Posted: 8/20/04

Prayer the focus of slumber party slated
at My Father's House, Lubbock, next month

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

LUBBOCK–Girls know slumber is the last thing that happens at slumber parties. Shirley Madden hopes prayer is the first thing that happens at the one she has planned.

Madden, executive director of My Father's House, Lubbock, is throwing a prayer slumber party Sept. 17-18 to encourage intercession for her ministry and its Living and Learning Center.

She hopes more than 100 women will participate in the on-site slumber party, and she is inviting women across the state who can't come to Lubbock to hold simultaneous prayer parties in their own communities.

“It's a girl thing,” Madden said, describing the reason for the prayer meeting's slumber party setting.

“We want to create a heart-to-heart connection to pray for the future of our ministry. We would love to have women across Texas praying that night–if they can't come–joining us in asking God's favor on this ministry to empower women to be obedient and submissive to his will for their lives, to train them for new employment and to draw them to choose him as Lord.”

The Living and Learning Center at My Father's House, Lubbock, houses one of the two Christian Women's Job Corps sites in Lubbock, where low-income or otherwise disadvantaged women learn life skills and receive job training in a Christian context.

By Oct. 1, Madden hopes to receive the first four or five women into the program's residential component–an aspect of the Lubbock facility that will set it apart from other Christian Women's Job Corps facilities.

Texas Baptist Men Builders led in constructing the center, which includes 18 two-bedroom apartments for women and their children, as well as classrooms, a commercial kitchen, a day care center and laundry facilities where women will gain hands-on job experience.

For the slumber party next month, the center will have 100 beds available for women who need them, and Madden is asking younger women to bring sleeping bags.

“We'll have prayer teams in each apartment and prayer team leaders assigned to different sections of the building,” she said. “We want every part of the building covered in prayer.”

Last December, My Father's House, Lubbock, moved its Christian Women's Job Corps classes to the Living and Learning Center from Iglesia Bautista Templo in Lubbock, after the classrooms and office space were completed.

Madden expects the last of the flooring and air conditioning to be installed in the center's apartments within the next few weeks. The commercial-grade kitchen equipment also should be in place.

“I'm still waiting for God to give me some laundry equipment,” she said, adding the center also still needs furnishings for its child care facility.

But Madden refuses to allow last-minute details to stand in the way of what she believes is God's plan.

And she is convinced practically everything will be completed around the time of the slumber party.

“We may end up having our open house the day after the slumber party,” she said. “I don't know how I'll get 100 beds made in time for an open house, but we'll figure that out later.”

For information about the on-site slumber party, or for a brochure detailing ministry needs that could be the focus of a local prayer slumber party, call (806) 799-0990, e-mail smadden@mfhlcenter.org or visit the website at www. myfathershouselubbock.org.

Posted: 8/20/04

Interfaith coalition urges United
Nations, United States to intervene in Sudan

By Kevin Eckstrom

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–An unusually broad coalition of Jewish, Muslim, Catholic and evangelical groups has come together to urge intervention by the United States and the United Nations in war-torn Sudan.

The Save Darfur Coalition is comprised of more than 70 religious and humanitarian organizations, a sign that the growing crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan has united groups across religious and ideological lines.

“We must not wait for a legal determination of 'genocide' to ensure a massive worldwide humanitarian response and call to end the violence and investigate crimes against humanity,” the coalition said in a “unity statement” released recently.

The coalition was brought together by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and American Jewish World Service. It has received the support of Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.

Relief groups say 2 million people have been killed and millions more displaced in government-backed attacks by Arab militias against ethnic Africans in the western part of the country.

The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution that threatens sanctions if the Sudanese government does not move to end the violence within 30 days.

John McCullough, director of Church World Service, the humanitarian arm of the National Council of Churches, said the world cannot wait for the United Nations to act while 500 refugees die each day.

“With so many lives at risk, 30 days is far too long,” McCullough said.

The coalition is calling for “massive worldwide governmental humanitarian” support, increased financial aid to humanitarian relief groups, a return of refugees and a U.N. commission of inquiry “to investigate war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.”

Supporters include the four major streams of American Judaism, the Armenian Church in America, the National Council of Churches, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, men's and women's Catholic religious orders, the National Association of Evangelicals, Lutheran World Relief and Soka Gakkai International USA Buddhist Association, among others.

At the same time, top leaders of the Presbyterian Church (USA) wrote to parishioners urging them to lobby government leaders to intervene in Sudan.

“This is a time of incredible suffering among our sisters and brothers in Sudan, and it needs to be a time of incredible prayer and solidarity by those of us in the Presbyterian Church (USA),” the letter said.

International Orthodox Christian Charities, the relief arm of America's Eastern Orthodox churches, has joined a $17.5 million fund-raising appeal by Action by Churches Together, which is coordinating relief efforts in Sudan with longtime partner Norwegian Church Aid.

Posted: 8/20/04

Veteran youth minister offers stable presence in teens' lives

By Terri Jo Ryan

Special to the Baptist Standard

WACO–Youth ministry used to be as gangly as the teenagers it served–a mere steppingstone for fresh-faced seminarians on the way to a “real job” as a senior pastor.

But the speciality has grown out of its awkward adolescence into its own maturity, say ministers who choose to stay in the field even after their own “youth” has fled.

“I keep getting older, but the kids stay the same age,” said Bob Johns, 52, who recently observed his 20th anniversary as the youth minister of First Baptist Church of Woodway.

But he wouldn't trade it for another post, either. “It's where the action is,” he insisted.

Johns, a Fort Worth native reared in an Air Force family, attended Texas Wesleyan College in Fort Worth in the early 1970s and had no idea what he wanted to do with his life.

He was a business major with “hair down past my shoulders,” he recalled, and he knew he didn't have a future as the man in the gray flannel suit. He chose Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary to “dodge reality for awhile.”

But after seminary, a month after he started working with teenagers, Johns realized he had found his calling.

“Children this age (13-18) are still moldable, still pliable and most importantly, still teachable,” he said. “This is a chance to come alongside the good parents and supplement what they are doing. It's also a chance to intervene in the case of bad parents.”

In July 1984, his first day on the job at Woodway, he got on a bus with a group of youngsters going to camp in New Mexico; with a mullet and a full beard, he looked more like a rock-and-roll star than a man parents would trust with their kids, he said.

Christian summer youth camps, he noted, are not all fun and games.

“Camp is a compressed spiritual environment,” where youngsters of different maturity levels find guidance to help them on their everyday walk, he explained. Camp also offers positive peer relationships; which prepare youth by girding them in biblical armor.

In late July, more than 200 Woodway Baptist youth went to summer camp, including 22 May high school graduates, at least 75 percent of whom are going to Baylor University. The opportunity to work with Baylor students is one of the reasons Johns gave for accepting the Woodway post 20 years ago.

Johns encourages his youth program graduates to visit other churches if Woodway is the only church home they have ever known. “It's not about building little kingdoms but building the kingdom,” he said.

Youth pastors have to help their charges survive high schools when surrounded by peers and values alien to the ones they are raised with, he said. While he says he doesn't bust their chops for watching secular media, he tries to make them conscious of that decision.

“They have to realize that they make their own decisions as media consumers: If you keep taking garbage in, you will start spitting garbage out,” Johns said.

Not that he is above employing the prevailing metaphors in his own work: He watches MTV and Saturday Night Live to stay current.

He also surrounds himself with Baylor University and Truett Seminary student interns and volunteers to remain up-to-date.

“It helps me really stay relevant. They have the freedom to tell me, 'No that's not going to work,'” he said.

Generally, he gets two dozen college-aged assistants, many his former students in the youth program, to lead the small-group ministry and Sunday night programming.

Johns also views his job as laying a strong foundation of belief in youth, so they will be less likely to stray in college. He and his team minister to about 250 middle school and high school students each week, using skits, videos, bands, talks and worship.

“It's so media-driven these days, their attention spans are so short, we have to command their attention in new ways,” he said.

In the 1980s, when he first started at Woodway, youth ministers used a lot of humor and “slid the truth in between the laughs,” he said. But about 18 months ago, he started to stress journaling, where students write their thoughts as they study the Bible and pray. “The kids really bought into it,” he said. “They take notes on Scripture readings. The silence, solitude, discipleship and prayers are so hard to find in the world today because the world is so loud.”

Don Mattingly, coordinator of youth programs at Baylor University and a youth ministry instructor at Truett Seminary, affirmed that to be a successful youth minister today is to be a great communicator.

“Some do communicate through the spoken word. But many communicate through video and sound. They must be technologically in step with their students,” he said.

People like Johns exemplify the benefits of having a stable presence in the youth ministry leadership role, Mattingly added.

“The youth minister who moves every two to three years tends to just repeat the same youth ministry three or four times,” he said.

“The youth minister who stays put and who works with adults and parents tends to build a ministry around the needs of the youth, and they adapt as the youth grow and mature.”

Youth pastors can't afford to go stale, he added.

“Youth today are so busy and often over-committed. Therefore, time is a precious commodity, and you cannot waste the moments that the young people are with you or the time of the volunteers with whom they are serving.”

John Carl, pastor of First Baptist Church of Whitney, served as a youth minister himself earlier in his career.

“My experience in recent decades shows a move away from viewing the youth ministry as a 'rite of passage' for future pastors,” Carl noted.

“More often than not, individuals are receiving seminary training specialized for those areas of ministry.”

These youth ministers are getting degrees in religious education rather than theological- or even language-driven masters of divinity degrees.

With the advent of the mega-church movement, he added, the move toward specialized ministry education–“from the obvious fields of religious education, youth ministry, and worship leadership, to the more obscure niches of drama, audio/video, and even specialized segments of children's ministry” such as nursery and preschool, elementary age and 'tweeners–makes him leery.

“The only fear I have is that we might become so obsessed with specialized ministry niches that we neglect the rich field of service in small 'one-horse' churches in rural areas,” Carl said.

The result could be that Baptists find themselves with ministers with uniquely designed seminary degrees all vying for the same post at a Metroplex mega-church, for example, “while no one wants to serve bivocationally in the country parishes.”

About 70 percent of Southern Baptist churches run less than 100 in attendance, Carl added, noting, “This is a trend we must carefully approach.”

Joe Carbajal, pastor of Mighty Wind Worship Center in Waco, said his own youth minister, 42-year-old Marshall Lopez, first found Christ with Johns' help.

“He not only grew up through the youth ministry of Bob Johns, he continues to work alongside of him on citywide youth events,” Carbajal said.

“When I ask him if he's getting too old to work with youth, his response to me is that he knows youth ministry is his calling and can't see himself serving anywhere else,” he added.

Johns said he is pleased to know he has “spiritual progeny” all over town. One of his disciples is Jeremy Webb of Harris Creek Baptist Church in a growing area west of Waco.

“I've seen tons of guys come and go; one of the keys to long-term ministry is being authentic by being yourself. Don't be 'wild and crazy' unless it is you,” Johns said. “My years of trying to be hip are long gone. Kids see right through the pretense.”

He has ministered to youth in parts of four decades, Johns added. He followed the Boomers “selling out” to the establishment, witnessed the Generation X-ers' angst and feelings of “entitlement.” But he is energized by the fervor of the Millennials: “They are incredible. They cry out for the world. They want to get involved.”

Johns also credits his wife, Debbie, a special education teacher, and 9-year-old daughter Hannah, adopted from China in 1995, with keeping the pep in his step.

“My approach, now that I am in my 50s, is to take it one day at a time,” Johns said. “You do get a lot more reflective as you get older. A few times, I thought about moving on and moving up, but God confirmed for me I was in the right place.

“My criteria is No. 1, I enjoy what I am doing; and No. 2, that I be effective at it. I think it is a shame to bore kids with the gospel. We think God's word is exciting and relevant, and we work hard to make it so.”

Youth ministers today have a three-fold ministry, Mattingly observed. “Of course, they minister with young people. But they also must invest time and energies in adult volunteers and also parents,” he said.

“You cannot minister to students today and not work with parents and families. It is this type of minister who stays for the long haul.”

Posted: 8/20/04

Church-going evangelical men least
likely to abuse families, research says

By Jonah D. King

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–The more they attend church, the less likely evangelical husbands and fathers will physically abuse their spouses and children, says author and University of Virginia sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox.

In a new book, “Soft Patriarchs, New Men: How Christianity Shapes Fathers and Husbands,” Wilcox examines the family behaviors of evangelical men with different religious practices as shown in three large-scale surveys taken in the early 1990s.

Among those behaviors is the frequency of physical abuse.

“What we find is the lowest rate of reported domestic violence in the early 1990s is among active evangelical husbands,” Wilcox said. By “active,” he means husbands who attend church regularly.

Wilcox cites data from the National Survey of Families and Households that indicate 2.8 percent of active evangelical Protestant husbands commit domestic violence, compared to 7.2 percent of nominal evangelical husbands–those who attend church once or twice a year or not at all.

The survey also shows active evangelicals spend more time on parenting and working to fulfill the emotional needs of their wives and children than do nominal evangelicals.

Wilcox argues in his book that “religious community” culture “domesticates” men, making them more attentive to the emotional needs of their wives and children even though the study also shows such men do less of the housework.

John Bartkowski, professor of sociology at Mississippi State University, has studied the evangelical community extensively and agrees with Wilcox.

In many cases, the male peer group in a church serves to keep fathers and husbands in line, reminding them of their responsibilities, he reported.

“Men often have very frank conversations with one another about their marital relationships in a way that would–outside evangelical churches–be seen as inappropriate, that would be seen as 'my private business; nobody else should be checking into that,''' Bartkowski said.

The focus on men is not an accident.

“One of the things that has been recognized is that men are the weak link oftentimes in family life. To strengthen that link, there's been the focus on making men more attentive to their wives and to their children,” Wilcox said.

In 1998, the Southern Baptist Convention issued a statement declaring that wives should be submissive to their husbands, the rightful heads of households. Some observers challenged the claim, fearing promotion of male dominance would lead to increased domestic violence.

But Russell Moore, dean at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., claims the statistics in Wilcox's book show that a hierarchical family structure with men at the top fosters a more harmonious family life.

“I think you have a lot of secular scholars surprised by this data, because the very fathers who hold to traditional gender roles are also the ones who seem to be so committed to their wives and their children,” Moore said.

Since the 1970s, some evangelical Protestants have felt the traditional family was under threat from feminism and the sexual revolution. Their alarm produced a host of pastoral initiatives to shore up the family.

“Southern Baptists are increasingly concerned about a meltdown in American families, and so there is more intentional preaching in our churches about what it means to be a husband, what it means to be a wife, what it means to be a parent,” Moore said.

Wilcox and Moore disagree on whether the Southern Baptist statement of male headship might explain the much higher incidence of domestic abuse among nominal evangelicals.

“Nominal evangelicals may take that (Southern Baptist) message to legitimate their own bad behavior, but the active evangelicals take that message as a guide for what a good husband tries to be–like Christ–to his wife,” Wilcox said.

But Moore asserted, “I really do not think that you have abusive husbands in a large-scale fashion providing theological justification for their behaviors.”

Posted: 8/20/04

Around the State

Of the five new inductees into the Southern Baptist Church Business Administration Association Hall of Fame, four served Texas churches. J.W. Fortner was church business administrator at Trinity Church in San Antonio 33 years. He also was named church business administrator of the year in 1992. Lewis Fitts served several churches, including First Church in Wichita Falls, the church from which he retired. He was named top church administrator in 1995. Bill English was church administrator at First Church in Wichita Falls eight years and was one of the honoring organization's first participants. Walter Matthews, honored posthumously, served First Church in Austin many years.

FOCUS and Refuge, Houston Baptist University's ministry outreach music groups, have joined together to release a self-titled CD. Students Anival Aleman, Kim Daniels, Robin Gillmore, Blake Jackson, Breanna Richardson, Jody Smith, Jenny Chunn, Shauna Couri, Carrie Lelsz, Brett Mosher and J.J. Worthen worked on the recording six months. For more information on the groups or the CD, call (281) 649-3224.

Hardin-Simmons University has announced two staff changes. Aaron Ashford is the director of the new Center for Multicultural Affairs, which is designed to increase awareness of diversity on campus. Bethany Howell has joined the university as a communications assistant. She had been working as hometown news coordinator in the media relations office.

Diane Howard, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor performance studies and communication professor, has joined the international board of directors for the National Association of African American Studies. She is one of 10 people who make up the board. She is responsible for securing and arranging for national speakers and special events for NAAAS conferences. She also works with the board to plan international conferences, scholarship trips abroad and academic publications.

Dallas Baptist University professor Jim Underwood has written a business management book titled “What's Your Corporate I.Q.? How the Smartest Companies Learn, Transform, Lead.”

Micheal Summers, director of church services at Wayland Baptist University, has been certified in the Birkman Method, a personality and career management profile used for self-development, team building, organizational dynamics, conflict resolution and job success. The Baptist General Convention of Texas requires all ministerial students receiving financial assistance at its universities to take the test as a part of their career evaluation.

Anniversaries

John Plumlee, 10th as minister of music and education at Trinity Church in Sherman, Aug. 14.

Russ Murphy, 15th as university minister at Indiana Avenue Church in Lubbock, Aug. 23.

First Church in Hutchins, 100th, Sept. 4-5. Festivities will begin at 9:15 a.m. Saturday with a worship service followed by an hour of prayer. A Texas historical marker will be dedicated at 11 a.m. with Buddy Pilgrim slated as the guest speaker. A catered lunch will be served at 12:30 p.m. The $10 lunch tickets should be purchased by Aug. 25. Call (469) 363-0461 for more details. Pilgrim will speak again beginning at 2 p.m., and a review of the church history will begin at 3:30 p.m. A youth celebration concert will be held from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Rodney Bowman will preach in Sunday morning's service, and Pastor Scott Chadwick will preach at 6 p.m.

First Church in Wheeler, 100th, Sept. 4-5. A reception will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday with finger foods served. A luncheon will follow the morning service, and an afternoon service will begin immediately after the meal.

Mercury Church in Rochelle, 100th, Sept. 5. A revival with former pastors will be held beginning Sept. 1. Former pastors not currently on the program are asked to contact the church so they can participate in the preaching. Memorabilia, including a 1918 Baptist Standard, also will be displayed. A meal will follow the morning service. For more information, call (325) 243-5379. Keith Simpson is pastor.

Dickie Amyx, 25th as pastor of Bolivar Church in Sanger, Sept. 5.

First Church in Groves, 75th, Sept. 11-12. A homecoming celebration will be held Saturday at 6:30 p.m. It will include a mass choir, testimonies and a reception. Former Pastor Donald Potts will preach in the 10 a.m. Sunday service. A catered lunch will follow. For more information, call (409) 962-4461. Joe Worley is pastor.

Springdale Church in Fort Worth, 75th, Sept. 18-19. Fellowship, a light meal and a special worship service are planned for Saturday at 3 p.m. Former Pastor Will Davis will preach Sunday morning. A lunch will follow. For more information or to make reservations, call (817) 831-0754. Jerry Campbell is pastor.

First Church in Huntsville, 160th, Sept. 19. Bill Pinson, Baptist General Convention of Texas executive director emeritus, will speak at 9:30 a.m., and BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade will preach in the morning service. A luncheon will follow. A history of the church will be included in the program, and souvenir fans will be given to attendees. David Valentine is pastor.

Pioneer Drive Church in Abilene, 50th, Sept. 25-26. A fellowship will be held in the activities center Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Former Pastors Ed Laux, Jack Ridlehoover, George Gaston, and former staff member Fred McNab will speak Sunday morning. Former member Robert Sloan, president of Baylor University, will be the primary speaker. A luncheon will be held at the Abilene Civic Center following the morning service. Stan Allcorn is pastor.

Broadview Church in Abilene, 45th, Oct. 3. A luncheon will be held following the morning service at the Abilene Civic Center. David Cason is pastor.

Elmdale Church in Abilene, 100th, Oct. 3. H.G. Barnard is pastor.

Lee Ray Best, 50th in the ministry, Oct. 3. A surprise celebration will be held at New Hope Church in Jacksonville from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Letters of remembrance are being compiled to be given to him that day. They can be sent to Barbara Marchbanks, 8932 CR 1108, Cleburne 76033.

Deaths

Sam Coffey, July 9 in Junction. Coffey was pastor of First Church in Junction 36 years and pastor emeritus there the last seven years. He came to First Church in Junction in 1960, and it was the only church he ever served. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Susan. He is survived by his wife, Judy; son, Mike; and three grandchildren.

Cherry Dyer, 54, July 31 in Kansas City, Mo. She was editor of Draw-Bridge, a Braille magazine. She had just completed a two-year term as a board member of the National Church Conference of the Blind. She was attending a NCCB meeting when she had a stroke that led to her death a few days later. She was a member of Wedgwood Church in Fort Worth. She is survived by her husband, Rodger; sisters, Melanie Radcliffe, Sandi Welch, Cozette Larsen, Julie Parsons and Lisa Israel; and father, Bill Marchbanks.

Gerald Fielder, 78, Aug. 8 in San Angelo. He was born in China to missionary parents in 1926. A graduate of Baylor University and Southwestern Seminary, he was an instructor of political science at Baylor from 1949-1951. He then was appointed by the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board to service in a Japanese university, where he taught 23 years. He returned to the Baylor political ccience department in 1976 and retired in 1977. At Baylor, he was founding director of the Asian Studies Program, helping to implement the teaching of Japanese and Chinese languages and the establishment of faculty/student exchange programs between Baylor and universities in Asia. He was preceded in death by his son, Patrick; brothers, Wilson and Richard; and sister, Golda Moore. He is survived by his wife, Jo Beth; daughter, Dorcas Fielder; and sister, Florence McKinney.

Event

A Song of Solomon conference will be held at First Church in Carrollton Oct. 1-2. Tommy Nelson, pastor of Denton Bible Church in Denton, will lead the conference. Beginning Friday at 7 p.m., Nelson will discuss the “Art of Attraction and Dating,” “The Art of Courtship” and “The Art of Intimacy.” From 9 a.m. until noon on Saturday, he will cover “The Art of Conflict,” “The Art of Romance” and “The Art of Commitment. Conference tickets are $30 per person for early registration, which begins Sept. 20. Regular price is $40 each. College students, active military and groups of 10 or more are eligible for discounts. Sign up by calling (800) 729-0815 or visiting www.SongofSolomon.com. Registration is also available at the door.

Ordained

Gary Anderson, Ernest Clark and Mark Payne as deacons at Hyde Park Church in Denison.

Revivals

Lindale Church, Corpus Christi; Aug. 29-Sept. 1; evangelist, Bill Lindley; pastor, John Villegas.

Braeburn Valley Church, Houston; Aug. 29-Sept. 1; evangelist, Ruben Hernandez; music, Bill and Vicky Murphy; pastor, Preston Dupré.

Builders Church, Merkel; Aug. 29-Sept. 2; evangelist, Herman Cramer; music, Paul and Christi Newberry; pastor, Jeremy Johnson.

Swenson Church, Aspermont; Sept. 5-8; evangelist, Allen Hatch; pastor, Frank Slayton.

Logsdon Leadership Scholars were honored by Terry Hamrick at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Birmingham, Ala. Shown with Hamrick, at left, are Marnie Sellers, Danyel Rogers, Walt Henson, Brian Edwards and Alan Rogers. Logsdon School of Theology is a part of Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene. Hamrick is leadership and development coordination for the Fellowship.

Posted: 8/20/04

BaptistWay Series for Sept. 5

When you suffer, remember, you always have a prayer

2 Corinthians 1:1-11

By Todd Still

Truett Theological Seminary, Waco

Arthur John Gossip (1873-1954), a Scottish minister of an earlier generation, posed and responded to the following question in the sermon he preached the Sunday after the sudden death of his wife: When life tumbles in, what then?

This week's lesson, the first in a 13-week study of 2 Corinthians, causes us to contemplate life's tumults and troubles. Most prefer not to think about suffering, much less experience it. Be that as it may, the text we are treating requires us to wrangle with this inevitability and to embrace our own mortality.

Sooner or later, we, like Gossip, will face the spiritual struggle that accompanies personal loss. We, too, will cry out: How can I pick up the pieces of my fragmented, blighted existence?

A benediction the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians following a perilous experience of affliction in Asia is our entrée to this sobering subject. Before turning our attention to Paul's theological reflection upon his suffering, our first order of interpretive business is to place this penetrating, personal passage in its historical and literary context.

The letter we know as 2 Corinthians is only a part of Paul's written correspondence to the church in Corinth, for not all of what the apostle wrote to his Corinthian converts has been preserved (1 Corinthians 5:9 and 2 Corinthians 2:3-4; 7:8). Furthermore, a number of Pauline scholars have posited that canonical 2 Corinthians is best construed as a composite document comprised of two or more originally distinct letters.

Throughout this series of lessons, I will presuppose the unity of 2 Corinthians, if for no other reason than the sake of simplicity! Having said that, it is helpful to see at the outset of our study that the letter naturally falls into three uneven chapter divisions, namely, 1-7, 8-9 and 10-13. The three units into which our 13 lessons have been divided reflect this broad, three-fold letter outline.

Second Corinthians is not always easy to read. Interpre-tive difficulties are created by our incomplete knowledge of Paul's interaction with the church in Corinth, not to mention the abrupt transitions and unexpected digressions that lace the letter. Challenges of understanding not withstanding, patient believers who have lingered long over this letter have found priceless spiritual treasures in its often disputed and sometimes disjointed lines.

Whatever exegetical confusion might ensue, 2 Corinthians commences in a straightforward fashion. At the outset of a succinct salutation (1:1-2), Paul describes himself as a divinely commissioned messenger of Christ. He also speaks of Timothy, the letter's co-sender, as a “brother,” that is, a fellow believer in Christ and a colleague in ministry (1:1). The apostle continues in verse 1 by specifying the letter's recipients as “the church of God which is in Corinth with (including) all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia.”

According to a more traditional dating of Paul's life and ministry, he engaged in missionary activity in southern Greece (or Achaia) in the early 50s A.D. Although it appears the apostle expended the majority of his time and energy in the capital city of Corinth (Acts 18:18), he also ministered with some measurable results in other Achaian locales (Acts 17:34). Therefore, as he writes yet another letter to the Corinthians in the mid 50s A.D., he includes other Achaian Christians in the address anticipating they, too, would be made privy to the epistle.

If verses 1-2 are conventional, verses 3-11 are exceptional. Instead of offering God thanks for the letter's recipients as he usually does (1 Corinthians 1:4-9), Paul launches into a benediction of the God who offers consolation in the face of affliction (Ephesians 1:3-14).

When writing 1 Corinthians at an earlier time, Paul referred to unspecified conflicts he had encountered and continued to experience in Ephesus (15:32; 16:8-9). The apostle's afflictions in Asia had not subsided; on the contrary, they had increased in intensity. In fact, he informs his audience he had been “so utterly, unbearably crushed that (he) had despaired of life itself” (1:8).

Paul does not satiate our curiosities by chronicling the details of his troubles. What he does write, however, is valuable counsel for those who find themselves in the throes of affliction. Not only does Paul encourage the downcast to direct their gaze to a merciful God and a comforting Christ (1:3, 5), he also contends divine consolation is a grace to be showered upon others who share in the sufferings of Christ (1:4-6). Moreover, the apostle suggests his “deadly ordeal” increased his dependence upon and heightened his hope in God (1:7, 9-10). Paul was no masochist. His reflection on Christ's death as well as his own life in Christ (2 Corinthians 4:10; 6:9; Galatians 2:20), however, convinced him that suffering was both a human reality and the Christian's destiny (1 Thessalonians 3:3; Romans 8:17-18; Colossians 1:24). Even if a gracious God allows and allots suffering, Paul affirms that the Lord also answers the prayers (on behalf) of the afflicted (1:11).

When the bottom falls out of a person's life, it is sometimes quipped, “You haven't got a prayer.” Whatever else is true about the (Christian) person who suffers, this isn't.

Question for discussion

Does it make you uncomfortable to admit the suffering and trials are and will be a part of your life?

What trial do you need to stop and pray about right now?

Posted: 8/20/04

Minister steps off baseball playing
field and into evangelistic harvest field

By Leann Callaway

Special to the Baptist Standard

SUGAR LAND–After being offered a contract with the Texas Rangers, Kyle Byrd struggled with the choice between a career in professional baseball or the pursuit of God's call on his life to ministry.

But after much prayer and consideration, he decided to “step off of the baseball playing field and into the evangelistic harvest field.”

From there, Byrd established Front Line Ministries and became a sought-after youth communicator.

Now, 16 years later, Front Line Ministries is based out of Sugar Land, where Byrd and his family are members of First Baptist Church.

In a few months, they will relocate to the Texas Hill Country, where they plan to help start a church.

“Front Line Ministries exists to address the front line issues facing the American student,” he explained.

“The message is simple: A personal relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, is the only hope a student has to finding life's ultimate purpose.

“There are two bottom-line choices in life–the world's way or God's way. One leads to destruction, the other to life.

“Once a student chooses life, I challenge them to follow Christ, without reservation. I teach unapologetically that there is no such thing as 'middle-of-the-road' Christianity.”

While speaking at numerous youth conferences, such as Super Summer, Hot Hearts Student Conference and Youth Evangelism Conference, Byrd's messages have impacted thousands of students to follow Christ.

As a teenager, temptations from sports, alcohol, money, and success produced a clouded outlook on Byrd's life.

At age 17, however, he was led to faith in Christ by Jack Bell, his Sunday school teacher and high school baseball coach.

In addition to speaking at evangelistic events, Byrd often speaks at public schools, where his messages are designed to challenge students to quit following the crowd and to listen to their own convictions about moral issues.

“If you want to change the behavior of today's youth, you're going to have to get involved in their experiences and help change their belief system,” he said.

“Consistently seeing students experience a new life, by accepting Christ as their Savior, reminds me regularly why God has called me to this ministry.

"While I find tremendous satisfaction in seeing Christian students sell out to following Jesus, there is nothing quite like hearing students cry out in repentance to God for their sin and asking him for forgiveness. "Then, to see how the faithfulness of God stuns them … it is beyond my ability to communicate in words."

Posted: 8/20/04

Astros' chaplain sees star athletes as 'somebody's kids'

By Toby Druin

Editor Emeritus

HOUSTON–Gene Pemberton joined the Houston Astros staff in 1994 to help his old friend, Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr., in community development.

Over the last 10 years, he's made thousands of speeches to a wide variety of organizations. And when the ballclub's stadium was under construction, he brought his former professional expertise to bear in saving money on seating.

He's been best known since 1997 for the job he likes best, however. That year he became the major leagues' first full-time chaplain.

“When Drayton asked me to come here,” Pemberton said, “he needed someone with heart knowledge, not head knowledge. I told him I would stay two or three years and then go back to Temple and do missions.”

Of course, he found a new mission field among the Astros' players and the thousands of others he meets in connection with his chaplaincy and community development work.

He brings a simple philosophy to the job: “Lord, you know I'm nothing, but if you can use nothing, I'm available.”

Pemberton was a deacon for many years in the Assembly of God church, and ministry is his passion, but he brought a lifetime of professional expertise to his job when he joined the Astros. For 31 years, he worked with American Desk Manufacturing Co. in various capacities, including vice president of marketing and director of special projects. He sold seating for more than 60 sports facilities, including the Georgia Dome.

He also was widely known as a basketball and football official, calling four state basketball tournaments. For many years, he has been the color commentator for Temple High School football games. He and his partner, Mark McLain, have been honored by the Associated Press for their work. They won a Katy Award in 1993 for the best broadcast team in Texas outside the four major markets.

Pemberton is a graduate of Hardin-Simmons University, and he and his wife, Mary, have three children and two grandsons.

As chaplain, he leads or enlists others to lead a Bible study for the players before most home games and works with Baseball Chapel and other major league teams in conducting Sunday morning worship services.

“I'm often asked what I'm trying to do with a bunch of spoiled millionaires,” he said. “But I just see them as somebody's kids who need the Lord just like anyone else.”

He admits it is tough at times to get some of the players to participate, but recently when he had Jim Tour, head of the chemistry department at Rice University, lead two Bible studies, about a dozen attended. On a recent Sunday morning before the team was to leave on a road trip, 18 of the 25 attended chapel services.

“Most of the time I'm just behind the scenes, helping organize Bible studies, trying to be an encourager, just there to lift up their hands when they need it,” Pemberton said.

He travels with the team about a third of the time when they are on road trips. Most of the time on the road, outfielder Lance Berkman, a committed Christian, heads up the effort, but other players join in, too. The players' wives have their own Bible study times, usually at night during the week, he added.

Pemberton said he is grateful to God for the opportunity to work with the players, several of whom have made professions of faith in Christ, and credits McLane with providing the atmosphere to let it happen.

“I'm here at 6 in the morning for my prayer time,” Pemberton said. “Drayton comes in, and we pray together. It's great to have an owner like that.”

Posted: 8/20/04

Life threw her a curve, but young athlete now safe at home

By Miranda Bradley

Texas Baptist Children's Home & Family Services

ROUND ROCK–Eighteen-year-old Patricia Gutierrez has been thrown curve balls her entire life. But this summer she threw a pitch of her own–at a Round Rock Express baseball game.

Gutierrez placed herself in Texas Baptist Children's Home after years of heavy responsibility took their toll.

At age 14, she held down a job, helped her father raise two of her six siblings, assisted with homework, cooked meals and managed the household, all before doing her own school work.

“I called TBCH because one of my sisters had lived there for a while, and I knew it was a good place,” she said.

Throughout her life, she sought distractions from her grown-up reality. She turned to drugs and alcohol.

“I was doing things a kid shouldn't be doing,” she said. “And I knew it was wrong.”

At one level, Gutierrez craved stability and rules, and she found them at the children's home.

“But when I got them, I didn't want them,” she said. “So it was a hard transition.”

Even harder was the shift she had to make from being a tiny adult to learning how to be a youngster.

But her love of sports, learned in a household where she was raised as a tomboy, helped.

“I've always loved athletics–football, baseball, softball, you name it,” she said.

She channeled her frustrations into her athletic talent and emerged as a star on the Stony Point Lady Tigers softball team at her high school. Becoming a sports star quickly became Patricia's one goal.

That all changed in 2002.

During that summer, Gutierrez came to faith in Christ at a summer youth camp. She soon realized sports were not all there was to life, and her relationship with Jesus took precedence.

She quit the school team when she felt adult leaders were not setting a good example for young players. Since then, she has played on community teams.

The chances for her to show her skill on the pitcher's mound seemed bleak until Kip Osbourne, Texas Baptist Children's Home campus life supervisor, pulled her aside and asked if she would like to throw out the first pitch at a Round Rock Express game.

“I'd love to do it,” she told Osbourne. “But if someone else on campus needs it more, let them do it.”

Her answer convinced Osbourne he had the right girl.

After throwing an impressive fastball, several of the Express players complimented her on her talent.

Watching from his skybox was Baseball Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan. During the game, he met with Patricia and signed her ball.

“This was so exciting,” she said. “I'm just thrilled I got the opportunity.”

Sunset Press, a Round Rock-based printing company, sponsored the night.

“We've always been aware of the good work Texas Baptist Children's Home was doing in the lives of kids,” said Charlie Ayres, vice president of marketing at the printing company.

“Instead of offering this chance to a CEO or someone like that, we felt it would be better to give it to a child who would cherish the memory for the rest of their lives.”

And they succeeded. While Patricia still hopes to receive a sports scholarship to college, she is aware her chances are slim because she isn't playing on her high school team.

But even if she never sets foot on another field, she said the memory of one night was one she could live on forever.

“It's been so much fun,” she said. “I don't know what to say but thank you. God is very good.”

Posted: 8/20/04

Pitcher Andy Pettitte: Close to home

Andy Pettitte (Photo Courtesy of Houston Astros)

Andy Pettitte stunned the baseball world last December, when he left the New York Yankees after nine seasons, six American League pennants and four World Series titles to pitch for the Houston Astros–for less money. He reportedly turned down a three-year, $39 million offer from the Yankees to pitch for the Astros for $31.5 million for three years.

He made the decision, he said, to be closer to his family–wife Laura and their three children, Joshua, Jared and Lexy–who live in nearby Deer Park, where Pettitte grew up and was a star high school athlete. Pettitte was 21-8 with the Yankees last season but has struggled with arm problems this year with the Astros. Going into the second week of August, he was 6-4 and had been on the disabled list twice.

Interviewed following a loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in which he gave up two home runs and left because of a sore arm, Pettitte said he was sorry for his team that he had not been able to perform as well as he, the team and fans had expected. He is scheduled for elbow surgery this week that will mean the end of his pitching this season.

Q.

What role has religious faith played in your life?

It has played a tremendous role in everything I do in my life. I want to try to honor the Lord in every area of my life. Every decision I make, I go to him and ask him for wisdom about decisions I make for myself and my family.

Ever since I was saved, my life has been totally turned around. I was saved when I was 11 years old.

I was invited to a church where my sister had been going –at Second Baptist Church in Deer Park, where I live. I went and one night heard an evangelist speak, and that was the night that I accepted the Lord.

Q.

You are going through kind of an adverse time in your life. How are you applying your religious faith to that?

There's no doubt that I'm having a hard time right now. I don't know if the Lord is trying to make me stronger through it, stronger in my faith.

I know one thing: He has always let me know that baseball is not a sure thing, that the only sure thing in this life is him.

He is the only person you can really count on. You can't count on baseball. You can't count on people. You can only count on him.

If there is something he is trying to show me through this, just show it to me. But I am human and definitely getting frustrated.

But I'm trying to stay upbeat and know he is in control of my life, and things happen for a reason.

Q.

Does your schedule permit you to be active in a local church?

I am very active in my church, Central Baptist of Deer Park. My father-in-law, Charles Dunn, is the pastor there. My wife and I work in the youth department there in the off season when I am home. I am there on Sunday nights whenever we are here in town. But as far as being extremely active during the baseball season, it just doesn't allow you to.

Q.

What is the biggest difference in playing in Houston as compared to playing in New York?

For me, it's just a lot more opportunity to be with my family and my friends. In New York, there was just not that opportunity.

Q.

Aside from the money and the national recognition, what do you like most about being a professional baseball player?

The competititon. That's it. I love to compete.

I love to go out on the mound and see how good I can be and see if I can beat the other team. The competition is something I really enjoy.

Andy Pettitte winds up for a pitch.

Q.

What do you like least?

Definitely the travel, when I have to leave my family for a week or two weeks at a time. That's definitely the worst part about it.

Q.

Is it hard to hit major league pitching?

Yes, it is, definitely. It's hard to bunt it at times, too.

Q.

When did you first realize you might get to play major league baseball?

I think I knew in my junior year in high school that I prob-ably would get drafted. It was a dream of mine.

Q.

Many players get drafted. Other than just sheer ability, is there a key factor that comes into play in making it to the major leagues?

I think it is determination, really. A lot of players have a lot of ability, but you have to have the mental aspect of it, the makeup of it, the heart to go out there and battle through the challenge of it.

There are a lot more aspects to it than just being able to throw a ball hard or hit one far.

Q.

What would you have done if you hadn't made it in baseball?

Probably just worked in a church.

I'm not sure, but I would probably have been a youth minister or something to get involved trying to lead young people to the Lord.

Q.

Do you have anything like that in mind for after your career is over?

Probably not.

I definitely will be involved in the church, though probably not full time.

I will try to spend a lot of time with my kids, pouring a lot of time into my family.

Q.

Who are the heroes in your life?

Probably my dad, Tommy Pettitte. He brought me up to be the man I am today. Sports is a big part of my life, and he worked with me every minute of the day he could after he got off work, and I love him to death. My father-in-law, too, is a hero of mine. He's the pastor at the church. He is a great and godly man. I look up to both of them.

Q.

What do you do for fun?

I love to hunt, and I love to play golf. (He has a nine handicap.)

Interview by Toby Druin

Posted: 8/20/04

As part of the Reach Brazos Valley missions emphasis, volunteers from Mexico joined churches and ministries in Bryan. Above, left,, children make crafts during the Kids Quest Bible study, while girls study the Bible in a park at right.

From northern Mexico to northern Bryan,
volunteers unite to reach the Brazos Valley

BRYAN–Volunteers from a Baptist church in Piedras Negras, Mexico, spent six days meeting needs and sharing their faith in the Valley–not the Rio Grande Valley, but the Brazos Valley.

Primera Iglesia Bautista in Piedras Negras worked alongside four Bryan churches and a Bryan-based community ministry as part of the Reach Brazos Valley missions emphasis.

Leaders of the Bryan churches and Save Our Streets Ministries wanted to combine efforts to share the gospel with their closest neighbors–people living in areas immediately surrounding their north Bryan churches.

A local man is getting his teeth cleaned by one of the health team volunteers.

“Our mission field begins in Bryan-College Station,” said Tim Owens, pastor of First Baptist Church in Bryan. “We will continue to strengthen our Texas, North American and international missions partnerships. However, we are learning that there is something wrong with our mission vision if we go across the world to share Christ and yet ignore the unreached people in our own community.”

Other Bryan congregations joining First Baptist in Reach Brazos Valley were Primera Iglesia Bautista, Shiloh Baptist Church and Emmanuel Baptist Church.

And as the idea for the missions outreach took shape, leaders at First Baptist contacted Pastor Israel Rodriguez and invited him to bring a group from Primera Iglesia Bautista in Piedras Negras to Bryan. Volunteers from First Baptist have made two mission trips to Piedras Negras since last December, establishing a partnership with the Mexican Baptist congregation.

“It is very common for an American church to go to Mexico, but that an American church would invite our church to do mission work in America is very different,” said Faustino Gutierrez, a member of the Piedras Negras church.

“This is simply opening the door so more churches will follow our example.”

The mission trip also offered Rodriguez, vice president of the National Baptist Convention of Mexico with responsibility for seminary education, to meet with leaders of the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute.

First Baptist in Bryan is one of the institute's teaching churches. Rodriguez explored the possibility of Primera in Piedras Negras serving as host to one of the institute's teaching centers.

During the six-day Reach Brazos Valley missions project, 10 ministry teams served in four Bryan parks, leading morning and evening outdoor Bible clubs for children and adult Bible studies, youth sports clinics, English-as-a-Second-Language classes and life-skills courses.

Kris Erskine, Pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church, Bryan speaks at the REACH Music rally; the combined church choir/band is setting up in the background.

Health teams provided free services, including eye tests, back examinations and alignments, dental cleanings and basic health screenings.

Construction teams repaired more than 25 homes.

A special-events team coordinated rallies featuring drama, puppet shows, testimonies and music performed by a choir comprised of singers from the participating churches.

An evangelism team started work a month before the six-day emphasis, distributing Bibles and flyers promoting the Reach Brazos Valley special events, and a prayer team spent the week before the emphasis praying for specific needs in the community. A follow-up team helped set up Bible studies for people who accepted Christ as Savior during the week.

Organizers of the six-day event plan to continue ministries in the community, and they plan to invite other churches to participate in a Reach Brazos Valley week in the future.

“This is the beginning of something greater,” said Julian Silva, pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in Bryan.

Based on reporting by Anne Wiman and Gene Kornegay.

Children from north Bryan make crafts during an outdoor Bible club held in a park during the Reach Brazos Valley missions emphasis.A Reach Brazos Valley volunteer cleans the teeth of a north Bryan resident at an outdoor health clinic.

Posted: 8/20/04

Baptist Briefs

SBC president begins bus tour. Southern Baptist Convention President Bobby Welch will launch a nationwide bus tour Aug. 29 from First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Fla., where he is pastor. He will travel about 20,000 miles, visiting churches in all 50 states to encourage Southern Baptists to evangelize and reach a goal of 1 million baptisms. The tour includes three Texas stops Sept. 10–7 a.m. at First Baptist Church in Dallas, 10 a.m. at the SBC Annuity Board offices in Dallas and 12 noon at First Baptist Church in Denton. The format for each stop will be for Welch to make some opening remarks before joining church members in door-to-door visits within the community.

CBF adds staff. Rick Bennett, pastoral educator at First Baptist Church in Orangeburg, S.C., has joined the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship staff as associate coordinator of faith formation, working primarily in resource development. He also will manage the Fellowship's partnership with "Companions in Christ" and Upper Room Ministries to enhance and strengthen the Spiritual Formation Network.

Historian seeks information. Charles Deweese, executive director-treasurer of the Baptist History and Heritage Society, is compiling a list of churches that have had female deacon chairs for his book, "Women Deacons: 400 Years of Baptist Service." If a Texas Baptist church has–or at one time had–a woman serve as deacon chair, Deweese wants to include it. He needs the church's name and address, the year in which the church's deacon body first elected a woman as chair and information about how many women have served in that capacity. Contact Deweese at cdeweese@tnbaptist.org or write to the Baptist History and Heritage Society, P.O. Box 728, Brentwood, Tenn. 37024-0728.

LifeWay names interim administrator. LifeWay Christian Resources has named John Kramp–former associate pastor of First Baptist Church in Garland–interim vice president of its church resources division. Kramp is a graduate of Baylor University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He is a 12-year veteran with LifeWay and has served as director of church ministry solutions since 2001. He will oversee operations of the LifeWay division that produces Sunday school curriculum, discipleship literature, church training events, music, audio and video recordings and two lines of Vacation Bible School curriculum. LifeWay is seeking a permanent replacement for Vice President Gene Mims, who announced in June he was leaving the publishing house to return to the pastorate.

New Mexico exec announces retirement. Claude Cone has announced plans to retire March 1, 2005, after 20 years as executive director of the Baptist Convention of New Mexico. Cone, 68, is a graduate of Wayland Baptist University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served churches in Texas 28 years–including 13 years as pastor of First Baptist Church in Pampa–before returning to his native New Mexico. His tenure as executive director will be the second-longest in the history of the 93-year-old New Mexico Baptist convention.

Short film award entries accepted. LifeWay Christian Resources is accepting entries until Dec. 1 for its inaugural short film awards competition. Entrants will submit digital films up to three minutes long in one of four categories: plan of salvation, faith, hope and love. There is no entry fee, and producers may submit multiple entries. The winner and finalists in each category–in addition to a "best in show"–will be announced in mid-January. A panel of judges will evaluate entries on production values, clarity of spiritual message, creativity and overall short-film quality. Visitors to lifeway.com will vote on finalists in an "American Idol"-style format. For more details, visit http://www.lifeway.com/emedialink.

FamilyNet reruns Women of Faith concert. FamilyNet television will present encore broadcasts of "Women of Faith Presents A Concert of Praise," recorded at the Alamo-dome in San Antonio. The program includes musical performances by Point of Grace, Kathy Troccoli, Babbie Mason, Tammy Trent, Sandi Patty, Nichole Nordeman, Natalie Grant, Patty Cabrera and CeCe Winans. Women of Faith's "Concert of Praise" airs on FamilyNet Aug. 22, Aug. 27, Aug. 28 and Aug. 29 at various times.

Conference focuses on calling. Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions and the Samuel Project–a partnership of the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond and Passport–are sponsoring Antiphony, a conference for university students and young adults, Dec. 29 to Jan. 2 at the Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham, Ala. "God's Call, the World's Cry, My Answer" is the event theme, and scheduled events include dialogue on both vocational calling and global missions. Colleen Burroughs, executive vice president of Passport, a national nonprofit with a student missions focus, and Julie Pennington-Russell, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, will be the featured guest speakers. Recording artist Ken Medema will lead in worship. The cost starts at $150 and includes conference fees, a New Year's Eve party and lodging. Online registration is available. For more information, visit www.antiphonyonline.org.

Inmates graduate from seminary. Six inmates in an Alabama prison recently graduated from a Baptist seminary program designed to train them for ministry. The six men, all inmates at the Bibb County Correctional Facility in Brent, Ala., received certificates of ministry from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary after completing eight classes in the seminary's Extension Center System. The credit hours could be applied toward an associate's or bachelor's degree after the men are released, providing they already have high school diplomas or the equivalency. The prison classes, which enroll up to 25 students, include surveys of both the Old and New Testaments and intensive studies in a number of individual books. New Orleans Seminary has a similar program in Angola Prison in Louisiana.

CBF Foundation sponsors history tour. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Foundation is offering a Baptist history tour of Europe, July 18 –Aug. 1, guided by Bill Leonard, dean of Wake Forest Divinity School, and Randall Lolley, former president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. The tour includes a stop at the Baptist World Alliance centenary congress in Birmingham, England, where participants will experience the opening ceremony, hear pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren, and be a student in former President Jimmy Carter's international Sunday school class. The 15-day trip costs about $3,900, including lodging, most meals and airfare from Atlanta or Washington, D.C. It does not include additional airfare to departure cities or BWA congress registration. Forty slots are available. For more information or reservations, call (888) 322-3018.

New place, new face for volunteer missions. Timothy Wood is the new manager for Cooperative Baptist Fellowship volunteer missions, which is now based out of the CBF Global Missions office in Dallas. Wood comes to the Fellowship from Frontiers, a nondenominational church-planting agency that focuses on North Africa and parts of Asia. To help match missions opportunities with volunteers, the Fellowship has produced a volunteer missions handbook, a special interactive volunteer section under the Global Missions section of the Fellowship's website at www.thefellowship.info and a volunteer missions e-newsletter. To receive a copy of the handbook or subscribe to the newsletter, contact Wood at (972) 242-5977 or twood@thefellowship.info.