Posted: 6/06/07

BGCT posts registered sex offenders
serving in Texas Baptist churches

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS—The Baptist General Convention of Texas is providing a list registered sex offenders who were or are on staff at its affiliated churches.

The convention will post online at www.bgct.org/brokentrust the eight names of people in its file of sexual misconduct incidents who are convicted sex offenders and will begin reviewing the list of ministers at each of its more than 5,600-affiliated congregations to see if any other registered sex offenders are serving across the state. If any offenders are discovered, they also will be listed on the BGCT’s website.

The BGCT continuously will keep this list updated, and will mail the list of registered sex offenders to all of its churches periodically beginning this fall.

The move is part of a convention emphasis to protect children and churches, said Emily Prevost, associate coordinator of leader research & product development with the BGCT congregational leadership team. The convention is increasing efforts to educate churches on how to do nationwide background checks on potential staff members and how to create safe children’s and youth ministry programs.

The BGCT also has a team of people who can help churches prevent clergy sexual misconduct and respond appropriately if it does.

Prevost believes publishing the list of registered sex offenders online will help churches make informed decisions in calling and retaining staff members while protecting children and members.

“The BGCT is concerned about the problem of clergy sexual misconduct, and we care deeply about its victims,” Prevost said.

Registered sex offenders have been convicted of rape, child molestation or sexual battery.

The BGCT’s file of minister sexual misconduct incidents also includes ministers who committed adultery, became addicted to pornography or were involved in homosexual behavior. Fewer than 100 names are on file. Files are created when a minister is convicted or confesses to sexual misconduct or congregational leaders report an incident. Ministers with BGCT incident files who were not convicted of criminal activity will not be posted online.

Elected leaders of search committees across the country can send a notarized form to the convention to discover if a specific candidate’s name is in the file. Convention officials reveal if the person in the file.

“We make available upon request information regarding whether a person has an incident listed in the file,” Prevost said. “This information is available to duly elected officers of any church, Baptist or not.”

The BGCT’s clergy sexual misconduct review team also is considering establishing a hotline that would allow victims to report allegations of sexual abuse directly if they are uncomfortable talking about it with leaders of their church or if they feel their concerns are not being heard, she added. The proposed hotline still is in the discussion phase, and no implementation process is in place yet, she noted.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 6/06/07

Half of SBC pastors believe in
‘prayer languages,’ study reveals

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP)—Half of the senior pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention believe some people are granted a special, spiritual language for prayer, a recent survey has found.

The findings, from LifeWay Christian Resources, come in the midst of continued turmoil in the SBC over the existence and practicality of such “private prayer languages.” They also come just before the convention’s annual meeting, where messengers are expected to address policies related to glossolalia, or speaking in tongues.

An agency of the Southern Baptist Convention, LifeWay provides Christian products like Bibles, church literature and music to churches. Its research, gathered in April and May, included findings from 1,004 Protestant laity, 405 Southern Baptist senior pastors and 600 non-SBC Protestant senior pastors.

In the survey, 50 percent of Southern Baptist pastors answered “yes” and 43 percent said “no” to the question: “Do you believe that the Holy Spirit gives some people the gift of a special language to pray to God privately? Some people refer to this as a private prayer language or the ‘private use of tongues.’” Seven percent of the pastors interviewed said they didn’t know.

Furthermore, 63 percent of the non-SBC Protestant senior pastors and 51 percent of Protestant laypeople believe in the validity of a private prayer language, according to the research.

The report received immediate attention from young SBC pastors who have used blogs to further their cause against a year-old International Mission Board guideline prohibiting the hiring of new missionaries who admit to praying in a private prayer language.

Alan Cross, in a blog post, wrote that the data suggest SBC leaders were mistaken when they maintained that a “continualist” position on spiritual gifts—belief that miraculous gifts given during the time of the apostles can still be used in the modern era—was “an extreme minority position in Southern Baptist life.”

“For the past year-and-a-half, we have heard repeatedly from proponents of the IMB policies-guidelines that they were in the vast majority in Southern Baptist life. This study proves that they are clearly wrong,” Cross, pastor of Gateway Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., said. “Southern Baptists are very divided over this issue, and there is a wide range of opinion.”

Others have agreed with Cross’ insistence, including Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson, Texas pastor Ben Cole and Georgia pastor Marty Duren, all of whom have been prominent in leading opposition to IMB prayer language guidelines. They all addressed the survey on their blogs and have hinted at further action relating to glossolalia during the June 12-13 annual meeting.

Oklahoma pastor Robin Foster, meanwhile, has crafted a resolution to be introduced at the meeting denouncing the practice of speaking in tongues and calling on Southern Baptist agencies not to hire employees who engage in such practices.

But Ed Stetzer, LifeWay’s director of research, said the report showed there was “significant openness” to private prayer languages within the convention.

“One of the big findings of the study is that you’ve got a substantially cessationist portion of the Southern Baptist Convention, and then you have a large portion that believes that God gives some people a private prayer language,” he said in a LifeWay podcast about the study. “And that middle ground is not that large. And, I think that is an important finding in this study.”

Critics have attacked the research, questioning its methodology, terminology and motives. Malcolm Yarnell, an assistant dean for theological studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, said the questions regarding private prayer practices were vague and made certain assumptions about the “gift” of tongues. He was also suspicious of the timing of the study’s release, right before the SBC meeting in San Antonio.

“LifeWay should conduct a sweeping review of its research methodology,” Yarnell said.

Yarnell questioned the dual nature of the survey—it included a separate analysis of seminary graduates—since the mixed findings could cloud results, he said. All 1998-2004 master’s-level graduates from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary were invited to participate in the survey as well. A small number of graduates from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary also were questioned, researchers said.

Of those recent seminary graduates interviewed, a majority said they believe the gift of tongues has ceased—a number higher than that of current SBC pastors. Fifty-five percent of recent Southern Baptist seminary graduates agreed that “the gift of tongues (as described in 1 Corinthians) ceased to be a valid gift in times past.” Forty-one percent of SBC pastors indicated that they believe the gift of tongues was given only during the time of the apostles, according to the report.

In the survey—conducted via phone interviews—seminary graduates were asked if they “pray in tongues, practice glossolalia, or have a private prayer language.” Roughly 5 percent of the graduates said they practice the gift, and less than 4 percent of graduates working in Southern Baptist ministries said they practice a private prayer language. The pastors and laity were not asked if they practiced the gift of tongues.

Ultimately, LifeWay’s survey has added fuel to the fire of both supporters and critics of tongues guidelines and practices in the Southern Baptist Convention. Now, supporters and critics anticipate the SBC’s annual meeting as the next arena for dealing with the growing debate.

“What people do with this information will show whether they believe that the SBC leadership should represent the views of the people, or the views of those who have managed to gain power,” Cross said. “We will soon find out the answer.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 6/06/07

Missionary & SBTC leader
face off for SBC first VP

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

SAN ANTONIO—A missionary to Spain and the leader of the fundamentalist state convention in Texas each will be nominated for first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention June 12.

If missionary David Rogers, son of legendary preacher and former SBC President Adrian Rogers, is elected, he will be the first active missionary to hold SBC office.

Rogers, a church-planter and mobilization coordinator in Madrid, will face Jim Richards, executive director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, in a showdown over competing visions for the SBC’s future.

Although Southern Baptist president Frank Page is expected to be re-elected without serious opposition during the June 12-13 convention in San Antonio, the contest for first vice president amounts to a referendum on the movement Page represents.

Rogers supports the movement— largely led by his father, deceased pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church near Memphis—which wrested control of the SBC from theological moderates.

But lately Rogers, a prolific blogger (www.loveeachstone.blogspot.com), has spoken out against the increasingly narrow agenda of the movement’s current leaders, whom critics say have tightened the criteria for missionaries, trustees and other leaders well beyond the SBC’s doctrinal parameters.

“I believe the ‘conservative resurgence’ was very positive and even necessary development in the SBC,” Rogers said in an e-mail interview. “However, I believe that certain sectors from among those generally considered to support the ‘conservative resurgence’ have indeed taken things a bit further than what was originally envisioned on the part of some key leaders, including, I believe, my father.”

Page was elected on a promise to broaden SBC leadership to include inerrantists who differ on non-essential doctrines, such as speaking in tongues, Calvinism and the administration of baptism.

Rogers said he is “very pleased with the direction that Frank Page has given to the SBC during this past year, and quite positively impressed by his winsome, irenic spirit, solid biblical convictions on the things that really matter, and his commitment to ‘major on the majors’ without excluding those who differ on tertiary issues from fair and equitable representation in SBC-affiliated entities and ministries.”

David Dykes, pastor of Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, announced June 5 he will nominate Rogers.

“I believe a convention that is serious about missions should have a missionary leading us,” Dykes said. “Southern Baptists need a new vision to plant churches. Who better than an experienced church-planter to lead this effort?”

Dykes’ Tyler congregation is the nation’s largest contributor to the SBC’s unified budget, the Cooperative Program.

“We can give all the money in the world, but budget percentages don’t plant churches,” Dykes said. “Missionaries plant churches, and if it weren’t for field missionaries like David Rogers, we wouldn’t have a Cooperative Program to start with.”

If elected, Rogers apparently would be the first active missionary to hold SBC office, according to the two mission boards. Although rare, it is not against SBC bylaws for an employee of the Southern Baptist Convention to serve in denominational office. Most recently, Southwestern Seminary President Paige Patterson served two terms as SBC president.

Rogers said he will not be in San Antonio for the convention, but supporters say it is not necessary for his election. It is necessary for officers to be members of Southern Baptist churches. A news release about Rogers’ candidacy said he and his family are “field members of Iglesia Bautista Buen Pastor in Madrid, Spain,” but their “home membership” remains at Bellevue Baptist Church.

Vice presidents have very limited power in the SBC structure, but they are the only ones instructed by SBC bylaws to advise the president in his appointments to convention leadership. They also have a platform to speak out on Baptist issues, if they choose.

Rogers said he would advise Page to “continue as he has started during this first year,” emphasize revival and practice humility.

“I would also counsel him to do whatever possible to reach out, with a view towards healing and reconciliation, to those in SBC life who, for whatever reason, are perceived to be at odds with each other, without compromising on biblical essentials,” Rogers said.

Jim Richards will be nominated for first vice president by Mac Brunson, pastor of First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Fla., it was announced June 1. Richards is the founding director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and an ardent supporter of the SBC’s fundamentalist movement and its recent leaders.

The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention is an SBC-friendly convention that arose eight years ago as an alternative to the moderate-dominated Baptist General Convention of Texas. The SBTC, based in Grapevine, is composed of 1,888 churches. It leads all state conventions in proportionate SBC giving, allocating 54 percent of its budget to the SBC.

Asked about Page’s presidency and his intention to expand representation, Richards said: “For some years now, SBC presidents have sought to bring diversity into the process. People who have never served, younger people, ethnics, African-Americans are just examples of those who have been appointed. To my knowledge, President Page has stayed true to the doctrinal standards used by the presidents of the past number of years.”

Richards declined to say if the conservative movement has gone too far in narrowing doctrinal parameters.

“The Baptist Faith & Message 2000 is the doctrinal statement of the Southern Baptist Convention,” he said in an e-mail interview. “There is great latitude within the statement. … Southern Baptists will continue to define themselves. As doctrinal issues arise, they will be addressed to help clarify what is representative of Southern Baptists.”

As for the advice he would give the SBC president, he said: “Dr. Page has called upon us to seek God for a spiritual awakening. He is to unveil a 10-year evangelism strategy. I would encourage him to stay the course on both of these objectives. He has provided us with gentle, spirited leadership.”

Richards is a member of First Baptist Church of Fort Worth, made famous by former pastor and fundamentalist pioneer J. Frank Norris, who broke away from the SBC in the 1920s over theological issues and the “modernist” controversy.

Norris was the only individual ever denied participation in a Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. The church reaffiliated with the SBC in recent years and now gives 12.3 percent of its undesignated receipts to the SBC.

A native of Louisiana, Richards was a pastor in Louisiana and director of missions in Arkansas before joining the SBTC. He served in several SBC-level positions, including a spot as chairman of the Christian Life Commission, now the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

Brunson, before moving to Jacksonville, was pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, which is affiliated with the SBTC.

Two candidates have announced plans to be nominated for second vice president —evangelist Bill Britt, a member of College Heights Baptist Church in Gallatin, Tenn., and Eric Redmond, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Temple Hills, Md.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 5/31/07

Bible Studies for Life Series for June 10

Practice obedience diligently

• Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9, 15-20, 39-40

By David Harp

First Baptist Church, Stanton

We recently had a family celebration with the graduation of our youngest daughter from high school. My mother and sister traveled from Colorado to join us for the special occasion.

When Mom and Sis travel, I like to call it an experience. They must travel with oxygen bottles so my mother can breathe. They also travel with “Jackie,” my Mom’s black lab guide dog. Jackie has become a member of the family.

For a printer-friendly version, click on the printer icon at bottom of page.

Jackie is as obedient as any child. Jackie and my mom went to school together to learn how to work together. Animal lovers often take their pets to an “obedience” school. I’ve often thought an “obedience” school would be a good subject for us to take in the church. The problem might be finding just the right teacher for such a class.

We often wonder, “How can I obey God diligently?”

Make God’s word your standard (Deuteronomy 4:1-2)

As Moses led the people of God to the Promised Land, he cautioned them to continue obeying God daily. God’s word would lead to an abundant and meaningful life—“That you may live and enter …” (v. 1). Moses also issues a stern warning against tampering with God’s word: “You shall not add … nor take from” (v. 2). Just as they had received God’s word, they were to keep and obey God’s word. Then and now, God’s people face a choice: What standards will we follow?

Mark Twain is a favorite writer of mine. He wrote: “Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me most are those I do understand.” Twain’s sharp wit speaks to many of us—are we following God’s word?

Carefully guard your testimony (Deuteronomy 4:6-9)

A few years ago, a very godly man in our church family was facing the loss of his health and independence. He had buried his precious wife, and now his children were taking care of him as he once had cared for them. This did not seem to make any sense to my good friend. He wondered why he was even here and questioned his reason for living.

One of his daughters was tenderly caring for him one day and he voiced to her his objections. “I don’t know why God is leaving me here,” he protested. His daughter looked into his eyes and said lovingly, “Daddy, God is leaving you here so you can finish your testimony.”

Moses encouraged the Israelites to obey God’s laws carefully and teach his ways to oncoming generations so the nation’s obedience would be a testimony about the Lord to other people.

It should be noted the significance and the repetition of the words “take heed” in verse 9. These words appear four times in chapter 4 and call us to pay special attention to the message being given.

Avoid idolatry at all costs (Deuteronomy 4:15:-20)

Moses warned the people for their own good to be especially careful to avoid idolatry. The single most important thing that set Israel’s religion apart from those of other nations was that it allowed no image to be made of God (see v. 12 and 5:8–9). Images of any creature, or even the stars in the sky, might be mistaken for the form of God, or a god (vv. 16–19).

God is not to be confused with any part of his own creation; by these commands he carefully guards his own spiritual nature. If he calls himself jealous in doing so (vv. 23–24), it is because he fervently desires his people know him and find life in him.

We have a built-in application today with the wildly popular television program “American Idol.” If you have not seen this show, contestants from all over America come forward to have their “talents” evaluated. The eventual winner is awarded $1 million.

I have a friend who says, “I hate talented people!” Another person says, “No one with talent ever tries out for “American Idol.” The point is, we do have our American idols.

God created us to be people who worship. We are created to worship God and God alone. We often are so caught up in our own activities, we tend to worship our work, work at our play and play at our worship.

Realize God blesses obedience (Deuteronomy 4:39-40)

God desired that things go well for his people and their children. It was his plan that they live in the land a long time. So God told them how this could happen. His will could have become reality if they chose to live in obedience. Through their diligent obedience, God’s people could experience the fulfillment of his gracious promises.

Obeying the principles and commands of God’s word comes hard to us when we have compromised our relationship with God. As Christians, we cannot expect God to ignore our disobedience and to continue blessing us as though everything in our relationship is fine.

God has not changed. He still desires his people to live with a diligent obedience to his word. Our salvation is by faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. We are justified by God’s grace, and when we choose to be obedient and bear the fruit of the Spirit, we will be blessed. If we continue in disobedience, we can expect discipline because God loves us.

Discussion questions

• In what ways can the church help with upholding God’s word as the standard for living?

• What are some modern-day examples of idol worshipping?

• How can we stay more accountable to one another in the area of personal obedience to God?

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 5/31/07

Explore the Bible Series for June 10

Replacing selfishness with faith

• Obadiah 1-4, 10-13, 15

By Kathryn Aragon

First Baptist Church, Duncanville

The “Me Generation” has borne its fruit. We live in what may well be the most selfish generation ever. Let me clarify by saying I don’t really believe people today are worse than in the past. People always have struggled with selfishness and pride. It’s just that today—with mass communication, cell phones and technology—selfishness has become a mass movement.

And as with most cultural movements, selfishness has permeated our churches. Even those of us who claim Christ struggle with the reality of God’s call against selfishness. “It’s just the way things are done,” we might tell ourselves. But if we we’re honest, we have to admit it’s the world’s way, not God’s.

For a printer-friendly version, click on the printer icon at bottom of page.

Selfishness is so prevalent we don’t recognize it anymore for what it is. We call it charisma, strength, a strong will. We rarely call it by its name. But unless we are willing to recognize our selfishness and remove it from our behavior, we remain in disobedience to God.

Obadiah’s message is clear. God hates selfishness and pride: “The pride of your heart has deceived you. … Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down” (vv. 3-4). We must take an honest look at ourselves, identify our selfishness and ask God to strengthen us to overcome it.

The true definition of selfishness

Let’s begin by trying to understand selfishness. What is it and where does it come from? Our first biblical record is the familiar story of Cain’s reaction to Abel.

Cain and Abel each gave an offering to God. Cain’s was rejected, while Abel’s was accepted. “So Cain was very angry” (Genesis 4:5). I like God’s response: “Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it’” (Genesis 4:6-7).

Based on God’s response, I believe God already had laid out the regulations for offerings, and they probably were the same as or similar to the rules he gave the Israelites in Leviticus. So Cain wasn’t acting in ignorance; rather, he was being selfish. Knowing God’s desires, he was looking for God’s limits. How little could he give God before God considered it too little? How far could he compromise God’s rules before God noticed? If Cain were really innocent, he would never have become angry at being caught.

If we are going to be honest, we must admit the degree to which we relate to Cain. Our real struggle, as Cain’s, is not with trying to overcome selfishness but with preventing it from showing. Notice Cain isn’t concerned with fixing his jealous nature. He’s merely upset he was found out.

Cain’s story is significant because his struggles look like our own. In a way, we can find comfort in his story because he knew God in a way not possible for us. Yet even with his intimate, first-hand knowledge of God, Cain struggled to obey God. He wanted his own way enough that he was willing to cheat God and murder his brother. Essentially, Cain’s sin was selfishness. He wanted his own way more than God’s.

So what is selfishness? For those who are not Christians, selfishness is merely self worship. It is the desire to do what we want to do, when we want to do it, the way we want to do it. And heaven help anyone who gets in the way. For those of us who claim Christ, selfishness is basically faithlessness. Of course, it also is self worship, a refusal to accept God as the Lord of our lives. But its root is an inability to take God at his word.

God tells us we will be judged for our thoughts, actions and words, yet we continue to act in ways God doesn’t approve. Jesus tells us plainly we are to love others more than ourselves, yet we continue to look out for No. 1.

We are like children playing on the playground at school. If the teacher doesn’t respond right away, we believe we are getting away with something. Next time, we may try to get away with more. But we aren’t children, and God isn’t a teacher at recess. God’s words will happen exactly as he says. His reactions may seem slow by our standards, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t noticed. Neither does it mean we won’t stand before him to explain why we wouldn’t obey.

Returning to faith

Obadiah makes it clear. God demands obedience. “The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head” (v. 15). Our only hope is to humble ourselves and accept God at his word. We must return to true faith and change our ways.

As always, though, changed behavior begins with changed thinking. We must begin by recognizing our behavior as sin. We must be willing to stand before God and man and say, “Hello, my name is … and I struggle every day with selfishness.” We also must recognize that the struggle with sin is a never-ending battle. The day never will come that we won’t need to strengthen ourselves with a strong dose of God’s word and stand firm against temptation.

We also must be willing to repent. Acknowledging sin doesn’t mean anything if we aren’t willing to fight against it in the future. Obadiah merely reminds us of what God has told mankind throughout the ages. The message is plain:

• He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses (Proverbs 28:27).

• Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you (Luke 6:37-38).

• And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again (2 Corinthians 5:15).

• Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself (Galatians 6:2-3).

We must take God at his word. Our selfishness is idolatry at its worst, faithlessness at the very least. But we must not be deceived. As they say, what goes around comes around. Let’s take God at his word and humble ourselves. Let us be known not for our selfishness but for our faith.

Discussion questions

• To what degree to you relate to Cain?

• What are the areas of your life that seem impossible to obey God in?

• Are you willing to take God at his word and obey him even if it hurts?

• Are you willing to humble yourself and begin putting God’s will before you own?

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 6/01/07

Pastors Alfred McLennan Jr., Al Brausam and Jorge Luna stand outside First Baptist Church in Forest Hill. Luna’s congregation, Iglesia Bautista Roca Firme, has become part of First Baptist, and McLennan’s congregation, Greater True Vine Baptist Church, also joined recently. (Photo by George Henson)

Three churches form ties that bind

By George Henson

Staff Writer

FOREST HILL—The Bible says that a cord of three strands is not quickly broken, and three Fort Worth-area congregations are binding themselves together in a partnership that they expect to strengthen them all.

Attendance at First Baptist Church in Forest Hill has been declining for years. When Pastor Al Brausam arrived at the church last May, the congregation had dwindled to about 40 people—mostly white, and with an average age of 70.

A demographic study performed by the Baptist General Convention of Texas for the congregation showed a population of about 12,000 whites, 24,000 Hispanics and about 36,000 African-Americans within a 3-mile radius of the church.

Prior to Brausam’s arrival, a Hispanic congregation looking for a place to meet had contacted First Baptist about using some of the space that had been built in the church’s glory days.

That particular congregation found another place to meet, but Brausam became certain a Hispanic congregation to meet the needs of the Spanish-speaking people around the church was just what the community needed.

His search eventually brought him to Jorge Luna, whose congregation of about 70, Iglesia Bautista Roca Firme, needed to move from the place it was meeting near Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, about 20 minutes away.

Brausam told Luna he was not interested in renting space to his congregation. He wanted them to come be a part of the church.

“I told Jorge a story, or you could say a parable. I told him that I saw our church as an old couple living in a big, old house all by themselves. They didn’t want to move from their house, so they thought about adopting some people who didn’t have any place to live. The old couple didn’t want to rent out a bedroom or two, they wanted to adopt and bring the people into their family. Then, after they were gone, the old house would belong to the adopted children,” Brausam recalled.

That offer almost was too good to be true, Luna said, especially considering his congregation only had a week or so more to find a place where they could relocate.

“We didn’t mind that it was 20 minutes from where we had been meeting at all,” he said. “I think we had gotten to the place where we didn’t care where it was at. We were just glad to have a place to meet. We had come to a place where we were desperate, we were just waiting for God to answer our prayers.”

First Baptist’s insistence that Iglesia Bautista Roca Firme not be renters, but become full family members was something that was almost unfathomable, he said.

The Hispanic church held its first service at First Baptist Church in Forest Hill Dec. 17, and already has seen growth.

“We’ve had five or six new members, baptized two new believers and have many, many visitors each week,” Luna said. Easter worship topped 100, and that number has been approached regularly since then. “People see the signs, and they are coming just to see what we are doing.”

The two congregations really have come together as one, Brausam said. “We have an English service and a Spanish service, but we are one church,” he explained.

The church has had a tradition for years of coming together for a meal on the last Sunday of the month, and those are now joyous occasions, he said.

“We’re excited because when we have our luncheons, there are lots of people there. It used to be that we were kind of swallowed up in all the space. Now, sometimes we don’t have enough room. It’s wonderful,” Brausam said.

At those luncheons, there is also a new vibrancy because of the youth of the Hispanic congregation.

“One of the main things they bring to our church is youth. Our average age was 70, but they have kids, youth and young adults,” Brausam said. “They can do things we couldn’t—not that we didn’t want to, but physically, we just didn’t have the ability. That’s all changed now.”

That youth was a concern for the Hispanic congregation, but things have worked well.

“We were very, very concerned about coming to First Baptist Church because they are older and we’ve got all these kids that you just can’t stop, but it hasn’t been a problem,” Luna said.

Soon, another limb is expected to be grafted onto the family tree as the African-American congregation of Greater True Vine Baptist Church also becomes part of First Baptist Church of Forest Hill.

About a year ago, a contractor demolished the church’s building in preparation for a major remodeling and disappeared, leaving the congregation with no place to meet, Pastor Alfred McLennan Jr. said.

After joining Tarrant Baptist Association this past year, he asked Director of Missions Tom Law about possible locations to relocate, and Law suggested McLennan call Brausam.

“We had a spiritual connection on the phone, and we met the next day. We had been praying and looking at properties where we could build a church, but this is better. I’ve never understood segregated churches when we are all going to an integrated heaven,” McLennan said.

McLennan has a vision of the church reaching the community through children’s programming, after-school programming, parenting classes, English-as-a-Second-language classes, and things for senior adults—“a functional church that can be used by all the people in the community regardless of age.”

The plan is for Brausam to continue to preach on Sunday mornings in the English service and for McLennan to preach on Sunday nights most weeks, but Brausam said the set up provides the flexibility to make changes as necessary.

Combining the three congregations is possible only because of a lack of ego among the participants—not only the pastors, but the congregations as well, the three men agreed.

“I thank God for such a loyal group who will follow the leadership of the pastor. They agree with me that it’s not about the name of the church or who’s in charge; it’s about reaching people for Christ,” McLennan said.

That desire to reach people for Christ has been the impetus for his original congregation from the beginning, Brausam said.

“Our people are 100 percent behind this. There were some who at first didn’t understand, but now that they see it work, they understand. They understand that we had to change or die,” he said.

The hardest part for members of Iglesia Bautista Roca Firme was giving up the name they were familiar with, Luna said. But he found a ready solution.

“I told them, ‘When we have the opportunity to start a Hispanic mission, we’ve already got a name. For now, let’s focus work of reaching the lost for Lord, worshipping the Lord and serving the Lord,’” he said.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 6/01/07

Pastor Ed Hogan during his "shoeless sermon" on behalf of Buckner International's Shoes for Orphan Souls campaign.

Barefoot sermon kicks off Buckner shoe drive

By George Henson

Staff Writer

HOUSTON—Pastor Ed Hogan recently preached a sermon unlike any he ever preached before—not because of its content, but because he was barefoot.

Jersey Village Baptist Church in Houston asked its members to come to church barefooted to kick off the church’s efforts to gather 2,000 pairs of shoes for Buckner International’s Shoes for Orphan Souls campaign.

“It was one of those crazy ideas that someone had heard of another church doing, and we decided it would be fun to give it a try,” Hogan said. “And it really was a lot of fun.”

But it also helped tangibly and memorably communicate the needs of the world’s orphans.

“It became a visual reminder of what it would be like to come to church without shoes and that people all around the world come to church every Sunday without shoes because they have no shoes,” Hogan said.

He admitted it was a little different standing in the pulpit with his toes hanging out.

“It took about five minutes to get used to it, but then it was really liberating,” he quipped.

Shoeless Sunday received broad support throughout all age groups in the congregation, he noted.

“I’d be lying if I said everyone was excited about it, but a lot more people came without shoes than we anticipated,” Hogan said. “It was fun especially to see senior adults come in with no shoes and big smiles on their faces. And as for kids, I think probably every one of them was barefooted.

The congregation brought 951 pairs of shoes on the opening day of the collection effort that was to extend through June 8, and cash was received to buy about 200 more pairs.

The children of the church will take the money received to stores soon and shop for shoes for orphans. Also, fifth graders will take a field trip to Buckner’s Dallas warehouse to spend some time preparing shoes for transport and distribution.

Eight or nine church members expect to make a trip to Romania with Buckner next spring to assist in the delivery of shoes to orphans—a trip Hogan plans to attend.

“I sold children’s shoes while I was attending Southwestern Seminary,” he said. “This will be my first opportunity to put what I learned there to use in ministry.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 6/01/07

Media bias? Not the way some might think

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—A new study by two Washington-based groups asserts that the mainstream media, derided by some as liberally biased, actually overemphasizes the importance of religious conservatives.

Media Matters for America and Faith in Public Life released the report, titled “Left Behind: The Skewed Representation of Religion in the Major News Media,” at a Washington news conference. It found that between the 2004 elections and the end of 2006, prominent conservative religious leaders were interviewed, quoted or mentioned in 2.8 times as many stories as were prominent moderate or liberal religious leaders.

In television news, the numbers were even more surprising. For every story that mentioned or quoted a religious progressive, 3.8 stories mentioned or quoted conservatives. The difference was less dramatic in newspaper stories, but conservatives still outweighed “progressives” by a factor of 2.7-to-1.

“Despite the fact most religious Americans are moderate or progressive, in the news media it is overwhelmingly conservative leaders who are presented as the voice of religion,” the report’s authors asserted. “This represents a particularly meaningful distortion, since progressive religious leaders tend to focus on different issues and offer an entirely different perspective than their conservative counterparts.”

For years, conservatives have accused the mainstream media of widespread bias in favor of liberals and liberal causes. But the study’s numbers suggest that when it comes to religion-related coverage, conservatives get far more attention than liberals and moderates.

At least one conservative journalism watchdog group dismissed the study, saying its sponsorship and methodology compromised it.

Media Research Council spokesman Robert Knight said the study left out important liberal religious leaders who often are quoted or appear on newscasts. The list of moderate and liberal leaders whose appearances were tallied “is missing some key people, who, if included, would eclipse any perceived advantage in coverage garnered by conservatives,” he said, according to CNSNews.com, the Media Research Council’s news arm.

In particular, Knight cited the absence of Barry Lynn, director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and Gene Robinson, the gay Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire.

To come up with its figures, the study counted media appearances or mentions by 10 religious conservatives and 10 religious progressives. The conservatives were Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Franklin Graham of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Christian activist and former GOP presidential candidate Gary Bauer, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, Prison Fellowship founder Charles Colson, former National Association of Evangelicals president Ted Haggard, Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America, Tom Minnery of Focus on the Family, Ohio pastor Rod Parsley, and Bill Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

The progressives were Jim Wallis of Sojourners magazine, San Francisco rabbi Michael Lerner, National Council of Churches head Bob Edgar, Baptist sociologist and author Tony Campolo, David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, nun and National Catholic Reporter columnist Joan Chittister, Louisiana Baptist pastor and Interfaith Alliance head Welton Gaddy, John Thomas of the United Church of Christ, “emerging church” leader Brian McLaren of Maryland, and James Forbes of the Riverside Church in New York.

The study set aside several religious “celebrities” who receive frequent media attention but who themselves are often newsmakers rather than commentators. They were Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Pat Robertson, James Dobson and the late Jerry Falwell.

The study found that, in the period studied, Sharpton and Jackson received significantly more media attention than the three conservative celebrities combined. But the study’s authors reckoned they were not in the same category as the others studied.

“Although they are sometimes called on to provide commentary about political and social issues, each one of the religious leaders in this category also regularly drives news stories,” the report said. “They become active participants in events rather than simply commenting on them. When they do comment, their statements are newsworthy simply because they are making them, rather than representing a ‘religious’ perspective. In other words, these five are more political actors than political commentators.”

Katie Barge, spokesperson for Faith in Public Life, said the 20 leaders whose statistics form the study present a truer picture of how the media provides a “religious” perspective that over-represents conservative points of view.

“These are truly the ones that the media seeks out for a religious perspective on news of the day. That is not really the case with those five people,” she said. “The media is not calling them to give a perspective on the religious matters of the day.”

Knight’s group and other conservative groups also said the study was unreliable because Media Matters and Faith in Public Life favor liberal causes. Media Matters is a watchdog group established to challenge what it views as rampant “conservative misinformation” in the mainstream media.

Barge said Faith in Public Life does not align itself politically. Rather, she said, the group is interested in joining religious leaders of all ideological stripes to broaden the range of issues Americans discuss in moral and religious terms.

“We’re happy to sponsor a press conference with Media Matters because we feel like this (study) demonstrated an imbalance, and we want a balance,” she said.

Carl Kell, an expert in religion and the news media, said the study likely underestimated the inequity in media exposure between religious conservatives and progressives.

“I would say that’s probably conservative in its estimate,” he said May 30. Kell is a communications professor at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. He also is a Baptist.

Kell said conservatives are overexposed in stories about religion because it’s “easy to find” representatives of “a religious community that has hard-edged, sharp perspectives on faith and life.” But, he added, “moderates aren’t as easy to find.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 6/01/07

The inuagural class of students at Truett Seminary graduated in 1997.

With 10 years under their belts,
first Truett grads reflect on ministry

By Marv Knox

Editor

WACO—Ten years past graduation, Truett Theological Seminary’s first students remain fascinated with—and challenged by—people who receive their ministry.

They’re also still committed to learning how to minister, and they believe new seminary graduates should embrace their calling, they said in reply to a survey reflecting on their decade out of seminary.

Baylor University’s seminary graduated its first class of 33 students in 1997. Almost a third of them replied to the questionnaire. Their answers crossed a spectrum of impressions and ideas, but relationships with people provided a recurrent theme.

Read students' complete responses to the survey here.

“What has surprised me most (in the past 10 years) is that the local church is the place where a pastor might see people at their worst, with all their warts and foibles, and yet it is the very same place where he or she would see people at their absolute best,” noted Brian Brewer, senior pastor at Northminster Baptist Church in Jackson, Miss., who will join the Truett Seminary faculty this summer.

“It is this polarity that has shown me the church (is) both human and divine,” Brewer noted.

“People are a challenge to work with at times,” added James Gardner, associate pastor at McClendon Baptist Church in West Monroe, La. “The best thing about ministry is working with people. The worst thing—if you can really say that—or maybe the most challenging thing about ministry is working with people.”

Acknowledging he wished he had learned “more about working with people” in seminary, Gardner also noted “relationships” was the most valuable lesson he learned in seminary.

“It doesn’t matter how great you preach or how well-educated you are. If people inside and outside the church don’t know you care about and love them, nothing else matters,” he said.

Brewer and Gardner joined Kirk Hatcher, minister to youth at South Main Baptist Church in Houston, in wishing they had learned more about conflict management or relationships in seminary.

Learning more about “dealing with different personalities and how that applies to working in a ministry setting” would have been very helpful, Hatcher said, noting young ministers need to know “how to deal with the overpowering person, the meek, the attention-getter, the refuser … .”

Bill Shiell, pastor of First Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tenn., credited Truett Seminary with helping him learn conflict resolution. And the pastor-church relationship provided the focal point for his advice to the latest crop of seminary graduates, following his footsteps by a decade.

“Know yourself, and know how you’re wired,” he urged, responding to a question about advice he would give to new seminary graduates. “Churches are like people because they are people.

“Every church has a DNA, just as every minister does, too. In your first church and/or staff experience, pay attention to how you live out your theology, how you lead and how you work. Then, as you talk to search committees, ask questions based on what you know about yourself and what you know about their DNA. Accept who they are, and minister from that position. …

“For instance, every church has a different definition of pastor and staff leadership. We were trained in seminary to lead one way but not trained how to adjust leadership needs based on the DNA of the congregation and/or staff. Churches could identify what they want and clarify that. You could substitute any issue here, but leadership is one example.”

Gardner offered new graduates a word of warning about relationships: “Sometimes, people will be ugly and nasty and downright mean. But regardless of that, treat them as Christ would—love. It’s easy to get so busy doing the ‘stuff’ of ministry that you can forget what we are sent here for—to reach and tell people of the love of Jesus Christ.”

Steve Wells echoed that theme as he delivered the message to graduates at Truett Seminary’s 2007 commencement.

“Relationships matter. … If you love people enough, eventually, they will hurt you or you will hurt them,” insisted Wells, pastor of South Main Baptist Church in Houston and a member of the Class of ‘97.

“If we have been forgiven, we must forgive others,” he said, noting forgiveness may seem like a quiet act and mundane, but it is a “profound miracle.”

How ministers dispense and accept forgiveness may be the most profound act of their entire ministry, he added, exhorting the new graduates: “Now is the time to take up the role of being heralds of the king, ambassadors of Christ and ministers of reconciliation.”

The ‘97 Truett grads emphasized the importance of deepening their faith and continually learning how to minister better.

“Truett placed a priority on spiritual formation,” recalled Andy Pittman, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lufkin. “I did not fully appreciate the importance of spiritual formation while I was a student.

“Once I was out of seminary, I started serving as a pastor and giving myself away to others. That was when spiritual formation became most important to me. I recognized that I had to have a growing spiritual life in order to be effective as a minister. Truett gave me the foundation and the tools to grow spiritually—and to help others to grow.”

Brewer echoed that sentiment in his response to a question about what he wishes laypeople know. “A pastor’s desk is in a ‘study,’ not an ‘office.’ He or she needs time to do just that, to study. Often, what is the most valuable part of the pastor’s work week is the time he spends in prayer and study.”

Coming to grips with that fact is what has surprised Wells the most during the past 10 years. “I am an extrovert by nature, yet I need 20 to 30 study hours every week for preparation.”

That need never stops, Hatcher said, telling recent grads they will learn from unlikely sources. “You don’t know everything. People you are going to be ministering to and with can help you know more. Let them teach you,” he said, advising, “Never stop learning.”

That’s a lesson the “old” Truett grads learned in Waco, recalled C.V. Hartline III, pastor of Vibrant Covenant Church in Portland, Ore.

The two most valuable lessons he learned in seminary were their late professor Bill Treadwell’s admonition to “remember who you are” and to “be a life-long learner.”

That stuck, Hartline said, crediting Truett Seminary with providing and education that was “a building block for growth” in faith and practical ministry.

Chris Nagel, a chaplain at Giddings State School in Giddings, even offered recent grads a specific area of learning that will strengthen their relationships. “Do a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education,” he advised. “It will help you integrate your personal issues and your seminary education in a real-world setting.”

Chad Prevost, assistant professor of creative writing at Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn., urged the new grads to innovate and seek relevance.

“We have enough status quo in the ministry—and to some extent, at least, this plays into why the church continues to fade in significance to the culture. Be innovative,” Prevost explained. “I have to agree with the prophetic voice of Tony Campolo: If the church doesn’t find ways to become socially engaged, it will continue to lose relevance.”

Chris Spinks, assistant to the dean and an adjunct professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., urged the ‘07 graduates to stretch themselves and continue to think deeply.

“Even the ‘heady’ stuff matters,” noted Spinks, who will become an acquisitions editor at Wipf & Stock Publishing in Eugene, Ore., this summer. “It makes you a deeper, more thoughtful person, which in turn makes you a better minister.”

And Wells advised them to lean on their call to ministry as they go about serving God’s people.

“Be mystical about church call,” he said. “Go where you feel led. Work like you will be there the rest of your life. Stay until you have a clear sense of call to another place. If you wish you were in another place; know that God knows where you are and when and where you will go next.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 6/01/07

Truett graduates 10 years after: Verbatim

Truett Theological Seminary's first students graduated in 1997. These are their full replies to a survey reflecting on their decade out of seminary.

The students who responded are Brian Brewer, James Gardner, C.V. Hartline III, Kirk Hatcher, Chris Nagel, Andy Pittman, Chad Prevost, Bill Shiell, Chris Spinks and Steve Wells. Click on the name to go directly to that person's response.

Brian Brewer

Senior pastor, Northminster Baptist Church, Jackson, Miss.; joining Truett Seminary as assistant professor of Christian theology in June

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

The local church is the place where a pastor might see people at their worst, with all their warts and foibles, and yet it is the very same place where he or she would see people at their absolute best, with great selflessness and sacrifice. It is this polarity that has shown me the church to be both human and divine.

 

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

I wish I had learned more conflict management skills, for both group and personal management; more about the calling and pastor-search committee process; and opportunity to rehearse the practical mechanics of baptisms and communion.

 

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

The substance of ministry is leading a congregation to a good theology and subsequent theological appropriation of the gospel in its own community. The value of theology is inextricably linked to the practical ministry of the church.

 

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates?

Remember that some of the greatest hardships of ministry will yield some of the greatest rewards. Fight then the good fight.

 

What do you wish laypeople knew that they don’t seem to know?

A pastor’s desk is in a “study,” not an “office.” He or she needs time then to do just that, to study. Often what is the most valuable part of the pastor’s work week is the time he spends alone in prayer and study. Please learn to respect this.

Back to the Top

James Gardner

Associate pastor, McClendon Baptist Church, West Monroe, La.

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

Those things that should be most important are sometimes pushed aside for the sake of being right or a specific agenda.

 

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

More about working with people. I really don’t know if it could have been taught, but people are a challenge to work with at times! The best thing about ministry is working with people. The worst thing (if you can really say that in ministry) or maybe the most challenging thing about ministry is working with people.

 

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

Relationships. It doesn’t matter how great you can preach or how well-educated you are, if people inside and outside the church don’t know that you care about and love them, nothing else matters.

 

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates? 

Regardless of what position you serve or where you serve, two things to remember—maintaining a personal study/devotional time amidst a busy and hectic schedule is vital to your spiritual health and to the health of your church/ministry, and people are important! Sometimes people will be ugly and nasty and downright mean, but regardless of that, treat them as Christ would—love. It’s easy to get so busy doing the “stuff” of ministry that you forget what we are sent here for—to reach and tell people of the love of Jesus Christ. One more thing: Remember it was God that called you. He is bigger than any problem or situation you might encounter. His grace is sufficient. He is sovereign.

 

What do you wish laypeople knew that they don’t seem to know?

Ministry can be a lonely place. It shouldn’t be, but it is. Their words of encouragement mean more than they know.

Back to the Top

C.V. Hartline III

Pastor/planter, Vibrant Covenant Church, Portland, Ore.

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

Post-modernity is deeply rooted in our culture, and people are becoming less interested in evangelical christianity.

 

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

The education I received from Truett was a building block for growth in faith and praxis.

 

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

“Remember who you are” (Bill Treadwell) and be a life-long learner.

 

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates?

Give up on competency and embrace faith.

 

What do you wish laypeople knew that they don’t seem to know?

Following Jesus is simple, but not easy. Jesus is not a product “the church” is “selling.” The act of discipleship is a deliberate, intentional, conscious decision to allow Christ to transform us.

Back to the Top

Kirk Hatcher

Minister to youth, South Main Baptist Church, Houston

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

I’m never finished. Something else is always waiting.

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

More about dealing with different personalities and how that applies to working in a ministry setting. Things like how to deal with the overpowering person, the meek, the attention-getter, the refuser, etc. would have been great. Some of the more practical aspects of ministerial life would’ve been great—how to be a minister and a parent at the same time, how to balance a checkbook when there’s nothing to balance, and signs that your ego has taken over.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

Never stop learning.

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates?

You don’t know everything. People you are going to be ministering to and with can help you know more. Let them teach you!

What do you wish laypeople knew that they don’t seem to know?

All ministers do not have leather skin. We have families we need to spend time with. Constructive criticism is much more productive than anger-driven criticism. We love them, regardless.

Back to the Top

Chris Nagel

Chaplain, Giddings State School, Giddings

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

I always thought I’d be a pastor, but my path was in chaplaincy outside the church.

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

I could have used some courses in world religions. As a chaplain, I am responsible for meeting the spiritual needs of a diverse population.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

I learned how much I don’t know about theology and the Scriptures.

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates?

Do a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education. It will help you integrate your personal issues and your seminary education in a real-world setting.

What do you wish laypeople knew that they don’t seem to know?

Their pastors need a Sabbath beyond Sunday for self-care.

Back to the Top

Andy Pittman

Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lufkin

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

I did not think I would become a pastor. I started out in youth ministry and moved into university ministry. I did not feel called to serve as a pastor until I graduated from seminary in 1997.

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

I am proud of my seminary education and think Truett does the best job of preparing ministers to serve in local churches. I had formal training in Bible, theology, biblical languages and ministry. I did not have classes on all of the daily responsibilities of ministry, but I had to fulfill “mentoring” requirements with an experienced pastor. That is where I learned how to perform the “behind the scenes” responsibilities of ministry.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

Truett placed a priority on spiritual formation. I did not fully appreciate the importance of spiritual formation while I was a student. Once I was out of seminary I started serving as a pastor and giving myself away to others. That was when spiritual formation became most important to me. I recognized I had to have a growing spiritual life in order to be effective as a minister. Truett gave me the foundation and the tools to grow spiritually—and to help others to grow.

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates?

Don’t sell your books! You won’t realize how good they are until you leave the seminary and re-read them a second and third time.

Back to the Top

Chad Prevost

Assistant professor of creative writing and rhetoric, Lee University, Cleveland, Tenn.

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

People’s need to believe in something.

 

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

I wish we had placed much more emphasis on “calling.” I would have loved to have had some kind of seminar or “lifelong learning credits” or something that authentically explored this concept. In line with that, we can serve young seminarians well by assisting them in seeing ministry in a far more open-ended way. I came into Truett ready to apply myself to serious studies and to explore my call to minister—also to thoroughly debunk the myth of biblical inerrancy. That’s about all I knew. I also knew I always wanted to be a writer and was more inclined to mission work of one kind or another than being a pastor—though my faith had never expressed itself in an evangelical way (and never did). It took two years out of seminary to get back on a more “true” path for me and the ways that I could serve and “follow my bliss.” I’m not sure what Truett does now along these lines. We were on the front lines from 1994-97—”guinea pigs” we were often called.

 

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

No single lesson. Of course, I saw the “dark” side of human behavior, even in the church, and how the church is often (always?) run as a business. But this is a rather small lesson, really. I’m not sure I can boil it down to a single lesson. I learned you don’t need seminary to be a good minister: How academic and intellectual does it need to be vs. the pragmatics. The solution has been to continually hybridize both models, and the next thing you find is a three year master’s degree. Seems unecessary.

 

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates?

We have enough status quo in the ministry. To some extent, at least, this plays into why the church continues to fade in significance to the culture. Be innovative. I have to agree with the prophetic voice of Tony Campolo: If the church doesn’t find ways to become socially engaged, it will continue to lose relevance. The church needs to be seen as fighting for more than some right-wing political bumper sticker motto. Bono’s leadership is a powerful example of this on a global scale.

 

What do you wish laypeople knew that they don’t seem to know?

Ministers are people too. But (1) that’s really impossible; it’s similar to asking a child to see his/her parent as a “person” or any authority figure, and (2) part of the professional ministerial concept is that the people want the figurehead “set apart.” They want to believe in his/her belief and leadership. But I always had trouble with that.

Back to the Top

Bill Shiell

Senior pastor, First Baptist Church, Knoxville, Tenn.

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

How little help there is for ministers. When we graduated, I thought we would be greeted with open arms by other ministers and the seminary. Instead, we had to fend ourselves to find a church job, network and resources. The greatest help came from non-pastor/church staff ministers and mentors and retired ministers and professors who encouraged me and met with me over the phone or in person as needed.

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

Personnel and staff recruitment, training, and accountability. Writing; I was not fully prepared for the writing load at the doctoral level.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

Conflict resolution. Baptist history roots, heritage, principles.

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates?

Know yourself and know how you’re wired.

• Churches are like people, because they are people. Every church has a DNA, just as every minister does too. In your first church and/or staff experience, pay attention to how you live out your theology, how you lead and how you work.

• Then, as you talk to search committees, ask questions based on what you know about yourself and what you know about their DNA. Accept who they are, and minister from that position.

• As you interview staff and pastors, communicate about each other’s DNA and discuss openly the written and unwritten expectations the church has. For instance, every church has a different definition of pastor and staff leadership. We were trained in seminary to lead one way but not trained how to adjust leadership needs based on the DNA of the congregation and/or staff. Churches could identify what they want and clarify that. You could substitute any issue here, but leadership is one example.

What do you wish laypeople knew that they don’t seem to know?

Ministers do not naturally make friends. They are nomads. So, the search committees need to know that the work is not over when they hire the minister. They need to think holistically about:

• Setting up social networks

• Being there during personal and family crises. Many churches assume that “someone else is handling ____” but have no effective system to ensure the minister is cared for.

• Providing ongoing mentoring in the first few years of ministry. Most of us need a coach or assistance outside the personnel committee to bounce ideas around and provide an outlet for stress.

Back to the Top

Chris Spinks

Assistant to the dean and adjunct assistant professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary; joining Wipf & Stock Publishing in Eugene, Ore., as acquisitions editor in June

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

I have not been in church ministry since 1998, just one year after graduating from Truett.

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

There is more to the Body of Christ than Baptists.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

Greek is fun!

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates?

Even the “heady” stuff matters. It makes you a deeper, more thoughtful person, which in turn makes you a better minister. A course need not have explicit or immediate “practical” application to be practical.

What do you wish laypeople knew that they don’t seem to know?

The Bible was written and is read within particular contexts. We ought to be keenly aware of both.

Back to the Top

Steve Wells

Pastor, South Main Baptist Church, Houston

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

How much time I need to spend in solitude in order to be effective. I am an extrovert by nature, yet I need 20 to 30 study hours every week for preparation and study. Administration, busy work and pastoral needs make getting that kind of time very difficult—and I am in a nearly ideal situation, with a full compliment of very competent and committed colleagues and a brilliant and committed congregation.

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

How to read a balance sheet.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

To think theologically

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates?

Be mystical about church call. Go where you feel led. Work like you will be there the rest of your life. Stay until you have a clear sense of call to another place. If you wish you were in another place; know that God knows where you are and when and where you will go next.

Back to the Top

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 6/01/07

Clergy sexual abuse likely hot topic at SBC

By Robert Marus & Charlie Warren

Associated Baptist Press & Arkansas Baptist Newsmagazine

SAN ANTONIO (ABP)—The upcoming Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting may not, like last year’s, feature a contested and unpredictable presidential election. But it is likely to air other contentious issues, including a call to action regarding clergy sexual abuse, according to some observers.

Nonetheless, SBC President Frank Page said prayer for revival and spiritual awakening is the intended emphasis for the June 12-13 SBC annual meeting, scheduled for San Antonio’s Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.

The theme, “Lord, Send Your Holy Spirit,” will frame each of the five plenary sessions. They will include prayer times led by Southern Baptists known for their focus on prayer and will include several minutes for messengers to pray in groups of two or three for revival in the SBC.

“The central focus for my presidency and therefore for this meeting is to seek from the Lord spiritual awakening—his Holy Spirit’s revival,” said Page, pastor of First Baptist Church of Taylors, S.C. “And that is always prefaced by and enabled by and empowered by prayer.”

Page is expected to stand for re-election to a traditional second one-year term as president. He won as an outsider candidate in a contest last year that featured two other pastors with close ties to the SBC’s conservative power structure. Although those candidates led churches larger than Page’s and were endorsed by some of the biggest names in the denomination’s fundamentalist elite, many reform-minded Southern Baptists criticized them for their churches’ tepid support of the Cooperative Program, SBC’s unified budget.

Many younger Southern Baptist pastors disgruntled with the SBC’s ruling party campaigned enthusiastically for Page. They—and other dissatisfied Southern Baptists—used blogs to stir up support for what has become something of a reform movement in the denomination.

Advocates of that movement have promised to present several items of business—some of which may prove controversial—for consideration this year.

In response to recent exposure the SBC has received concerning clergy sexual abuse, Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson and Texas pastor Benjamin Cole intend to ask the denomination to address the issue.

“Southern Baptists must be proactive when it comes to protecting children under our ministerial care. Our convention cannot retreat behind claims of ecclesiastic polity, and we are encouraged by SBC President Frank Page’s tough stance on clergy sexual abuse,” Cole said.

Burleson is pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, Okla. Cole is pastor of Parkview Baptist Church in Arlington.

Burleson, a former Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma president and a current trustee of the SBC’s International Mission Board, intends to bring a motion calling for the SBC Executive Committee to conduct “a feasibility study concerning the development of a database of Southern Baptist ministers who have been convicted of sexual harassment and abuse,” make that database available to all churches, and report its action at the 2008 meeting in Indianapolis.

“There is no credible reason why Southern Baptist churches cannot look to our convention headquarters for assistance in scrutinizing candidates for ministry positions,” Burleson said. “What was once believed to consist of a few isolated cases has emerged as a more serious threat to our convention’s ministries and our churches’ health.”

Cole will introduce the resolution, “On Clergy Sexual Abuse,” saying, “Southern Baptists must spare no effort to preserve the integrity of our witness and the security of our children from the tragic consequence of our own potential neglect.”

Tom Ascol, director of Founders Ministries and a prominent Southern Baptist advocate for Calvinism, will again submit a resolution calling on churches to exercise stricter discipline over their members. The resolution states that “the ideal of a regenerate church membership has long been and remains a cherished Baptist principle” and cites statistics showing that barely one-third of the 16 million people the Southern Baptist Convention counts as members attend at least one weekly worship service at their home church.

Georgia pastor and blogger Marty Duren said he submitted two proposals to the SBC Resolutions Committee. His first, “concerning pastoral longevity and local-church ministry,” calls on Southern Baptists to embrace “a more biblical understanding of shepherd-to-flock commitment” than is often seen in denominational life.

Duren’s second resolution is on the resolution process itself. It calls on Southern Baptists to, in any annual meeting, refrain from passing a “greater number of resolutions which speak to the sins of society than address the sins and shortcomings in our own midst.”

Cole also said he had submitted a resolution “on gluttony” that is modeled after—and intended to be an implicit critique of—a resolution messengers passed last year that categorically condemned the sale and use of alcoholic beverages.

Two controversial resolutions from a source outside the reform group are likely to stir discussion as well.

Voddie Baucham and Bruce Shortt have submitted a proposal urging messengers to give full support to expanding private Christian education within the SBC, according to Christian Newswire.

Baucham is an author, Bible teacher, professor and pastor at Grace Family Baptist Church of Spring. Shortt is a Houston attorney and a board member for a group encouraging Christians to leave public schools. He wrote The Harsh Truth About Public Schools.

If approved, the resolutions would come in the fourth consecutive year of the convention backing private Christian schools and home schooling. However, Shortt and other advocates of removing Christian children from public schools—a strategy called the “Exodus Mandate”—have failed repeatedly to get the SBC to pass a resolution explicitly endorsing their cause.

Oklahoma pastor Robin Foster, meanwhile, said on his blog that he has submitted a resolution denouncing the practice of speaking in tongues—even in private—and calling on Southern Baptist agencies not to hire employees who engage in such practices. The issue of SBC missionaries speaking in tongues has been a matter of concern in recent years.

There also may be other motions that inspire controversy during miscellaneous business. Cole said some messengers might raise specific questions after the heads of certain convention agencies present their reports.

“I’ve heard of several people who want to ask a number of questions,” he said.

In addition, Cole said messengers could raise questions about the convention’s Cooperative Program budget. He declined to say what specific issues would come up, but said the “time of the adoption of the budget could be a very contentious moment.”

Cole also said that North Carolina pastor Les Puryear would present a motion requiring all SBC entities “to publish the voting and attendance records of every institutional trustee.” Many SBC reformers have complained about the secrecy of SBC trustee boards. Cole said the motion would create something like a “Congressional Record for SBC trustees.”

For convention officers, a challenge to Page’s re-election would be unusual but not unprecedented, but no other candidates for president have been announced.

There were also no announced candidates for the SBC first vice president office. For second vice president, two nominees had been announced as of press time for this story. They are evangelist Bill Britt of Gallatin, Tenn.; and Eric Redmond, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Temple Hills, Md.

The convention will also feature the unveiling of a 10-year SBC evangelistic strategy.

Geoff Hammond, the SBC North American Mission Board’s newly elected president, has been part of the planning process, Page said, of a “strategy (that) brings associations, state conventions, NAMB and other entities into a true focus in calling churches not just to win souls but better showing them how.”

The evangelistic strategy will be “flexible, multifaceted,” Page said. It will encompass “the more traditional people within our convention and the more contemporary or non-traditional people, old and young, various styles and philosophies of evangelism and church planting, Calvinists, non-Calvinists, various people groups ethnically and various groups from the geographical areas across our country.”

The convention will also feature a ceremony recognizing the 300th anniversary of local Baptist associations in the United States. Tom Biles, president of the SBC Associational Directors of Missions and director of missions for the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Baptist Association, will lead the tribute. The Philadelphia Baptist Association, founded in 1707, was the first entity of its kind.

Prior to the convention, the denomination will hold its annual local-evangelism blitz. In “Crossover San Antonio,” hundreds of Southern Baptists will hit the streets of the metropolitan area June 9 to share the gospel via door-to-door visits, block parties and an international festival featuring dozens of ethnic groups showcasing their cultures, food, dress, music, dance and art.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 6/01/07

Pennington-Russell set to make history in Georgia

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

DECATUR, Ga. (ABP)—A female pastor who broke the “stained-glass ceiling” in Texas Baptist life is expected to move to a historic church near Atlanta, making it by far the largest Southern Baptist church led by a woman.

A search committee of the 2,696-member First Baptist Church of Decatur, Ga., presented Julie Pennington-Russell’s name May 27 as its recommendation to fill the open office of pastor. Since 1998 Pennington-Russell has been pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco.

According to a Decatur church member familiar with the process, the congregation reacted to the announcement with “solid approval.” Pennington-Russell, 46, is scheduled to preach June 17 in anticipation of election the same day.

First Baptist of Decatur—a 141-year-old church in suburban Atlanta—undoubtedly will become a centerpiece in the effort to elevate and celebrate women in pastoral roles. But the congregation is not seeking that notoriety, said one church leader.

“Calling Julie was definitely not about ‘making a statement,’” the longtime member said. “Our committee and the deacon council really felt the leadership of the Holy Spirit as we navigated this decision-making process. And to have our entire congregation—minus five or six folks who are not happy about this—stand at the close of the service … and applaud our committee was overwhelming to us.”

Calvary Baptist in Waco was the first church in the Baptist General Convention of Texas to call a woman as senior pastor. At the time, it also reportedly was the largest congregation of Southern Baptist heritage to be shepherded by a woman.

First Baptist of Decatur is affiliated with the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship but also maintains ties with the Southern Baptist Convention.

In the past 30 years, the Southern Baptist Convention has taken an increasingly hard line on women in leadership. That move—which happened as part of an overall rightward shift in the denomination—culminated in 2000, when the denomination added a clause to its official confession of faith that said the Bible restricts the office of pastor to males.

However, the confession is not binding on local churches, and many congregations affiliated with the SBC have ordained women as ministers and deacons for years.

Nonetheless, several local associations and a handful of state conventions have dismissed churches that have called a woman as a pastor in recent years.

The Decatur congregation would be the third that Pennington-Russell has led. Prior to her tenure at Calvary, she served for five years as pastor of Nineteenth Avenue Baptist Church in San Francisco. She also served that church previously as an associate pastor.

During her time in San Francisco, fundamentalists in the California Southern Baptist Convention tried three times, unsuccessfully, to get the convention to withdraw fellowship from the Nineteenth Avenue congregation.

Pennington-Russell also faced protesters when she went to Waco. However, Calvary has—according to multiple accounts—experienced a significant renaissance under her leadership. What had been an aging, shrinking congregation in a troubled neighborhood has grown numerically and attracted many young adults, as well as faculty and students from nearby Baylor University and its Truett Theological Seminary.

While records on Baptist women in ministry are hard to track, experts in the field said the Decatur congregation would likely be by far the largest church of Southern Baptist heritage ever led by a woman.

“I can’t think of any other church that would have been bigger,” said Pam Durso, a Baptist historian who serves as an officer with Baptist Women in Ministry.

Her group is finishing work on a new study that, its leaders say, will be the most comprehensive survey of the extent of women’s ordination in modern-day Baptist life in the South. Durso said the study has identified female senior pastors in 117 congregations that either are affiliated with the SBC or trace their roots to the denomination. She said the study has documented 1,825 women who have been ordained as ministers in such congregations.

The vast majority of those churches are affiliated with moderate splinter groups, such as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Alliance of Baptists, that grew out of the conflict in the SBC. However, while such groups are officially supportive of women in ministry, few large moderate churches have called women as senior pastors. A 2006 report from Durso’s group said only 5.5 percent of churches that are affiliated with CBF had female pastors.

In comparison, 2005 figures from the American Baptist Churches USA showed more than 400 congregations in that denomination had women either as senior pastors or as co-pastors alongside a man.

Pennington-Russell’s resume might mark a turning point in that regard, Durso said.

“We’ve found that women are getting more jobs as pastors, but they’re not moving from one job to another very easily; they can’t get that second pastorate,” she said. “But this is her third (senior pastor position), which makes her very unique, I think.”

Sarah Frances Anders, a sociology professor at Baptist-affiliated Louisiana College, has tracked Baptist women in ministry for decades. She said that she thinks the actual number of ordained women of Southern Baptist heritage is “pushing toward 2,000” and that the number of ordained Baptist women in the former SBC “has jumped rather phenomenally in the last seven years even.”

Decatur is adjacent to Atlanta, but is an independent city encompassing wealthy and gentrifying areas as well as pockets of poverty. The church is located near Emory University, Agnes Scott College and Columbia Theological Seminary.

If elected, Pennington-Russell would succeed Gary Parker, who resigned from the Decatur pastorate a year ago.

Pennington-Russell is a graduate of the University of Central Florida in Orlando and Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, Calif. According to a biography provided to members of the Decatur church, she is “in the final phase of completing” a doctoral degree in ministry at Truett Seminary. She and her husband, Tim, have two children.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.