Posted: 6/22/07

DOWN HOME:
Have the sidewalks gone to the dogs?

Joanna and I got run off the sidewalk the other evening.

Not by thoughtless children on bicycles. And not by reckless teenagers on skateboards.

Worse: By their parents. Or, to be more specific, by their parents walking their dogs.

Jo and I love our “new” neighborhood. We moved here last fall. And one of the best things about living here is running in the morning and walking in the evening.

The tall, mature trees (well, for this part of Texas, they’re tall) provide a beautiful canopy, as well as a haven for songbirds. And the streets curve amid gently rolling terrain, which in the light of dawn and dusk is soothing and lovely.

So, I enjoy running to the sounds of chirping birds in the morning, and Jo and I get a kick out of walking and listening to the tree frogs in the evening.

About the only thing that’s ever annoying about our evening treks is the dog-walking.

To be fair, most dog-walkers in our neighborhood are friendly and courteous. When they see someone coming, they guide their canines onto the grass to let other homo sapiens pass by on the sidewalk. But quite regularly, we encounter at least one person or couple who apparently think their dogs own the sidewalk, and everyone else should just get out of the way.

OK, I know I sound like a curmudgeon. Stepping off the sidewalk and passing on the grass doesn’t give us shin splints. We’re no worse for the wear.

But it’s the principle of the thing: Human beings are more important than dogs. People should have the right-of-way. Everybody should know that. And everybody should care.

“People can be so rude,” Jo said the other evening, when we got out of earshot. “Rude” is the operative word.

And rudeness doesn’t just manifest itself on suburban sidewalks. Brett Younger, who writes a monthly cybercolumn on our website (baptiststandard.com), recently described his son’s high school graduation. The kids were well-behaved. But the grownups were awful. Even after administrators pleaded for decency and decorum, they acted like seventh graders in an unattended cafeteria the last day before Christmas break. Whooping. Hollering. Blasting noisemakers.

Maybe I’m making too much of all this. But it seems the little ways we show disrespect for others build up. Soon, everything is about “me,” and I don’t have to care how it impacts “you.”

Sadly, Christians—who profess we believe God made all people in God’s own image—often sprawl in the big middle of rudeness. And when we disrespect others, we disrespect the God who made them.

So, be nice.

And make your dog walk on the grass.

—Marv Knox

Posted: 6/22/07

EDITORIAL:
We need to discuss faith & politics

A reader recently submitted a thoughtful, articulate letter about a set of articles that appeared in this paper. Perhaps you read her letter in the June 11 issue. She wrote, in part:

“I was dismayed to read stories and analysis of the better-known U.S. presidential candidates in a recent issue of the Baptist Standard, even though I didn’t fault the information provided. I’m interested in politics and am a political party member, but I believe in separation of church and state.

“I don’t argue politics at church, and I don’t argue religion at political party meetings. I wouldn’t read a government publication or a party flyer to help me decide whether to be a Christian or which denomination to join, and I don’t read the Standard to help me decide how to vote.”

She and I enjoyed a lively, enlightening e-mail exchange, in which she expressed concern about the “slippery slope” of politics and the importance of “holding the line regarding nondiscussion of politics” in her church.

Her concerns are valid, and they are shared by thousands of Christians. We recognize the danger of discussing either politics or religion in “polite” company, and we understand talking about politics and religion can be incendiary. The cover package in this issue of the Standard illustrates how difficult it is to walk that razor-thin line of Christian citizenship.

Her letter represents what I believe to be misperceptions about how to live our faith in the political world and express our political convictions among the faithful. Baptists historically have advocated separation of church and state. But separating Christians from politics distorts that heritage. She raises two points. Let’s look at both:

• Politics in the Standard. The information we offered about faith-related positions of the major presidential candidates was scrupulously nonpartisan. We simply provided facts about candidates’ stands on key issues.

As Baptists, we trust individuals to make up their minds on how to vote. But the Standard has a responsibility to provide good information so they can make up their minds responsibly. Factual, unbiased material about candidates’ views on faith-related issues rarely appears in the secular media. So, we feel a sense of duty to provide news you can’t get elsewhere. We’ll never endorse a candidate or tell you how to vote, but we would be negligent if we didn’t help you get all the information you need to make up your mind.

• Politics at church. Sure, politics can be a slippery slope. But people of faith who care about the whole world live on that slope already. Reasoned, balanced reporting gives them traction to get a toehold.

A reason many Christians think only one political viewpoint represents the “Christian” position is because so many churches and church leaders are silent. Consequently, the shrill “religious” voices in the secular media are the only “Christian” messages they hear. So, when strident, self-assured religious leaders tell them there’s only one “Christian” position, they reflexively believe it. However, if they participated in reasoned, measured discussions with friends and people they respect in their own churches, perhaps they would begin to consider other possibilities. While some people vote as they do based strictly upon their religious convictions regarding abortion and homosexuality, many others vote quite differently based upon their religious convictions that Jesus focused more on caring for the poor, welcoming the stranger, and ministering to the sick and the imprisoned than he did talking about sexual behavior. We need to consider both perspectives.

Many Baptists are so scared of disagreeing with each other that they fail to discuss hard but vitally important issues of life in the context of biblical faith. You think Jesus avoided controversy? Absolutely not. Talking about politics at church can be scary and hard. But if we will be open, honest and loving, we can demonstrate not only mature Christian faith, but also model citizenship.

Posted: 6/22/07

Faith Digest

Most Republicans doubt Darwin. Republicans are far more likely to doubt the theory of evolution than Democrats, a new Gallup Poll revealed. Sixty-eight percent of Republicans say they doubt humans evolved from lower life forms over millions of years; only 40 percent of Democrats hold the view. The poll was conducted by telephone last June and has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points. In a separate Gallup poll this May, respondents were asked to choose between three hypotheses about human origin and development. Just 14 percent believed God had no part in the process, while 43 percent believed God created man in present form. A full 38 percent took a centrist view, affirming that man evolved but God guided the process. Beyond political parties, the poll also found a correlation between church attendance and belief in evolution. Those who seldom or never attend church are three times more likely to be evolutionists than those who attend church weekly.

Bishop urges three-minute Sabbath in transit. An Anglican bishop has asked thousands of British rail commuters to spend a few minutes each day doing precisely nothing. To help them keep track of the three minutes of stress-beating silence he was urging upon them, Stephen Cottrell handed out miniature egg timers—which he called the “gift of time”—to travelers as they rushed by him at the train station. “By learning to sit still, slow down, by discerning when to shut up and when to speak out, you learn to travel through life differently,” Cottrell said. The cleric took his cue from a recent study by Britain’s University of Hertfordshire that found the walking speeds in 32 cities around the world had increased by 10 percent over the past decade.

Ministry seeks to make fishers of men. Ed Trainer takes men and boys out fishing on the waters of British Columbia, Alaska and beyond to teach them about God. His group, International Fishing Ministries, rose up out of Trainer’s passion for fishing, his frustration with traditional worship and statistics suggesting women populate most church pews. “Church is too boring for men,” Trainer said. “Church is set up like a country club for women. For me, after five minutes of a sermon, I’m off in my mind fishing on some stream somewhere. … We decided to go out into God’s creation, pointing men to a Christian experience through fishing.” Trainer figures about 10 to 15 percent of the men who go fishing with him make a lasting faith commitment to Jesus Christ.

Scout chapel demolished to avoid offense. A woodlands chapel in Britain used by Boy Scouts and Girl Guides for nearly 70 years as an open-air place of peaceful worship has been demolished because Scout officials feared it might offend non-Christians. The Scout Association ordered removal of the rudimentary cross and basic altar, plus the wooden pews that had been fashioned from old telephone poles when volunteers built the chapel between World War I and World War II. A campfire circle replaced the chapel near the Belchamps Scout Center at Hockley, in east England, as part of an “updating” that manager Nigel Ruse said would “turn it into a place of worship of all faiths and not to exclude anyone from Scouting.”

Posted: 6/22/07

Baptists throw a lifeline
to flooded Gainesville

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

GAINESVILLE—Duke Dowling, pastor of Southside Baptist Church, admits he doesn’t know much about home repair. He can’t refurbish the more than 300 flooded homes in his community. He can’t even fix the home of the one family in his congregation whose home was swamped. But he knows plenty of people who can.

“I can’t build,” he said. “But I can go out and find people who can.”

In cooperation with volunteers from around the state, Texas Baptists are wrapping their arms around Gaines-ville in the wake of flooding that killed five people. Baptists were among the first to respond, with local church members feeding victims and collecting items to distribute.

Texas Baptist Men teams began serving more than 600 meals a day for flood victims and recovery workers. TBM volunteers also are cleaning out victims’ homes.

Mark Fuller, minister of discipleship and evangelism at First Baptist Church, is coordinating volunteer teams working in Gainesville. TBM volunteers are surveying houses and letting him know how many volunteers are needed at each location.

The Baptist General Convention of Texas is working alongside TBM, offering financial assistance for flood victims that are part of BGCT-affiliated congregations. TBM’s work and BGCT disaster response efforts are supported through designated disaster relief offerings.

Fuller and Dowling said they are grateful for the assistance Texas Baptists are providing. The help encourages faster recovery in the area and helps congregations expand their ministries in the county.

Christians are called to help each other in times of need because they are children of God, Dowling stressed. The Texas Baptist family is rallying around Gainesville.

“We are the eternal family,” he said. “This is your family.”

Posted: 6/22/07

Tyler physician’s care for Iraqi
refugees opens doors for ministry

By Jessica Dooley

Communications Intern

YLER—Dick Hurst, a medical doctor and layman at First Baptist Church in Tyler, has journeyed to northern Iraq and the surrounding region at least a half-dozen times—including a trip earlier this year—to care for refugees and orphans.

And due in large part to the relationships he has built the last 16 years, multiple ministries are working together to meet needs in the region.

Hurst first traveled to the Iran/Iraq border with Texas Baptist Men in 1991 after the Gulf War. He discovered refugees living in what resembled sheds or barns more than houses. Some were physically injured, and nearly all struggled simply to survive, he recalled.

By providing sugar, salt, flour, clothes, blankets and basic medical attention, Hurst helped refugees withstand the harsh living conditions.

Little relief work was being done in Iraq, so when the chance to visit opened up, he took it.

“This was my chance to help a special people, and a unique opportunity for Christians to minister in the heart of the Islamic world,” Hurst wrote in his book, Religion, an Accident of Birth.

In spite of rough plane rides, life-threatening road trips and even being named to Saddam Hussein’s “hit list” as an American helping Kurds, Hurst retained a passion for Iraqi refugees.

That passion led him to team up with other organizations working in Iraq and opened doors for him to return.

In addition to helping with refugees, he also traveled with Baylor University professors to help rebuild the higher education system in northern Iraq.

Most of Hurst’s work with refugees and orphans has been through Concern for Kids, an organization launched by Robert and Roni Anderson, who began work in Iraq in 1992. Hurst now serves on the ministry’s board of directors.

He also has helped facilitate the involvement of other organizations committed to helping Iraqi refugees.

For instance, due to doors Hurst helped open, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has provided more than $13,000 to help the refugees, specifically those who have fled to Jordan. Funds provided by the fellowship are funneled through two programs—the Hope Clinic and the Nazarene Compassionate Ministry.

The Hope Clinic’s main concern is offering health care in a Christian environment, while teaching the patients about the love of Jesus Christ. According to its website, the clinic is open two days a week and receives more than 50 patients each day.

Nazarene Compassionate Ministry, reaches out to refugees by providing food, blankets, heaters and mattresses and by meeting other human needs.

Hurst shies away from any attention directed toward him for his humanitarian work. He believes it’s no less than what any Christian should do, given the opportunity.

“As Jesus said, ‘When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.’ Just let it be natural,” he said. “It only seems right to help these people.”

Posted: 6/22/07

Texas Baptist Forum

Recycle of abuse

Thank you for keeping clergy sexual abuse in the news (June 11). 

I have been carrying the burden of this tragedy for over five years and still have tears running down my face. I don’t know if I will ever be the person I was before it happened to me.  

• Jump to online-only letters below

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

“I sometimes marvel when people running for office are asked about faith and their answer is: ‘Oh, I don’t get into that; I keep that completely separate. My faith is completely immaterial to how I think and how I govern.’ And to me that’s really tantamount to saying that my faith is so marginal, so insignificant, so inconsequential that it really doesn’t impact the way I live. I would consider that an extraordinarily shallow faith.” Mike Huckabee Republican presidential candidate and former Baptist pastor, discussing faith and politics at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (RNS) “He’d say, ‘Just a moment, Lyndon,’ put the phone on his chest, and then motion for me to come in. To me, that said I was more important than the president of the United States! I’d crawl up on his bed, content just to lie there with my head on his chest.” Ned Graham Recalling times during his childhood when his father, evangelist Billy Graham, was on the phone with then-President Lyndon Johnson (Charisma/RNS)

Since there is not much that can be done in my case, I am praying that changes can be done to keep others from suffering.

Kaye Maher

Oviedo, Fla.

As a Baptist, a deacon and an attorney, I have been in and worked with churches where there was alleged misconduct and confessed and proven sexual misconduct.

I did not find an important fact in any of the articles on clergy sexual abuse or the sites to which they referred: When there is sexual misconduct, frequently there also is misuse of authority in other ways, including financial misconduct.

Also, where financial misconduct or other misuse of authority is found, there will often be hidden sexual misconduct.

If the church does not have strong and courageous lay leadership, one or both will be ignored or concealed, and frequently the abuser returned to a position of authority.

Just as sexual misconduct is a disqualifying sin, so is financial misconduct and so is abuse of authority.

In the business and government sector, such people lose their jobs and frequently their freedom. Our churches should do no less than we expect of nonchurch organizations.

Forgiveness can only follow true confession and repentance, and restoration must occur in the context of continuous and public accountability and oversight by the lay leadership of the church.

Ralph E. Cooper

Waco

I appreciate the article on restoring clergy and other ministerial leaders to ministry. I had the experience of belonging to a Baptist church where, within about a year’s time, we lost two wonderful ministers because of their sexual sin. Neither has ever returned to the ministry.

Later, I entered ministry myself and began working with men in ministry who were caught up in sexual sin. Five out of six did return to ministry, and their ministries are incredible today. So here are some thoughts on the subject, based on my own experiences:

• God’s calling on one’s life is irrevocable. Sin doesn’t change that calling.

• Sexual predators must leave leadership roles in the church. No church can afford the legal risk. After restoration, they will need to look for other ways to answer God’s call in their lives. This is a natural consequence of the sin.

• Churches often punish and isolate the individual and their families. James 5:16 tells us, “Confess your sins to one another and be healed.” So, the individual must be taught to confess and do it well.

• Once restored, the individual should be required to participate in an accountable relationship that can be verified, where James 5:16 is practiced at least weekly. When this occurs, the individuals usually have even more effective ministries. They have a depth of experience and knowledge of God’s grace that transforms lives.

Larry Walker

Plano

New ‘neighbors’

When we discuss immigration, law and moral relativism, perhaps we should remember that Jesus violated the law when he healed a sick man on the Sabbath and justified it with moral relativism: If a man’s ox is in the ditch, won’t he get it out?

His disciples broke the law when they harvested grain on the Sabbath, and Jesus justified it by reminding that David desecrated the temple when he ate the shewbread because he was hungry. Jesus violated Roman law when he blessed Peter for declaring him the Messiah.

The second-greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Perhaps that can extend beyond the Rio Grande.

Robert Flynn

San Antonio

Execution as torture

I am against torture and the death penalty. Unfortunately both recently happened to Christopher Newton in Ohio. A 20-minute execution took two hours. If this isn’t cruel and unusual punishment, then what is?

I am bothered that many conservative Christians support the death penalty. Jesus, who was executed, once said, “Whatever you do to the least among men, you also do to me.” The death penalty should be abolished.

Chuck Mann,

Greensboro, N.C.

Islam and peace

Cadets are taught Islam as part of “winning the peace” (May 28).

Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace. The Apostle John teaches about love, but also testing the Spirits. I can’t see how Islam believes that Jesus came in the flesh to be our Redeemer and Savior. Jesus should never be compromised for anything. John admonishes us to have nothing to do with any teaching that does not teach that God came in the flesh as Jesus Christ to save the world.

Islam believes Jesus was merely a good teacher and prophet. How will we win the war without the peace of Jesus? We need to do as John writes, and test the Spirits. Jude tells us that God knows all about “false teachers,” so we need not be concerned with Islam.

True peace is in the faces of people that have put their trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. True peace is in the presence of the Holy Spirit. True peace won’t happen without Jesus. I have never looked in the face of any person who believes redemption is in anything or anyone other than Jesus and seen the joy and peace that radiates from the face of a Christian.

God still reserves for himself men and women that spend much time in prayer, who haven’t bowed a knee to any other.

Joyce Brumley

Grand Prairie

Judging worship

I read with interest Robert Tucker’s well-written “Leave judgment in the parking lot” (May 28). I agree there is much to learn and appreciate from the full range of sacred music, including contemporary. As a believer in broadening the perspective of the congregation to the universal church, our choir has sung such recently composed “rhythmic and multi-dimensioned” works as the Brazilian “Psalmo 150,” the African “Betelehemu” with conga drums, and many modern arrangements of spirituals with “syncopated complexity.” I also agree the best works of the church triumphant, the “cloud of witnesses” with whom we worship, should be included.

However, in my limited experience with commercial contemporary Christian music, I have found little that has “added tones for harmonic color” or is “engaging, creative and spontaneous,” although most is definitely “emotionally charged.” The compositions I have run across mostly have been repetitive, vapid and musically uninteresting with poorly written and sometimes appalling lyrics. Apparently, I have not been diligent in my search.

I have heard of the use of Bono’s music in a U2charist, but that does not seem to compare with Bach’s “Mass in G Major” or his “Aus der Tiefe,” both of which we presented last Good Friday. Do you know of a commercial contemporary Christian music piece with the pathos and power of Vierne’s “Kyrie Eleison” or the ethereality and emotion of Rutter’s “Requiem”? I would love to consider a piece with similar complexity, nuance and spiritual energy.

Dolan McKnight

Richardson

Thank you for the 2nd Opinion column on worship by Robert Tucker.

I consider it a privilege to know Rob Tucker personally, and I am thankful for his expert opinion regarding differing worship styles and our attitudes toward them.

He is just one of several Howard Payne University administrators and faculty members who had a tremendous impact on the life of my daughter, who recently graduated from HPU. My Hardin-Simmons University roots run deep, but President Lanny Hall and company are doing something really “right” at Howard Payne, and I pray that God will continue to richly bless their school and their efforts.

Randy Dale

Temple

Falwell’s legacy

I am sure the writer of “Mixed blessing” (May 28) is a wonderful person who in 50 years of ministry has won hundreds of thousands to Christ; shepherded a little country church into one of the largest in America; started what is now America’s largest Christian university; created ministries to alcoholics, addicts, orphans and homeless; and provided care and adoption services for unwed mothers in addition to making countless appearances around the world taking a stand for biblical morality (what the politically correct now call “politics”).

But if not, the Bible warns us to be careful about “touching the Lord’s anointed” and “judging another man’s servant.” I thank God for Jerry Falwell and pray that God would raise an army of equally tirelessly dedicated men to continue his legacy.

Brian Burgess

Haskell

Posted: 6/22/07

On the Move

• Jason Ames to First Church in Three Rivers as youth director.

• Tom Bilderback to First Church in Whitesboro as youth minister.

• John Carl to Northlake Church in Garland as pastor from First Church in Whitney.

• Rick Carney to Bones Chapel in Whitesboro as pastor.

• Kurt Dempsey to Walnut Springs Church in Walnut Springs as education/youth minister.

• J.L. Edwards to First Shiloh Church in Thrall as pastor, where he had been interim pastor.

• Rick Eubanks to Oak Grove Church in Burleson as minister of music/youth from Grand Parkway Church in Sugar Land.

• Pete Freeman to Central Church in Jacksonville as interim pastor from First Church in Longview, where he was interim associate pastor/senior adults.

• Gaines Gibson to First Church in Point as minister of youth from Lone Oak Church in Lone Oak.

• Michael Godfrey to True Course Ministries in Waco as executive director. He is available for interims and supply work.

• Alcides Guajardo to Primera Iglesia in Mineral as pastor.

• John Laque has resigned as pastor of Bethel Church in Rockport.

• Rodney McCaleb to Dorcas Wills Memorial Church in Trinity as minister of music.

• Donnie McCarter to Marcelina Church in Floresville as pastor.

• Bill Meek to Country Chapel Church in Sherman as minister of music.

• Wade Smith to First Church in Norman, Okla., as pastor from Georgetown Church in Pottsboro.

• Russell Stanley to First Church in Rule as pastor from Calvary Church in Seymour, where he was interim pastor.

• Randy Thompson to First Church in Tom Bean as youth minister.

• Nathan Warren to Smyrna Church in Atlanta as minister of youth.

Posted: 6/22/07

Weary pastors stave off stress
by scheduling ‘personal Sabbaths’

By Matt Kennedy

Associated Baptist Press

DALLAS (ABP)—Consummate counselor, powerful preacher, lasting leader—these are descriptions often used to characterize a respected pastor. Avid fisherman and beach bum are not.

But Bruce Prindle, pastor of First Baptist Church in Midlothian, values fishing and lying in a folding chair next to the waves just as much as his more traditional pastoral duties.

By taking long vacations and enjoying a relaxing Sabbath, Prindle tries to escape the stress of dealing with building projects, multiple services and budgets. He believes his counseling, preaching and leading abilities are diminished when he fails to take proper rest.

Prindle is not alone. Many other pastors echo his commitment to avoid “burnout”—the emotional state of approximately 100,000 pastors, according to Alan Klaas of Mission Growth Ministries.

Studies show that if pastors don’t effectively manage their stress levels, it leads to devastating results. According to a 1998 Focus on the Family study, 1,500 pastors leave their assignments each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout or contention within local congregations.

Mike Wilson, associate professor of pastoral ministry at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, said pastoral burnout stems from a pastor’s inability to identify how much he can handle. He said the process leading up to actual burnout usually is gradual.

Joel Gregory, professor of preaching at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary, said the repetition of delivering the same sermon for multiple services could lead to greater stress.

Gregory said burnout often results from a condition he called “repetitive stress syndrome,” which he defines as the anxiety of knowing that Sunday is coming. Feeding the pastor’s need for creativity through art, music, travel and reading fiction are ways to combat that syndrome, Gregory noted.

In a 1991 survey of pastors by the Fuller Institute of Church Growth, 80 percent of pastors said their pastoral ministry affected their families negatively, and 70 percent of pastors said they do not have someone they consider a close friend. Prindle said he’s lucky to have such a close support system of friends and family to help him when he’s experiencing too much stress.

“For the past 20 years, I’ve met regularly with mentors to seek advice,” Prindle said. “I am also lucky to have a staff that I can trust, because I make a point to never hire anybody that I know I can’t get along with.”

He also makes an effort to develop friendships outside of the church in order to relate to people as a person, not just as a pastor.

In the last 28 years, Steve Stroope, pastor of Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall, has guided the church from an average attendance of 57 people who met in an abandoned bait shop to more than 10,000 across 7 locations, including a service at Dawson State Jail.

Stroope is a likely candidate for burnout after managing such rapid growth, but he said he is enjoying his work more than ever.

“Through the use of delegation, teaching teams and video simulcasts, I am able to specialize in the tasks that I do best,” Stroope said. “I’m working smarter, not harder.”

The teaching team concept of rotating sermons given by selected staff members gives Stroope the chance to preach 26 weekends out of the year.

“Teaching teams alleviate a lot of my stress, and they give the church an opportunity to hear from a number of different voices,” Stroope said.

Video simulcasts give Lake Pointe the flexibility to broadcast a sermon from one or more designated preachers to all of Lake Pointe’s locations at once.

Delegation and technology are helpful tools to avoid stress, Stroope said, but the key to avoiding burnout is to preserve a restful personal Sabbath. He believes a lot of ministers forget the importance of taking set time off from their regular duties to relax. Ministers should incorporate that time as a “holy habit” to fill their “emotional tank,” he said.

The importance of rest was not always so clear to Stroope. Two decades ago, he was struggling to find the answer to a question that had plagued him: “How am I going to keep up this pace?”

He was leading a church of about 550 members at a single location, was trying to do almost everything himself, and was having trouble saying “no.” Then the answer finally came to him.

“I realized that there is only so much time in the day, and that it was time to get my priorities straight,” Stroope said. “I found out that taking a personal Sabbath was a non-negotiable, because I was not sustaining the needs of my congregation by giving them a tired minister.”

Stroope’s personal Sabbaths usually consist of time spent with family and friends at barbecues, reading the Bible or other books, or in long walks with his wife after supper.

“I still run up against stress problems all the time,” Stroope said. “But now it’s just a matter of recognizing what I’m doing and realizing when I need to slow down.”

Posted: 6/22/07

Following Scripture not easy
recipe for political choices, ethicists insist

By Robert Dilday

Virginia Religious Herald

RICHMOND, Va. (ABP)—Abortion is the most pressing moral issue of the day, said Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, a Republican candidate for president, at a recent GOP debate. So much so, the Catholic senator continued, that he doesn’t think his party can nominate anyone who isn’t pro-life because that’s “at our core.”

Not so fast, said former senator John Edwards, the Democratic presidential candidate from North Carolina. The “great moral issue of our time” is poverty in the United States, Edwards, a Methodist who was raised Southern Baptist, said in a Democratic candidate forum hosted by a Christian group. “As long as I am alive and breathing, I will be out there fighting with everything I have to help the poor in this country.”

Both are Christians. Both base policies on deep faith. Each arrives at a different place.

What’s an evangelical to do?

Evangelicals have long entered the political fray armed with Scripture, confident that commitment to its teachings offers a clear guide for political action. At least in the public mind, that’s placed them squarely on the conservative side of most social issues, such as abortion and gay rights.

But increasingly, the nation’s estimated 60 million evangelicals are finding that same commitment to Scripture is pitting them against each other—sometimes in very public ways.

This year that split has been intense in an unlikely quarter—global warming. Climate change has become a hot topic among evangelicals, who disagree over how prominent a role it deserves in their political agenda.

Richard Cizik, the environmentally-minded vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals, has taken hits for his efforts to add global warming to the NAE’s traditional pro-life and anti-homosexuality agenda.

That disagreement spilled over into a congressional hearing in Washington June 7, when Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said liberals have struck upon a “brilliant idea” to use global warming to “divide and conquer the evangelical community and get people (moving) away from the core values issues.”

Christian leaders like Cizik do “not represent the view of most evangelicals,” said Inhofe, who was echoed by other witnesses at the hearing—including Russell Moore, dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Southern Baptists and other likeminded evangelicals “are concerned that tying Bible verses to any specific legislation on global warming, especially when there are potentially harmful results, could serve both to harm the public interest and trivialize the Christian gospel,” Moore said.

That view coincides with a resolution passed at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting this month, which urged “Southern Baptists to proceed cautiously in the human-induced global warming debate in light of conflicting scientific research.”

But Jim Ball, a Baptist who is president of the Evangelical Environmental Network, testified that recent polls suggest 70 percent of evangelicals think global warming poses a threat to future generations. Ball also pointed to the Evangelical Climate Initiative, which was signed by more than 100 Christian leaders “who believe that a vigorous response to global warming is a spiritual and moral imperative.”

“We’re engaged on this issue because we care about the poor,” who would be hardest hit by the effects of climate change, Ball said.

There are other issues about which evangelicals are having an increasingly robust policy debate. The community’s views on eliminating poverty, battling abortion and protecting gay and lesbian civil rights—subjects once thought settled in the evangelical community—are increasingly diverse.

Complicating the issue this year for many evangelicals who have looked to the Republican Party to champion their causes are the positions of some of the GOP’s top candidates. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is vocal in his support of abortion rights, though he says he’s personally opposed. And Mitt Romney, while governor of Massachusetts, endorsed civil rights for gay couples and fewer restrictions on abortion—although he has since modified his views on both issues.

Meanwhile, Democratic candidates have ratcheted up their appeal to evangelicals, talking unabashedly about their faith—especially in a recent forum sponsored by the progressive Christian social-justice group Sojourners. Edwards, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama sounded almost like they were testifying at a revival meeting when talking about how their faith affects their policy choices.

So, if Scripture is bottom line for evangelicals, why are they coming down on different sides of policy issues?

One answer is the priorities they set, said Barrett Duke, vice president for public policy at the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. “Very honest people read the same Bible and come out with different emphases.”

“People prioritize issues in different ways,” he said. “If your principal priority is concern for the poor, someone might actually support abortion rights because that person considers poverty a higher priority than concern for life. And if you have conflicting priorities just in light of the fact that you have to prioritize—you might have a deep concern for women in poverty who find themselves with an unexpected pregnancy, but don’t think they should abort because of a higher concern for life.”

Robert Parham, executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics, says evangelicals’ approach to Scripture is key to prioritizing.

“Some come to the Bible with a pre-existing ideological agenda. They hunt for a Bible verse that will justify their predetermined agenda,” he said. “Others approach the Bible with an undetermined agenda, letting the Bible shape their position on issues.”

“I would hope no one who is a serious reader of the Bible would let political affiliation set the priority,” Duke said. But, he acknowledged, “It’s hard to imagine our life experiences don’t color that to some degree. Sometimes we have to resist personal experience when we’re trying to determine what God wants us to do.”

Differences in the interpretation of specific texts can also influence how Christians who take the Bible seriously come down on political issues, Parham said.

“For example, some evangelicals favor unfettered free enterprise as the God-ordained economic approach and oppose care for the earth,” he said. “They justify unlimited population growth and economic development with a proof-text from Genesis 1:28, which says, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion.’

“Other evangelicals understand that text should not be read literally. They know that the key word in that text, ‘dominion,’ does not mean uncontrolled domination. Dominion means a just service over nature, like a just king rules for the welfare of his people. … They would read Jesus’ commandment to love neighbor and understand that love for neighbor extends to future generations. They would understand that the only way to love a neighbor across time is to leave them a decent place to live.”

Posted: 6/22/07

Pastors challenged to link faith,
society in their sermons

By Ted Parks

Associated Baptist Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP)—Prophecy is not about gazing into the future. It’s about passion for a better world right now, speakers at a celebration of preaching stressed.

While many think of the prophets of the Bible primarily as predictors of the future, that prophetic proclamation is mostly a critique of social evil and a call to justice, they said.

The speakers addressed as many as 2,000 church leaders from across the nation during a Celebration of Prophetic Preaching event in Nashville, Tenn., sponsored by the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment. The one-day celebration was part of a longer Festival of Homiletics, an annual event aimed at promoting good preaching.

Some presenters approached the theme of prophetic preaching directly, identifying its key characteristics. Others held up visions of what a world shaped by the values of a prophetic faith could look like.

Author and activist Jim Wallis spoke of longing for preaching that links faith with real problems. An evangelical Christian, Wallis edits the Washington, D.C.-based Sojourners Magazine.

“The two great hungers in our world today are the hunger for spirituality and the hunger for social justice, and the connection between the two is the one the world’s waiting for,” Wallis said. “There’s a whole generation out there waiting for a different kind of message. I think prophetic preaching is meant to clear up the confusion of what faith means.”

Pastors who speak prophetically must go beyond dissent and critique, the Washington activist explained.

“Prophetic preaching says a clear ‘no,’ but prophetic preaching also has to have a strong and clear ‘yes,’” Wallis said.

Citing an Old Testament example, Wallis said the prophet Habakkuk pointed to the injustice around him and demanded God do something about it. But the text doesn’t stop there. “Somebody’s got to write a vision and make it plain,” Wallis said, echoing the response God gave Habakkuk.

Preaching that links faith to society may be the only hope for fundamental change, Wallis suggested.

“When politics fails to even address the biggest issues, what normally happens is social movements rise up to change politics. And the best social movements have spiritual foundations,” he said. “We won’t even get to social justice without a revival of faith.”

Joseph Lowery, a United Metho-dist pastor and co-founder with Martin Luther King Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, underscored the role of faith in the struggle for racial justice.

Lowery said even in the days of slavery, the church had served as a source of spiritual strength and a center for organizing resistance to oppression.

“Jesus meant two things: he meant liberation from sin, and liberation from the sin of slavery—personal sin, social sin.”

A key participant in the Civil Rights movement, the 85-year-old Lowery stressed the motivation behind the non-violent approach of King’s generation of prophetic leaders.

“It was a movement that was rooted in love, faith, hope and love,” he said. “We preached that black people cannot love themselves and hate white people, and white people cannot love themselves and hate black people.”

Posted: 6/22/07

Pulpit politics run risk for churches

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS—Churches engaged in partisan politics risk losing not only their tax-exempt status, but also their credibility, several experts in church-state relations agree.

Churches and religious organizations—like other IRS 501(c) (3) nonprofit organizations—are free to speak out on social, moral and ethical issues. But they cannot support or oppose candidates for office without running the risk of losing their tax-exemption.

Some lawmakers—spurred on by the Religious Right—have tried to change the law to allow overt political endorsements in places of worship. But the Baptist Joint Committee in Washington, D.C., consistently has opposed any attempts to change the rules for churches—particularly efforts to allow ministers to endorse candidates from the pulpit without threatening churches’ tax-exempt status.

“Allowing religious organizations to engage in electioneering activities—while continuing to prohibit secular nonprofits from doing so—would be fundamentally unfair,” a public issues guide published by the Baptist Joint Committee’s Religious Liberty Council states.

Beyond the issue of fairness, the Baptist agency also notes the negative impact church-based partisan politics can have on congregations.

“It would invite a highly divisive element into virtually every congregation, tend to balkanize congregations into Democratic and Republican congregations, and engender a corrosive mix of religion and politics that would turn pulpit prophets into puppets of politicians,” the group’s issues guide warns.

Derek Davis, a church-state attorney and dean of the College of Humanities and the Graduate School at the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor in Belton, believes restrictions on partisan political activity by churches benefit faith communities because they “force the American religious community to remain focused on spiritual rather than political matters.”

In effect, the restrictions help prevent churches from “becoming fickle—and in some cases, irrelevant—institutions,” Davis said. “The restrictions represent yet another recognition that separating of church and state is good for both church and state.”

Candidates rise and fall, but churches and their mission remain. So, when churches associate too closely with political parties or personalities, they undercut their lasting impact, he stressed.

“Politics is all about the temporal; churches and other houses of worship should focus on the permanent, the values and principles that are eternal, the truths that are lasting and affect all of us at all times and in all places,” said Davis, former director of the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor University in Waco.

The ups and downs of political fortune create “a roller-coaster existence” that undermines churches’ health, he stressed.

“By riding the waves of a particular political party or candidate, churches are setting themselves up for disappointment and failure. They might enjoy success for a season, but political fortunes change, and they are sure to be on the losing side of things at least some of the time,” he said.

Suzii Paynter, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission, likewise stressed the risks churches run when they become too closely linked to a political party or candidate.

“The church can jeopardize its witness if it finds itself used for political ends by a political group, even a group with a very sympathetic cause,” Paynter said. “The church has a long-term interest in Christian citizenship, while many groups want the church’s immediate endorsement for the expedient purpose of one election or campaign.”

Single-issue groups particularly pose a danger for churches, she noted.

“There are many organizations that want the blessing and endorsement of the church to bolster their agenda, both for issues and candidates. This type of manipulation of the church—or church leadership—often happens when the group involved has one compelling issue, whereas the church in its biblical commitment has a broad spectrum of concerns about the world.”

Ethicist Joe Trull of Denton emphasized partisan political activity hurts churches by undermining their credibility among their more politically savvy neighbors.

“When a church or minister becomes identified with a particular political party or movement or candidate, the community at large perceives the church as being used by that group (and) being naïve,” said Trull, editor of Christian Ethics Today. “And eventually, they will be disappointed, because the politician or party can never fulfill its promises to the religious group.”

Trull, former professor of Christian ethics at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, believes even an implied endorsement by a minister smacks of inappropriate activity.

“When a church or minister becomes identified with any candidate, sooner or later that candidate will embarrass you,” he said.

While blatant endorsement of a candidate from the pulpit clearly crosses the line, churches can engage in some other political activities, experts agreed:

• Candidate forum. A church can hold a candidate forum at its place of worship, but the congregation needs to make every effort to involve all candidates—not “stack the deck” in favor of one political party.

The Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission sponsored candidate forums in several churches around the state before the 2006 elections, Paynter noted.

“We arranged for a moderator from the League of Women Voters who structured the questions, comments and response times,” she explained.

The churches’ experiences offered a case study in Christian civility and responsible citizenship, Paynter observed.

“This was a great witness to the community. … Respect for the democratic processes was lived out in real time,” she said.

• Voters’ guides. Chur-ches can distribute a copy of legislators’ voting records on key issues and responses to their questions on specific issues. But experts stress the guides need to be truly impartial—not thinly disguised promotional materials for special-interest groups.

“Some publications are called ‘voters’ guides’ but are, in fact, a public relations piece for a specific special interest group,” Paynter said.

• Prophetic witness. Churches and ministers have the right to speak out on moral issues, even when they may be controversial. Trull pointed to the example of preachers who “took very strong and unpopular positions in opposition to segregation” during the Civil Rights movement.

Churches also can make an impact through what Paynter called “acts of prophetic generosity”—doing more than what the law requires.

“The story is told of a church that enjoyed, as all churches, the benefit of tax-exempt status. In that same town, the firemen and police of the city were losing their jobs for lack of tax revenue,” she said.

“The church pondered its role and calculated what it would pay in taxes if it were not exempt from property tax. As a gesture of discipleship and community, the church gave a gift of that calculated tax amount to the city every year.

“Sometimes witness is pro-active. … Acts of generosity can be as prophetic as acts of resistance.”

Posted: 6/22/07

'Red Letter Christians' a growing political force

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

NEW YORK (ABP)—In what is shaping up to be a faith-filled race for the presidency, Republican and Democratic candidates have pulled out all the stops—hiring religion gurus, conscientiously attending church, discussing the intimate details of their prayer lives on national TV and publicly admitting personal struggles with sin.

It’s an effort to appeal to religious voters and—especially for Democratic candidates—dispel a perception that they don’t take religion seriously. The latest manifestation of that effort came at a George Washington University forum sponsored by the progressive Christian group Sojourners.

At the event, Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John Edwards (D-N.C.) spoke at length about their faith. Some pundits called it an indication the left has stopped assuming religious voters automatically will vote for the Republican Party. Others claim Democrats are pandering.

But exactly who are the religious voters they hope to attract? Tony Campolo, noted author and sociologist, has coined a term that describes at least part of the movement: “red-letter Christians.” These people—named after the red ink some Bible publishers use to denote the words of Jesus—hold to traditional Christian beliefs and believe the Holy Spirit inspired the Bible, which they view as authoritative and relevant for faith and practice.

But unlike many evangelicals, the red-letter Christians have broadened their agenda to include issues that, in the past, had seemed like the province of liberals—environmental protection, gun control and opposition to war and capital punishment. They also affirm a Christianity that sees Jesus as transcending partisan politics. 

“We are people who want to assure that Jesus is neither defined as a Republican nor a Democrat,” Campolo said. “When asked about party affiliation, the red-letter Christian is prone to answer, ‘Please name the issue.’” 

These evangelicals are fed up with “gay-bashing, anti-feminism, anti-environmentalism, pro-war, pro-gun, and Religious Right politics” and looking for candidates who take positions on issues that are “in harmony with the clear teachings of Jesus,” Campolo said.

“These red-letter Christians are going to end the monologue wherein the Religious Right has been the overwhelmingly dominant voice that has been heard in the media.”

They’re savvy to religious manipulation, too, Campolo noted.

“We don’t want candidates playing games with us, wherein they quote Bible verses or refer to childhood spiritual experiences to validate their claim to being deeply religious people,” he said. “Any efforts to lure young evangelicals by phony displays of religiosity by candidates are likely to turn off the Gen-Xers. These young people want candidates who address issues.”

Campolo believes young people play a major role in the evangelical left. For those who have rejected the term “evangelical” because of its increasingly pejorative status in secular life, the “red-letter” term lets them recognize a significant evangelical minority with which to identify, he said.

It’s a sizable group, to be sure, encompassing the “emergent church,” the house-church movement and “various other alternatives to traditional religiosity.” Sociologists estimate up to 35 percent of evangelicals fall into the “red-letter” category, according to Campolo.

Melissa Rogers, a visiting professor of religion and public policy at Wake Forest University Divinity School, believes moderate evangelicals often take liberal stances politically but remain conservative theologically. Many African-American pastors remain conservative in their theology but liberal in their politics.

“Evangelical left” is a relative term, Rogers said. “It’s just important to remember that there are these important categories. Even Jimmy Carter has a pretty moderate-to-conservative theological position, yet he’s a Democrat and fairly liberal in politics.”

According to a 2007 report by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, just 44 percent of evangelicals say they approve of the job President Bush is doing. Catholics especially are a swing constituency; according to the New York Times, Bush won 52 percent of the Catholic vote in the 2004 elections against Kerry, who is Catholic. Bush received just 47 percent of their vote in 2000. But in the midterm elections last year, 55 percent of Catholics voted Democratic.

Becky Garrison, author of Red and Blue God, Black and Blue Church and senior contributing editor of the Christian satire magazine The Witten-burg Door, characterized the progressive evangelicals as a diverse group slowly gaining momentum but that hasn’t quite “gelled” yet.

“It’s simmering,” she said. “There are a lot of young people under the surface doing amazing things. Something is going on here. There is a seismic shift. There’s something happening that is going on well beyond the institutional church that we see on TV.”

Along with the grassroots current, several prominent voices have emerged in the middle ground between evangelical and progressive, including former President Carter, megachurch pastor and author Rick Warren and Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs at the National Association of Evangelicals.

Cizik, a self-described “Ronald Reagan conservative,” has urged evangelicals to make environmental stewardship central to their political mission—and has been attacked for it by prominent old-guard evangelical leaders like James Dobson.

Warren, pastor of the Southern Baptist-affiliated Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., has held conferences, including one with special guest Obama, about combating Third-World poverty, human trafficking and AIDS. Warren, like Cizik, dismissed criticism from far-right groups.

The movement of Warren and other evangelicals into seemingly uncharted territory for the Religious Right is not entirely new, experts say.

Carter didn’t shy away from talking about his faith in office, Rogers pointed out.

What is new is the attention the new evangelical field has received from politicos and the media.

“One of the things that has … (captured) our attention has been the findings about the correlation between the church attendance factor and one’s voting factor—the God-gap,” said Rogers, who runs a blog about the intersection of religion and politics (melissarogers.typepad.com).

“This area, which has always been somewhat sort of interesting and relevant, suddenly got white-hot.”

Now that these politically moderate evangelicals could play a possible role in deciding close elections, the mainstream media and political strategists have taken note.

“The media has realized they’ve given too much attention and fed the presumption that the evangelical community is monolithic, and they need to go back and revise that statement,” Rogers said.

“Because we’ve come off of a lot of close elections, people are looking at all types of communities. They’re looking for small shifts that can make a significant difference.”

But the rise of an evangelical middle isn’t the same thing as the re-emergence of a “Religious Left” as powerful or unified as its counterpart on the right.

Indeed, a 2006 article in the Washington Post noted that although the mellowing of evangelical Christianity may be “the big American religious story of this decade,” that evolution should not be confused with a rise of the religious left.

And even though the Republican advantage among evangelicals most likely will decline from the high-water mark in 2004, “a substantial majority of white evangelicals will probably remain conservative and continue to vote Republican.”

But Rogers said one thing that unites evangelicals, regardless of their political commitments, is their willingness to question religious authorities and “pull back the curtain” to challenge the people calling the political shots.

And no matter what party they’re voting for this election, evangelicals and their increasingly complex subgroups show no sign of fading from the public consciousness as a political force.