Posted: 10/01/04

Baptist Briefs

Thomas accepts seminary post. Claude Thomas has resigned as pastor of First Baptist Church in Euless to serve as chaplain at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and special assistant to President Paige Patterson. He also will assist in the seminary's doctor of ministry degree program and student recruitment. Thomas earned two degrees from Southwestern Seminary and is former president of the seminary's National Alumni Association.

Virginia WMU rejects SBC position. Leaders of Woman's Missionary Union of Virginia have adopted a declaration endorsing the "diverse and unlimited" Christian vocations of women and rejecting both the Southern Baptist Convention's official opposition to women pastors as expressed in the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message statement and the refusal of the convention's North American Mission Board to endorse women as military and prison chaplains. The Virginia WMU trustees and board of advisers unanimously approved the "Declaration of the Dignity of Women" during their annual meeting. The full text of the declaration may be read at www.wmu-va.org.

Baylor researcher joins seminary faculty. William Dembski, associate research professor at Baylor University's Institute for Faith and Learning, has been named director of the new Center for Science and Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Southern Seminary President Al Mohler described Dembski as "a primary theorist of intelligent design, as well as a primary opponent of Darwinism and evolutionary theory." Dembski previously taught at Northwestern University, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Dallas.

SBC Executive Committee announces staff changes. The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has named David Hankins executive vice president, Bill Merrell senior executive adviser, Augie Boto general counsel and vice president for convention policy, and Donald Magee director of finance. Hankins, 54, joined the Executive Committee staff as vice president for convention policy in 1996 and was named vice president for Cooperative Program in 1998. Merrell, 60, who is continuing to recover from a stroke last fall, has served as the Executive Committee's vice president for convention relations since 1996. His new position will be voluntary, but he will continue to receive retirement and medical benefits. Boto, 53, joined the Executive Committee staff in 1998 as vice president for convention policy. He is a former county attorney and private attorney in Texas. Magee, 59, joined the staff in 1998 as director of technology and was named director of technology/convention planning in 1999 and director of business systems/convention planning in 2002.

Mayday for Marriage rally set. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Chuck Colson of Prison Fellowship and Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission are among the key speakers at a Mayday for Marriage rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Oct. 15. Other program personalities include Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, author and lecturer Anne Graham Lotz and Alan Keyes, Republican candidate for the United States Senate from Illinois. For more information about the rally, visit www.maydayformarriage.com.

Arkansas CBF names coordinator. Ray Higgins, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark., has been named the first full-time coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Arkansas, effective Jan. 1, 2005. Higgins, 48, is serving his second term on the national CBF Coordinating Council. He is a graduate of the University of Arkansas, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Baylor University. Higgins was assistant professor of Christian ethics at Southwestern from 1987 to 1994, and he was pastor of Purmela Baptist Church in Coryell Baptist Association.

Posted: 10/01/04

Bush's faith more mainstream
American than evangelical, insiders insist

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–While many of President Bush's opponents and critics alike have pointed to his evangelical Christian faith as his defining characteristic, several intimately acquainted with Bush recently told a gathering of journalists the president considers himself in the mainstream of American religious life.

Speaking to the Religion Newswriters Association annual conference in Washington, experts familiar with Bush's much-talked-about faith said the president does not use it improperly in his work in the White House.

“He's all business in the Oval Office,” said Jim Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. “He does not talk about his personal faith with staff–at least, not with me.”

Towey and Houston minister Kirbyjon Caldwell, one of Bush's spiritual confidants, both described Bush's view of his own faith as being squarely in the mainstream of American religious life.

“He does not believe God told him to run (for president) and he certainly does not believe that God told him to drop bombs anywhere–that's not his theology and not his ethos,” said Caldwell, pastor of the nation's largest United Methodist congregation.

Bush, who said during his 2000 election campaign that Jesus was his favorite philosopher “because he changed my heart,” has been lauded by conservative evangelical Protestants as one of their own.

Born into a family with Presbyterian and Episcopal roots, Bush is widely reported to have had a faith-deepening experience similar to an evangelical conversion around the time he turned 40, in the mid-1980s. He was a member of United Methodist congregations in Dallas and Austin during his Texas years.

However, according to a journalist who wrote a sympathetic book on Bush's faith, he is not a typical evangelical.

“It's not easy, although the temptation is there, to pigeon-hole this guy,” said David Aikman, a former Time magazine reporter and now head of an international fellowship of Christian journalists. “He does not like to be called an evangelical. He does not like to use the language 'born again.' This is no-no language in the White House.”

Speaking to journalists on a panel discussion about faith in the White House, Aikman said Bush is “very ecumenical” compared to most conservative Protestants, and he is comfortable with people of all faiths.

“He is a Methodist, but he is comfortable with Baptists and Catholics and Episcopalians,” Aikman said.

The reporter also noted Bush “has worshipped in mainstream Episcopal churches, which evangelicals may think are liberal,” including the gay-friendly St. John's Episcopal Church, just across Lafayette Square from the White House.

Bush's parents attended St. John's while they were in the White House, and the younger Bush and his wife, Laura, have attended there on some of the handful of occasions when they have been in Washington on a Sunday morning.

Aikman also noted Bush's openness to people of minority faiths, such as Islam and Sikhism.

“He has had prayer sessions with followers of the Sikh religion in the Oval Office,” he said. “What's a born-again Christian doing praying with Sikh religionists?

“Although the cliché is this is the president of the Christian Right, … in fact, he's a far more complex and subtle individual in his faith orientation than many people have been led to believe,” Aikman concluded.

However, Bush has embraced positions on several divisive social issues–such as abortion rights and gay rights–congruent with those of the Religious Right.

Shaun Casey, assistant professor at Washington's Wesley Theological Seminary, told the journalists that such actions are part of the way Bush was “exploiting religion brilliantly in this campaign.”

Casey noted recent reports that the Bush campaign had attempted to organize voters through conservative churches in important “battleground” states. “They have been directly reaching out to churches in a very, I would say, unseemly manner,” he said. “The Bush hagiography apparatus has marketed in a very Machiavellian way, in a very effective way, their message among the press corps.”

Nonetheless, Casey said, he didn't question the authenticity of Bush's personal piety.

“I think we need to separate between the faith of the president and how religion is being used in the campaign,” he said.

Towey joked that Bush was not consumed at work by esoteric religious talk or practices. “I haven't walked in the Oval Office and seen him lost in prayer or levitating,” he said, to laughter.

Posted: 10/01/04

SBC leader blasts
BWA fund-raiser

NASHVILLE–A Baptist World Alliance fund-raising appeal directed to Southern Baptist Convention churches has drawn criticism from Morris Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee, who claims the effort violates longstanding denominational policy.

The policy in the SBC's business and financial plan specifies that “in no case shall any convention entity approach a church for inclusion in its church budget or appeal for financial contributions.”

While BWA leaders voluntarily honored that policy when the SBC was affiliated with BWA, the two entities no longer have formal ties.

SBC messengers voted in June to withdraw membership from the international Baptist body.

The letter from BWA President Billy Kim and General Secretary Denton Lotz, dated Aug. 27, addresses charges made by the Southern Baptist BWA study committee and also details the ministry of the Baptist World Alliance.

The letter notes that a gift of $250 will make a church an “associate member” of BWA while a gift of $1,000 will make it a “Global Impact Church.”

Chapman wrote BWA officials, asking them to “cease immediately” the fund-raising effort directed to SBC churches.

Ian Chapman, BWA's director of promotion and development, told Baptist Press that in addition to Southern Baptist churches, BWA's letter was mailed to churches in the American Baptist Churches USA, Baptist General Conference and Progressive National Baptist Convention.

“Now that the Southern Baptist Convention is no longer a member of the Baptist World Alliance, there's no reason for us not to send (letters to) individual churches,” he said.

“Baptist autonomy means that churches can make their own decisions.”

Based on reporting by Trennis Henderson and Baptist Press

Posted: 10/01/04

President George W. Bush, shown here at Union Bethel African Methodist Church in New Orleans, says he cannot separate his faith from his job as president.(RNS/John McCusker Photo)	Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, shown here at Second Ebenezer Baptist Church in Detroit, considers his faith a deeply personal matter.(AP/Charles Krupa Photo)

Presidential candidates experience, express faith differently

By Mark O'Keefe

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–One candidate is from the Bible Belt and likes to tell how God redeemed him from a life of destructive drinking, which made him a better husband and public servant for such a time as this.

The other hails from the Northeast, where religion is a more private matter. While he won't wear his on his sleeve, he says, his faith shapes his values and his values animate his actions.

President George W. Bush, a United Methodist, and Sen. John Kerry, a Roman Catholic, both consider faith a vital part of their lives. But how do the presidential candidates' personal beliefs inform their public policy when it comes to gay marriage, federal budget priorities, the war in Iraq and a host of other issues with moral components? In this regard, the two men could hardly be more different.

Not only does Kerry passionately call for separation of church and state, he makes no personal claim to divine guidance in his decision-making and advocates far less presidential piety than Bush displays.

“I personally would not choose–though I'm a person of faith–to insert it as much as the president does,” Kerry told The Ladies Home Journal in August 2003. “I think it crosses a line, and it sort of squeezes the diversity that the presidency is supposed to embrace. It creates a discomfort level.”

On a similar note, Kerry told reporters in April, “I fully intend to continue to practice my religion as separately from what I do with respect to my public life, and that's the way it ought to be in America.”

Kerry, whose paternal grandparents were born Jewish and converted to Catholicism, says this separation is a constitutional requirement established by the founders to protect people of all faiths or no faith. He also sees it as a guard against arrogance in the name of God.

“I don't want to claim that God is on our side,” he said in his speech at the Democratic National Convention. “As Abraham Lincoln told us, I want to pray humbly that we are on God's side.”

Unlike Kerry, whose Catholicism has been a lifelong journey since infant baptism, Bush experienced a profound and sudden change when he embraced Christianity and quit drinking in a classic adult evangelical conversion.

It has carried into his political life. The president told CNN's Larry King, “I don't see how you can separate your faith as a person from the job of being president.”

When Radio and Television Ireland asked Bush in June if he believes the hand of God guides him in the war on terrorism, Bush said, “My relationship with God is a very personal relationship, and I turn to the good Lord for strength, and I turn to the good Lord for guidance.”

“He's the commander in chief, not the pastor in chief,” James Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, said in an interview. “But I don't think President Bush thinks he can compartmentalize his life so that when he steps in the Oval Office, God somehow isn't there. That would be an illusion.”

In most non-Islamic countries, it would be unusual for politicians to make repeated references to religion. But not in the United States.

When Bush frames the war on terrorism as a battle between good and evil, he draws upon a long historical tradition. Ever since 17th-century Puritan leader John Winthrop compared America with the biblical “shining city on a hill,” presidential candidates from both parties have used that metaphor to argue America has been singled out as special.

The Sept. 11 attacks gave Bush ample opportunity to expand on that theme. The day of the attacks, Bush said the United States was targeted “because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world.” He promised, “No one will keep that light from shining.”

Addressing this year's Republican National Convention, Bush justified the invasion of Iraq and removal of Saddam Hussein with a favorite maxim: “Freedom is not America's gift to the world, it is the Almighty God's gift to every man and woman in this world.”

Towey said Bush's faith is evident on the job. Away from the public and the media, the president has been seen with his head bowed, apparently in silent prayer, before giving a speech.

Yet what is Christian humility to Bush supporters is self-righteousness to some of his critics, especially when Bush applies his faith to hot-button social issues.

Consider same-sex marriage. Bush opposes it, arguing in this year's State of the Union address that “the same moral tradition that defines marriage (as the union of a man and a woman) also teaches that each individual has dignity and value in God's sight.”

Kerry is far more cautious.

“I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman,” Kerry said at a March campaign stop in Tougaloo, Miss. “But I believe it's important in the United States of America that we recognize that we have a Constitution which has an equal protection clause.”

A similar dynamic is at work in the areas of abortion rights and federal funding for research on new embryonic stem cells.

Bush opposes both, explaining to “March for Life” participants in January that “all life is sacred and worthy of protection.”

Kerry supports abortion rights and stem cell research in defiance of the official teachings of his own church. He addressed the dichotomy in a July interview with the Telegraph Herald of Dubuque, Iowa: “I don't like abortion. I believe life does begin at conception.” But, he added, “I can't take my Catholic belief, my article of faith, and legislate it on a Protestant or a Jew or an atheist” because “we have separation of church and state in the United States of America.”

Like many Democrats, Kerry is more comfortable applying religious principles to what he considers issues of social justice in the federal budget.

“We believe in the family value expressed in one of the oldest commandments: 'Honor thy father and thy mother,'” Kerry said in accepting his party's nomination. “As president, I will not privatize Social Security. I will not cut benefits.”

John Podesta, former chief of staff to President Clinton, said Kerry speaks with “a moral perspective instead of an overtly religious perspective,” in the tradition of another Catholic senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy.

Northeasterner Kerry and Texan Bush not only reflect the religious sensibilities of their political parties and geographic regions, but also see the presidency through the lenses of their particular faith traditions, said John Green, director of the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron.

Bush, influenced by his evangelical Christianity, seeks moral clarity, Green said. Kerry, as a Catholic, finds ambiguity.

Bush “makes a decision, and he sticks to that decision, and that fits with the certainty of his faith,” said Green, a leading scholar of religion and politics. “The fact of the matter is that President Bush is not into nuance. On the other hand, Sen. Kerry is very nuanced. He does really see multiple sides of an argument and looks at them closely before making a decision.”

Posted: 10/01/04

Book examines five views on church polity

By David Roach

Southern Baptist Seminary

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–What is the most biblical way to structure church government?

That is the central question addressed in “Perspectives on Church Government: Five Views of Church Polity,” a new book edited by Chad Brand and Stanton Norman from the Broadman & Holman publishing arm of LifeWay Christian Resources.

Brand is associate professor of Christian theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and Norman is associate professor of theology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

“Perspectives on Church Government” features five chapters written by five scholars. Each chapter defends a different view of church government and ends with responses from the other four writers.

No single view of church government should be considered an essential tenet of Christian orthodoxy, Brand and Norman write in the introduction. But they believe anyone who seeks to minister effectively in a congregation needs to develop a biblical perspective on church governance.

James Leo Garrett, emeritus professor of systematic theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, presents the democratic congregational model of church government. Final human authority in a church rests with the entire congregation when it gathers for decision-making, Garrett maintains.

“This means that decisions about membership, leadership, doctrine, worship, conduct, missions, finances, property, relationships and the like are to be made by the gathered congregation except when such decisions have been delegated by the congregation to individual members or groups of members,” Garrett writes.

While congregationalism allows for pastoral leadership in local churches, Garrett argues that congregations that adopt elder rule in some form move toward the “erosion or rejection” of congregational polity.

Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forrest, N.C., defends a model of church government in which a single elder leads the congregation.

“Each and every member has equal rights and responsibilities,” Akin writes. “However, aspects of representative democracy are not ruled out. Certain persons may indeed be chosen by the body of believers to lead and serve in particular and specific ways. Those who are called to pastor the church immediately come to mind.”

Because the New Testament does not specify the number of elders required in a congregation, a church may have just one elder if only one man in the church meets the scriptural qualifications for the office, Akin writes. Even in cases where there is a plurality of elders, Akin interprets Scripture to suggest one elder should emerge as the “first among equals.”

Robert Reymond, professor of systematic theology at Knox Theological Seminary in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., argues for a presbyterian model of church government, where individual congregations elect elders. Those elders “are to rule and to oversee the congregation, not primarily in agreement with the will of the congregation but primarily in agreement with the revealed word of God, in accordance with the authority delegated to them by Christ, the head of the church.”

Unlike the congregational model, Reymond argues each local church is not an autonomous unit. Instead, the New Testament teaches that congregations should form a “connectional government of graded courts,” which exercises spiritual and moral oversight over individual congregations.

Paul Zahl, dean of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Ala., supports the episcopal model of church government. The New Testament does not mandate any one model of church government as essential for a biblically functioning congregation, he contends. Therefore, Christians must opt for a form of church government that most effectively contributes to the well-being of the church.

Under the episcopal model, churches are governed by a three-tiered leadership structure, Zahl writes. Deacons are the first order of leaders and act as servants in local congregations. Presbyters or elders are the second order of leaders and act as overseers in local congregations. Bishops are the third order of leaders and oversee the activities of elders and congregations.

James White, adjunct professor of theology at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, Calif., and president of Alpha and Omega Ministries, advocates a plural elder-led congregational model of church government. Like Akin, White argues the ultimate human authority in a church rests in the gathered congregation and the congregation should elect elders to lead the church.

But unlike Akin, White argues the Bible calls for more than one elder in each congregation and does not elevate one elder as the “first among equals.” Elders may perform slightly different functions within the congregation according to their giftedness, he writes.

White concludes all Christians must seek to discover the Bible's standards for church polity if they hope to build up the body of Christ effectively.

“The issue (of church government) is an important one, despite the fact that it hardly appears on the 'radar screen' of the modern church. It truly reflects how much we really believe Jesus is Lord of his church and is concerned that it functions as he has commanded.”

Posted: 10/01/04

Muleshoe pastor to be nominated
for BGCT second vice president

By Marv Knox

Editor

DRIPPING SPRINGS–Stacy Conner, pastor of First Baptist Church in Muleshoe since 1991, will be nominated for second vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas this fall.

Lonny Poe, pastor of Sunset Canyon Baptist Church in Dripping Springs who has been Conner's friend for more than 20 years, announced he will make the nomination at the BGCT annual session in San Antonio, Nov. 8-9.

“Stacy was born and raised in Texas and is enmeshed in Texas Baptist life,” he said. “He knows who we are. He loves us and wants us to continue to do kingdom work.”

Conner was educated and prepared for ministry by Texas Baptists, Poe said, recalling the pair met in 1983, while they were ministerial students at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview.

“I've known him to be a wonderful dad, a tremendous preacher, a gifted pastor, a good husband and a faith-filled Texas Baptist,” he said.

Conner has demonstrated his ability and preparedness for convention office through service on numerous convention and community boards and other places of responsibility, he added.

“In all the capacities where he's served, people have recognized Stacy's wisdom and integrity. That's always caught people's eyes,” Poe said. “He's also a community pastor. He's the pastor not only of First Baptist Church, but all of Muleshoe. People look to him for leadership, for a moral compass and for integrity.

“He's as solid as they come. He's my best friend, and I'm honored to nominate him for second vice president. He bridges gaps and loves people. I think he'll do great.”

Conner said he finds the nomination affirming. “It's not only an honor for me, but for our church, that I was asked to serve,” he said.

And if elected, he would look forward to serving with the other two officer nominees–Albert Reyes, the convention's current first vice president and president of Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio, who will be nominated for president, and Michael Bell, pastor of Greater St. Stephen Baptist Church in Fort Worth, who will be nominated for first vice president–as well as the BGCT Executive Board, Conner said.

Conner would serve out of a sense of gratitude for all he has received from the BGCT, he said.

“I'm a product of Texas Baptists,” he noted. “I attended Wayland, where I received BGCT ministerial tuition assistance. I attended Southwestern (Baptist Theological) Seminary when it was a Texas seminary. And all through my educational experience, I was trained by Baptists who cared to educate me properly.

“As a pastor, I've been blessed to enjoy fellowship through ministry endeavors with Texas Baptists and to appreciate the blessing of being a Texas Baptist.

“Being part of the BGCT has allowed not only our church but me to be involved in numerous ministries of which I would never have been able to be a part individually. My Christian experience has been enhanced because I've been nurtured and encouraged by Texas Baptists.”

With the BGCT considering its most significant reorganization in about 50 years, the coming year will be a “pivotal time” in the convention's history, Conner said, predicting, “It will be a time of growth, a time of learning and a time of more effective ministry for the BGCT.”

Reyes has said he intends to emphasize the importance of the BGCT's Cooperative Program unified budget, and Conner stressed he affirms that focus.

“Our church has been strongly supportive of the Cooperative Program, and we will continue to support the BGCT through the Cooperative Program,” he said.

Conner also would be honored to represent West Texas as a convention officer, he said, noting Steve Vernon, pastor of First Baptist Church in Levelland, was the most recent BGCT officer from that part of the state.

“I'll try to uphold the high standards he set in representing West Texas goals and visions,” he said.

First Baptist Church in Muleshoe has 556 resident members and averages 350 in worship and 176 in Bible study. Last year, the church baptized 12 new Christians and contributed $32,656 to the BGCT Cooperative Program.

Before becoming pastor of the Muleshoe congregation, Conner was pastor of First Baptist Church in Matador and minister of activities at First Baptist Church in Plainview.

He earned a bachelor's degree from Wayland, a master's degree from Southwestern Seminary and a doctorate from Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University.

Conner is a trustee of Wayland, and he has served on the BGCT Executive Board.

He also was vice chairman of the BGCT Christian Education Coordinating Board and chairman of that board's university funding committee.

He has served on the board of Caprock-Plains Baptist Area and was pastoral care director for Llanos Altos Baptist Association.

He is a member of the national coordinating council of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Conner has been involved in his community. He's a past-president of the Muleshoe Lions Club and a member of the Muleshoe Rotary Club, and he has served on Muleshoe Independent School District and local Little League organizations and coached baseball and basketball.

Conner and his wife, Debbie, have a daughter and two sons, ranging in age from 17 to 12.

Posted: 10/01/04

Focus on the Family joins call for Procter & Gamble boycott

By Adelle Banks

Religion News Service

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (RNS)–Focus on the Family Chairman James Dobson has encouraged listeners to his radio program to boycott Procter & Gamble products because of what he calls the company's “tacit endorsement of gay marriage,” but the Cincinnati manufacturer says conservative groups are mistaken about its stance.

“For Procter and Gamble to align itself with radical groups committed to redefining marriage in our country is an affront to its customers,” Dobson said. “An overwhelming majority of Americans–the men and women who buy this company's products–oppose same-sex marriage.”

Procter & Gamble's donation of $10,000 to a campaign for the repeal of a city ordinance barring enactment of gay rights laws is not related to the marriage issue, said company spokesman Doug Shelton.

“Our company supports repeal of Article 12 in the city of Cincinnati, which removed from our city council the authority to enact any ordinances that would protect individuals from discrimination,” Shelton said. “The two issues are separate and distinct, and our company has not taken a position on the definition of marriage.”

He said Dobson correctly stated that the company “will not tolerate discrimination in any form, against anyone for any reason.”

Shelton said his company thinks the city's ordinance, which he said is the only one of its kind in the country, has hurt the region's economy.

“The perception with this ordinance on the books is that Cincinnati is not a very welcoming place to live or to start a career, so we lose a lot of people who do not want to come to Cincinnati because they feel that the city is intolerant,” he said.

Dobson recommended that his listeners boycott two of the company's best-known brands: Crest toothpaste and Tide laundry detergent.

The American Family Association, a conservative Christian organization based in Tupelo, Miss., asked its supporters to participate in the same boycott.

Posted: 10/01/04

DOWN HOME:
For good health, always wash up

Talk about a bad job.

The American Society of Microbiology hired people to hang out in airport bathrooms and keep track of the percentage of travelers who wash their hands after they're finished with everything else they do in the bathroom.

I heard about this on the radio. The reporter interviewed one of the “researchers,” who explained he tried to do his job inconspicuously. Like that's easy. He would be the person over by the wall, keeping an eye on the sinks, making tally marks in a notebook, trying not to look thoroughly disgusted.

I know. You think this sounds like a goofy science project. But microbiologists don't do goofy. They're deadly serious.

They say the No. 1 source of infectious diseases is contact between hand and mouth. So, clean hands mean less disease. They keep track of these things. In airports, at baseball stadiums. Maybe at a bathroom near you.

You may be glad to know DFW had the highest hand-washing score for women and second-highest score for men of all U.S. airports. The microbiologist hand-counters reported 92 percent of women and 69 percent of men stopped by the lavatory before exiting restrooms here in Texas.

The only airport that scored better was Toronto, where the SARS outbreak apparently scared everybody who touched that corner of Canada into a hand-washing frenzy.

The worst places to shake hands? Just wave at the women in San Francisco, where only 59 percent washed. Ditto for the guys in Chicago, who washed only 60 percent of the time.

I traveled through several airports during the summer and noticed you almost don't need to use your hands to wash them anymore. The water in most sinks turns on when you wave your hands under the faucet. And more high-tech bathrooms have installed motion-detector paper-towel dispensers or hot-air dryers. Now, if they'd make hands-free soap squirters, you could come clean and only touch the things that actually wash your hands.

Airports already were ahead of the (literal, in some places) curve as far as the undoing of hand-washing goes. You exit most airport bathrooms through little mazes instead of doors, so you don't bring your hands to full antiseptic readiness only to soil them by grabbing a door handle recently polluted by Dingy Don.

Besides sort of grossing me out, the hand-washing survey reminded me of a spiritual truth.

Jesus warned about washing your hands but leaving your heart impure. And while I imagine Jesus would promote proper hygiene, I'm confident he's more concerned about the cleanliness of our souls. So, when you wash your hands, pray the words of Psalm 51:10: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

Posted: 10/01/04

EDITORIAL:
Poll results turn America's faith tradition upside down

A new survey illustrates why our nation's Founding Fathers wisely built our government on a constitution and not public-opinion polls.

The Council for America's First Freedom, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting religious liberty, has learned that half of all Americans think the separation of church and state has gone too far.

The council's recent survey revealed 29 percent of Americans believe church-state separation has become “too severe and needs to be less strictly interpreted.” Another 20 percent agree “there is really no need to separate church and state” in the United States today.

Our Baptist forebears and constitutional visionaries such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison must be rolling in their graves.

U.S. separation of church and state is grounded in the religion clauses of the First Amendment to the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” For more than two centuries, those 16 words have safeguarded religion from government intrusion and protected government from religion run amok.

Now, some Americans think church and state should be allowed to intermingle. Many people would like to see public schools reinstitute daily or other specified prayers, and some would prefer that teachers be permitted to read devotionally from the Bible in their classes. A large number of people favor direct government financial support for church-run charities. If you've paid attention to the news the past few years, you can think of other examples of circumstances where fellow citizens would like to breach what Jefferson called the “wall” of separation between church and state.

To be fair, any sympathetic listener can understand why folks would like to see a closer relationship between God and government. This is a scary and immoral world, and it's getting scarier and more immoral by the minute. We who believe prayer provides direct access to God and soothes the savage breast would like to see more prayer. We who believe the Bible provides the answers to moral, ethical and social ills, as well as spiritual needs, would like to see God's word proclaimed.

But the passion for pushing down the wall of separation between church and state is both ill-informed and illogical.

For example, much of the clamor regarding religion in schools is based on ignorance. The Supreme Court did not “throw God and Bible reading out of the schools.” Besides reflecting bad theology (Who could possibly “throw” God anywhere?), such statements are just plain wrong. Students can pray in school; they can read their Bibles in school. Teachers can't lead them, and students can't interrupt ongoing school functions, but students can pray and read the Bible on their own. If other non-academic groups are allowed to meet on campus, student religious clubs can meet on campus. Students can't be expelled for mentioning Jesus or for presenting their faith in academic projects. The overwhelming preponderance of case law supports voluntary–student-led–religious expression in schools.

Similarly, government can legally fund an array of benevolence functions operated by faith-based organizations. For decades, denominationally related children's homes and hospitals have used government grants or functioned under government contracts to provide specific services. They are not churches, but legally incorporated agencies. And they take steps to ensure that government funds do not underwrite evangelistic endeavors, or what the government would call proselytizing. And that's only fair. Think about it: Would you want your tax dollars to fund a Muslim charity that tried to convert people to Islam?

The push to knock over the wall of church-state separation proves illogical on at least two points, which history and current events demonstrate. Of all the nations, whose religious heritage is most vibrant? Whose citizens demonstrate the highest degree of religious activity and say faith matters most in their lives? The United States. Contrast this with two other kinds of nations.

Many countries of Western Europe provide state support for churches and religious functions. Their measures of religious involvement are among the lowest in the world. Their people are the most secular. And, as a rule, their churches are the most anemic. (This points to a sub-irony: The people who push most for a closer relationship between church and state are the very ones who trust government the least. The religion-botching of the European governments should send them running the other way.)

And then look at the countries where religion and government are welded together. These are the countries where anyone who is not Muslim does not have a right to worship God. These are the countries where Christians and others have been persecuted and killed for dissenting from the state-run government. These are the countries exporting terror around the world. You may say, “But that's another kind of religion.” Yes, but never doubt that such absolute power could corrupt “Christian” governments, too.

A dozen years ago, columnist Cal Thomas advised fellow conservatives to quit seeking answers to spiritual problems through political solutions. He was right. Such endeavors always fail. Religion always suffers.

But faith is strong. Our faith should enfuse all we do. But it should be persuasive, not coercive. For while we need Christians involved in government at all levels, we don't need “Christian” government.
–Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com

Posted: 10/01/04

Mexican pastor tracked down a lost
boy; set his feet on path toward Jesus

By George Henson

Staff Writer

LONGVIEW–Even though he only was 13 years old, Javier Elizondo already had gone to work and bought his own books and clothes. Since he bought his own shoes and wanted some that would last a long time, he bought a pair of work boots.

“As far as I could tell, I was the only one in Camargo with those kind of ugly shoes,” he said. The distinctive footprints he left in the dirt streets of Camargo, Mexico, attracted the attention of a pastor starting a church in the Mexican border town. After seeing Elizondo's tracks all over town, the pastor asked one of Elizondo's friends to introduce him.

“Brother Margarito was not interested in shoes; he was interested in the person who wore the shoes, and what he could use to make a connection to the person who wore the shoes,” Elizondo explained.

Elizondo, now academic dean at Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio, came to First Baptist Church in Longview to describe the impact of the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions on his life.

He grew up in Camargo, just across the border from Rio Grande City. He could not afford to continue schooling beyond junior high school, and education was the thing he wanted most in the world. His parents were divorced and he lived with an aunt and uncle.

“It was a time in my life when I did not feel like anybody loved me. I did not feel like my parents loved me,” he admitted.

He also didn't have God to look to as a source of love.

“I had never seen a Bible. Nobody had ever told me that Jesus Christ could save me from my sins. No one had ever read me any verse of Scripture. I was not anti-God, but I did not know anything about God,” he said.

He felt like his door of opportunity to live the life he wanted was closing.

Pastor Margarito started Elizondo on a journey he could never have imagined.

The pastor came to Elizondo's home the evening they met and shared the plan of Christian salvation with him. The young teenager was skeptical, but interested. Many family members had told him he was a sinner and no good, but “what I didn't know was what to do about it,” he recalled.

Pastor Margarito filled that gap in his knowledge.

“He told me God loved me. You can imagine how that made me feel. Later, I learned that the Scripture has a verse that says even if your parents forsake you, God will never forsake you. Then, I did not know that verse. But that day, for the first time, I felt someone really, really loved me, and he was God. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to save me,” Elizondo said.

Still he was doubtful. “There has to be a catch,” he told the pastor.

He was interested enough to borrow a Bible and study for himself, though, and six months later accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

“If you gave to the Mary Hill Davis Offering in 1969, you had an opportunity to help me to come to know the Lord, because the salary of my pastor who stopped me in the street and witnessed to me, was paid half by Texas Baptists and half by Mexican Baptists.” he said.

“If you were a member of a Baptist church in Texas in 1969 and gave a tithe to the church, and the church gave a percentage to the Texas Baptist Cooperative Program, and then you participated in the Mary Hill Davis Offering, you had an opportunity to win me to the Lord. You had a part,” he stressed.

“My life changed that day I received Jesus Christ. It has never been the same.”

Elizondo was the first believer in his immediate or extended family, but a Texas church mission group soon changed that. Church members were coming to Camargo to lead Vacation Bible Schools, and Pastor Margarito asked if one could be held at Elizondo's home. The family gave their permission, even though they were not believers.

His aunt was working in her kitchen as children gathered around her table for Vacation Bible School, and by the end of the week, she was the second convert in the family. Today, many in Elizondo's extended family are Christians.

“It all started with some people giving and some people going to share Jesus with us,” he said.

Still, Elizondo had a desire for education that looked like it would be unfulfilled.

Before he became a Christian, he said, “My definition of 'hell' was staying where I was with no education.”

Texas Baptists once again delivered him when a director of missions along the border arranged for him to attend Valley Baptist Academy on a scholarship.

“If you gave to the Mary Hill Davis Offering from 1970 to 1974, you helped me achieve one of my dreams–to learn English and get an education,” he said. “All I needed was an opportunity, and Texas Baptists gave that to me.”

An older brother had dropped out of school in Mexico in fifth grade, but he also later attended Valley Baptist Academy on a scholarship even though he had passed his 20th birthday. He agreed to give up smoking, drinking and cursing for a semester to give it a try.

He did well and accepted Christ during that semester and eventually graduated. Elizondo finds an easy answer as to why his brother was able to excel in a school taught in English and yet failed in a Mexican school.

“Do you know what they difference was? Jesus. Jesus makes all the difference. Anybody can tell you you are dumb, but if Jesus tells you you are worth it, you believe Jesus, and it makes all the difference,” he said.

The difference made in his family is a picture of the impact missions giving and action make, he said.

“That is the best of who we as Baptists are–people who give generously to see people come to know the Lord; who go with passion to share the gospel wherever they might be,” he said.

“If I serve Texas Baptists for another hundred years, I will never repay what Texas Baptists have done in my life, because they gave me Jesus.”

Posted: 10/01/04

BGCT Executive Board approves
$47.38 million budget recommendation

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS–The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board voted to recommend to the convention's annual meeting a $47.38 million budget for 2005.

At its Sept. 28 meeting, the board approved the BGCT Administrative Committee's budget recommendation–a 3 percent increase over the 2004 budget.

Final budget approval rests with messengers to the BGCT annual session in San Antonio, Nov. 8-9.

Of the $47,380,959 proposed budget, $40.5 million would depend on the Cooperative Program giving of Texas Baptist churches.

Much of the remainder would come from gifts to the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions, endowment income, allocated funds and fees.

The budget includes a 4 percent average merit raise for BGCT Executive Board staff in 2005, Administrative Committee Chairman Bob Fowler noted. The 2004 budget contained no salary increases.

More than half of the budget–$23.3 million–is earmarked for universities, Baptist Student Ministries, theological education and human care institutions such as child and family ministries, homes for the aging and health care systems.

The area that would receive the largest proposed increase over the 2004 budget–$511,736–is church missions and evangelism at $7 million, with the bulk of the increase in new-church development.

The proposed amount for the executive director's office and program areas directly answerable to him increased $423,767, thanks largely to a $250,000 line item for strategic planning and an increase of more than $50,000 in regional offices.

The recommended budget for the executive director's office–including the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation, Cooperative Program services, human resources and communications–totals $3.5 million.

The recommended BGCT budget includes $4 million for financial management, $3.9 million for church health and growth, and $1.8 million for associational missions and administration.

Christian ethics and public life would receive $637,469, and Texas Baptist Men would receive $804,314 in the recommended budget.

The minister's protection plan–which provides church staff limited matching funds for insurance and retirement–would continue to receive $1.59 million.

The Minnesota/Wisconsin Baptist Convention would continue to receive about $200,000.

WorldconneX, the BGCT-related missions network, would receive $452,744, a $200,000 increase over 2004.

The Administrative Committee recommended the adopted giving plan continue to allocate 79 percent for the BGCT budget and 21 percent for worldwide causes, with each church indicating how its worldwide portion should be channeled.

The Executive Board approved the committee's recommendation about reallocating funds designated to the BGCT world missions initiatives by adding the Baptist World Alliance and eliminating the missionary transition fund.

The BGCT had created the missionary transition fund to help Southern Baptist International Mission Board missionaries who resigned or lost their positions because they refused to sign the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.

The reallocation also increased percentages for WorldconneX and Texas Partnerships.

For churches that designate the worldwide portion of their budget gifts to BGCT world missions causes next year, 35 percent would go to WorldconneX, 25 percent to an ongoing missions relationship with Baptists in Mexico, 20 percent to Texas Partnerships, 15 percent to the Minnesota/Wisconsin Baptist Convention and 5 percent to the Baptist World Alliance.

In other business, the Executive Board:

Re-elected as chairman John Ogletree, pastor of First Metropolitan Baptist Church in Houston, and elected as vice chairman Jim Nelson, a layman from Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin.

Affirmed articles of incorporation for Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio, the BGCT-affiliated entity created by the sale of assets of Baptist Health System of San Antonio to Vanguard Health Systems.

Approved revised articles of incorporation for Valley Baptist Health System, allowing the hospital system to select up to 25 percent of its own trustees as permitted by the BGCT constitution, as well as updating terminology and bringing language in line with current laws.

Adopted a resolution of appreciation for Mike Waters, who is retiring after 24 years as president and chief executive officer of Hendrick Health System in Abilene.

Posted: 10/01/04

Excerpts from the BGCT Mission Statement

The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board overwhelmingly approved a set of mission, vision, values and priority statements to guide the convention's work in coming decades. Here are some excerpts.

Values

Bible–God's written word. We value the Bible as the divinely inspired record of God's revelation of himself to us. It serves as the authoritative guide for life and ministry.

Transformational churches. We value the church as the body God has called to carry out his purposes according to his will. We make every effort to develop transformational churches that help believers become Christlike and prepare them to engage culture and advance the kingdom of God. We value being on mission with God in our communities and in reaching a lost world.

Spiritual formation–discipleship. We value intimacy with God that forms the image of Christ in us. We submit our lives to be shaped by God through feeding on his word, praying continually, sharing Christ and living in community with other believers.

Servant leadership. We value servant leadership that models the ministry of Jesus as he called people to become his disciples and to serve all the interests of his kingdom. We are committed to the ongoing nurture and development of courageous servant leadership in our churches.

Worth of all persons. We value every person, for all are created in God's image. We commit ourselves to love others as Christ loves us and to serve others in his name.

Baptist distinctives. We value those biblical truths that shape Baptist life and history, including the soul's competency before God, the priesthood of the believer, the autonomy of the local church and a free church in a free state.

Integrity. We value integrity in our lives and in our churches, demonstrated by Christlike attitudes and actions that are consistent and evident in all we think and do. Integrity is the foundation for the mutual trust, accountability, excellence in ministry and teamwork that marks our work together.

Inclusiveness. We value including all persons redeemed by his grace and called to his service in the missions and ministries of this body. We embrace the mosaic of God's family, grateful for the richness of gifts, backgrounds and experiences.

Vision

We are a fellowship of transformational churches sacrificially giving ourselves to God's redemptive purpose. Continually being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit into the likeness of Christ, we join together to transform our communities and the world. Engaging culture, we reach people where they are for an encounter with Jesus Christ.

We are on mission with God to continue Jesus' ministry of teaching, sharing the good news and meeting human needs through our churches, institutions and organizations. Our ministries reflect the heart of Jesus.

We share a vision of the world's peoples coming to know Jesus Christ and becoming transformed in his image. As a fellowship of diverse churches, we advance the kingdom in ways that individual churches cannot do alone. We belong to the larger body of Christ's church, his presence in the world.

We accomplish our work through individuals with diverse backgrounds who love Jesus Christ and his church. Lives, families, communities and nations are transformed as ordinary Christians take extraordinary steps of faith in obedience to God.

Priorities

Unto the glory of God, we commit ourselves to:

Starting, developing and strengthening transformational churches.

Meeting human needs.

Identifying and developing transformational leadership for churches and affiliated ministries.

Providing a comprehensive strategy that enables churches and individuals to support missions financially and be on mission in their communities and the world.

Conducting research and development for cutting-edge ministries, methods and processes and for understanding multiple cultures.

Being a truly multicultural organization.

—from the BGCT's set of guiding pronciples approved by the Executive Board.