminary, Cooper served at a Baptist church, and gradually received opportunities to preach. When the pastor took a six-month sabbatical, Cooper handled the administrative duties and preached once a month. Shortly after, Cooper was called to become pastor of Lakeshore Baptist Church.

When she arrived, she was the second Baptist female senior pastor in the city. Julie Pennington-Russell, who was greeted by protestors on her first Sunday at Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, sent flowers welcoming Cooper. Some members greeted her warmly.

A few members of the congregation left because they didn’t want a female pastor or did not like her leadership style. Some came back and even became close friends of Cooper.

Lakeshore members continue to encourage Cooper. Together, Cooper said, she and her congregation are on a journey.

“My story isn’t over,” she said. “And it’s still not just my own.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Conclave speakers urge youth ministers to remain faithful to divine calling

October 19, 2007

Posted: 10/19/07

David Platt, pastor of the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala., told youth ministers as long as they have the word of God and the Holy Spirit of God, they have all the tools necessary to make a difference in the lives of students.

Conclave speakers urge youth ministers
to remain faithful to divine calling

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

ARLINGTON—Following God’s leadership in youth ministry can be difficult, but it’s well worth it, keynote speakers told participants at the Baptist General Convention of Texas Youth Ministry Conclave.

The time constraints, pressures, and ups and downs of youth ministry can cause burnout and push leaders to question if they should continue serving, said Ralph West, pastor of the Church Without Walls in Houston. But that comes with the territory.

West, whose congregation is among the fastest-growing churches in the nation, asked conference participants to stand if they were considering quitting vocational ministry.

About one-fifth of the 600-person audience stood and allowed others to pray for them. Some individuals standing put their face in their hands. Others fell to their knees. Tears streamed down the cheeks of some.

West reminded youth ministry leaders that according to her diary, Mother Teresa served people who were poor, sick or orphaned in Calcutta, India, nearly 50 years without hearing from God. Even so, she continued following God’s original call in her life.

West encouraged conclave participants to continue following God’s call upon their lives faithfully like Mother Teresa. At times, that requires waiting. At others, it demands following a leader without question. Above all, trust in God is needed, he insisted.

“You need faith in ministry,” he said. “You need deep trust in ministry.”

Ralph West, pastor of the Church Without Walls in Houston, used the story of Mother Teresa to challenge youth ministers to stay true to their calling, even when God feels distant from them.

David Platt, pastor of the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala., affirmed that Jesus is worthy of “all of our trust,” “all of our plans and dreams” and “all affections.”

He described his recent experience in East Asian underground churches. Christians—who constantly are being threatened with violence by a cult in the area—sat on small stools for 12 hours a day to listen to him teach about the Bible, he reported.

They prayed for hours, with tears rolling down their faces and forming puddles on the dirt floor beneath them.

“They love the word” of God, Platt said. “They risk their lives to study it.”

Platt encouraged conclave participants to continue ministering, saying they had all the necessary tools to make an impact in people’s lives.

God honors their commitment to him and will work through them, he insisted.

“As long as you’ve got the word and the Spirit, you’ve got everything you need to change the lives of students,” he said.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Cybercolumn by Jinny Henson: Unpredictably God

October 19, 2007

Posted: 10/19/07

CYBER COLUMN:
Unpredictably God

By Jinny Henson

Laughter is one of God’s finest gifts. Martin Luther, I recently learned, used a form of laughter therapy in his pastoral counseling to people with depression. From the Healthline.com website: “Martin Luther advised depressed people not to isolate themselves but to surround themselves with friends who could make them laugh.”

Laughter is so important because it diffuses life’s pressures, and while it may not change the circumstances, it can deeply change you and the seriousness with which you approach them. It is great to enjoy God and each other together. Church should be a joyous place!

Jinny Henson

Humor was the language of choice in my family, and my Dad was a master linguist at it. I remember looking up at him while he was in full-blown story-telling mode and see his eyes flash as he told the latest story or joke he had heard. Not all were appropriate for the fellowship hall.

I also remember being in junior high when tight jeans were all the rage and looking up from my bed—where I was plopped down, using a coat hanger hook to pull the zipper of my jeans up—and watching my father cry because he caught a glimpse of my pre-teen absurdity and thought that was hysterical. I’m certain it was. Oh, life before mom jeans!

It was easy for me to hear the words “heavenly Father” and view that as something wonderful. I was utterly loved by my mom and dad. My father never was a deacon. His bald spot wasn’t ever big enough. But I have to believe the deacons would’ve had more fun had he been there.

We went to church regularly, and it was in the fifth grade—I was 11—when I gave all that I knew of myself to all that I knew of God. Church was a special place for me. Besides being the place where the best doughnuts could be found, there was a sense that God was not only accessible but up to something good.

I had people who poured good things into my life and always affirmed the fact God could do something special with my life. If we communicate anything with clarity, it should be that not only Jesus died because he wants you to be with him forever, but also that he wants to partner with you to bring a texture and significance to the quality of your life that you cannot imagine. Right here, right now, in this moment! He wants to bring newness with his presence, which gives you fresh eyes to see your circumstances in the context of his world.

I had many mentors—Sunday school teachers and others who helped to place God’s lens of possibility over mine.

I had a female youth minister in Middle School; Candy Smith. She was just plain hilarious, kind, radically in love with Jesus and in love with us, as well. She played guitar and was my model in ministry. I have never met a funnier, godly person. She just had so much love to give us. My parents were funny, but Candy was funny and could quote Scripture at the same time. Faith met funny in Candy Smith. She challenged me, took us on mission trips to Mexico and was Jesus with a Dorothy Hamill haircut. Hey, it was the ’80s.

God placed people square in my path to challenge me to live a life worthy of the prize. This meant being a good, churchgoing girl. I may have done comedy routines at church camp (I was Rosanne Rosannadanna at youth camp, a little zany,) but I was definitely the good girl in middle school and high school. I didn’t want to disappoint God.

I took standardized tests that only allowed for the first six letters of my first name, Virginia, to be entered. You get the point. I was proud nonetheless of my status.

I had faith figured out: I do A, and God responds with B. I am faithful, and God blesses my life. That’s what I always expected. It’s is a wonderful formula. We even see in some examples in Scripture that Noah was faithful and got rescued. The servant in Luke 19 was rewarded for doubling his master’s money and is called the faithful servant. Enoch was “taken away” (Genesis 5:21-24) because God was pleased with him and his faithfulness—saved from death. Pretty cool, huh?

So, here in my Eternal Treat Bag view of God, I bought his grace with my performance. Things were not perfect for me, but nonetheless, I clung to my formula, which was fed by the glorious stories of reward for the faithful and punishment for the slacker. You knew there was always Job, but he was a good object lesson, and that would never happen to me.

My faith was pretty well constructed in my early 20s. I had a protective web of reason, and God was so cool back then. He acted most of the time just like I desired him to. There were little details—like me wanting to find the right person to grow old and wrinkly with and just how God would turn my most wacky idea of humor into ministry—but those things would come in relatively short time. There were challenges, but none monumental, and John 10:10’s abundant life was the norm that would balance me back to level. I lived that abundant life.

In our wedding vows, Dr. Cunningham told John and me that being in ministry would not protect us from life’s hurts. I thought that was an obvious statement. I did not expect God to give me a perfect life, but a blessed one as I performed and he rewarded, just like I had expected him to do. Call it naiveté, or untried faith, but God grew much more wild and unpredictable as I got older.

My world got bigger by the day in my 20s—in amazing and challenging ways. God provided incredible ministry experiences for us and moved in huge ways when we had no idea what we were doing. At other times, with similar work ethic, prayer and perseverance, God did not see fit to reward. He even allowed challenges beyond what I thought I could bear.

The hardest were personal losses as John’s mom and my dad died from cancer within two years of each other despite fasting, praying and holding my right leg up and sticking my tongue out. Sometimes, I was devastated to learn, A + B does not equal C, no matter how desperately you want it to.

I have learned that life is a fluid, not static, endeavor. Our God is always moving in us and in our world and is most certainly up to something incredible if we will lay aside our expectations for returns on investments. As much as we want to figure out what we are due, God always trumps it with his economy, which if we could reduce it would be a much easier path to follow.

In God’s economy, we are forgiven, period. We may wait for the words “will you forgive me?” from others who have caused us hurt, but God is far too busy for that. He loves and for some reason desires fellowship with us but does not wait for us to make the first move. He made it long ago by his sacrifice and continues making it daily as he woos us like a lover.

I have ceased to read Scripture for the payoff, searching for the quickest path to the greatest reward. I recognize myself so easily in the worker who expected his all-day work to be eight times that of the guy hired at 4 p.m., an hour before the whistle blows. I realize that I have too often been envious of God’s kindness to the latecomers in the labor.

Luke 4:12 is a vivid image of temptation, but not only the temptation of Jesus. It is a temptation I face as a Christ-follower seeking a paradigm I can wrap my arms around: The devil plucked out Scripture and sought to manipulate Jesus, subsequently, tempting him to put God to the test.

“The devil led Jesus to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ‘If you are the son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written: “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone”’ and Jesus responded: ‘Do not put The Lord your God to the test.’”

I have likewise plucked out verses here and there and bet my emotional wad that Jesus would come through. Not that it was always an utterly selfish request; it was simply my request, counting on God to answer my way.

I am hesitant to reduce God to a formula you can master in three easy steps. I do believe that modeling my life after Jesus just as perfectly as I can will lead to the most abundant life possible, but I no longer have blueprints for how that should look. I am learning to hold on loosely to blessings and tightly to an invisible God whose hand I rest in and bear my name.

I no longer squeeze into my jeans. For that fact, the world should thank me. Other women my age still do. Just visit your local Wal-Mart for the visual. I am now officially old because I believe completely that clothing should not be painful. Or, as O’Rourke implores, “Never wear anything that scares the cat.”

Part of the beauty of growing in faith is that, additionally, I have stopped cramming God into what I want him to be and come to accept him in his glorious unpredictability. Life is more confounding and more amazing than I could have dreamed. That, after all, is the road of faith in Jesus Christ: Blowing our assumptions and exceeding our wildest dreams.

Jinny Henson travels the country as a Christian comedienne. John, Maggie Lee and Jack are an endless source of material for her. You can find out more about her at www.jinnyhenson.com

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BaptistWay Bible Series for October 28: Itâs a victorious life

October 19, 2007

Posted: 10/19/07

BaptistWay Bible Series for October 28

It’s a victorious life

• Romans 8:12-39

By Andrew Daugherty

Christ Church, Rockwall

My wife is an adoption counselor. Every day, she lives with the realities of eager families, some who have been waiting for the adoption of their children for more than two years. The labor pains of adopting parents goes beyond nine months of waiting and one anxious trip to the hospital for a delivery. Their labor pains include awaiting word about referrals of children in China and Guatemala, loads of paperwork and getting notice of when they will be able to travel to meet their child for the first time.

They ache with anticipation of the future when their family will feel complete. Their prayers are mingled with questions like these: Why is this process taking so long? Will this ever really happen for us? Is our daughter going to be healthy? Will we be able to connect with her? Will we love her as if she were born to us? Will she love us as if she were born to us?

In this passage of Scripture, the Apostle Paul captures both the intimacy of God’s parental relationship with human beings and the ache of anticipation for the future redemption of God’s children. Paul insists that all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God (v. 14). Even more, these children of God did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear but rather received a spirit of adoption (v. 15).

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If Jews are children of Abraham according to the flesh, then Christians are children of God according to the spirit of adoption. If Christ, God’s own son, is dwelling in them, then such children enjoy all the privileges and responsibilities of being part of the family of God. The gift of Christ assigns equal status to those of us who are God’s adopted children. Any human being who is led by the Spirit of God is indeed a child of God.

Paul moves quickly to deal with the real life ramifications of being God’s children. His curious language that if we suffer with Christ we may also be glorified with Christ (v. 17) is explained more fully in verses 18-27.

Paul addresses the reality that even while he affirms future hope in God, the world in which they live is dangerous and sinful as ever before. How does being God’s adopted children make any real difference when they still are suffering and being persecuted? What are the benefits of being God’s adopted children if they still are vulnerable to violence?

Paul says that what we now see is nothing compared to what will be. This present suffering is not worth comparing to the glory that will one day be revealed (v. 18).

Paul considers the present sufferings as participation in the birth pangs of an entirely new creation. Until such a future in God is fully revealed, however, it remains a matter of hope. Hope is what motivates people led by the Spirit of God to envision new possibilities from God that go far beyond the limits of human possibilities. If all of creation is groaning, as Paul says, it means we live in the tension between suffering and hope. Paul compares this process to the suffering of birthing mothers. Hope remains in spite of the visible evidence to the contrary.

We feel this tension more than ever before. Twenty-four hour cable news provides snapshots and sound-bytes of a world where if there were no bad news to report, there would be no news at all. Exponential suicide rates, poverty, sickness, school violence, wars and rumors of wars, and famine and genocide headline the importance and concern people have with radical evil and untimely death. Spoiled life, exploitation and unfulfilled longings of every kind are grim reminders that the stammering and stuttering attempts to affirm a spiritual hope for tomorrow are always done in the shadow of the cross.

Paul articulates the tensions all of us live between—the realities portrayed by cable news and the Christian conviction of the cosmic victory over death achieved in the resurrection of Christ.

Of course another image is raised when one juxtaposes the Dallas Morning News and the good news of the Bible. With the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other, we ask: How can one truly look at the world the way it is and make the audacious claim that Christ has accomplished some cosmic victory through Christ’s resurrection?

One helpful theological analogy is made by John T. Robinson. He contends this tension can be described as the “already” and “not yet” of the kingdom of God. Perhaps ironically, he uses the military metaphor of D-day and V-day to acknowledge the power of evil and suffering in our world while affirming future hope in God. With this analogy, the life of Jesus marks the beginning of the end of human suffering. Although the success of the mission appears doubtful at times, the victory of the mission is assured.

The present state of affairs in the world indicates the mission is far from complete. As the people of God, participants now in the kingdom of God, there is a measure of responsibility to combat oppressive and violent forces in the world that lead to human suffering of all kinds.

In the scheme of the “already” and the “not yet,” the sort of life Jesus lived is the nature of life as it will be when God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. It reveals the world as God wants it in a single human being. However, as Paul mentions in this passage of Scripture, the kingdom of God awaits final completion. The ultimate redemption of creation still is incomplete. The difference between the “already” and the “not yet” is as different as crucifixion and resurrection.

Certainly Christians are not called to close their eyes to suffering and live in denial about the state of our outward world nor the state of our individual inward worlds. But the Christian story says resurrection has the final word on all these states of affairs. Our confidence and conviction of future hope in God is rooted in the love revealed in the Jesus of the Gospels. If God’s love is as powerful as Jesus says it is, then resurrection is a cosmic preview of Christ’s love that will triumph over every imaginable power that seeks to destroy the well-being of all creation.

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