Posted: 10/15/04

Teens choose friends over ministers
in making ethical choices, poll says

WASHINGTON (RNS)–Teenagers who want help making ethical decisions are about six times more likely to seek out their friends than to ask a minister for guidance, a poll shows.

Eighty-three percent of teens said they would turn to their friends for help in making such choices, followed by their parents (68 percent), teachers (27 percent), the Internet (24 percent) and clergy (14 percent).

The poll also showed that almost one-third of teens surveyed think they have to “bend the rules to succeed.”

A smaller percentage–20 percent–gave that answer in a similar poll last year.

Harris Interactive conducted the poll for Junior Achievement, an organization focused on educating young people about business, and Deloitte & Touche, a major accounting firm.

“These poll results indicate that teens are getting mixed messages, so we continue to believe that ethics education must begin early, during formative years,” said James Quigley, chief executive officer of Deloitte & Touche.

The survey of 624 students was drawn from a larger Harris Interactive poll conducted by e-mail, and it was weighted demographically to represent the nation. Conducted during the summer, it has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

Posted: 10/15/04

BGCT leaders maintain proposed
changes won't narrow participation

By Marv Knox

Editor

Reorganization of the Baptist General Convention of Texas would not “narrow the tent” of participation, BGCT leaders insisted.

The proposal is part of a yearlong process to chart the convention's course well into the 21st century. If approved, the BGCT would undergo its most significant change in about 50 years.

The BGCT Executive Board overwhelmingly approved a set of mission, vision, values and priority statements at its regularly scheduled fall meeting Sept. 28. But board members asked for more time to consider reorganizing the convention's structure. They will take up that issue in a called meeting Oct. 26 in Dallas.

The reorganization would decrease the size of the Executive Board from 234 members to less than 100.

Currently, each of the BGCT's 114 affiliated associations has at least one member on the Executive Board. The new system would divide the state into 30 geographical sectors of 50,000 resident church members. Each sector would get three board members.

The reorganization also would eliminate the convention's two coordinating boards, which act as liaisons to the BGCT's schools and human-welfare ministries; its two commissions, which give direction to Executive Board staff programs; and the Administrative Committee, which serves as the convention's finance, personnel and review committee.

Those functions would be assigned to new Executive Board committees, which would meet for two days three times a year.

During the September Executive Board meeting, members expressed several concerns with and questions about the proposed reorganization. Several convention leaders addressed those issues in a post-meeting conference call:

Would reorganization “narrow the tent” of participation among Texas Baptists?

No, responded Wesley Shotwell, vice chairman of the Executive Board, a member of the team that drafted the reorganization documents and pastor of Ash Creek Baptist Church in Azle.

“We need to change the paradigm of what it means to parti-cipate in the convention. Participation is not necessarily a function of governance,” he explained.

“Up to now, we've defined participation as serving on the Executive Board, a coordinating board, a commission or an institutional board. But participation should not be determined by how many people are involved in decision-making, but how many are involved in missions and ministry. We are broadening the tent by allowing Texas Baptists to be more involved in missions and ministry.”

Albert Reyes, the convention's first vice president and president of Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio, agreed.

“By restructuring, we have an opportunity to create new possibilities for participation,” he said. “We will redefine what it means to participate.”

Another avenue to participation is involvement in BGCT institutions, Reyes added.

“There are plenty of opportunities to participate in leadership roles in the 23 institutions affiliated with the BGCT,” he said. “Plus, Texas Baptists will be able to serve on advisory councils and development councils,” which will provide specialized guidance but not governance oversight to convention work.

“Most institutional leaders would welcome folks who might not have access to governance. Institutions also are easier to plug into. They're spread throughout the state. People can participate with institutions close to where they live.”

Texas Baptists need to remember governance is merely a means to an end, stressed Bob Fowler, chairman of the BGCT Administrative Committee and a lay member of South Main Baptist Church in Houston.

“We're not restructuring the convention for the benefit of the governance, but we're restructuring the governance so the convention will work better,” Fowler said.

“The object of the convention is not to get people to participate in governance, but to involve them in missions and ministries. … The governance helps it happen.”

How will ethnic involvement be impacted by reorganization?

John Ogletree, the Executive Board's chairman and pastor of First Metropolitan Baptist Church in Houston, noted the new structure actually should ensure more representative involvement.

“Even though the Executive Board will be smaller, it will be more inclusive,” he said. For example, members of the convention's nominating committee will be able to set goals for including Hispanic, African-American and Asian-American representation that actually reflect those groups' proportion of the convention.

“Our representation from 30 sectors allows us to be more inclusive of ethnics than ever before,” Shotwell said. “One of the systemic problems we've had is the fact we have had representation from associations where it's impossible to get ethnic representation like we need. … We want to make it a policy that 30 percent of the Executive Board ought to be ethnic.”

Reorganization “gives us an opportunity to reflect the way our state is changing,” Reyes said. “It gives us an opportunity to witness that we are an inclusive group of Baptist Christians. We don't just talk about it; we do it. We will have a very bright future.”

Would rural areas of the state–such as West Texas–be under-represented in a reorganized Executive Board structure?

BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade said he is encouraged by the distribution of Executive Board membership revealed on an early draft of a map that divides the state into the 30 sectors.

“When you look at the way these sectors fall out, the percentages of people who will be coming from the more rural areas are similar to the percentages now,” he said. “It's not exactly the same, and there is some reduction, but it is not significant.

“Obviously, the sectors reflect the urban population centers, but we've always had high representation from those areas.”

Could reorganization make selection of Executive Board members political?

The process for selection will not change, Shotwell said, noting, “The Executive Board membership still will be nominated to the convention by a nominating committee, just like now.”

BGCT President Ken Hall urged cautious realism in use of the word “political.”

“We always have been a people who used process to elect our leaders, whether it's board members, committees or officers,” said Hall, president of Buckner Baptist Benevolences. “There have always been people talking to each other, making decisions. I don't see that changing from what historically has gone on in the convention.

“Granted, at times we probably have gone to extremes. … But the way we will arrive at who will be our leaders will be the way we've always done it–through our people. Accountability increases confidence the process is working.”

Wade added: “The thing that has always protected us still will be in place. The president will act alongside the two vice presidents in all appointments, and the Executive Board chair will work in concert with the vice chair. So, what you have is input from a board that's elected by the convention and from officers who are elected every year.

“You get current reflection of where the convention is by its officers and a more time-tested view from the Executive Board, whose members may serve two three-year terms. This creates balance.

“It's important that we honor the messengers (to the annual sessions) and the right of the convention to make its decisions. The voice of the people can be heard.”

Hall pointed out the reorganization process itself illustrates a desire not to politicize. “We worked with the system currently in place,” he said. “We used our people–staff, volunteers, board members and officers. The Executive Board will have heard and considered three separate reports. From the beginning, we have reported to the people through the Baptist Standard. And the messengers to the convention will consider the proposals.”

What about the possibility of concentrating power in the Executive Board, since its committees will do the work currently managed by the coordinating boards, commissions and Administrative Committee?

“Under our current system, entities–such as the coordinating boards and commissions–that make decisions don't really have the responsibility for those decisions, and the Executive Board has the responsibility but does not have the opportunity to make informed decisions,” Shotwell said. “These changes will give the people with the responsibility the opportunity to make informed decisions.”

Ogletree agreed. “In the new structure, we'll have a more informed and involved Executive Board,” he said. “The accountability will sweep through the state.”

While the Executive Board will not “control” the BGCT's 20-plus institutions, Hall predicted, the proposed system would improve governance functions at all levels.

“Our current system is cumbersome. It allows for confusion that doesn't need to exist,” he said, noting it has functioned as well as it has because of the quality of leaders through the years. “To act quickly and appropriately, we need a system that is fine-tuned and efficient.”

Fowler affirmed that assessment, illustrating with the way the Administrative Committee and Executive Board currently interact.

“Although we're technically a committee of the Executive Board, we operate essentially independently in two ways–hiring and salary administration of the Executive Board staff and allocating discretionary spending outside the convention budget. …

“The Administrative Committee has taken on governance outside the Executive Board and has succeeded because we've had lots of good people working on this through the years. But in terms of the Executive Board's responsibility according to our governance documents, it has abdicated control to the Administrative Committee, which does not have legal responsibility.”

Shotwell noted the proposed reorganization will divide financial and personnel oversight. Separate finance and audit committees will deal with those issues, and a new executive committee will be responsible for personnel.

How can the Executive Board offer the level of oversight now provided by the two coordinating boards and the two commissions?

The current system is inconsistent, Hall noted, pointing out the Christian Education Coordinating Board provides some budget-setting guidance, while the Human Welfare Coordinating Board has “zero budgetary responsibility for the institutions.”

The organizational structure–which provides institutional oversight through an Executive Board committee, will bring consistency to the process, he predicted.

And a new two-day format for Executive Board meetings will provide the board's committees with more time for focus on the BGCT's institutions than the coordinating boards' meetings now offer, Shotwell and Wade said.

The expanded format also would strengthen the Executive Board, Wade added.

“We currently meet from 9:30 a.m. to 1 or 2 p.m. without lunch and only one break, and the members do not have an opportunity to get to know one another, to really understand the issues and to discuss them,” he described.

“Executive Board members are wonderful people. It is a testimony to their quality that they are willing to serve. But the opportunity they have to interact is very limited. These changes would correct that and create a better dynamic for governing and creative thinking as they have time to pray and talk with one another and plan for the future.”

The overall reduction in number of meetings also will benefit Executive Board staff, Shotwell said. “Instead of preparing for and going to meetings, they will be able to be in the field.”

What is the importance of reorganization to the convention's new mission, vision, values and priority statements?

“The better we can develop our governance model, the more effective we are going to be in fulfilling all we described in the statements,” Wade said. “To have the Executive Board organized to assist us will be invaluable.

“I don't want to suggest nothing will be done if we don't adopt this model. We will continue to work. But it does matter what we do.

“In the past, as we made statements and priorities, no one has been specifically charged with holding all of us accountable to get these things done.”

Hall noted accountability would be widespread. “It is extremely critical to note that this affords more accountability–not just to (Executive Board) staff, but to our institutions and all our constituencies. We're all more effective if we're accountable.”

Will the BGCT staff be reorganized and deployed, whatever the outcome of the governance vote?

“Yes,” Wade said.

How would the transition from one structure to the next occur?

“If the convention votes this, we will use the next year as a transition time,” Wade explained.

“All the coordinating boards and commissions will remain in place, but we will be working in the nominating process to prepare new recommendations. So, if the convention gives final approval in 2005, we will have prepared a list of the 90 members to be on our (reorganized) Executive Board, and we will conclude the work of the commissions and coordinating boards.

“We will institute, beginning in 2006, a new Executive Board and committee structure.

“While we cannot require anyone to resign from the Executive Board, if current members wish not to resign and have terms to complete, we will honor that. But we will institute the new constitution upon its adoption,” at the conclusion of the 2005 BGCT annual session.

Posted: 10/15/04

African-American Christian women
urged to intercede for the nation

HOUSTON–College student Andrea Punch grew up believing missionaries were white-haired women serving God in Asia. That stereotype vanished this summer when Punch became a missionary in Cuba.

Punch, a student at Baylor University, spoke during the first Sisters Who Care conference for African-American women, held recently at First Metropolitan Baptist Church in Houston.

She challenged participants to go home and get busy, because God has called each of them to be missionaries wherever they live.

The challenge to engage in missions came from a variety of speakers during the conference sponsored by Woman's Missionary Union of Texas.

But the women didn't just talk about missions, conference organizers noted. They brought items and filled hundreds of “hygiene kits” for people in need.

The kits will be distributed through Houston Baptist missions centers; Gracewood, a ministry of Texas Baptist Family Services in Houston; Miracle Farm; the Seaman's Center in Freeport; and Christian Women's Job Corps.

Seminar leader Debra Berry insisted African-American women need to stand in the gap and intercede for a nation “under siege.”

Berry, national WMU consultant for Sisters Who Care, compared Christians' behavior today to Nehemiah of the Old Testament. When told of Israel's destruction, Nehemiah fasted and prayed.

Berry challenged women to return to the first commandment and love the Lord with all their being and love their neighbor as themselves.

“We are falling short of the commandment of God” when the United States is the third- largest recipient of missionaries and when women head 50 percent of African-American households, she said.

“When men aren't there, we must stand.”

If women fast and pray, “I believe God can fix our situation,” Berry insisted. “What Nehemiah did when he heard of the state of his nation is a lesson to us. … Ask the Lord to break your heart for the broken world. And stand on his promises.”

The Sisters Who Care conference drew 300 women from 51 churches across Texas.

Posted: 10/15/04

Texas Baptist Men hope
disastrous season is winding down

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Texas Baptist Men's disastrous fall finally is starting to slow down.

After months of nonstop disaster relief in Florida and Alabama, Texas Baptist Men volunteers are beginning to pull out as the need for assistance wanes. The last emergency food-service unit left Florida Oct. 13. Other units will end their service soon, but teams may be called in to help with the cleaning effort.

“The wrap-up is going to be a long process,” said Leo Smith, the group's executive director. “We're going to be in and out on smaller jobs.”

As Texas Baptist Men teams move out of the area, Florida and Alabama Baptists will continue relief efforts. They will call upon other state conventions when deemed necessary.

TBM mobilized several hundred volunteers for ministry following a series of hurricanes that blasted all of Florida and portions of Alabama.

The workers were part of a widespread effort coordinated by the Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board, which activated Christian volunteers who prepared more than 3 million meals.

This effort tested the coordinating agencies involved. Volunteers were moved in and out of the state several times as storms came and went.

This series of trials pressed the American Red Cross and the North American Mission Board, both of which were in transition. TBM's disaster relief fund was drained.

Smith praised the volunteers for their eagerness to serve and for their flexibility.

Texas Baptists played a wide range of roles in making the relief effort happen.

"The thing that always grips my heart is the people of Texas who work with Texas Baptist Men were willing to go," he said. "Sometimes they would wash their clothes and be ready to go again. It shows a will that is hard to break."

The Texas Baptist Men office continues to receive notes from people in Florida who appreciate the volunteers' ministry, he noted.

The workers' faith in action will serve as an example for many who saw them for a long time, Smith added.

“I think that's a message that will ring far and true,” he said.

To support this effort, send checks designated “disaster relief” to Texas Baptist Men, 333 N. Washington Ave., Dallas 75246.

Posted: 10/15/04

Texas Baptist volunteers continue
ministry to hurricane victims in Grenada

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada–Texas Baptist Men's disaster relief ministry may be nearing its end in Florida, but it is in full swing on the island of Grenada.

Working with Victim Relief Ministries, Texas Baptist Men volunteers are cooking meals with turkey fryers at 10 churches across Grenada. The plan is for those sites to draw people who are seeking food. Victim relief chaplains and counselors will then be available to help as needed.

Eventually, nearly 40 workers will train residents to use the fryers so they can provide the meals. Residents also will be able to use the food Victim Relief Ministries shipped to Grenada.

Larry Burks (left) of First Baptist Church in Plano and Gene Grounds, director of Victim Relief Ministries, offer Christian compassion to a girl at Grand Anse Baptist Church in St. George's, Grenada. (Rex Campbell Photo)

Hurricane Ivan damaged 90 percent of the buildings on the Caribbean island, including two Baptist churches that lost their roofs. The kitchen and pastor's office in one of those churches was destroyed as well.

The needs remain great, said Jason Smith, a chaplain from Lake Pointe Baptist Church in Rockwall. Grenadines devoured 300 meals in less than 20 minutes.

Paul Newton, pastor of Glorious Church in Grenada, said Grenadines are thankful for the much-needed assistance that is helping people across the island.

“We are very grateful,” he said. “It will assist both the church members and people in the community who don't have food. One of the things that has happened, though the food has been coming in, the distribution of it has been slow.”

Because the Texans' ministry is reaching such a broad audience, Vonnia James of the Grenada Baptist Association hopes many people will come to know Christ as Savior through this effort.

Volunteers are meeting needs and sharing Christ's love, he said.

“I see this as big evangelism,” he said. “We will get some people to talk and share the gospel in a time when they need it.”

Albert Fuller of First Baptist Church in Plano said he is in Grenada in hopes of helping hurting people while strengthening local congregations.

“We believe in God and trust him,” Fuller said. “Ivan came through here, and we're here to care for his people.”

For more information, visit www.helpgrenada.com.

Rex Campbell of Texas Baptist Communications contributed to this article.

Posted: 10/15/04

Court hears cases concerning
display of Ten Commandments

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–The Supreme Court has agreed to wade into one of the day's most explosive church-state issues–whether displays of the Ten Commandments on public buildings ever can be constitutional.

The justices consented last week to hear appeals arising from conflicting lower-court decisions in two Ten Commandments cases.

In Van Orden vs. Perry, a Texas resident is challenging a lower court's ruling from late 2003. In it, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that a massive granite Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Texas Capitol in Austin did not violate the First Amendment's ban on government establishment of religion.

In that ruling, Judge Patrick Higginbotham, writing for the court, said the commandments monument had a secular purpose in teaching about the history of the development of the state's legal system and could not be viewed by a reasonable observer as an endorsement of religion.

“Even those who would see the Decalogue as wise counsel born of man's experience rather than as divinely inspired religious teaching cannot deny its influence upon the civil and criminal laws of this country,” Higginbotham wrote.

He also noted the monument's long history–it had been donated to the state more than 40 years ago by the Fraternal Order of Eagles–and its placement amid other monuments on the building's grounds emphasized its secular importance.

“We are not persuaded that a reasonable viewer touring the Capitol and its grounds, informed of its history and its placement, would conclude that the state is endorsing the religious rather than the secular message of the Decalogue,” he said.

In the second case, McCreary County, Ky., vs. ACLU, a divided panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found in late 2003 that much newer Ten Commandments displays in courthouses and a school district in three Kentucky counties violated the First Amendment.

The majority of the justices said the displays were not erected with a sufficiently secular purpose and that they appeared to endorse religion, even though they had later been modified to incorporate legal and historical documents beyond the commandments.

These cases mark the first time since 1980 that the high court has dealt with the issue of Ten Commandments displays on government property.

That year, the court decided Stone vs. Graham, in which they found unconstitutional a Kentucky law requiring public schools to post the commandments on the walls of each classroom.

Since then, the lower federal courts have developed a hodge-podge of rules on allowing Ten Commandments displays in public settings–with some displays found acceptable when they were included as a part of a larger exhibit on the development of Western law and some displays found unconstitutional.

The Texas and Kentucky cases provide an opportunity for the justices to break new ground in legal definitions of what sorts of religious displays can be allowed on government property.

According to one Baptist advocate of church-state separation, the case could also lead the court to clarify a test it has used in similar cases in the past–whether a “reasonable observer” would surmise from a display that the state was endorsing a particular kind of religious belief.

“The case has the potential to clarify the lines of what is acceptable, and to reaffirm the 'reasonable-observer' standard for deciding government endorsement of religion,” said Holly Hollman, general counsel for the Washington-based Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.

Nonetheless, she added, government displays of religious texts are fraught with danger.

“We should be more concerned with following the Ten Commandments rather than merely posting them on government property,” Hollman said. “To display them in a courthouse and hope for the best seems to be a poor strategy for promoting religious values.”

Posted: 10/15/04

Texas Tidbits

Child care offered for BGCT. Free child care will be provided for out-of-town messengers to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting Nov. 8-9 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio. Care for young children–infants through 5–will be offered on-site in Ballroom A by the Texas Baptist Men Child Care Unit. The unit is licensed and certified by the state, and all workers have passed training courses and criminal background checks. The service will be offered Monday, Nov. 8, from 9 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., 12:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. On Tuesday, the times are 6:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Reservations are required. Parents will be responsible for their children's meals, but snacks will be served during their stay. For reservations, contact Tracy Barber, TBM childcare director, by Oct. 29 at (972) 782-8418 or tracy@bartandtracy.com. A registration packet will be mailed to parents.

Resolutions requested. Messengers to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting who wish to present resolutions for consideration are encouraged to submit the resolution in writing prior to the convention, said Dan Treviño, chair of the resolutions committee. The deadline for submitting resolutions at the convention is 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 8. But to allow adequate consideration by the committee and because of printing deadlines to include the resolutions in Tuesday's convention Bulletin, Treviño encourages early submission. Resolutions must be signed by an elected messenger, with church name included. Proposed resolutions may be submitted to Dan Treviño, Harlandale Baptist Church, Box 14278, San Antonio 78214.

Baylor honors Amarillo couple. Baylor University recently named Randy and Stacy Sharp of First Baptist Church in Amarillo as "parents of the year." The university recognized the Sharps during a halftime ceremony at a Baylor Bears football game during parents' weekend. The Sharps both graduated from Baylor, receiving their bachelor's degrees in business administration in 1976. Their eldest daughter, Meridith Sharp Genuchi, received her bachelor's degree in business administration and a master's of accountancy in 2002. Their other three children currently attend Baylor: Austin, a senior majoring in business and environmental studies; Troy, a junior business major; and McKay, a freshman business major.

McAllen church-starting office opens. The Baptist General Convention of Texas Church Multiplication Center has opened an office in McAllen, where consultant David Tamez will lead church-starting efforts along the border. Tamez can be reached in the office at (956) 578-0352. The office is located at 5003 N. McColl Road, Suite A, McAllen 78504.

Laity Institute moves. The Texas Baptist Laity Institute has moved its office into the Baptist Building in Dallas. The institute previously used free office space in buildings owned by Baylor Medical Center. The new address is 333 N. Washington, Dallas 75246, the phone number is (214) 828-5174, and the e-mail address is linda.cross@bgct.org.

UMHB missions emphasis set. Heather Mercer, a mission worker in Afghanistan who was captured by the Taliban, will be on the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor campus as part of missions emphasis week, Oct. 25-29, sponsored by UMHB Baptist Student Ministries. Justin Bullock, a student organizer for the event, said the week has been set up to give students as much exposure to missions as possible by allowing them to interact with missionaries in classrooms, at meals, in chapel, during Bible studies and other campus events. They include representatives from the Southern Baptist International Mission Board and North American Mission Board, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions, WorldconneX, Wycliff Bible Translators and the American Baptist Board of International Missions. For more information, contact Shawn Shannon, director of Baptist Student Ministries, at (254) 295-4234.

Posted: 10/15/04

TOGETHER:
Convention needs to be reorganized

This year, the Baptist General Convention of Texas has taken a close look at itself. We've looked at what we're doing and what we can, by the grace of God, do in the days and years to come.

It has been a productive process, leading to development of new statements regarding our mission, vision, values and priorities. These will guide us.

Those statements, however, will be worthless if we do not become more effective and intentional as a kingdom enterprise. With that in mind, in coming months we will restructure our staff and the way we do our work. Everything will be geared to serving churches better.

Churches do not exist so there can be a strong convention, associations or institutions. The convention, associations and institutions exist to help the churches be strong and effective in reaching and discipling people in their communities and in touching Texas and the world.

But reorganizing our staff is not our only need. While developing our guiding statements, it became clear we need to look at governance issues.

Since the time I served as an Executive Board member while a pastor, I have believed something needed to be different about the way we govern ourselves as a convention. My concerns were simple: First, the Executive Board was not involved directly in shaping proposals and recommendations that it was asked to vote upon. Second, the Executive Board was too large to allow for extensive discussion. Third, board members had little interaction with each other or with the Executive Board staff.

After I became executive director and worked closely with the Executive Board, I realized more fully the responsibility of the board for governance of convention work between annual meetings. Therefore, the Executive Board needed to be more involved in shaping the recommendations and policies they vote upon. They are the ones who must hold the executive director accountable for fulfilling the goals and carrying out the decisions of the Executive Board through the work of the staff.

In a time when the actions of boards of directors have gained increasing public attention and liability issues have grown, governance has become a very important and critical responsibility of the Executive Board. Thankfully, we always have had men and women of great integrity serving on the board and on the staff; and, so far as I know, we never have been put at risk.

We look, however, for a better way. A subcommittee of our Strategic Planning Committee has worked with me to propose a governance model that is both reflective of our Texas Baptist family and able to provide guidance and governance to the work of our great convention.

The Executive Board will consider this matter Oct. 26. If the board approves the constitutional changes required to bring a new governance model into being, then an amended constitution will be brought to the convention in San Antonio. If approved by a two-thirds majority, it will be brought again in 2005 to the convention for another vote, since it takes two years for changes to the constitution to be approved.

Please be in prayer for these important meetings of the board and the convention as we all seek God's will for how best to do his work. Challenging and exciting times are upon us. With God's direction and power, we will do things beyond our own imaginings.

We are loved.

Charles Wade is executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas

Posted: 10/15/04

Valley Baptist Health System names CFO

HARLINGEN–Valley Baptist Health System has named longtime Rio Grande Valley banker Randy McLelland senior vice president and chief financial officer.

McLelland previously served as chief operating officer for Lone Star National Bank, following years of executive leadership at JP Morgan/Chase and its predecessor bank, Texas Commerce Bank.

He has served on the Valley Baptist Health System board of directors, most recently as chairman of the board.

“Randy's leadership and contributions to Valley Baptist through the years have been remarkable, and we welcome him and his wife, Madelaine, to the Valley Baptist staff,” said James Springfield, president and chief executive officer of Valley Baptist Health System.

In other organizational developments, three executives from the Memorial Hermann hospital system in Houston have joined Valley Baptist's management team.

Shane Spees has been named chief financial officer for Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen, Greg Harb is the new chief executive officer for Valley Baptist Health Center-Brownsville, and Jim Salyer is senior vice president for corporate services.

Spees served as assistant vice president of operations at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital in Houston.

Harb was vice president and chief operating officer for Memorial Hermann and Memorial Hermann Children's Hospitals in Houston. As chief executive officer for Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville, he will work on integrating the 243-bed hospital–previously the Brownsville Medical Center–into the Valley Baptist system. Valley Baptist completed purchase of the hospital June 29.

Salyer was chief executive officer of Memorial Hermann Children's Hospital in Houston's Texas Medical Center.

In addition to the four new administrators, Springfield announced several promotions of administrators who already were serving within the Valley Baptist system.

They include James Eastham as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Valley Baptist Health System; Scott Manis as vice president and chief operating officer for Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen; Jim Wesson as vice president and chief operating officer of Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville; Doug Volinski as vice president of finance in addition to his current duties as corporate compliance officer; and Linda McKenna as director for Valley Baptist's Physician-Hospital Organization in addition to her current duties as vice president of governmental affairs.

“As Valley Baptist continues to grow, our organization will continue to evolve,” Springfield said.

“I am pleased that we have so many people within our organization who have distinguished themselves here at Valley Baptist. I am also pleased that our organization has successfully attracted other high-quality individuals to our team from other organizations.”

Storylist for 10/18/04 issue

OUR FRONT PAGE STORIES
• Sexual abstinence program changes teen's life

• Men find church-based fraternity worth their time, even if it means meeting before dawn

• Teens choose friends over ministers in making ethical choices, poll says




• Sexual abstinence program changes teen's life

• Men find church-based fraternity worth their time, even if it means meeting before dawn

• Convention presidents address African-American preachers

• African-American Christian women urged to intercede for the nation

• Public policy should be measured against plumb line of social justice, lecturer insists

• Organizers hope BGCT session will be a family celebration

• Judge finds no evidence of racketeering in Criswell College lawsuit

• Voters register at ETBU

• Fort Worth church shows love by 'sweating for Jesus'

• Historical Society explores roles of associations in doctrinal diversity

• Texas hunger offering helps support development projects around the world

• New NAMB church-starting guidelines won't impact BGCT, officials maintain

• BGCT leaders maintain proposed changes won't narrow participation

• Texas Baptist Men hope disastrous season is winding down

• Texas Baptist volunteers continue ministry to hurricane victims in Grenada

• Valley Baptist Health System names CFO

• On the Move

• Around the State

• Texas Tidbits


Baylor University and Baptist Freedom
• Baylor provost's speech sparks debate over Baptist freedom

• Baptist scholars point to tension between individualism and community life

• Sloan: Balance demands both

Previously Posted
• Filipino church teaches members to adopt missio

• Dallas Baptists work with Habitat to breathe new life into neighborhood

• Straining muscles baptizing no hardship for Daisetta pastor

• Baylor engineers seek appropriate technology for Third World

• Women's ministry in The Woodlands prayerwalks public school hallways

• Parents of Special Friends can find support in churches, universities and on the web, chaplain says

• Wrestler finds way to get a hold on missions in Taiwan





• Louisiana College selects assistant dean at Southwestern Seminary as new president

• Baptist Briefs




• Christians from Iraq flee rising Islamic fundamentalism




• Court hears cases concerning display of Ten Commandments

• Teens choose friends over ministers in making ethical choices, poll says

• Habitat leadership transition agreement reached; founder Fuller retires as CEO

• Poll Good news, bad news for U.S. Muslims

• 'Godfather' of Religious Right dead in Memphis

• Micah Challenge sets goal of cutting worldwide poverty in half by 2015

Previously Posted
• House vote on marriage amendment falls short of two-thirds




• Classified Ads

• Texas Baptist Forum


• On the Move

• Around the State




• EDITORIAL: Unlikely pair propose debate question

• EDITORIAL: One option may be foregone, but votes count for something

• DOWN HOME: Complex cars; simple faith

• TOGETHER: Convention needs to be reorganized

• Texas Baptist Forum

• Cybercolumn by John Duncan: Rain must fall




• BaptistWay Bible Series for Oct. 24: 'Good grief' produces repentance, not regret

• LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Oct. 24: No one is beyond the healing powers of Christ

• LifeWay Family Bible Series for Oct. 24: Jesus brings meaning and purpose to our lives

• BaptistWay Bible Series for Oct. 31: Exercise financial generosity for sake of others

• LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Oct. 31: Give up your life so that Christ can fill it richly

• LifeWay Family Bible Series for Oct. 31: Christ has the power to change lives for eternity

See articles from previous issue 10/04/04 here.