Posted: 10/12/07

RIGHT or WRONG?
Strings attached

A well-to-do couple in our church has offered to buy our softball team’s church-league equipment and uniforms if the church will elect the husband as a deacon and name him chairman. If this request is as haywire as I think it is, how can we respond as a church?

Most people would consider such a request improper at best. Rarely would a church sell a position in exchange for softball equipment. The situation becomes more serious, however, when the general principle described arises in less obvious forms.

Most, if not all, churches face the dilemma that occurs when someone seeks a return on a gift made. Pastors and finance committees are familiar with gifts that come with “strings” attached. Sometimes, the request is as simple as putting the donor’s name on a building or a plaque. Other times, the request may involve positions on committees, or simply that something be changed so that it is done the way the donor wishes, whether it is the order of Sunday service or hiring and firing staff. Often, the request is not expressed verbally or in writing, but in a manner that leaves no room for doubt.

The problem occurs because people expect the church to function the same way the world functions. People, particularly those who have financial and civic influence, simply are used to playing within that set of rules. We see it in every level of government and in business.

The church, however, cannot play by those rules. This very idea was a major factor in the Protestant Reformation. In 1517, Pope Leo X established a system of paying for the renovation of St. Peter’s Basilica by selling indulgences, or the forgiveness of sins. Fronted by a Dominican friar named Johann Tetzel, this unashamed exchange of forgiveness for “alms” aroused the ire of Martin Luther, who focused many of his famous Ninety-Five Theses on the sacrilege of this practice.

The basis of Luther’s argument was that the gospel was not for sale, and if it became available for sale, it would cease to be the gospel. Much of the Reformation’s emphasis on grace, and the resulting doctrine held inviolable by Baptists today, relates directly to this issue.

Few would argue that buying softball uniforms or even paying for new buildings in Baptist churches today would be viewed as trying to buy salvation. Generally, influence or prestige is the value sought. Nevertheless, the church must stand firm in proclaiming these values are not for sale any more than salvation. Christ is blatant in his description of how one attains influence and prestige in the kingdom of heaven, and it has nothing to do with money and power, except, perhaps, in the total rejection of each.

Simply put, there must never be a “for sale” sign posted in the ministry of a church, visibly or otherwise. Some things truly are priceless.

Van Christian, Pastor

First Baptist Church, Comanche

Right or Wrong? is sponsored by the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon School of Theology. Send your questions about how to apply your faith to btillman@hsutx.edu.

Posted: 9/26/07

BGCT Executive Board OKs
reduced budget, staff reduction

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS—After extensive debate, the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board voted 52-28 to approve a $50.1 million budget recommendation—a move that eliminates 25 to 30 Baptist Building staff positions.

The board will recommend to the BGCT annual meeting in Oct. 29-30 in Amarillo a $50,126,356 total budget for 2008—a $473,644 reduction from the 2007 budget. It includes $43,326,356 from the Cooperative Program budget and an anticipated $6.8 million from investment earnings and other sources.

The budget requires approval by messengers to the state convention’s annual meeting. However, staff cuts will begin to be implemented immediately, Executive Director Charles Wade reported. Staff members who lose their jobs will receive a severance package, counseling and placement assistance, he noted. The 2008 recommended budget provides no salary increases for remaining staff.

Both Wade and Jerry Dailey of San Antonio, chairman of the board’s administration support committee, stressed how painful they found it to make the recommendation.

During transition related to changes in governance and organizational reorganization—and following a period when fewer churches contributed and some large churches cut their giving levels significantly—the BGCT relied on earnings and interests from reserves, Wade noted. But the executive leadership team was committed to decrease reliance on off-budget income sources, he added.

Wade, who retires Jan. 31 as executive director, said it would not be fair to pass on to his successor the responsibility for cutting staff.

“It’s not responsible for the board or for your executive director to postpone dealing with these issues,” he said.

Much of the discussion during the board meeting centered around where cuts appeared—and which areas received increases during a year when some people would lose their jobs.

The missions, evangelism and ministry area shows the largest cut of any section—a $505,813 reduction in the 2008 budget. Areas showing apparent losses include $338,184 from missions, $21,892 from ministries and $13,825 from evangelism.

Promotion costs such as postage, printing and advertising—transferred to the communications office for centralized management in an effort to achieve savings through economy of scale and improve efficiency—accounts for $211,000 of the $505,813 apparent cut.

A portion of the $294,813 remaining net loss to that area will be offset by funds made available through the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions and by money received from the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board, Chief Operating Office Ron Gunter explained.

The total promotion budget transferred from individual programs to the communications office totals $602,000. Without considering that a portion of the losses shown in the 2008 budget summary reflect those transferred dollars, other areas posting reductions include:

• $188,321 cut from the congregational ministries area, with $109,372 coming from field staff areas—$61,564 cut from church starters and $47,808 cut from congregational strategists. Western-heritage, African-American and Hispanic work areas received increases, while the intercultural and bivocational congregational ministries showed reductions.

• $64,986 cut from institutional ministries. The broad category includes chaplaincy, theological education and the Texas Baptist Historical Collection—each of which received some increases—and the Texas Baptist Laity area, which showed a $92,424 cut. Actual support to schools, childcare and family services ministries and hospitals dropped $172,742.

• $94,118 cut from Texas Baptist Men.

• $68,014 cut from associational ministries.

The communications office showed a $412,593 increase, but it included the $602,000 in promotional money from other program areas. Excluding the transfer, the area lost $189,407.

Several areas posted increases in the 2008 budget:

• $461,171 added to the financial management area. In addition to changes and upgrades in information technology and continuing increases in building support and engineering, a part of the increase is due to the addition of an internal audit function to the area, Chief Financial Officer David Nabors explained.

• $102,610 for the Christian Life Commission. The board rejected an amendment by Bruce Webb from First Baptist Church in The Woodlands that would have frozen the CLC at its $969,167 level, rather than budgeting $1,071,777 for 2008.

• $94,804 added to the leadership area for ministries such as the intentional interim program, deacon training and emergency assistance to terminated ministers.

• $26,366 added to the chief operating officer’s office and $8,004 to the executive director’s office budget.

The board voted down an amendment by Gloria DuBose from First Baptist Church in Midland that called for across-the-board percentage cuts.

Nabors noted the approach had been considered, but the staff’s management team decided it was unwise to “penalize” all areas by a flat percentage rather than looking at specific places where tasks could be combined or eliminated.

Doug Evans, pastor of First Baptist Church in Laguna Park, spoke in favor of the motion regarding across-the-board cuts.

“It’s more about restoring trust than about saving jobs. It says to Texas Baptists, ‘We’re all willing to take the hit,’” he said.

Evans also expressed dissatisfaction with the cuts in hands-on ministries that directly affect churches. If the BGCT cuts back direct services to churches, attendance at the state convention’s annual meeting will continue to plummet, he predicted.

“We have a 235-seat auditorium at Laguna Park, and you’re welcome to meet there in 2009,” he said. “We can’t continue to ignore the churches. It’s going to bite us.”

Gunter stressed in many cases, ministry assignments will be combined rather than eliminated altogether.

Alton Holt from Silsbee asked the staff leaders to estimate about what percentage productivity and effectiveness would be reduced.

Gunter called on Wayne Shuffield, team leader in the missions, evangelism and ministry area. Shuffield estimated his area would be negatively affected by about 20 percent initially, with about 10 percent of that attributed to a “learning curve” as staff become familiar with new assignments. He estimated it will take three to six months before personnel become fully effective in their new tasks.

Ed Jackson from First Baptist Church in Garland said laymen understand the reality of layoffs. Most lay people think of the BGCT in terms of the institutions with which they are familiar—not the personnel at the Baptist Building in Dallas, he noted.

“We’re not giving the institutions the support they need,” he said. “More and more, Texas Baptists are going around the Cooperative Program budget and giving directly to the institutions.”

While Jackson said he would vote in favor of the proposal as a “transitional budget,” he advised the board to take a hard, strategic look at what the BGCT chooses to include in the budget. Churches will cast their own votes by how they give, he noted.

In other business, the board:

• Elected John Petty, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Kerrville, as chairman and Steve Dominy, pastor of First Baptist Church in Gatesville, as vice chair.

• Recommended to messengers at the annual meeting a special agreement between Baptist Child & Family Services and the BGCT. Under the agreement, the agency would elect two-thirds of its own board, and the BGCT in annual session would elect the remaining one-third. The requirement that all trustees be Baptist would remain in effect,and a majority of the board would have to be members of BGCT-related churches.

• Created a fulltime staff position for a Hispanic educational advocate to help Texas Baptists address the high school dropout rate among Hispanics.

• Approved a missions partnership between the BGCT and the National Baptist Conventional of Venezuela.

• Passed a resolution in remembrance of Ron Edwards, pastor of Minneulla Baptist Church in Goliad and two-term president of the Texas Baptist African American Fellowship, who died May 31.

• Heard an explanation from the executive director regarding BGCT involvement in the New Baptist Covenant meeting in Atlanta in January. Kenneth Jordan from First Baptist Church in Alpine said some people had asked him why BGCT participation in the event was not decided by a vote at the state convention’s annual meeting.

Wade responded that the BGCT was invited to participate because of its membership in the North American Baptist Fellowship as part of the Baptist World Alliance.

“I had no thought at all that it needed approval,” he said. “I didn’t feel it was necessary to bring it to a vote.”

Wade was among Baptist leaders from throughout the United States and Canada who responded to an invitation to meet with former President Jimmy Carter on April 10, 2006, to talk about ways Baptists throughout North America could cooperate and strengthen their fellowship.

The New Baptist Covenant convocation—which includes a joint assembly of the four largest historically African-American Baptist conventions in the United States—grew out of that initial meeting. When other prominent Democrats—particularly former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore—signed on as participants, it sparked controversy and charges that it had become a partisan political platform.

Wade noted Baptist Republicans also were invited to participate.

Sen. Lindsay Graham of S.C. and Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa have agreed to participate. Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor and a GOP presidential candidate, initially agreed to take part, but he later withdrew his endorsement of the meeting.

• Conferred the title “executive director emeritus” on Charles Wade, effective Feb. 1.

• Approved money from earnings on memorial funds for several areas, including $100,000 to the WorldconneX missions network and $175,000 to provide Baptist Standard subscriptions to some church leaders.

• Referred back to the administration support committee a proposed constitutional change that would allow a greater number of messengers to the state convention’s annual meeting from small churches that contribute substantially to the BGCT budget.

Posted: 9/27/07

BGCT launches internal audit regarding
more alleged improprieties in the Valley

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

For the second time in less than a year, the Baptist General Convention of Texas is looking into alleged misuse of church-starting funds in the Rio Grande Valley.

BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade reported to the Executive Board Sept. 25 that an internal auditor will examine questions raised regarding $26,550 in church-starting funds the BGCT provided to First Baptist Church of Weslaco. The BGCT Missions Funding Committee had approved $21,000 for the church in 2005 and 2006.

Documents indicate the church paid the money to Jonathan Becker, who was at the time pastor of both the sponsor church and listed as pastor of a new congregation—The Family Fellowship.

But while Becker reported to the BGCT that The Family Fellowship was a new church temporarily meeting in the facility of the sponsor church, most members of First Baptist Church apparently viewed it simply as a new worship service with a different format—not the start of a new congregation.

The Baptist Standard was unable to reach Becker directly. However, he did not reply to messages asking for a response to the allegations.

The funds all were disbursed before the BGCT adopted new church-starting guidelines and policies in response to a funding scandal that came to light last year. At that time, BGCT leaders enlisted two attorneys and a certified fraud examiner to investigate allegations that church-starting funds in the Rio Grande Valley were mismanaged and misused.

The investigators reported to the Executive Board they discovered up to 98 percent of the 258 churches allegedly started by three pastors in the Valley—Otto Arango, Aaron de la Torre and Armando Vera—no longer exist, and some were “phantom churches” that never existed except on paper. The BGCT gave more than $1.3 million in start-up funding and monthly financial support to those 258 churches.

The BGCT Executive Board enacted several reform measures in response. In addition to adopting new church-starting policies and putting new record-keeping systems into place, the BGCT also followed the investigative team’s recommendation to enlist an internal auditor to assure accountability and better internal control over disbursements.

“We have contacted the firm that performs our internal audits and asked them to look into this matter (in Weslaco) in order for us to further evaluate our processes and procedures,” Wade told the board. “We expect to begin within the week, and a report will be given during the next Executive Board meeting stating any findings and recommendations that result from this study. Also, if any issues of illegality are discovered, we will pursue appropriate action.”

The BGCT entered an agreement with First Baptist Church of Weslaco in June 2005, Wade told the full board after first reporting his findings to the Missions & Ministry Committee and the Audit Committee.

“It called for the church to begin a new work called The Family Fellowship that would start as a new worship service at the church and develop into a fully autonomous congregation—the second English-speaking BGCT church in Weslaco,” Wade said, reading from a prepared text.

“The covenant indicated Weslaco First had approved the new work during a church conference, but that apparently never occurred. As a result, it appears the church did not clearly understand the intended purpose of the funds or of the new service itself.”

When Becker moved from Weslaco to First Baptist Church in McAllen, he reported his income in negotiations with the search committee and indicated he had received a “salary subsidy” from the BGCT for three years.

Church-starting funds are not paid directly to a pastor; they are paid to a church, Wade explained. And Becker did not report to the BGCT any salary related to church-starting.

The “so-called salary subsidy amount” Becker reported—$46,000 over three years—“exceed both the amount of money actually given to support The Family Fellowship and the duration of those gifts,” Wade added.

Reports Becker submitted to the BGCT church-starting office listed “0” on the salary line for several months. Later reports he submitted did not follow the standard reporting procedure, and they omitted the question about salary altogether.

“The covenant was ended in June 2006 after Pastor Becker failed to meet with the BGCT church starter, and a final monthly payment was made in July 2006,” Wade said.

However, the BGCT church-starting office provided an additional one-time $3,000 gift for The Family Fellowship and $1,000 each for two Hispanic missions sponsored by First Baptist in Weslaco Sept. 13, 2006, after Becker came to Dallas to visit Wade in his office.

“The pastor sought more financial help for The Family Fellowship and two other new works started by Weslaco First since he was anticipating a call to another church and felt Weslaco First needed that help to complete the phase-out of the BGCT support and give the three churches the help they needed to survive during transition,” Wade said.

“I was not aware until a few days ago that $2,800 of that money was paid by Weslaco First to Pastor Becker. Apparently, the church was paying Pastor Becker out of these mission funds to be the pastor of the new mission start meeting in the same building.”

The vision of The Family Fellowship as originally presented by Becker “appeared to be a worthy endeavor,” Wade continued.

“I do, however, have serious concerns with what was done. My primary concern is that the church apparently was not aware of the vision articulated by the pastor in his proposal to the BGCT church-starting staff and the BGCT Missions Funding Committee. Furthermore, to our knowledge there was no accountability to a missions committee or finance committee as to how the mission funds contributed by the BGCT would be disbursed.”

Wade stressed the BGCT made payments to First Baptist Church in Weslaco before new church-starting guidelines were put into place.

“Those new guidelines already are helping us to establish better processes for starting churches,” he said. “Of course, we are always trying to improve, and as a result of the particulars discovered in the Weslaco situation, I have instructed our finance and accounting office to include with every check that goes to a sponsoring church a statement in which we clearly state each time the purpose and expected use of the funds.

“We will do everything possible to solidify the integrity of the system, while at the same time seeking to encourage ever-increasing efforts in starting new churches.”

Posted: 10/04/07

Update: BGCT eliminates 29 staff positions by end of October

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS—Twenty-nine Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board employees—almost 10 percent of the workforce—received notice Oct. 1-2 that their positions are being eliminated effective Oct. 31.

Of the 29 affected employees, 12 are program staff and 17 are in support and clerical roles.

Five program staff in missions, evangelism and ministry are being cut: Cecil Deadman, director of LifeCall missions; Debra Hochgraber, women’s ministry specialist; Russell Maddox, associate director of church architecture; Tom Robuck, specialist in Texas Partnerships; and Debbie Smith, music and worship special events coordinator.

Other program staff whose positions are being eliminated include: Susan Ater, camp specialist in associational missions; Glenn Majors, manager of Cooperative Progam Services in communications; Josie Flores, church administration specialist, and Mary Johnson, leadership project strategist in congregational leadership; Jim Furgerson, congregational strategist based in San Antonio; Linda Cross, director of the Baptist Laity Institute; and Tom Ruane, ministry relations and shared resources associate in institutional ministries.

The BGCT Executive Board staff administration did not release the names of the 17 support staff members who lost their jobs. Three support staff positions were cut in missions, three in evangelism and three in congregational strategists. Two positions were eliminated from research and development. One position was cut from each of the following areas—associational missions, building and facilities, communications, ministry, controller’s office and executive director’s office.

Of the 29 eliminated positions, 11 affected employees have been on the BGCT Executive Board staff 10 years or longer, including two who each have more than 30 years’ experience.

“The BGCT is blessed to have such a quality staff, so any reduction in that staff means that gifted servants of our Lord are affected,” Executive Director Charles Wade said.

“I deeply appreciate the work of these men and women, and I’m praying God will raise up new places of service for them. Our staff will be available to them in making this transition.”

The BGCT Executive Board voted last month to recommend a $50.1 million budget for 2008—a $473,644 reduction from the 2007 budget—to messengers at the BGCT annual meeting Oct. 29-30 in Amarillo.

Operations in 2007 were supplemented by about $1.1 million in funds allocated but unspent in previous years, Wade explained. At the same time, the board and its executive leadership committed last year to begin to reduce dependence on off-budget funds by drawing down a smaller percentage of earnings from investments, wills and trusts.

“All together, we needed to find $1.6 million,” he said.

After considering options, Wade rejected the idea of reducing all staff salaries rather than reducing the size of the workforce.

“Frankly, it would have been an abdication of managerial responsibility on my part,” he said.

Wade, Chief Operating Officer Ron Gunter and Chief Financial Officer David Nabors examined positions and personnel to make recommended cutbacks on the basis of several criteria.

“First, we had a target amount we had to reach—$1.6 million. Second, we looked at the whole organization and tried to identify jobs that could be combined,” he said.

“We looked at whether, with improved technology and a different set of skills, one person could cover two assignments,” particularly in the area of support staff, he explained. They also considered where functions in program leadership could be consolidated or where staff could take on additional tasks.

“We also looked at those areas where we felt we could transition and involve other partners—such as our institutions—to help us,” he said.

The executive leadership also explored areas where tasks could be performed by contract workers rather than full-time staff.

“We went to our team leaders with the names of specific people” whose jobs the executive leaders recommended eliminating, Wade said. “They were free to recommend alternatives, as long as they were within the ballpark financially.”

Gunter and Nabors took the recommended names and positions to the people who report directly to them, including the staff’s operations team. Executive leaders considered their suggestions and made some adjustments, Wade noted.

Next, the operations team talked to staff who report directly to them to review the names in their specific areas, and further adjustments were made. After the executive leaders approved the final decisions, supervisors talked individually to staff affected by the cutbacks, Wade reported.

Personnel who lost their jobs were notified Oct. 1-2 rather than after the BGCT annual meeting when the 2008 budget will be considered because “these reductions were based on anticipated income for 2008,” Wade said. “The budget and how it is allocated is the responsibility of the messengers to the annual meeting. But the executive staff is responsible for personnel matters.”

The BGCT constitution leaves the matter of recommending a budget and electing the executive leadership team to the Executive Board, and other personnel matters are delegated to staff leaders, he explained.

“We’ve done exactly what the executive director is supposed to do and what the Executive Board is supposed to do. We’re bringing a solution, and not just a problem, to the convention at the annual meeting,” Wade said.

“If the messengers don’t like it (the budget), they can vote it down. They have that right. But in lieu of them having a better idea, I hope they will sustain the decision of the Executive Board and that all of us will be able to pull together and get behind this.”

While 29 positions are being eliminated, four other posts are being created that will combine the functions of eight of the reductions, and employees affected by the cuts will be able to apply for those new roles, Gunter said. Three positions in evangelism and congregational leadership have been restructured into contract roles.

Earlier this year, three positions in the Service Center were eliminated, Gunter added.

Baptist Laity Institute leadership will be transferred to Royce Rose, coordinator of vocational theological education on the Institutional Ministries Team. Lindsay Cofield, director of multihousing/Key Church, will assume leadership of LifeCall missions.

Cooperative Program services will be moved into a position combined with stewardship. Terry Austin resigned earlier this year as stewardship director.

For several years, two congregational strategists had been assigned to the service area that includes San Antonio—Fred Ater and Jim Furgerson. Ater will take on full responsibility for this area.

Each person affected by the cuts will be eligible for financial assistance, insurance continuation, outplacement services and counseling services, said Casey Bailey, senior consultant for HRHouston Group, which handles the BGCT Executive Board staff’s human resources functions.

The severance package consists of two weeks pay for every year of service, with a minimum of four weeks of pay and a maximum of 12 weeks, Bailey said. The BGCT also will pay the full premiums for medical, dental and/or life insurance during that time. All other accrued benefits will be provided, as well, including a payout of unused vacation time.

Human Resources will assist with transition into new job opportunities with the BGCT or with other organizations, and will provide resume assistance and search strategies, Bailey said. The Information Technologies office will make computers available for employees to conduct Internet job searches and prepare resumes. Counseling services will be available with the BGCT staff and through referral networks.

With additional reporting by Ferrell Foster and John Hall

Posted: 10/05/07

BaptistWay Bible Series for October 14

It’s a new way of life

• Romans 6:1-19

By Andrew Daugherty

Christ Church, Rockwall

In his long poem “For The Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio,” American poet W. H. Auden gives voice to King Herod after the Magi announce forgiveness and grace have been given to human beings through the gift of Christ. High and mighty Herod quips: “Every corner-boy will congratulate himself: ‘I’m such a sinner that God had to come down in person to save me. I must be a devil of a fellow.’ Every crook will argue: ‘I like committing crimes, God likes forgiving them. Really the world is admirably arranged.’”

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The audacity Auden accentuates through Herod’s voice parodies the Apostle Paul’s argument to the Romans. Paul picks up on his previous parallel of Adam in Genesis to Jesus in the Gospels. If by one man’s disobedience (Adam) all people were made sinners and by one man’s obedience (Jesus) all people would be made righteous, then wherever sin is great, grace is greater (5:19-20). Said a different way, more sin means even more grace. No matter how much sin dominates and devastates a person’s life, God’s grace always trumps the tyranny of sin, because Christ dominates sin by virtue of his death and conquers death by virtue of his resurrection.

As you might imagine, Paul cautions using this gospel of grace as an excuse to live any way one pleases. Thus is the reason for his rhetorical question, “Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound (v. 1)? He answers with an emphatic, “By no means!” (v. 2). Once a person experiences God’s grace, the notion of doing whatever he pleases is contrary to the desire grace stirs up.

To want and will to continue in sin because of God’s grace is a logical impossibility though it remains an existential possibility. Logically, what clear-headed person exploits someone he truly loves by repeatedly causing hurt and harm to the one he knows will end up forgiving him anyway? Surely any caring parent, loving spouse or faithful friend will not seek deliberately to take advantage of the one they love. In this way, grace is not a license to licentiousness. Grace is a reason for righteousness.

Yet in terms of the ways we live our lives, baptism does not prevent people from being greedy, practicing racism (even if inadvertent) or living in fear of people who are different from them. The practical effects of baptism don’t always bring about the absolute reversals of the brokenness that plagues us all. Being baptized doesn’t prevent a corporate CEO from cooking the company’s books. It doesn’t make people immune to being unfaithful to their spouses. Divorce rates remain about the same whether a person is an evangelical Christian or whether a person never darkens the door of a church.

Though we may or may not share these particular experiences, what Christians don’t at least have days where they don’t think like Christians, feel like Christians or even act like Christians? But whoever said our relationship to God depends on such specific conditions?

According to Paul’s instruction to the Romans, Jesus died to sin once for all (v. 10). Neither Jesus nor Paul teaches us to don our spiritual poker faces and hedge our bets on a self-attained righteousness. Certainly there is no such thing as “do-it-yourself discipleship” in this passage of Scripture.

We could never become smart enough, old enough, holy enough or perfect enough to achieve the conditions for righteousness God has made possible through the death and resurrection of Christ. The basis of our relationship to God is that Christ accomplished on behalf of human beings what they had never been able to accomplish alone. The only thing left for a person to do is to identify one’s entire life with what Christ has done on behalf of the human race.

Baptism signifies the ultimate public act of solidarity with the one who has created the conditions for righteousness rather than sin to dominate one’s life.

The act of baptism enacts the rhythm of the righteousness Paul talks about. When we are baptized, we are buried with Christ by baptism into his death so that we might be united with him in a resurrection like his (vv. 4-5). Truly, the death we die with Christ demands daily funerals. As Vanderbilt professor and preacher Brad Braxton wisely asks: “What do we need to lay to rest today? What do we need to bury at this very hour? Do we need to bury a bad attitude, jealousy, animosity, an unforgiving spirit, doubt, a sense of shame or feelings of inadequacy?”

And since we are under grace, we rise from our water graves to be instruments of righteousness rather than instruments of wickedness. We cannot ultimately undo the promises we make in baptism any more than Christ will reverse the resurrection. Willingness to give ourselves in baptism indicates trust in what Christ has done for us. Because of what Christ did even before we ever knew we needed him, we, too, are now dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (v. 11). Braxton continues: “In Christ, funerals are always penultimate. Death is but a comma in salvation’s story. The resurrection is the final exclamation point!”

Therefore, no longer can we define the gospel of grace as the freedom to rebel against the God who loves us. On the contrary, the gospel of grace grants us freedom to embrace the joy of a love that buries our temptations to make gods of our sins and raises new possibilities to trust the God who will never let us go. Thanks be to God in Christ.

Posted: 10/05/07

Bible Studies for Life Series for October 14

High-impact believers

• Matthew 5:13-20

By Steve Dominy

First Baptist Church, Gatesville

If you have lived in Baptist circles long enough, you have probably heard the old saying that goes something like, “Don’t smoke, drink or chew, or go with girls that do!” Which was all good and well, except that we used to think the time between Sunday school and worship was actually a smoke break on the back porch of the church.

I say that to make the point that more often that not, Christians are known for what we don’t do rather than what we do. Jesus turns that idea on its head in the Sermon on the Mount and calls us to live a life worthy of the kingdom of God, a life that influences the world in which we live.

Jesus uses two images to get his point across—salt and light. No matter how poor a home, salt and light would have been recognized as basic necessities. Jesus is not making this point to the well-to-do, but to all classes of people. Salt is a necessity of life, our bodies do not function without it. While it is not necessary for us to salt down our meat anymore, it was not that long ago when it was a necessity.

Some have argued that Christians are to add “flavor” to the life of the world. And there may be some aspect of truth to that, but the fact is that Jesus came so that the world might be saved through him. The implication is that the world is rotting and needs redemption.

Salt’s preservative function is much more what Jesus had in mind here. In and of itself, meat cannot help but decay. Something has to be introduced from the outside to prevent that decay. The same is true of our world; when we are left to our own devices, we will inevitably fall apart.

You are the light of the world. Jesus doesn’t leave this up to our interpretation, but clearly says this light is our good works. In other words, our life in Christ will be evidenced by our work in his kingdom. If we merely consider these good works to be living a Christian lifestyle, we are letting ourselves off the hook. Jesus says, “… let your light shine in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

We all probably have used this passage as an excuse in our outreach efforts. Even if we never say it out loud, the thought lingers that if we just live good lives, people will be drawn to Christ. But Jesus says we are to live with the purpose of drawing others to him, so the Father might be glorified. Jesus calls us to live our lives intentionally. To do otherwise is to put our light under a basket.

When we read verses 17-20 in light of verses 13-16, it makes the righteousness of which Jesus speaks easier to understand. Legalism is the last thing Jesus is calling for. The scribes and Pharisees were devoted to a scrupulous observance of the law and their own tradition. Jesus says a greater righteousness than this is required. A relationship of love and obedience to God which is more than a literal observance of the law and prophets is required. This is evidenced in our lives by being salt and light.

The metaphors of salt and light Jesus uses here teach us several things about our Christian responsibilities. Three in particular stand out.

First, Jesus is speaking to his disciples. There is a distinction between the church and the world. Jesus says the difference between believers and nonbelievers is as different as day and night, as different as salt and road grime. This theme is basic to the Sermon on the Mount. It is built on the assumption that Christians are different from the world, and Jesus calls us to be different. It also is clear this difference does not mean we are to withdraw from the world, but are to engage the world, preventing its decline and bringing light to its darkness. Jesus calls us to be different so we can make a difference.

Second, there is a responsibility that goes with the name. Jesus is not preaching this sermon on the steps of the capital. It is not a public call. It is a call to his followers. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. These are emphatic statements. It is as if to say, “only you” are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Jesus has done so much more than clear our way to heaven. He has given us a task in this world. Eternal life is not something that begins when we die or when Jesus returns. It begins the moment we accept Christ and become a part of doing God’s work in God’s world.

Third, our responsibility has two components. Salt and light perform two different functions. Salt largely prevents decay, and light illuminates the darkness. Jesus calls us to have an emphasis on our communities by preventing decay and bringing light to darkness. It is one thing to stop the spread of evil. It is quite another to replace it with the grace and mercy of Christ. Putting up barricades to evil is not enough. We must be transformed and be made new.

Posted:10/05/07

Explore the Bible Series for October 14

Be patient with others

• Matthew 13:1-53

By Travis Frampton

Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene

Our family recently moved into a new home out in the country. We have almost completely settled into our new address. Most of the moving boxes have been unpacked, several of our favorite pictures are hung and window treatments are on the way.

Whereas the inside of our house has started to come together, outside landscaping is another matter. We currently have no grass on our acre lot. Yesterday, I worked in our front yard about three hours. As I write, my back is aching, my arms are sore, and my hands are blistered. It has been some time since I’ve attempted a significant landscaping project, and the work I have done hardly shows. As a matter of fact, if you were to look at my yard, you could not really tell I had done anything at all.

I spent all my time with a steel rake, manually plowing up about half an acre of unforgiving West Texas clay soil. I imagine I looked ridiculous. A life-long suburbanite, now living in the country, bent over with rake in hand, trying to prepare the earth to receive a mixture of fertilizer and winter rye seed. Most of my new neighbors have tractors to do this sort of work. Nevertheless, I have learned my lesson. Today I am planning on going to a local gardening store to buy both fertilizer and seed so I can sow this afternoon. While I am there, I will take a look at few riding lawn mowers!

The parable of the sower

In Matthew 13:3-8, Jesus recites the parable of the sower. Most of us are familiar with this story. A farmer goes out to sow. Some of his seed falls along a path, some on rocky places, some among thorns and some on good soil. Only the good soil produces a crop. Jesus concludes the account with, “He who has ears, let him hear.”

Most of Jesus’ teaching in the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) comes by way of parables. Why didn’t Jesus just say what he wanted to say without creating any ambiguity? Wouldn’t it have been easier to teach in a more direct manner? Parables are difficult to understand. They require readers to pay attention, to work at understanding their meaning. You cannot read a parable quickly and make much sense of it. They invite the reader to ponder, to reflect and to draw analogies.

“Why do you speak to the people in parables?” the disciples asked Jesus. He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them” (Matthew 13:11).

Jesus’ response to the disciples seemed straightforward enough. They were privy to interpretations and explanations the crowds were not. Nevertheless, the secret was more than a trite compact answer. The secret was a person. Jesus was the secret. He was the key to understanding the parables and the key to understanding the kingdom of heaven.

That kingdom was inherently connected to the life and ministry of Jesus. As a domain, it involved more than heavenly matters; it was equally concerned with God’s reign on earth. Jesus taught his disciples to pray about the kingdom of heaven on earth: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10). In this way, Jesus brought heaven to earth.

Again, he was the secret. The disciples had direct access to him; others did not. The seeds in the parable represented much more than sharing the gospel with the lost; the parable was more about how the seed had power to transform lives.

When we live out the good news, we live the life of the Secret; that is, we live out the life of Christ. We become the Word. We become servants. We love others more than ourselves. We find the compassion to forgive those who have wronged us and the humility to ask forgiveness from those we’ve wronged. In essence, we die to ourselves. We become good soil for the seed to take root. And, as I learned, preparing soil for seeding is not easy. It requires much work, and so do we.

Don’t neglect the soil

I once heard an African-American pastor deliver a powerful sermon from this passage. He believed Christians focus too much on the seed and neglect the soil. He directed attention to the farmer. The sower scattered seed indiscriminately; not knowing where the seed might fall. He was not instructed to work solely on the good soil. The farmer must sow everywhere. According to this parable, success was not very promising—a 75 percent failure rate. Failure was to be expected.

The pastor ended his sermon, bellowing loudly in a deep, scratchy voice: “So go on now! Go on, I say! Sow the seed, farmers, sow seed.” The audience thought this was a rhetorical device he employed to conclude his message. After a long silence, we soon learned that his directives were instead his benediction, for he repeated: “I said go on, get out of here and go on! Go on! I’m not playing around. There’s work to be done on you and on your neighbors. So get on out of this house of the Lord, and work the soil, you farmers!”

As we were leaving, he told us, “Remember that the tiniest seed has the potential to harness enough energy to grow in the most unlikely places. Once rooted, something so small, with enough light and just a little water, can break up the hardest dirt and turn up even the roughest asphalt. So don’t worry about the seed; just sow.”

Go on, now!

Discussion questions

• What does it mean for the kingdom of heaven to be here on earth?

• Why do you think Jesus taught primarily in parable?

• Can you think of examples where the seed has transformed lives?

• Jesus evidently sowed the seed, yet people turned away from his message. How is this fact reflected in the parable of the sower?

Posted: 10/05/07

California church leaders question
IRS investigation into war sermon

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

PASADENA, Calif. (ABP)—The Internal Revenue Service has informed a California church it will not be sanctioned for an anti-war sermon preached there in 2004, but church leaders are asking for an apology for an investigation they believe may have been politically motivated.

Edwin Bacon, rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, Calif., informed parishioners of the IRS decision during worship services Sept. 23. The church had been under investigation for potential fines or revocation of its tax-exempt status since 2005.

The investigation stemmed from a guest sermon George Regas, the church’s rector emeritus, delivered just before the 2004 presidential election. In it, he strongly criticized the war in Iraq but also said he believed that both President Bush and his Democratic opponent, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, were good Christians.

Churches and other organizations organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code are not allowed to offer official endorsements of, or opposition to, candidates or political parties. However, the law allows houses of worship to speak out about issues of public policy as long as they don’t include clear partisan messages.

In a Sept. 10 letter, IRS officials informed Bacon and All Saints of their decision to drop the investigation without any sanction. But the letter also noted the agency’s determination that the church intervened in the 2004 presidential election campaign.

“We note that this appears to be a one-time occurrence and that you have policies in place to ensure that the church complies with the prohibition against intervention in campaigns for public office,” the letter said.

But Bacon, in a statement released by the church, said that was not a satisfactory conclusion to the investigation, which has cost the church hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

“While we are pleased that the IRS examination is finally over, the IRS has failed to explain its conclusion regarding the single sermon at issue,” he said. “Synagogues, mosques, and churches across America have no more guidance about the IRS rules now than when we started this process over two long years ago. The impact of this letter leaves a chilling effect cast over the freedom of America’s pulpits to preach core moral values. We have no choice but to demand clarification on this matter with the IRS.”

The church is asking the office of the IRS commissioner to examine what it called “numerous procedural and legal errors” committed by the investigators in the course of the inquiry.

Church officials also say they have heard that “certain IRS officials may have breached the church’s confidentiality rights in inappropriate conversations with high-level Department of Justice personnel, which heightens the church’s concern that the exam may have been influenced by partisan political considerations.”

As a result, All Saints also has referred the case to the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration.

Several churches have been investigated in recent years by the IRS for engaging in partisan political endorsements. The majority have been conservative churches endorsing Republican candidates. However, only one church—a small congregation in New York—has had its tax-exempt status revoked for violations of the law.

Posted: 10/05/07

Maciel inaugurated as BUA president;
pledges commitment to servant leadership

By Marv Knox

Editor

SAN ANTONIO—Service and leadership will be the themes of René Maciel’s tenure as the seventh president of Baptist University of the Américas, he stressed at his inauguration Sept. 28.

“We want to train our students to be servant-leaders,” Maciel said at First Mexican Baptist Church in San Antonio. The university exists to inform and empower servant-leaders so they can meet “the vast human needs in the world around them,” he added.

René Maciel speaks following his inauguration as president Baptist University of the Américas in San Antonio

“People today want to be leaders but not servants,” he acknowledged, contrasting popular culture with BUA’s purpose—“forging new leaders, servant-leaders, who love their families, give of themselves and serve the world.”

“My most profound goal is to help BUA establish a culture of servanthood that calls students to give up their lives in service to others,” he pledged.

Maciel recalled that he learned about service from the example set by his parents. “I’ve never known them when they were not serving someone,” he said.

During the inauguration, his father, Eleazar Maciel, admonished him to stay true to those principles. “The call of a Christian leader is the role of a servant,” he advised.

The theme of service echoed through the inaugural address delivered by Hulitt Gloer, professor at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary. He and Maciel worked alongside each other at Truett Seminary, when Maciel was assistant dean, the post he held before joining BUA.

Gloer described Jesus’ disciples’ surprise at the Last Supper: They expected Jesus to become a political leader and anticipated sharing in his power. But instead, he shocked them by taking the role of a lowly servant, picking up a towel and basin of water, and washing their feet.

When the Apostle Peter tried to rebuke him, Jesus told him, “If you don’t accept me for who I am, you can have no part of me. … You should do as I have done,” Gloer reported.

“Wherever people are in anguish, despair, despondency and dying, we’re called to pick up a towel,” he said.

For Jesus, “picking up the towel was prelude to picking up the cross,” he noted, adding, “The weight of the cross is the service of the world. … Take up the cross, the towel. You will have the mind of Christ, and (the world) will see him in you.”

Maciel brings “humility, vision, energy, integrity and dedication” to this task, said Paul Powell, recently retired dean at Truett Seminary.

Predicting BUA’s future under Maciel’s leadership, Powell added: “The best days are ahead, and we’ve never needed it more.”

Baptist University of the Américas is vital to the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the convention’s executive director, Charles Wade, stressed.

“You can know the Baptists of Texas stand behind you,” Wade told Maciel. “The investment that has been made has never, ever been regretted.”

Leaders of the university’s board of directors cited divine providence in Maciel’s selection as president.

“This historic event is not by choice,” said board Chairwoman Phyllis Nichols and board member Teo Cisneros, who translated the words into Spanish. “Brother René is God’s choice for this time to serve as the seventh president of Baptist University of the Américas.”

Maciel, 48, is a graduate of Hardin-Simmons University and Baylor University.

He was a recruiter and admissions counselor and later director of admissions at Hardin-Simmons; assistant admissions counselor at Baylor; chief administrator of New Mexico Baptist Children’s Home; and director of student services and then assistant dean at Truett Seminary.

He and his wife, Sabrina, have two daughters, Brianna and Carmen.

Posted: 10/05/07

Wayland students
demonstrate degree of difference

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

PLAINVIEW—Students and staff from Wayland Baptist University fanned out across Plainview to paint the town—literally—during Degree of Difference Day.

Volunteers worked at 21 sites to help local agencies and churches by offering free labor for the day.

Teams worked in cleanup efforts at the city cemetery, a home location of Allegiance Behavioral Health Center and two agencies of the Central Plains Center, which needed floor waxing, buffing, carpet cleaning and some paint work.

Katrina Smith, director of information technology at Wayland Baptist University, paints a room in the College Hill Daycare Center.

They trimmed trees at the Girl Scout Hut and pulled weeds at Plainview Christian Academy. Students joined a major cleanup effort in east Plainview, where members of the Pioneer basketball team and others joined Primera Iglesia Bautista in an effort to beautify that neighborhood.

Others applied paintbrushes and rollers to walls around town, helping paint the James Hearn Activity Center at Happy Union Baptist Church, the College Hill Daycare Center, the Wee Care Child Care Center, the Whiteaker Center, the Compassionate Care Pregnancy Center, Habitat for Humanity, Jericho Fellowship Church and other locations.

A group joined members of churches in painting and beautifying the 18th and Houston site of the new Chalice Christian Church, which shares space with Good Samaritan Pentecostal Church.

The Flying Queens women’s basketball team and members of the Pioneer Baseball team stayed close to home for the day, helping paint trim on Wayland’s married student housing duplexes and doing cleanup and weeding in some areas.

A choir group gathered at the Museum of the Llano Estacado for some cleanup, as well. One team visited a local nursing home, playing the guitar and visiting residents, painting nails for female residents if they desired. Still another team worked with Plainview Main Street to stain planters that will be used to beautify the downtown area, and a crew of staff gathered to make lunches and deliver them to the workers.

“This provided an opportunity to share Christ’s love through work and not just talk,” said Jon Clifton, a junior from Sunrise Beach, who was on one of many painting crews for the day. He also noted he enjoyed the fellowship with other students and faculty.

“To know that we helped out in bettering our community feels really good,” noted Rosemary Ribera, a freshman from Canyon who served on the crew with Main Street, painting vases.

Though the work was hard at times and dirty with all the painting involved, students enjoyed the bonding time and helping community agencies.

“Today showed me that with hard work you can accomplish anything,” said Joe Brown, a freshman from Sugarland and a member of the Pioneer basketball team who worked in East Plainview. “When we first got here the weeds were taller than me and in abundance. With hard work we cleared it out.”

“I really enjoy getting out into the community and serving,” noted Lisa Hamilton, a senior from Slaton who painted in various locations. “Although I am covered in paint, I am excited and would love to go do some more.”

Joanne Jacob, a junior from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, concurred, summarizing the feelings of many about the work day.

“It feels good to know that whether you work with someone face-to-face or behind the scenes such as painting or doing dirty work, you’re still making a difference in someone’s life by filling a need,” she said. “I absolutely loved getting dirty with paint this year. It was so much fun!”

Besides the efforts in Plainview, some of Wayland’s external campuses joined in the effort, planning service projects for the week before Degree of Difference Day.

The Lubbock campus sold Wayland T-shirts to raise money for a Diabetes Walk held in that city, and the Amarillo and Albuquerque campuses held blood drives in conjunction with local blood centers.

The campus in Fairbanks, Alaska—housed on Eielson Air Force Base and Fort Wainwrigh—has planned a collection drive for November to send supplies to troops deployed overseas.

For the third Degree of Difference Day—slated for October 2008—organizers hope to involve Wayland alumni wherever they live in service efforts to their own communities.

Posted: 10/05/07

Expatriate Baptist minister
runs for Kenyan Parliament

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS—A Kenyan Baptist minister who has lived in Texas more than 25 years appears likely to be elected to Parliament in his homeland.

Solomon Kimuyu has been nominated by the Kenya African National Union to represent Machakos township, about 35 miles east of Nairobi, in Kenya’s Parliament and serve as leader of the Akamba tribe.

Solomon Kimuyu, a Baptist minister who attended Hardin-Simmons University and earned degrees from Howard Payne University and Dallas Baptist University, will run for a seat in Kenya’s Parliament as the candidate of the Kenya African National Union.

Since he represents the dominant Akamba people—and polls show him receiving 80 percent of the expected votes—Kimuyu explained his nomination almost guarantees his election when voters go to the polls in December.

When the 260 KANU delegates selected Kimuyu, he became the first Kenyan in the United States—living in what his countrymen call “the Diaspora”—to be nominated by a major political party.

Kimuyu, who graduated from Mombasa Baptist High School in Kenya and earned a certificate in theology from a Baptist seminary in East Africa, moved to the United States in the early 1980s.

With scholarship help provided by First Baptist Church in Sweetwater, he attended Hardin-Simmons University and graduated from Howard Payne University. Later, he earned a master’s degree from Dallas Baptist University and a doctorate from the University of North Texas.

He taught Sunday school at First Baptist Church in Abilene during his time in West Texas, and he currently is a member of First Baptist Church in Garland.

Kimuyu directed the Rising Star Children’s Home and founded Solomon’s Youth Center in Abilene, Jefferson Home for Children in Azle and Solomon Home for Children International, based in Dallas. In the process, he was inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame.

Kimuyu has permanent resident status in the United States, but he has remained a citizen of Kenya throughout his quarter-century abroad. If elected, he and his wife, Protasia, will move to Kenya. His grown children were born in the United States and live in the Dallas area. So, moving to Kenya will mean a major adjustment.

“I have a lot of friends here” in Texas, he said. But Kimuyu sees public service in Kenya as a second calling.

“I came to this country to receive education for the purpose of returning my talent to my people. That time as come,” he said. “I want to go help my people.”

Kimuyu hopes to build trust and confidence in Kenya’s government by demonstrating honesty and integrity, he explained. And he wants to build farm-to-market roads and expand rural access to electricity, clean water and health care.

Kimuyu also hopes to fulfill another dream by building an educational center in the rural area that would house a high school, Bible college and leadership center.

But after more than two decades building homes for children and youth in Texas, he especially looks forward to returning to his first calling—the pastorate.

“When I go back, I will have a church to pastor again,” he said.

Kimuyu was pastor of Athi River First Baptist Church in Kenya, and he served as general secretary of the Baptist Convention of Kenya and vice president for the All-Africa Baptist Union.

In recent year, Kenya’s Baptist convention has experienced division—a problem Kimuya attributes to the controversy that gripped the Southern Baptist Convention for more than two decades and the imposition of the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message as a test of fellowship.

He hopes to be a unifying force not only in secular politics, but also within the Baptist convention in Kenya.

“ I want to go back like Nehemiah and rebuild,” he said.

Posted: 10/05/07

Howard Payne students serve
community—with right motive

Like a “swarm” of bees, Howard Payne University students busied themselves on a recent Saturday by meeting needs in the Brownwood area.

Students Tamatha Faircloth (left) and Tabitha Davies help paint at the Good Samaritan in Brownwood.

About 130 Howard Payne students participated in SWARM—Serving With a Right Motive—a campus service project launched in 1997 and coordinated by the HPU Student Activities Council. Students completed a variety of jobs including painting, cleaning and yard work at service sites including the Boys & Girls Club, Brownwood Nursing and Rehab, the Brownwood Fire Department, Care Nursing Center; Family Services Center; First Baptist Church of Brownwood, the Girl Scouts, Good Samaritan, the Humane Society, Keep Brownwood Beautiful, the Loaves and Fishes ministry, Milton Avenue Baptist Church, Pecan Valley American Red Cross and The ARK.

Howard Payne University students David Lara and Brittany Buchanan visit with residents of the Brownwood Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center.