Posted: 3/20/08

Program offers stress relief
for South Texas families

By Haley Smith

Baptist Child & Family Services

DEL RIO—Most parents agree—raising a family can be tough. Doing it as a single mother or as the parent of a child veering out of control is even tougher.

Fortunately help is available in several southwest Texas communities through Baptist Child & Family Services programs. STAR—Services To At Risk youth—offers family counseling while Families For a Future concentrates on parenting courses and support groups. Both exist to help families communicate and create a violence-free lifestyle.

“I am very thankful that the agency offers these wonderful programs in the area, especially considering the limited resources previously available in our small towns,” said Jerry Jimenez, probation officer for Ozona and Sonora.

Jimenez, who participated in Families for a Future with his wife and childen, continues to recommend the counseling and parenting courses to his struggling clients.

“There’s no roadmap to being a parent, but it helps greatly to have a support group that includes the entire family,” Jimenez explained. “It really helped my marriage and family to have a group to express frustration to and the chance to bounce ideas off of one another.”

STAR specifically services youth on a short-term basis through counseling and crisis intervention for families either mandated by the court system or for voluntary participants. The program teaches anger management and family communication through individual counseling sessions. Case managers even go into area schools to help encourage and monitor progress of the at risk youth.

“Our clients set goals through our programs. Our primary desire is to help them meet those goals through intervention and prevention,” said Raquel Frausto, program director of STAR and Families for a Future. “We are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ready to respond when necessary.”

Families for a Future has a similar purpose, offering 12 sessions of parenting and youth workshops. Families participate as a unit, but parents, youth and children attend their own uniquely developed sessions.

Courses end with a weekend retreat and graduation ceremony celebrating the progress made over the three-month period.

Family fun days coordinated by the agency are offered throughout the year for participants in both programs.

The Garza family, who live in Sonora, had a successful experience with STAR in 2005, and they participated in the Families for a Future three times.

“The programs really helped us improve our communication and better our home,” Veronica Garza said. “I still refer back to our course booklet for wisdom in disciplining my boys.”

Garza first signed her family up for Families for a Future after a move. The family was in a new house, new city and new school. The boys needed someone to open up to other than Garza and her ex-husband. Garza was thankful BCFS even gave the boys’ father the opportunity to participate in the final retreat, although he could not attend the other sessions.

“We were very fortunate to find a program free of charge with a flexible schedule,” Garza said. “Originally, my boys did not want to go but ended up loving it and would take the classes again in a heartbeat.”

The second time around in the parenting courses, Garza met a woman who has become one of her best friends. The two continue to help hold each other accountable, attend Bible study, run errands together and take turns watching one another’s children.

“The program is beneficial to every family no matter their circumstance; we were thankful to find a program that reached out to our entire family,” Garza noted.

Posted: 3/20/08

BCFS gets first-time
parents off to a Great Start

By Haley Smith

Baptist Child & Family Services

SAN ANTONIO—Baptist Child & Family Services seeks to equip first-time parents to get off to a “Great Start”—and reduce the risk of child abuse and neglect.

Great Start—a free family education program—uses home visitation to share parenting information.

“We really try to focus the program around self-growth, not just parenting, since we know you cannot grow in a parenting role until time is taken to work on self,” said Patricia Heredia, BCFS Great Start case manager.

Rosalie Cardona lost a daugher to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. She says Great Start helped her regain confidence in her parenting skills.

Rosalie and Lawrence Cardona, who signed up with the program in March 2007 and continue to take advantage of its services, recognize their positive progress can be accredited to that focus on nurturing self and then nurturing others.

After losing their first daughter to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, the Cardonas were very discouraged and anxious regarding their next parenting experience.

“Patricia, our case manager, really helped me with my confidence by coming to our home and working with me one on one. She encouraged me to get outside the house and helped me accomplish my goals, while helping my husband and me find time alone together,” Rosalie Cardona said.

“I think so many people are emotionally and physically beat down by parenthood, but are scared to reach out and ask for help,” her husband said. “Hearing the stories of others and knowing we’re not alone makes all the difference.”

Great Start works with five San Antonio hospitals, as well as with related fairs and events in the community, to identify parents who want to learn more about the program. In addition, hospital staff and other community agencies recommend the program to families they believe may benefit from the individual services provided by Great Start.

Referrals are then made to BCFS, Catholic Charities and the Family Service Association. BCFS targets first- time mothers who make up about 37 percent of those referrals. Of the mothers enrolling in the program, the agency has a 100 percent success rate of families remaining safe—defined as having no substantiated incident of abuse or neglect.

The Texas Department of Family & Protective Services and the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County fund the program as a preventative service, meaning clients with open Child Protective Services cases cannot participate. Families with open CPS cases are referred to the Precious Minds, New Connections program, a parenting education program also offered through BCFS.

Great Start typically provides services to each family for about six months. During that time, surveys are used to identify family strengths and protective factors present in the home that prevent abuse. Surveys also assess parental attitudes, behaviors and knowledge. Results then are used to develop specific goals identified by the family to address gaps in knowledge and provide support.

The program uses the Nurturing Parenting Curriculum published by Family Development Resources to coach families in the values of love of life, respect for all living things, structure and discipline, as well as the value of laughter, humor and play.

“Case managers actively work to strengthen empathy in our participants,” said Donna Fleming, BCFS Great Start program director. “Through our services, we would like to help rekindle the joy in parenting.”

“I encourage case managers and clients within the program to remember that change is evolutionary,” Fleming said. “The program is not a magic pill; however, it is tool that can help parents move from being less to more nurturing.”

To find out more about the Great Start program, visit http://www.bcfs.net/GreatStart.

Posted: 3/20/08

Does the ‘evangelical center’
include moderate Baptists?

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP)—If an “evangelical center” emerges from the current shake-up in American politics, will moderate Baptists be part of it? It depends on how comfortable moderate Baptists are with being considered “evangelicals” in the first place, some experts insist.

Moderate and progressive Baptists certainly share many beliefs and public-policy goals with the non-fundamentalist evangelicals making their presence felt on the public scene for the first time in three decades.

But Baptists aren’t technically evangelicals at all, many historians say. They come from a different theological and denominational lineage.

However, some theologians counter, if you look simply at what Baptists believe and how they practice their faith, they look very much like evangelicals.

That debate might make for interesting table conversation when moderate or progressive Baptists get together with kin from other denominational traditions. But then there’s that whole Religious Right thing. Its inflexible political agenda and conservative theology have turned off centrist Baptists and saddled evangelical centrists with a negative public image.

“Fundamentalists have hijacked the term ‘evangelical,’” lamented Baptist theologian Roger Olson, a Northern evangelical who moved to the Southern Baptist-dominated South a few years ago to teach.

A professor of theology at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary, Olson is more familiar with traditional evangelicalism than are the moderate Baptists with whom he associates in Waco.

Olson and others who embrace the “evangelical” label are trying hard to rehabilitate the definition to include non-fundamentalists. His latest book, How to Be Evangelical Without Being Conservative, is one attempt.

“If you define evangelicalism as core doctrinal beliefs, there’s no reason why Baptists would not be evangelicals,” agreed ethicist David Gushee, a Southern Baptist moderate who moves easily in the broader evangelical world. Baptists and evangelicals share beliefs in “the inspired Word of God, the importance of personal experience, living out their faith in every area of life, and the obligation to share their faith,” he said.

“Most moderate, former-SBC Christians are evangelical Christians, and most are evangelical centrists,” added Gushee, a professor of ethics at Mercer University. His recent book, The Future of Faith in American Politics, tracks the resurgence of the evangelical center as a significant political force.

Unlike Gushee, Olson prefers a definition of evangelicals based not on common doctrine but common Christian practices, which he describes as a “Jesus-centered piety.”

Seen in that light, Olson said, moderates in the South “are not as different as they think” from Northern evangelicals, who are far outnumbered in the North by Catholics, mainline Christians and those of other faiths.

Most historians date the evangelical movement to the early-and-mid-20th- century United States, when evangelicals offered an alternative to both mainline Protestant liberalism and reactionary fundamentalism. Baptists in America, who generally were not part of that struggle, grew out of European Anabaptist and British Baptist roots in the 16th century.

But Gushee contends the evangelical movement also has roots in an earlier era. “If you trace it back to the Protestant renewal movements all the way back to Luther, then I think Baptists are very much evangelicals,” he said.

“I have worked alongside evangelical Methodists, evangelical Pentecostals,” Gushee said. “They are brothers and sisters. There are distinctives about being Baptist, but there is also commonality with other Bible-believing Christians.”

But Gushee and Olson concede many moderate Baptists don’t want to be linked to evangelicals today because of the group’s perceived negative image. In recent decades, the popular definition of “evangelical” has become more akin to “social conservative”—particularly on the hot-button issues of abortion and gay rights.

Historian Bill Leonard, an expert on Baptist origins, said Baptists’ discomfort with evangelicalism predates the Religious Right.

“Moderate Baptists certainly have affinity with classic evangelicalism, but they have also been concerned about several aspects of the movement,” said Leonard, dean of the Wake Forest University Divinity School in North Carolina.

He also cited the movement’s penchant for a rationalistic approach to theology and its mostly regional appeal: “Some said evangelicalism was a ‘Northern phenomenon.’”

Likewise, moderates’ theological debates with Southern Baptist conservatives “often soured moderate Baptists toward identifying with any movement that seemed too doctrinaire,” Leonard said in an e-mail interview.

“On the other hand, there are indeed many moderate Baptists who are unashamedly evangelical in their approach to doctrine, faith and ethics, insisting that evangelicalism is the overarching movement that will unite Baptists around categories distinct from the old moderate-conservative debates that were present in the Southern Baptist Convention.”

The discomfort was also present on the other side of the fence, he said.

“Many traditional evangelicals, especially north of Baltimore, have been hesitant to include Baptists in the South in the evangelical camp, in part because (Southern Baptists) seemed less interested in classical theology and more concerned about popular, pietistic religion, and in part because (Northern evangelicals) did not fully understand the ethos of Southern Protestantism and its culture.”

On that point, Olson agreed.

“Minnesota and Texas are totally different,” he said. Even when they share many opinions and beliefs, evangelicals North and South “just don’t understand each other.”

“The takeover of the SBC is so unique, people in the North just shake their heads,” he said. “Until I got here, I couldn’t even comprehend that.”

“The great tragedy,” Gushee added about the SBC, “is a great denomination came under control of a party that required leadership to be aligned with the evangelical right.”

Gushee recently left a teaching position at Union University, a conservative Baptist school in Tennessee closely tied to the SBC, and found a more tolerant academic climate at Mercer University in Georgia.

The welcome he has received is “the same spirit that welcomed me” when he left Catholicism as a teenager and ventured into a Baptist church, he said. Gushee remains hopeful that one day “that natural diversity is allowed to surface again” among Southern Baptists.

He sees some “stirrings” indicating that is possible, but he added, “I’m just glad my future doesn’t depend on it.”

Posted: 3/14/08

RIGHT or WRONG:
Membership for couple 'living in sin'?

Our pastor recently presented a couple for membership in our church. He introduced them as having made professions of faith in Christ and as husband and wife, although they have different last names. One friend told me they had been living together for several years. The congregation voted them into membership, but surely we shouldn’t bring people into our congregation living in sin, should we?

Your concern for the standard of church membership reveals a respect for the witness of the body of Christ. Even so, it is probably true that more harm is done to the gospel by those who claim it from the inside than by those who attack it from the outside.

The struggle with which you and the church must contend is the identity and consequence of “living in sin.” Jesus addressed the situation of the woman “living in sin” by saying to her accusers, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7b). The attackers’ silence reveals that even the most pious would confess that we are an imperfect people. The Apostle Paul answered Jesus’ challenge by writing, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). If we are living at all, we are all “living in sin.” Yet the church has perfected the art of rock-throwing.

Before you go in search of a rock pile, perhaps you ought to reconsider what you heard. Your pastor identified these individuals as husband and wife. The different last names and a rumor seemingly sparked quick judgment, discounting your pastor’s assessment of their relationship and fanning the gossip flames. Blinded by our all-too-common penchant for hasty verdicts, we eagerly aim the rock of judgment.

Your condemnation could be based on nothing more than an unfounded presupposition toward the wife’s retention of her maiden name. Suppose your pastor is wrong and your friend is right; a need for some resolution remains. Surely, follow-up conversation by the pastor, outreach leaders, Sunday school leaders or deacons is initiated with any who join your church. There can be discussion raising the principle that your church cannot receive people who live in what appears to be an arrangement that counters New Testament principles regarding marriage. Quite possibly the new converts have no knowledge of this guideline. Ordinarily, explanation is received gracefully. Time is needed to patiently work with them in their life situation, to help them move toward a marital arrangement that is a more positive one to be projected to the congregation and the community.

At the least, you are discovering most churches need to be more deliberate in their treatment of new members, both in recruiting them and in follow-up as you assimilate them as smoothly as possible into the larger membership.

Allen Reasons, senior minister

Fifth Avenue Baptist Church

Huntington, W. Va.

Right or Wrong? is sponsored by the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon School of Theology. Send your questions about how to apply your faith to btillman@hsutx.edu.

Posted: 3/13/08

Nabors resigns as BGCT chief financial officer

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS—David Nabors has resigned as treasurer and chief financial officer of the Baptist General Convention of Texas effective April 15.

In a letter to BGCT Interim Executive Director Jan Daehnert, Nabors expressed gratitude for his time on the BGCT Executive Board staff.

“I cherish and thank the Lord for the six years I have been able to serve the Baptists of Texas in this calling,” he wrote.

“Many life-long friendships have been made during my tenure, and I especially appreciate the staff for their hard work and support. Our combined efforts have served the Lord in wonderful ways I never dreamed would be my privilege.”

Daehnert indicated Nabors’ resignation is the turning of a page in Texas Baptist history. In recent months, convention Chief Operating Officer Ron Gunter resigned and Executive Director Charles Wade retired. Randel Everett will begin as the convention’s Executive Director March 31.

Daehnert said he is working on plans for the transition period between Nabors and the next chief financial officer.

Posted: 3/14/08

Prof claims he has found lost Ark of the Covenant

By Brittani Hamm

Religion News Service

LONDON (RNS)—Brushing back a thick layer of dust, Tudor Parfitt revealed a distinctive interwoven pattern carved around the outside of the “terribly, terribly damaged” wooden artifact tucked away on the bottom shelf of a Zimbabwe warehouse.

“The moment I saw it, I felt there was something weird about it,” said Parfitt, a professor of modern Jewish studies at the University of London’s School of African and Oriental Studies. “I wasn’t simply in the presence of a neutral object.”

Parfitt believes he has found the Ark of the Covenant—the legendary vessel that once housed the Ten Commandments—or at least something like it.

In his new book, The Lost Ark of the Covenant: Solving the 2,500 Year Old Mystery of the Fabled Biblical Ark, Parfitt describes how he found the artifact in a global trek that would have made Indiana Jones proud. He was shot at in Ethiopia, escaped capture by Islamist outlaws in Yemen and enlisted the help of a cannibalistic tribe in Papua New Guinea.

Parfitt’s 20-year hunt ended last year in Zimbabwe at the Harare Museum of Human Science, where he found his treasure in a dusty storeroom.

According to the Book of Exodus, the Ark of the Covenant—a gold-covered container carried on poles, topped with two golden cherubim facing each other—was crafted on orders from God given to Moses at Mount Sinai.

Tudor Parfitt, a professor of modern Jewish studies at the University of London, claims to have discovered the Ark of the Covenant—or something like it.

Parfitt, however, thinks it is unlikely a group of ex-slaves wandering in the desert had the means to create an object so elaborate. That’s why the piece he found, a carved wooden drum, seems more likely, he said.

“It’s not like anything that we encounter in our daily lives,” Parfitt said. “I think it was both a musical instrument that goes into battle and some kind of weapon using technology we don’t quite understand.”

Parfitt began to suspect the Ark of the Covenant was a drum in the late 1980s while studying an African tribe called the Lemba.

Using genetic testing, he was able to verify a piece of their oral tradition, that they descended from Israelites. At the time, his discovery was featured on 60 Minutes and the BBC.

Another idea central to the Lemba’s oral tradition was their sacred “ngoma lungundu,” a wooden drum the tribe’s Israelite priests brought with them from Jerusalem.

“At that time, I thought to connect (it) too close to the Ark of Covenant was too off-the-wall,” Parfitt said. “There wasn’t the remotest amount of evidence.”

But after studying the similarities, Parfitt concluded the ngoma and the Ark of the Covenant were one and the same. Both were the dwelling place of God, carried on poles, forbidden to touch the ground and connected with death, fire, smoke and noise.

Lemba tribal lore says the ngoma exploded and destroyed itself, an idea Parfitt used to explain why his relic was radiocarbon dated to A.D. 1350. Parfitt believes the remains of the original Ark of the Covenant spawned the ngoma—an ark-junior, so to speak.

“It presumably is the son of the original,” Parfitt said. “It had the same function. It was holy and had precious secrets kept inside, and it was also a weapon. Then it disappeared, and all that was left was the legend.”

Some biblical scholars and archaeologists are skeptical; Parfitt is not the first person to lay claim to the lost treasure.

“It may be that this tribe developed their own Ark of the Covenant, but it doesn’t quite line up with the Tabernacle,” the Israelites’ portable worship tent that housed the Ark, said Roy Bender, who gives tours of a full-sized model of the Tabernacle at the Mennonite Information Center in Lancaster, Pa.

Hershel Shanks, editor of the Biblical Archaeological Review, adds, “Many scholars regard his claims with a very jaundiced eye.”

The original ark disappeared after the Babylonians invaded Jerusalem in 586 B.C., and finding it has become the obsession of thousands of adventurers who understand its significance to Christians, Muslims and Jews alike.

Posted: 3/14/08

Around the State

• Wayland Baptist University will hold a preview weekend March 28-29 for prospective students. Participants will have an opportunity to attend classes and chapel and eat in the cafeteria. The afternoon features a variety of games, activities and campus tours. The evening feature is a concert by Hawk Nelson and Run Kid Run. Saturday also features a variety of activities. To register, call (800) 588-1928.

• A senior adult camp will be held April 21-24 at Alto Frio Encampment in Leakey. Paul Powell will be the preacher, D.L. Lowery the Bible study teacher, and Dale Durham and Ginger McKay will lead the music. For more information or to make reservations, call (830) 232-5271.

• Faye Jarvis received the Howard Payne University Woman’s Club’s Yellow Rose Award for more than 60 years of service to the university. Her family connection to the university spans four generations, stretching back to its origins as Daniel Baker College. After the death of her first husband, she served for three years as a Mission Service Corps volunteer working as dorm director for Veda Hodge Hall, and was commonly known as the “First Lady of Veda.” While there, she met her second husband and later was the morning receptionist for the Mabee University Center. She continues as a volunteer in a variety of capacities. Danielle Parkinson, an elementary education major from Farmers Branch, received the Yellow Rose Scholarship.

• The East Texas Baptist University School of Fine Arts recently paid tribute to long-time choral director James Moore by premiering an anthem commissioned in his honor. The ETBU Concert Choir performed “Prayer for Grace,” composed by Daniel Gawthrop, during its annual spring concert Feb. 21. Moore, who has served the school more than 14 years, received a framed copy of the score.

Anniversities

• Crosspoint Fellowship Church in Abilene, fifth, Jan. 9. Jerry Hendrix is pastor.

• Jim Manning, 15th, as pastor of First Church in Franklin, March 2.

• Buddy Sipe, 15th, as pastor of Cottonwo0d Church in Lorena, March 14.

• Jack Willoughby, 10th, as pastor of Calallen Church in Corpus Christi, March 16.

• Odilon Rojas, 10th, as pastor of Iglesia Manantia de Vida in Whitesboro, March 17.

• Bruce Prindle, fifth, as pastor of First Church in Midlothian, March 23.

• First Church in Cotulla, 125th, March 30.

• Wayne Shuffield, fifth, as pastor of Battetown Church in Cameron.

• Bob Gregory, fifth, as pastor of Greenvine Church in Burton.

• First Church in Weinert, 100th, April 5-6. The celebration will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday and continue at 10 a.m. Sunday. Past and present pastors and members will take part in the services. A video slideshow also will be shown. A church cookbook has been compiled and will be available for purchase. For more information, call (940) 673-8262. Dan Bullock is pastor.

• University Park Church in San Antonio, 60th, April 12-13. Previous members are asked to contact the church at (210) 433-3203. Robert Canion is pastor.

• Fairy Church in Hico, 125th, April 13. Jan Daehnert will be the guest speaker. A meal will follow the morning service. A 2 p.m. service will feature Richard Ray of First Church in Wink. Testimonies, special music and a rededication service will be included. For more information, call (254) 796-2720. Bob Ray is pastor.

• First Church in Freer, 75th, April 19-20. The celebration will start at noon Saturday with a picnic. There will be a band and old-fashioned games to play or watch. Snow cones will be available all afternoon. At 4 p.m., a tent meeting will be held. Sunday services at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. will feature former pastors and members. A noon meal also will be served. For more information, call (361) 394-6005. Tim Walshe is pastor.

• Carter Lyles, 10th, as pastor of Bethel Church in Clardy, April 20.

• David Michael, 55th, in ministry, April 23. He has been pastor of Wynnewood Church in Dallas the past five years.

• First Church in Carrizo Springs, 130th, April 26-27. Robert Krause is pastor.

• First Church in Elmendorf, 100th, April 27. The celebration will begin with registration and coffee at 9 a.m. followed by Sunday school under the tent, worship and lunch. For more information, call (210) 635-8588. Joe Canales is pastor.

Retiring

• Dale Turner, as pastor of Austin Street Church in Yoakum, March 30. He served his present church six years and has been in ministry 45 years. He previously served as associate pastor of Southcrest Church in Corpus Christi and was pastor of West Heights Church in Corpus Christi, First Church in Lolita, and Grace Church in Houston.

Events

• Elm Grove Church in Waelder marked the 18th year of Pastor Hoyt Hunnicutt March 4.

• Stephen Goacher, associate professor of music at Howard Payne University, will debut music from his latest instrumental album at First Church in Brownwood April 6 at 6:30 p.m. and at Crescent Heights Church in Abilene April 13 at 3 p.m.

• The Heights Church in Richardson will hold a car and motor show April 12 from noon until 4 p.m. Among the classic and exotic cars to be on display will be a 1969 Camaro Rally Sport SS, a 1992 Porsche 968 Cabriolet and a 1999 Ferrari 550 Maranello. In addition, vintage military vehicles will be on display, and the Dallas Fire Museum will showcase antique fire equipment. The entry fee for cars, trucks and motorcycles to be displayed is $10 or 10 canned goods to benefit a local food bank. Registration will begin at 11:30 a.m. To preregister, call (972) 530-4000. The event is free. Gary Singleton is pastor.

• Gaston Oaks Church in Dallas will hold a reunion April 26-27 for members of what was Gaston Avenue Church at the church’s prior location at Gaston and Haskell, now the site of Criswell College. Events include a dinner at 6 p.m. Saturday, preceded by a tour of the facilities. Dickie Dunn of the Baptist General Convention of Texas will be master of ceremonies at the dinner. The dinner will cost $15, and reservations must be made by March 29 at donnaww@verizon.net. Sunday morning’s 10:30 a.m. worship service will be preceded by coffee at 9:30 a.m. The worship service will include testimonies from past members and staff and a look at the future by Pastor Bruce Troy. Jerry Johnson, president of Criswell College, will issue a welcome. The reunion is being organized by youth group members from the 1950s and 1960s. Dick Baker will lead the singing and the choir. For more information, call (214) 343-7922.

• The Women on Mission of Adamsville Church in Adamsville led an effort that saw children, teens and adults of the church create 298 Valentine cards that were taken to three nursing homes in Lampasas. Glynn Tyson is pastor.

• First Church in Jacinto City has closed its library and has many volumes to be given away. For more information, call Edith Thompson at (713) 453-2118.

• Michelle McClendon was the guest preacher at Second Church in Lubbock on Martha Stearns Marshall Day of Preaching, Feb. 3. Seventy churches in 14 states invited women to preach in their pulpits that day as a celebration of women in the pulpit and to educate congregations about women in ministry.

Revival

• Parkview Church, Littlefield; March 23-26; evangelist, Rick Ingle; music, Paul and Christy Newberry; pastor, Roger Ashley.

Posted: 3/14/08

Muslim leader decries American ‘bigotry’

By Bruce Nolan

Religion News Service

NEW ORLEANS (RNS)—American culture’s view of American Muslims and Islam steadily is deteriorating under an onslaught of “bigotry” on cable news shows, newspaper op-ed pages and in the blogosphere, an Arab-American activist said.

Commentators and politicians have devoted hours of air time to misrepresenting Islam and fueling suspicion about American Muslims, said Hussein Ibish, founder of the Foundation for Arab-American Leadership in Washington, D.C.

Ibish, formally trained as a literature scholar at the University of Massachusetts, works in public policy now.

Ibish appears as an occasional guest on cable talk shows to represent an Arab-American point of view. He has had at least a couple of sharp exchanges with Michelle Malkin of Fox News.

Since 9/11, he said, commentators such as Malkin, Ann Coulter, Charles Krauthammer, Daniel Pipes and David Horowitz have transferred old anti-Arab stereotypes to Islam, in a stream of “incredibly bigoted commentary” that would not have been tolerated before then.

In this context, Ibish said, the West sees Islam as bent on its destruction and American Muslims as suspected allies of terrorists. Thus, ethnic profiling becomes reasonable and forced internment or mandatory identification of Muslims becomes a potential remedy, he said. Ibish said he did not want to sound alarmist.

“This is still a great country to live in,” he said. But a growing climate of suspicion toward Muslims makes the situation steadily worse, he added. “There are people who want to make it impossible for the American Muslim community to engage in dialogue.”

Posted: 3/14/08

Book Reviews

The Begotten by Lisa T. Bergren (Berkley Publishing Group)

It’s a classic clash between good and evil, an epic struggle between earthly power and the ultimate power, God’s love.

Set in 1339 Italia, the story really begins some 600 years earlier, when the Gifted were foretold. And although they know their calling is real—their images are clearly illustrated in the old manuscript—they must trust God to guide them on a mission that is illuminated only one step at a time.

Their gifts? None other than the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Their strength? Unity. But as they step into their gifts, the enemy is aroused, and the battle begins.

What are you reading that other Texas Baptists would find helpful? Send suggestions and reviews to books@baptiststandard.com.

Lisa T. Bergren is a master storyteller. In this, the first of an epic quest trilogy, mysteries begin on page 1 and carry you through to the end.

You’ll alternate between cheering and chewing your fingernails. It’s definitely a page-turner. But when you get to the last page, you’ll be glad to know the story has only just begun.

For an inspirational yet entertaining read, don’t miss The Begotten.

Kathryn Aragon

First Baptist Church

Duncanville

William Wilberforce: A Biography by Stephen Tomkins (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing)

Stephen Tomkins paints an engaging portrait of William Wilberforce, who led a 20-year battle in Parliament that resulted in abolition of the British slave trade 200 years ago. Tomkins makes it clear Wilberforce’s strong evangelical faith fueled his passion to put an end not only to the slave trade, but also to the institution of slavery itself in the British Empire.

At the same time, Tomkins forthrightly acknowledges seeming contradictions in Wilberforce’s record. The ardent champion of abolition and advocate of human rights favored wartime imprisonment without trial, supported restrictions on freedom of speech and called for outlawing trade unions. But Tomkins places that apparent inconsistency in historic context—not offering excuses, but providing helpful explanation.

In addition to offering a well-rounded look at Wilberforce, Tomkins also takes an unblinking look at the slave trade. He includes firsthand testimony detailing the brutality of the Middle Passage and the dehumanizing view of people as property. In a world where up to 27 million people continue to be victimized by forced labor, human trafficking and debt bondage, the message bears repeating.

Ken Camp, managing editor

Baptist Standard, Dallas

The House That Love Built: The Story of Linda & Millard Fuller, Founders of Habitat for Humanity and the Fuller Center for Housing by Bettie B. Youngs (Hampton Roads Publishing)

It is too rare a thing to read about a couple who literally gave away millions of dollars and walked away from a lucrative business to commit their lives to following Christ.

The story of Millard and Linda Fuller, founders of Habitat for Humanity, is such a story. This book is a story of sin, repentance, forgiveness, grace, obedience, perseverance, vision, hard work, faith and changing the world.

The Fullers are not perfect people, but they have lived lives that exemplify loving God and others. Their journey has not been without great challenges. Perhaps the best lessons learned from this couple are found in the times when they faced their own brokenness and painful disagreements about the future of the organization they founded.

If you want a refreshing book on true servant leadership, this book is for you. The Fullers are modern-day examples of laying down their lives for others, and we would do well to emulate them.

Carolyn Porterfield

Former executive director-treasurer

Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas, Dallas

Posted: 3/14/08

Baptist Briefs

Baptist news journal to honor founding editor. Baptists Today will honor founding editor Walker Knight at an April 3 dinner in Atlanta as part of the news journal’s 25th anniversary celebration. He will receive the Judson-Rice Award from the publication. Knight, a Baylor University graduate, became associate editor of the Baptist Standard in 1950, a position he continued to hold until he went to work for the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board in 1959. Knight left the editorship of the board’s magazine, Home Missions, in early 1983 to launch the independent news journal first known as SBC Today.

Online registration for SBC opens. Online registration has opened for churches that will send messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention’s June 10-11 annual meeting in Indianapolis. For online registration, churches should go to www.sbc.net. The appropriate church-authorized representative—typically a church clerk or moderator—must complete all online registration, including the church’s seven-digit ID number, found on the Annual Church Profile. When registering online, the SBC website gives the church a messenger-reference number form to be printed out and presented by each messenger at the SBC registration booth in exchange for a nametag and a set of ballots. The traditional registration method also will be available for churches without Internet access.

GuideStone offers tax guide for ministers. Ministers can find additional help in preparing their 2007 federal income tax returns from GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Ministers Tax Guide for 2007 Returns details recent changes to tax laws and their effect on ministers. The tax guide can be obtained in an electronic PDF format from the GuideStone website—www.GuideStone.org. Printed copies or a CD version also can be obtained by calling customer service at (888) 984-8433 between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Urban missions workshop set at Mercer. The McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University will offer a workshop exploring congregational strategies for urban missions April 1-2. Robert M. Franklin, president of Morehouse College, will give the keynote address. Workshop topics range from community chaplaincy to ministry to people with HIV/AIDS. For registration information, visit www2.mercer.edu/theology/events/urban_mission_conference.

British Baptist pastor given platform to fight slavery. British Baptist pastor Steve Chalke has been appointed special adviser to the United Nation’s Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking. Chalke, chair of Stop the Traffic, a group of 1,000 organizations in 60 countries that work to stop the purchase of people, will work in the United Nation’s Office on Drugs and Crime to help foster community action against human trafficking. The initiative was launched in March 2007 and is managed in cooperation with the International Organization for Migration, the International Labor Organization, the U.N. Children’s Fund, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. According to U.N. estimates, more than 2.5 million people are victims of human trafficking worldwide each year. The vast majority of them are under the age of 24. The trafficking industry generates an estimated $31 billion annually.

Posted: 3/14/08

More than 4,800 declare faith in Christ
during Caracas evangelistic effort

By Kaitlin Chapman

Texas Baptist Communications

CARACAS, Venezuela —When 13 Texas Baptists boarded flights for Caracas, they wanted to see God work. They didn’t know they would see 4,882 people declare their faith in Jesus Christ.

The Texas team joined more than 1,150 other Baptists from Caracas, other parts of Venezuela and from the United States with one desire—to see Venezuelans profess faith in Christ during a recent regional evangelism effort called Caracas Crusade 2008.

During the event, volunteers shared the gospel more than 10,200 times.

Jacobo García, director of missions and evangelism for the National Baptist Conven-tion of Venezuela, expressed his gratitude and joy over the lives changed during the crusade.

“There is indescribable joy when in the completion of the commandment to ‘go and preach,’ we see men and women respond to the call to devote their lives to Jesus Christ.” Garcia said. “God, in his grace … (allowed us) to see several thousands of people coming to the feet of Christ.”

During the crusade, participants worked alongside Baptist churches within the five zones of Caracas, with congregations hosting nightly services and teams of four doing door-to-door evangelism during the day.

A team from Tennessee also held baseball clinics for youth and children while church members shared the gospel with their parents.

The Texas team was assigned to help Iglesia Bautista Monte Carmelo in a part of the capital region called Guarenas-Guatire. 

Baldemar Borrego, president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas, preached nightly at the evangelism services there. Through this and door-to-door evangelism ef-forts, the Texas team shared the gospel with more than 300 people, seeing 150 accept Christ.

Borrego recounted a particular story that touched him during the second week in Guarenas, when an alcoholic entered the service.

“He prayed and accepted Christ,” Borrego said. “After that, he just started crying and couldn’t stop. He knew something had changed him.”

Borrego also spoke during the annual assembly of the Venezuela Baptist convention.

“The people were very excited about this partnership with Texas,” he said.

Baptists in Venezuela have committed to pray for every church in Texas because they want Texas to be reached with the gospel as well, he noted. Borrego challenged every Texas pastor to do the same for churches in Venezuela.

The convention placed importance on follow-up and began those efforts while the crusade still was in progress. Churches started 53 Bible study groups in order to disciple new Christians.

Steve Seaberry, director of Texas Partnerships, said the Caracas Crusade was the perfect way to start a long-term partnership between the Baptist General Convention of Texas and Venezuela convention.

Both groups are excited about this joint venture because the Venezuelans are ready to receive the gospel, he added.

“The people are very open right now,” Seaberry said. “Times are difficult economically, which makes people open spiritually. We are very excited about what the future holds.”

García also realizes the importance of both conventions taking advantage of this opportunity.

“I believe with all my soul that God is giving us the honor of living in the best historic moment for presenting the gospel,” García said.

“We do not know for how long this great door will be open.”

Because of the great response to the crusade, the Venezuelan convention is planning another evangelism event for April 24-27 that will focus on starting Bible study groups as well as discipling people who professed faith in Christ during the event.

For more information on the Venezuela partnership, contact Texas Partnerships at txpart@bgct.org or call Seaberry at (214) 828-5180.

Posted: 3/14/08