Posted: 8/17/07

Cybercolumn: Forgiveness

By John Duncan

I’m sitting here under the old oak tree, looking for a quote. We live in the age of the sound bite, the dazzling quote, the striking quotation. We are a shorthand society that wants life minimized, shrunk down and sometimes summarized in a few short words or sentences. For these reasons. a quote helps once in a while. and I find myself looking for quotes.

I guess I could quote Hank Aaron, who after Barry Bonds hit his record-breaking home run, said, “My hope today… is that the achievement of this record will inspire others to chase their own dreams.” Chase your dreams! Or I could quote a Crandall Canyon, Utah, miner who felt guilty and wondered if he should have turned back to help his fellow miners: “I think I did everything I could. It was like having your brights on in a fog.” Or I could quote, C. S. Lewis. After all, I just returned from Cambridge, England, where he once taught English. He said, “It is astonishing that sometimes we believe that we believe what, really, in our heart we do not believe.” He spoke of forgiveness and stated that for a long time he believed in forgiveness, but did not really believe it until he practiced forgiveness, finally forgiving a cruel school teacher from his youth.

The old oak tree here has lived through storms and hard Texas summers and winters, days when limbs have been chopped off. and days when the storms puts stress on the tree’s roots, days when life under this old tree delivers pain in the form of broken relationships and small sins under the seismic universe that grow into big battles. C.S. Lewis states the obvious, to live, to heal, and to grow, to enjoy the joy of life and of Christ; forgiveness in its simplest form requires surrender and humility, two of our most difficult human traits. Philip Yancey calls forgiveness a most “unnatural act.”

My very first preaching assignment was in a nursing home. I arrived on my first Sunday, sermon in hand, the gospel ready to be delivered in the context of the world as I knew it in 1979. Billy Graham once said something like, “When you prepare to preach, prepare with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.” John Stott said that the preacher delivers the gospel “between two worlds,” so we must learn to know God’s word and know the times in which we live. Billy Graham aside and John Stott aside, I had my ready, aim, fire sermon ready to launch. I arrived, led the wheel-chaired crowd in a few hymns and launched my rocket of a sermon in their direction, a sermon from the Bible fitting for the times and the news of that day. It was my first encounter with preaching realities—people falling asleep, people looking around, faces smiling as if tuned in, and eyebrows furled as if to communicate, “I am not too sure I agree with this.” I cut my sermon short. My sermon on the gospel and the forgiveness of the cross seemed too heavy. I had not taken into account the preacher’s first rule of order—to consider the audience to whom you will speak. I launched a rocket when what the nursing home captives needed was the water of mercy, bandages to sustain life’s weariness, and comforting words for the life long battle through which most of them had lived.

After I realized my mistake and finished the sermon, I walked around and greeted the people. One lady latched to my arm and pleaded. Her gray hair and weather-wrinkled faced gloomily looked up at me from her wheel chair. She gritted her teeth and begged: “Will God forgive me? Will God forgive me? Will God forgive me?”

“Yes, God will forgive you,” I told her as she asked the question in repetitious rhythm. Each time I went to the nursing home, no matter what I preached, she asked me the same question after the short sermon. I can hear the echo of her words in my ear to this very day. I wondered if maybe, sometime, somewhere in her life, if maybe her subconscious had remembered a sin and the guilt associated with it and kept recalling it in association with the preaching of God’s word, triggering the repetitious words, “Will God forgive me?”

It took me years to realize she probably had a case of dementia. Still, I have often wondered if unforgiveness had hardened her heart or if some event, sin or broken relationship had never joined hands with the healing balm of Christ’s forgiveness.

While in Cambridge, I walked into the city. While walking, I passed Queen’s College by the River Cam. I walked over that bridge many times with no excitement, just the usual picture takers, the boaters below the bridge in the river, and the bikers whizzing by. On this day, a crowd had stopped and all eyes were fixed on a bicycle and a potential rider atop the bridge’s five-inch rail. A college student challenged his buddy: “Come on! Ride!”

“I am not sure I can,” the scared teenager replied while the crowd looked on. Had the young man been a bike rider on the bridge’s rail. he risked falling onto the stone street or falling headfirst into the river 15 feet below.

“OK, chicken, get down,” the challenger yelled. He took the bike from the fearful teenager, climbed aboard, held his hands up for the crowd, placed his hands on the handlebars, and proudly and promptly rode the bike across the thin rail. He did not fall and when to the other side of the bridge, still balanced with the bike’s pedals, the cheering crowd applauded as he jumped down to the pavement. He took the bike back to the other end of the rail and looked at the fearful teenage rider and exclaimed again, “Now ride!”

I left the scene unwilling to watch the fearful rider lest he fall. The metaphor for forgiveness here conjures up the same emotions—fear, risk and a longing to get past the present moment and to the other side. Genuine forgiveness may incite fear (“Why should I forgive? They do not deserve this!” Or “He will have to come to me crawling before I forgive him!”), but, ultimately, requires the risk of waltzing a thin rail called the cross of grace if we are to bridge the gap between friends and also between God.

If you are looking for another metaphor, the Apostle Paul says that the preaching of the cross is foolishness to some, but to those of us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18). The gospel, to some, may seem as foolish as riding a bike across a rail, but it has the power to transform those who live under the glory of the cross and practice forgiveness in their daily lives.

The cross of Jesus honors forgiveness. Practicing it may be hard, but necessary and vital to life in relationship with God, your spouse or your enemy.

Jesus cried on the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Paul charged the church at Ephesus to forgive even as Christ has forgiven you (Ephesians 4:32). And forgiveness hails as the one redeeming quality in us that cleanses us inside-out while replacing tears with smiles and the dark agony of sin with the glorious light of joy.

So here I am under the old oak tree. Chase your dreams and beware of earth-shattering events that blind you like lights on in the fog and circumstances that shock you on life’s journey, but to walk across life’s bridge of peace and joy and reconciliation and happiness, life’s most unnatural act, forgiveness, requires life’s most supernatural act, Christ’s forgiveness in you forgiving others as Christ has forgiven you.

C.S. Lewis recalls the day he forgave his old teacher after carrying the bitterness and a grudge for years: “But this time I feel it (forgiveness) is the real thing. And (like learning to swim or ride a bike) the moment it (forgiveness) does happen it seems so easy and you wonder why on earth you didn’t do it years ago.” Forgiveness sets us free. It frees us to swim in the joy, to glory in the peace of Jesus Christ, and to ride triumphantly on the thin rail of grace.

John Duncan is pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas, and the writer of numerous articles in various journals and magazines. You can respond to his column by e-mailing him at jduncan@lakesidebc.org.

Posted: 8/17/07

DOWN HOME:
Puppies & daughters follow their passion

Have you digested any good books this summer?

Our dog, Topanga, has. Literally. Unfortunately, she’s not any smarter or more learned. But she did look sort of full there for awhile.

Every now and then, I read a really good book that gives me plenty to “chew” on. And I totally ingest the very best books. Absorb them. They become part of me.

Somehow, I think Topanga is more shallow than I. She only chewed on the cover and the corners of a few pages. Also, she hasn’t given any indication the book affected her life substantially.

Well, now, I take that back. She can’t go into Molly’s bedroom anymore.

That’s where Topanga’s involvement with the book occurred.

Molly’s a bookaholic. Since she learned to read, she’s kept her nose in a book at least part of almost every day. She’s focusing on literature at Baylor University. In fact, one program in her major field of study requires her to read about a gazillion volumes from a list of the greatest books ever written. And she loves it.

So, when Molly headed off to work at Pine Cove, a Christian camp in East Texas, this summer, her room looked like a book bomb went off. Books were everywhere—strewn on the bed and dresser, stacked on the night stand and bookcase. And, of course, all over the floor.

That’s where Topanga found her book, a novel Molly first read in high school. Personally, I’ll always believe she went in there looking for shoelaces, her current chomping fetish of choice. But she apparently enjoyed Molly’s book, if you can tell a canine’s book-appreciation by a cover.

Topanga isn’t the first dog in our household to bite her way into Molly’s domain. Her predecessor, Betsy, once infamously chewed some fingers off of Molly’s favorite doll, Pink Baby, who remains a family treasure, though eternally maimed.

Fortuitously, nobody’s assigning blame. Although we’re working on Topanga’s penchant for chewing things, we realize a puppy is a puppy, and puppies explore the world first with their teeth and tongue. And we’re actually encouraging Molly (at least the reading, if not the leaving-everything-on-the-bedroom-floor part). She’s a curious young woman, and she explores the world with her eyes, through the pages of books and newspapers and magazines and Internet websites. That’s one of the things I’ve always admired about her—insatiable curiousity.

Even though it sometimes puts them at odds, small dogs and young women tend to do what comes naturally. They’re likely to devour books, either with their teeth or their eyes.

So, what do you devour, digest, explore? Passion defines a person. What you find irresistable says much about who you are.

–Marv Knox

Posted: 8/17/07

SBC activist pastor wants God
to zap Americans United officials

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

BUENA PARK, Calif. (ABP)—An early candidate for the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention has called on Baptists to pray for misfortune to befall employees of a church-state watchdog group.

Wiley Drake, a pastor and radio crusader who spearheaded the SBC boycott of Disney several years ago, issued an Aug. 14 statement calling for “imprecatory prayer” from his supporters against two communications staffers for Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

One day earlier, Drake—who served as the SBC’s second vice president in 2006-2007—also became the first person publicly announced as a nominee for the SBC presidency. Robert Bosworth, a member of Drake’s church, announced his intention to nominate his pastor for the SBC presidency at the denomination’s next annual meeting, in June in Indianapolis.

Americans United, based in Washington, advocates for a strict interpretation of the Constitution’s ban on government support for religion. The organization asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the tax-exempt status of Drake’s congregation, First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park, Calif., after Drake used church letterhead and a church-supported radio show to endorse Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican presidential candidate.

The federal revenue code prevents churches and other nonprofits organized under certain sections of the law from endorsing political candidates or parties. However, they are allowed to speak out on ballot issues.

“Federal tax law is clear,” Americans United Executive Director Barry Lynn said. “Churches and other nonprofits may not endorse candidates, if they want to keep their tax exemption. I am confident that the vast majority of Americans do not want to see their houses of worship politicized.”

In Drake’s written endorsement, he said that of all the candidates running for president, “Mike Huckabee will listen to God.” Before serving as governor, Huckabee was pastor of several prominent Arkansas Baptist churches and served as president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.

“After very serious prayer and consideration, I announce today that I am going to personally endorse Mike Huckabee,” Drake wrote.

“I ask all of my Southern Baptist brothers and sisters to consider getting behind Mike and helping him all you can. First of all, pray and then ask God, ‘What should I do to put feet to my prayers?’ Do what God tells you to do.”

Lynn wrote that Drake may express personal views on political candidates but said federal tax law prohibits such endorsements by religious leaders acting as officials of nonprofit religious groups.

“Use of church letterhead to endorse a candidate for public office appears to violate the provisions of federal tax law that prohibit nonprofit intervention in political campaigns,” Lynn said. “Drake’s endorsement of a candidate on a church-based radio show raises the same concerns.”

In the past, churches that faced similar charges have lost their tax-exempt status, although often the IRS simply warns tax-exempt organizations against further violations.

The letterhead Drake used for the Huckabee endorsement also lists his SBC vice-presidential office. The fact that he formerly served as an SBC officer also is noted on the press release calling for God’s wrath on Americans United.

In the statement, Drake asks supporters to “specifically target” the group’s communications director, Joe Conn, and his associate, Jeremy Leaming. Their names usually appear as the return address or contact line on press releases.

Drake’s call to arms said Conn and Leaming “are those who lead the attack” on him.

The statement justifies its call to arms by citing statements from Jesus, the Apostle Paul, John Calvin, Martin Luther and the book of Psalms. It quotes extensively from Psalm 109, in which the Psalmist asks God that his enemy’s “children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.”

With additional reporting by Robert Marus

Posted: 8/17/07

EDITORIAL:
Three surveys & some good news

The “whoosh” you hear is another crop of young adults leaving church. Many of them won’t be back.

Their departure has been documented by a disturbing—but not surprising—national survey. The LifeWay Research study revealed:

• More than two-thirds of young adults stop attending U.S. Protestant churches for at least a year from age 18 to 22.

• Seventy percent of 23- to 30-year-olds drop out of church.

• Eighty percent of the dropouts didn’t plan to quit attending; they just quit.

• Of the dropouts, only about 35 percent return and attend church regularly, defined as at least twice a month.

The departed blamed their absence on several reasons: 26 percent cited hypocrisy or judgmentalism in the church, 25 percent quit when they moved to college, 22 percent moved “too far away” from their home church and didn’t find one closer and 20 percent said they no longer feel “connected” to their church.

Meanwhile, another national poll helps explain why children who grow up in Christian homes reach adulthood without a sustaining faith foundation. The Barna Group surveyed Christian parents of children between the ages of 3 and 18. What those parents said is both disturbing and surprising.

When asked to list their “spiritual challenges”—the tasks they see as sacred duties—only one out of every seven Christian parents (14 percent) mentioned raising moral children with a strong faith. If guiding their children to faith in Christ and building a strong moral foundation is not Christian parents’ No. 1 task, what is?

About twice as many parents could pick that duty out of a lineup, but that’s small comfort. When given a list of six parental duties, 30 percent of Christian parents said helping their children “become more spiritual” was a major task. Researcher George Barna said the gap between the two items is significant. A gap occurs when people are not conscious of such parental challenges and consequently are not seriously engaged in addressing them.

So, only one in seven American Christian parents regularly considers spiritual formation of children a parent’s job. Worse, even when prompted, fewer than one in three of those parents owns up to the task. Small wonder the kids skip out of church as soon as they get the chance. If they never see that a relationship with Christ is important to Mom and Dad—except, possibly, as a cosmic Genie when things go wrong—why should faith abide and sustain them?

Fortunately, a third study reveals a postive way forward. The Baylor University School of Social Work conducted a nationwide survey of U.S. teenagers from various Protestant denominations. The results are both logical and encouraging.

The Baylor research shows teenagers who express their faith through ministry in their communities are significantly more mature in their faith and more involved in daily faith practices than their uninvolved counterparts. The teens who showed the most mature and vibrant faith regularly participated directly in ministry that meets human needs, received opportunities to reflect upon their faith in the context of serving others, and worked alongside adults who explain their ministry involvement as an expression of their faith.

An obvious corollary to the study speaks to the two dispiriting surveys: Meaningful hands-on ministry to human need translates into strong faith, which in turn will strengthen and sustain teenagers when they become young adults.

And this life-transforming opportunity is available to every church. Notes Diana Garland, dean of the Baylor School of Social Work: “The opportunities to help our youth grow in their faith literally are as close as the neighborhoods outside the church’s door.”

Marv Knox is editor of the Baptist Standard.

Posted: 8/17/07

Faith Digest

Belief in afterlife ages well. As Americans get older, their confidence in the afterlife increases, according to a recent survey of people over 50 conducted by AARP, the advocacy group for seniors. Seventy-three percent of older people believe in life after death, and two-thirds of those believers say that confidence has grown with age, according to the survey. While 86 percent of the people who responded say there is a heaven, and nine in 10 of them believe they will go there, they are less sure about other people. People who believe in heaven say an average of 64 percent of others will get there, too. Among those who say they believe in heaven, 29 percent believe admittance is based on faith in Jesus Christ, 25 percent believe “good people” go to heaven, and 10 percent think everyone will go there.

Committee recommends Haggard’s successor. New Life Church, the Colorado megachurch that lost its senior pastor, Ted Haggard, to a sex and drug scandal last fall, expects to have a new leader soon. Brady Boyd, an associate senior pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake, near Fort Worth, has been chosen by the pastoral selection committee as their nominee to lead the Colorado Springs church. Boyd, 40, previously was senior pastor of Trinity Fellowship Church in Hereford. Boyd was slated to begin spending three Sundays, starting Aug. 12, with the congregation, during which time they will have opportunities to get acquainted with him before they vote Aug. 27 on whether to accept him as pastor.

Lutherans defer bid to change clergy standards. Efforts to eliminate a celibacy requirement for gay Lutheran ministers failed at a recent churchwide assembly, but delegates urged bishops to refrain from disciplining sexually active homosexual pastors. After five days of debate among delegates from the 5-million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, voting members deferred any changes in clergy standards until a special task force on sexuality releases its report just prior to the next assembly, in 2009.

No sanctuary from cyberspace. According to a new 20-city survey on “e-mail addiction” released by AOL, Washington, D.C, is the most afflicted city in the nation. But Atlanta led the way in checking e-mail in church, with 22 percent confessing to peeking at their portable device during services, according to the survey. Houston and Denver tied for second in the checking-e-mail-in-church category, with 19 percent in both cities confessing to the deed. Washington placed third with 18 percent, followed closely by Los Angeles (17 percent), Sacramento and Phoenix (15 percent) and Tampa (13 percent). AOL says the survey, which was conducted online, included 4,025 respondents 13 and older from 20 cities around the country. They measured a city’s number of e-mail addicts by the percentage of residents who have more than one e-mail account; how many times they check their e-mail each day; how often people check personal e-mails while at work; the percentage of people who e-mail more than once a day while on vacation; the time spent writing or reading e-mail; and the percentage who admit to an e-mail addiction.

Posted: 8/17/07

Texas Baptist Forum

Committee really listens

Four members of the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ executive director search committee came to Austin to “listen” to Texas Baptists in this area. 

• Jump to online-only letters below

Letters are welcomed. Send them to marvknox@baptiststandard.com; 250 words maximum.

“My religious affiliation, my religious practices and the degree to which I am a good or not-so-good Catholic, I prefer to leave to the priests. That would be a much better way to discuss it. That’s a personal discussion, and they have a much better sense of how good a Catholic I am or how bad a Catholic I am.” Rudy Giuliani Republican U.S. presidential candidate, and a Catholic (Associated Press/RNS) “My church says I can’t drink alcohol, right? OK, should I say as governor of Massachusetts, we are stopping alcohol sales? No. My religion is for me and how I live my life. So don’t confuse what I do, as a member of my faith, with what I think ought to be done by government.” Mitt Romney Republican U.S. presidential candidate, and a Mormon (ABCNews.go.com/RNS) “Every time I see my sweet girl Lisa, I believe in God. Every time I see Bart, I believe in the devil.” Homer Simpson Father in “The Simpsons,” when asked about his religious beliefs during an “interview” (USA Today/RNS)

Like many Texas Baptists, I was concerned that the committee had an agenda and came to talk rather than listen. I left the meeting invigorated by the conversation. They really did come to listen and ask some probing questions about what we thought should be the characteristics and attributes of the new director.  Yes, and they even took notes and listened to our concerns. 

I would like to tell you many Texas Baptists attended; unfortunately that was not the case. I encourage Texas Baptists to attend these sessions when they come to their area. 

The search committee wants to know what we think.

Bruce M. Murray

Austin

Pray for all troops

Baptists are generous; yet “most” nonmedical, nonveteran Baptists probably will be shunning American war veterans of other races and other faiths who have been seriously injured in the current wars—who have lost limbs, been otherwise maimed, been brain injured or become mentally ill.

Why? Because few Baptists in America are aware of how valuable the troops of other races and other faiths are to the troops Baptists care most about—those of our own race and faith.

The safety of every American troop on the front line of a war depends upon the skills and devotion to duty of American troops and American military officers of other races and of many other faiths—whether Asian, Hispanic, Native American, Caucasian, Black or Jew; whether Methodist, Buddhist, Catholic, Muslim or another faith, even atheist. Practically speaking, the only way we can rightfully expect God to keep “our own” safe is for us to ask God to keep safe all of our troops and their officers—of every race and faith.

Could we Baptists do that? Certainly! And as we value these who keep “our own” safe in war, we will come to value disabled American war veterans of every race and faith, dedicated men and women who have made some of the most precious sacrifices imaginable for America and for us.

Let’s start consciously praying for all of our troops and their officers.

Cherie Mills

San Antonio

Pope & the church

Regarding Pope Benedict XVI’s statement about the church of Jesus Christ existing fully only in the Roman Catholic Church (July 23), I have two comments:

• During the first four centuries, there were few, if any, references to the church at Rome as the head of the Christian church and no acceptance of the claim then or later by many churches, especially in the East.

• The pope appears to confuse the organic church—the corporate body of Christ made up of all regenerate believers as determined by God (John 6:56, Colossians 1:13)—with the organizational church, which always has been a mixed bag of regenerate and temporary “hangers on” believers (John 8:30, 1 Corinthians 11:18, 2 Corinthians 13:5, Galatians 3:4 and 4:11) and never an organizational unity.

Even the four apostolic missions—of James, John, Paul and Peter—that gave us our New Testament operated independently, although in cooperation (Galatians 1:15, 2:9).

Earle Ellis

Fort Worth

ATMs in church

I have been reading that a lot of churches are putting ATM machines in their buildings. I already was bothered that many houses of worship had security cameras inside, and no trespassing signs outside in their parking lots, and bingo nights, but using ATMs seems to be going too far.

Can’t ATM machines be considered money-changers? According to the Bible, Jesus got very upset when he visited the temple in Jerusalem and saw the animal sellers and money changers.

What would Jesus do if he walked into your church and saw an ATM?

Chuck Mann

Greensboro, N.C.

What do you think? Send letters to Editor Marv Knox by mail: P.O. Box 660267, Dallas 75266-0267; or by e-mail: marvknox@baptiststandard.com. Maximum length is 250 words.

Posted: 8/17/07

On the Move

• Larry Atchley to Freedom Community Church in Midlothian as pastor.

• Cliff Cary to First Church in Amarillo as minister to children from First Church in Brownwood, where he was minister of education and children.

• Manuel Casso has resigned as pastor of Second Church in San Marcos.

• Megan Chadwick to First Church in Denton as media director.

• Brad Clark to First Church in Navasota as youth minister.

• Jack Craig to First Church in Devine as interim youth director.

• Jeff Dooley to First Church in Sanger as minister of education from First Church in Denton, where he was associate minister to students.

• Devin Fitch to Calvary Church in Friona as minister to students.

• Frank Flores to Primera Iglesia in Cotulla as interim pastor.

• Miguel Garcia to El Buen Pastor Church in Seguin as pastor, where he had been interim.

• Ross Githens has resigned as minister of music at Live Oak Church in Flower Mound.

• Jason Goings to First Church in Belton as assistant pastor and minister to college and missions from Community Church in Port Lavaca.

• Eddie Helms to Calvary Church in Tulia as pastor from Faith Church in Wellington.

• Jon Hollan to Blue Valley Church in Overland Park, Kan., as minister of worship from Hampton Road Church in DeSoto.

• Howard Hudiburg to First Church in Seguin as interim minister of music.

• Ernest Jones to Main Street Church in Georgetown as pastor from Christ’s Harbor Church in Laguna Vista.

• James Jones to Centrepointe Church of the Communities in Red Oak as pastor.

• Tom Jones to Central Church in Luling as interim pastor.

• Jennifer Madding has resigned as director of family life activities at First Church in Paris.

• Bo McCarty has resigned as pastor of First Church in Big Wells.

• Brad McLean to First Church in New Braunfels as pastor.

• Bruno Molina to Northwest Hispanic Church in San Antonio as pastor from Emmanuel Church in Nogales, Ariz.

• David Parks to Trailhead Cowboy Church in Goliad as pastor from First Church in Refugio.

• John Phillips to First Church in Meridian as minister to students.

• Jeff Pile to First Church in Hemphill as minister of music and education.

• Dave Purkey to First Church in Plainview as minister of music from Wylie Church in Abilene.

• Kris Raven to First Church in Wimberley as minister to young adults.

• Reed Redus has resigned as associate student minister at First Church in Amarillo.

• Rick Renshaw to Water Street Church in Waxahachie as pastor.

• Chris Rice has resigned as minister to students at First Church in Beeville.

• Philip Riegel to Calvary Church in Pilot Point as pastor.

• Kent Sparks to RockPointe Church in Flower Mound as associate pastor from Valley Creek Church in Flower Mound.

• Dan Tice has resigned as minister of education and youth at First Church in El Campo.

• Wiatt Warren to First Church in Wimberley as minister of education.

• Terry Wilkins has resigned as minister of music and education at First Church in Chappell Hill, not pastor as previously reported.

Posted: 8/17/07

Progressive Baptists protest hip-hop
lyrics, global warming & Iraq war

By Adelle M. Banks

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Delegates to the annual meeting of the Progressive National Baptist Convention have called for protests of music lyrics demeaning to women and minorities.

“We are speaking out publicly against the denigration of women, minorities and the kind of self-hatred that is often perpetuated by bad language and bad music,” said DeWitt Smith Jr., president of the historically black denomination. “Our youth department, in particular, has asked us not to patronize the rappers that use language that denigrates our people and others.”

Otis Moss Jr., a Cleveland pastor and outgoing chair of the denomination’s Civil Rights Commission, said the concern about “inhumane communication” is not new for the denomination, but “it has reached a special kind of crescendo in recent times with Don Imus.”

Imus lost his job as a radio talk show host in the spring after using slurs about the women’s basketball team at Rutgers University.

The 2.5-million-member denomination also added its voice to other religious groups calling for a commitment to address climate change.

“The issue of global warming is a very serious one, and we know that we are to be good stewards of all of the Earth’s resources,” said Smith, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church of Metro Atlanta.

“We were placed here by God to be caretakers, and therefore we are concerned about global warming and will do all that we can to help in the situation rather than to hurt.”

Delegates also passed resolutions addressing issues such as support of gun control, fighting poverty and the denomination’s continued opposition to the Iraq war.

Posted: 8/17/07

Rich pastors not common,
but not endangered species

By Matt Kennedy

Associated Baptist Press

DALLAS (ABP)—Success in many professions is expected to bring riches. With pastors, however, luxurious lifestyles traditionally are frowned upon. Some people have a hard time listening to sermons against greed and false idols from a pastor wearing a Rolex and a new Armani suit.

Nonetheless, the wealthy pastor is not an endangered species. The growth of megachurches, big book deals and media stardom have increased their number in recent years.

“Church size translates directly into market power,” said a Duke University study on the topic. “To attract entrepreneurial clergy, some very large churches are paying entrepreneurial salaries.”

The Compensation Handbook for Church Staff annually calculates average senior-pastor salaries by including base salary, housing, life and health insurance and educational benefits. While the national average salary of pastors is $77,096, according to the 2006 handbook, a select few pastors are earning much more.

An increase in worship attendance is the biggest factor to heightened pastoral and staff compensation, according to the 2007 handbook. Excluding insurance and educational benefits, senior pastors with a worship attendance of more than 1,000 people made an average of $111,052. That’s 73 percent more than the $64,266 paid to pastors with a worship attendance of 300 people or fewer.

And some megachurch pastors make more—much more. Mostly, the millionaire preachers make megamoney from the extracurriculars—national television ministries or profit from successful book sales.

The New York Times reported in 2006 that Joel Osteen, pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, could earn as much as $13 million on the contract he signed to write his second book, Become a Better You. His first book, Your Best Life Now, remained on the Times bestseller list for two years and sold more than 4 million copies. Seven million Americans view Osteen’s weekly sermons on television, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Shortly after the success of Your Best Life Now, Osteen appeased many critics by discontinuing the $200,000 annual salary he received from Lakewood in order to live off the book revenues and worldwide tours run through Joel Osteen Ministries.

Alternative salary systems

At the other end of the salary spectrum is Antioch Community Church in Waco. Since its formation, the church has paid all of its staff members the same annual salary, which is currently $26,400. The only difference in pay is compensation for dependents—$400 a month for a spouse and $275 a month per child for up to four kids.

“Our view is that God doesn’t value the work of the pastor more than he does the secretary because God called us all to use our spiritual gifts,” Jeff Abshire, Antioch’s administrative pastor, said. “Aren’t we all called to fulfill the Great Commission? Aren’t we all called to preach the gospel?”

Abshire said Antioch pays low salaries because it wants to preserve its ministers’ calling from God.

“We believe that we’ll have greater integrity with our people if we’re living off a salary that is similar to what most of the people in our church earn,” Abshire said. “It’s easier to preach about finances when the pastor has as much faith-need for God to provide as the congregation does.”

Abshire acknowledged that many might perceive Antioch’s payment system as unusual. “We’re not saying this is for everybody,” he said. “We felt called to set up salaries this way, but we’re not saying that some other church is doing it the wrong way.”

Tithing in many forms

Many Christian traditions teach the importance of tithing. Traditionally, 10 percent of one’s income is given to church and charity purposes. Rarer still is the practice of “reverse tithing”—giving back 90 percent of one’s income and living off the remaining 10 percent.

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., became a reverse tither after the success of his Purpose Driven Life books. He detailed the motive for his decision in a 2006 interview with Beliefnet. Warren said he told God: “OK, God, I don’t need this money. … What are you doing with this? I don’t need this. I’m a pastor.”

Warren said he and wife, Kay, looked to Scripture for answers. Like Osteen, Warren decided not to take a salary from the church. But he didn’t stop there. He added up all the money the church had paid him over the past 25 years and gave it all back. So the 10 percent the Warrens now live on is 10 percent of the income Warren earns from book royalties and additional ventures.

The Warrens have vowed never to change their lifestyle. They have lived in the same house for 16 years. Warren drives the same Ford truck he had before the book came out. And he owns the same two suits.

Warren told Beliefnet he’s aware of the stigma that pastors are in it for the money, but he said every pastor he knows would serve for free if possible.

“There are so many easier ways to make money,” Warren said in the interview. “Believe me, if you want to make money, don’t be a pastor.”

Posted: 8/17/07

Two years after Hurricane Rita,
Southeast Texas still rebuilds

By Whitney Farr

Communications Intern

VIDOR—It sounds like a story from two years ago—victims of hurricane Rita receiving help from total strangers—but this is not an old newspaper.

For most Americans, the horrors of Rita have become a distant memory. But many Southeast Texas residents still live in the same nightmare as in the day the storm struck.

Students from First Baptist Church in Henderson have seen the persistent devastation of Hurricane Rita.

Mission volunteers Maddie Phenix, Adam Head, Donnie Powers and Kolby Buckner work on a home as part of Nehemiah’s Vision. To volunteer or donate to the efforts of Nehemiah’s Vision, call (409) 769-1616, e-mail nehemiahsvision@sbcglobal.net or visit their website at www.nehemiahsvision.com.

“It is amazing that almost two years after the hurricane, folks are still feeling the impact in the lives they live and the homes they live in,” Student Minister Frank Teat said.

Through a nonprofit organization called Nehemiah’s Vision, teenagers from the Henderson congregation joined forces with church youth groups from all over the state, including Ridgecrest Baptist in Greenville, United Baptist in Cleveland, First Baptist in Daingerfield, Eagle Mountain Baptist in Fort Worth and First Baptist in Edgewood, to demolish, rebuild and paint homes damaged by Hurricane Rita in the Beaumont/Port Arthur area.

“In total, there were 97 of us working on 14 homes,” Teat said.

Andy Narramore, director of Nehemiah’s Vision, reported the group provided about $50,000 worth of free labor.

Teenagers from Ridgecrest were assigned to work on two homes. Volunteers were inspired to “give it all they had” after they saw how serious the damage still was after two years, youth worker Laura Williams said.

“One home was so wrecked by the storm that the insurance company was about to take away the family’s homeowner’s insurance. Our youth were determined to change that,” Williams said.

After scraping paint, reconstructing a deck that had been swept away, repairing plumbing, and taping, bedding and hanging sheetrock to the formerly gutted walls, the homeowner’s insurance was saved.

Williams also said that even after two years, more and more people are finding out about the help Nehemiah’s Vision provides and are applying for assistance.

Since the hurricane, more than 1,400 homes in the Golden Triangle Area needed major repairs. Since the project is dependent on volunteer work, half the needs remain unmet.

Five businessmen from Southeast Texas formed Nehemiah’s Vision to share the love of God in practical ways. Their goal was to assist in recovery efforts in Southeast Texas and in future crises elsewhere. They focus on helping uninsured and underinsured homeowners and churches.

They selected the company’s name based on the similarity of its mission to the command God gave Nehe-miah to rebuild the wall in Jerusalem. Organizers draw inspiration from Nehemiah 2:20: “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding.”

The week before these youth groups arrived, First Baptist Church in Plains partnered with Nehemiah’s Vision to build a home in just four days for Betty Hanks.

“It’s my little mansion,” Hanks said. “And I have a bigger mansion in heaven!”

First Baptist Plains found out about Nehemiah’s Vision after members met Narramore at Texas Baptist Men training event for disaster relief volunteers. A year before building the house for Hanks, church volunteers poured the foundation and raised a home in four and a half days for a family whose home had been completely washed away in the storm.

“We are blessed to have some members with construction knowledge, but most of our crew is made up of everyday people—teachers, farmers, administrators,” volunteer and church secretary Zanna Traweek said. “People are still displaced, and there is so much left to do. We just got back, and we are already planning our next trip.”

Volunteers who have served there stress the need for Texas Baptist churches to remember their neighbors in Southeast Texas who still face challenges.

“People have lost hope. They don’t think help will ever come,” said Williams. “But they feel so blessed when help finally does arrive.”

Posted: 8/17/07

Austrian students have Super
Summer of service in Texas

By Jessica Dooley

Communications Intern

ABILENE—For the first time all day, students are quiet. They are clean and groomed, with only trace amounts of colored paint on their faces giving away an eventful afternoon. They stand and lift their hands as they sing praises to God.

Hours earlier, the high school and junior high students were playing in bird seed, marshmallows, syrup and a variety of sticky, slimy stuff.

The games at Hardin-Simmons University were part of Super Summer, Baptist General Convention of Texas-sponsored camps held on the campuses of several Texas Baptist universities to develop youth leadership across the state.

“The games are designed to promote unity in schools. They are not competitive, and you don’t have to be athletic to play.” said Sandra Ruiz, BGCT summer events coordinator. “Each of the wild and crazy games has a spiritual application.”

The students were taught to “cultivate the earth” as disciples of Christ. Leaders helped equip students with the necessary tools through family groups, nightly worship and games.

“Our camp is very different. It is not evangelistic but leadership- oriented,” Ruiz said.

The last session of Super Summer reached beyond Texas. Students from New Mexico, Ohio and other Baptist churches around the nation participated, but youth from other parts of the world also participated.

“There were 981 people this session with 770 of those being students. Overall, we have had 3,550 students attend Super Summer,” Ruiz said. “This year, we also have a team from Austria and missionary kids from Cyprus and Spain.”

The Austrian group, made up of 11 youth and three adults, arrived in Texas July 11 to begin a summer of mission work. They worked with Mission Arlington before coming to Super Summer and in the Austin area afterward.

One of the Austrian students, Connie Klimt, 16, said he witnessed Christ work through the Austrian group’s efforts at Mission Arlington even though most of the people they served spoke Spanish.

“We had a translator, and the language barrier was not a problem for Christ’s work,” Klimt said. “Four of the people ended up receiving Christ!”

After working in Arlington, the students were glad to be spending time with other young people their age. A university student from Austria, Martina Schlager, said a prayer in her native language, German, during a worship service. She loved worship because she loved seeing “1,000 people praising God and burning for him.”

Posted: 8/17/07

Texas Tidbits

Memorials committee seeks names. The Baptist General Convention of Texas at its annual meeting honors Texas Baptists who have died during the preceding year. The memorial committee invites Texas Baptists to identify individuals whose lives made a contribution to their churches and to the state. Call (214) 828-5348 or email debbie.moody@bgct.org before Oct. 1.

BGCT leadership leader takes seminary post. Reggie Thomas, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas congregational leadership team, is leaving the Texas convention to head the Southern California campus of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. BGCT Chief Operating Officer Ron Gunter will serve as interim director of the congregational leadership team until a new director is named. In other staff moves, Josue Valerio, director of the BGCT missions team, was named interim director of BGCT Border/Mexico Missions, filling the vacancy left when Dexton Shores moved to Buckner International.

Foundation benefits disaster relief. The Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio disaster relief committee is providing $50,000 to assist flood victims in D’Hanis, near Hondo, with half of the amount directed to the Baptist General Convention of Texas for Texas Baptist Men to help rebuild homes in the community.

Foundation grants scholarships.The Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio granted $73,800 to the Baptist Health System School of Health Professions to provide summer school scholarships for 87 students enrolled in the school’s nursing and allied health educational programs.

BUA reaches matching gift goal. Baptist University of the Américas reached a $3 million fundraising goal for its new campus development campaign—and doubled its money in the process. The family of John Baugh will match the gift, in keeping with a pledge made by the late Houston philanthropist two years ago.

Estate gift benefits Baylor ministry guidance program. Baylor University received a $4 million gift from the estate of Allene Hubler that will establish the endowed Raymond O. Hubler chair of ministry guidance, the endowed David Slover professorship of ministry guidance and the Raymond and Allene Breech Hubler endowed scholarship fund to benefit ministry guidance students within Baylor’s department of religion.

Wayland nursing program receives state approval. Wayland Baptist University recently received state approval for its new nursing program, enabling the school to provide a complete bachelor of nursing degree from its San Antonio campus. This will be the third bachelor degree program for nurses in San Antonio. The new nursing program will begin with about 15 students in the fall semester, and 15 more will be accepted in the spring of 2008. Local capacity for the program when all the classes are full will be up to 400.