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Around the State
Posted: 9/14/07
Around the State
• Tony Martin, professor of Greek, New Testament and world religions at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, will speak at a ministers’ forum at noon Sept. 20. His topic will be “Biblical Ideas Relating to the Issue of Suffering in Human Exper-ience.” The presentation will be held in Shelton Auditorium. For more information, call (254) 295-4606.
• East Texas Baptist University will hold a preview event for prospective students and their families Sept. 29. There is no cost to attend, and visitors will receive information about academic programs, financial aid, campus life, ministry opportunities, tours of the campus and tickets to the ETBU football game. For more information, call (800) 804-ETBU.
Seven Howard Payne University students traveled to India in culmination of a class that taught them how to plan the logistics of a mission trip to a foreign country. They learned everything from securing insurance to visas. They also learned the importance of learning about the culture of the people there. While in India, the students participated in worship in both a house church and in a congregational setting, as well as witnessing Hindu worship of the Ganges River. Pictured in front of the Taj Mahal are, front row from left, Naphtali Renshaw, Allison White and Jamie Coston; back row from left, Travis Garcia, Jared Renshaw, Skyler Smith, Tim Heinze and Professor Rusty Wheelington. • Baylor University will hold the Parchman Endowed Lectures Oct. 2-4. Ben Witherington, a professor of New Testament interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary, will deliver the lectures, scheduled for 9:30 a.m. each day. For more information, call (254) 710-7347.
• Kelvin Kelley has been named to the faculty of Logsdon Theological Seminary, and also has been appointed assistant to Hardin-Simmons University President Craig Turner.
09/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Amarillo minister to be nominated for BGCT second vice president at hometown meeting
Posted: 9/14/07
Amarillo minister to be nominated for BGCT
second vice president at hometown meetingBy Ken Camp
Managing Editor
AMARILLO—Citing his effectiveness in mobilizing laity for missions involvement, Bill Brian has announced his intention to nominate Jeff Raines, associate pastor of First Baptist Church in Amarillo, for second vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
Election of officers will top the business agenda at the BGCT annual meeting in Amarillo, Oct. 29-30.
09/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Book Reviews
Posted: 9/14/07
Book Reviews
This Immoral Trade: Slavery in the 21st Century, by Caroline Cox and John Marks (Monarch Books)
Two hundred years after William Wilberforce succeeded in his long crusade to abolish the British slave trade and 144 years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in the United States, at least 27 million people are enslaved in the world today.
Caroline Cox, former deputy speaker of the House of Lords, and John Marks, a human rights campaigner and researcher, highlight the modern blight of slavery in its varied manifestations—sexual trafficking, forced labor, child soldiers and debt bondage.
What are you reading that other Texas Baptists would find helpful? Send suggestions and reviews to books@baptiststandard.com. Cox and Marks conducted extensive interviews with former slaves in Sudan, Uganda and Burma. About two-thirds of the book is filled with those first-person accounts, allowing readers to hear directly from people whose stories otherwise would remain untold and whose voices otherwise would be left unheard.
09/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Candidates’ religious commitment not a big voter draw, survey shows
Posted: 9/14/07
Candidates’ religious commitment
not a big voter draw, survey showsBy Robert Marus
ABP Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON (ABP)—A new survey of voters’ attitudes toward presidential candidates shows that being perceived as highly religious may not help the 2008 hopefuls much.
The study, released by two bipartisan public-interest groups, also suggests many issues most important to conservative religious voters aren’t as important to the wider electorate.
09/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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2nd Opinion: The importance of letting go
Posted: 9/14/07
2nd Opinion: The importance of letting go
By Bob Campbell
Two years ago, I retired from a large church in Houston after almost 15 years of pastoral service. The day I retired, I gave up my role as “pastor” of the church.
I have elected to stay in the church with the many friends I made over the past 15 years. However, all of my friends will testify that I do not allow them to “talk” church business with me. I always refer them to the current leadership. Any member of the church will tell you that I have not said or done anything that could be construed as “pastoral” ministry in the church. I visit prospects as any member might. I never identify myself as the “former” pastor.
No pastor can stay with a congregation he has pastored if he does not recognize that he no longer holds the office of pastor. I told my congregation I wanted to stay under the following self-imposed conditions:
09/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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DOWN HOME: Lessons learned at a busy intersection
Posted: 9/14/07
DOWN HOME:
Lessons learned at a busy intersectionCommuting is a microcosm of life.
Many folks, bless their souls, live in small towns, where commuting is nothing. But those of us who drive miles through city traffic every day view the gamut of human nature on the streets and expressways and overpasses of our lives.
This morning on the way to work, I witnessed the extremes of kindness and reckless selfishness within 15 seconds.
The Good Samaritan appeared first. Her dark-blue SUV grabbed my attention, because it was stopped on the left side of the road—out of the traffic lanes and partway onto the grass.
09/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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EDITORIAL: Good news from MTV, of all places
Posted: 9/14/07
EDITORIAL:
Good news from MTV, of all placesThe best way to ensure the happiness of teens and young adults is to envelope them in the embrace of family.
A new study sponsored by MTV and the Associated Press revealed the most significant factor contributing to teen happiness is family. Spiritual faith also is a vital contributor to teens’ and young adults’ emotional well-being. Conversely, many of the supposed happiness-providers that dominate teen- and young-adult-oriented media—money, fame, sex and drugs—finished far down the list. And some of them even cause unhappiness, survey respondents said.
The majority of American young people lead happy lives, the poll found. Sixty-three percent of survey participants aged 13 to 24 said they are very happy (21 percent) or somewhat happy (42 percent). Another 22 percent said they are “neither happy nor unhappy.” Only 15 percent said they are somewhat unhappy or very unhappy.
Parents and family are the far-and-away dominant factors in young people’s happiness. Asked to cite the “one thing in life that makes you happy,” 46 percent of young people named spending time with family, friends and loved ones. Seventy-three percent of survey respondents said they are very happy (41 percent) or somewhat happy (32 percent) with their relationship with their parents. Eleven percent said they are somewhat unhappy with their parents, and only 2 percent are very unhappy.
09/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Faith Digest
Posted: 9/14/07
Faith Digest
Religious activists fast for debt relief. A group of religious activists began a 40-day fast Sept. 6 to advocate for legislation that would cancel the debts of the world’s 67 poorest countries, according to the Jubilee USA Network, an alliance of more than 80 religious denominations and faith communities. 2007 is a Sabbath year, according to Jubilee USA, which in the Old Testament meant creditors were expected to cancel the loans of fellow Hebrews. In June, Reps. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., introduced the 2007 Jubilee Act in the House of Representatives. Jubilee USA says its goal is to get a hearing on the bill and similar legislation introduced in the Senate.
Confucius joins Jesus at courthouse. Napoleon, Confucius, Hammurabi and more than a dozen other historical figures have joined Jesus Christ on the wall at a Louisiana courthouse in a bid to reassure visitors that the court wanted nothing more than to showcase people who helped to create the laws of civilized nations. Officials mounted the additional portraits one week before a scheduled court hearing at which the Louisiana ACLU planned to ask a federal judge to remove the Jesus portrait. The ACLU has sued the court, the city of Slidell, St. Tammany Parish and Judge Jim Lamz, saying the portrait and the accompanying words, “To know peace, obey these laws,” violates the First Amendment and the separation of church and state.
09/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
