Posted: 2/16/07

Around the State

• The College of Christian Studies at the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor presents its winter lectures series “The Formation of a Christian Mind” Feb. 21-23. Todd Still, associate professor of Christian Scriptures at Truett Theological Seminary, will be the featured speaker. The series of five lectures will be held at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Wednesday, 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday, and 11 a.m. Friday.

• Richard Russell, assistant professor of English at Baylor University, will receive the 2007 Achievement Award for New Scholars in Humanities and Fine Arts from the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools Feb. 25 at the organization’s annual meeting.

• Barbara Bush, former first lady of the United States, will be the guest speaker for the McLane Lecture at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Feb. 26. Attendance will be by invitation only.

• The Dallas Baptist University baseball team has been ranked the top NCAA Division I independent team in the country by Baseball America heading into the 2007 season. The Patriots are looking to secure their first-ever NCAA Division I tournament bid. They play the No. 1 team overall Feb. 20 when they travel to Houston to take on the Rice Owls.

Patrick and Katherine Sanders

• Patrick and Katherine Sanders have been appointed as missionaries to the Pacific Rim region as community outreach and ministry leaders. Team Church in Fort Worth is their home church. They have two sons—Joshua, 4, and Nathaniel, 1.

Anniversaries

• Roger Marsh, fifth, as pastor of First Church in Tioga, Jan. 6.

• Elijah Austin, 20th, as pastor of New Jerusalem Church in Lubbock, Jan. 11.

• Bruce Irving, 25th, as pastor of First Church in George West, Feb. 4.

• Ivan Ker, 50th in ministry, Feb. 4. He is co-pastor of Cornerstone Church in Robinson.

• Carlton Burris, 25th, as pastor of Immanuel Church in Marshall, Feb. 24.

• Meadow Lane Church in Arlington, 50th, Feb. 25. A fellowship time will begin at 9:45 a.m., followed by worship at 10:45 a.m. Daniel Vestal will be the guest preacher, and Mark Short III will be the guest music director. A catered meal and an afternoon service of music and testimony led by John Thielepape will follow. To make reservations for the meal, call (817) 274-2581. Don Sewell is interim pastor.

• Paton Parrish, 15th, as minister of music at First Church in Levelland, Feb. 25.

• Mountain Church in Gatesville, 75th, March 25. Kurt Fuessel is pastor.

• Southcliff Church in Fort Worth, 40th, March 31-April 1. The church formed when Westcliff and Evans Avenue churches merged in 1967. A reception will be held Saturday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The worship celebration on Sunday will begin at 10 a.m. Carroll Marr is pastor.

Deaths

• Bob Coleman, 90, Jan. 17 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He taught biblical backgrounds and archaeology at Southwest-ern Seminary for two decades. He was a member of Park Cities Church and a deacon at Ross Avenue Church, both in Dallas.

• Carl Schlomach, 98, Feb. 13 in Burnet. A Howard Payne University graduate, he was pastor of churches in Tow, Naruna, Shady Grove, Camp Wood, New Braunfels, Bishop and Edna. He also preached in Jamaica, Germany and Estonia. He was a member of First Church in Burnet. He was preceded in death by his wife of 61 years, Mildred; brother, William; and sister, Lora Craft. He is survived by his son, Richard; daughters, Mary Lynne Beall and Betty Ruth Lindley; sister, Irene Burks; nine grandchildren; and 26 great-grandchildren.

Brad Cockrell, minister to students at First Church in Denton since 1997, receives a proclamation from city councilman Jack Thompson in recognition of Brad Cockrell Day in Denton upon his 10 years of service to the church and community. Also pictured are Cockrell’s wife, Cari, and Pastor Jeff Williams.

Events

• Blake Bolerjack will present a gospel concert at North Cleburne Church in Cleburne Feb. 25 at 6 p.m. An offering will be taken. Keith Whitt is pastor.

• First Church in Center will hold its annual Joy Seekers Conference for women March 2-3. Sherri Hagerhjelm is the keynote speaker. Grateful Heart will lead the music and worship. The conference begins at 6 p.m. Friday and concludes after lunch on Saturday. Registration is $25. For more information, call (936) 598-5605. Michael Hale is pastor.

Ordained

• Derek Rowden to the ministry at The Heights Church in Richardson.

• Steven Neill to the ministry at Northside Church in Mineral Wells.

• Carlton Glover, Danny Graham and Tyler O’Teter as deacons at First Church in Waxahachie.

• Aaron Benson, Tad Eudy, James Hooten, Chad Manning and Shawn Napier as deacons at First Church in Paris.

• Andy Anderson and Barry Elkins as deacons at First Church in Belton.

Revival

• Calallen Church, Corpus Christi; Feb. 25-28; evangelist, David Crain; pastor, Jack Willoughby.

Posted: 2/16/07

Baylor regents OK athletic/academic complex

WACO (ABP)—Baylor University’s board of regents has approved a plan that will begin integrating athletics into academic campus life at the school.

On Feb. 8, Baylor’s regents unanimously approved a $34 million plan to build an on-campus athletics facility and academic center.

It will mark the first time the athletics department and football-training grounds are located on Baylor’s main campus.

The new site will be called the Alwin and Dorothy Highers Athletics Complex and the Simpson Athletics and Academic Center. Its focus is a 96,300-square-foot main building that will sit next to the school’s Mayborn Museum Complex and other athletic facilities near the Brazos River.

An outdoor swimming pool, tennis courts and soccer field on the proposed construction site may be relocated to facilitate the additions, officials said.

Named after Baylor alumnus Bob Simpson, the Simpson Center will include training and equipment rooms, locker rooms, weight rooms and offices. The Highers complex will include three football fields.

The new training facilities will help attract top athletes to the school, said football Coach Guy Morriss,

The project was privately supported by a gift from the late Alwin Highers Jr. of Alexandria, La. It was the largest single monetary gift in Baylor’s history. School officials said the new complex would be completed by summer 2008.

Posted: 2/16/07

BGCT sponsors inaugural Inspire ’07
training event to encourage leaders

The Baptist General Convention of Texas will launch its inaugural Inspire ’07 event March 24 at College Heights Baptist Church in Plainview.

The one-day training opportunity for church staff, leaders and members will encourage discussion, learning and ex-change of ministry, evangelism and missions ideas.

David Mahfouz, pastor of First Baptist Church in Port Neches, will be the keynote speaker.

Sunday school training workshops include pre-school, children, youth, adults and general sessions. Eleven specialty workshops include creative church leadership, blended worship, transitional churches, small-group ministry, single-parent ministry, women’s ministry and lifestyle evangelism.

“We’re meeting the needs of the churches,” said Phil Miller, a Bible study and discipleship specialist with the BGCT. “We’re starting from a church vantage point instead of convention offices. We’re encouraging the churches to express their needs so we can develop a conference that addresses them.”

Miller met with many pastors and directors of missions before his team developed workshops.

“We are hoping this (event) will give our churches an opportunity to acquire a new vision for doing ministry in our area,” said Gene Meacham, director of missions for Caprock Plains Baptist Area.

“We have many plateaued and dwindling churches, and they can use some new tools for taking new ideas back to the churches and fresh ideas for doing ministry in their communities.”

For more information, call (888) 244-9400 or e-mail inspire@bgct.org.

Posted: 2/16/07

Book Reviews

Grave Risk by Hannah Alexander (Steeple Hill Café)

In Grave Risk, Christy Award-winning author Hannah Alexander weaves an intriguing tale that keeps the pages turning.

The title aptly describes nurse Jill Cooper, who finds herself at risk, both of great danger and of death when her much-loved, retired high school principal Edith Potts dies of a heart attack and revered shopkeeper and former science teacher Cecil Martin succumbs to a fall. Jill senses the deaths aren’t as the sheriff believes, especially when Edith’s nephew drops should-have-been-destroyed school records on her porch.

What are you reading that other Texas Baptists would find helpful? Send suggestions and reviews to books@baptiststandard.com.

To complicate matters, two of Jill’s former sweethearts suddenly appear in the small town. Can Jill solve the mystery and bring the truth of the past to light before she meets her end?

The writers answer as only they can. Alexander exists as the pen name of Cheryl and Mel Hodde, a successful wife-and-husband writing team.

The Hideaway Novel appeals to both sexes with action and mystery amid touches of medicine and romance.

While the plot isn’t overtly religious, life in Hideaway, Mo., revolves around the church, and the lives of the main characters reflect their Christian commitment.

Kathy Robinson Hillman,

former president

Texas WMU, Waco

Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble by Lester R. Brown (W.W. Norton & Company)

Lester Brown is no wild-eyed tree-hugger. He’s a veteran analyst whose nonprofit Earth Policy Institute takes an interdisciplinary approach to environmental research and policy. That’s what makes Plan B both fascinating and reasonable. He vividly describes Earth’s enormous and escalating environmental challenges.

But he also factors the economic, political, social and cultural dimensions of the situation and possible solutions.

Plan B is a scary book. For example, think about competing with a billion Chinese for not only food but gasoline.

And imagine the de-pletion of both water and oil reserves if the ravenous appetites of Americans and the soaring population of Asia go uncurbed.

But Plan B also is a hopeful book. Brown lays out a plan for stabilizing global population growth, reducing carbon emissions and increasing water production.

His solutions aren’t easy, but they’re doable.

You may not agree with Brown’s assessments or his prescriptions, but dealing with his challenges will make you a better global citizen.

Marv Knox, editor

Baptist Standard, Dallas

Through the Bible, Through the Year: Daily Reflections from Genesis to Revelation by John Stott (Baker Books)

As an evangelical Anglican, John Stott possesses a faith rooted in the divinely inspired Scriptures and grounded in a rich tradition. Readers of his latest book, Through the Bible, Through the Year, benefit both from his commitment to the Bible and his appreciation for historic Christian worship.

Despite our professed dedication to the Bible, many devotional guides written by Baptists and other evangelicals approach the Scriptures in a random, haphazard fashion. Seldom do they offer the systematic, thoughtful treatment Stott provides, guiding readers through the Bible according to the church calendar.

He divides his devotional guide into three sections. From September through December, he concentrates on how God the Father revealed himself in the Old Testament before giving humankind a clear picture of his character through the Advent of Christ.

From January to April, Stott focuses on God the Son as revealed in the Gospels. From Pentecost Sunday to the end of August, he examines the role of the Holy Spirit in the church, as seen in Acts, the epistles and Revelation.

Stott presents this Trinitarian approach to reading the Bible within the context of a calendar unfamiliar to many Christians outside the liturgical church tradition. Through this serious-but-approachable devotional book, Stott provides a lectionary for the rest of us.

Ken Camp, managing editor

Baptist Standard, Dallas

Correction: Please note the publisher for Ace Collins’ book, I Saw Him In Your Eyes, is Zondervan, not Vision Press, as published in the Feb. 5 issue.

Posted: 2/16/07

Baptist Briefs

Baptists among mission workers killed in Honduras. Three Americans on a mission trip in Honduras were killed in a truck crash Feb. 6. Ten other people were injured when the truck flipped on a remote mountain road, authorities said. Two of the deceased—45-year-old Perry Goad and 58-year-old Richard Mason Jr., both of Cartersville, Ga.—belonged to Tabernacle Baptist Church in Cartersville. Martha Fuller, 66, from Newnan, Ga., also was killed in the accident, which happened near the village of Mal Pais. Fuller was a member of Newnan First United Methodist Church. The weeklong trip included a group of 28 people traveling with Honduras Outreach, Inc., a Georgia-based, nondenominational charity that has sent North American volunteers to the Agalta Valley in Honduras the past 18 years. The volunteers— up to 1,000 a year—often spent time constructing roads, routing electricity and implementing running water in the remote villages there.

Bush receives SBC religious liberty award. President Bush received a Southern Baptist award for his advocacy of religious freedom in a recent presentation at the White House. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, presented the John Leland Religious Liberty Award to Bush in the Oval Office. The commission gave the award to the president for “courageously defending the right of all people to exercise freely their religious faith,” according to the framed citation.

Volunteer missions opportunities available in China. Multiple short-term missions opportunities are available in spring and summer through Volunteers for China. Volunteers are needed to teach oral English at an institute in Changzhi, March 1 to April 30; at a Chinese high school, March 1 to June 30; and to senior high school students in Changzhi, July 17 to Aug. 19. Volunteers are needed to teach conversational English to Chinese middle school teachers during a summer English program, July 1-30, and to Chinese college students, July 12 to Aug. 12 and July 17 to Aug. 5. Nursing, medical and science students are needed to help lead workshops at a Chinese medical college, July 17 to Aug. 5. Volunteers also are needed for up to eight weeks in July and August to teach oral English as part of a social ministry program run by the Chinese YMCA and a local Christian church. Longer-term positions also are available that provide a stipend, room and airfare. A valid United States passport is required for all projects. For more information, contact Ann or David Wilson at (865) 983-9852 or e-mail cen29529@centurytel.net.

CBF Midwest regional organization formed. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has added a new, five-state regional body to its group of constituents. The consortium includes Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. At the formation meeting, participants representing four CBF partner churches also created articles of incorporation, bylaws and a budget. Although officially formed, the Midwest region will not be formally recognized by the national CBF organization until a vote at the 2007 general assembly in June. There, the assembly must adopt a bylaw change recognizing the new region and approve coordinating council representatives from the Midwest region.

Southwestern names conference center director. Evan Lenow, 28, has been named director of the Smith Center for Leadership Development at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He succeeds Thomas White, who became the seminary’s vice president for student services last October. Lenow, a native of Memphis, Tenn., earned an undergraduate degree from Mississippi College and a master of divinity degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he served as director of financial aid and international students. He is a doctoral student in Christian ethics at Southwestern Seminary.

Volunteer missions opportunities available in China. Multiple short-term missions opportunities are available in spring and summer through Volunteers for China. Volunteers are needed to teach oral English at an institute in Changzhi, March 1 to April 30; at a Chinese high school, March 1 to June 30; and to senior high school students in Changzhi, July 17 to Aug. 19. Volunteers are needed to teach conversational English to Chinese middle school teachers during a summer English program, July 1-30, and to Chinese college students, July 12 to Aug. 12 and July 17 to Aug. 5. Nursing, medical and science students are needed to help lead workshops at a Chinese medical college, July 17 to Aug. 5. Volunteers also are needed for up to eight weeks in July and August to teach oral English as part of a social ministry program run by the Chinese YMCA and a local Christian church. Longer term positions also are available that provide a stipend, room and airfare. A valid United States passport is required for all projects. For more information, contact Ann or David Wilson at (865) 983-9852 or e-mail cen29529@centurytel.net.

Former treasurer of Arizona Foundation sentenced. Donald Deardoff, 49, former treasurer of the Baptist Foundation of Arizona, was sentenced Feb. 2 to serve four years in prison and pay $159 million to victims of an investment scam. He received the sentence after pleading guilty in 2001 to two counts of fraud. Four other former foundation employees also were sentenced to lesser punishments Feb. 2. Former foundation President William Crotts and General Counsel Thomas Grabinski were sentenced in September 2006 to eight and six years in prison, respectively, on fraud and racketeering charges. Both must pay $159 million in restitution to investors, although it’s unlikely they’ll be able to repay the full amount, since they each earn 35 cents an hour working as a clerk and an aide in prison. The foundation collapsed in 1999 after state regulators ordered it to stop selling securities. Controlled by the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention, it had generated money by soliciting funds from clients ostensibly to build churches and retirement homes. Instead, foundation leaders used the funds for a classic pyramid scheme. The foundation shuffled bad debt and overvalued property between phony companies, paying high profits to backers from the money paid in by subsequent investors. About 11,000 investors lost more than $550 million in the foundation’s collapse.

CBF Midwest regional organization formed. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has added a new, five-state regional body to its group of constituents. The consortium includes Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. At the formation meeting, participants representing four CBF partner churches also created articles of incorporation, bylaws and a budget. Although officially formed, the Midwest region will not be formally recognized by the national CBF organization until a vote at the 2007 general assembly in June. There, the assembly must adopt a bylaw change recognizing the new region and approve coordinating council representatives from the Midwest region.

Southwestern names conference center director. Evan Lenow, 28, has been named director of the Smith Center for Leadership Development at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He succeeds Thomas White, who became the seminary’s vice president for student services last October. Lenow, a native of Memphis, Tenn., earned an undergraduate degree from Mississippi College and a master of divinity degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he served as director of financial aid and international students. He is a doctoral student in Christian ethics at Southwestern Seminary.

Posted: 2/16/07

Baptist Briefs

Baptists among mission workers killed in Honduras. Three Americans on a mission trip in Honduras were killed in a truck crash Feb. 6. Ten other people were injured when the truck flipped on a remote mountain road, authorities said. Two of the deceased—45-year-old Perry Goad and 58-year-old Richard Mason Jr., both of Cartersville, Ga.—belonged to Tabernacle Baptist Church in Cartersville. Martha Fuller, 66, from Newnan, Ga., also was killed in the accident, which happened near the village of Mal Pais. Fuller was a member of Newnan First United Methodist Church. The weeklong trip included a group of 28 people traveling with Honduras Outreach, Inc., a Georgia-based, nondenominational charity that has sent North American volunteers to the Agalta Valley in Honduras the past 18 years. The volunteers— up to 1,000 a year—often spent time constructing roads, routing electricity and implementing running water in the remote villages there.

Bush receives SBC religious liberty award. President Bush received a Southern Baptist award for his advocacy of religious freedom in a recent presentation at the White House. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, presented the John Leland Religious Liberty Award to Bush in the Oval Office. The commission gave the award to the president for “courageously defending the right of all people to exercise freely their religious faith,” according to the framed citation.

Volunteer missions opportunities available in China. Multiple short-term missions opportunities are available in spring and summer through Volunteers for China. Volunteers are needed to teach oral English at an institute in Changzhi, March 1 to April 30; at a Chinese high school, March 1 to June 30; and to senior high school students in Changzhi, July 17 to Aug. 19. Volunteers are needed to teach conversational English to Chinese middle school teachers during a summer English program, July 1-30, and to Chinese college students, July 12 to Aug. 12 and July 17 to Aug. 5. Nursing, medical and science students are needed to help lead workshops at a Chinese medical college, July 17 to Aug. 5. Volunteers also are needed for up to eight weeks in July and August to teach oral English as part of a social ministry program run by the Chinese YMCA and a local Christian church. Longer-term positions also are available that provide a stipend, room and airfare. A valid United States passport is required for all projects. For more information, contact Ann or David Wilson at (865) 983-9852 or e-mail cen29529@centurytel.net.

CBF Midwest regional organization formed. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has added a new, five-state regional body to its group of constituents. The consortium includes Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. At the formation meeting, participants representing four CBF partner churches also created articles of incorporation, bylaws and a budget. Although officially formed, the Midwest region will not be formally recognized by the national CBF organization until a vote at the 2007 general assembly in June. There, the assembly must adopt a bylaw change recognizing the new region and approve coordinating council representatives from the Midwest region.

Southwestern names conference center director. Evan Lenow, 28, has been named director of the Smith Center for Leadership Development at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He succeeds Thomas White, who became the seminary’s vice president for student services last October. Lenow, a native of Memphis, Tenn., earned an undergraduate degree from Mississippi College and a master of divinity degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he served as director of financial aid and international students. He is a doctoral student in Christian ethics at Southwestern Seminary.

Former treasurer of Arizona Foundation sentenced. Donald Deardoff, 49, former treasurer of the Baptist Foundation of Arizona, was sentenced Feb. 2 to serve four years in prison and pay $159 million to victims of an investment scam. He received the sentence after pleading guilty in 2001 to two counts of fraud. Four other former foundation employees also were sentenced to lesser punishments Feb. 2. Former foundation President William Crotts and General Counsel Thomas Grabinski were sentenced in September 2006 to eight and six years in prison, respectively, on fraud and racketeering charges. Both must pay $159 million in restitution to investors, although it’s unlikely they’ll be able to repay the full amount, since they each earn 35 cents an hour working as a clerk and an aide in prison. The foundation collapsed in 1999 after state regulators ordered it to stop selling securities. Controlled by the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention, it had generated money by soliciting funds from clients ostensibly to build churches and retirement homes. Instead, foundation leaders used the funds for a classic pyramid scheme. The foundation shuffled bad debt and overvalued property between phony companies, paying high profits to backers from the money paid in by subsequent investors. About 11,000 investors lost more than $550 million in the foundation’s collapse.

Posted: 2/16/07

Posted: 2/16/07

2nd Opinion:
Confront and prevent child abuse

By Denton Lotz

Jesus taught us, “Whoever receives one in my name receives me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:5-6). He also admonished, “Let the children come to me and do not hinder them; for to such belong the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14).

Baptists always have affirmed children. A Baptist deacon, William Fox, began the Sunday School Society in 1785 to remedy the horrors of the Industrial Revolution, which forced children as young as 10 years old to work underground in mines 12 hours a day, six days a week.

Today, the situation of children worldwide has become worse. In October 2006, the United Nations released The UN Secretary General’s Study on Violence Against Children. After reading this document, Christians and other men and women of good will should become angry and energized to work to stop child abuse.

Here are tragic statistics from the United Nations:

• Almost 53,000 children died worldwide in 2002 as a result of homicide.

• 150 million girls and 73 million boys under age 18 experienced forced sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual violence during 2002.

• Between 100 million and 140 million girls and women in the world have undergone some form of female genital mutilation. In sub-Saharan Africa, Egypt and the Sudan, 3 million girls and women are subjected to genital mutilation every year.

• In 2004, 218 million children were involved in child labor, 126 million of whom were in hazardous work.

• Estimates from 2000 suggest that 1.8 million children were forced into prostitution and pornography, and 1.2 million were victims of trafficking.

Christians cannot remain silent in the face of these horrendous and evil acts against children whom Jesus loves!

What should Christians do?

• Be informed. Check The UN Secretary General’s Study on Violence against Children on a UN website: www.violencestudy.org.

• At church meetings and Sunday school teachers’ workshops, make parents and other adults aware of signs of child abuse.

• Check with local authorities and police about laws protecting children from child abuse. Report instances of child abuse to responsible authorities.

• Make the church a safe haven for abused children. We should be aware that because of their abusive treatment, such children often become abusers themselves.

• Work with other churches, schools and local government authorities to educate the public and your congregation about these evils.

Warning: Child abuse is a secret sin. Few people know what happens in homes. The fact that one in four women is abused at home before she is 18 years of age is an indication of the extent of the problem!

Child abusers in churches need to be confronted and helped by counseling and discipleship groups to prevent future abusive behavior. Do not allow untrained and inexperienced counselors to hold leadership positions. 

False accusations can poison relationships and fellowship. Public accusations without proper follow-through with authorities can cause even further abuse of children at home.

The call of Christ is a call to conversion, repentance and healing. The abused and the abuser need to know and experience God’s love in Christ. They need to know of regeneration that is offered to those who truly repent. At the same time, we need to be aware that there are sick and dysfunctional people who need to be institutionalized and kept out of reach of innocent children.

Finally, a renewed movement of Bible study and Sunday school among children and youth will give greater opportunity to bring security, redemption and healing to a world of sexual aberration flamed by the evil institution of pornography and sexual slave traders.

The church must not remain silent. The future of our children depends upon the church’s prophetic ministry of confronting and preventing child abuse in Jesus’ name.

Denton Lotz is the general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance.

Posted: 2/16/07

Definition of ‘evangelical’ debated

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

DALLAS (ABP)—One out of every four adults who call themselves “evangelical” is not a “born-again” Christian, according to a recent report from the Barna Group. And that’s just the beginning of the confusion surrounding the term “evangelical.”

For instance, some political pundits tend to qualify evangelicals mainly as people who vote against abortion rights and gay marriage. Many Roman Catholics think they’re evangelical. Most Mormons don’t.

The confusion has progressed so far that some “progressive evangelicals” have decided to forego the term completely, opting instead for the ambiguous label of “red-letter Christian.”

What’s the real cause of the misunderstanding and misuse? The very nature of what makes an evangelical has fluctuated for decades.

Barna’s report calls people “born again” if they have made a personal commitment to Jesus and believe they’ll go to heaven because they confessed their sin and accepted Jesus as savior. But many who also call themselves evangelical just don’t fit that bill, Barna Group founder George Barna said.

His report differentiates between two kinds of evangelicals—people who self-identify as evangelicals and people who meet a nine-point theological criterion that defines the identity.

All told, 84 million adults in the United States call themselves evangelicals, while only 18 million qualify as such using the nine-point filter, the report said.

Either way, “evangelical” was not used in the Bible and has become a “sloppy” way to label believers, Barna said.

“Responsible analysts … should be encouraged to re-examine the term and the measures they are using,” he said in the report. “Political commentators, reporters, educators and researchers continually make important claims about the spiritual life, lifestyle patterns, voting preferences and issue stands of evangelicals, even though it is clear that the criteria they use for identifying evangelicals are misleading at best.”

Barna’s nine criteria are based on earlier assessments conducted by the National Association of Evangelicals. They include the two qualifiers for the born-again label, plus belief that faith is “very important” in life; belief that Christians have a responsibility to tell others about Christ; belief that Satan exists; belief that unending life is possible only through God and can’t be earned through works; belief that Jesus lived a sinless life; belief that the Bible is complete and accurate; and belief that God is an all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created and participates in the universe.

Survey respondents were not labeled based on whether or not they attended church.

Along with the claim that not all evangelicals are born-again, the study found other discrepancies between the popular perception of who—or what—an evangelical is and who meets the Barna litmus test.

Researchers found self-proclaimed evangelicals are less likely to have graduated from college than their nine-point counterparts (29 percent versus 39 percent), are less likely to be married (63 percent versus 77 percent) and have lower household incomes ($40,250 for self-reporters compared to $49,194).

They also found political opinions misaligned somewhat between self-described evangelicals and nine-point evangelicals. For instance, the former are less likely to be socially conservative—45 percent of them are, compared to 65 percent of the latter.

All told, “there is only a 7-percentage-point difference in the number of Democrats and Republicans among the self-defined evangelicals but a 25-point difference among those who are deemed evangelical by virtue of their beliefs,” the report said.

Data for the survey came from nationwide telephone surveys conducted in January, April, August and October of 2006. In total, 4,014 adults were interviewed.

Posted: 2/16/07

DOWN HOME:
A birthday present from Dr. Bob

After a few months of working up the nerve, I finally accepted the 50th birthday present my doctor arranged for me.

Call it a cleansing experience.

Back in the good ol’ days—like when I was 49—Dr. Bob seemed content to ascertain my health by examining the outside of me. Oh, he wanted samples of my blood to send off to the lab, all right. But mostly, he just poked and prodded, and peered into my ears, up my nose and down my throat.

But now, just because I moved beyond the Big 5-0, Dr. Bob seems to believe he needs to actually see what’s going on inside of me. Since I literally trust him with my life, I pretty much do what he says to do. And thank God for medical science, none of this involves scalpels and stitches. So far.

Dr. Bob gave me a phone number to call.

“These are all good people,” he said.

“They will take excellent care of you,” he added, as if he realized I might not really care if they’re good people as long as they don’t hurt me.

So, I called the phone number Dr. Bob gave me and played Doctor Roulette. I told the nice-sounding woman who answered the phone that I needed to see one of her doctors. She asked if I had a preference. Since I didn’t know any of them anyway, I told her I didn’t care. So she asked me when I wanted to come to their office. And that’s how I came to meet Dr. Warren. Turns out, he was free to see me the same morning I was free to see him.

Right away, I liked the guy. He didn’t seem in such a hurry, and—even better—he actually speaks English, not Medicalese.

Dr. Warren asked me a few questions nobody else on the planet, with the possible except of Dr. Bob, would have a right to ask me. About Mother and Daddy, plus Mom and Pop and Grammar and Popo, and all my uncles and cousins. Also about me.

Then, he told me that the night before I came to see him again, all I had to do was drink two little vials of “medicine,” each mixed with four ounces of 7-Up or Sprite, six hours apart.

Right away, I loved the guy. Just about all my friends who had passed this way before me had warned me that Dr. Warren would tell me I would have to drink a full gallon of what could most graciously be called rotten liquid chalk. My stuff tasted like strong citrus juice and went down smooth.

What happened the next nine or 10 hours really is none of your business.

The next morning, Dr. Warren was at the hospital, waiting for me. Myrna, a wonderful nurse, told me another doctor would give me something that, among other things, would cause me to forget most of what happened next. She was partly right. I forgot the other doctor’s name.

But I do remember Dr. Warren telling me that if everybody would do what I was doing, we could just about wipe out deaths from colon cancer.

So, when the time comes for you, take Dr. Bob’s advice and go see someone like Dr. Warren. Call it your birthday present for the people you love the most.

—Marv Knox

Posted: 2/16/07

EDITORIAL:
The Executive Board’s crucial agenda

The eyes of Texas Baptists will be upon the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board Feb. 26-27. We’ll watch to see if the board resolves three key issues:

• Church-starting scandal.

In a called meeting Oct. 31, Executive Board directors received a report on misappropriation of church-starting funds in the Rio Grande Valley. It told a terrible tale. Texas Baptists spent $1.3 million to start 258 churches and only have five churches to show for it. Staff disregarded their own policies. The convention wasted six years promoting a church-starting scheme that failed miserably. Even after the FBI inquired, board leaders failed to get to the bottom of things.

Independent investigators made seven suggestions for fixing the problem: (1) Review and revise church-starting guidelines, (2) gather accurate, accessible information about new-church mortality rates, (3) integrate recordkeeping between program areas, (4) institute better internal controls over disbursements and hire an internal auditor, (5) give the accounting department authority to control and design the reporting system, (6) respond immediately to allegations of impropriety and (7) trust but verify.

A committee of Executive Board directors has been working with staff to ensure the recommendations are implemented. Early reports seem positive, but staff must realize each correction must be addressed thoroughly. We will listen to learn how closely recommendations have been followed. We will be anxious to hear the status of efforts to provide documentation to legal authorities and to solicit restitution. And we will seek safeguards to ensure the problem will not recur. We wonder if the board will institute accountability practices for implementing policies. Cleanup of one mess is not enough; we want to know future messes will not be made.

• Convention authority.

Two weeks after the investigators reported, Executive Board directors gathered on the eve of the BGCT annual meeting to decide how to respond to the scandal. The response sounded encouraging. Among other steps, the board voted to implement “expeditiously and in full” the investigators’ seven recommendations and to evaluate whether to turn their findings over to “any appropriate government investigatory agency.”

During the BGCT annual meeting, a messenger sought to take that last idea one step further. Rather than depend upon the Executive Board to evaluate the possibility of turning findings over to government officials, he proposed a motion that would have directed the board to give the material to the FBI. The convention president ruled his motion out of order, citing a ruling by a parliamentarian that the Executive Board’s previous decisions “pre-empted any action by the convention.” This sent shock waves through the convention, since most Texas Baptists believe messengers to annual meetings comprise the ultimate convention authority and the Executive Board should serve the wishes of the messengers. While most Texas Baptists would agree some functions and authority should be delegated to the board, few would claim the board should wield authority superior to the messengers’.

So, we wait for the Executive Board’s response. Will the board repudiate the parliamentary ruling? Will it consider governance changes to ensure future parliamentarians do not rule similarly? Early indications are positive. But for almost 400 years, Baptists have practiced democratic polity, and Texas Baptists above all have championed fierce autonomy. So, a failure to reject the presbyterian form of governance to which the ruling leads would not only be ironic, but also historically repulsive.

• Leadership/future.

The alarm caused by the Valley scandal and the parliamentary ruling does not exist in isolation. These issues merely compound discomfort from several years of churning change. Discomfort has been agitated by awkwardly paradoxical convention reorganization—at once brash and timid, far-reaching and tentative, unable to be ignored at convention meetings but easily overlooked in local churches. Frankly, folks don’t have a lot of confidence in the Executive Board staff and directors these days.

This has cast a shadow over fine Christians. Texas Baptists openly speculate about the tenure of Charles Wade, the Executive Board’s executive director, whose record as a creative and passionate pastor is sterling. Likewise, the fate of the newly reorganized Executive Board is an open question. It’s only been in existence for a year, but it has reached a moment of truth. Will it step up, restore trust and lead the BGCT to a bright future, or will it be seen as a bit player in the decline of a once-vibrant convention?

Marv Knox is editor of the Baptist Standard.

Posted: 2/16/07

El Paso couple train Ethiopian medical personnel

By Carla Wynn

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia—In overcrowded outpatient clinics in Ethiopia, patients wait many hours to see medical personnel. When their needs are too complex, they’re often referred to Black Lion Hospital, where Ethiopians travel often hundreds of miles for treatment. And thanks to a Texas couple, more Ethiopians might see healing happen.

Don and Patsy Meier of First Baptist Church in El Paso recently went to Addis Ababa, where they helped introduced new and more effective medical procedures to personnel at Black Lion Hospital.

Patsy Meier helps train hospital personnel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

“Our goal in going to Ethiopia was to demonstrate in tangible ways God’s love to the people of this country through a ministry of healing and medical education in Jesus’ name,” said Meier, a professor of pediatric surgery at Texas Tech University.

It was their second trip this year, having gone in February 2006 with David Harding, one of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s Global Missions field personnel who serves as international coordinator for disaster response and has facilitated water purification and medical relief projects in Ethiopia. On their February trip, the Meiers “were so overwhelmed with the needs we saw … that we went back on our own,” Meier said.

In their 10-day follow-up trip, the Meiers assisted in 22 operations . Meier showed Ethiopian surgeons new surgical techniques, and his wife, a retired operating room nurse, helped facilitate procedures and show nurses new skills.

“It’s what the Meiers do best—empower local medical personnel,” said Harding. “That is the heartbeat of their ministry.”

By teaching doctors and nurses, the Meiers contribute to long-term change. They don’t accomplish as much numerically as other medical volunteers that perform surgeries themselves. However, “in terms of impact on the local community, I think (teaching) is a far better way for me to do things since the expertise that I leave behind will continue after I have returned to my U.S. practice,” Meier said.

The Meiers also volunteer with a mission hospital in Aldama, Mexico, and have helped equip four operating rooms, which will open soon in medical clinics in Aldama and Chihuahua, Mexico.

Other Fellowship involvement in Ethiopia includes Water is Life, a water supply and purification initiative launched by Harding. It is committed to implementing sustainable solutions to bring clean water to Ethiopian communities.

More that 55 million people in Ethiopia do not have access to safe drinking water.