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Cybercolumn by Berry D. Simpson: Playing along
osted: 8/31/07
CYBER COLUMN:
Playing alongMy young friend Jonathan started kindergarten this year. He was so excited; he wore his new backpack around the house, with his new lunchbox and school supplies inside, for days and days. And he wore his new school shoes, which he wasn’t allowed to wear outside the house but could wear inside, even with his pajamas. The young man had no idea what school would be like, but he was ready to get started. He didn’t know what it was, but he was ready.
When I heard this story about Jonathan, I wondered if his sense of anticipation and joy is what Jesus meant when he said we should love him like a child. Matthew 18:4 says: “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Most of us grownups are too proud and, well, grown up, to show the excitement and anticipation of a young boy looking forward to kindergarten.
Berry D. Simpson Maybe it’s because we’ve looked forward to too many things that eventually turned out not as much fun as we thought. Is it inevitable that we’ll lose the wonder and imagination and trust that comes with childhood?
During our recent weekend in California, I was fortunate to run (walk) along the oceanfront every morning for an hour and a half. My route took me past a crowd of middle-aged surfers, all clad in well-worn black wetsuits. They didn’t seem like hippies, or Beach Boys, but appeared instead to be professionals of some sort. And they were all having a great time, cheering each other on, riding the waves, hanging ten, and all that.
08/31/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Around the State
Posted: 8/31/07
Around the State
• Donald Forrester has been named vice president for programs and services for Children at Heart Ministries, an agency of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. He previously was executive director of STARRY, Children at Heart’s foster care, counseling and emergency shelter ministry, based in Round Rock. He also has been pastor of Henly Church in Henly 27 years.
• Dallas Baptist University has announced the creation of the Piper Endowed Chair of Missions. The chair is made possible by a challenge grant from Paul and Shirley Piper through the Piper family’s Christ is Our Salvation Foundation. The foundation has pledged $100,000 per year for the next five years if the university raises $500,000 over the next five years for this endowed chair. In addition, the foundation has given a $200,000 grant for ministerial student scholarships in the Cook Graduate School of Leadership.
Daniel Sanchez, professor of missions at Southwestern Seminary and director of the seminary’s Scarborough Institute of Church Planting and Growth, was presented with the North American Mission Board’s distinguished service award for church planting. A Howard Payne University graduate, he and his wife, Carmen, are parents of three children. The award was presented by NAMB President Geoff Hammond. • Wayland University presented degrees to 24 students in its first group to graduate from the master of arts in counseling program started two years ago. The program now boasts 150 students.
• Buckner Children and Family Services has announced changes to its executive leadership team. Victor Upton has been named vice president of missions resource. Randy Daniels has been promoted to vice president of global initiatives. Felipe Garza has been tapped as vice president for ministry and missions. Melissa Opheim now is director of strategic planning.
08/30/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Book Reviews
Posted: 8/31/07
Book Reviews
How Do You Know He’s Real? by Amy Hammond Hagberg (Destiny Image Publishers)
Unable to escape the haunting question asked her daughter by another teenager, Amy Hagberg has written a very interesting book that responds to this universal question. Instead of theological arguments and apologetics, the book is filled with 34 celebrity testimonies regarding personal life experiences with God. The list of witnesses includes actors, actresses, a beauty queen, music stars of every category and athletes. An additional bonus is the author’s testimony at the beginning of the book. It alone makes the book worth reading.
What are you reading that other Texas Baptists would find helpful? Send suggestions and reviews to books@baptiststandard.com. An interesting feature found in the book is a list of 82 topics and issues we face in life. The author then lists the celebrities whose testimonies relate to that topic, such as grace: Charlie Daniels, Gloria Gaynor, Ken Hensley, Heather Powers, Ricky Skaggs, Steve Stevens and Zoro. The testimonies reveal how God’s reality was experienced in the midst of their lives while struggling with that particular battle and/or dilemma.
How Do You Know He Is Real? is an easy book to read, a book of inspiration and encouragement, a book worth giving to another, and one you are glad to own.
08/30/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Baptist Briefs
Posted: 8/31/07
Baptist Briefs
Blog endorsements? Never mind. Several high-profile Southern Baptist Convention leaders—including SBC President Frank Page, International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin, LifeWay President Thom Rainer and Union University President David Dockery—have withdrawn their endorsement of the SBCOutpost.com blog, a forum created by reform-minded pastors within the convention. In a column carried by Baptist Press, the communications arm of the SBC Executive Committee, Page wrote: “Personal attacks are on the rise. I recently removed my endorsement … when a hoped-for and needed place for dialogue on the Internet degenerated quickly into a place of personal attack against denominational leaders as well as those who are advocating reform. For Christ’s sake, stop!”
Calvinism conference set at seminary. Founders Ministries—a group devoted to advancing Calvinist doctrine in the Southern Baptist Convention—will team with Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary to sponsor a national conference on Calvinism Nov. 26-28 at Ridgecrest Conference Center. The conference, “Building Bridges: Southern Baptists and Calvinism,” will include speakers from Southeastern, Southwestern and Southern seminaries, along with several pastors and LifeWay representatives.
08/30/2007 - By John Rutledge
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2nd Opinion: Social workers & Christ’s mission
Posted: 8/31/07
2nd Opinion:
Social workers & Christ’s missionBy Diana Garland
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself,” Jesus said. Most of us learned the Greatest Commandment as children, and yet too many of our churches focus only on the first part. We want the most effective worship leaders our church budgets can afford. The time, energy and expertise we pour into planning worship speak to our love of God.
But what about the time, energy and expertise we pour into planning for the way we love our neighbor? Social workers educated as church leaders can help the church stand firmly on both legs of the Greatest Commandment. The congregational social worker is to community ministries and missions what the pastor and minister of music are to worship. Social workers can lead congregation members to pour themselves into the needs of the world and to do so effectively in ways that transform not only the people being served, but also those who serve.
Social workers communicate the gospel of hope in ways that empower. We help hopeless people find hope. We connect babies and children who have been orphaned or whose parents cannot care for them to families who will love them for a lifetime. We equip a couple with the tools to make or mend a marriage. We help those without a home find a home. We organize an impoverished community to develop economic resources. That’s powerful, and that’s the kind of power social workers bring to congregations—hope restored, lives changed, joy renewed.
Social workers also are heroes. When a social worker connects a high-school dropout with mentors in a congregation who encourage and support him through a job-training program, that social worker is a hero to that young man. When a social worker helps a church embrace community members who have special needs, or organizes a community to oust its drug dealers and attract businesses—these are heroes. That’s the kind of recognition in a community or city these social workers can bring to the church: The church—a place where people find holistic salvation. Wouldn’t it be great if that’s how our congregations were known and experienced—as places of salvation?
08/30/2007 - By John Rutledge
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