Posted: 9/29/06

Rapid change likely ahead for Baptist associations

By George Henson

Staff Writer

Associations have led a rollercoaster existence throughout their history, and their future should to prove just as exciting, according to Paul Stripling, executive director emeritus of Waco Regional Baptist Network and author of Turning Points in the History of Baptist Associations in America.

Stripling wrote the book at the invitation of the Southern Baptist Associational Directors of Missions task force for the commemoration of the 300th anniversary next year of Baptist associations.

While associations of churches have met an important need since the first American Baptist association formed in Philadelphia in 1707, there have been numerous circumstances that have changed the manner in which they have functioned, he noted.

Associations can be expected to continue to change, and perhaps at an even faster pace, he asserted.

In his book, Stripling alludes to predictions made by George Bullard, director of the Hollifield Leadership Center and Lake Hickory Learning Communities, about the coming days of associations. Bullard stressed that associations must focus on relevancy and flexibility in the days ahead, and he offered four principles—or movements—for how associations should interact with the churches they serve.

The first movement is to be faithful, effective and innovative. Associations that do not serve all the congregations in their association give up the right to serve any congregation, he purports.

Second, the association must be ready to work with the congregations who are ready to make changes without neglecting those who are not at that level, Bullard asserts.

Third, associations must realize some congregations that will not change, and it is not the associational staff’s responsibility to remake them into their image of what a church should be, but rather to allow the church to follow God’s leading.

Associations also must help congregations multiple themselves, Bullard said.

“The most effective way to transform your district association is through new units reaching lost, unchurched and hurting people,” Bullard said during a speech at the University of Richmond to associational leaders in 2002.

In the face of the rapid changes of the day, Stripling believes the most important thing associations and churches can do is stay focused on those things that do not change.

“I believe their can be no success in the introduction of change factors in associationalism today without an understanding of the kingdom principle, which is built on a worldview of missions, without any restrictions by time, race, ethnic background or geographical locations,” Stripling said.

“I would hope that associations—and directors of missions—would continue to remember the words on a calendar published by an insurance firm years ago: ‘The way to endure change is to find something that never changes.’ Basically, we are working together to serve our Lord until he comes again.”

One idea that must be protected regardless of changes made in associations is that churches need one another.

“While the association has gone through many changes, there has remained a hunger for the fellowship that brought churches together in the first place,” Stripling said. “No matter what comes, the ability for churches to come together and help one another must be protected.

“I think the concern I have is that in all our change that we not forget the interpersonal relationships—the personal touch of ministry—whether to the pastor of 20 or the pastor of a congregation of 2,000.

“I believe we can change in methodology, but we cannot forget the person out there in the trenches that may be hurting and in need of that personal touch,” Stripling said.

Posted: 9/29/06

Christian teens likely to become
apathetic 20-somethings

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

DALLAS (ABP)—Six out of 10 teens involved in a church probably will not continue their spiritual commitment into early adulthood, according to research by the Barna Group.

The study, conducted from 2001 to 2006, shows that despite previously high levels of spiritual activity, many people in their 20s lose interest in religious activities and often carry that apathy into middle age.

But the survey also found that 20 percent of people in their 20s maintain the same spiritual activities—like attending church, studying the Bible, donating money and using Christian media—they did in high school.

Nineteen percent of teens who did not participate in those activities remained disconnected from the Christian faith in adulthood.

Some experts question whether the disengagement is just a phase typical of that age or whether it is unique to the current generation, Research Director David Kinnaman said. Both explanations have some merit, he acknowledged, but ultimately that debate misses the point.

The point is “the current state of ministry to 20-somethings is woefully inadequate to address the spiritual needs of millions of young adults,” he said.

On the other hand, ministry to teens is thriving. The report reveals half of the nation’s 24 million teens attend some sort of church-related activity each week. More than 75 percent discuss faith with friends, and three out of five attend at least one youth group meeting at a church during a three-month period. All told, more than 80 percent of teens attend church for at least two months during high school.

Teens generally are receptive to matters of faith because of a certain willingness to explore their character, try new things and establish an identity, Kinnaman said.

“There are certainly effective youth ministries across the country, but the levels of disengagement among 20-somethings suggests that youth ministry fails too often at discipleship and faith formation,” he said.

As for those in their 20s, the transition from church kid to indifferent adult happens most often during college. And for most adults, the disengagement is not temporary.

The Barna report shows even people in their 30s are less likely than older adults to be active in religion. Just two fifths of parents in their 30s regularly take their children to church, compared to half of parents who are older than 40. One out of every three parents in their 20s does the same.

The Barna report isn’t all about a religious slip, though. When it comes to identifying with a religion, 78 percent of 20-somethings maintain allegiance to Christianity, compared with 83 percent of teens. Most young adults describe themselves as “deeply spiritual” as well, the study found.

In agreement with several other recent religion studies, however, the Barna study found that young adults feel little allegiance to a certain congregation or denomination. Almost 70 percent of them think if they cannot find a local church to “help them become more like Christ, then they will find people and groups that will, and connect with them instead of a local church.”

People in their 20s were also as likely as older Americans to attend “events not sponsored by a local church, to participate in a spiritually oriented small group at work, to have a conversation with someone else who holds them accountable for living faith principles, and to attend a house church not associated with a conventional church.”

The solution to the dichotomy, Kinnaman said, is not necessarily a youth ministry overhaul but a move toward developing sustainable faith in young people.

Youth ministries should be judged not by the number of attendees or the sophistication of events, he said. Instead, churches should focus on helping teens learn “commitment, passion and resources to pursue Christ intentionally and whole-heartedly after they leave the youth ministry nest.”

“Our team is conducting more research into what leads to a sustainable faith, but we have already observed some key enhancements that youth workers may consider,” he said.

“One of those is to be more personalized in ministry. Every teen has different needs, questions and doubts, so helping them to wrestle through those specific issues and to understand God’s unique purpose for their lives is significant.”

Another idea, he added, is to instill in teenagers a “biblical viewpoint.” That way, they’ll process life—and its inevitable conflicts—through a godly worldview.

“This is not so much about having the right head knowledge as it is about helping teens respond to situations and decisions in light of God’s principles for life,” he said.

Located in Ventura, Calif., the Barna Group collected data from interviews with 22,103 adults and 2,124 teenagers nationwide. Researchers used online and telephone surveys within the continental 48 states.

Posted: 9/29/06

Book Reviews

Terrify No More by Gary A. Haugen with Gregg Hunter (W Publishing Group)

According to National Geographic, about 27 million slaves live in our modern-day world. These slaves range from girls as young as 5 years old, forced to sell their bodies in the sex-trafficking underworld, to whole families bound to toil away their lives making bricks or cigarettes in South Asia and other regions.

The four-fold purpose of International Justice Mission and its teams of investigators, undercover operatives and attorneys is to venture into the shady corners of the globe to rescue people helpless and oppressed by bondage, to bring the perpetrators of abuse to justice, to minister to the victims through compassionate aftercare and to change communities so the injustices no longer are acceptable.

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

Join Gary Haugen, International Justice Mission’s president and founder, as he takes readers through both heart-breaking and exciting real-life journeys into the darkness of evil to radiate the light of God’s truth and grace by “defending the fatherless and the oppressed in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more” (Psalm 10:18).

Greg Bowman,

minister to students

First Baptist Church

Duncanville

A Time to Mend by Angela Hunt (Steeple Hill)

In A Time to Mend, Christy Award-winner Angela Hunt refreshes and revises her 1997 Christian romance, Gentle Touch, a story of healing—body, heart and soul.

At age 27, Jacquelyn Wilkes works as an oncology nurse, a profession and specialty chosen after her mother’s untimely death from breast cancer during the daughter’s teen years. The two-time nurse-of-the-year maintains an aloof distance from her patients and remains at arm’s length from family and friends. All goes smoothly until an outstanding single oncologist joins the hospital staff. Dr. Jonah Martin brings with him an aggressive treatment style, a warm bedside manner, a cold shoulder to the nursing staff and a secret. Nurse Wilkes immediately clashes with the doctor and avoids the handsome physician until she finds herself fighting for her life and chooses Dr. Martin to treat her own breast cancer.

When boyfriend Craig deserts her during those difficult days, Jonah connects Jackie with a terminal patient who helps her return to the faith of her childhood. As the doctor and nurse begin to connect on both personal and professional levels, Jonah’s secret threatens to crush their budding relationship and his blossoming career. Jacquelyn realizes she must find a way to heal her own heart and Jonah’s as well as she draws from her faith and her doctor’s past to change the future.

A quick read, A Time to Mend offers generous doses of romance, breast-cancer information and hope through Christ.

Kathy Robinson Hillman, former president

Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas

Waco

The New American Pioneers: Why Are We Afraid of Mexican Immigrants? by Juan Hernandez (Pneuma Life Publishing)

Juan Hernandez has become a lightening rod for immigration issues as Texas and the United States consider significant immigration reform that must address enhanced border security and the need for a viable guest-worker system.

Hernandez writes from the perspective of dual citizenship in Mexico and the United States and as personal adviser to former Mexico President Vicente Fox. Although the first part of his book reads more as an autobiography, Hernandez effectively moves to illustrate the fears and prejudices surrounding the huge immigration movement from impoverished countries to what is perceived as a “land flowing with milk and honey.”

The concluding section may be the most important, as Hernandez transcends political rhetoric and racial fears to reveal the personal stories of “aliens and immigrants” as people with hopes, dreams and fears common to all of us.

This is an important perspective and a must read as we consider complex immigration issues as reasoned people of faith.

Jim Young,

social justice specialist

Baptist General Convention of Texas

Dallas

Posted: 9/29/06

Baptist Briefs

Arkansas paper could lose independence. Arkansas Baptist leaders will try to turn control of the Arkansas Baptist News over to the state convention staff, replacing the independent board that currently governs the newspaper. A task force, appointed last year by the president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, will make recommendations to the annual convention meeting—including one asking the president of the Arkansas Executive Board and the president of the newspaper board to appoint a committee to discuss the possibility of merging the paper with another publication under the jurisdiction of the state convention’s Executive Board. The constitution and bylaws of the Arkansas convention require the Arkansas Baptist News be governed by a 15-member board of directors. Any recommendation to merge the newspaper into the Executive Board would necessitate a constitutional amendment, which would require approval by a two-thirds majority of messengers at two consecutive state convention meetings. That likely would take until November 2008 to accomplish.

Missouri Baptist executive director survives ouster effort. David Clippard remains executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention, despite an apparent effort to oust him Sept. 22. Following a marathon, closed-door meeting at the convention building in Jefferson City, Executive Board members attempted to quell infighting between the convention’s factions by affirming Clippard and his apparent protagonist, fundamentalist leader Roger Moran. In a press release issued three days after the meeting, Executive Board members confirmed they investigated concerns that had been brought to the board and affirmed Clippard, Moran, the work of the nominating committee Moran chairs, and the convention’s other committees.

President urges SBC to be relevant, seek revival. Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page warned the SBC Executive Committee their denomination must retain its relevancy in a rapidly changing world. “In the eyes of many … we have become an archaic, burdensome bureaucracy that has no relevancy for today or the days to come,” he said. Page called for “a Holy Ghost revival” in the denomination. One obstacle to such revival, he said, is the divisions that exist in the SBC.

Ten percent of Southern Baptist pastors thoroughly Calvinist. One Southern Baptist pastor in 10 considers himself a five-point Calvinist, a survey by LifeWay Research revealed. LifeWay surveyed 413 pastors and discovered 10 percent identify themselves as subscribing to total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace and perseverance of the saints, while 85 percent said they do not consider themselves five-point Calvinists, 4 percent don’t know and 1 percent refused to answer. The research revealed no significant statistical difference in the responses of pastors who are over age 40 and those who are under 40.

Trustee wants tongues addressed in BF&M. A seminary trustee, whose recent chapel sermon was barred from the school’s website because of his comments about speaking in tongues, has asked that the Southern Baptist Convention address the issue in its official confession of faith. Dwight McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington and a trustee at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, sent a letter to SBC President Frank Page and members of the SBC Executive Committee asking them to “initiate a process of addressing and formally adopting a position sanctioned by the SBC in 2007 or 2008 annual meeting, to be included in the Baptist Faith & Message, regarding our position(s) on spiritual gifts, private prayer language and speaking in tongues.”

CBF receives missional church grant. The Waco-based Christ Is Our Salvation foundation has given the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship a $1.5 million grant to transform CBF churches into missional congregations—churches where missions permeates every aspect of congregational life. The grant will be spent over the next three years. Half of the funds will go to congregations who complete the eight-week CBF program “It’s Time: A Journey Toward Missional Faithfulness” and meet other requirements. CBF expects to use the grant money to help churches conduct censuses, which will provide data for identifying and developing specific focus areas in congregations. The grant also will provide for four annual retreats focused on developing congregational ministers among laity. CBF leaders also will work with Baylor University’s Center for Family and Community Ministries to strengthen family life in the church context. The Fellowship also will work with the center to create church-based internships for undergraduate and graduate students.

Posted: 9/29/06

2nd Opinion:
Associations to celebrate milestone

By Stephen Parks & Lynn Parks

Next year marks the 300th anniversary of the first Baptist association in America, Philadelphia Baptist Association, formed in 1707. Baptists created associations to establish doctrinal parameters and fellowship with like-minded believers. Associations provided advice on Baptist practices, helped churches find credentialed ministers and safeguarded doctrinal and ethical integrity. They enabled churches to cooperate geographically in mission, educational and benevolence ventures. For example, Philadelphia Association started Brown University. Philadelphia Association has been the prototype for Southern Baptist associations and conventions since 1707.

By the late 1700s, associations focused on mission work, and new churches sprung up all along the Atlantic seaboard and even west of the Alleghenies. In 1792, in England, William Carey proposed his association send Baptist missionaries to “heathen” populations, and the modern missionary movement was born.

Eventually, Baptists realized they needed larger networks to support expanding mission and benevolence projects. One avenue, missionary societies, received support primarily from individuals. The other avenue was larger associations of churches. So, three associations in South Carolina sent delegates to form the first state convention in 1821. In 1845, the Southern Baptist Convention was formed. Since that time, Southern Baptists have followed the model of cooperation established by associations rather than a societal model.

For more than a century, Baptist work in America had been carried on by churches working together through associations. The advent of state conventions and the Southern Baptist Convention caused many associations to focus on supporting the larger conventions. Many associations came to depend heavily on conventions during the hard times after the Civil War, and as a result, associations largely became promoters of convention initiatives, especially missions. Helping coordinate cooperative efforts between associations and the denomination were “missionaries” or “agents,” forerunners of today’s associational directors of missions. The tendency toward centralization intensified when associations were left out of the funding mechanism of the Cooperative Program in 1925. Missionaries serving associations or districts usually received support, at least in part, by national or state conventions, building a loyalty to promote those causes.

The 1963 Conference on Associational Missions and the 1974 National Convocation on the Southern Baptist Association helped return the focus of associations to fellowship and cooperative efforts among churches in each association, rather than associations primarily as promoters of convention initiatives. These meetings reaffirmed the autonomy of the association and recognized the director of missions as a full member of Southern Baptist mission efforts. Since these two meetings, many associations have experienced renewed vitality in fellowship, meeting the needs of churches and local mission efforts.

When the “conservative resurgence” began in the SBC in the late 1970s, some associations were drawn into the dispute. For example, in some states, when there was a perception that the existing state conventions and associations did not support the SBC enough, new entities were started. The new SBC-aligned Southern Baptists of Texas Convention is an example, and in some places in Texas, new associations have been started among exclusively SBTC churches. However, almost all existing associations have demonstrated that focusing on fellowship, purpose and missions can overcome “political” divisions.

Since Philadelphia Association formed in 1707, many associations have formed, including more than 1,100 associations historically related to the Southern Baptist Convention. For three centuries, the association has remained the most effective Baptist entity for doctrinal accountability, ongoing fellowship and encouragement, local mission and ministry efforts, and communication among churches. There is almost universal recognition that “if national and state conventions ever cease to exist, the local association will still be functioning.”

U.S. Baptist associations will celebrate the 300th anniversary of associations in America in a variety of ways, including a celebration rally in San Antonio June 10, 2007. Paul Stripling, former director of missions for Waco Baptist Association, has written a wonderful historical overview, Turning Points in the History of Baptist Associations in America. For more information on the rally and the book, see the www.sbcadom.net website.

Stephen Parks is chairman of the 2007 Celebration Taskforce for the Southern Baptist Conference of Associational Directors of Missions and is director of missions for Unity Baptist Association in Lufkin. Lynn Parks is director of academic programs at Texas State Technical College in Waco. They are brothers.

Posted: 9/29/06

Counseling center a boon to
Bluebonnet pastors, churches

By George Henson

Staff Writer

NEW BRAUNFELS—Director of Missions J.K. Minton believes pastors shouldn’t be counselors. And unlike most places, pastors in Bluebonnet Baptist Association no longer have to serve in a role for which many feel neither prepared nor called.

“For many years, I have believed and preached that pastors had no business in the counseling business,” he said. “We are not qualified, and that is not our calling. Such pastoral counseling is ineffective and fraught with peril, since the great majority of counselees are women. Enough pastors have slipped into immorality by forming emotional relationships with women during pastoral counseling.

“The more I said that, the more I realized: What’s the alternative? Get fired.”

While he was on a mission trip in Washington, on a ferry crossing the Puget Sound, Minton talked with Ray Still, pastor of Oakwood Baptist Church in New Braunfels, about the need for church-based professional counseling.

Minton describes Still as a man who “doesn’t make impulsive decisions,” but the idea was one he warmed to quickly. Out of that discussion, Oakwood Baptist’s counseling center took shape.

From the start, the ministry has been built on three tenets: That it be biblical in nature, that licensed professionals do the counseling and that it be affordable.

In January 2003, the ministry began seeing clients. And the ministry has far surpassed what anyone dreamed it could be, Minton said.

“I would have thought by now I would have heard from somebody complaining about something, but it just hasn’t happened,” he said.

Earlier this year, the counseling center moved from its facilities at the church to a new building Oakwood bought especially for the counseling center. Its location away from the church provides a greater degree of anonymity to Oakwood members who wish to come for counseling. Celebrate Recovery groups that help people deal with various addictions also meet in the building on Monday evenings and Saturday mornings.

Clients’ problems have run the gamut from marriage and family issues to addictions, grief, depression and mental illness, said Judy Walter, director of the counseling center.

That’s a big reason why the off-site location is important, she noted.

“Confidentiality is such a big thing, and some people don’t want to walk into their church to do counseling,” she pointed out.

The ministry is open to all churches in the association. Counseling is priced at $50 per session.

The person coming for counseling pays $10, and the church that refers them and the association split the remaining cost.

“From the get-go, the effectiveness and response from pastors has been great,” Minton said.

The center also accepts referrals from churches of other denominations and walk-in clients. The need has grown to the degree that eight counselors now serve in the ministry.

Generally, the center is not designed for long-term counseling of clients, Walter said. Most attend sessions for less that six months—some only a couple of sessions.

“Our goal is to walk alongside them, be Jesus to them, until they are emotionally and spiritually strong enough to rely on Jesus on their own,” Walter said.

“All of us have marveled at how many we have seen come to the Lord. The thrust of the program is not evangelism, but it is evangelistic.”

As a pastor, Still has known the benefit of the center first-hand.

“It’s difficult to be doing the ministry you need to be doing in your church and have counseling responsibilities on top of that, especially when you don’t have the training,” he said.

Another benefit is that when pastors counsel a couple or family through a difficult period, the family often soon leaves because they are embarrassed the pastor knows their flaws, Still said. The counseling ministry has alleviated that.

“No one has left the fellowship of the church after coming for counseling,” he said.

While Oakwood has taken the lead in the ministry, Still said it has been a group effort.

“Oakwood had some resources to offer, and to partner those with the other churches in the association has been a good marriage,” he said.

Most importantly, lives are being changed, he said.

“There is a need in many people’s lives for counseling that is not going to be too expensive,” Still said.

Both Minton and Still attributed much of the ministry’s success to Walter’s leadership.

“It’s a wonderful thing when you have a need and God raises up a person to meet that need,” Minton said.

The center saw 57 clients in a recent two-week period. Numbers fluctuate throughout the year, with peak periods even busier.

Still believes the need for this ministry exists in virtually every association. While costs may prevent some associations from starting a counseling ministry, expense hasn’t been a problem in Bluebonnet Association. Once people see lives changed and the marriages of friends reclaimed, they give generously, Still said.

Minton agreed. “God has always covered the gap between what the churches could afford to pay. After it became apparent it was going to happen, the question came up, ‘How are you going to pay for it?’ But it’s never been a question. The money’s always been there.”

If a pastor or a pastor’s family member is the client, the association picks up the share the church would have paid to maintain their privacy.

The center has benefited the entire association, Still said.

“It’s been a huge asset—especially for those on staff. We can direct people to counseling and know they are going to hear what God wants them to hear,” he said.

“It’s been an investment, but it’s a worthy investment into people’s lives. Every association could do this. It might be on a smaller scale, but do this, and it would be a huge benefit.”

Posted: 9/29/06

DOWN HOME:
Language faintly resembles English

The people who made our garage-door opener probably are very smart. And, after five years and almost 115,000 miles of testing their product, I’d say the people who built my car are keenly intelligent.

Unfortunately, English is a language with which they are only vaguely familiar.

This revelation came to me the other night, as I sat in my car, diligently decoding the owner’s manual, then climbing up a ladder to decipher the instructions written on the side of the garage-door opener.

My problem started shortly after Joanna and I bought our new (to us) home and realized we had only one remote control for the door opener. Fortunately—or so I thought—my car has three buttons on the driver’s sun visor that can be “trained” to tell a garage door to open.

Problem is, the engineers who made these gadgets don’t come along to “train” the driver of my car.

So, I started the car (the first, and last, clear instructions in the owner’s manual) and began to push and hold various combinations of buttons. First, I pushed buttons 1 and 3 to “clear” the old settings on my sun visor and waited for the red light to flash. Then I pointed Joanna’s garage-door remote control exactly two inches from the sun visor, and then I pushed more buttons and waited for more red lights. Then I ran up the ladder and pointed the remote at the door opener and then pushed a red button.

Then I tried to open the garage door with my sun visor. Of course, nothing happened.

That’s not true. I wasted an evening and burned several gallons of gas, since—for reasons that defy my nonmechanical logic, the car must be running for the sun visor to open the garage door. Or, in this case, to not open the garage door. I went to bed.

The next day, I called the guy who once worked on our old garage door at our old house. He knows garage-door openers. And he speaks plain English.

“Easy,” he said. “You’re programming the sun visor correctly. But after you punch the red button on the door opener once—just once—then go back and punch the button on your sun visor just once.” Ta-da!

Welcome to the world of the recently moved homeowner. I’ve read reams of instructions, for everything from installing a towel rack, to hanging two-inch blinds, to putting a clock together.

Reading instructions is insurance. I might as well read most instructions in German, French or Japanese. But if anything goes wrong, at least I can say, “Honey, I read the instructions.”

What I really need is someone like the guy at the garage-door opener place, who (a) knows what he’s doing and (b) speaks my language. It’s amazing what you can do when someone who knows what he’s doing tells you clearly how to do it.

My garage-door fiasco and other mechanical-installation blunders have reminded me of my life. I get confused and make a mess of it. And then I finally turn to God, who tells me which buttons to push. Ta-da!

–Marv Knox

Posted: 9/29/06

EDITORIAL:
Take steps to reduce terrorist threat

Did you ever think we would look back at the Cold War as something akin to the good ol’ days?

As a young seminary student, I participated in a peacemaking group. In addition to efforts to ease racial tensions in our community, our primary focus was the nuclear-freeze movement. We wanted to stop proliferation of nuclear warheads by the United States and the Soviet Union. The sobering realization that both countries could annihilate the human race many times over motivated us to write letters to Congress, speak up for arms reduction, and urge Christians and other citizens to join our cause and advocate for peace. As a first-time father, I felt frightened to bring a child into a world where simple miscommunication, to say nothing of malice and aggression, could usher “nuclear winter” across the planet.

A generation later, the Soviet Union has fallen. My children are grown. The “peace movement” is quieter. And, although many of those warheads still exist, most Americans and Russians don’t think much about the Kremlin-to-the-White-House nuclear hotline.

Frankly, I miss the Cold War. I don’t want to go back. But I’d trade today’s terrorism tinderbox for yesterday’s superpower standoff—in the time it takes a suicide bomber to blow himself and his victims to Kingdom Come.

Don’t misunderstand; I’m not diminishing the Cold War or the 70-year Soviet reign of terror. But the nature of totalitarianism capped the number and kind of would-be despots. We learned this in Eastern Europe after the Iron Curtain fell. Now, like a broken hornets’ nest, the forces that would wreak havoc worldwide are unstable, on the loose, angry and aggressive.

In addition to absence of a superpower that keeps political/military leaders in line, several factors make today’s situation more unbalanced and dangerous. Communication, of course, is a key. The Internet facilitates recruiting, indoctrinating, training, mobilizing and activating terrorists. Globalism has flattened the borders and boundaries between nations and cultures. People move about much more frequently and easily, enabling access—to leaders who whip them into fanaticism, as well as to victims who die in their wake. You can come up with other factors in this equation: From the convenience of a practically universal language, English, to the speed and ease of travel, to the affront of Western media’s hedonism upon Eastern sensibilities.

This last factor points toward the most important variable in the calculus that makes today’s global terrorism more dangerous than yesterday’s Cold War: Religion.

Communism was cold and calculating. Islamic extremism is hot and incendiary. Muslim clerics who recruit terrorists not only distort Christianity and Judaism, but they also exploit every weakness, every simple statement, every moral failure and every uncomfortable word of truth. They even misrepresent their own scriptures and religious history to fan flames of hatred and animosity.

Consider the vitriol and violence triggered when Pope Benedict cited a 14th century emperor’s statement that Mohammed’s influence was “evil and inhuman.” Never mind that he twice stressed these words were not his own. Never mind that he invited Muslims to the table of faith and reason. Never mind that he apologized. Still, as the Wall Street Journal reports, Benedict prompted a vicious response: Iraqi terrorists called for attacks on the Vatican. A Somalian cleric said Muslims should “hunt down” and kill the pope. A nun was gunned down in Mogadishu. Pakistan’s parliament condemned the pope.

This might seem far-off and exotic. But since we know terrorists fly planes into buildings and wear bombs to blow up civilians, it also seems very near and intensely personal.

Terrorism’s randomness and Islamic extremism’s fanaticism throw us off stride. We think we can’t do anything about it. But we can take at least three steps:

• Pay attention and learn. If you haven’t done so, read the package of articles on Islam in the Sept. 18 Baptist Standard. Read newspapers and magazines. Pay attention to global media, especially from other countries, like the BBC. You never know when an informed word will calm chaos.

• Put flesh on ideology. Get to know Muslims, and let them get to know a Christian—you. In Texas these days, you don’t have to look far. Personal experience will change perspectives and provide a platform for progress.

• Pray. Don’t have faith enough to pray that Osama bin Laden and other terrorist leaders will become Christians? Then pray they will live by the higher tenets of their own faith. Prayer brought down the Iron Curtain; perhaps it will part the Fanatic Veil.

Posted: 9/29/06

Texas Baptist schools
recognized in national rankings

U.S. News & World Report recognized eight universities affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas in its annual ranking of colleges across the country.

Baylor University, Dallas Baptist University, East Texas Baptist University, Hardin-Simmons University, Houston Baptist University, Howard Payne University, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and Wayland Baptist University recently were recognized by the publication.

ETBU was ranked 11th in the category “Best Comprehensive Colleges-Bachelor’s” category in the western portion of the nation. It also was named second-best “Great School, Great Prices” in that category.

“To be ranked No. 2 in the ‘Great Schools, Great Prices’ category is a tremendous honor,” ETBU President Bob Riley said. “This demonstrates that we are offering excellent academic programs at an affordable price. We are also proud of the No. 11 position in the ‘comprehensive colleges’ category. To be recognized by peer institutions as a quality university is always significant, and I am so proud of our university and the progress we are making.”

Howard Payne ranked 16th in the “Best Comprehensive Colleges-Bachelor’s” category in the West. The school was named the 16th “Top School” and ninth “Best Value” for the same category.

“We are very pleased Howard Payne continues to be recognized as a ‘Top School,’” HPU President Lanny Hall said. “We are especially proud to be viewed within the top 10 institutions of the ‘Best Value’ category of comprehensive bachelor’s degree-granting institutions in the West.”

Hardin-Simmons was selected as the 38th best master’s degree-granting schools in the West, a jump from 42nd a year ago.

“We are extremely pleased to be so highly rated by U.S. News,” Hardin-Simmons President Craig Turner said. “Peer institutions see the continued successes and innovations at HSU—ATS accreditation of our seminary, endowment of our honors program, funding of the magnet school, record enrollment, surpassing our university endowment goal a year early—and they recognize that great things are happening at our school.”

Houston Baptist was named the 49th best master’s degree-granting university in the West. The school also placed 11th among colleges and universities in its category.

Mary Hardin-Baylor was named 58th best master’s degree-granting university in the West. Dallas Baptist was selected the 61st best school in the same category. Wayland Baptist was ranked in the third tier of this category. Wayland ranked No. 6 in the West for master’s universities in the magazine’s “Great Values” listing.

The magazine ranked Baylor 81st out of 248 top doctorate-granting universities, and its undergraduate engineering program ranked 20 nationally. Baylor’s business undergraduate program was named 60th best in the country, and the entrepreneurship undergraduate program ranked 14th best in the nation.

“It’s quite gratifying for Baylor Engineering and Computer Science faculty and students to be recognized by their peers as a national Top 20 program,” said Benjamin Kelley, dean of Baylor’s School of Engineering and Computer Science. “This ranking is quite an achievement. Our aspirations are to move well into the top 10, and we are anxious to continue taking the steps to get there.”

Posted: 9/29/06

Board examines total expected
BGCT 2007 expenditures

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS—The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board not only recommended a $50.6 million 2007 budget proposal, but also looked at total anticipated expenditures from all sources during a Sept. 25-26 meeting in Dallas.

For the first time, the Executive Board examined all expected expenditures for the coming year, including allocated funds from investments and interest income from designated wills and trusts—a responsibility performed by the Administrative Committee prior to changes in the convention’s governance.

“The $50.6 million budget recommendation is based on our best projection of sustainable, expected receipts,” Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer David Nabors explained.

The recommended budget grew out of a “modified zero-based budget” proposal process developed by the BGCT research and development office, he said. Excluding personnel expenses, that meant “building the budget from the ground up,” he said.

All line items in the budget not related to personnel began at zero. Staff submitted 404 proposals justifying each program area, and the BGCT executive leadership team evaluated each in light of anticipated revenue and the convention’s vision, values and priority statements, Nabors said.

Beyond the expected $50.6 million in receipts, Nabors explained the reorganization and revamped budgeting process made necessary additional “bridge funding” for the next year.

In addition to the budget, about $1.16 million in designated and discretionary funds will help fund operations in 2007, bringing the sub-total to $51.76 million, he said.

“In 2008, we should not require those kinds of supplements,” he said.

Nabors also showed the board total anticipated funds his office expects to process in the next year. Add another anticipated $5 million from the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions, $2.96 million in investment earnings and $33.6 million in worldwide gifts that pass through the BGCT, and the anticipated 2007 total exceeds $93.4 million.

Of the $5 million anticipated from the Mary Hill Davis Offering, about $3.68 million would be spent by the BGCT according to allocations approved by the Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas board, and $1.1 million would provide the Texas WMU budget. The rest would go to BGCT-affiliated institutions for approved missions causes.

Messengers to the BGCT annual meeting, Nov. 13-14 in Dallas, will consider the $50.6 million budget that includes:

• $23.98 million (47.4 percent of the budget) for institutional ministries, theological education and collegiate work, compared to $23.58 million (47.7 percent) in 2006.

• $6.26 million (12.4 percent) for financial management, including finance and accounting, human resources, information technology and facilities services, compared to $6.06 million (12.3 percent) in 2006.

• $4.9 million (9.7 percent) for missions, evangelism and ministry, compared to $5.6 million (11.4 percent) in 2006.

• $4.9 million (9.7 percent) for congregational strategists, church starters and affinity group strategists, compared to $4.7 million (9.5 percent) in 2006.

• $2.19 million (4.3 percent) for communications, including annual meeting planning, compared to $1.76 million (3.6 percent) in 2006.

• $1.5 million (3 percent) for congregational leadership, compared to $1.27 million (2.6 percent) in 2006.

• $1.24 million (2.5 percent) for the executive director’s office, including $382,758 for the WorldconneX missions network, compared to $1.46 million (3 percent) in 2006.

• $1.1 million (2.2 percent) for a service center, compared to $1 million (2 percent) in 2006.

It also includes $987,520 for the Christian Life Commission, $876,980 for Texas Baptist Men, $764,076 for research and development, $672,293 for the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation, $618,751 for associational missions and $550,560 for the chief operating officer’s office.

The $50.6 million budget represents about a 2.3 percent increase over 2006. The board approved $306,000 for merit salary increases and benefits increases for BGCT Executive Board staff. That does not include the executive leadership team, who declined any raises this year, or personnel who were promoted to administrative posts in the reorganization and consequently received salary increases in 2006.

Texas Baptist Cooperative Program giving would provide the bulk of the budget—$42.4 million. Another 7.26 million is expected from interest on invested assets, wills and trusts.

In addition, $802,428 would come from the North American Mission Board, in keeping with cooperative agreements between the BGCT and the mission board, to help fund church starting, missions, evangelism and some theological education initiatives.

Another $81,634 would come from fees, and $12,488 would come from the Mary Hill Davis Offering for missions-related items as approved by the Texas WMU board.

The proposed budget reflects a comprehensive staff reorganization that took place this year, which makes it difficult to compare the 2007 spending plan with the previous year, Nabors noted.

However, a look at the total funds available—$49.4 from the budget and a board-approved $1.77 million advance from interest on wills and trusts in 2006, compared to $50.6 million from the proposed budget and about $1.16 million from non-budget sources in 2007—shows a $546,919 increase in 2007.

For example, the adjusted figures—adding in non-budget money that includes board-allocated funds from previous years, Mary Hill Davis Offering allocations for specific missions items and investment earnings—show estimated 2007 expenses of:

• $24.21 million for institutional ministries and collegiate ministries.

• $7.72 million for congregational strategists, church starters and affinity group strategists.

• $6.92 million for missions, evangelism and ministry.

• $1.53 million for congregational leadership.

• $1.12 million for the service center.

• $1.04 million for the Christian Life Commission.

Looking only at the budget, mission, evangelism and ministry shows a $700,667 decline from 2006. Combine it with another missions-oriented program area—congregational strategists, church starters and affinity group strategists—and the 2007 totals still fall $492,412 short of 2006.

But compare the adjusted 2006 figures with the adjusted 2007 proposed expenditures—including allocated funds and assuming the Mary Hill Davis Offering goal is met—and the two areas combined gain $108,648.

David Cooke of First Baptist Church in Devine asked about personnel reductions, particularly singling out the elimination of posts held by Missional Church Director Milfred Minatrea, Community Missions Director Jim Young and City Core Initiative Specialist Tommy Goode.

BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade called the cuts “painful, difficult decisions.” While the elimination of three high-profile posts at one time captured attention around the state, they were not the only positions cut during the process of reorganization, he noted.

Community ministry tasks are being reassigned to other personnel, the missional church assignment will become one portion of another employee’s job description and the City Core Initiative was a two-year pilot plan—later extended to a third year—that leaders decided to discontinue, he explained.

Wade acknowledged he and others are “still trying to figure out the best way” to handle personnel transitions, and he pledged to strive for continued improvement. “I still feel we made the best decision in each case,” he said.

Several directors on the Executive Board raised questions about the budget development process, board input into the process and the flow of information to the board. Some directors specifically expressed concern that they first learned about the budget from articles in the Baptist Standard.

Debbie Ferrier of San Antonio, chair of the board’s Administration Support Committee, noted beginning next year, the finance sub-committee will meet at least one month prior to the board, rather than on the morning immediately preceding the board meeting.

That will allow the sub-committee time to review staff recommendations, make any changes members consider necessary and then send its budget proposal—not just the staff’s recommendations—to directors in advance of the board meeting.

In his report to the board, Wade noted changes in BGCT governance, staff structure and budget-making processes have been a challenging period of “growing pains” and transition.

“It has not been easy to negotiate this time of change, and it is still not comfortable for everyone. But it is getting better as outlines begin to take on more definition and the results begin to be visible,” he said.

Looking ahead Wade pledged the staff would “work hard to make the new organization function effectively … (to) … encourage, facilitate and connect churches in their work to fulfill God’s mission of reconciling the world to himself.” Starting churches and strengthening churches will be top priority, he promised.

Texas Baptists also “must develop a comprehensive mission vision that has as its theme ‘To Texas and beyond,’” he added. “From Texas, we can, and we must, touch the world.”

Posted: 9/29/06

Veteran missions leader
Fenner to be nominated for VP

By Marv Knox

Editor

DALLAS—Veteran missions leader Joy Fenner will be nominated for first vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas when the BGCT holds its annual meeting in Dallas Nov. 13-14.

Fenner, a former missionary to Japan who later served 20 years as executive director-treasurer of Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas, will be nominated by Ed Hogan, pastor of Jersey Village Baptist Church in Houston.

“I’m nominating Joy Fenner for first vice president because I’ve known her for a long time, and the issues that unite Baptists the most are evangelism and missions,” Hogan said.

“It’s imperative that we set missions and evangelism as our priority, and Joy clearly represents that emphasis.

“As a lifetime missionary and Woman’s Missionary Union leader, she represents the very best of what it means to be involved in missions.” Fenner also possesses leadership qualities required to guide the BGCT in a “post-conflict era,” Hogan said, noting the convention has set its course toward missions, evangelism, church-starting and other ministries in the wake of a bruising split almost a decade ago.

“Increasingly, it’s important for officers to understand the convention—how it functions—and Joy understands very well the convention and how to effectively get things done,” he noted. “Joy also has a great deal of maturity. She has earned trust and respect of Texas Baptists through decades of work.”

With Fenner’s track record for leadership, Texas Baptists will know exactly what they’re getting when they elect her first vice president, Hogan added.

“The best indicator of future behavior is previous behavior,” he said. “Joy always has been a leader. She’s currently a leader, so I have confidence she will lead well in the future.”

In addition to her convention leadership, Fenner also is committed to the local church, Hogan stressed. “She has been very involved in her church, Gaston Oaks in Dallas. And even though she’s been very involved in denominational work, she’s never lost sight of the importance of church at the local level.”

Reflecting on her nomination, Fenner said she resonates with Texas Baptists’ missions spirit.

“I have never sought any nomination for anything. Yet I am willing to serve, should Texas Baptists so choose,” she said. “I’m very grateful to Texas Baptists (for) their support of missions, and basically, that’s why I am willing to serve.”

Through her influence as a convention officer, Fenner said, she would seek to strengthen the BGCT’s missions involvement.

“My passion is for our churches to reach beyond themselves in missions and ministry, globally and locally. Ministry validates our witness,” she said. “Today, there are so many ways churches can be intimately involved in missions—to touch the world. I don’t have an agenda, but that’s my passion.”

At one level, Texas Baptists’ commitment to missions reflects good stewardship, she added.

“Texas Baptists have been blessed, very blessed, with personnel, finances and the giftedness of our people. I want to see these used beyond ourselves. That is not to say we’re not doing this, but we need more intensity and intentionality.”

The task of convention leaders is to “lift the challenge,” she said. “Texas Baptists need to see something that’s bigger than we are, something we can get excited about.”

As a convention officer, Fenner would seek to involve the diversity of Texas Baptists—representing “gender, culture and persuasions of theology”—in their common tasks and commitments, she noted.

Such an emphasis would complement the missions agenda outlined by Steve Vernon, the only announced candidate for BGCT president, she said.

Vernon, the convention’s current first vice president and pastor of First Baptist Church in Levelland, has said he wants to focus Texas Baptists’ vision on missions, she recalled.

The BGCT’s recent reorganization, which has captivated the attention of convention officers for about the past three years, will have the net impact of strengthening missions, Fenner predicted, noting, “The restructuring emphasis will enable us to do this greater thing.”

Fenner led Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas from 1981 to 2001, when she became executive director emeritus.

Previously, she and her husband, Charlie, were Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board missionaries to Japan from 1967 through 1980. Before that, she was Girls Auxiliary director of Texas WMU and secretary at First Baptist Church in Marshall. In retirement, she was interim executive director-treasurer of Tennessee Woman’s Missionary Union.

Fenner was the BGCT’s second vice president in 2000-01.

She is a member of the Baylor University School of Social Work board of advocates, Woman’s Missionary Union Foundation board of trustees, East Texas Baptist University board of trustees, Seinan Gakuin 4-L Foundation board of directors and Helping Hands Ministries board of directors.

Fenner is a native of Avinger in Cass County and attended Paris Junior College and East Texas Baptist College. She received an honorary doctorate from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and was named an honorary alumnus of Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary. She served on the president’s advisory council at Baptist University of the Americas.

She is WMU director at Gaston Oaks Baptist Church. The church’s resident membership last year was 551, and it baptized seven new Christians. Total receipts were $659,109, and the church contributed $61,598 to the Cooperative Program unified budget. Its total missions allocation was $107,875.

Posted: 9/29/06

Gardner Taylor still preaching with power at age 88

By Kim Lawton

Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

RALEIGH, N.C. (RNS)—He’s 88 years old and technically retired. But Gardner Taylor still shows the preaching skills that place him on virtually every list of America’s greatest contemporary preachers.

As a guest preacher in pulpits across the nation, Taylor continues to charm—and enlighten—worshippers as he has for more than six decades. But he says preaching always is a tenuous endeavor.

“It is quickly lost,” he recently told the PBS show Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

“It’s uttered, heard and sometimes lost. But it is the mystery of preaching that it survives and that it has survived so much of our bad preaching.”

By most accounts, little bad preaching can be traced to Taylor. “He almost single-handedly has elevated and made visible great preaching,” said Richard Lischer, who teaches preaching at Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C.

In addition, Lischer said, Taylor “is one of the first (African-American preachers) whose influence crossed over into the realm of white homiletics and white preaching.”

Taylor was born in Baton Rouge, La., in 1918. Growing up, he didn’t want to follow in his minister-father’s footsteps.

“I wanted to be a lawyer, but no person of color had been admitted to the Louisiana bar, ever,” he recounted. “And when I told an old family friend … that I wanted to be a lawyer, he said, ‘Where you gonna practice, the middle of the Mississippi River?’”

Taylor ended up at Oberlin College’s School of Theology in Ohio, where he discovered he had his father’s gift for speaking.

“Both of my grandparents were slaves, and neither could read nor write,” he said.

“But somehow he (his father) had this feeling for the melody of the English language, and I inherited it.”

In 1948, Taylor and his wife, Laura, moved to Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, where he spent the next 42 years until his retirement in 1990. His eloquence and intelligence led to national prominence.

“He manages to keep an enormous range of rhetorical skill under tight, disciplined control, so that when you’re listening to a Gardner Taylor sermon, you feel like something is about to break out or explode,” Lischer said.

During the civil rights era of the 1950s and 1960s, Taylor played a key role in raising money in the North to support the Southern churches’ efforts. Together with Martin Luther King Jr., he pushed the black Baptist establishment to get more involved in the movement. That conflict led to founding a new denomination, the Progressive National Baptist Convention.

Taylor and King were close friends and often spent their vacations together. But King never talked about his personal struggles, Taylor said.

“I did not realize the pressures this man was under,” Taylor said. “There were threats on his life constantly. He lived under that shadow day by day, and as I look back upon his years, I wonder how he managed.”

Taylor was King’s “role model of how one employs the Scripture in order to use its great themes to preach the gospel of freedom for all humanity,” Lischer said.

Even after the great civil rights struggle waned, Taylor remained active in social issues and the political process. Looking back, he admits he at times may have been too involved with partisan politics. But Taylor also worries many contemporary churches have lost their prophetic edge, focusing more on personal prosperity than on issues like poverty and injustice.

“I think the church today in America partakes of the contemporary disease of ‘let me alone, I want to get along, and I don’t want to be bothered with too many things,’ and I think that’s in the churches,” he said. “When the pulpit becomes an echo of the pew, it loses, I think, almost all of its reasons for existence.”

Taylor believes that as he’s aged, his preaching has begun to reflect more about the frailty of human life. That was tragically brought home in 1995, when Laura, his wife of 55 years, died after being hit by a truck. He has since remarried and settled in Raleigh.

This past spring, Taylor taught a preaching class at nearby Shaw University, telling the students: “You do not want to be known as a great preacher. You do want to strive for people to feel when you have tried to preach what a great gospel it is.”

Taylor keeps busy, but in recent years he’s also begun to practice what 19th-century British pastor Alexander Maclaren called “sitting silent before God.”

“This is not praying. It is not reading. It is just opening oneself,” he said. “It’s a mystic kind of thing. But we do so little of it, and we who preach are likely to engage ourselves in so many things and neglect that aspect of being open to what God has to say. I wish to heaven I had practiced this more early on in my ministry.”

The older he gets, he said, the more he relies on God’s promise of eternal life.

“I’m 88, and I lean much more upon the promises, because I need them” he said. “I guess I always needed them, … but I feel the need of them more.”