Posted: 8/20/04

Buckner partners with ministries in Northwest

By Russ Dilday

Buckner News Service

SEATTLE, Wash.–Susan Kim crouches on a corner of busy Broadway Street in Seattle, talking about Christ to two street people known in the area by their aliases, Spacebag and Freedom.

They are young men, but their faces are weathered and their bodies marked by tattoos and piercings. They wear mostly black clothing, and their language is rough.

Kim is one of several missionaries and members of Sanctuary, a Seattle church, who are witnessing to street people. Since it's warm, they dispense lemonade and cookies in Capitol Hill, a haven for the homeless and addicted.

“I've known one of them for about four months now,” Kim said. “We believe that the gospel here is a process of daily meeting the people and praying for them and hopefully allowing what we call the coin to drop. It takes root in people's lives and expands to all parts of their lives. This is just another step in his journey. That's what we try to do; we just walk with people in their journey here.”

Sanctuary is one of several ministries where missions groups work in partnership with Buckner Children and Family Services.

While Buckner has covered Texas and continues growing its international work, only now has it begun focusing on the “in-between”–the rest of the United States. With its first U.S. partnership outside Texas, Buckner Children and Family Services is poised to deliver community ministry support to churches in the Pacific Northwest.

“It's about providing support for churches who have asked for help,” said Felipe Garza, vice president for Buckner Children and Family Services. “We believe we can help local congregations in the Northwest do meaningful, organized community ministries in support of their missions. We have a 125-year tradition of organizing and implementing community ministry.”

Members of First Baptist Church support a large community ministry program that includes food and clothing distribution components at the church's current location. In the construction phase of new worship and education spaces less than a mile away, the church needs volunteer builders to help build a new community ministries center. (Photo by Scott Collins)

The Buckner ministry plan is to support churches' community ministries through volunteer, prayer and resource support, said Melinda Reed, worship and community ministries director for Puget Sound Baptist Association. Reed, a native of Midland, is the front door for the association, which works with Buckner to meet community ministry needs in the Northwest.

“Our area is unique in that we live on a mission field,” she said. “The Greater Seattle area is 4 million strong and growing daily. Although it houses more millionaires per capita than any other area, there is another side to that wealth: Homelessness (especially with teens), drug problems and social distress, but mostly a need for Jesus.”

The challenge for Seattle is that fewer than 4 percent of its residents are evangelical Christians, she said. “On a given Sunday, more than 90 percent are staying at home, hiking, biking, boating or just dealing with life.

There are by far more coffee houses than there are churches in this metropolitan area. Starbucks alone surpasses the number of Southern Baptist churches by almost 100.

To reach Seattle and the surrounding area, the plan will include recruiting churches through Buckner to meet diverse needs identified by churches in the Northwest. Reed said Buckner's success in penetrating Texas and foreign countries “relies on the local church; they are an extension of the local church.”

Among the strategies are:

Using volunteers to fill missions needs in construction, ministry to the homeless and hurting, helping start community centers, counseling and caring for recovering addicts and those in transition, and evangelism to targeted groups.

Prayer. “Nothing can be achieved without this,” Reed said. “Prayer support is the vital link to reach this area. Begin praying now for your part in this ministry.”

To be a volunteer prayer partner for the area, sign up to pray for 300 households in the greater Seattle area by logging on to www.embracingseattle.org and clicking on the "prayer" link.

Financial support. Ministries in the Northwest share many physical needs. They include supplies, operating funds, building material, salary funding and ministry materials.

“I am expectant about the incredible work God has in store through this partnership,” Reed said. “It is a privilege to work with this credible ministry with history and experience that will benefit us greatly. We need only to raise the awareness that Seattle is here, that we have needs and that people and partners can make a difference.”

Community ministry is the starting point for most missions work in the Pacific Northwest. Many churches begin with a community service component before they find a rental or purchase property.

Anchor Church of Seattle is an example of a congregation that has put ministry at the forefront of its mission to reach its community for Christ. Pastor David Foster said his congregation of 140 is seeking to sell its current facility, a traditional sanctuary and education space, to provide funds for a community ministries center.

“We have a vision. We had a month of fasting and prayer and seeing where God would want our congregation,” Foster explained. “We are reaching people in different areas, so we are selling our property and reinvesting in ministries,” he said. “We have been ministry-shy and property-rich. Well, that's not what God called us to do.

“Social ministry is not a means to an end. It is one tool in the bag. Our mission is to make mature, fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. In order to do so, we love them at all levels.”

Buckner volunteers could find themselves working with a variety of ministries representing a diverse set of needs, Reed noted.

Sanctuary is a young congregation. It doesn't own its worship facility, preferring instead to rent space from an Ethiopian congregation. It plans to move its services to a local pizzeria soon. The only physical address the church has is its coffee shop and cafe, Perkatory, which not only serves coffee and baked items, but also serves as church office and headquarters for its members.

But as different as the church facilities might be, it's Sanctuary's ministry target that separates it from many other churches, said Co-pastor Ed Park.

“Our target group is probably the most diverse and most dense community in the Northwest,” he said. “Within a one-mile radius, there are about 100,000 people. You have the wealthiest people here, and you have the poorest people here, all living in the same place.”

A team of church members and short-term missionaries witnesses daily to the homeless in the Capitol Hill area, dispensing the gospel and hot coffee from shopping carts to anyone who wants to talk. Typically, the street youth reach out for support.

“The street kids have been described as 'throwaways' by most people,” Park said. “A lot of them actually came from the suburbs. There's a lot of neglect that happens at home. You also have the people who grew up in abusive situations, some foster homes, runaways who become homeless. … Our thing is to try to show them, 'Look at what Christ has done,' and let that be a source for change.”

Located strategically in the Pacific Rim, the ports of Seattle, Everett and Tacoma make Washington a major maritime influence throughout the world. Commercial and cruise ships from all over the world dock in the Puget Sound and bring opportunity for touching the world without leaving U.S. soil.

“Through the (interdenominational) seafarer ministry, the world is literally brought to the waterfront,” Reed said. “This ministry reaches out to seamen on incoming ships to meet their physical, spiritual and emotional needs during a vulnerable time.”

Paul Peterson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Tacoma, was a chaplain with the Port Ministry from 1978 to 1990 and still is actively involved in reaching seamen as a volunteer.

Peterson said the ministry relies on churches to bring the gospel aboard the ships, which often are docked for a few days to take on cargo.

“The initial visit is usually just one person, a volunteer going down and making contact and telling them what's available for the seafarers like free transportation, things like that. Then we will contact a group from a church to come and bring two, three, four, five, six people.”

The port ministry also relies on the area's blend of ethnic churches to provide a witness shipboard.

“If there's a Ukrainian or Russian ship in, then we call the Ukrainian church, and someone who speaks their language will come down and witness to the seafarers. Today, we have a Filipino church that has come down to visit with the Filipino seafarers,” he said.

There also are possibilities for service in Elma, Wash., a small town set in the mountains southeast of Seattle. It is the home of Lighthouse Ministries, a para-church group founded and operated by Kenny and Judy Rice. Lighthouse provides a haven for recovering addicts, the homeless and people in abusive situations.

“Lighthouse saved my life,” one participant in the program said between sips of coffee in Lighthouse's storefront coffee shop. “I was basically brought here half dead. I call this Bible Boot Camp. It's hard. It's strict. But it works. I had been in other treatment centers, and nothing else worked.”

Lighthouse operates on a two-part theme–13 Bible studies a week to help participants find God's will for their lives and personal deprivation.

Participating is not easy. The ministry subsists on donated food. Often, the ministry and its 25 to 50 participants have enough only for the next two days. Each participant is expected to be involved in “work blessings,” odd jobs and errands that net the ministry operating cash. The living conditions are spartan. Each participant is given a bunk bed in the ministry's commercial-style brick storefront on Elma's main street.

Lighthouse always struggles but, during the five years it has existed, “has always relied on the Lord, and God has always been faithful,” Judy Rice noted.

The partnership between Puget Sound Association and Buckner “is uncharted territory, but God has an incredible plan,” Reed concluded. “I believe we are on the brink of a spiritual awakening in the Northwest and community ministry will bring a tangible touch of God to those who have never thought about Christ in a personal way.”

With its first U.S. partnership outside Texas, Buckner Children and Family Services is poised to deliver community ministry support to churches in the Seattle/Tacoma region.

How to plan a mission trip to the Northwest

Contact Melinda Reed, worship and community ministries director for Puget Sound Baptist Association, by phone at (253) 632-2336 or by e-mail at worshiplady@comcast.net. Reed will assess each church's desires for service and help match it with the appropriate ministry opportunities in the Northwest. Participating churches will not be charged a fee by Buckner. All travel and ministry expenses will be paid by churches or groups, based on their planning.

The Seattle/Tacoma area at a glance

Land area: 4,000 square miles

Population: 4 million

Number of languages: 150

Largest number of millionaires per capita in the country.

More than 90 percent of the population is unchurched.

70 percent claim no religious affiliation.

Fewer than 5 percent are evangelical Christians.

One-half of 1 percent are Southern Baptists.

More statistical info at: www.seattlechurchplanting.com/aboutseattle.htm

Posted: 8/20/04

Coalition criticizes Bush campaign for recruiting in churches

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–A broad group of mainline and evangelical Protestant leaders has issued a statement criticizing President Bush's re-election campaign for attempting to recruit voters through churches.

Fifteen seminary professors and retired pastors–seven of them Baptists–released the statement to reporters. It referred to recent revelations that the Bush-Cheney campaign has asked for help from volunteers who are members of conservative churches in crucial “swing states.”

The campaign asked the volunteers to, among other things, recruit groups of potential Bush supporters within their congregations and turn over their church directories to campaign officials.

It also asked conservative churches to hold voter-registration drives and encouraged pastors to speak about Christian citizenship and voting.

Under the federal tax code, churches and other tax-exempt nonprofit groups are not allowed to endorse political parties or candidates.

However, legal experts say, churches are allowed to speak out on moral and social issues and conduct voter registration drives and voter education in a nonpartisan fashion.

“When certain church leaders acceded to the request of the Bush-Cheney campaign to hand over the names and addresses of their congregants, they crossed a line,” the statement reads.

“Christians, individually, should prayerfully seek God's direction when voting, but when any church leaders contend that they speak for God and have the right to tell congregants how to vote, such leaders have assumed prerogatives to which they have no right.”

It continues: “Whenever the church follows such a path, it engages in a scandalous secularizing of the sacred. Whenever political parties use the church, they invoke absolutes in the passing parade of politics. Whenever the church has engaged in partisan politics, it has compromised its moral authority.”

The statement concludes by calling on church leaders “to stand vigilant against entanglement in partisan politics,” urging both presidential candidates “to respect the integrity of all houses of worship,” and calls upon Bush to repudiate his campaign's actions, which, they contend, “violated a fundamental principle of our democracy.”

Two Baptist leaders–sociologist and speaker Tony Campolo of Eastern University near Philadelphia and James Dunn of Wake Forest Divinity School in North Carolina–drafted the document.

Dunn said they felt compelled to respond to a story in the New York Times that described a Bush campaign volunteer in a suburban St. Louis Assembly of God church who was following the campaign's protocol.

“It was bad enough for the campaigns to insensitively ask for the church directories, but it's even worse when the churches reveal the lack of sensitivity that allowed them to respond to that appeal,” Dunn said.

He said the leaders' goal in releasing the statement was “simply to reaffirm the traditional understanding of the spirit of church-state separation–not in some picky legal sense, but in the more vital understanding that it is none of the business of political parties to use the churches for their own partisan goals.”

The controversy first erupted in July, when the Washington Post reported that Bush-Cheney campaign officials in Pennsylvania were attempting to organize through “conservative churches” and had asked volunteers to provide church directories to campaign officials.

In June, the campaign hosted a reception for pastors attending the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting in Indianapolis.

A wide variety of religious leaders–including Richard Land, head of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission–condemned the tactics as overreach.

A Bush-Cheney campaign spokesperson said her camp was not encouraging churches to run afoul of the law.

“We've been very clear that the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign believes that people of faith have a right to fully participate in the political process,” Sharon Castillo said.

“The outreach we are doing is individual, peer-to-peer. We are not suggesting in any way that people of faith should gather in their places of worship to do political work.”

Asked about the religious leaders' allegations that the tactics violated the integrity of churches, Castillo said the campaign “is not using any church,” but simply is “engaging fellow citizens in the political process.”

In addition to Dunn and Campolo, the statement's signatories included Jimmy Allen, retired president of the SBC Radio and Television Commission and a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention; Hardy Clemons, retired pastor of First Baptist Church of Greenville, S.C.; Walter Shurden, a Baptist historian and professor at Mercer University in Macon, Ga.; and James Forbes, pastor of the Riverside Church in New York.

Signers also included professors from schools as diverse as Princeton University and Asbury Theological Seminary, a conservative Methodist school in Kentucky.

Even though the group contains some Democrats, Dunn said they were not trying to make a partisan statement in favor of the campaign of Bush's rival, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).

“We're obviously speaking to an issue that transcends any campaign,” he said.

“And the people that are speaking to it (by signing the statement) are those who have … taught religion and social responsibility in the leading seminaries and universities in the country. So they understand what the American tradition is about partisan manipulation of organized religion.”

Posted: 8/20/04

GUEST EDITORIAL:
'Presence of Christ' calls for integrity, homework & courage

By Phil Strickland

I remember a number of years ago going to a Broadway play titled “Don't Bother Me; I Can't Cope.” Face it, that's the way most of us feel. “What's the world coming to?” is a phrase that is supposed to be used by folks over 60. No more. A quick read of the morning paper usually will convince you a lot of people in our society are wading around in moral mud, then walking into the house without cleaning off their boots and spreading the mud around the house. Moral mud always gets its mess on other people.

Humanity seems to be increasingly seduced by a kind of moral nihilism, with more and more people believing less and less about good and bad.

As Foy Valentine put it: “Our world seems determined to try to live life without discipline, enjoy plenty without work, experience pleasure without pay, wallow in adultery without love, commit crime without punishment, revel in sin without judgment, break out all the windows in order to breathe, and play tennis with the net down. Our world does not believe you have to reap what you sow.”

We've discovered our world of wonders also is full of wolves.

We don't have to go far to prove the case. If we read the morning paper through the eyes of Jesus, we see plenty of moral wandering. A recent issue contained these stories–a man who shoved his wife off an overpass, then joined her; favoritism in the police department; resume fraud; at least two cover-ups, one government and one corporate.

You can go one step further and check out what is happening in the state.

Texas is 50th in high school completion, and the new plan may or may not lead us to do better than that.

The governor's all-out push for casinos in Texas proposes to fund our children's education by making it the vested interest of the state to spend millions of dollars on advertising to turn as many children as possible into pathological gamblers so we can get their dollars. Go figure.

Twenty-two percent of Texas children live in poverty, compared to 17 percent of children nationally. Texas ranks 50th in children with health insurance.

You don't even want to know the data on the breakdown of the family, how many young people think sex before marriage is OK and how many deadbeat dads are out there.

And nearly half of the world's population live on $2 a day.

All of these are symptoms. They are the weeds that are growing because of our failure to till the soil of ethical behavior. The solutions will not be found in global organization or government programs, but in living out great ideas–like human worth, fidelity and justice for all, which means the solutions of those issues are not remote. The solutions lie as much in Bugtussle, Texas; Tarzan, Texas; Earth, Texas; or Hamilton, Texas, as in Austin, Texas, because character and moral strength are created in all of these places.

So, how do we cope? And more to the point, how do we become the presence of Christ in this world? How can you be salt that flavors and light that shows the way? Here are suggestions:

Live among each other with integrity and character. Yes, it will be good for your community. It also will be good for you. Guilt and peace are not, and have never been, good companions.

Start with the Bible, and especially those parts of it that make you uncomfortable. It's amazing how selective we can be about reading Scripture. I know folks who go with glee to “wives, submit to your husband” without even noticing the words a few verses away, “submit yourselves to one another.” Some folks want to overlook passages about sexual morality, while others of us get very uncomfortable with James 5:3: “Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last times.”

Or take Matthew 25. You remember the passage, where Jesus separates the sheep and the goats, saying, “I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was a prisoner, and you visited me.” In an excellent speech I heard recently, one of the listeners left quite upset, saying, “All we got today was a bunch of political junk.” In other words, that passage really made him nervous.

Recently we had a discussion on civility with a couple of legislators, a Democrat and a Republican. Perhaps the best comment was from former Speaker Pete Laney, “If you want civility in politics, elect civil people.” If you want a moral world, be a moral person.

Do your homework. It's amazing how people speak with great authority about matters they know nothing about. Know anyone like that? A very young preacher was telling me with great intensity about how the Bible was clear about our being in the seventh dispensation. He had it straight out of Scofield's Bible. He had not finished high school but was a good mechanic when God called him to pastor his home church. I wish them well.

Part of doing your homework is learning who to trust. What an important decision that is! Be careful about your mentors.

Take courage. I confess that I have a deep prejudice on this one. I have watched too many pastors and people dodge too many issues.

The struggle for the soul of Baptists was lost on the national level–not by a lack of ideas, but by a lack of courage.

Courage is doing what you believe is right. It always must be balanced by wisdom. But you must have courage. All goes if courage goes.

George Bernard Shaw stated, “It is courage, courage, courage, that raises the blood of life to crimson splendor.”

You will encounter those times when the cost of doing right is more than the cost, at least the immediate cost, of doing wrong. What you do with that, what we all do with that, will determine the nobility of our spirit. It will be the foundation of your leadership. Without it, you cannot lead. I wish you courage. It ultimately will bring you great joy.

Phil Strickland is coordinator of Christian ethics and public life for the Baptist General Convention of Texas

Posted: 8/20/04

Texas Baptist volunteers join
multi-state disaster relief effort in Florida

Six Texas Baptist Men disaster relief mobile units were among the dozens of Baptist emergency response vehicles from multiple states that responded after Hurricane Charley swept through Central Florida.

The East Texas Baptist disaster relief unit was sent to Lake Wales, Fla., to prepare meals for storm victims, and the Texas Baptist Men Incident Command Center was dispatched to First Baptist Church in Kissimmee, Fla., to coordinate communication efforts between Baptist disaster relief workers already on site.

The 18-wheel Texas Baptist Diasaster Relief Mobile Unit with its field kitchen also was sent to Florida, along with a trailer loaded with food, a generator unit and a shower unit from Hill Country Baptist Association.

“It's probably one of the greatest blessings of my life to go to someone you've never met and literally offer them a cup of water in the name of Jesus,” said Mike Brittain of Diana, coordinator of the East Texas unit. “I just stand in awe and amazement that God would use me to show his love in that way.”

Within a few days after the storm made landfall, the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board activated more than 70 disaster relief units from around the country, and the number could grow up to 175 units, said Mickey Caison, manager of the NAMB disaster operations center.

“We're talking about months for recovery and long-term rebuilding for years,” Caison said.

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship designated $10,000 for the relief effort and established coordinated volunteer relief services in both Charlotte County/Fort Myers and Lee County/Venice and Arcadia along Florida's west central coast.

Charley–a category 4 storm with sustained winds above 145 miles per hour and storm surges from 13 to 15 feet–left at least 22 people dead and hundreds missing as it crossed the state from southwest to northeast, entering from the Gulf of Mexico at Punta Gorda and exiting into the Atlantic Ocean around Daytona Beach. It was the strongest hurricane to hit the United States since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

Days after the storm, nearly 1 million Florida residents remained without electricity, and officials told them not to expect it to be restored for more than a week.

Texas Baptists wishing to contribute to relief efforts should send checks designated “disaster relief” to Texas Baptist Men, 333 N. Washington, Dallas 75246-1798.

Compiled from reports by Texas Baptist Communications, Baptist Press and Associated Baptist Press.

Posted: 8/20/04

DOWN HOME:
Still newlyweds, 5 decades later

Fifty years ago last Friday–Aug. 20, 1954–a young couple walked down the aisle of the Baptist church in Higgins and promised to love, honor and cherish each other “'til death do us part.” Early this month, family and friends gathered from across Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico to help them celebrate their golden wedding anniversary.

Most people know them as Margaret and Marvin Knox. I've always called them Mother and Daddy.

They fell in love at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, not long after Mother arrived as a freshman. Daddy set out to capture her heart, but I've got a feeling she won his the first time he saw that smile we all know so well.

Later, after their wedding, their love produced a family. I arrived first, and soon came Martha and, years later, Martin. We were the most-blessed kids in the world.

Our family never had material riches. Daddy's always been a Baptist pastor, and Mother was a school teacher. But we have been wealthy in love and joy. That can't be explained in one column, but here are three reasons why:

Mother and Daddy always have been crazy about each other. Still are, in fact.

When I was just a little boy, Mother and I talked about who we would choose if were marooned on a deserted island with only one person. We both picked Daddy.

After 50 years of marriage, they still act like lovebirds. When I was a teenager, their goings-on embarrassed me. Now, I think it's terrific. They not only told Martha, Martin and me that love and excitement can thrive in a marriage, they showed us how.

They demonstrated absolute integrity.

Some preacher's kids rebel because what they see at home doesn't live up to what they hear in the pulpit. Not us.

Daddy and Mother always lived out at home exactly what Daddy preached at church and Mother taught at school.

They loved God and cherished family.

Mother and Daddy put God first in their lives. That shaped everything–the way they cared for each other, raised us, treated people, spent money, made decisions. Everything. We learned from their example.

And that example always included unconditional love. Now, 50 years' worth of love.

Correction: Last time, I inadvertently said Brayden, Justin and Mitchell TP'd our front yard. Actually, it was Brayden, Michael and Mitchell. I know the difference. Justin is Michael's big brother. Justin seems like a nice kid; never bothered me a bit. Michael is the one who comes over with his friends and TP's our yard. Michael takes pictures so he can show his friends at Sunday school. Michael and his buddies created a work of art in our yard. Next time, I hope they TP a museum.

Posted: 8/20/04

EDITORIAL:
Ride glory train to South Carolina?

Old Glory might lose a star if a group of ultra-conservative Christians succeed in seceding from the United States.

ChristianExodus.org intends to lead thousands of like-minded people to immigrate to South Carolina. Once in place, they will take over the state legislature, secede from the republic and form a “constitutionally limited government founded upon Christian principles.” They'll create a new nation called–and this promises to be confusing–South Carolina.

Members of the Exodus movement, which their president, Cory Burnell, claims is 600 strong, share concerns with many conservative Christians nationwide. Here's how their website describes the perceived problem: “Christians have actively tried to return the United States to their moral foundations for more than 30 years. We now have a 'Christian' president, a 'Christian' attorney general, and a Republican Congress and Supreme Court. Yet … attempts at reform have proven futile. Future elections will not stop the … atrocities, but rather will exacerbate them and lead us down an even more deadly path.”

Their solution, the website proclaims, is “to try a strategy not yet employed by Bible-believing Christians. Rather than spend resources in continued efforts to redirect the entire nation, we will redeem states one at a time. Millions of Christian conservatives are geographically spread out and diluted at the national level. Therefore, we must concentrate our numbers in a geographical region with a sovereign government we can control through the electoral process.”

In phase one of its plan to take over South Carolina, ChristianExodus.org intends to move 12,000 members to the state and locate them in 12 key legislative districts. Working with the “present Christian electorate,” the newcomers will elect a dozen “Christian sovereigntists” to the legislature. The organization will repeat this step in phases “until the General Assembly is squarely in the hands of Christian constitutionalists.” If all goes according to plan, they will be able to call for a constitutional convention, secede from the United States and declare independence by 2016.

The motive behind ChristianExodus.org is to flee dominion of the U.S. government, which is believed to be evil. The website refers to U.S. citizenship as “being politically bonded to evil people.” It describes the organization as “an association of Christians who no longer wish to live under the unjust usurpation of powers by the federal government, and therefore resolves to formally disassociate itself from this tyrannical authority.”

The Exodus movement raises political questions about the very nature of our nation. South Carolina's original secession launched the Civil War. Suppose the political takeover of South Carolina succeeded: What would the United States do if a state tried to pull out?

For Christians, the more significant question is theological: What is a Christian's responsibility in the world–not only as a citizen of a particular nation, but as a resident of space occupied by people of other faiths and no faith?

Jesus told Christians to be “salt and light”–impacting and transforming the world around us. ChristianExodus.org dismisses this charge with a surprisingly pragmatic response: “Most American 'Christians' have not been 'salt and light' and demonstrate no desire to become so.” According to such reasoning, if some Christians fail, then all Christians are free from Jesus' command.

The group also sidesteps Christians' missionary mandate. “How does being politically bonded to evil people cause us to be more effective missionaries?” the website asks. But if Christians flee to a Christian province, how are they going to evangelize others? Jesus sent his disciples to “all nations,” not just “South Carolina.”

Thinking about ChristianExodus.com may make Texas Baptists feel too comfortable. “What wackos,” we're tempted to proclaim. “Thank God we're not that extreme.” Are we?

OK, so we haven't moved to South Carolina. But how often do we pull into our own little religious subculture–our church, our Sunday school class, our Christian friends with whom we feel safe–and secede from the world? Our Great Commission is to be change agents in the world, not cloistered critics outside it.
–Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com

Posted: 8/20/04

EDITORIAL:
RM 2493 hoax still lives on

What do family-values patriarch James Dobson and the late atheist matriarch Madalyn Murray O'Hair have in common?

Somebody's used their names to perpetuate one of the nation's longest-running urban legends. For years, I thought well-meaning Christians kept this lunacy alive. But now I'm re-thinking that theory. This hoax has remained too robust for too long to be attributed to naivete or dumb luck. I'm beginning to think it's perpetuated by evil enemies of faith who prey on Christians who fear culture so badly they'll believe any scary tale.

For decades–even years after her death–a bogus memo claimed O'Hair was behind Federal Communications Commission Petition 2493, also often called RM 2493. The petition was supposed to be an attempt to get the FCC to remove the gospel from American radio and television.

Unlike O'Hair, the RM 2493 rumor refuses to die. Just last week, it circulated in an e-mail across Texas–and who knows where in cyberspace–once again.

“Help Dr. Dobson,” the e-mail pleaded. “An organization has been granted a Federal Hearing … by the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C. Their petition, Number 2493, would ultimately pave the way to stop the reading of the gospel of our Lord and Savior on the airwaves of America. They got 287,000 signatures to back their stand! If this attempt is successful, all Sunday worship services being broadcast on the radio or by television will be stopped.”

The e-mail asks readers to attach their names to the e-mail and forward it to “everyone you think should read this.” The long list of names will “show that there are many Christians alive, well and concerned about our country.”

If you're concerned about our country, help stamp out this tired old rumor. Here's the truth:

RM 2493 was indeed filed with the FCC–30 years ago. In 1974, Jeremy Lansman and Lorenzo Milam asked the FCC to freeze licenses for new educational television and FM radio stations that were to air only religious or quasi-religious programs. Their request never would have eliminated relgious broadcasting from stations that already had received broadcast licenses.

FCC commisioners unanimously denied RM 2493–29 years ago. The FCC issued a statement Aug. 1, 1975, noting the First Amendment requires the commission “to observe a stance of neutrality toward religion, acting neither to promote nor inhibit religion.” So, religious stations and programming can flourish.

Unfortunately, this rumor isn't likely to fade away. So, save this editorial. And the next time you hear the number 2493, help spread the truth.

Posted: 8/20/04

LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Aug. 29

Despite disobedience, God offers new beginnings

2 Kings 23:36-25:30

By David Morgan

Trinity Baptist Church, Harker Heights

God's people can never presume upon God's blessings and deliverance. Nurturing a relationship with God requires commitment and obedience.

God's prophets frequently had urged Judah to return to God to escape judgment. But the nation insisted upon doing things its way. Now the end was near. With Josiah's death came the end of Judah's hope and freedom. Four kings reigned after him, but not one could reverse the godlessness that resulted in exile.

Destiny arrives

Jehoahaz, Josiah's son, reigned only three months before Pharaoh Neco replaced him with Eliakim. Neco displayed his mastery over Judah by changing Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim and forcing him to pay heavy tribute.

Jehoiakim's foreign policy had three phases: paying tribute to Egypt; serving Babylon's king, Nebuchadnezzar; and revolting against Babylon. Jehoiakim seemed swayed by appearances of political power and may have stopped his tribute-paying service to Nebuchadnezzar when Egypt temporarily regained military advantage. A deportation of leading citizens, including Daniel and his friends, occurred during the third year of his reign (Daniel 1:1).

Rebellion against Babylon brought swift reprisal. Babylon's vassal nations–Moab, Ammon and Aramea–attacked Judah. God was using Judah's enemies to destroy the land in response to the divine pronouncement of destruction. Prophets repeatedly warned the nation God would punish the people for breaking the covenant.

God's judgment, not the military supremacy of enemies, caused Judah's destruction. Verses 3-4 specifically connect the attacks with God's word that the Lord would destroy the nation because of Manasseh's wickedness (2 Kings 21:11-13; 23:26). “At the command” literally reads “according to the mouth of Yahweh.”

God no longer would forgive Judah and overlook its sins. Some people struggle with the notion that God may not forgive. God did not relent because the nation did not repent. God's judgment was inevitable. During this period, Jeremiah declared the need for Judah to prepare for defeat and exile.

The particular word for “forgive” also was used in Solomon's prayers when he dedicated the temple (1 Kings 8:30). He asked God to forgive the people when they turned to the temple and prayed for forgiveness. But this prayer assumed something the people refused to do–obey God. Judah could still boast of the temple's presence but not of God's protection. The people had presumed upon the presence of God as symbolized by the temple to protect them from their enemies. They were mistaken. Moses had warned them that disobedience would bring about the destruction of their land (Deuteronomy 29:24-28).

The motions of prayer and worship are not sufficient for God's favor. The Lord may be gracious, but disobedience brings judgment.

Fellowship departs

Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem while Jehoiakim was king and captured it from Jehoiachin, three months after Jehoiakim's death. The temple and the city itself were spared destruction this time. The Babylonians deported the king and apparently treated him well. About 10,000 other people, including leaders and artisans, also were taken.

The narrator offered God's appraisal of the political situation in verse 20. The attackers were agents who carried out God's judgment against the people for their unfaithfulness and disobedience.

Zedekiah, who replaced Jehoiachin as king, failed to learn the lessons of history. He, too, rebelled against Babylon. Nebuzaradan, Nebuchadnezzar's aide, besieged Jerusalem. The city fell about 18 months later. The Babylonians burned the temple, broke down Jerusalem's walls and deported more of its residents.

God had abandoned the nation to its enemies, because his anger burned against them for their disobedience. God was actually fighting against Judah. The Lord would renew fellowship with them and restore them to Jerusalem after 70 years of exile.

Hope remains

Destruction and exile are not God's final word. The narrator ended his account of Judah's history with a glimmer of hope. After 37 years of exile, Nebuchadnezzar's successor, Evil-merodach, freed Jehoiachin from prison. Precisely what this release meant is not obvious. On the one hand, eating at Evil-morodach's table allowed the Babylonians to observe him and exercise some control over him. On the other hand, the conditions of the release suggest Jehoiachin may have regained some leadership and involvement in the affairs of the exiles. It appears that in some way he resumed, even in exile, his role as Judah's king.

The Lord was not yet finished with the covenant people. God kept watch over them to preserve them. God would lead many of their descendants to return to Jerusalem, where they would rebuild both city and temple.

God is always in control. Grace is God's final word. While we can never presume upon God's graciousness, the Lord offers forgiveness and new beginnings.

Question for discussion

What do you need to confess?

Posted: 8/20/04

LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Sept. 5

Don't give up hope; God has a plan for your life

Luke 1:1-25, 57-80

By Pakon Chan

Chinese Baptist Church, Arlington

Luke, along with Matthew and Mark, is numbered among the synoptics. Its purpose is to present the good news of Jesus Christ to all people, Jews and Gentiles alike. Theophilus, the recipient of Luke, was probably a Gentile, and thus the gospel of Luke is primarily written to the Gentile world. This perception is very important to mission work as well as Christian life, since Jesus also is the Savior to all peoples and all nations. God works through a group of people to reach out to all people.

Take the message seriously

Luke wrote this Gospel with the purpose of giving more clarity and certainty to the message (1:4). God intends this message to be preached to those who have no knowledge or experience about the salvation of our Lord. In order to fulfill this purpose and make the message clear and certain, Luke had done a thorough study on all the available materials he could find (v. 3).

Theophilus represented the non-Jewish world in which people did not have any background to understand the biblical concepts of God, Messiah and salvation. They may not have even heard the name of Jesus. This is the reason Luke wanted to spend time to research and write the gospel.

There are at least two reasons Luke wanted to put the message into an orderly account (v. 3). First, Luke wanted to completely understand the message he was about to present to Theophilus. It is not right to preach a message with half the understanding. No one can convince others with a message he or she does not fully understand. A fully understood message will give confidence to us when we share it with the seeker. It also will keep us from misleading people with an incomplete or even false message.

Second, an orderly account of the message makes the presentation easy. It also helps us to have the correct focus in presenting the gospel. We confuse the message with many irrelevant personal interests and concerns easily if we do not put the presentation in an orderly fashion.

Luke made such effort to ensure his audience would know the truth and know it fully. Often, people reject the gospel because they misunderstand it. It is especially true for people who do not have a Christian background. We should be more sensitive to the seekers and their culture if we want to be good gospel communicators. God wants to work through us to bring people back to him, but we need to do some homework in order for him to use us effectively.

From hopeless to hope

Zechariah was a priest. While he was serving in the temple, he saw a vision. An angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him his wife, Elizabeth, would give him a son (v. 13). The Lord had listened to Zechariah's prayer because he and his wife lived good lives in God's sight. They also obeyed fully all the laws and commands of the Lord (v. 6).

Being righteous and obedient are qualities of Christian life to be used by God in his ministry. If we want to serve the Lord, we have to take his word seriously in our lives. Many people criticize Christianity because the lives of Christians contradict biblical teachings. Lifestyle evangelism is always the first and most effective step of presenting the gospel.

Zechariah and Elizabeth had no children, and both were very old. From the human perspective, they had no hope of having children, but God wanted to use them to prepare the path for the Messiah. God gave Elizabeth a son in her old age.

From Elizabeth's experience, we can learn at least two lessons. First, everybody can be used by God. It does not matter how small we are or how little talent we have, God still can use us to accomplish his plan. The only qualities God seeks in our lives are godliness and obedience. D.L. Moody was only a little clerk in a shoe shop, but God used him to become one of the most influential preachers.

Second, it is God's power that works through his servant. Since God can use anybody in his ministry, he does not rely on our ability to make things happen. When we serve God, we should be humble to let God's power work through us. If God could make Sarah and Elizabeth have sons, he can use us to bring people to Christ. Nobody in God's hand is hopeless and useless, for God will empower us to achieve great things for him. God can bring out hope from hopelessness.

You can prepare the way

God had a plan for this baby even before he came to the world. This baby would be named John, and he would “make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (v. 17). His father, Zechariah, prophesied over his son, saying, “And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High God. You will go ahead of the Lord to prepare his road for him, to tell his people that they will be saved by having their sins forgiven” (vv. 76-77). God has plans for everybody, and he has a plan for you. God has saved you and put you among your friends and coworkers. You can prepare the way for Jesus to meet your friends.

Questions for discussion

Are you aware that God wants to work through you to bring people to Jesus?

What have you learned from Luke to prepare for sharing the gospel message with your friends?

Posted: 8/20/04

Ministry springs from just a load of beans

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

FABENS–A few beans have spouted in a ministry yielding vanloads of school supplies for hundreds of Mexican children.

Several years ago, First Baptist Church in Cloudcroft, N.M., sent a load of beans to First Baptist Church in Fabens with a request that Fabens' members deliver the food to Mexican children.

Elfi Register and Joan Wilson took the beans and their passion for Mexico and fulfilled that call, giving birth to the Crossing Borders ministry.

Soon, the two Mission Service Corps volunteers were delivering rice and beans.

Next, they were giving away other groceries. Then they started distributing school supplies.

The Cloudcroft church sent pens, pencils and other items for the youth. Soon, other congregations got involved.

This year, First Baptist Church in Cloudcroft was joined by First Baptist Church in La Lu, N.M.

For the second year in a row, churches in Double Mountain Baptist Association in northwest Texas came together to send a vanload of school supplies.

Last year, 15 Double Mountain congregations made a donation.

This year, three more joined, and they filled a 15-passenger van with enough supplies for 500 children.

Then they added a check for more than $300.

“Christians help other people. We are here to serve,” said Joe Walton, director of missions for Double Mountain Association.

Register and Wilson give the supplies to Mexican pastors in towns along the border south and east of Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso.

Those church leaders know the needs of different families and use the supplies and food as ways to build relationships through which they hope to share the gospel.

In all, Crossing Borders collected school supplies for 800 children this year.

“Our better witness is not so much to preach, but to show the love of Christ,” Wilson said.

Eduction is compulsory through middle school in Mexico. After that, children attend only if they can afford books, supplies and uniforms, Register said.

The supplies will help more children go to class and have a chance at better jobs.

“It matters just like it matters here,” Register said. “If you get educated, you can improve your life.”

Walton said this cooperative effort between Mexico, New Mexico and Texas Baptists reflects a God-given passion to help others.

Most Baptists genuinely want to come together for the expansion of God's kingdom, he observed.

“There's no border per se,” Walton said. “Whether it's right here on the border or in Mexico, there's no border in serving people.”

Posted: 8/20/04

Presidential powers used to advance faith-based initiatives

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–A new report by an independent group explains in depth what observers of President Bush's “faith-based initiatives” have been noting for years now: Bush has used his presidential powers to bypass Congress and “aggressively implement the initiative.”

The bipartisan Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy released the 63-page report. It analyzes the extent to which the Bush administration has gone to make it easier for pervasively religious groups–including churches, mosques and synagogues–to receive government funding.

“The common perception is that President Bush's faith-based initiative has been stalled by a reluctant Congress,” says the report, authored by three officials of the Roundtable.

“But as this report illustrates, the Bush administration has made concerted use of its executive powers and has moved aggressively through new regulation, funding, political appointees and active public outreach efforts to expand the federal government's partnerships with faith-based social service providers in ways that don't require congressional approval.”

The initiative–designed to increase the amount of social-services funding the government can channel through religious groups–has been the centerpiece of President Bush's domestic agenda.

However, disputes in Congress over church-state separation and civil-rights issues related to the initiative have stalled legislation that would authorize it.

Nonetheless, Bush has “aggressively” implemented the policy through “executive orders, rule changes, managerial realignment in federal agencies, and other prerogatives of his office,” the report states.

Historically, concerns over church-state issues have caused lawmakers and government agencies to require that any religiously affiliated group receiving government money to be essentially secular in the services it provides and the way it conducts its business.

That meant churches or other strongly religious groups would set up separate non-profit organizations–such as Catholic Charities or Lutheran Social Services–with religious goals but secular methods to receive the funding.

Bush officials–and many among his base of support in the conservative Christian community–argued that such rules amounted to discrimination against deeply religious groups. They have repeatedly argued that deeply religious groups could be trusted to use government funds only for secular services–such as drug counseling–while avoiding using public money to pay for “inherently religious” activities. That, Bush administration officials have conceded, would be plainly unconstitutional.

Therefore, the report says, the White House “has sought to remove barriers to participation by faith-based organizations.

However, it continues, “in so doing, (the administration) may also have weakened longstanding walls preventing religious groups from inserting spiritual activities into secular services.”

For example, the report noted, excluding only “inherently religious” activities from the list of acceptable objects of government funding was problematic because “the term defines only a set of activities that may never be paid for by direct government expenditure, and suggests a false conclusion that everything that is not 'inherently religious' may be paid for with public funds.”

As examples of activities that are not inherently religious but could still contain significant religious content, the report pointed to counseling services and education.

Since taking office in 2001, the report says, Bush and his administration have proposed or implemented 15 major rule changes enabling the faith-based plan “that together mark a major shift in the constitutional separation of church and state.” Among those changes are deleting words in Veterans Administration regulations that require its grantees to certify they exert “no religious influence” in the services they provide.

Among the report's other observations:

Since becoming president, Bush has often devoted the presidential “bully pulpit” to promote the initiative, giving more than 40 speeches touting it and devoting sections of each of his State of the Union addresses to the issue.

Although Bush officials have repeatedly pointed to the presumed superiority of faith-based social service providers as reason for funding them, “little research has yet been conducted that is able to show faith-based organizations are more effective than secular organizations in addressing social problems.”

The report continued: “While more elaborate scientific studies are under way, the White House has relied on largely anecdotal evidence to support the view that faith-based approaches produce better long-term results.”

There are some inaccuracies in a major study on which Bush officials have relied to prove that federal agencies have discriminated unfairly against religious providers.

For example, the 2001 “Unlevel Playing Field” report noted that the Department of Housing and Urban Development had not given grants to any religious provider under a $20 million home-ownership program.

But, in fact, the Christian group Habitat for Humanity had received over half of the program's total funding in fiscal year 2000.

“The misinterpretation arose because Habitat was not listed as 'a primary religious' organization because it offered 'essentially secular housing services,'” the Roundtable report said.

The Roundtable is operated by the Rockefeller Institute at the State University of New York at Albany and is funded by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

The full report is available on the group's website at www.religionandsocialpolicy.org.

Posted: 8/20/04

LifeWay Family Bible Series for Aug. 29

Following Jesus is definitely not for sissies

1 Peter 3:13-17; 4:1-3, 12-16, 19

By Rodney McGlothlin

First Baptist Church, College Station

What do you think Peter was like? In the Gospels, we learn he was a fisherman. He always was bold in word and action.

I mentioned in beginning these lessons that Peter seemed to suffer from “foot-in-mouth” disease. He spoke and acted before he thought. He reminds me of a baseball player standing toe-to-toe with an umpire–arguing the call, kicking dirt on the base, yelling at the top of his lungs.

By the time Peter writes his first letter, he is a mature follower of Jesus. He is stressing the importance of submission, humility, service to others and trust in God. He grew up. He aged in grace. He was transformed until he began to resemble Jesus more than the Simon Peter we first met in the Gospels.

He still is a man of deep courage. He is no sissy. He has become a person of conviction, and he has the courage to live what he believes. He wrote these words: “Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. 'Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.' But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil” (1 Peter 3:13-17).

This text is a tapestry where courage and gentleness are woven together; where witnessing to the truth of the gospel and respect for the lost join hands so firmly that neither is neglected, neither is abused. It is a picture of suffering and endurance. It is a picture of slander that does not hurt because it is soothed by a clear conscience.

This tapestry could not have been created by a younger Simon Peter. This is the mature saint of God. This is a man who now has been shaped by the judgments he was quick to proclaim in his youth. He grew up. He wants his readers to do the same.

It will take courage to follow Jesus. It isn't for sissies.

“Do not fear!” “Do not be frightened!” Peter quoted these words from Isaiah 8:12. Peter must have loved the imagery of this text. Read Isaiah 8:11-18, and you will discover many of the images used in Peter's first epistle. Fear of the Lord, the protection of God, the stone of stumbling, the importance of the witness of God's people and a willingness to follow God even when it goes against the popular culture. These are themes in Isaiah 8 that Peter elaborates throughout his letter to his people.

But maybe Peter was not quoting Isaiah alone. Perhaps he was also remembering an experience he had with Jesus. You know the story.

After the disciples heard about the death of John the Baptist, Jesus took them away for a rest. Crowds followed them to their place of solitude. A long day of ministry followed in which Jesus fed the multitudes by multiplying the loaves and fishes.

He then put the disciples in a boat and sent them to the other side of Galilee while he retreated to pray. A storm came up, and the disciples were in peril. Jesus walked to them on the waves. The disciples were more terrified at the sight of someone walking on the waves than they were of the storm.

Jesus said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid.” Peter said, “Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water.” On the water he walked. For awhile! Then he saw the waves and heard the wind and felt the spray of the water on his skin. He began to sink. He began to cry out to Jesus, and as always, Jesus came to his rescue.

Do you think Peter took some kidding about this event from his fellow disciples? I wonder if his grandchildren ever said: “Paw Paw! Tell us about that time you tried to walk on the water!” I think Peter loved to tell the story. He was not the hero. Jesus was. Nor was he the goat. He was the student. He was learning from the Master.

Get out of the boat and follow Jesus! Get out of the boat and tell everyone about your faith in Christ! Get out of the boat, even if you have to suffer because of it.

When you get out of the boat, courage will be required. Jesus will be with you. There is no need to be afraid. Let me give you another possible translation of Jesus' words to Peter on that stormy day. “Start being encouraged. I AM! Stop being afraid.” It was a burning bush kind of experience for Peter. Like Moses before, he heard the name of God that denoted his presence with his people. Who is going to be with us in the journey of faith? Who is going to encourage us? Who will calm our fears? Jesus said, “I AM.”

I have enjoyed walking through these pages of Scripture with you. Thank you for your kind notes of encouragement. You have been a blessing to me. Now, let's get out of the boat and follow Jesus.

Question for discussion

When is the last time you demonstrated courage in following Christ?