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Campus minister shared story of Jesus, kept his own wartime story to himself
Posted: 9/06/07
Donnal Timmons seved as Baptist Student Union director at the Texas College of Arts and Industries—now Texas A&M University-Kingsville—from 1949 to 1961. Campus minister shared story of Jesus,
kept his own wartime story to himselfRetired Baptist Student Union Director Donnal Timmons described his experiences as a World War II prisoner of war in vivid detail to his family and a few close friends.
Sixty captive soldiers were crammed into a single boxcar after marching days without food. Using a Gideon Bible, Timmons shared the New Testament plan of salvation with another frightened GI. His attempt at personal evangelism was interrupted by bullets that pierced the railway car and splinters that flew everywhere when fighter planes strafed the train.
At a reunion in Irving, Donnal Timmons accepts a crystal 'praying hands' award from former students whose lives he touched during his service as a Baptist Student Union director. Timmons’ select audience was mesmerized by his stories. But former college students who knew Timmons five decades earlier as their spiritual mentor were surprised to learn about his wartime trauma, which they learned about only in the last few years.
He served as Baptist Student Union director at the Texas College of Arts and Industries—now Texas A&M University-Kingsville—from 1949 to 1961.
09/06/2007 - By John Rutledge
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James Kennedy, elder statesman of Religious Right, dead at 76
Posted: 9/06/07
James Kennedy, elder statesman
of Religious Right, dead at 76By Robert Marus
Associated Baptist Press
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (ABP)—Presbyterian minister James Kennedy died Sept. 5, little more than a week after he retired from the pulpit that helped him launch both evangelistic and political ministries.
Kennedy, who was 76, had served for nearly half a century as pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. But he was also one of the pioneers of television ministry, a seminary founder and the head of an activist empire devoted to what he believed was the restoration of the United States as a “Christian nation.”
James Kennedy 09/06/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Combined youth choirs ‘converge’ on San Marcos
Posted: 8/31/07
Youth choirs from Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, South Main Baptist Church in Pasadena, First Baptist Church in Abilene, Central Baptist Church in Marshall, First Baptist Church in Valley Mills and First Baptist Church in San Marcos gathered for Converge ’07. Combined youth choirs
‘converge’ on San MarcosBy George Henson
Staff Writer
SAN MARCOS—Youth choirs from six churches around Texas met in San Marcos to sound a note for unity.
Converge ’07 involved more than 150 teenagers from Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, South Main Baptist Church in Pasadena, First Baptist Church in Abilene, Central Baptist Church in Marshall, First Baptist Church in Valley Mills and the host church, First Baptist Church in San Marcos.
08/31/2007 - By John Rutledge
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EDITORIAL: We can bridge the chasm of race
Posted: 8/31/07
EDITORIAL:
We can bridge the chasm of raceEvery parent eventually encounters moments that send a clear signal: Your children are growing up in a world far removed from the little sphere of your childhood.
One of those transcendental times occurred when Lindsay and Molly, our daughters, were young—kindergarten- or early elementary-school age. Joanna and I sat in the school cafetorium as the principal read off the names of students who earned special recognition. I tried not to doze so I wouldn’t miss my own daughter’s name as she droned through the list of typical names of kids their age: Caitlin, Katy, Sara, Courtney, Dustin, Justin, Michael, Mohammad.
Mohammad? Now, there’s a name never mentioned when roll was called in the schoolrooms of my youth. Sure enough, a beautiful child with jet-black hair, olive skin and deep-brown eyes walked up to receive his certificate. He bore the look, and his parents spoke the soft accent, of a place far, far away.
That was the first of our family’s innumerable experiences with our public school systems’ amazing multi-culturalism. Through the years, our girls made friends with children whose families originated on six continents. They were called by a symphony of names, most of which I no longer can spell, that always sounded exotic and melodic, especially when pronounced by their parents.
08/31/2007 - By John Rutledge
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For 10 years, Christian Women’s Job Corps has been changing lives
Posted: 8/31/07
For 10 years, Christian Women’s
Job Corps has been changing livesBy Jessica Dooley
Communications Intern
Supporting a family can be hard when a person is unemployed, but it can be even harder to find the skills necessary for a decent-paying job. And without money to receive higher education or specialized training, learning those skills becomes almost impossible.
But Christian Women’s Job Corps and Christian Men’s Job Corps, make the process easier—teaching not only job skills, but also life skills in a Christian context.
08/31/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Baptists active on both sides in the Little Rock integration battle
Posted: 8/31/07
Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine, is pursued by a mob outside Little Rock’s Central High School. (UPI Photo/Library of Congress) Baptists active on both sides in
the Little Rock integration battleBy Robert Marus
Associated Baptist Press
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (ABP)—The story of Lakeshore Drive Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark., encapsulates the little-recounted role that white Baptists played during the Civil Rights Movement—on both sides.
The church owes its existence to the 1957-59 struggle to integrate Little Rock Central High School, when pro-integration members were kicked out of another congregation pastored by an outspoken segregationist. Dignitaries will gather in Little Rock Sept. 25 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Central High’s desegregation.
08/31/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Aging minister recalls price paid for recognizing God’s image in all people
Posted: 8/31/07
Aging minister recalls price paid for
recognizing God’s image in all peopleBy Bill Webb
Word & Way
CHILLICOTHE, Mo.—When Norman Shands made a vow to God 65 years ago, he couldn’t have imagined that it would thrust him into the center of the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta.
The vow—that he would view and treat every person as someone created in the image of God—contradicted the south Georgia native’s upbringing.
Bob Shands wrote a book in 2006 titled In My Father’s House: Lessons Learned in the Home of a Civil Rights Volunteer. It chronicles his father’s contributions bridging racial barriers and the impact those times had on him as a youngster. 08/31/2007 - By John Rutledge
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TOGETHER: Relevant denominations have a future
Posted: 8/31/07
TOGETHER:
Relevant denominations have a futureMany observers today raise serious questions about the future of denominations. Years ago, Baptists themselves were critical of denominations because they were so focused on autonomy of the local church that the idea of anything more than an association of churches seemed too cumbersome and restrictive. We began to work together, slowly and painfully, because of the birth of the modern missionary movement. William Carey went from England to India in 1793 under the conviction that God had called him to go preach and teach the gospel of Christ, and he depended on the churches for support. In the early 19th century, Luther Rice traveled on horseback up and down the Atlantic coast to raise support for missionaries Adoniram and Ann Judson. This awakened Baptists to the cause of missions. They began to see the need for cooperation in supporting the Judsons and calling out more missionaries.
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board
The Triennial Baptist Convention was the earliest attempt to bring Baptists together in a national body. But by 1845, this fragile cooperation ended when the Southern Baptist Convention was formed in Augusta, Ga. State conventions of Baptists began to develop to support missionaries, colleges, church planting, ministry to orphan children and other needs. And, in 1848, the first Texas state convention of Baptist churches was formed.
Through the years, denominations have provided an identity around valued biblical principles, common history and the opportunity for involvement in a network of sister congregations. They also encourage the flow of influence. The churches influence one another and the denomination, and the denomination influences the local churches and helps the influence of the local church to have broader impact.
The idea that we are moving into a “post-denominational” age is not so frightening to Texas Baptists as it might be to others. Lyle Schaller, who has worked with churches of all denominations as a pioneer church consultant, said only the denominations that figure out how to start new churches, train and equip effective leaders, and work together to meet human needs are going to survive. That, of course, is what the BGCT has been about since the beginning. But we do face enormous challenges because many of our churches have neglected to keep fully informed about the missions, evangelism, education and benevolent ministries of the BGCT. You can go to our website— www.bgct.org—and see for yourself the ways you are making a difference in people’s lives for Christ every week with the offerings you give through the BGCT Cooperative Program.
08/31/2007 - By John Rutledge
