Posted: 6/29/07

Marketing project benefits UMHB
students, Central Texas churches

By George Henson

Staff Writer

BELTON—A semester-long partnership between marketing students at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and five churches in Williamson Baptist Association received a passing grade from all involved.

Clint Anderson, director of missions for the association, initially conceived the project. The first semester of the year, the students helped the association with market research, with an eye toward putting a marketing plan together for the association the second semester.

“I was going to use the association as the spring project as well, but then I thought it would be more important for the churches to have that opportunity,” he said, noting everything worked out even better than he would have hoped.

“It’s really a good deal for everybody,” he said. “The students get a project, and the churches get free marketing advice.”

ChrisAnn Merriman, assistant professor of management and marketing at UMHB, also made the trip to Georgetown to present a seminar for all the pastors in the association on marketing so the pastors would have a general knowledge of the subject.

Churches chosen for the projects were fairly young churches in growing communities, Anderson said. Sonterra Fellowship in Jarrell, Lakeline Church and Hill Country Fellowship in Leander, CrossPointe Community Church in Taylor and LifePointe Fellowship in Hutto were each chosen to work with a team of three to four students to develop a marketing plan that would enable the congregations to better reach their communities.

Merriman said her students enjoyed the opportunity to put their classroom knowledge of demographics and marketing strategies to work in real-life situations. “It’s a lot more interesting for them to work with these churches than it would be to put together a marketing plan for some fictitious company out of a textbook,” she said.

Stephanie Boyd, a student who worked with Lakeline Church in Leander, agreed.

“Most of our projects had been hypothetical—pretend—so this was an opportunity to actually work for an organization that was truly going to employ at least some of the strategies we suggested for them,” she said.

That they were working to help a church rather than a company with a product to sell was another intriguing dynamic, Boyd said.

“It was interesting to put together a marketing plan for a church where you weren’t trying to sell a product to customers, but rather making sure that people who came felt welcome,” she said.

To that end, Boyd’s team sent in “secret visitors” to the church and then interviewed them about how they were welcomed. His team also attended services and talked with members.

“You can’t make a strategy for a church you didn’t know anything about,” she explained. Working with the congregation, staff and Pastor Brian Lightsey was one of the things that separated the project from a hypothetical situation, she said.

“Having them involved, and just the opportunity to work with a client and having their feedback was really beneficial,” she said.

That thought was echoed by Elizabeth Vein, who also worked on the Lakeline team. “It was eye-opening to have someone actually looking across the table at you and asking you what you should do,” she said.

Since Lakeline meets at Leander High School, one of the team’s primary suggestions was to make the most of that opportunity, Vein said. The team suggested to the congregation that their meeting at the school gave them a location in town everyone was aware of and also made it more appealing to students. They suggested that reaching those students would in turn help the church reach their families.

Leander is a rapidly growing community, and the team that worked with Hill Country Fellowship suggested that the church really work hard to meet the many new residents.

“Most churches don’t think of themselves as businesses,” student Lindsey Cockerell pointed out. “But they still need to make sure their name is out there—especially in Leander, where there are so many people who are new residents.”

While the church already was securing names and addresses of new move-ins, the team suggested expanding the outreach efforts to include welcome baskets. The gift baskets included not only information about the church, but also an area map and compendium of area activities. They also suggested that church members be given business card-like communication pieces with church information that they could give to new people they met.

Working with the church helped her see that working with churches after graduation also was a possibility.

“I’d never thought of it before, but now I think it’s a possibility because churches need help on how they can best reach out to people and grow the kingdom of God, and I’m thinking now I might like to help with that,” she said.

The pastors were grateful for the students’ help.

“It gave us some fresh eyes and helped our leadership to see things from a different perspective,” Lightsey, pastor of Lakeline Church, said. He said the students also helped to remind the congregation of some of things they had previously thought of but never put in place. One of the things the team suggested was not to rely as much as mailed communication pieces, but to gain a greater visibility in the community through service projects.

Darrell Koop, pastor of Hill Country Fellowship, agreed that it was a worthwhile partnership. “They were able to come in as outsiders and give us a view and a feel of how other people see us,” he said. The church is already working to put a couple of the team’s suggestions into motion such as remodeling the church’s website and renting a highway billboard to enhance the church’s visibility in the community.

“It’s a free service that helped both us and the students,” Lightsey said. “It was a total win-win situation. And of course they want a good grade, so they worked really hard.”

Anderson noted he already has churches signing up for the next opportunity.

Posted: 6/29/07

Kids Hope USA program
starts at first Hispanic churches

By Rebekah Hardage

Communications Intern

DALLAS—The high school dropout rate among Hispanics in Texas is almost 50 percent, but two North Texas churches are doing their part to change that statistic.

Through Buckner Children and Family Services’ Kids Hope USA program, Iglesia Bautista Getsemani in Fort Worth and Primera Iglesia Bautista in Arlington have committed to mentor children in elementary schools. They are the first Hispanic congregations to participate in the national initiative.

“Our members are bilingual and bicultural, thus providing additional bridges of connection to children and their families,” said Julio Guarneri, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Getsemani.

Church members will work with a child referred by school personnel. The mentor commits to visit with the child one hour a week for an academic school year and help with homework.

The parents of the student are involved, knowing when their child is meeting with his or her mentor and how the meetings are going. A prayer partner commits to pray for the relationship being built between the mentor and the student.

“I believe that if we want to make a meaningful impact in the life of a child, we really need to reach kids at a much younger age,” said Richard Roman, Buckner/Kids Hope USA coordinator. “It’s imperative that Hispanic churches become involved at the developmental ages of their children.”

Friendship is built between the mentor and the student. One child learned to tell time, just so he could know when his mentor was coming.

“There’s a sense, for the first time, of making a real, long-term difference in the life of someone,” Roman explained. “We’re not asking a church to go to Africa, Mexico or even across town. Churches can become directly involved in the lives of kids in their neighborhood.”

Jonathan Hernandez, pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista Arlington, looks forward to partnering with the elementary school in their immediate neighborhood in Arlington.

“God had already given us a good number of children to work with on a weekly basis in our church,” Hernandez said. “So knowing that children in schools are not necessarily from Christian homes or have parents that attend church, we immediately knew we needed to do this.”

Dora Matancillas, a member of Iglesia Bautista Gestemani, will be serving as a mentor this fall.  “I think the most important part is that we need to spend a lot of time with the kids to help them so they can develop self esteem and just to show them the kindness that Jesus has for them.”

Posted: 6/29/07

CYBER COLUMN:
You are my prize

By Jinny Henson

I want to clear up something,

I think you have mis-heard

When I tuck you in at night

And fill you with my words.

I say I am so proud to have

A child so bright and sweet.

With excellent report cards,

Which knock me off my feet!

Oh, how your bright eyes sparkle.

Your grin lights up a room.

Your spirit beams as brightly

As a Carolina Moon.

Your tenderness to others

Is truly rare these days.

I love to see your kindness

And your sweet, caring ways.

Your taste in clothes is stellar,

Athletic skills immense,

But what if, come tomorrow,

You lost that fashion sense?

If your lovely hair fell out,

Those sparkling eyes turned bland,

If you saw the mean kid throw a punch,

And did not take a stand.

If, instead of A’s and B’s,

Your report card was a mess,

If you, no longer at the top,

Were called the worst, not best.

If all these bad things happened,

(This part may shock you here,)

To me you’d be as beautiful,

My heart, you still would cheer.

It’s fun to try your hardest.

Good work has its rewards,

But that’s not why you’re special

To me or to The Lord.

You’ll see when you get older,

And then, for sure, you’ll know,

It is not what your children DO

That makes you love them so.

You are not what you do, my love.

Life is so much more

Than any outward beauty

Or excellent test score.

I know you love to come in first;

You have right from the start.

But never, ever be confused;

You already have my heart.

I love you, precious person,

Just the way you are.

You need not paint me pictures

Or play me your guitar.

So, try new things with gusto!

Fail and fail again.

It’s only those who never try

Who miss out on the win.

Don’t judge yourself too harshly.

Enjoy the journey, too.

Laugh along the way each day.

I hear it’s good for you.

You could not be more wonderful,

More precious in my eyes.

If you never won again,

You still would be my prize.

© All rights owned by Jinny Henson; (318) 990-1642; jinnyhenson@aol.com

Jinny Henson travels the country as a Christian comedienne. John, Maggie Lee and Jack are an endless source of material for her. You can find out more about her at www.jinnyhenson.com

Posted: 6/26/07

California Southern Baptists
create competing state convention

By Hannah Elliott & Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (ABP)—Southern Baptists in California have started a new alternative state convention that will compete with the 67-year-old California Southern Baptist Convention for denominational loyalty.

California is the fourth state to witness such a move, joining Texas, Missouri and Virginia. In those states, alternative Baptist conventions have resulted in competition with the established conventions for contributions and membership.

Ron Wilson, a Los Angeles-area pastor, said he helped create the California Baptist Conservative Coalition as a way to organize California Baptists who are discontent with the way the traditional state convention divides up its money and the way the national Southern Baptist Convention counts church contributions.

Wilson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Thousand Oaks, Calif., has been a trustee of several SBC national agencies, including the North American Mission Board currently, which all would receive more support under the new structure.

“We’ve got three things we’re going to do,” Wilson said. “We’re going with a 50-50 split (of contributions) with the national convention and the (new) state convention. Our statement of faith will be the Baptist Faith & Message. And we are going to meet three times a year.”

The “50-50 split,” which evenly divides the offerings of coalition churches between the SBC’s national Cooperative Program and the new state convention. Wilson said the purpose of the new group is to give more to the national SBC in order “to have more money spent on actual missions.”

The current division of funds in the traditional California State Baptist Convention is 28 percent for SBC and 72 percent for the state convention’s own ministries, much of it spent to start and assist California Baptist churches.

Wilson said his church currently gives 25 percent of its receipts to the state convention and 75 percent to the national convention. With the new convention, his church plans to give 50 percent to the new group and 50 percent to the national Cooperative Program. That will allow members to manage more closely which missions to support, he said.

SBC leaders have worked in recent years to revive Cooperative Program giving, which funds the convention’s mission boards and other agencies. But those efforts have been hindered, some say, by state conventions that keep a large percentage of church donations for in-state mission work.

Since fundamentalists won control of the national SBC in the 1980s, they have reshaped the SBC’s ministries and agencies more to their liking. But they have not gained similar control in all of the traditional state conventions, leading some to form alternative groups.

If the Southern Baptist Convention officially recognizes the upstart California convention—as it has the breakaway conventions in Texas and Virginia—all the money sent from the new convention to the SBC will be counted as Cooperative Program giving. Currently a church like Wilson’s, which bypasses the traditional state convention and its 28-72 split, usually does not get credit for supporting the Cooperative Program.

Pastors like Wilson and Wiley Drake, well-known radio-show host from First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, Calif., think they should get credit for the money given to state conventions—and they say no one at the national level has listened to their request.

“We feel like we’ve been sort of disenfranchised,” said Drake, last year’s SBC second vice president. “We just have felt like we haven’t been heard.”

Drake said the new convention’s 50-50 split of donations is a key attraction for his church, especially because of the small church’s limited budget. “This (new coalition) is something that has been going on for a long time. We’ve had this thing going all along, but it wasn’t organized.”

Wilson said non-profit status for the new group has already been processed and approved by the U.S. government.

Leaders at the tradition California Southern Baptist Convention, however, said they had not received any formal word about the new group.

Terry Barone, editor of the California Southern Baptist newspaper and director of the traditional state convention’s communications division, said he heard Wilson announce on the floor of the recent SBC annual meeting the plans for the new convention, but he hasn’t “received any information regarding what was said.”

“The local church is autonomous,” Barone said. “We think Ron (Wilson) has a perfect right to do this if this is what he wishes to do. That’s one of the jewels of being a Baptist—that we have the autonomy to do what we think is best from the standpoint of a local church, state association or national convention.”

The theme of the newly minted coalition is “a new way, a new day.” Wilson said he plans to pattern the group after the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. The nine-year-old Texas group, largest of the four, counts 1,800 churches as members and has an annual budget of $9 million.

So far, there is little detail on how the new California convention would spend the money it receives.

“We’re really going to be between an association and a state convention. An association not determined by geography, but we want to do church starts,” Wilson said.

The group will start out as a loose coalition that focuses on mission work and fellowship, Drake said. He declined to name churches considering membership and said he hasn’t yet decided whether to ask his church to vote to join.

Wilson said he expects between 75 and 100 churches to be affiliated with the coalition by the end of its first year, with the potential to eventually incorporate up to 400 churches. Members won’t have to be present to vote on convention business, and “natural leaders” will emerge, rather than be elected. The first person hired to staff the group will be a secretary, Wilson said.

The California Southern Baptist Convention has 1,800 member congregations.

“We’ve been thinking about doing this since 1994,” Wilson said. “There was a group that wanted to do it then. Looking back, I think we should have done it then. Unfortunately I spooked and said, ‘Let’s wait and see how things develop.’ We are going to do it now, and we’ll just see what people will do.”

Still, Drake stressed that his church does not want to leave the California Southern Baptist Convention. If the existing state convention suddenly “sees the mission opportunity for the 50-50 split,” his church would rethink joining the new coalition, he said.

There is no reason why the two competing conventions can’t co-exist, he said.

“I have a good relationship with the state convention,” Drake said. “I’m not ready to throw in the towel, so to speak. At least from my perspective, I would still want to be connected with the California Southern Baptist Convention.”

Posted: 6/28/07

Baptist newspapers, ABP
create new media venture

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP)—The Baptist Standard has joined with three other Baptist communication organizations to form a new media venture that will collaborate on expansive websites, print publications and other media options for Baptists.

The partnership, tentatively called NeoVox, currently includes Associated Baptist Press and the historic Baptist newspapers of three states—the Baptist Standard of Texas, the Religious Herald of Virginia, and Word & Way of Missouri.

Organizers say their network of communications partners eventually will include Baptist institutions and more media outlets, creating a national market for Baptist news and advertising.

The venture has been in the works for two years. Coordinated editorial planning and production started this spring, when the three newspapers began jointly publishing their biweekly newspapers with shared core content and graphic design. Associated Baptist Press, based in Jacksonville, Fla., provides graphic-design services and participates in content development.

The first collaborative issues featured extensive reporting on immigration, church leadership, clergy sex abuse, military chaplaincy and Christians in the public square.

Now in development is an extensive Internet portal, which will link news and other original content from all four organizations’ websites in a single, integrated database and eventually offer multimedia content such as audio and video feeds.

Although much of the editorial content, graphic design and production process of the new venture will be shared, each media outlet will retain its own identity and unique look, the organizers say. And no changes are planned for the four original partners’ governing boards, although a joint board for the new venture likely will be created.

Leaders at the Standard, Herald and Word & Way said a partnership involving Baptist newspapers in three widely spaced geographic areas—the Mid-Atlantic, the Southwest and the Midwest—will offer opportunities to respond to regional Baptist needs as well as state interests.

“We came to realize that if we’re going to provide Baptists and other like-minded Christians with the news and information they deserve, and if the Baptist movement is going to survive, then we need to work even more closely together,” said Marv Knox, editor of the Standard.

“We agreed the changing demands of journalism, particularly the transition from print-dominant to electronic-dominant, require us to form a partnership to deliver news and information.”

The venture will also make the national reporting of ABP “even more useful in the field of Christian journalism,” said Greg Warner, ABP executive editor.

“For years, ABP and every other Baptist news outlet has found it harder and harder to reach Baptist audiences with our news and information,” he said. “We’ve hamstrung ourselves with narrowly focused content, outmoded distribution systems, and inadequate financial models.”

“Now we have a chance to reinvent Baptist communications, just as our predecessors did 150 years ago. If we can make use of the new technology to provide Baptists with information they actually care about, we can truly do a service for the Baptist movement in this country.”

Warner and Knox estimated NeoVox’s Web-based strategy would cost $3 million to $5 million. Set for opening as early as 2008, the Internet strategy in its final form will be customizable to the users and likely include news, features, chat rooms, streaming video, blogs and podcasts.

ABP and the Standard are working to raise $600,000 to $1 million in start-up funding, with $330,000 already pledged or given. Additionally, directors of the Standard have made available $100,000 out of reserves.

Some of this start-up funding is paying for scientific research into the media habits and interests of Baptist laity and ministers, which will guide the venture. The governing boards of the Standard and ABP are expected to act on a business plan in September.

The partnership is built on a solid business plan, Knox said, but more importantly it will help the Baptist people and churches that share traditional Baptist principles to flourish.

A key component of NeoVox is the nature of its partnerships, the organizers say.

In addition to “publishing partners,” the venture will enlist “identity partners”—organizations and institutions that have a vested interest in Baptist communications—to partner in advertising and cross-promotional activities. Texas-based Buckner International and Mercer University in Georgia have already expressed interest in becoming identity partners.

As for the publishing partnerships, they won’t alter newspaper governing boards or relationships with state conventions, but they will significantly enhance ministry opportunities, Jim White said in a recent Virginia Herald story.

“It will increase not only national and international coverage but will expand our state and regional coverage and allow us to explore interests relevant to Virginia Baptist churches,” said White, editor of the Herald.

Bill Webb, editor of Word & Way, said the strength of the venture is in its partners.

“We are pleased that this partnership brings together the best from three Baptist newspapers and a Baptist news service that share commitments to integrity and excellence,” he said. “Word & Way’s efforts to challenge readers to be ‘doers of the word and not hearers only’ will only be enhanced in this exciting venture.”

Knox said he is so committed to the endeavor because the “future of the traditional, historic Baptist movement is at stake,” not to mention the future of Baptist communication. It’s bigger and more important than any individual newspaper, he said.

“If we don’t engage a rising generation of Christians, helping them to understand the vital nature of Baptist principles—like the priesthood of all believers, religious liberty, the separation of church and state, local-church autonomy, missions and evangelism, and Christ’s concern for ‘the least of these’—then they won’t survive another generation,” Knox said.

Posted: 6/27/07

BaptistWay Bible Series for July 8

Faith and hope when we don’t understand

• Job 40:3-9; 42:1-12

By Paul Hamilton

Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene

Job finally received what he has desired much of the book—an audience with God. God starts with “Who contends with the Almighty?” (40:2). Now God challenges Job.

However, Job now is more aware of his appropriate place within God’s created universe.

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He responds in a sense of humility, “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?” (v. 4). Job is beginning to move beyond himself, out of an egocentric mindset and into developing a larger, more holistic worldview.

“I put my hand over my mouth,” (v. 4). Here the image is of Job imposing silence, or restraining himself from saying anything—although he could have—but fears that it would offend God even more.

In verse 5, Job acknowledges he has spoken of God in an inappropriate manner, recognizes that mistake, and will not repeat what he had said. He also acknowledges he made that irreverent mistake not once, but twice. He makes the decision not to proceed, in fear that he would commit the same mistake again, which suggests that although he recognizes his irreverent sin against God, he still has questions and concerns about his treatment because of his felt innocence.

The Lord’s response to Job (vv. 6-9) resumes the argument he had briefly paused to allow Job to make his case before the Almighty, and at Job’s silence, it continues (v. 6). The introduction used here in verse 7 is almost identical with the ones used in 38:1, 3. The recommendation the Lord makes to Job here is to become prepared with all the strength that he can muster, because questions will be asked, and satisfactory answers are expected.

Verse 8 asks some very specific questions. “Would you discredit my justice?” The implication here is not only did Job assert his innocence, but in doing so, has also denied God’s righteousness. The second question, “Would you condemn me to justify yourself?” brings the discussion to a new level, where the Lord asks Job to consider the implications of his earlier comments as to his innocence, and reveals the arrogance and sin of Job in a striking manner.

God cannot allow the overarching implications of Job’s self-righteousness over his own righteousness to stand. In verse 9, he proceeds to inquire of Job as to his strength versus the omnipotence of God and questions if Job assumes the majesty of God by having a voice like thunder.

In Job 40:10-41:34, the Lord presents Job with a list of qualifications to be the Almighty. He also presents the behemoth and leviathan, which many feel were actual creatures with mythical folklore associated with them. The behemoth is believed to be a hippopotamus and the leviathan a crocodile.

The main importance of this section is once again to reveal to Job his place within created order. For Job, these creatures are fierce, and he has no power over them. But God, who formed these incredible creatures, retains all the power. The major purpose of this section of Scripture is to reiterate to Job that he is not God, nor does he possess the power, ability, or character traits to be the Almighty.

In 42:1-6, Job again responds to God. He first acknowledges God’s power is unlimited, and God has control over all nature. Job admits to his own mortality and finitude. This confession is based on the testimony of the Almighty in the previous chapters. However, Job also acknowledges God is just in all things. Job simply accepts responsibility for his previous foolishness and accepts the truth of his guilt. Here you see the reformed heart of Job, one of repentance and humility, a heart of worship and adoration for God.

Job finally realized the difference between knowing about God and actually having an encounter and experience with God. This understanding led Job to recall his prior expressions of God, and he is sickened by the mere thought of them. Job now is able to see his sin and repent of it because he trusted in the Lord’s care over him.

In Job 42:7-17, we find the Lord has Job pray for his friends, and has them go to Job to perform sacrifices for their sin. The Lord accepted Job’s prayer and made him prosperous again—even giving Job twice as much as he had before.

Job, like many of us at times, felt he was suffering unjustly. He could not comprehend why God was making him suffer. Job could not see as God sees. Nor can we. Job finally realized his folly and repented.

Do we? May we have faith and hope in God—as did Job—when tragedy comes to our doorsteps.

Discussion question

• When have you or someone in your life gone through suffering that you did not understand?

• What enabled you to carry through that suffering?

• What do we receive as a blessing after having gone through suffering?

• Where is our ultimate blessing received? This life or the next?

Paul Hamilton is a master’s of divinity student at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon Theological Seminary.

Posted: 6/27/07

Bible Studies for Life Series for July 8

Finding a place of service

• Acts 6:1-7; 9:36-43; 11:29-30

By David Harp

First Baptist Church, Stanton

Paul Powell has written of a scene during the dark days of the Great Depression, when a man went for a walk. This man had lost everything—his job, his wealth, then his wife and home. His only real possession that remained was his faith, and that was in real jeopardy.

He stopped along the way to watch some men doing stone work on a church building. One stonemason was chiseling an unusual-shaped piece of rock. “What are you going to do with that?” the man asked the worker. “Do you see that small opening way up there near the spire? I am shaping this rock down here so that it will fit up there.” The man walked away from the workers and began to process. He realized God was doing the same thing with him.

What is God doing in your life to shape you? How will you fit?

What does God want me to do in the church?

God calls each of us to use the gifts and skills he gives us to serve the body of Christ.

We can serve in different ways (Acts 6:1-7)

No church is immune from problems! There is no perfect church because there are no perfect people. When we read Acts 6, we can find encouragement that even the first century church, made up of men and women who sat at Jesus’ feet, also had problems.

The church was exploding with growth. New believers were coming into the life and fellowship of the church. The church would have to decide, are we big enough or should we keep growing and reaching out? Others felt their group in the church already was being ignored. What is the church to do?

Some choices they could have made:

• They could have ignored the problem.

• They could have resented the problem.

• They could have overreacted to the problem.

• They could face the problem.

The apostles came up with a plan to select seven men for specific ministry to those who felt they were being overlooked. These men were chosen on the basis of their character and spiritual maturity. Being of good reputation, yielded to the Spirit and filled with his wisdom, they were called to serve the needs of widows within the church.

This would allow the apostles to focus their ministry on proclaiming the gospel to the unsaved.

Every believer should develop character traits God can use in ministry. As we develop a good reputation, sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of the Lord, we will be prepared to answer God’s call to lead and serve.

We can serve through our skills (Acts 9:36-40)

The death of Dorcas grieved the widows in the church at Joppa. They showed Peter the evidence of “her faith, good works, and acts of charity” (v.36). She had discovered ways she could use her skills for God’s glory. Her practical skills became holy acts of worship and service to God’s people. Dorcas was a believer who gave her skills to serve others in Jesus’ name. Having skills is one thing; using them for the kingdom of God is another.

The widows pointed to the clothing Dorcas made, not to showcase her skills, but to show that she met a great need in the lives of these widows. Our motives in doing ministry should be to honor God and meet needs, not to draw attention to ourselves.

Many have honored the name and the work of Dorcas by naming their Sunday School class or department after her.

We can serve through our giving (Acts 11:29-30)

We’re not called just to work for God. We are called to work with God.

The church in Antioch learned about the coming of a famine. Immediately, their hearts went out to the believers in Judea. They knew about their poverty and were concerned for them. Each believer chose to give as they were able in order to meet the needs of their brothers and sisters.

In this church, their wealth and financial resources were put to work for the Lord and his people. For the Antioch believers, giving money became their practical gift of service—their holy act of worship.

We hear today of crisis and tragedy. When we do, we quickly think of the phrase “disaster relief.” In many churches, men and women have been trained to go as “yellow caps” (do-anything labor—from scrubbing pots and pans to preparing meals) or “blue caps” (job-site coordinator) or even “white caps” (over-all disaster coordinator—usually moving from one job site to another).

One job we can all share in our churches is giving. Relief efforts take many forms. We can give money, food and supplies. Christians are called to give according to their abilities. When we have brothers or sisters in need, we should show the love of Christ to them. When an area is struck with a disaster, we can be most effective witnesses for Christ by giving a cup of cold water or a warm meal in the name of our Lord who has given his all for us.

Discussion questions

• What skills and/or abilities has God given to you?

• How can you use your skills, training and even hobbies for ministry?

• How do you and your church respond to special needs?

Posted: 6/27/07

Explore the Bible Series for July 8

Abundant life begins with commitment

• Haggai 1:1-2:23

By Kathryn Aragon

First Baptist Church, Duncanville

We live in a time of committal crisis, when loyalty to self far outweighs loyalty to any other person or institution. It was introduced decades ago by the Me Generation. But throughout the years, “me first” has become a way of life, and the results have been anything but good.

Today, nearly 43 percent of first marriages end in separation or divorce within 15 years, according to National Center for Health Statistics. Rather than risking divorce, 11 million people choose to live together. Commitment to employers is no stronger, with most people changing jobs every 3.5 years.

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And loyalty to church in general and denominations in particular is at an all-time low. Whereas 40 percent of Americans attend church regularly, fewer than 10 percent are deeply committed Christians. This means only 25 percent of church-goers are deeply committed to their faith.

We may be comfortable with the individualism associated with lack of commitment, but God isn’t. The world may have changed, but God hasn’t. Relationship with him still comes at the cost of total commitment.

Salvation requires commitment

What is salvation, after all, if not a trade with God, a business contract sealed with Jesus’ blood? We give up our lives for Jesus’, our sin for his sinlessness. Jesus commits to withhold condemnation, and in return, we commit to live for him. But there’s that word again—commitment. It seems like an antiquated concept, out of place after years of looking out for No. 1 and doing something just because it feels good.

And let’s be honest. Commitment doesn’t always feel good. For Jesus, it meant death on the cross. For us, it means learning to forgive the unforgivable and love the unlovable. Yet, having said that, there seems to be a new movement toward, not away from, church. After years of searching for significance and the meaning of life, people are finding the world doesn’t have the answers they are looking for.

Whereas a renewed interest in God and the church is an exciting idea to those of us within the church, we must question the sincerity of this return. People who cannot commit will not find the answers they are looking for, whether in the world or in the church. Only intimate relationship with God fills the void within us, and intimacy with God is only available through sincere commitment to his ways on his terms.

As we read Haggai, we realize times haven’t changed that much: “Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it’” (1:5-6).

Putting “me first” always will leave a spiritual vacuum. It also invites God’s discipline. In truth, as wealthy as we Americans are, most of us live in debt. And no matter how hard we work, that debt grows rather than shrinks. We make plenty of money, but we never seem to have enough.

Perhaps we need to read carefully God’s judgment on his children when they fail to obey him: “You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. … A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days” (Deuteronomy 28:30, 33).

In our search for significance, we have lost our way. Worrying about our own happiness and fulfillment, we can’t hear God’s call to put him and his kingdom first. We fail to realize that after accepting salvation, our lives are not our own, and our purpose and contentment come from God, not the world.

The definition of commitment

Assuming we understand the need to commit our lives to God, in a world devoid of commitment, do we really understand what it looks like? Commitment is defined as the state of being emotionally and intellectually bound to a course of action. It involves the emotions as well as the mind, meaning it is a whole-body experience. Commitment isn’t a verbal promise. It is an agreement that something is worth whatever the cost.

Commitment isn’t going to happen all by itself, either. It isn’t easy. That’s why it begins with an agreement. When we accept salvation, we are accepting God’s commitment to let us live with him forever. But we also must agree to our part of the bargain. And although it doesn’t come easily, God is patient and will help us as we grow in our faith and character. That’s why Paul tells us to “work out” our salvation with “fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).

Working out our salvation requires training and self-control. We must agree to submit to God’s discipline, allowing him to lead us into uncomfortable situations where we can learn how to lean on him for our strength. We also must agree to persevere, remaining loyal to God even when it seems he isn’t there. We must learn to rely on our knowledge of God, not our feelings. And finally, we must commit to act on our faith. When it comes to commitment, there can’t be a disconnect between our beliefs and our actions. If we talk about it without acting on it, we need a spiritual check-up.

The paradox of commitment

Radical commitment is a scary proposition, but it’s the only way to achieve the abundant life we seek. And that’s the paradox of Christianity: Only when we lose ourselves will we find what we’re looking for. God’s blessings come on his terms, not ours: “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands … you will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock. … Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out” (Deuteronomy 28:1, 3-6).

Commitment begins the adventure of new life with Christ. Without it, our walk with God is sterile, without power or energy. Commitment is, in fact, the beginning of faith, through which we learn that “all things are possible” for those who believe in Christ Jesus. And our words of faith, backed by action, will indeed move mountains.

Discussion questions

• What does it mean to rely on our knowledge of God, not our feelings?

• Describe a situation when you observed a disconnect between someone’s words and their actions.

• What does that tell you about the person’s true beliefs?

• Is there an area of your life that isn’t committed to Christ?

• What would be necessary to recommit it to God?

Posted: 6/27/07

KidsHeart volunteers say God worked
miracles with Kool-Aid and crafts

By Whitney Farr

Communications Intern

EL PASO—As Hubert Jones and his missions team entered the impoverished Sparks Colonia on the outskirts of El Paso, he questioned whether the church group could make an impact.

But as he mentally began to list all his inadequacies, a group of small children behind him started to sing, “My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do.”

The kids in colonias near Fort Hancock were all smiles as they recieved their new shoes, donated by Buckner International's Shoes for Orphan Souls, and ate hotdogs with the volunteers.

Jones stopped listing why he wasn’t good enough.

For Jones, it wasn’t about the weaknesses of the missions team from First Baptist Church in Memphis, a small town in the Texas Panhandle. It was about the strength of the God they served, he said.

“We are so limited, but God is unlimited. He took our Kool-Aid, candy and craft projects and worked miracles,” Jones said.

Volunteers served up to 40 children daily at Mision Bautista Tierra Prometida, a one-room church in the Sparks Colonia, through Vacation Bible School, sports camps, block parties and shoe donations.

First Baptist in Memphis joined First Baptist Church of Levelland, and Second Baptist Church in Lubbock as part of the first-ever KidsHeart mission week in El Paso, sponsored by Buckner and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

In just two weeks, workers from First Baptist of Levelland and Second Baptist of Lubbock constructed a 2,850-square-foot church in Fort Hancock, east of El Paso. The church will seat 225 people and serve as the central location for Buckner to continue operating community ministry.

“One year ago, I prayed for a building,” Pastor Ramiro Campos said. “And I thank God for answering my prayer.”

Two youth from First Baptist in Levelland add final touches to the fresh paint job on the newly constructed church, Iglesia Bautista Immanuel.

Campos explained that Fort Hancock in general—and his church in particular—had suffered many broken promises from mission teams in the past. So, when this 34-member team arrived and delivered what they had promised, it was extremely meaningful.

“To me, these people are angels,” Campos said. “Working so hard for people they don’t even know exhibits the love of God to everyone that passes by this new church. They are marvelous people who don’t look down on us, but instead, serve us.”

From painting little girl’s fingernails at the neighborhood block party to painting walls, the volunteers enjoyed every minute, even if they were munching on dirt and sand that the dry wind constantly blew their way.

Ty Talley, a high school student from Levelland, said the most meaningful part of the trip had been “talking with the Christian men when a few of us were on the roof. I learned a lot just listening to the older men from Second Baptist” in Lubbock.

Talley, who helped build houses in the Rio Grande Valley last summer through KidsHeart, said he expected great things from the trip and considered this week of hard work the high point of his summer vacation.

Volunteers from First Baptist Church in Levelland and Second Baptist Church in Lubbock provided the younger girls with a little pampering during a block party at KidsHeart El Paso.

“I will never forget the look on their faces last summer, when the family saw the house we built for them,” Talley said. “I came this year because I wanted to see that same reaction on the little kids’ faces.”

Talley’s wish came true as—one by one—children received brand-new shoes. He helped distribute the shoes, part of Buckner International’s Shoes for Orphan Souls Shoe Drive, under the roof of the new church that he and so many others had worked on during the week.

“These teens have been so valuable—working on the roof, painting, hammering. They have been tremendous workers,” LaVerne Love, a volunteer from Second Baptist in Lubbock said while hammering.

Jeff Scott, youth pastor at First Baptist in Levelland, said he regularly emphasizes the importance of missions to his teenagers.

“There are so many trips that go into Mexico and other parts of the world, while people right here in our state are being ignored,” he said. “We want our kids to realize that you don’t always have to leave your country to find people in need.”

Dusty streets lined with makeshift homes, outhouses, trash, and no running water emphasized his point. But their greatest need?

Hubert Jones of First Baptist in Memphis scoops up a small boy during a game of duck-duck-goose in the Sparks Colonia.

“Food,” said Tommy Speed, director of Buckner Children and Family Services in West Texas. “And ultimately, a purpose.”

He said the question constantly arises, “Are these people illegal immigrants?”

“I don’t ask, and I don’t care,” Speed said. “If we see a family in need, we help them.”

People have approached him, afraid of the legality of helping people who may not be citizens, but “churches don’t have to be afraid of helping people,” he said. “You don’t have to harbor immigrants, just help them.”

The example of selflessness these Christians provided even encouraged community members to serve.

“The block parties and construction of the church ended up being a community effort,” KidsHeart volunteer Ken Noles said.

A woman who lived next door to the church allowed the crew to tap into her electricity, and a man came from the county to provide free use of a land grader to the church builders from Levelland.

And, after seeing more than 650 people line up to receive a meal and new shoes at the Sparks block party, the mission team turned to a neighbor when they realized their one small grill would not suffice. She offered her own personal grill.

“I can’t describe the feeling of going over the hill and seeing a field of humanity in a place where all I had seen was a small group of women gathering for an aerobics class,” Noles said. “First thing I thought—We need more hot dogs!”

Brian Hill, a volunteer from Levelland who had built houses in the Valley during previous KidsHeart mission trips, kept reminding the team and himself that even though they were not seeing the immediate effects on a family, like they had seen when building homes, this was only the beginning of ministry.

And he was right. God already used the church to change hearts and lives. More than 20 professions of faith were made by new believers.

“I can’t express the joy in my heart,” Campos said.

Posted: 6/26/07

Religion, social issues prominent in GOP debate

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—Evolution, abortion rights and other issues important to religious conservatives reared their heads once again in the third debate between Republican presidential candidates.

Following a question that made headlines at the first GOP debate a month earlier, one of the debate moderators asked specific candidates about their views on evolution. At the previous debate, three had raised their hands when asked if they did not believe in evolution.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee—a Southern Baptist minister—subsequently criticized the question. In the most recent forum, he attempted to illuminate his views.

“To me, it’s pretty simple: A person either believes that God created this process or believes that it was an accident and that it just happened all on its own,” he said. “And the basic question was an unfair question because it simply asks us in a simplistic manner whether or not we believed … there’s a God or not.”

Huckabee said he believes there’s a God who created the universe.

“Now how did he do it, and when did he do it, and how long did he take?” he said. “I don’t honestly know, and I don’t think knowing that would make me a better or worse president.”

Many Southern Baptists and other conservative Protestants believe evolution is inconsistent with Christianity and insist the Bible teaches that Earth was created thousands, not millions, of years ago in six 24-hour days.

When pressed on whether he agrees with that view, Huckabee echoed an interpretation of the Genesis creation stories that many moderate Protestants have long asserted.

“My point is, I don’t know. I wasn’t there,” he said, to laughter. “But I believe whether God did it in six days or whether he did it in six days that represented periods of time, he did it, and that’s what’s important.”

Arizona Sen. John McCain—who did not object to evolution in the first debate—said the governor’s explanation of his view was akin to his own position.

“I admire (Huckabee’s) description because I hold that view,” said McCain, who is listed in his biographical materials as an Episcopalian but reportedly attends a Southern Baptist church when in Phoenix. “There’s no doubt in my mind that the hand of God was in what we are today.”

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, who joined Huckabee in expressing opposition to evolution in the first forum, also praised the Arkansan’s view. “I am fully convinced there’s a God of the universe that loves us very much and was involved in the (creation) process. How he did it, I don’t know,” the Methodist-turned-evangelical-turned-Catholic senator said.

Also, as in previous debates, attention turned to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s support for abortion rights. Giuliani is the only GOP candidate who remains officially pro-choice.

While being asked about a Rhode Island Catholic bishop’s recent statement slamming Giuliani on abortion rights, a lightning strike disrupted the sound system of the auditorium where the debate was being held.

“Look, for someone who went to parochial schools all his life, this is a very frightening thing that’s happening right now,” a startled Giuliani said.

When asked about their views on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military, all 10 GOP candidates expressed support for continuing the so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy now in place at the Pentagon.

Although the policy was designed in 1994 as a compromise between opponents of homosexuals serving in the military and those who wanted them to serve openly, gay-rights activists have lambasted it ever since.

Although Giuliani has been a strong supporter of gay rights in the past, he said he did not believe the policy should be changed “in a time of war.”

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who once expressed opposition to the policy and once campaigned as a strong gay-rights supporter, said he also had changed his mind.

Gays have served in the military forces of most of the United States’ closest allies—including the United Kingdom and Israel—for years. Recent polls have suggested a majority of the American public supports following suit.

The Republicans’ views were a strong contrast to a debate between Democratic candidates on the same stage two nights before. All of the Democrats agreed it was time to do away with “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Posted: 6/26/07

Huckabee denounces influence
of cash, evolution queries in GOP race

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—If conservative Christian voters want to know why a Baptist preacher is being bested in the GOP primary polls by three candidates who have had rocky relationships with the Religious Right, they need to look at the bottom line, Mike Huckabee said.

“Pure and simple, it’s money,” the former Arkansas governor and presidential hopeful said. “But the sad thing is that money is driving the media’s perception of it.”

Huckabee—who served as president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention before he delved into secular politics—lamented the fact that his campaign and those of other strong social conservatives has been unable to get traction among primary voters.

Meanwhile, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Arizona Sen. John McCain, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney continue to lead in polls of announced Republican candidates.

All three have well-funded, well-staffed campaigns. But Giuliani is pro-abortion-rights and supports some gay-rights causes. Romney was pro-abortion-rights and pro-gay until recently. Plus, his Mormon faith arouses suspicion in many Christian conservatives. And despite McCain’s generally solid conservative voting record, he has had a rocky relationship with several of the Christian conservative movement’s elder statesmen.

“This whole process is being driven solely by money and not by message,” Huckabee said. “If we’re not careful, we’re moving this country not toward a presidency, but toward a plutocracy. I’m not sure that’s where we want to be.”

Huckabee, in a wide-ranging discussion with a group of Washington reporters assembled by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, also had words of warning for some of his ideological cohorts.

“Christian conservatives, I believe, are on the brink of becoming irrelevant in this election cycle if they do not remain active because they really believe something about their faith that drives them into the political arena,” he said. “If they say, ‘Well, those issues aren’t that important this time,’ … then quite frankly, they are just another Republican special-interest group.”

If Christian conservatives back away from stances that have defined their movement —opposition to abortion rights and same-sex marriage—in order to elect a Republican candidate, Huckabee said, “I think it is not only going to be the beginning of the end of relevancy for them, but I also, I believe, the Republican Party.”

Huckabee added that he has an agenda well beyond the issues most often associated with Christian conservatism.

“I don’t think we’re a perfect party. I don’t think we’ve captured the marketplace on great ideas,” he said. “I’m a conservative, that’s fine. But I’m not mad at anybody about it.”

Huckabee said Republicans should focus more on issues—such as “better stewardship of the environment” and improving education—that have traditionally been associated with Democrats.

“We have allowed politics in the country to become very divisive, and it’s almost like it’s an all-or-nothing proposition,” he said, noting that he had worked successfully with a heavily Democratic legislature during his time in the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion.

“I think people (who opposed his election) thought that I would spend all my time trying to stop abortion and … put Bible readings and prayer in schools, that that would be my focus as a governor,” he said. “Instead, I spent my time improving education.”

Huckabee also offered implicit criticisms of the current administration’s performance. He used his experience as governor of a state that took in 75,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees in 2005 to decry the government’s handling of that crisis.

“One of the few times in my life when I was absolutely embarrassed and ashamed of my own government was in the response to Katrina,” he said. Speaking of seeing footage of people stranded on freeways in New Orleans days after the storm flooded the city, Huckabee added, “It just was beyond my comprehension that we could get TV cameras to those people, but we couldn’t get a boat or a bottle of water to them.”

On foreign affairs, he counseled greater humility for the United States. “We have frankly squandered a lot of our … international prestige” in recent years, he said. “There was a time in this world when America was everybody’s hero. And now we’re the bully that they resent.”

Despite his disappointing poll numbers, Huckabee has gotten generally high marks from pundits for his performance in the Republican debates so far. Nonetheless, he faulted debate organizers for asking questions about his support for evolution. He and two others out of the field of 10 GOP hopefuls raised their hand in a debate a month ago to say they did not believe in evolution.

He was asked directly about that in the June 5 debate and elaborated on his views. He said he didn’t know exactly how Earth was created but that God had done it.

To reporters the next day, he expressed frustration that one’s belief in evolution is even a topic for a political debate.

“I had to ask myself how many people sitting around their dinner tables asked themselves, ‘I wonder what the next president thinks about evolution?’“ Huckabee said. “At one point, I wasn’t sure if I was being interviewed to be president of the United States or chaplain of the Senate.”

Questioned following the discussion, Huckabee said he didn’t think his criticism about money driving the GOP nominating process vindicated a longstanding criticism of the Religious Right that wealthy fiscal conservatives were simply exploiting religious conservatives to win elections and get tax cuts.

“I think the faith conservatives had a role in the party and a strong voice—because there were certain things they so believed and didn’t deliver votes unless they got them—that kept the Republican Party, in essence, pretty pure on those issues,” Huckabee said. “And the fiscal conservatives sort of said, ‘Well, those aren’t our issues, but you know what, we’ll live with that to get what we want.’“

He continued: “Now, that’s real pure politics. Everybody gives up something in order to get something. That’s not wrong; that’s OK, as long as what you give up you can live with, and as long as what you get is what you want.”

Posted: 6/26/07

Democratic hopefuls respond to queries on faith

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—On national television, John Edwards admitted that he sins every day, Barack Obama said there’s “a biblical injunction” to give prisoners the tools they need to rehabilitate themselves, and Hillary Clinton said the support of “prayer warriors” had helped her get through the most difficult times of her marriage and life.

It wasn’t a church service. It was a first-of-its-kind forum on faith, values and poverty for the top three contenders for the Democrats’ 2008 presidential nomination. It was also, some observers said, further evidence that the Democratic Party is trying to regain ground it has ceded to the Republicans among voters who are active Christians.

The event— sponsored by the Christian social-justice group Sojourners and broadcast in prime time on CNN—marked some of the most public and intense discussion of presidential candidates’ religious beliefs in American history.

“How can we, as people of faith, carve out a space that rejects both the secular left and its ideological twin, the Religious Right—one that recognizes our dual citizenship?” asked Rich Nathan, pastor of the Vineyard Church in Columbus, Ohio, who spoke prior to the forum to the estimated 1,300 attendees gathered in a George Washington University campus auditorium. “How can we create a society that sees itself as morally accountable to God and his kingdom?”

Edwards, the former North Carolina senator and 2004 vice presidential nominee, drew loud applause from the students and activists in the crowd for his focus on poverty issues, which he said owed to his faith.

“I have respect for my colleagues who are running for the presidency, but I would say … this is not an issue I just talk about when I come to you,” Edwards said. “It is an issue I talk about all over America to all kinds of audiences, because it’s a part of who I am.”

Edwards noted he had been raised Southern Baptist and baptized after a profession of faith when he was “very young.” But he also said he “strayed away from the Lord” for a period.

Nonetheless, Edwards continued— echoing a line he has used previously about his Christian journey—“my faith came roaring back during some crises that my own family endured.”

He and his wife, Elizabeth, lost their teenage son, Wade, to a car accident in 1996. Edwards said it was “the Lord that got me through that. It was the same thing when Elizabeth was diagnosed with cancer.”

The candidates also discussed how their personal faith affected their views on issues. Edwards has said that, while he personally opposes same-sex marriage, he believes the government ought to protect the rights of gay couples through civil unions. CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien, who moderated the forum, asked him if holding that view was “a dodge” for a Christian.

“No,” Edwards responded. “I think there’s a difference between my belief system and what the responsibilities of the president of the United States are. It’s the reason we have the separation of church and state.”

In a similar vein, Edwards also said he disagreed with the idea that the United States is “a Christian nation,” nor does he believe that the president should serve as a spiritual figurehead.

“I have a deep and abiding love of my Lord, Jesus Christ,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean that those who come from the Jewish faith, from the Muslim faith … that they don’t have the right to have their faith respected.”

Obama, the Illinois senator, was a familiar face to many in the crowd. He made national headlines last year with his groundbreaking speech on his faith. That speech, which like this year’s candidate forum was part of the Sojourners Pentecost conference, was one of the first times in recent years that a potential Democratic nominee has spoken so candidly about the details of his Christian faith.

However, at the June 4 event, he ended up speaking mostly about policy positions grounded in his moral outlook.

Asked by Jim Wallis, Sojourners’ founder, how he would bring his faith to bear on addressing poverty in the United States and around the globe, Obama cited a biblical concept.

“I think our starting point has to be … that I am my brother’s keeper, that I am my sister’s keeper, that we are connected as people,” Obama said. “Those responsibilities have to express themselves not only through our churches and synagogues and our mosques, … (but also) through our government.”

On the specific issue of finding ways to improve the nation’s criminal-justice system, Obama said providing real opportunities for rehabilitation as well as punishment of criminals is a moral imperative.

“There’s a biblical injunction that I see to make sure those young men and women have the opportunity to right their lives,” he said, noting that such would “require a government investment” in transitional employment for ex-cons as well as providing educational incentives to inmates.

“The notion that we take away educational programs in the prison to be tough on crime makes absolutely no sense,” Obama contended.

Clinton, a lifelong Methodist who represents New York in the Senate, acknowledged that she sometimes is not as comfortable speaking publicly about her faith as some of her competitors.

“I come from a tradition that is perhaps a little too suspicious of people who wear their faith on their sleeves. So a lot of the talking about and advertising about faith is not something that comes naturally to me,” she said. She noted such faith-talk on the campaign trail reminds her “about the Pharisees and all the Sunday school lessons and readings I had as a child.”

However, Clinton gave what was perhaps the night’s most intimate look into a candidate’s spiritual life. In response to a question from O’Brien about how her faith helped her through her husband’s very public infidelity, the former first lady said her faith—and especially knowing others were praying for her—helped her carry on.

“For me, because I’ve been tested in ways that are both publicly known and those that are not so well known or not known at all, my faith and the support of my extended faith family—people who I knew who were literally praying for me in prayer chains, who were prayer warriors for me … sustained me for a great time,” Clinton said.

“I am very grateful I had a grounding in faith that gave me the courage and the strength to do what I thought was right, regardless of what the world thought.” The comment drew enthusiastic applause.

Besides O’Brien and Wallis, a panel of Christian leaders questioned the candidates. Joel Hunter, pastor of an Orlando-based evangelical megachurch and the onetime choice to be head of the Christian Coalition, asked Clinton about her views on abortion rights.

Noting that he is pro-life and believes abortion “remains one of the most hurtful and divisive facts of our nation,” Hunter asked Clinton, “Could you see yourself, with millions of voters in the pro-life camp, creating a common ground with the goal ultimately in mind in reducing the decisions for abortion to zero?”

Clinton, quoting a phrase long used by abortion-rights advocates, said she really does want to make abortion “safe, legal and rare.” She emphasized, “I mean ‘rare.’“

Clinton said leaders of the pro-life and pro-choice camps have remained too far apart to cooperate on a goal they both support—alleviating the social ills that often contribute to women choosing abortion.

“What concerns me is that here’s been a real reluctance for anyone to make a move toward the other side for fear of being labeled as sort of turning one’s back to the moral dimensions of the decision from either direction,” she said, echoing comments she has made since a well-publicized 2005 speech.

After the forum, Wallis said he believed the conversation on faith and values in the 2008 election was “off to a good start tonight” and was much better than in the 2004 election cycle. “We’ve had a very narrow, restrictive conversation (in the past), as if there are only one or two religious issues,” he said.

The event drew attention to the differences between the current campaign and the 2004 presidential election cycle. Then, Democratic nominee John Kerry’s campaign sidelined its religious advisor and the candidate appeared very reluctant to talk about his Catholic faith. In the current campaign, both Clinton’s and Obama’s campaigns have hired experienced Washington political operatives as advisors on religious issues.

But to some ardent advocates of religious freedom, the Democrats’ new focus on religion risks cheapening a candidate’s personal faith by making it merely another political tool. That’s something they believe prominent Republicans have done in recent years.

“I felt it was a great opportunity for a discussion that needs to happen in this nation, but those present didn’t take advantage of the opportunity,” said Welton Gaddy, a Baptist minister who is president of the Interfaith Alliance. “They talked more about personal piety than they did the issues that have to be of concern to the president of the United States.”

Gaddy said a candidate should have the right not to discuss his or her private religious practices and beliefs, so long as they are open about how their faith affects what policies they embrace and how they govern.

“I think one of the most constructive developments that could have come out of that televised event would have been if one of the candidates would have responded to one of the questioners by saying, ‘Frankly, that’s none of your business,’“ Gaddy said. “Because perhaps that would make the point that a politician, like any person in this nation, has the right to hold his or her own private, religious views, to respect the Constitution’s mandate that there be no religious test for someone running for public office and force the discussion to move to the way in which religion impacts public policy and whether or not that’s constitutionally done.”

Supporters of the event said that such concerns, while valid, were overblown. Asked by a reporter following the forum if Democrats’ new openness to talking about faith in their campaigns risked cheapening it, Hunter responded, “I think there is a great deal of danger—but it’s worth the risk.”

Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, described the forum as “a helpful exercise” and said that the public needs “to know what makes candidates tick and how religious convictions will affect their leadership and policy decisions.”

However, he echoed some of Gaddy’s caution about Democrats using religion for political ends. Candidates “don’t shed their religion when they take office. But candidates should temper their appeal to religion with a dose of humility and understand they represent all Americans, not just those who share their religious beliefs,” he said.