Posted: 4/25/08

DOWN HOME:
A lesson learned while pulling weeds

Every once in awhile, I stare face-to-face into the reality I have become someone very different than the little boy I used to be.

Of course, I’m still me. Yet the line of continuity between the boy I was and the man I am somehow unraveled along the way. I think it happened out in the yard.

When I was a kid, if you’d given me the option between pulling weeds or getting spanked by Daddy every day for a week, I would’ve bent over and grabbed my ankles.

Back then, Baptists believed in spanking. Unfortunately, I got my share, probably because I was the oldest child. Oh, yeah, and probably because I had ’em coming. (However, I developed a theory that corporal punishment related proportionally to birth order. Maybe parents became more permissive with each new child. Or maybe their arms just wore out.)

Anyway, I would’ve preferred a paddling to pulling weeds. I remember once, when Mother commissioned me to the back yard to pull weeds, I imagined I’d been unjustly sentenced to “a fate worser’n death.” So, there I crouched, in the middle of a lawn full of dandelions, singing my made-up version of an old-time hymn: “When we do the best we can, and they do not understand/They will understand it better bye and bye.”

Ironically, I was as surprised as a Judean shepherd a couple of weekends ago, when I found myself crouching in the middle of a flower bed on the east side of our garage, pulling weeds like nobody’s business. And having fun.

“This can’t be right,” I thought. “I should feel sorry for myself.”

But I just kept pulling away, happy as the spiders, doodlebugs, earthworms and slugs that shared their little patch of heaven with me.

I haven’t figured out exactly why I enjoy pulling weeds. Maybe because I spend nearly all day every day making decisions, and in the yard, all the decisions are pre-made: Keep on weeding, pruning and trimming until nothing is left to weed, prune and trim. Or maybe because progress in the “real world” develops slowly, but in the yard, you can tell exactly what you’ve done for the past three hours. And, to quote the Lord’s response to creation, “It is good.”

The other possibility—and I’d guess this was at least one of Mother and Daddy’s motives for dispatching me to the yard—is that I’ve learned many disciplines of ordinary life are both good and good for you. Like pulling weeds.

This thought occurred to me one morning after a weed-pulling session, as I sat down to read my Bible and pray. When I was a kid, life seemed too short to take time for daily devotions. Now, life seems too long not to take that time.

And on really good mornings, when I am silent before God, I realize the weeding, pruning, trimming hands of my Maker turn my life far more than my hands ever turn my garden.

–Marv Knox

Posted: 4/25/08

EDITORIAL:
Reversal builds case for moratorium

Ironically, Thomas Clifford McGowan Jr. became a free man the same day the U.S. Supreme Court freed states to resume executions.

McGowan’s case illustrates why Texas and other states should maintain a moratorium on capital punishment.

McGowan was a 26-year-old day laborer in 1985, when a 19-year-old rape victim picked his picture out of a police lineup. Tentative at first, when pressed for a decision by a police officer, the young woman said McGowan was the man who raped her.

So, McGowan went to prison for more than 22 years—almost half his life. This spring, DNA tests proved McGowan did not commit the crime. Judge Susan Hawk recommended McGowan go free, and he’s out of jail while the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals considers Hawk’s decision. He became the 16th Dallas County inmate to be exonorated by DNA tests during the past seven years.

The same day McGowan walked free, the Supreme Court ruled the three-step process Kentucky uses to administer capital punishment does not violate the Constitution’s ban on “cruel and unusual punishment.” The ruling virtually freed states to move forward with lethal injection as a method of execution.

Fortunately, McGowan’s wrongful conviction couldn’t earn him the death penalty. He might have died an innocent man.

Strong advocates of the death penalty might counter that McGowan was not sentenced to execution, so his case has no bearing on capital punishment. Of course, they would be wrong.

McGowan’s case illustrates the fallibility of the U.S. justice system, which is fallible simply because human beings are fallible. Problem is, a mistake that takes a person’s life is irreversible. And courtroom mistakes do happen.

Nationwide, 215 people convicted of crimes have been exonerated by DNA evidence, according to The Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to reversing wrongful convictions. Sixteen of the people who have been exonerated spent time on Death Row. Without intervention, they could have been executed for crimes they did not commit.

Thirty-two states have exonerated convicts. Texas leads the way, with 31 reversals. As science improves, the pace of exonerations increases. In the first 11 years DNA-based exonerations were possible, 63 people were set free. In the past eight years, 152 wrongful convictions were overturned.

The Innocence Project identifies at least seven causes of wrongful conviction. Those causes and the number of cases involving Texans are eyewitness identification, 24; unreliable/limited science, 9; false confessions, 3; forensic science misconduct, 4; government misconduct, 3; informants/snitches, 2; and bad lawyering, 0. (The number totals more than 31, because some cases involved multiple causes.)

While many Christians—for theological reasons—are among the strongest advocates of capital punishment, the McGowan case should prompt Christians and other citizens of goodwill to promote a moratorium on capital punishment. Several reasons stand out:

• We seek justice. Justice for murderers is one of the strongest arguments for capital punishment. But in light of so many wrongful convictions, justice should be an equally strong argument for refraining. Putting an innocent person to death is the ultimate act of injustice that can be imposed by the state.

• Life is precious. Set aside whatever you think about actual murderers and rapists, we cannot contend anything but that the lives of people who are wrongfully convicted are precious and should be protected, even if the guilty die in prison of old age instead of on a gurney by lethal injection.

• We say we love others and want them to go to heaven. Then how can we consider the possibility of wrongfully sending an innocent person to eternity in hell?

Posted: 4/25/08

Faith Digest:
Bible tops America’s bookshelf

The Bible is the favorite book of all time for American adults, regardless of demographic group, according to a new 2008 Harris Interactive Poll. Researchers said it’s rare to find such consensus among Americans, regardless of gender, education level, geographic location, race, ethnicity or age. Yet, more than 2,500 Americans who responded to an online poll agreed the Bible is their No. 1 favorite book. The poll also found political affiliation did not affect reading preference. Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike agreed on the Bible and Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind as their top two favorite books. Other top five choices were Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling and The Stand by Stephen King. Rounding out the top ten were The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

Former bishop elected Paraguay president. A former Roman Catholic bishop was elected president of Paraguay after being criticized by his church for running for the office. Fernando Lugo, 56, defeated the Colorado Party, which had reigned in the country 62 years. The Vatican opposes clergy members holding political office and had demanded that Lugo halt his political pursuits. Lugo said he resigned from the church and no longer must follow its laws. His five-year term begins Aug. 15.

Judge torches pot smoker’s religious claim. Robert George Henry told a Pennsylvania judge smoking marijuana is vital to his efforts to connect with God. But 10 seconds after Henry finished testifying, Judge Edgar B. Bayley dismissed a motion Henry filed seeking to avoid prosecution on drunken driving and drug possession charges on religious grounds, claiming the U.S. Constitution’s protection of the free exercise of religion includes drug use. Henry joined the Hawaii Cannabis Ministry, which promotes marijuana use for religious enlightenment, and was ordained as a minister of the Universal Life Church after his arrest. He argued that if children can drink wine during Holy Communion, he should be able to smoke pot in his search for God.

National observance includes fly-over prayers. On the National Day of Prayer, petitions to God will be made from the ground and from the air. Plans for the annual observance, on May 1, include private pilots who intend to fly and pray over all 50 state capitols. Tens of thousands of events, organized through a Colorado-based task force, will be held in churches, on courthouse steps and in parks. Organizers range from military members to teenagers. For the first time, the event will be marked at a memorial chapel in Shanksville, Pa., which commemorates the 9/11 crash site of United Flight 93. Christian scholar Ravi Zacharias is the 2008 honorary chairman. He will address observances on Capitol Hill and at the Pentagon. The National Day of Prayer was established by Congress in 1952 and is observed on the first Thursday of May.

Posted: 4/25/08

Scholars cast critical eye on Graham’s legacy

By Cecile S. Holmes

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Ecumenist, prophet, peacemaker. Friend of presidents and queens. Evangelical powerbroker who was sometimes too closely tied to politicians. Each description applies to Billy Graham.

An official 1991 biography by William Martin called America’s foremost evangelist a Prophet With Honor. The editors of a new book largely agree, but not without casting a more critical eye on Graham’s remarkable career.

There are many reasons to appreciate Graham, say the authors of The Legacy of Billy Graham without granting him iconic status.

The book examines Graham’s political influence, his relationships with Richard Nixon and other American presidents, his views on women, sexual ethics and poverty, and the content and style of his preaching.

And while it notes the moderation that came with age, the book’s 14 essays nonetheless ask critical questions about whether Graham could have done more to harness the power of his popularity to address public concerns.

“Graham’s admirers frequently speak of his moral integrity, and they are right to note his efforts to lead a ministry without Elmer Gantry lurking in the background,” says Michael G. Long, editor of Legacy and an assistant professor of religious studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania.

“But if we’re honest about his legacy, we’ll also recognize that Graham was shockingly deceptive when he told us that his relationship with Richard Nixon was primarily spiritual.”

Like some others who have listened to the Nixon tapes, Long concludes Graham rarely discussed spiritual matters with Nixon in the Oval Office. Indeed, Graham apologized in 2002 for telling Nixon that Jews held a “stranglehold” on the country.

Graham, now 89 and in failing health, has retired to his home in his beloved mountains of western North Carolina. His public ministry has been taken up by his son, Franklin, who displays some of the edgy fire of his father’s early years.

J. Philip Wogaman, the former pastor to President Bill Clinton and now a professor at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, noted the opportunities facing Graham as the man who “has spoken directly, in person, to more people than anybody else in human history”—an estimated 110 million around the world.

“Could he not have said more? Could he not have created more sympathy for the marginalized and stigmatized and thus effected more lasting change?” asks Wogaman.

The essayists noted the simplicity of Graham’s message. Time and again, listeners at his crusades were shown a world on the brink of disaster, a world that might only be saved by each person committing his or her life to Christ.

“Starting as a raw-boned fundamentalist, Graham ma-tured and broadened and soon became much more than the icon of evangelicals,” writes Harvey Cox of Harvard University. “Polls showed him to be the most respected religious leader in the country. Still as he shook off his early shell, his actions took a prophetic turn.”

That turn included cooperating with more liberal Christian denominations in many crusades. And though he neither joined demonstrations nor went to jail over civil rights, Graham insisted his crusades—even in the South—would not be segregated. Later, he called for the abolition of all nuclear weapons after visiting behind the Iron Curtain.

Thomas G. Long, a professor at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, noted Graham’s enduring popularity—and power—in a changing world.

“In a windstorm of changing values and shifting circumstances, Graham is the still point in the American moral universe,” Long says. “He has maintained for six decades the same message, the same seemingly untroubled convictions, the same unblemished ethical record. In an age of anxiety, he calms the national soul.”

The breadth of Graham’s legacy can be seen in both the emerging Christian left, with its hope of alleviating poverty, and the Christian right, with its push for a socially conservative public agenda. Both could evoke Graham as spiritual forebear, Long says.

“Graham is worth studying and remembering because he is the face of American noninstitutionalized religiosity,” says Long. “When Americans are in their private chapels, or none, they believe very different things, but when they come together in the public square, they believe essentially a version of what Billy preaches.”

Posted: 4/25/08

Court dismisses Baptist church-state case

By Adelle M. Banks

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—A federal court has dismissed a 10-year-old legal challenge brought by Kentucky taxpayers who questioned government funding of a Baptist social service agency.

The case involving Sunrise Children’s Services, formerly known as Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children, initially centered on the dismissal of Alicia Pedreira, who the agency learned was a lesbian. In 2001, a federal judge in Louisville, Ky., dismissed her claims of religious discrimination.

Pedreira and other taxpayers continued the suit, claiming that public funds were used for services “infused with the teachings of the Baptist faith.”

Citing a recent Supreme Court decision, the same judge again ruled in favor of the agency, saying taxpayers did not demonstrate standing, or their right to sue the government.

In Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation, the Supreme Court ruled taxpayers affiliated with an atheist group did not have standing to challenge President Bush’s faith-based initiative.

“We find that the claim of the taxpayers in this case is comparable to that in Hein,” wrote U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Simpson III in a recent opinion.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American Civil Liberties Union had represented the taxpayers in the case.

Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, called the decision “a very sweeping reading of what I thought was a narrow ruling by the Supreme Court last year.”

Posted: 4/25/08

Mission Lubbock fights
hunger, delivers hope

By Kaitlin Chapman

Texas Baptist Communications

UBBOCK—When people think of Lubbock, they think of unending cotton fields, hearty dust storms, flat plains and Texas Tech football. Few think of people like Cheryl Tannery.

Tannery, who raised three boys as a single mom, is just one of thousands of people in the Lubbock area who have been stricken by poverty and experienced hunger firsthand. But Mission Lubbock has stepped in to help rebuild the lives of people in need by providing food, clothing and furniture and showing hope that only can come from Christ.

“People just need to understand that there are people going to bed at night without food,” said Judy Cooper, director of Mission Lubbock and multihousing coordinator for the Lubbock Area Baptist Association.

“There are children who are leaving school on Friday and not having another meal until Monday when they get back to school. We are trying to help make a difference in that.”  

When Cooper started Mission Lubbock two years ago, her focus was to provide clothing and other household items. Soon she found there was a greater need—food.

“We realized that so many of the people we were trying to minister to had nothing,” Cooper said. “We had to meet the need that they had before they would ever listen to what we had to share about Jesus and how God has worked in our lives.”

That is exactly how Mission Lubbock helped Tannery, who came to the ministry in October looking for food. Meeting Tannery’s immediate needs provided Cooper and the other volunteers an open door to love, encourage and pray for her.

“I came in, and I asked if they were hiring,” Tannery said. “They said ‘no,’ but they needed volunteers. I said I’ll be back, and I’ve been working with them ever since. They have been real good to me. They are some good people.”

Tannery, who cleans homes for a living, said the volunteers and ministry of Mission Lubbock made such an impact on her life that she now volunteers her time the two days a week the ministry is open.

“They are like my second family,” Tannery said. They are about “helping the people and doing God’s work. It has changed my life a whole lot.”

In the last year, Mission Lubbock distributed 556 food boxes and assisted more than 1,000 families.

“I feel certain that we will surpass that this year with still being open just two days a week,” Cooper said. “We would like to extend our hours, but we have got to find some funding.”  

Cooper said nearly 60 percent of children in the Lubbock Independent School District are considered impoverished and are on the free- or reduced- lunch program.

“Lubbock does have quite a bit of poverty,” Cooper said. “The deal is they are the working poor. They have jobs. They just don’t get paid enough to make ends meet.”

For 2008, Mission Lubbock was chosen to receive funds from the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger. These funds, as well as donations from individuals and churches, will allow Mission Lubbock to provide food boxes to people in need.

“We just don’t have near enough donations,” said Billie Downing, one of the volunteers who helps run the ministry. “To know we have a fund there—it’s something you can rely on. It’s so nice when people have a need to be able to do more than say, ‘I’ll pray for you.’ And that’s a wonderful thing in God’s economy.”

The Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger supports about 100 ministries around the world by supplying temporary relief for people in need, addressing the causes of hunger and poverty and providing hunger relief and development to children.

For more information, visit www.bgct.org/worldhunger.

Posted: 4/25/08

Missouri Baptist groups
agree to peace committee

By Bill Webb

Word & Way

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP)—Seven members of rival groups in the Missouri Baptist Convention will go to mediation in an effort to bring about peace within the battle-torn statewide group.

The Missouri Baptist Convention Executive Board voted to create a peace committee that will submit to Christian mediation.

The committee makeup and its methodology were proposed by board member Jody Shelenhamer, a layman from First Baptist Church of Bolivar, Mo., according to convention President Gerald Davidson.

Shelenhamer proposed four members who have been associated with the Missouri Baptist Laymen’s Association. Three others represented a group called Save Our Convention, which has criticized what it calls an inordinate amount of control in convention life by a small group of Laymen’s Association adherents.

The Laymen’s Association led a successful effort in the late 1990s to wrest control of the convention from the moderates that had dominated its leadership.

However, Save Our Convention supporters—many of whom were foot soldiers in the association’s battle against moderates—have taken issue with their former allies on a handful of issues in the past year.

Save Our Convention successfully swept officer elections during last fall’s Missouri Baptist Convention annual meeting. That is proof, they say, that rank-and-file Missouri Baptists have grown weary of intraconservative dissension and of what they say is a tightening of trustee representation on boards and agencies.

All seven members of the committee are men.

The four closely identified with the Laymen’s Association leadership include Roger Moran, the organization’s founder and research director; Jay Scribner, retired pastor of First Baptist Church of Branson, Mo; Jeff White, pastor of South Creek Church in Springfield, Mo.; and Jeff Purvis, pastor of First Baptist Church of Herculaneum-Peveley, Mo.

The Save Our Convention representatives are John Marshall, pastor of Second Baptist Church of Springfield and the current Missouri Baptist Convention second vice president; Bruce McCoy, pastor of Canaan Baptist Church in St. Louis and current first vice president; and Wesley Hammond, pastor of First Baptist Church of Paris, Mo.

Two weeks prior to the board meeting, Laymen’s Association supporter Kent Cochran, a member of Calvary Baptist Church in Republic, Mo., proposed a similar committee, modeled after the 1985 Southern Baptist Convention Peace Committee.

Cochran’s proposal, mailed to every member of the Executive Board, called for a committee to “research the perceptions, activities, expectations, history, present and future of Missouri Baptists focusing particularly on … issues of theology, methodology, political activity and any related matters that involve Missouri Baptist life.”

“I’m hopeful that it will work,” Davidson said. But the effort will have to be more successful than the SBC Peace Committee, which resulted in one side winning and the other withdrawing from the SBC, he said.

Davidson, retired pastor of First Baptist Church of Arnold, Mo., was himself once a supporter of the Laymen’s Association’s efforts to drive moderates out of Missouri Baptist Convention leadership.

However, he became one of Save Our Convention’s organizers last year, and he said he believes the solution to the impasse between Missouri conservatives is not complex.

“We don’t have any big differences except in turning loose and letting Missouri Baptists make Missouri Baptist decisions they think are under the leadership of the Holy Spirit,” Davidson said.

“People have to say: ‘Hey, we’re going to have to quit fighting. I’m tired of all the bickering, fussing and fighting.’”

But, he added, “I am strongly opposed to a handful … taking control” of the convention.

There is no timetable for completion of the committee’s work, he said.

Posted: 4/25/08

On the Move

• Martin Akins to First Church in Bedford as pastor from First Church in Hobbs, N.M.

• Dan Baker to First Church in Amarillo as minister of music from First Church in Saginaw.

• Patrick Berg to First Church in Breckenridge as youth minister.

• Jamey Burrus has resigned as pastor of West Texas Cowboy Church in Midland.

• Oscar Contreras has resigned as pastor of Iglesia La Hermosa in Skidmore.

• Major Dalton to Living Proof Church in Grandview as pastor.

• Red Frye has resigned as administrator of Big Country Assembly in Lueders.

• Sam Griffin to First Church in Levelland as minister to students.

• Bob Hendricks has resigned as pastor of First Church in Pettus.

• Truman Johnson to Bacon Heights Church in Lubbock as pastor of senior adults from First Church in Baird, where he was pastor.

• Paul Kipgen to Pilgrim’s Way Church in Sanger as pastor.

• Brian Lambert to First Church in Breckenridge as pastor.

• Todd Pebbles to Lebanon Church in Cleburne as pastor.

• Curtis Pierce to Cross Pointe Church in Texarkana as minister of youth.

• Greg Robinson to Bluff Dale Church in Bluff Dale as pastor from Sunnyside Church in Wichita Falls.

• Larry Searcy to Big Country Assembly as administrator.

• Larry Soape has resigned as minister of education and administration at First Church in New Braunfels.

• Tank Tankersley has completed an interim pastorate at College View Church in Abilene and moved to San Antonio.

• Mike Tisdal to Deermeadows Church in Jacksonville, Fla., as minister of education from First Church in El Paso.

• Robert Webb has resigned as pastor of Highland Terrace Church in Greenville.

• Doyle White to Eylau Hills Church in Texarkana as minister of music.

Posted: 4/25/08

Key evangelical leaders endorse reconciliation

By Adelle M. Banks

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Several prominent evangelical leaders have endorsed a “Reconciliation Referendum” that says Sen. Barack Obama’s recent address on race did not go far enough and pushes church leaders to speak up more about the need to address racism.

“Opinion leaders in the national media praised the speech as courageous, but the notion that simply more talk is needed will no longer suffice,” the statement said.

“While politicians like Barack Obama and the national media wring their hands over a problem that has persisted in this country nearly 400 years, they offer no solutions to the problem.”

The statement was presented to Christian leaders at a recent meeting in Montgomery, Ala., hosted by “The Call,” a multidenominational movement focused on reconciliation and revival.

More than 350 people have endorsed the statement, which aims to achieve racial reconciliation within the next decade.

Among the signers are Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship; Richard Cizik, vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals; Harry Jackson, founder of the High Impact Leadership Coalition; Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council; and Alveda King, an anti-abortion activist and niece of Martin Luther King Jr.

The statement said the controversy about remarks by Obama’s former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, demonstrates the church needs to do more to address race relations—including prayer, interracial evangelism and addressing poverty.

“The failure of good Christian people to provide a clear and convincing example of racial unity within the church has contributed to the divide between the races in the nation and it only appears to be widening,” the statement says.

“We must recognize that racism is not just a social problem in America; it is also a spiritual problem.”

Posted: 4/25/08

Most Americans believe sin exists;
they just can’t agree which acts are sinful

By Adelle M. Banks

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—The vast majority of Americans believe sin exists, but they differ on which behaviors are sinful, according to a new survey by Ellison Research.

The Phoenix-based marketing research company found 87 percent of Americans believe in the concept of sin. While most Americans think adultery is sinful (81 percent) and consider racism to be a sin (74 percent), far fewer Americans would put gambling (30 percent) or telling a “little white lie” (29 percent) in that category.

A majority agreed other activities described as sinful include:

• Using “hard” drugs, such as cocaine, heroin, LSD—65 percent.

• Not saying anything if a cashier gives you too much change back—63 percent.

• Having an abortion—56 percent.

• Homosexual activity or sex—52 percent.

• Underreporting income on your tax returns—52 percent.

But only 18 percent believe playing the lottery is sinful, and just 16 percent cited failure to tithe—to give 10 percent of income to a church or charity—as sinful. And only 4 percent named dancing as sinful behavior.

Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research, said the survey showed inconsistent thought patterns.

“For instance, over a third of all Americans believe failing to take proper care of their bodies is sinful,” he said. “Yet far fewer believe tobacco or obesity are sins—even though medical science consistently shows using tobacco and being overweight are two of the most harmful things they can do to their bodies.”

The survey was based on a sample of 1,007 adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Posted: 4/25/08

Texas WMU celebrates
Jesus during annual meeting

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

WACO—Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas gathered to “Celebrate Jesus” during its annual meeting April 18-19.

In a meeting that featured seminars encouraging people to share their faith and be involved in mission work, testimonies from missionaries and sessions on prayer, leaders encouraged Texas Baptist women to celebrate Christ’s work around the globe.

Author Jennifer Kennedy Dean reminded annual meeting participants God is working through them. If Christians allow him, God’s presence will influence everything they do. God is wherever they go, she said.

Cheryl Segura Gochis, former national and state Acteens panelist, uses a cell phone as a teaching tool during the Texas WMU annual meeting.

“Jesus lives in you and can so clearly communicate with you, it’s like a direct deposit from his mind to yours,” she said.

When that happens, Dean said, people’s perspectives change. Chance encounters become divine appointments. People are able to see God working in every moment. Events throughout the day become opportunities to share God’s love.

“When we begin to act with faith in the Promiser, the world looks completely different,” she said.

Texas WMU President Nelda Taylor said the missions organization can rejoice in knowing that it has faced challenges head-on and looks forward to a bright future of helping Texas Baptists spread the gospel. Among other challenges, Texas WMU Executive Director-Treasurer Carolyn Porterfield resigned last October.

During one of the plenary sessions, Texas WMU rolled out a team of volunteers who will serve as “mission connectors”—people across the state who will encourage and facilitate mission activity.

While change continues to be the rule in Western culture, God is a constant, Taylor said. He continues to be the answer for humanity’s struggles.

“It is the time for us to reach, preach and teach the nations with the good news of Jesus Christ,” she said.

In addition to the time of celebration, Texas WMU elected a new slate of officers. Conference participants elected Paula Jeser of First Baptist Church in El Paso as president; Suzy Wall of Frio Baptist Church in Hereford as first vice president; Jo Lee of First Baptist Church in San Antonio as second vice president; Margery Flowers of Fellowship Baptist Church in Marble Falls as third vice president; and Anna Zimmer of Kingwood Baptist Church in Kingwood as recording secretary.

Posted: 4/23/08

BGCT ‘Future Focus Committee’ named

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS—A committee has been formed to study the long-range future of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Stephen Hatfield, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lewisville, and Andy Pittman, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lufkin, will jointly chair the committee.

The Future Focus Committee, created as a result of a motion during the BGCT annual meeting, will look at the convention’s resources and relationships in an effort “to sharpen our focus to see what we do well and improve upon it,” Hatfield said.

Pittman added the committee is comprised of people who represent the diversity of Texas Baptist life.

“What I want to do is cast a vision for a new paradigm for state conventions not only in Texas but all over the nation,” Pittman said. “If we live in a post-denominational age, we can’t continue to base our future on a model that we’ve based our state and national convention on for the past 80 years.”

The committee grew out of a motion introduced at the BGCT annual meeting in Amarillo by Ed Jackson, a layman from First Baptist Church in Garland called on the BGCT president and Executive Board chairman to appoint a committee to consider a “shared vision” for the BGCT for 2020.

His initial motion called on the committee to bring interim reports to the Executive Board at its February, May and September meetings and bring a final report to the 2008 BGCT annual meeting. It also charged the committee to address the relationship between the BGCT and its institutions, set priorities, study changing missions strategies and analyze “the impact of innovation on our ministries and the sustainability of all programs.”

Philip Wise of Lubbock, chair of the committee on convention business, brought a substitute motion that was approved by messengers to the annual meeting.

The substitute motion stated: “I move that the officers of the BGCT and the officers of the Executive Board appoint a study committee of no more than 25 member to consider the shared vision of the BGCT. The committee would meet after the new executive director has been selected and make reports to the Executive Board at their regularly scheduled meetings. A final report will be made no later than the 2009 annual meeting.

“The committee will study, analyze and project income for the BGCT and address relationships between the BGCT and its institutions. The purpose of the committee is to determine the best use of resources to win Texas and the world to Jesus Christ and to encourage and support the ministries to which God has called us.”

Jackson was named to the committee. Other members are:

• Paul Armes, president of Wayland Baptist University

• Randy Babin, Soda Lake Baptist Association director of missions

• JoAnna Berry, vice president of South Texas Children’s Home Family Ministry and International Childcare

• Russell Dilday, chancellor of the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute and longtime Texas Baptist leader

• Michael Evans, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Mansfield

• Elizabeth Hanna, chair of the BGCT Executive Board’s finance subcommittee

• Jeff Harris, pastor of GracePoint Church in San Antonio

• Frankie Harvey of Nacogdoches Bible Fellowship in Nacogdoches

• Jeane Law of First Baptist Church in Lubbock

• Peter Leong, pastor of Southwest Chinese Baptist Church in Stafford

• David Lowrie, pastor of First Baptist Church in Canyon

• Tom Lyles of Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler

• Rene Maciel, president of Baptist University of the Americas

• Gary Morgan, pastor of Cowboy Church of Ellis County in Waxahachie

• Joseph Parker, pastor of David Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Austin

• Fred Roach of The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson

• Taylor Sandlin, pastor of Southland Baptist Church in San Angelo

• Bob Schmeltekopf, retired director of missions

• Noe Trevino, BGCT church starter

• Steve Vernon, pastor of First Baptist Church in Levelland

• Mark Wingfield, associate pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas

With additional reporting by Managing Editor Ken Camp