When family members gather to celebrate holidays and birthdays of 4-year-old Evelyn Rose and her 2-year-old brother, Daniel, reunions include multiple grandparents, aunts, uncles, Dad—and potentially three mothers.

Although Brian and Kara Rose of Houston were at the hospital when both Evelyn and Daniel were born, the children didn’t become theirs until their biological mothers signed the necessary legal documents and then placed them in the arms of the adoptive parents during an entrustment ceremony.

But the Roses chose open adoption—an option that provides their children ongoing contact not only with their birth mothers, but also with their biological grandparents, aunts and uncles.

“When we get together, there’s something we all have in common—love for those two children,” Kara Rose said. “Anybody who loves my kids is special to me.”

Brian Rose recalled that when he and his future wife met through the singles ministry at First Baptist Church in Houston and began dating, they realized quickly they were a good match and likely to marry.

So, the two had what he called “a pretty serious, profound discussion early on” about their desire for a family. That conversation included the fact that she was a survivor of early childhood cancer, and the aggressive treatment used to fight the lymphoma left her infertile.

After they married, the Roses investigated several adoption agencies before deciding on Buckner Foster Care & Adoption Services.

“We liked the fact that Buckner is openly and overtly Christian,” said Rose, a Baylor Law School graduate and assistant district attorney in Harris County. “We also were impressed by the professionalism of the staff, the fact that they are experienced and the assurance that Buckner is a stable organization with a proven record.”

Early in the process, Mrs. Rose said, they were introduced to the concept of the adoption triad—birth parents, child and adoptive parents.

“The question was asked, ‘Who is the most important person?’ Of course, that’s the child. Then came the questions: ‘What is lost by the child who is adopted?’ and ‘How can those losses be alleviated or eliminated?’”

As the Roses looked at what an adopted child stood to lose—family history, a sense of identity, medical information and relationships with extended family—they realized many of those issues could be resolved by open adoption. Even so, it took awhile for them to reach that conclusion.

“Adoption, in my mind, meant never having any contact with birth parents and being transplanted into a new family. When we were introduced to the concept of open adoption, I had never heard anything like it, and initially it did not hit my ears as good news,” Rose recalled.

“But I grew up with a very close relationship with my grandparents, and the argument in favor of open adoption that really swayed me was, ‘Why strip away the child’s relationship with grandparents?’”

Close Relationship 

The Roses’ children have maintained a close relationship with their birth grandparents, as well as other family. Mrs. Rose calls the birth mothers of her two children “the most selfless people I’ve ever met.”

When Daniel’s birth mother, Laura Lemke, discovered she was pregnant during the second semester of her senior year in high school, it took everyone by surprise—her parents, members of her church and, most of all, her.

“I was raised in a loving Christian family as one of five kids. I never would have seen myself in that position,” she said.

As she looked at the options before her, she immediately ruled out terminating the pregnancy. Faced with a choice between parenting or placement, she finally concluded she would not be able as a single parent to offer everything she wanted her child to have—particularly a stay-at-home mother in his early years.

“I wanted what’s best for him. More than anything, I knew if I tried to parent him myself, I would have to quit school and go out to get a job, and I didn’t want him to be raised in daycare,” she said.

When she decided to place her child through Buckner and learned about open adoption, it seemed the best approach. “I couldn’t imagine placing my child and not seeing him for 18 years,” she said.

Extended Families 

In the last two years since the Roses adopted Daniel, Lemke said, she has been able to visit him at least 20 times.

“Sure, there still are losses. I’m not there every minute of his life. I saw him take some early steps, but I wasn’t there for his first step. I’ll be there for some of his ballgames, but I won’t be there for every game,” said Lemke, a student at Baylor University’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing in Dallas.

“But I want what’s best for Daniel, and I know he’s in good hands. I try not to think about the ‘what if’s. I wouldn’t change my decision.”

The Roses also have stayed in close contact with Evelyn’s birth mother, Liz, and her extended biological family. Although her recent move from Plano to California will mean less-frequent visits, “technology makes it easier,” Mrs. Rose said, noting they anticipate frequent phone calls and e-mails.

Regarding the extended birth families, Rose acknowledged there was “initially some understandable awkwardness. There was some tension the first time we got together. Everybody was on pins and needles. It was a pretty sensitive meeting.”

But in time, the families grew to know, trust and love each other. “When we get together now, it’s not some awkward, stiff, required meeting. We show up and have a party,” he said.

“We love our birth families. We look forward to being around them. You generally don’t get to choose family. You don’t get to pick your parents. But in some ways, we picked them. We chose each other.”

Because they chose open adoption, Mrs. Rose believes her children benefit from the love and prayers offered by people they consider “extended family” now—not only their own biological mother, grandparents, aunt and uncles, but also those of an adoptive sibling.

“Some people think of adoption as being like a divorce, but in our case, it’s more like a marriage. These are people who knew and loved our children before we even knew of their existence. They have become part of our family, too,” she said.

The Roses have initiated the process at Buckner to adopt another child. And Mrs. Rose noted they look forward to seeing their family grow by more than just one member.

“Our family grows exponentially with each child,” she said.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Israel Houghton’s mother never expected her son would grow up to lead thousands of people in worship or become a Grammy, Stellar and Dove Award-winning recording artist. 

In 1971, when his 17-year-old unwed mother found out she was pregnant, her shocked parents advised her to terminate the pregnancy. But a simple act of kindness from a stranger paved a way for Houghton and offered his mother hope and a promise of something greater.

Israel Houghton

“I could have easily been an abortion statistic,” Houghton said. “My mother is white, and my biological father is black. She came home and told her parents, ‘I’m pregnant, and the father is black.’ They had a really difficult time with it.

“The suggestion was: ‘Have an abortion. Move on with your life.’ She had everything ahead of her, and in a lot of ways had every reason to go, ‘Let’s just chalk this up as a mistake and move on.’ Instead, she said, ‘No, no, I’m going to keep this baby.’ She ended up kind of getting shunned for a good chunk of her life after that and didn’t have a lot of contact with her parents.”

When she was eight months pregnant, Houghton’s mother and his biological father split up. She had moved to California, in danger of losing the baby she was carrying due to drug use.

But a woman who was driving by and saw the obviously pregnant young woman stopped to talk with her. The woman told her: “Jesus loves you. You’re not forgotten. You did the right thing. It’s going to be all right,” Houghton said.

“Those words of life were so powerful to her and so revolutionary to her that she got on her knees on a street corner in San Diego and gave her life to the Lord. I’m here today because of that woman’s faithfulness to God to share the gospel with my mother. The lady gave my mother a Bible, and as my mother started reading the Bible, she chose my name as a sign of a new beginning.”

Israel Houghton in concert.

Today, as Houghton travels around the country leading worship and performing concerts, he shares his testimony in hopes of leading people to Christ.

“I really enjoy that I’m in the good news business,” he said. “If you turn on CNN right now or any news show, you’re going to hear what’s wrong and hear bad news. I love that I get to give people hope, give them a chance to exhale and just find encouragement. 

“At the heart of it, I want people to connect with God. I think out of that connection comes really great things because we really believe that worship, action, justice and social responsibility go hand-in-hand.”

Houghton has written songs for the church worldwide and is considered an architect of cross-cultural worship, as well as being an award-winning producer and arranger. He recently released a new album titled The Power of One.

“If you look at our albums thematically, the early ones were about the church and what God is doing,” Houghton said. “On the most recent records, our message has shifted to social and global concerns, focusing on identity and the purpose of God in everyone’s life. I strongly believe that those of us who consider ourselves worshippers need to have a heart for social justice. ‘Power of One’ is the song we wrote specifically around that thought for this album.

“I really enjoy what I do. It’s about getting a bigger picture of what’s going on in the world instead of focusing on my life, wants and needs. It’s about connecting people around the world.”

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Moves to create two Florida license plates with images of a crucified Jesus on one, and a stained glass window and cross on another, have died in the Florida legislature.

Both plates had come under blistering criticism from Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American Civil Liberties Union. The Associated Press reported that bills to create the plates died at the end of the regular legislative session May 1.

State Sen. Gary Siplin, an Orlando Democrat, proposed the plate with “a picture of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” The plate portrayed an image of Jesus’ head lowered under the weight of a crown of thorns.

Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican, earlier said he would support the plate. “If they (critics) don’t want one, they don’t have to buy one,” Crist told The St. Petersburg Times.

Florida drivers are able to purchase more than 100 specialized license plates. Proceeds, which normally run between $15 and $25, support various causes and groups.

The other plate, proposed by state Sen. Ronda Storms, a Republican from Brandon, would have depicted a stained glass window, cross and the words “I Believe.” A district court has temporarily halted the production of similar plates in South Carolina.

“License plates are not a license for the government to prefer one religion over others,” said Barry Lynn, executive director of the Washington-based Americans United. “I’m glad the legislature in Florida seems to have finally realized that.”

No hearing for Canadian pot priests. Two self-styled ministers who claim smoking marijuana is a church sacrament have lost their bid to use and distribute marijuana while they are free on bail and appealing their drug convictions. Michael Baldasaro, 59, was sentenced to two years, and Walter Tucker, 75, received a one-year sentence, after they were convicted in late 2007 of trafficking marijuana; they sold $70 worth of pot to a plainclothes police officer. The two men from Hamilton, located 60 miles northwest of Buffalo, N.Y., describe themselves as reverend brothers in the Church of the Universe, where they worship what they call the Tree of Life—marijuana. The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear their appeal of any restrictions on their religious freedoms.

Joseph’s Tomb vandalized. A group of 500 Jews who arrived at Joseph’s Tomb, the traditional burial place of the biblical patriarch Joseph, located in the Palestinian-ruled city of Nablus in the West Bank, discovered boot marks and swastikas at the site. One pilgrim reported seeing a Star of David with a bootprint on it, adding that putting one’s foot on something is considered a grave insult in the Arab world. The tomb has long been a lethal flash point between Israelis and Palestinians. Although it is under Israeli legal jurisdiction, it has been difficult to patrol due to its location inside the Palestinian city. Several Israeli soldiers have been killed while defending the site.

No gay marriage, Methodist court rules. The United Methodist Church’s highest court has ruled clergy may not officiate at same-sex unions, even in states where such marriages are legal. The church’s nine-member Judicial Council rejected separate resolutions passed by the California-Nevada and California-Pacific Confer-ences that voiced support for clergy who officiate at such unions. In a separate case, the court said it found no reason to halt construction of the planned George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Critics contend the library complex and affiliated policy center will promote policies the United Methodist Church officially opposed, including the Iraq War. The former president and his wife, Laura, both are United Methodists.

Televangelist to step down as head of Regent. Pat Robertson will retire as president of Regent University, the Virginia school he founded, next year. Robertson, 79, founded the school in Virginia Beach in 1978 and has been president since 2000. After his retirement on July 1, 2010, he will remain the university’s chancellor and a member of its board of trustees. The school that opened with 77 students and seven faculty now has more than 4,500 students who earn their degrees on campus or online. Robertson also has stepped down from some responsibilities at the Christian Broadcasting Network, the religious broadcasting empire he founded in 1960. In December 2007, the CBN board elected his son, Gordon, as chief executive officer. The elder Robertson remains chairman of CBN.

GROVE CITY, Pa. (ABP) — Racy Internet photos have prompted some social conservatives to question the Religious Right's embrace of Miss USA runner-up Carrie Prejean as a model Christian.

The Miss California USA pageant winner became an instant celebrity April 19 when she answered a question about same-sex marriage from a well-known gay blogger who was serving as a pageant judge. She said she believed marriage should be between a man and a woman.

Two days later Baptist Press credited the 21-year-old college student — who attends San Diego's Rock Church but volunteers at Southern Baptist-affiliated Shadow Mountain Community Church — with standing by her Christian beliefs even though it may have cost her the crown.

Prejean got a standing ovation when she appeared April 23 at the Gospel Music Association Dove Awards in Nashville, Tenn. 

The National Organization for Marriage featured her in a video ad opposing gay marriage unveiled April 30.

Even before semi-nude photos of Prejean from past modeling shoots began cropping up on celebrity websites, some were beginning to question whether religious conservatives' new heroine sent a wrong message about Christian modesty.

"Is anyone else puzzled by the response to our new family values spokeswoman?" Warren Throckmorton, associate professor of psychology at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, said in a blog. "For taking a position against same-sex marriage in a beauty contest, she gets invited to the Dove Awards and offered a scholarship to attend Liberty University during her senior year by Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr."

"Before some of my readers get all uppity, let me add that I think Perez Hilton was a jerk about the whole issue, should never have asked such a volatile question and reacted in extremely poor taste afterward," Throckmorton wrote. "But unless religious conservatives have some kind of answer to our girls about how they can lionize a Miss USA contestant and stress modesty at the same time, I do not see the virtue in giving her the platform."

Pastor Larry DeBruyn of Franklin Road Baptist Church in Indianapolis wrote an open letter noting "the irony of this whole business is that here was a scantily clad woman — this of course can provoke lust in men (Matthew 5:27-29) — who was asked about marriage by a judge who supposedly isn't even attracted to women."

"She gives the politically incorrect answer and in doing so alienated the politically correct judges and forfeited possible victory in the beauty pageant," DeBruyn opined. "By giving a correct answer to a loaded question about marriage, and by doing so without hardly any clothes on, Miss Prejean has now become the cause célèbre amongst conservatives and evangelicals for her affirmation of biblically correct marriage."

Writer Dave Welch added comments on the conservative website World Net Daily in his article, "Is Carrie Prejean Really a Hero?"

"I respect Miss Prejean for her stand and her willingness to testify of her faith," Welch wrote. "However, I much more highly admire, respect and esteem my wife, my daughters and all the girls and women who have chosen the higher road. They are determined to show that their worth is not in how they look in a bathing suit but that they are wonderful creations of a loving God who designed them with meticulous detail as they are."

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson interviewed Prejean for a two-part broadcast aired May 11-12, in which she described what went through her mind when she was asked the question about whether all states should legalize gay marriage.

"Honestly I felt that Satan — and I don't want to say that this person represented Satan — but I felt as though Satan was trying to tempt me in asking me this question, and then God was in my head and in my heart saying, 'Carrie, do not compromise this,'" she said. "'You know, you need to stand up for me. You need to share with all these people — if there were 95 percent of the people in the audience who were gay — you need to witness to them, and you need to show that you are not willing to compromise that for this title of Miss USA.' So I just knew right there it wasn't about winning. It was about just being true to my convictions."

After the pageant, Prejean's pastor gave a sermon comparing her experience to the Old Testament Book of Esther, a story about a Jewish woman who ascends to the Persian throne and manages to save her people.

Asked about the comparison, Prejean asked Dobson, "I think it was a beauty contest she was in, right?"

Dobson said it was. "He was choosing a queen, and he chose Esther," he said. "She won the contest. So the parallel there is really interesting."

Thinking about it, Prejean told Dobson, "I feel as though God had chosen me. In the top five in Miss USA, he had trusted in me that I would have spoken out. I was going to stand up. I was the only one in that top five that wasn't going to be politically correct."

Dobson told Prejean "with your life you a preaching a Christian sermon" to people who lack the courage to stand up for what they believe.

"The media is going to try to destroy you," Dobson warned. "That is why I ask our listeners to be in prayer for you."

"They did everything they could to destroy Sarah Palin for much of the same reason, the fact that she dared to bring a Down syndrome child into the world instead of aborting that child like 90 percent of Down syndrome children are," Dobson said. "And because she dared to stand up for life, those are politically incorrect things, and they have done everything they could to hurt her. And they are already trying to do it to you."

On May 12 Donald Trump, owner of the Miss USA pageant, said semi-topless photos of Prejean cropping up on the Internet were not racy enough to cost her to lose her Miss California crown.

Dobson told listeners the photos became public after his interview with Prejean was recorded but before it aired.

"Focus on the Family has been a strong supporter of modesty and righteousness in the culture for many years, and yet we have chosen to go ahead and air these two programs after Carrie explained that the pictures were taken when she was 17 years old," Dobson said "She's now 21, and in fact will be 22 on Wednesday, and she regrets doing it and said that she would not do it again. Most of us did things when we were teens that we're embarrassed about, too, but life goes on."

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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

WASHINGTON (ABP) — A Baptist ethicist involved in a religious campaign to build a moral consensus against using torture in America's war on terrorism welcomed comments by the head of the Southern Baptist Convention's public policy arm that waterboarding is a form of torture and morally wrong.

Richard Land, president and CEO of the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said in interview comments quoted by Religion News Service and Baptist Press there are no circumstances under which it is permissible for U.S. officials to use torture in interrogations, even if they believe a prisoner has information with implications for national security.

Land said he views "waterboarding," a technique endorsed during the Bush administration by Vice President Dick Cheney, as torture and could not in good conscience support its use to interrogate a suspected terrorist.

David Gushee, distinguished university professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University and president of Evangelicals for Human Rights, said May 7 he was "very pleased" by Land's comments. Gushee said Land's thoughts "seem to indicate real clarity" about how once officials start using logic that the end justifies the means, they risk erasing the line between what is and is not morally acceptable.

"That's pretty much what we have been trying to say," said Gushee, who in 2007 drafted an anti-torture statement endorsed by the National Association of Evangelicals.

While the initiative gained widespread support among evangelicals, it also drew criticism of a tone that prompted Gushee to once remark, "You would have thought we had argued that Jesus was not the Second Person of the Trinity."

Daniel Heimbach, professor of Christian ethics at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, called the statement "a moral travesty" that he said threatened "to undermine Christian moral witness in contemporary culture."

Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said he would not rule out the possibility that there might be circumstances where using torture becomes necessary.

Gushee commended Land for speaking out on the issue and said he looks forward to working with him on it in the future.

Speaking along with other torture opponents to reporters in a conference call about a new poll finding widespread support among white evangelical Protestants for using torture against suspected terrorists, Gushee said leaders of evangelical churches have done too little to mobilize resources of the Christian faith against torture.

"While we did have a number of influential evangelical leaders, –pastors, parachurch leaders and others — sign on and support our efforts, my sense is at the grassroots that most churches have not addressed the issue despite our best efforts to get them to do so," Gushee said.

Gushee said some evangelical churches resist speaking out on social issues altogether. In other cases, he said, "I think there have been political loyalties at play" along with political fears about negative reaction if a preacher were to address the wrong issue or talk about it in the wrong way.

Gushee said the National Religious Campaign Against Torture has achieved many of the goals it set out to accomplish, but the latest survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life indicates much work remains to be done.

"This is fundamentally not just a public policy issue but also a moral issue," he said. "There was evidence of moral drift under the fear of terrorism. We have had the goal all along of calling America to a moral consensus against torture. That work definitely continues in the future as this poll reveals."

The coalition is currently pursuing two new initiatives toward that objective. It advocates establishment of an independent commission to investigate torture policies used by the United State since 9/11. It also is asking religious organizations to observe Torture Awareness Month in June, providing worship and study resources for use by congregations.

"Fundamentally this is a spiritual issue," Gushee said. "It's not just a spiritual issue in the sense of national American spirit, but specifically the spirit of my own faith community, the Christian community and especially the evangelical community in this country."

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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press. 

Just how many Christians are Flocking to Facebook?

It’s not an idle question, to judge from the number of people asking it on the wildly popular social networking site. “We Can Find 10,000,000 Christians on Facebook” is the name of one of the larger groups—although, with 1,045,418 members, the group still has some work ahead of it.

For churches eager to connect with those millions of Christians—many of them church members—social networking on the Web has become unavoidable.

“It’s where the people are, including the church people,” says Cheryl Smith, a social media consultant in Lynchburg, Va.

Daniel Johnson, associate pastor for students at Kirkwood Baptist Church in St. Louis, Mo., agrees. He joined Facebook when he realized it was the best way to contact the members of his youth group. “Many told me they hardly check e-mail anymore, but they always check Facebook,” he said.

While the youth group has a website, Johnson decided instead of spending time and effort to get people to visit the site, he would meet them where they already were—on Facebook.

Facebook now counts more than 100 million members and by one estimate is adding 450,000 every day. And while Facebook may be the most popular social networking site, it’s far from alone. MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, Youmeo, Plaxo and innumerable others offer opportunities for “ambient awareness.”

Websites have become well-established features of many churches’ communications strategy. But that Internet presence, with its ability to provide instant and comprehensive information, is distinctly different from the social networking phenomenon—and some observers would say increasingly less relevant.

“Traditional Internet marketing is about pushing information to the end user,” said Smith, a member of Rivermont Avenue Baptist Church in Lynchburg. “Social networking is really about a conversation, about engaging people.”

East Texas Pastor Jay Abernathy of First Baptist Church in Palestine has found Facebook accomplishes both goals. “In short, it’s what we hope a church website can do, but Facebook allows us to actively push content to our ‘friends’ and group members, unlike a website that is passive.”

Abernathy has found that nearly half of the teenagers and adults at his church are on Facebook. His church uses the networking site to invite people to church events and ministry group meetings, but he also takes the opportunity to send personal messages and chat for one-on-one discipleship.

“Facebook allows me to communicate with folks at a level and on a timeframe that multiplies my connections with people, whether they are members or prospects,” he said.

“Communications strategists used to say, ‘We have a message we want people to get,’” said Thom Stanton, Web services administrator for the Virginia Baptist Mission Board. “Now they say, ‘We have a relationship we want to develop.’”

A communications network that values human relations would seem a natural partner for churches and their essential message of entering into relationship with God through Jesus Christ. But for many congregations, social networking remains elusive and perplexing. Frequently, churches with a Facebook presence use it as little more than a supplementary website.

“The old website strategy that uses it as a billboard—static and non-dynamic—is pretty useless,” said Chuck Warnock, pastor of Chatham (Va.) Baptist Church. Websites are helpful only for “posting worship service times and the church’s location,” he said.

“Using Facebook—or something similar—for ministry is something that I hope is being taught in seminaries.”

“The word ‘community’ is overworked when you’re talking about the Internet, but (social networking utilities) do create a sense of community,” he said.

One way churches are developing a community on Facebook is through photos. While church members may not answer traditional requests for feedback following an event, Johnson and Pastor Charlie Brown of The Crossing Baptist Church in Mesquite have found that event photos work well as a conversation starter.

Photos can be a jumping-off point for sharing memories and stories, Johnson said. It can be a way to promote community and reinforce what occurred at the activity or event.

“Using Facebook—or something similar—for ministry is something that I hope is being taught in seminaries,” said Tyler Tankersley, director of youth and young adults at First Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau, Mo. “I believe that Facebook is a new wineskin, and we must adjust and adapt the way that we choose to reach people.”

Tankersley doesn’t believe social networking sites will replace face-to-face interaction, but believes the church needs to be actively engaging people where they are.

Church special events are promoted with Facebook’s events feature. They also provide an up-to-date list of who is teaching Sunday school. Tankersley also uses the site to remind people to pray for the requests mentioned on Sundays.

“In our churches, we are so fragmented because of schedules that when you can connect with someone, it’s valuable,” said Smith. “That’s what makes social networking so appealing.”

Oddly, it’s out of fragments that social networks connect. The most common way to communicate through Twitter is by broadcasting what technology writer Clive Thompson calls “haiku-length updates”—short (140 characters), frequent and spontaneous reports in response to the question, “What are you doing?”

But Thompson wrote in a New York Times Magazine piece last fall: “This is the paradox of ambient awareness. Each little update—each individual bit of social information—is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends’ and family members’ lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting. … The ambient information becomes like a type of E.S.P., … an invisible dimension floating over everyday life.”

That ability to connect is “unprecedented,” Smith said, and offers churches opportunities to engage members and nonmembers in deeply felt ways.

Johnson started a Twitter account for the Kirkwood youth ministry to allow the youth to give short reports while events are happening. Parents and church members will be able to receive updates during mission trips, for example. “We can capture it as it happens,” Johnson said.

Since youth rarely share details of a trip with their parents, the Twitter site will allow followers a chance to receive an indepth report in real time. And since Twitter archives all the “tweets,” a person can view the updates at their convenience without missing anything.

Through tweets or Facebook status updates, “I’m able to see someone’s mood, hear what they’re up to and get to see behind the curtain,” wrote Greg Atkinson, who lives in suburban Dallas and blogs on church and technology issues.

“For senior pastors, this is especially beneficial for breaking down the wall between clergy and laity,” said Atkinson. “I think it’s healthy for one of your congregation members to see you’re ‘cutting the grass,’ ‘raking leaves,’ ‘going to a football game’ with your son, ‘watching a movie’ with your spouse. … All these status updates can seem silly but are a sneak peak into your everyday life. It’s like running into your grade school teacher in the grocery store when you were a kid and being surprised to see them out of the classroom.”

Chris Forbes, founder of Ministry Marketing Coach and author of the e-book, Facebook for Pastors, maintains that authenticity is essential to communicating through social media.

“One of the quickest ways to lose credibility is to join the site, use all your ‘promotional speak’ and spam out a bunch of invitations to your events and groups,” said Forbes. “Too much promotion and not enough networking will get people to drop you from their friends list.”

What’s more, he added, vulnerability is key.

“Pastors are used to preaching. They are allowed the unique privilege and responsibility of preparing a message from God’s word each week and communicating that message uninterrupted in a one-way monologue. Those days are over,” Forbes said. “Preaching from the platform of a church may not have changed much, but there is an increasing demand from church members to have real and meaningful conversations with their ministry leaders beyond the Sunday morning service times and outside the walls of the church.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)—Like innovators of the past who used the printing press, radio and television to spread the gospel, a growing number of Christians today are taking their message to social media such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs, podcasts, YouTube, Flickr and MySpace.

Minnesota youth pastor Tim Schmoyer saw an opportunity to share Christ through such sites and organized an online mission trip, described as “a two-week outreach campaign for teenagers and youth leaders to capitalize on the tremendous social opportunities that exist on the Internet and use it to share Christ with unsaved friends all over the world.”

Schmoyer promoted the outreach through—naturally—social media, pulling in more than 2,000 individuals and dozens of churches as participants.

Doug Blankenship, self-described “Twitter-aholic” and youth pastor at Holland Avenue Baptist Church in Cayce, S.C., saw Schmoyer’s posts and became interested in signing up his group.

“I was attracted to a new approach and new look at the old established goal that we have to reach out,” Blankenship said. The online mission trip also came at a strategic time in his church’s life, he said.

Prior to the outreach, his youth group had been studying “Dare 2 Share” evangelism curriculum and DVDs.

“I thought the online mission trip would be a way to renew our emphasis to be comfortable and confident in bringing God up in conversation with people, and not be afraid, intimidated or feel like a weirdo,” said Blankenship, who used his Facebook status, posts and profile to talk about Jesus, eternity and the Bible.

Blankenship hopes to continue to incorporate the Internet and social media into his ministry “to spread the gospel even wider.”

He also plans to hold training sessions for parents of teens to help them understand the media better.

After the online mission trip, Blankenship and his youth group will seek to funnel new students into their small-group ministry where leaders are preparing to begin a study of The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel.

Blankenship is praying that a wrap-up gathering for the online mission trip will include at least “two or three students sharing that they had a conversation where they really went beyond what they have in the past. If a few share, then that mindset spreads to others,” he said.

“I’ll never be as effective in sharing with their friends as they are. They are making Christ known and real to their friends who don’t believe. If this is a first step to seeing that happen, that’s exactly why we jumped in.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)—Visit Facebook, search the word “LifeWay” and John Cade’s profile pops up. Known as “John at LifeWay,” Cade uses the social networking site to connect with 700-plus student leaders for ministry.

LifeWay Christian Resources is harnessing the power of online networking among Facebook’s 100 million daily users worldwide and Twitter’s 2.2 million users.

“When we connect with people online, they see that we are not a corporation with closed walls,” said Cade, whose main job at LifeWay is to create an online presence for the student ministry team.

“Social networking helps to break down the barriers between us and our customers. Student pastors see that I am a legit person who cares deeply about them. I am available to answer their questions all the time. Social networking also allows me to have a two-way conversation with people who use our resources.”

John Cade uses his Facebook site to connect with 700-plus student leaders.

Social networking often is called micromarketing, a new trend that designs marketing strategies for the benefit of a select group. Facebook provides Cade with a network of student workers for instant exchange of ideas detailing latest trends and resources.

“Our goal in student ministry is to help student ministers do their job better,” Cade said. “Social networking is one way we can support ministers. Through Facebook and Twitter, we are able to respond directly to questions, concerns and even negative feedback when appropriate.”

Online social networks “can lay the groundwork for an authentic relationship,” he said. At student conferences, for example, participants often recognize him from his Facebook and Twitter profiles and are quick to begin a conversation with him.

In LifeWay’s church resources division, Dwayne McCrary is expanding his Facebook audience to another social networking site, Ning.com, with the goal of growing better Sunday school teachers. McCrary expects to use Ning.com as an online tool for Sunday school teachers to share tips and best practices via forums, real-time dialogues, videos and additional resources.

For Janell Fadler, who once was skeptical of social networking sites, it became a way to organize prayer support when she traveled to Rwanda with a mission team several months ago.

Fadler, who works in LifeWay leadership training and events, distributed prayer requests and updated real-time information while in Rwanda through the group she set up on Facebook. She also learned how fast social networking groups could grow, once information is posted.

“There were four other team members who had accounts on Facebook, and they sent a note to all their Facebook friends to join in and pray for us,” Fadler recounted, noting that more than 80 people joined the online prayer team.

“By posting the group online, we even made a brief connection with a relief worker from Rwanda.”

Real-time updates were invaluable, she added, especially when immediate prayers were needed.

“A few of us got pretty sick while we were on the trip, and we were able to inform our team how to pray specifically,” she said.

“The next time I go on a mission trip, I will create another prayer group on Facebook for sure.”

Pam Case, director of LifeWay Women, stumbled reluctantly into the world of Twitter when her church planter husband encouraged her to give it a try as a way to stay connected with other pastors’ wives.

She soon discovered Twittering effectively does what social networking is designed to do—connects individuals who share common interests.

Seeing the value of a real-time connection with individuals who care deeply about women’s ministry, she added an additional Twitter page for LifeWay Women.

“In order for this type of social networking to be beneficial, you have to be engaged,” said Case, who “tweets” to more than 330 women via LifeWay Women’s Twitter page at www.twitter.com/pamcase. “Twittering is a great way to stay connected 24/7 with co-workers and with churches,” she said.

Specifically, Case can keep her finger on the pulse of women’s ministry around the globe and communicate with other leaders about the issues that impact women’s ministry.

“Twitter is breaking down the walls and reinforcing the idea that we are all real people doing real work for the purpose of making Christ’s name known,” Case said.

While social networking sites are far from private or anonymous, the public nature hasn’t prevented individuals from boldly posting information or photographs they likely wouldn’t share with such a diverse crowd in “real” life, pastors note.

Daniel Johnson, associate pastor for students at Kirkwood Baptist Church in St. Louis, Mo., describes an individual’s page on a networking site as “free” or “safe” space.

“It’s their (student’s) way of outletting things,” he said. “It causes more drama, but it’s their world.”

But that doesn’t mean all content is OK or that it won’t create issues.

“The problem is, when something is posted on the Web, you can’t take it back. It’s not private,” he added.

Some of this content can cause a dilemma for ministers. Knowing when a post should be dismissed as a new medium to vent emotions and when something is a behavior that warrants discussion can be tricky.

“Sometimes I learn things that thrill me, and other times I read things that raise concerns which lead to conversations that might not happen otherwise,” said Laura Hoffman, minister of children and youth at Third Baptist Church in St. Louis, Mo. “Once it is posted, I feel I’m free to discuss either in a message or face to face.”

Jay Abernathy, pastor of First Baptist Church in Palestine, emphasizes the ability to see more of the activity of people who “friend” clergy on sites like Facebook is a positive thing.

“Not everyone who joins our FBC Palestine group is necessarily a member of our church, so we don’t expect all of them to act like mature believers,” he said.

When a nonmember posts something inappropriate, he takes it as an opportunity to start a conversation with the individual and find out how he can pray for them.

“For those who are professing believers, we have a way to ‘discipline’ in a way that isn’t judgmental,” he said. This method involves prayer and consideration of those involved.

“I believe I’ve had more relevant conversations about underage drinking, inappropriate language and immoral behavior because of the information found on Facebook,” he said.

The freedom that seems to stem from the barrier of the screen isn’t all inappropriate, though. It allows some otherwise shy or quiet individuals the opportunity to share more.

“I have also found it interesting that some of my kids will pop on and chat for a moment—kids who might not say much in person, but seem to want to be connected in some way,” Hoffman said.

Tyler Tankersley, director of youth and young adults at First Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau, Mo., recently received a message from a person expressing a struggle with doubt concerning the Bible.

“I know this person very well, and I know that they would probably never have actually talked to me about that face-to-face. But with Facebook, they felt perfectly fine spilling their guts and baring their soul,” he said.

The flow of information is amazing, said Charlie Brown, pastor of The Crossing Baptist Church in Mesquite. He is able to keep a pulse on his church members due to the transparency of their posts. Many times, he said, he’s watched theological discussions take place on friends’ pages.

All emphasized that they never “dig” on a page to police content—what Johnson’s youth refer to as “stalkbooking.” Instead, they respond to what they see on news feed pages, which contain snapshots of what friends are doing on Facebook.

“The danger of social media is not so much in sharing personal information—though that’s an important consideration,” said Cheryl Smith, a social media consultant in Lynchburg, Va.

“The real danger is to relationships. What happens when a husband or a wife become involved in unhealthy conversations with other people online? … The positives far outweigh the negatives. I’ve actually had opportunities to pray over an issue with someone during a Facebook chat.”

Johnson agrees. When he sees status updates that may cross the border of appropriate content, he takes the opportunity to remind the poster—and any others who may read their page—to be thoughtful about what they share.

GOSHEN, Ind. (RNS)—The annual “Family Fest” at Bethany Christian Schools usually is a joyous event as families auction off handmade quilts, furniture and other goods in the annual school fundraiser. But this year, double-digit unemployment rates overshadowed the event with a sense of anxiety. The event failed to meet last year’s proceeds.

“People … know that there but by the grace of God go I,” Principal Allen Dueck said. “It could be me tomorrow or my family member. So, I think there’s a real sense of pulling together in ways we can.”

Indiana’s Elkhart County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country— at 20 percent, it’s more than twice the national average. And in this overwhelmingly Christian community with a significant Mennonite population, churches are being called upon more than ever to help meet physical and spiritual needs.

Many believe the unemployment rate actually is much higher because the official numbers don’t include those who don’t file for unemployment benefits. Here, that means large numbers of out-of-work undocumented Hispanic immigrants and Amish farmers who took factory jobs when they couldn’t make a living on their farms.

Churches here are banding together to help the unemployed. One of the most prominent efforts is Church Community Services, a ministry supported by Mennonite, Catholic, mainline Protestant and evangelical congregations. Church Community Services has several programs, including a food pantry that is seeing an all-time high in the number of requests. They also provide emergency assistance to people who can’t pay for rent, utilities and prescription medicine.

“To me, it’s a way of Christians actually putting their hands and their feet to what they believe,” said Dean Preheim Bartel, the program’s executive director. “So it’s not just something in their head, but it’s something they are actually doing. They’re putting their heart and soul into it.”

At the same time, local churches that support community ministries are facing their own budget shortfalls—even as they are being asked to do more. Church leaders say the situation has taken a heavy spiritual toll.

At Elk-hart’s Assoc-iated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, professors are teaching future pastors how to counsel people affected by the economic crisis. It starts with listening, said seminary President Nelson Kraybill.

“You don’t come with quick and easy answers and anyone who does, saying ‘Well, this is what you ought to do,’ or ‘This is where you made a mistake,’ if you start with that, I think you have defeated the entire purpose of the pastoral encounter,” he said.

Kraybill believes the entire community is learning important spiritual lessons.

“It’s in the people around us who are the most vulnerable where we are going to see the face of God,” he said.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Christian thinkers long have employed insights from sociology, literature and other fields to augment their ideas of how God works in the world.

But despite the world-changing insights of science, few theologians have drawn on physics, biology or geology in the same way.

Renowned Anglican physicist-theologian John Polkinghorne wants to change all that. His new book, Theology in the Context of Science, examines what topics like space and time can teach us about God, and how a scientific style of inquiry can benefit theologians.

Polkinghorne, who was awarded the Templeton Prize in 2002 and knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his work reconciling science and faith, spoke about his new book from his home in England. Some answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Theology and science are highly specialized, often complex disciplines. Is it feasible for someone to become fully versed in both?

A: I’m not saying that every theologian has to approach theology through the context of science, any more than a liberation theologian would say that everyone has to live in base community in South America. I wrote the book to encourage theologians to take the context of science more seriously … without having to master all of the technical details.

Q: You write that theologians should be happy to operate in the “questioning” context of science, but they are often not. Why is that?

A: I’m puzzled by that. That kind of thinking impoverishes theology. Science and theology are cousins on a quest for truth. The insight of science is to move from evidence to understanding, not to start with general principles that will control the whole discussion. Scientists learn that the world is quite often surprising and doesn’t match our expectations. I am very happy to practice my religious beliefs in that sort of way.

Q: Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori says physicists opened the door for her own faith, because they speak of the mysteries of the universe and, like theologians, often work with intangible evidence. Did something like that happen for you?

A: That’s a fairly common experience; but no, I don’t have a dramatic story to tell. A word that is commonly used among scientists is wonder, though you won’t often see that word used in their scientific papers. Doing research is laborious, and often the reward for all that is the sense of wonder that people get from time to time. Scientists’ experience of wonder is, in a sense, an act of worship.

Q: A common perception in the U.S. holds that science and religion are at war. Is it the same in England?

A: To some extent. But if you’re caught in the sort of warfare, with one side constantly issuing challenges to the other, it’s not very fruitful. Each side has something to contribute to the conversation.

Q: Why should theologians read church fathers like Augustine, but scientists skip early figures like Newton?

A: Augustine and Aquinas know things about the reality of God that we need to learn. There’s not a presumption that 20th-century music is better than 18th- century music; in fact, I think it’s the other way around. There are insights that we may very well only be able to learn by apprenticing ourselves to them. Science is linear; it answers questions cumulatively. We think about creation in a different way, and I think a more helpful way, after Darwin than before Darwin.

Q: Contextual theologies like liberation theology or feminist theology are often concerned with power. Is it the same for scientific theology?

A: The use of power is less central in the context of science than the ones you mentioned, though certainly it is there. Science through technology offers us power, which can be an ambiguous gift. Theology’s role is to help science make ethically responsible judgments.

Q: There’s a lot of talk these days about so-called “God spots” in the brain. What do you make of such research?

A: I don’t think it’s terribly significant. It simply reflects the fact that we’re embodied beings; that when I think about science I use this part of my brain, when I thinking about God I use a different part. It doesn’t tell me anything about the nature of a scientific or religious experience.