Posted: 2/18/05

TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM

Risky business

Perhaps many older Baptists feel a cultural aversion to having a woman pastor, but it strikes me as disingenuous to portray this issue as solely or even primarily cultural (Jan. 24).

As a child of the '70s–educated after the rise of feminism–I have consistently been taught that women should be free to do anything men can do. Thus, I hold my belief that a woman should not be a pastor in contradiction to my culture, not because of it. Why? Because I believe I must be obedient to God's word.

I wonder sometimes whether advocates of woman pastors realize the implications of their assertions. When he forbade women from holding authority over men in church, Paul based his argument on the story of Adam and Eve in the Old Testament, not on his culture (1 Timothy 2:11-15).

Letters are welcomed. Send them to marvknox@baptiststandard.com; 250 words maximum.

"Scrubbing public discourse of religious ideas would remove one of the main sources of social justice in our history." Michael Gerson White House speechwriter, speaking about President Bush's frequent use of religious language (Time/RNS) "I have no problem teaching creationism, but not as a science. I learned my creation in Sunday school, and I learned my evolution in high school." Joel Leib Parent of a student in Dover, Penn., where the local school board voted to require ninth-grade science teachers to present "intelligent design" as an alternative to evolution (RNS) "We believe that the rhythm of work and rest, doing and being, acting and reflecting, acquiring and sharing, is one of the most basic Jewish wisdoms. We see that the modern world is out of kilter: so addicted to the technology of making, doing, producing, consuming–and so contemptuous of contemplation, community and family–that this addiction is endangering both our society and the web of life on earth." Shalom Report A Jewish electronic newsletter, quoted by Texas Impact.

I know some folks out there think the Bible is not trustworthy in matters of science, culture, history and other areas. But the argument for woman pastors strikes me as a step beyond even that. If the Bible is not reliable with regard to theology and interpretation of the Old Testament, is it authoritative in any area at all?

Claiming that Paul's inspired writings in the New Testament don't even correctly interpret the Old Testament–that does indeed strike me as risky business, far too risky for me.

Bart Barber

Farmersville

Divided society

It should come as no surprise to Charles Wade that millions of Baptists and other Christians strongly disagree with his implicit endorsement of the U.S. war on Iraq (Feb. 7).

Millions believe the Iraq war is not about weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein or democracy for the Iraqi people. It's about oil, profits, Israel, empire and world domination.

The Iraq war is morally and legally indefensible. More than 100,000 innocent human beings have died by weapons of mass destruction–ours. Torture, in violation the Geneva Convention, has been approved at the highest levels of our government.

We now have the most corrupt, mean-spirited and dishonest government in our history. It is openly hostile toward the poor at home and abroad. As Jim Wallis explains in God's Politics, this government does not reflect Christian values.

For most people, access to information is limited to the mainstream media and their own limited social, cultural and religious circles. It is understandable that Baptists and Americans are now more divided than at any time since the Civil War.

Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” We Baptists need to come together and start operating off the same set of facts.

Charles Reed

Waco

Contemplative Christianity

Recently, while flipping the channels on the tube, I decided to watch the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), the Catholic channel.

This particular show featured a panel discussion that included a couple of priests and two former Baptist pastors, now Catholics. They discussed why they now are Catholics.

What made my viewing interesting was not only the viewpoints discussed–which, by the way, I agreed with–but how much more sense these guys made than the people on the channel right above–the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN).

As a Baptist of 25 years–perusing this newspaper and reading about a beloved Baptist making kooky statements about God's judgment in tsunamis and how another group of Baptists forced a college president to resign–in my view, it's no wonder we have virtually no credibility with the non-Christian.

We need a return to contemplative Christianity in an atmosphere of non-judgment with a view toward meeting the needs of the whole person. One former Baptist pastor on this program referred to the fact that unity among Christians is just not an issue with most Baptists. Right on!

It's time to put feet to Jesus' prayer for unity in John 17.

Gerald Johnson

Anna

Check documents at a worship service?

Regarding F.A. Taylor’s letter (Feb. 7), when people show up at one’s worship service, one does not ask to see citizenship papers. One embraces the opportunity to reach the lost. After they are saved, they bring their tithes and offerings joyfully, out of a grateful heart.

Their desire for knowledge of the word is unquenchable. They minister to others who are in the United States without inspection. They share the reason for their desire to minister and bring others to hear the word. They came to work because they thought they needed money. They discovered they needed Jesus. God is faithful. Praise the Lord!

Regarding Sen. Cornyn’s bill, my proposal and his bill coincide on several points, but my suggestion was that our government initiate a pilot program for a particular area of need. This would test a structure on a small scale that could later be expanded to a general change in our immigration policy if it proved feasible.

I must agree with my brother that attempting to make a major change of immigration policy might prove to be too cumbersome. However, it is disrespectful to say Sen. Cornyn doesn’t have a clue. His bill is not a joke. It is an attempt to begin to address this serious issue.

If this had been done years ago, perhaps 9/11 would not have happened.

Carmelita Hernandez

Austin

Must deacons be sin-free?

I read the letters regarding “Ernesto” being a deacon (Feb. 7). I am a deacon, and I break the law most Sunday mornings. My sin, if it is a sin, is that I drive slightly over the speed limit. I am also overweight. Am I disqualified to be a deacon? I am also a sinner in other ways that I prefer not to discuss here.

My point is that every deacon I know has some sin or blemish that would disqualify him (or her) to be a deacon if deacons must be sin-free. Sin is sin in the eyes of God, so if one sin disqualifies, so do all sins.

We are Baptists. As a Baptist, I do not believe that it is up to me to say that “Ernesto” should or should not be a deacon, unless I am actually a member of his local church.

I do not recall that when Paul wrote his version of the qualifications for deacon to Timothy that he mentioned citizenship.

To me, it seems that “Ernesto” is breaking the laws of the state, but not the church. Thank God and our founding fathers, the two are still separate, thus far!

There are well-meaning Christians who wish to change this. May they forever fail.

Charles McFatter

Semmes, Ala.

Grace, not judgment, reflected in tsunami

I wish to address two subjects, tsunamis and “Jesus is Lord” (February 7). I trust “lordship” as presented is not the official stance of any Baptist convention or church but only for certain individuals.

“Lordship” is to be presented as one church spiritual, not earthly. The Matthew 16:18 and Ephesians 1:22-23 references to his church are singular, and verse 23 affirms it is his body, and there is only one body of Christ. This, of course, denotes one church and not many “churches” as put forth in the article. Christians are in Christ, not churches. We’re not the nation of Israel but come one by one (I Corinthians 3:8-16).

On the tsunami, perhaps a Scripture will help in understanding. The Ephesians 1:22-23 reference also answers the tsunamis showing we are now in the grace administration of God; therefore he is not judging sin today. We see this when we bring in verse 21, presenting Christ having absolute authority and power, but he is withholding judgment of this world and its inhabitants, else judgments would have already taken place. Tsunamis are the nature of the world reacting to its changes.

Can we charge God with judgment by way of the many hurricanes devastating the state of Florida last year? Are those citizens any worse than we here in this great state of Texas?

James Parks

Dallas

Amazing no scripture used in article

A professor of theology at a seminary writes an article on women in ministry (Jan. 24) and uses experiences rather than even one Scripture to make his point? Amazing.

Rick Stone

Glen Rose

All opinions are not equal

What do you do when all of the best arguments are put forth, but disagreement remains? It’s rare that people change their position based on a solid argument by an opponent. This is regretful, but it’s part of our self-defeating human nature. People usually believe what they want to believe rather than what is truth.

The reason that our culture is so divided (red and blue) is not because neither side is aware of the opposing side’s reasoning. It’s that they simply reject them based on their merits.

Moral relativists put all of the virtue in simply having an opinion and expressing it, rather than having an opinion that is derived from the truth. On any issue, the emphasis should always be on the truth of the matter and not how many varying opinions can be gathered. All opinions are not equal. Let’s not be afraid to admit that.

Those who think that illegal immigration should not be dignified by discussion are just plain wrong. There is nothing stifling or uncivil about saying that. Now, let’s remove that invalid viewpoint from the table of possible solutions and focus on the next one until we arrive at the “right” one.

Tom White

Corsicana

Posted: 2/18/05

World Baptists unite around
missions, BWA's Lotz tells Texans

By Marv Knox

Editor

ABILENE–Mis-sions provides the unifying core for Christians, global Baptist leader Den-ton Lotz told a gathering of Texas Baptists.

Lotz, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, spoke three times at “The BWA, Texas Baptists and Global Missions,” a conference sponsored by Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon School of Theology in Abilene.

“What burning is to fire, mission is to the church,” Lotz said, paraphrasing 20th century theologian Emil Brunner. Missions is essential to Baptists' identity, he added, noting, “For Baptists to be involved in missions, that's what it means to be church.”

In fact, missions is the stack pole around which Baptists have built their common enterprise, Lotz said.

“Doctrine always has divided Baptists,” he stressed. “Mission has united Baptists. What unites us is mission and evangelism.”

As the staff leader of the Baptist World Alliance, Lotz continuously travels around the globe, touching base with the 211 Baptist conventions affiliated with the BWA. Wherever he goes, he said, he hears three questions that point to the vital nature of missions and Christians' need to share the gospel. They are:

“Where is God in the midst of tragedy and conflict?”

Lotz, a former missionary to Eastern Europe, said he learned the answers to that question from Baptists in communist countries.

“First, God is in the Bible,” he said. “The Holy Spirit speaks to us in Scripture. We meet God in Scripture, and he is powerful and counter-cultural.”

Next, God is present in the gathered church, he added. “When we come together, the Holy Spirit speaks to us.”

And ultimately, God is present on the cross of Christ, he stressed.

“Islam–and a lot of Christians, as well–want (Christ's) resurrection without the cross,” he said. “But God is there, suffering for you and me, taking on all the sins of the world.”

“Who will fill our empty souls?”

“The (spiritual) emptiness of the student generation is one of the great catastrophes of Western culture,” Lotz lamented. He pointed to the failure of Marxism and secularism to meet the deep need and longing of people around the world.

“Who will fill our empty souls? That's the eternal question,” he said. “You and I were made for God. Only Christ can fill the empty souls.”

“Why 'only Jesus'?”

“This is the crucial question of the 21st century,” Lotz said. “Christians can't talk about God without talking about Christ. It is not imperialistic to say that God chose to reveal himself in Christ. When we meet Christ, we're not encountering part of God, but all of God.

“We're for freedom, for religious liberty. But we do not compromise on who Jesus is.”

Lotz acknowledged he also hears a fourth, very important, question: “Where are the Baptists.”

Baptists are vibrant and active for Christ all over the planet, he said, citing a litany of locations where Baptists live and minister.

In Liberia, they have remained faithful, despite years of civil war.

In Korea, they number among 20 million Christians. Christianity has grown rapidly in Korea because the Christians gather for prayer at 5 o'clock every morning.

In China, Christians have “walked through fire.” Despite decades of difficulty, they worship in 14,000 churches and 20,000 mission points and start two new churches a day.

In Burma, Baptists now number more than 1 million, and they are sending missionaries to China.

In the Nagaland region of India, Baptists now number more than 2 million.

Even in Nepal, one of the most repressive nations on earth, the Baptist churches count 14,000 members.

In other places, such as New Guinea, Africa, and Hungary and other formerly communist countries, Baptists are accepting Jesus' Great Commission challenge to go on mission and spread the gospel.

And even in still-communist Cuba, Baptists realize “it's a lot better to hand out Bibles than fight about the Bible,” he said.

Posted: 2/18/05

Ominous missions challenge calls for collaboration

By Marv Knox

Editor

ABILENE–Collaboration took center stage in a missions conference sponsored by Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon School of Theology.

Almost every speaker invoked the word “collaboration” or something like it to describe how Christians need to cooperate in order to reach people who don't know Jesus as their Savior.

The conference, titled “The BWA, Texas Baptists and Global Missions,” focused on how the Baptist General Convention of Texas can work with the Baptist World Alliance, an organization of 211 conventions, 160,000 congregations and 100 million believers around the globe.

“Collaboration is one of the missing links in world Christian missions,” reported Bill O'Brien, former executive vice president of the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board and former director of The Global Center at Samford University. “Why would anyone not want to enter into this venture of reaching the world for Christ?”

Unfortunately, many missions agencies “look like a collection of silos”–standing tall but alone and unconnected, unable or unwilling to cooperate, O'Brien said.

To be effective in missions, Christians must create “webs” of shared trust, shared resources and shared spiritual gifts to strengthen their missions efforts, he said.

Keith Parks, former president of the Foreign Mission Board and coordinator of Global Missions for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, echoed that theme.

“Regrettably, many have decided to forget about missions and do their own thing,” Parks said. “Reaching the unreached of the world cannot be done without collaboration of the whole Christian world.”

That challenge is overwhelming, he added, noting one in four people “have no access to the gospel.” Meanwhile, Christians spend the vast majority of their resources on the parts of the world that have been saturated with or at least touched by the gospel.

A major reason for this missions imbalance is “we as Christians have less interest in taking the gospel to the most difficult parts of the world, because it doesn't produce the satisfaction we want,” he observed. “We have to be smarter, work harder and submerge our personal sense of self-fulfillment.”

But collaboration works, Parks insisted. He noted that in 1996, Indonesia was home to 128 unreached people groups, and only 18 of them had some kind of Christian witness. But now, thanks to the collaboration of 200 denominations and other Christian groups, more than 100 of those people groups have received a Christian witness to some degree.

Baptists should be asking, “What is God calling us to do that we can't do alone?” said Stan Parks, associate director and international coordinator for WorldconneX, the BGCT's missions network.

Baptists will begin to see answers to that question when they look beyond themselves, he insisted, noting: “We should say, 'I'm a Christian first and a Baptist second,' … in order to reach the world for Christ.

“One of the most effective ways to reach the world is to partner, to cooperate–to proactively create networks to reach a city, a state, a nation, an unreached people group. God could do some very exciting things if we were committed to partner with other Christians.”

Collaboration works on multiple levels, said Terri Morgan, head of Partnership for the Environment, a nonprofit agency that works in developing countries.

“Collaboration fulfills a common agenda” to spread the gospel, Morgan said. “Collaboration is sacrificial; it sets aside self-interest.

“Collaboration works toward solutions to very real problems. Collaboration creates love, respect, understanding and consensus. And collaboration overcomes prejudice.”

The BGCT has taken a major step toward collaboration by petitioning to join the Baptist World Alliance as an associate member, noted Jim Heflin, professor of preaching and pastoral ministry at Logsdon Seminary and former general secretary of the European Baptist Union.

This contrasts with the Southern Baptist Convention, which voted last year to leave the 100-year-old BWA. As justification, SBC leaders claimed the BWA is “liberal” and un-American, claims BWA leaders and Baptists from around the world repeatedly have refuted.

Announcing the BWA's North American Baptist Fellowship has accepted the Texas convention as an associate member, Heflin reported: “We have a new day dawning for participation in BWA and other missions endeavors.

“We're looking for new ways, and the Lord is opening new doors for us to partner to do missions.”

Membership is only the latest in many steps of relationship between the BGCT and the worldwide Baptist organization, said Don Sewell, director of the state convention's Texas Partnerships Resource Center.

For example, the BGCT sponsors 14 native church planters in Eastern Europe in cooperation with the European Baptist Federation, he said.

Most recently, the BGCT contributed $129,000 to BWAid, the BWA's hunger and relief program, and he announced a goal to double that amount in five years.

“As Texas Baptists, we're extremely diverse, and we reflect that diversity in missions,” Sewell said, citing Texas Baptists' involvement with such missions groups as Wycliffe Bible Translators, Campus Crusade for Christ, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the International Mission Board.

“The one truly amalgamating force is our tie with the Baptist World Alliance. BWA is the glue that holds us all together.”

Dellanna O'Brien, former executive director of the Southern Baptist Woman's Missionary Union, affirmed that connection to BWA.

Noting she was proud the WMU voted to remain affiliated with BWA, she predicted of worldwide Baptists: “We will do as we always have done–work with passion for the salvation of the world … in partnership, not as Lone Rangers.”

Denton Lotz, the BWA's general secretary, affirmed the collaboration of Baptists worldwide.

“BWA is kind of like Noah's ark,” with all kinds of Baptists riding through the world's storms together, Lotz said.

“We belong together because we belong to Christ,” he insisted. “We as Baptists need to realize unity is very important. … Disunity is of the devil.”

Posted: 2/18/05

Cleburne church offers men a room all their own

By George Henson

Staff Writer

CLEBURNE–The men at First Baptist Church in Cleburne have something most Baptist men don't–a room of their own at church.

The room features a wainscoting of corrugated tin that once topped a barn, six-inch weathered planks that were part of someone's fence, antlers, deer heads, a pheasant and even a deer's back side.

“Basically, I told them to bring whatever their wife wouldn't let them put up at home,” said John Bullock, interim pastor for evangelism and missions.

Chairs are of the folding canvas variety. No room for men would be complete without a television and refrigerator, and those have been included as well.

Bullock, who came on staff one year ago, said a room for men had been a dream of his for about five years. Prior to coming to Cleburne, he had been on the staff of Texas Baptist Men. Years of speaking in churches across the state brought it home to him that men had no place of their own.

“I traveled everywhere and saw that churches had no place for men. They had children's areas, youth areas, and women put up Home Interiors stuff in Sunday school rooms and parlors and stuff. Men have no place. Men have always needed places to gather and just be men,” he said.

That's why last summer a group of men at First Baptist Church transformed a standard white-walled Sunday school room into something of their own. Their name for their new place: The Men's Room.

The only problem with the room is that the men already are outgrowing it. When Bullock held the first men's Bible study, six men attended. Word of mouth about the group and its room has swelled that number to an average of 27 for their Wednes-day night meetings.

A Tuesday morning prayer time at a local restaurant also usually has more than 20 in attendance. Forty-one men turned out for a workday.

The men were going to have an upcoming game night in the room, but it will have to be moved to the gym since more than 100 have signed up.

And they are doing more than meeting. The men's ministry babysat as a Valentine's Day gift to the mothers of the church.

They also are clearing a piece of property behind the church for the construction of a fire pit that groups can use for outdoor meetings. Bullock said many unchurched men are not comfortable coming to church but will come to a barbecue behind one.

They also have had car shows, gun shoots, fishing trips, family picnic days and other events.

They also plan to set up a motorcycle rest stop in a corner of the church parking lot with coffee and cookies. When the weather is warm, literally hundreds of motorcycles pass by the church.

The men plan to establish relationships and encourage the bikers to attend the church's contemporary worship service.

Mostly, they are doing whatever the men feel led to do, Bullock said.

“Most men's ministries are based on one or two men. We have a men's council made up of eight men. That way if one dies, moves away or burns out, the whole thing doesn't fall apart,” he said.

Bullock spends the majority of his time on men's ministry, which he considers a good way to grow a church. He also believes it is necessary to think outside the box a bit.

“When I was with Baptist Men, I realized that for the last 60 years we had done men's ministry the same way. And it was the least effective ministry we have. … And yet all the studies show, if you reach a man, you reach a family,” he said.

A study of the book Wild at Heart began to focus his thinking, Bullock said.

“That material affected my life as much as Experiencing God had, and I saw some elements that might work. Most of it is outside the box, and it's not real traditional,” he said.

He said that while Wild at Heart is a good starting point, “it's not the end of the story. The question is 'Men want to serve God, but are we the kind of men God can use?'” Bullock said.

For that reason, the men at First Baptist Church in Cleburne spend much of their time studying no other book than the Bible. “Prayer and Bible study, those things are our focus,” he said.

Bullock said it is not only the men who benefit.

“Every Sunday, I have wives come up to me who say, 'I don't know what you all are doing, but keep doing it, because my husband is so different,'” he said.

One thing that keeps many men from church, Bullock said, is that they think they will have to give up everything they enjoy.

“Many men who aren't here believe that church is where you go to put your hands in your lap and think about fishing or golfing or whatever they wish they were doing,” he said.

“They are here physically, but their heart and soul is somewhere else. What we want to communicate is that church is so much more than just church; it's also relationships.

“We try to reach men with whatever their passion is. We let them know they don't have to give those things up to follow Christ.”

One of the things many men enjoy is movies such as Gladiator or Braveheart. The group has watched these films and others and discussed what being brave or being a man really means.

“We've become a visual society. Any given weekend, there are more people in the movie theaters than in churches. We're trying to tap into that,” Bullock said.

The visual society also has fed many men's aversion to reading, which hurts many conventional ministries.

“Only 17 percent of men read on any regular basis, but all our material is written so we have to teach men to read. With Experiencing God, most men drop out by the fourth week, because they haven't filled out their books because men don't read.

“We're teaching them they have to read–they have to memorize Scripture and hide these things in their hearts,” Bullock said.

Many men in the group are taking on leadership positions in the church for the first time, working in the children's and youth ministries, as ushers and other leadership roles.

Bullock said one of the most encouraging things is that half of the men coming on Wednesday nights are under 40 years old.

“This is the hardest group for the church to reach, young adult males, but they are coming, and they are loving it,” he said.

Posted: 2/18/05

Sale of Missouri Baptist Building
delayed after failed county vote

By Vicki Brown & Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP)—The Missouri Baptist Building is once again on the market, after voters gave a resounding “no” to a sales tax increase that would have funded a county government’s purchase of the property.

Voters in Cole County turned down the proposal, which would have raised funds for a new county criminal-justice complex in downtown Jefferson City, by an almost 3-to-1 margin. In August, representatives of the county and the Missouri Baptist Convention inked a $2.75 million contingency contract for the sale of the building, which has served as headquarters for the convention’s ministry staff since 1970.

The county also intended to purchase several other properties in the block on which the building stands. The structures would have been demolished to make way for the new jail, office and courtroom facility.

The deal for the 77-year-old building—which was the historic Missouri Hotel before the convention purchased it and remodeled it extensively—was contingent on two conditions being met: voter approval of a half-cent sales tax and agreements with other property owners on the block.

The vote nullified the contract, and the Missouri convention is looking for a new buyer.

“We will be entertaining other possible buyers and contracts,” Executive Director David Clippard, said. “At this moment in time, we have no other buyers identified.

“The MBC is under no pressure, nor does it have any deadlines, to sell the Baptist Building,” Clippard continued. “It has served Missouri Baptists well. But we will continue to explore its sale and replacement in an effort to lower overall operations costs and thereby channel more dollars into missions, church planting and helping our churches fulfill their Great Commission mandate of Acts 1:8.”

On Oct. 11, Clippard fired Bob Baysinger, then the managing editor of the convention’s recently established newspaper, for a story he published related to the deal. Baysinger had reported the contract on the Pathway’s website Aug. 27. Clippard reportedly accused Baysinger of jeopardizing the deal by publicizing it.

In a related story, a local attorney filed a complaint with the state’s attorney general against the Cole County Commission for violating the state’s so-called “Sunshine Law” with the MBC arrangement. Since the commission voted to authorize the contract but did not publicize it within three days of the vote, both the action and the contract should be declared void, Clyde Angle said.

In addition to convention offices, the Baptist Building houses the Missouri Baptist Foundation and the Missouri Baptist Credit Union.

Messengers to the 2003 MBC annual meeting authorized the MBC Executive Board to pursue the possible sale of the building. At that meeting, they approved a motion by David Krueger, pastor of First Baptist Church in Linn, for the Executive Board to appoint a committee to investigate opportunities for selling the building.

At the same meeting, messengers also approved using the building as collateral for a $1 million line of credit through Exchange National Bank in Jefferson City. The money established the convention’s Agency Restoration Fund to pay fees incurred for its ongoing legal action against five MBC-related institutions.

In 2000, trustees of the MBC-affiliated retirement-home system, called The Baptist Home, voted to begin electing their own successors rather than continuing to allow the convention to do so. The trustees of Missouri Baptist University in St. Louis; Windermere Baptist Conference Center at the Lake of the Ozarks; the Missouri Baptist Foundation and the convention’s former official newspaper, Word & Way, took similar actions in 2001.

The convention then withdrew funding from the agencies and initiated legal action to re-gain control of their trustee-nominating process. It also established the Pathway, and forced Word & Way to vacate its offices in the Baptist Building.

Vicki Brown is a reporter for Word & Way.

Posted: 2/18/05

God's word in plain English:
New Bibles target 'spiritually intrigued'

By Charles Honey

Religion News Service

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS)–Even over latte at a coffeehouse, Andrew Apsite keeps God's word close at hand.

At the downtown Urban Mill, the 18-year-old reaches into his backpack and pulls out The Message Remix, a modern-language paraphrase of the Bible.

“When I don't know how to deal with something, I look for comfort and advice on how to deal with my issues,” Apsite said.

He and his friend, 21-year-old Marcus Hills, are serious Bible readers. They've wrestled with the lofty King James Version and the more contemporary New International Version. They welcome any new translation that will speak to their generation.

“It's the living word of God, man,” Hills says. “I know the lessons won't change. But the wording is just a way of relaying the message.”

Count them as likely readers of Today's New International Version, a new translation Zondervan officials hope will bring the message alive for millions of 20-somethings.

The Grand Rapids publisher recently released an unprecedented burst of Bible products amid a $1 million ad blitz, including a controversial plug Rolling Stone magazine first rejected, then accepted.

Zondervan's prime target: 35 million to 40 million “spiritually intrigued” young adults from their late teens to mid-30s. Polls show they believe the Bible is relevant but are the least active Scripture readers of any age group.

“There are so many who passionately believe the Bible has something to say to them,” says Ben Irwin, Zondervan's 28-year-old product development manager for the 18- to 34-year-old Bible team. “The flip side is there's not much out there that's meeting that opportunity. We're hoping to reverse that.”

Shipped to outlets from Family Christian Bookstores to Barnes & Noble, Zondervan's nine new Bible products include:

Today's New International Version, an updated, gender-inclusive remake of the best-selling New International Version.

Men's and women's study versions of the TNIV.

The Story, a paraphrase in novel format with Tolkien-like maps.

Beginning the Journey, a kind of evangelism sampler containing Genesis, Deuteronomy, the Gospel of John, Acts and Romans.

An audio version of the New Testament.

These follow Word on the Street, a playful, street-lingo paraphrase released last fall. Along with a reality-TV-style video and an interactive Web site (www.TNIV.com), Zondervan executives hope the products will prompt more in the coffeehouse crowd to crack open the Good Book–and more people of any age to dig deeper.

“We know we're not going to convince the agnostic or the atheist who has absolutely zero interest in the Bible or Christianity,” Irwin said. “Our goal is to reach those who are searching.”

Through Harris polls and focus groups at Christian colleges, Zondervan found one of the obstacles to Bible reading is sheer size. At 66 books and 1,000-plus pages, the Bible is off-putting to readers routinely plugged into the Internet and iPods.

“One of the problems with a 'big B' Bible today is there's never any sense of having finished or accomplished something,” said Paul Caminiti, Zondervan vice president.

Thus “little b” Bibles such as The Story, a 420-page tome with chapter titles like “Creation: Things Started Out Great.” Its narrative flow and elegant artwork resonate with a generation raised on popular media, Irwin said.

“One of the things we hear again and again is the power of story to connect with this generation. They want something that's real, something that's raw, something that's authentic.”

Calvin College students who reviewed the new Bibles found The Story and the five-book evangelism edition more exciting than the new translation, said 20-year-old Kate DeNooyer, who did research for Zondervan as part of a marketing class.

“They said, 'This would be something I could give a non-Christian friend that would be less intimidating than handing them this huge book,'” DeNooyer said.

Still, Zondervan hopes more young readers will turn to the full Today's New International Version, an updated translation by the same committee that produced the New International Version more than 25 years ago.

The TNIV produced storms of protest–particularly from some Southern Baptists–when the New Testament portion was published three years ago. Critics charged its gender-inclusive language undermined the biblical scribes' intent.

Zondervan countered that just a fraction of the changes were gender-related, and references to God and Jesus were not changed.

Caminiti defends the translation's “uncompromising commitment to accuracy,” insisting it's “not interested in the fads of language.”

He noted 77 percent of 20-somethings surveyed preferred its more modern language to the NIV.

“We knew we had a translation that spoke to this generation,” Caminiti said.

Maybe so. But at least some young readers question the need to change phrases such as Jesus' “fishers of men” to “fish for people.”

“I don't think it was a necessary change,” said Kelly Gordon, 21, a history major at Grand Valley State University. “Historical texts didn't include women. I don't think we're so dumb today that we don't understand that.”

Gordon is one of several members of a GVSU class on sacred literature who checked out the TNIV website. Most are skeptical of gender-inclusive language or that a new translation will attract younger readers.

“Just because they're making it more gender-neutral isn't going to get more 18-to-34-year-olds interested,” says Brandon Tarabek, 20. “You're losing a part of the original meaning when you're doing that.”

But Irwin is convinced the new Zondervan Bibles will bring more young adults into God's word.

“There's so much stuff about real life in there, about suffering, about people who wrestle with God and have doubts with real issues of faith,” Irwin said. “That's stuff this generation can relate to, and sometimes they don't even realize it's there.”

Charles Honey is a staff writer for The Grand Rapids Press.

Posted: 2/18/05

On the move

Vernon Andrews has resigned as pastor of First Church in Tuleta.

Jeff Berry to The Heights Church in Richardson as contemporary worship leader.

O.K. Bowen to First Church in Hereford as interim pastor.

Donnie Brown to First Church in Olton as interim pastor.

Steve Dill has resigned as pastor of Friendship Church in Cleburne.

Roy Fish has completed an interim pastorate at First Church in Center.

Ferel Gage to First Church in Palo Pinto as pastor.

Jim Garcia has resigned as pastor of Primera Iglesia in Aransas Pass.

Cecil Golden to First Church in Anton as interim pastor.

Jay Gordon to Bethesda Church in Burleson as minister of youth.

Richard Grisham to Bethel Church in Roswell, N.M., as pastor from Northside Church in Texas City.

Michael Hale to First Church in Center from Travis Church in Corpus Christi.

Clay Hopkins to First Church in Midlothian as youth minister.

James Howard to Cass Church in Atlanta as pastor.

Donnie Howell to Parkview Church in Littlefield as interim pastor.

Ralph Howell to Valera Church in Valera as pastor from Pleasant Grove Church in Rosebud.

Royce Kinsey has resigned as pastor of Bethel Cass Church in Linden.

Ed Le Compte to First Church in Sanford as interim pastor.

John Long to Mount Carmel Church in Cleburne as minister of youth.

Larry McGregor to Eastridge Church in Red Oak as youth minister.

Chris Moore to First Church in Rockdale as minister of youth.

Joshua Morrison has resigned as pastor of Olin Church in Hico.

Brent Neumann has resigned as associate recreation minister at First Church in Denton.

Luis Rey to Trinity Church in San Antonio as youth minister from First Church in Joelton, Tenn.

Patrick Six to Cross Point Fellowship in Amarillo as pastor.

Bryan South to First Church in Jasper as pastor from Kingsville Church in Pineville, La., where he was associate pastor and youth minister.

Paul Stohler has resigned as youth minister at Oak Crest Church in Midlothian.

Micheal Summers to First Church in Vega as interim pastor.

Johnny Villarreal to Primera Iglesia in Luling as pastor.

Jerry Witham to Vista Ridge Church in Carrollton as pastor.

Ed Wright has resigned as pastor of Littleville Church in Hamilton.

Posted: 2/18/05

PENN PLACE: A home for hope

By Felicia Fuller

Buckner News Service

FORT WORTH–When Joyce King cautions young people against fast living and freewheeling, she offers her own life as an example. At her lowest point, she shared a house and a crack habit with a boyfriend who abused her often. All the while, she held high-profile positions in Christian ministry. Through prayer and sweat equity, she reclaimed her life and got clean in 1993. Now, she's on a quest to help others.

ABOVE: Volunteers like Joyce King are an important resource at Penn Place, an apartment complex on the south side of Fort Worth, where 16 percent of residents are mental health outpatients, incomes average below $20,000 and most heads of households are single females. Social services are provided through partnerships with Buckner Baptist Benevolences and other Fort Worth agencies.

“If I can save a child, give them a positive way, I think that's the most rewarding thing a person can do,” King said. “I want them to know life is not what they see on television. It's not all bank robbers and you go to jail. You don't have to go into drugs. You can be more than just a kid from Penn Place. You can be president or whatever else you want to be.”

Volunteers like Joyce King are an important resource at Penn Place, an apartment complex on the south side of Fort Worth, where 16 percent of residents are mental health outpatients, incomes average below $20,000 and most heads of households are single females. Social services are provided through partnerships with Buckner Baptist Benevolences and other Fort Worth agencies. (Photo by Felicia Fuller)

At Pennsylvania Place Apartments in Fort Worth, 16 percent of residents are mental health outpatients, incomes average below $20,000, and most heads of households are single females. A recurring lament is there aren't more residents like King to encourage neighborhood children. She is among a handful of volunteers who work regularly in the many educational and recreational programs the complex offers through its partnerships with Buckner Children and Family Services and other local agencies.

“She's volunteered in every capacity,” said Cynthia Mayfield, Buckner community resource coordinator. “She works with the crime watch group, the residents' association, the after-school program. Every day, she helps provide free lunches for the children, and she cooks breakfast every Wednesday for our community. She's also a member of the Bible study group. I have a joke with her that every time I say, 'I need a volunteer,' I tell her she can only volunteer for one thing at a time.”

But one thing at a time just won't do for King, whose passion for service arises from personal pain. Her daughter died just over a year ago. Her son is in an institution for the criminally insane.

Though she's a chef by trade and only a few courses away from earning her bachelor's degree, King is unable to work because of a disability.

While tragic, her story is not unlike many other residents' at Penn-sylvania Place.

Located in the hospital district on Fort Worth's south side, Pennsylvania Place was built in 1998 as an affordable housing alternative for mental health outpatients who are able to live independently. Twenty-five of the 152 units are reserved for residents with a range of clinical conditions, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and manic depression. Mayfield says social services, administered from the onsite community center, are designed to promote well-being and self-sufficiency. A case manager with Mental Health and Mental Retardation is on site.

“We work very closely with management and Mental Health and Mental Retardation, and we meet quarterly to discuss what programs will be beneficial and help them remain independent,” she said.

The mental health element aside, Mayfield said, residents face many of the same challenges as other urban dwellers­crime, drugs, gangs and teen pregnancy. With children comprising 47 percent of total occupancy, many social services are geared toward residents 18 and younger. Boys and Girls Club offers gang prevention and intervention, and the YWCA sponsors Achievement, Ideals and Motivation (AIM) to encourage young girls to stay in school and set goals for the future.

Nearby Broadway Baptist Church, a Buckner ministry partner, has a licensed after-school program and gives priority to Pennsylvania Place residents.

More than two dozen children ages 6 to 12 from the complex participate in the program, Mayfield noted. Offerings include homework assistance, dance classes, youth sports and life skills training.

“We want them to have similar experiences to those kids whose parents can actually afford these services,” she said. “We want to make sure that the kids have some structured things going on during the summer, as well.”

Ty, 12, said the after-school program is a fun and educational way to spend his evenings. “I have lots of friends here, and I get help with my homework,” he said. “I also learn things that will make me a better person, like how drugs and alcohol mess up your mind. In the summer, we go on field trips to museums and stuff. I like that. My momma likes it, too, because it gives her a break, and she knows they look out for us.”

For adults, the health department offers free informational fairs; Consumer Credit Counseling Services leads seminars on budgeting; and Buckner sponsors 12-week, self-paced computer classes. Talks are under way to offer high school equivalency and English-as-a-second-langurage courses, as well.

With children comprising 47 percent of Pennsylvania Place's total occupancy, Community Resource Coordinator Cynthia Mayfield says, most programs are geared toward their physical, mental and spiritual development. Offerings include after-school care, a food program, and pregnancy, gang and dropout prevention. (Photo by Felicia Fuller )

Resident Terrance Jackson enrolled in the computer class several months ago to “learn more, do more and feel caught up with the rest of the world.” Jackson, a Mental Health and Mental Retardation client, credits the community center with giving him the motivation to improve his quality of life.

Shirley House, who moved in recently with her disabled Army veteran husband, says she may take advantage of the high school equivalency program after she completes remedial reading classes through another program in Dallas. House volunteers with the youth, serving lunches, monitoring playtime and offering guidance.

Because of her reading difficulties, she didn't think she had anything to contribute at first, she acknowledged. But after seeing the need and interacting with the children, she felt “called to serve.”

“Penn Place is more like a family community,” Jackson said. “We have people of all different backgrounds and situations. You have your deaf, MHMR, handicapped and homeless.

“It teaches you skills you might not have had otherwise. It teaches you coping skills and how blessed you truly are. We are blessed.”

King counts herself in that number. “The Lord is a great healer. He took me from the miry clay and molded me into what I am today.

“When I get on the kids here, I'm not fussing at them just to be fussing. I'm trying to show them a different way. Some of them are just rebellious. I tell them, 'I know your momma. And I know where you live.'”

Posted: 2/18/05

So, what difference does faith make in lives of U.S. teens?

By David Briggs

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–The most comprehensive survey ever done on faith and adolescence finds a teen nation where more than four in five youths say religion is important in their lives.

But the new survey of more than 3,000 teenagers and their parents also indicated many teens know little about their religion.

Many other activities compete for their time, but among religiously active teens–those who attend services weekly and belong to a youth group–their faith appears to be making a significant difference in their behavior.

The National Study of Youth and Religion, described as the most comprehensive research ever done on faith and adolescence, revealed such teens are more likely to:

Do better in school.

Feel better about themselves.

Shun alcohol, drugs and sex.

Care about the poor.

Make moral choices based on what is right rather than what would make them happy.

Researchers considered variables such as the possibility that more obedient youngsters are more likely to attend church and still found that "religious faith and practice themselves exert significant positive, direct and indirect influences on the lives of teenagers, helping to foster healthier, more engaged adolescents who live more constructive and promising lives.”

What religious groups have to worry about, the study found, is not teen rebellion, but a “benign 'whateverism'” that tends to reduce their perception of God to more of a valet–someone meeting individual needs–rather than an authority figure.

The result is growing numbers of teens replacing traditional faith with an “alternative religious vision of divinely underwritten personal happiness and interpersonal niceness,” said Christian Smith, the University of North Carolina sociologist who led the study.

Researchers talked to 3,370 adolescents and their parents in a national random telephone survey in 2002 and 2003.

The study also involved in-depth personal interviews with 267 of the respondents from 45 states.

The project was funded by the Religion Division of the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc.

Several studies in recent years have found positive relations between mental and physical health and religious participation among adults.

But there is little research among adolescents.

The first major findings of the new study have just been released in a book from Oxford Unive-rsity Press titled Soul Searching: The Relig-ious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers.

The study found four in 10 teens attend religious services weekly or more frequently.

Homework, television and other media, jobs and sports increasingly compete for teens' time.

“Indeed, in many adolescents' lives, religion occupies a quite weak and often losing position among these competing influences,” Smith wrote.

The study bursts a few stereotypes of teen religion, foremost among them the idea that U.S. teens are alienated from or rebelling against organized religion.

More than half of the teens surveyed said religion was extremely or very important in their lives.

More than two-thirds of teens report attending services many times a year, and more than six in 10 teens say they would attend services regularly if it were entirely up to them.

Nearly eight in 10 teens who attend services say they expect to attend the same kind of congregation when they are 25. Almost none reported having bad experiences with clergy or youth group leaders.

Teen religiosity is important, researchers said, because their study also shows almost universal positive outcomes related to active religious lives, from success in school to vastly reduced rates of teen pregnancy and drug use.

How might parents develop spiritual lives in their offspring? By being role models, the study indicates.

Among parents who said religion is extremely important to them, two-thirds of their teenage children said religion is extremely or very important in their lives.

In contrast, among the teenage children of parents who said religion was not very important, 48 percent said religion was not very or not at all important in their lives.

“They really do look to their parents,” Smith said.

“We'll get who we are, not what we tell them–not what we wish for, but who we are.”

David Briggs is religion reporter for The Plain Dealer of Cleveland.

Posted: 2/18/05

Texas Tidbits

Campolo to lecture at Wayland. Christian author, sociologist and media commentator Tony Campolo will speak March 2 at Wayland Baptist University as part of the McCoy Lecture Series. He will speak in the 11 a.m. Wayland chapel service, meet with several student groups throughout the day, and speak at 6 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Plainview. Campolo is professor emeritus of sociology at Eastern University in St. David's, Pa. The McCoy Lecture Series was developed by First Baptist Church with an estate gift from longtime member Dorothy McCoy, professor emeritus in mathematics at Wayland.

Concert highlights preview weekend at UMHB. Tree63, with special guest Paul Colman, will be in concert at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor at 7 p.m. March 4 in the W.W. Walton Chapel. The concert is part of Crusader Preview Weekend, March 4-5, hosted by the recruiting and admissions office for high school seniors and juniors to visit UMHB and get a feel for college life. During the weekend, high schoolers will sit in classes, eat in the cafeteria and stay in the residence halls with students. For more information, call (254) 295-4520, or register online at www.umhb.edu/Preview/welcome.htm.

ETBU launches $40 million campaign. East Texas Baptist University in Marshall has launched a five-year, $40-million development campaign. The Legacy of Excellence campaign includes $22.85 million for capital improvements and $5 million for student scholarships, as well as funds for restricted projects and the university endowment.

HBU sets preview weekend. Houston Baptist University officials hope to fill the campus with prospective students and their parents during the March Madness spring preview weekend, March 18-19. High school students visiting HBU will stay in the dorms on campus Friday night, and the Saturday schedule includes a variety of games and activities. Students from many HBU organizations will be present to inform prospective students about their organizations and to answer any questions about campus life. A session for students and their parents will focus on financial aid, housing and admissions. For more information, contact the admissions office at (281) 649-3211.

Posted: 2/18/05

TOGETHER:
Prayer for things that are, ought to be

Her name is Emma Rose Gaston. She is the baby daughter of our baby daughter, and she's beautiful. We have three granddaughters and seven grandsons. Truly blessed.

One week earlier, my wife, Rosemary, and I awaited her heart cath procedure. Three stents and a prayer. Will bypass surgery be necessary? No. Truly blessed.

Life is like that. Full of fear, filled with joy. God promises to be present. Truly grateful.

Late at night, I returned a call from a pastor. “How is our convention going to be relevant to the needs of churches like mine? I don't really believe this church can survive. Two of your staff have been here. They are really good, but they didn't help us find a way to turn this church around.”

I know those two staff leaders and they have helped many churches, but they didn't connect there. The only people sadder about that than the pastor and I are those consultants. Can we learn how to do what we do better? Did we listen well enough? Were we determined to follow up long enough?

Executive Director BGCT Executive Board

How do we fulfill our mission to encourage, facilitate and connect churches to fulfill God's mission of reconciling the world to himself–and build a better Sunday school, find a mission vision, equip stronger leaders and pay the bills? Determination. We will not be satisfied until we know how to work with and help every kind of church.

News arrived about a church start. Over 200 adults with boatloads of children in one of our most creative church starts. A high-risk, potentially high-yield congregation, and they finally are on their way! Thanks be to God.

Two young pastors, both gifted and called. One going through the dark night of despair and the other overwhelmed by the success of his new church. Both in my prayers. Both special to God and to the work of our convention. All the time, God is good.

A DVD is available with mission stories from our BGCT churches. Are our churches really doing this much in mission efforts all across Texas, in Mexico, in Eastern Europe, in Southeast Asia's tsunami district? No wonder our people have given almost $1 million in the last six weeks to help the people there.

What an encouragement for churches that could show slices of this to their people. Now, that would get the mission fires burning!

Amazement every time I think about the impact our 23 Texas Baptist universities, seminaries, child care ministries, elder care services and hospitals make on Texans and on people in many parts of the earth. I've never known a more dedicated group of institutional leaders who want to help their ministries make a difference in people's lives and involve our churches in real, hands-on learning and serving experiences. The folks who work in these institutions are ready to help your church gain a bigger vision of what God can do through your people.

Thank you, Lord, for the Baptist Standard and all who serve you and your people by making sure our people are well informed, spiritually challenged and faithfully enlisted in the work of the kingdom. We have been given a special trust. Lord, make us faithful.

In the morning, as I walk my three miles, I'll be singing and quoting Scripture: “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name!”

We are loved.

Order this free DVD by e-mailing rand.jenkins@bgct.org.

Posted: 2/18/05

'Unreality' remains

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Reality television is anything but real, according to media and ethics professors.

But get used to it, because it's not going anywhere any time soon.

Producers contort personalities through the editing process to increase drama and tell a story, noted Bill Tillman, the T.B. Maston Professor of Christian ethics at Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon Seminary in Abilene.

This creates contrived conflict and a false sense of viewing reality, he explained.

But the public watches the shows, and the programs are cheap to produce, said Brooks Grigson, a professor of communication studies at Baylor University in Waco. The networks save money because they do not have to pay writers or actors and yet continue to gain large audiences.

Given the popularity of reality TV, Christian believers have an opportunity to deliver a Christian witness–even if it is a diluted one–to many people who have not come to church, Tillman said. He particularly noted believers can model moral ways of forming relationships on shows where people seemingly are searching for love.

That doesn't mean Tillman understands why people go on these shows.

“A certain exhibitionism must be at work,” he said. “So, no matter how much a contestant may claim Christian values, to put one's self in such contexts can really dilute the authenticity of one's witness for Christ.”

Although television is in somewhat of a conservative swing after last year's Super Bowl halftime show, Grigson said public networks, including reality shows, may push the envelop to compete with cable networks.

“I think there's a danger of where things are headed, but the same can be said about the rest of TV,” he said.