Archives
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Friona church’s furniture bears mark of 92-year-old carpenter
Updated: 4/13/07
Woodworker labors long for
Carpenter from NazarethBy George Henson
Staff Writer
FRIONA—A look at J.G. Baker’s hands gives a glimpse into a man who has enjoyed working with wood his entire life, but a look at his heart gives insight into a man who has placed his eternal life in the hands of yet another carpenter.
While he is approaching age 92, even a casual observer can tell he was a powerfully built man and no stranger to hard work. He and his family ran harvesting combines from Arizona north to almost the Canadian border, and then back south, ending in the wheat and maize fields of the Texas Panhandle for many years. During the off-season, Baker worked in his woodshop.
J.G. Baker, age 92, acknowledges illness in recent months has left him weakened, but the sturdy, carefully crafted furniture he has built for churches throughout the state will last for many years. (Photo by George Henson) 04/13/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Buckner orphan writes her story
Updated: 4/13/07
Frances Jones (top, left) remembers a happy childhood at Buckner Orphan's Home in Dallas before being adopted at age 18. She recounts her story in Orphan Journey: Memoirs of Growing up in Buckner Orphans’ Home. Buckner orphan writes her story
By Analiz González
Buckner International
GARLAND—Only a privileged few children grow up with perks like private piano lessons, swimming classes and rigorous academic programs.
Frances Jones counts herself among the privileged. Minus parents, her childhood was almost a fairy tale.
Frances Jones 04/13/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Frye has seen change over 50 years at the organ bench
Updated: 4/13/07
Within Frye's heart, there
still rings a melodyBy George Henson
Staff Writer
LEWISVILLE—Ruth Frye considers herself supremely blessed. For more than 50 years, she has had the opportunity to do what she loves—serve God from the organ bench of First Baptist Church in Lewisville.
Frye began playing first for her Sunday school class as a child, and by age 9 or 10, she was the accompanist for the youth choir. Just a few years later, she began playing the organ after the church’s organist moved away.
Ruth Frye has been organist at First Baptist Church in Lewisville for 50 years. 04/13/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Wanted: Gospel preachers for South Africa
Updated: 4/13/07
Charlie Singleton, director of BGCT African-American ministries, helps Molehi Karneels Diutwileng, president of Baptist Union of Southern Africa, in his search for gospel preachers for his homeland. (Photos by Barbara Bedrick/BGCT) Wanted: Gospel preachers for South Africa
By Barbara Bedrick
Texas Baptist Communications
DALLAS – Molehi Karneels Diutwileng paints a picture of Baptist ministry in South Africa that is both disconcerting and hopeful.
He describes how nine pastors serve 30 churches in one region. Thirteen churches have no buildings. He and other Baptist pastors fear they may be driving away some of the very nonbelievers they need to reach—people with HIV/AIDS.
04/13/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Study shows intact, religious family reduces achievement gap for minority children
Updated: 4/13/07
Faith & family help minorities
bridge academic achievement gapBy Ken Camp
Managing Editor
WACO—The academic achievement gap between Anglo students and their African-American or Hispanic peers disappears when the students live in intact, religious families, a new study shows.
William Jeynes, a nonresident researcher with the Baylor University Institute for Studies of Religion and professor of education at California State University at Long Beach, discovered religious commitment and intact parental family structures bridge the achievement gap, both among students in public schools and in private religious schools.
04/13/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Texas House bill would expand CHIP
Updated: 4/13/07
Texas House bill would expand CHIP
By John Hall
Texas Baptist Communications
AUSTIN – A bill overwhelmingly approved by the Texas House of Representatives would include more than 100,000 additional children in the Children’s Health Insurance Program in the next two years.
The legislation, which passed 126-16, allows families to stay in the program for one year instead of having to reapply every six months, and it would wave the 90-day waiting period for uninsured children. It now goes before the Senate.
04/13/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Spiritual ‘smorgasbord’ reveals hunger for ultimate meaning
Posted: 4/13/07
Spiritual ‘smorgasbord’ reveals
hunger for ultimate meaningBy Cecile Holmes
Religion News Service
ASHINGTON (RNS)— A new book based on interviews from the PBS program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly finds a spiritual hunger beneath the secular veneer of modern culture, with many searching for something beyond the material world.
The Life of Meaning was edited by the show’s executive editor and host, Bob Abernethy, and longtime journalist William Bole. They drew essays in the book from interviews conducted by Abernethy, who founded the show 10 years ago after four decades as an NBC correspondent. Bole has written for many publications, including the Washington Post and Commonweal magazine.
Bob Abernethy, executive editor and host of the PBS program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, is co-author of The Life of Meaning. (RNS/courtesy Seven Stories Press) 04/13/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Around the State
Posted: 4/13/07
Five hundred people from 40 churches attended the “Celebrating Senior Adults Conference” at Central Church in Jacksonville. In addition to 10 breakout topics, participants heard from Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Director Charles Wade, Ken Hall of Buckner International and Paul Powell of Truett Theological Seminary. Around the State
• The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor will host a Governor’s Forum at 9:30 a.m. April 19, featuring former Texas governors Dolph Briscoe and Mark White. It is free and open to the public.
Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene has received a rare and valuable manuscript. The ancient Sefer Torah scroll contains more than 200 columns comprising the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses, which appear as the first five books of the Christian Old Testament and the Jewish Bible. Scribed in Hebrew on highly finished white cow vellum panels, the scroll about 27 inches tall. It is the product of a South Arabian Jewish scriptorium, published in the late 17th or early 18th century. The scroll has been appraised at a market value at more than six-figures, but many experts believe the document to be priceless. Robert Ellis (left), associate dean of Logsdon Seminary, evaluated the scroll after unpacking it. Doyle and Inez Kelley, benefactors of the Kelley College of Business at HSU, gave the scroll to the university. (Photo by Tiffany Turk) • Dallas Baptist University will hold the 19th annual Norvell Slater Senior Adult Hymn Sing at 2 p.m. April 20. Last year, almost 1,000 senior adults attended the event. For more information, call (214) 333-6824.
• The modern foreign languages department of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor will present an evening of bilingual storytelling, “Our Stories—Nuestros Cuentos,” at 7 p.m. April 21 in the Shelton Theater on campus. The event will consist of readings and comments by authors Araceli Ardon and Debbie Lufburrow. It is free and open to the public. For more information, call (254) 295-4631.
• Tickets are on sale for Howard Payne University’s fourth annual “Singin’ with the Saints” Southern gospel concert for senior adults. The concert will begin at 1:30 p.m. May 17 at Coggin Avenue Church in Brownwood. Featured performers will be The Florida Boys, Gold City, The Brazos Boys and HPU chancellor and humorist Don Newbury. Tickets are $12 and can be ordered by credit card at (800) 950-8465.
04/13/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Small coffee company takes ‘fair trade’ one step further
Posted: 4/13/07
Roastmaster Matt MacBride moves freshly roasted beans through a cooling pan at the Beneficio Coffee Co. in Sacramento, Calif. (RNS PHOTOS/Max Whittaker) Small coffee company takes
‘fair trade’ one step furtherBy Joanna Corman
Religion News Service
SACRAMENTO, Calif.—For the 15 years that Tom Angus worked for a company that negotiated the lowest possible prices for coffee beans, he occasionally would travel to Costa Rica, meet with farmers and hear about their desperate poverty and how they were losing their land.
Angus insists he was able to remain “mentally disconnected” from the poverty he saw.
04/13/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Book Reviews
Posted: 4/13/07
Book Reviews
River Rising by Athol Dickson (Bethany House)
Welcome to 1927 Louisiana. Pilotville is a sleepy little Gulf Coast town, unique it its equal treatment of all people, regardless of their color. It’s a town that takes pride in its generous spirit while turning a blind eye to the shroud of fear that sits heavy on its African-American citizens. Until, that is, Reverend Hale Poser arrives in search of his past.
River Rising is a story about the search for a lost baby girl by a man in search of his parents. What he discovers is that Pilotville, an apparent oasis of equality, is really the last stronghold of slavery and racism.
What are you reading that other Texas Baptists would find helpful? Send suggestions and reviews to books@baptiststandard.com. The novel also is the story of faith. And as we follow Poser’s realization that he is a miracle worker, we discover the greatest mystery of all. True faith is something we must work out “behind our backs.” The moment we become aware of it, it disappears.
04/13/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Baptist Briefs
Posted: 4/13/07
Baptist Briefs
Georgia Baptist communicator killed.
Diane Reasoner Diane Reasoner, 57, longtime communications specialist for the Georgia Baptist Convention, was killed in an auto accident April 1 in metro Atlanta. Her husband, Richard, clinical director of Christian Counseling and Psychological Service, in Suwanee, Ga., was injured in the three-car accident on Interstate 985 that killed two and seriously injured five others. Diane Reasoner had worked for the Georgia Baptist Convention 20 years. She oversaw the work of the Georgia Religion News weekly radio program, electronic media, the convention website, public relations and print materials. She also was developing Georgia Baptists’ Internet radio ministry, scheduled to launch in May. In addition to her husband, she is survived by two sons, Rich and Rob, and three grandsons. Reasoner was a member, along with her husband, at First Baptist Church of Duluth, Ga.
Baptist historian to be honored.
04/13/2007 - By John Rutledge
