Archives
-
Prayer opened door for colonia church to build
Posted: 9/29/06
Pastor Omar Chavarria rests his hands on a cross that normally hangs in the church’s baptistry. Volunteers were renovating the baptistry at Iglesia Bautista Manantial de Vida in Penitas. Prayer opened doors for Rio Grande Valley church
By Scott Collins
Buckner Benevolences
PENITAS—If seeing is believing, Omar Chavarria has 20/20 vision.
10/13/2006 - By John Rutledge
-
-
‘Blue like Jazz’ buzz continues
Posted: 10/13/06
‘Blue like Jazz' buzz continues
By Hannah Elliott
Associated Baptist Press
DALLAS (ABP)—Reactions among evangelical Christians to Donald Miller’s best-selling book Blue Like Jazz are about as diverse as reactions to the idea of postmodern Christianity itself.
Although the book debuted three years ago, its steadily growing popularity has made it a bona fide phenomenon in evangelical circles and spurred debates about the direction of Christianity as a whole.
10/13/2006 - By John Rutledge
-
Chinese pastor leads international mission
Posted: 10/13/06
Chinese pastor leads international mission
By Barbara Bedrick
Texas Baptist Communications
STAFFORD—When Peter Leong was a boy in Malaysia, he never imagined he would end up in Texas. Now, as pastor of a Houston-area church, he is leading a team of Baptists back to Asia to help 82 pastors and their families spread the gospel.
The international mission trip is the second in three months for Southwest Chinese Baptist Church in Stafford, and it highlights growth in the Asian Baptist global community. In September, the 300-member church and Cross Pointe Baptist of San Jose, Calif., partnered with sister churches in Taiwan, Malaysia and Hong Kong on their third joint mission to Thailand.
Peter Leong 10/13/2006 - By John Rutledge
-
Pendleton church rebounds from disaster
Posted: 10/13/06
High winds destroyed the framework for Pendleton Baptist Church. At right, Pendleton Baptist Church begins to rebuild. Pendleton church rebounds from disaster
By George Henson
Staff Writer
PENDLETON—Pendleton Baptist Church has rebounded quickly after high winds recently blew down the framework of what would have been the congregation’s first building, but Pastor Tom Adams acknowledged the event took the wind out of his sails.
“It didn’t bother me on Saturday when I went out there to see it right after it happened, and it didn’t bother me on Sunday when we had a really good worship service. But on Monday, when we took it back down to the foundation—that bothered me a bit,” he admitted.
10/13/2006 - By John Rutledge
-
Community sees schoolhouse attack as ‘Amish 9/11’
Posted: 10/13/06
Community sees schoolhouse attack as ‘Amish 9/11’
By Daniel Burke
Religion News Service
WHITE HORSE, Pa. (RNS)—The boys walked home from their one-room schoolhouse just across the fields and groaned to their mother that a substitute teacher would be leading the next day’s lessons.
“Well, boys, I’m in no position to hear complaining about schools,” Mary R. told her four young sons.
An Amish family arrives to pay their respects at the White Oak farm of Chris and Rachel Miller, who lost two daughters when a gunman killed five girls at an Amish school. (RNS photo by Robert Sciarrino/The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.) 10/13/2006 - By John Rutledge
-
How will the Amish cope with school shooting?
Posted: 10/13/06
A group of local Amish men gather near the scene of fatal shootings at a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pa. (RNS photo by Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.) How will the Amish cope with school shooting?
By Tom Feeney
Religion News Service
NICKEL MINES, Pa. (RNS)—Five schoolgirls are murdered in their quaint, quiet hamlet. A community that shuns attention as a matter of religious principle suddenly finds itself in the media glare.
How will the Amish cope?
10/13/2006 - By John Rutledge
-
Amish remember gunman as good neighbor, family man
Posted: 10/13/06
Amish remember gunman
as good neighbor, family manBy Carrie Cassidy & T.W. Burger
Religion News Service
BART, Pa. (RNS)—It’s difficult for many to imagine that the man who opened fire in a one-room Amish schoolhouse Oct. 2 is the same man who took his sons to soccer practice and his daughter shopping.
Marie Roberts, the wife of gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV, said it wasn’t the same man.
10/13/2006 - By John Rutledge
-
Community sees schoolhouse attack as ‘Amish 9/11’
Posted: 10/13/06
Amish isolated but still vulnerable to violence
By Mary Warner
Religion News Service
HARRISBURG, Pa. (RNS)—The Amish teach their children that a gun is for hunting wild game, and any other use is a sin. They do not serve in the military. They reject the use of violence, even in self-defense.
Amish girls talk to a state trooper at the scene of the Georgetown school shootings in Nickel Mines, near Lancaster, Pa. (REUTERS Photo by Tim Shaffer) They organize their community around their church and draw sharp boundaries around it—keeping out the violent and sexual images from television and movies.
10/13/2006 - By John Rutledge
-
Around the State
Posted: 10/13/06
Around the State
• Thirteen faculty members began teaching at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor this fall. They include Colin Wilborn, assistant professor of exercise and sport science; Kelda McMullen-Fix, assistant professor of nursing; Cheryl Rowder, associate professor of nursing; Aida Sapp, associate professor of nursing; John McLean, associate professor of music; Randall Brown, assistant professor of business information technology and systems; Doyle Eiler, associate professor of management and marketing; Paul Stock, assistant professor of accounting, economics and finance; David Howard, associate professor in Christian studies; Derek Davis, dean of humanities and interim dean of graduate programs and research; Yolanda Forero-Villegas, associate professor of modern languages; Diane DiClemente, associate professor in psychology; and Stacy Stoll, visiting instructor in chemistry.
• Jeanie Pinkston, registrar at East Texas Baptist University, has retired after 19 years of service.
First Baptist Church in Bishop recently honored Harold Hickman for 40 years of service as an adult Sunday school teacher. In 1966, he agreed to teach a men’s class on a temporary basis. Four decades later, the “temporary teacher” is retiring. He was honored with a breakfast and a certificate of appreciation. He is pictured holding his certificate with Wes Barnett, who now is teaching the class. • James Steen has been named vice president for enrollment management at Houston Baptist University. He will oversee admissions, recruitment, financial aid and scholarships, registration and retention.
• Travis Avenue Church in Fort Worth has raised money to have one of the suites in the new Hall of States hotel at the Glorieta Conference Center named for its pastor, Michael Dean.
10/13/2006 - By John Rutledge
-
Book Reviews
Posted: 10/13/06
Book Reviews
The Windshield is Bigger Than the Rearview Mirror by Jeff Wickwire (Chosen)
Jeff Wickwire writes as if he were sitting at your breakfast table, having a cup of coffee with you. His relaxed style flows with insight and optimism. Through great insight into human nature and the understanding that God has a purpose for each Christian’s life, Wickwire reveals how many of them are “robbed of joy, achievement, meaning and God’s best” because they are trapped in the past.
Part 1 of his book focuses on the six “chains” Satan uses to hold Christians captive—inordinate attachments to someone or something, past successes, heartbreak, failure, trauma and bitterness. In each chapter, he presents biblical examples to illustrate and validate these causes of imprisonment.
What are you reading that other Texas Baptists would find helpful? Send suggestions and reviews to books@baptiststandard.com. Part 2 centers on how captives can become free (through the power and work of the Lord Jesus) and achieve God’s purpose in our lives—to help others through the testimonies God has given us. By focusing attention through the “windshield,” Christians begin to see opportunities the Father places before us, as well as how others depend upon our response.
10/13/2006 - By John Rutledge
-
Baptist Briefs
Posted: 10/13/06
Baptist Briefs
American Baptists move collection south. The American Baptist Historical Society, which claims the world’s largest collection of Baptist resources, is moving to Mercer University’s Atlanta campus. While the history-rich collection is a treasure trove for researchers, it has been inconveniently divided between two sites 350 miles apart—Valley Forge, Pa., where American Baptists have their national office, and the Samuel Colgate Library in Rochester, N.Y. “The history of Baptists is the history of religious freedom in America,” Mercer President Bill Underwood said, “and the American Baptist Historical Society is the single most significant depository of that history.” Relocating the historical collection to Mercer’s Atlanta campus serves to “preserve the collection, … foster the examination of this history by future generations of students, scholars and others, and … establish Mercer as the leading center for Baptist scholarship in North America.” Mercer’s McAfee School of Theology and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's main national offices are on the Atlanta campus as well. The university's main campus is in Macon, Ga.
Coalition urges SBC policy on clergy sexual abuse. Members of the coalition that fought the Roman Catholic Church’s hierarchy over sexual abuse by priests are asking the Southern Baptist Convention to prevent similar clergy abuse in the denomination’s churches. Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, recently delivered a letter to the SBC Executive Committee at its Nashville headquarters. It asks convention leaders to form an independent review board to receive and investigate charges of clergy abuse in Southern Baptist congregations. Part of the difficulty the SBC faces in taking aggressive action involves the autonomous nature of local churches in Baptist polity. Since individual congregations have full control over their decision-making and governing processes, the SBC can’t dictate rules or punishment to them.
10/13/2006 - By John Rutledge
