Posted: 5/07/04

CYBERCOLUMN:
Trust the source

By Jeanie Miley

From the freeway to the subdivision where we were having dinner with friends couldn’t have been more than a mile. On that route, we passed five churches, all of which are “nondenominational.”

This isn’t my father’s world, I thought to myself, recalling that when I was riding my bicycle around the sidewalks of the churches he pastored. When I was a child, swinging in the backyards of the parsonages, most of which were next door to the church, somebody different was a Methodist!

“I don’t even recognize the political party of my parents!” a friend lamented, later, as we were talking about how every single institution we have relied on is experiencing the enormous waves of change. “I’ve always been a member of their party, but I don’t seem to fit anymore!”

We who have been nurtured and grounded in the traditions of our parents are finding our traditions challenged by the voices from the culture, voices that speak in many languages and voices that come at life from varying points of view. We who are the religious establishment are hanging on for dear life, sometimes, wondering what will remain standing after the tumult of transitional times. What will be gone with the wind, and what will remain?

As I live in the meantime between times, I am brought over and over back to the Source of it all, and am reminded again and again that the institutions of my life are not God. Sometimes I wonder if in the shakeup, God is not extending an invitation to all of us to stop clinging to our idols and false gods and return to the One-Who-Makes-All-Things-New.

I’ll be honest (a novel idea for a columnist, don’t you think?). I miss the status quo. I resent having my stability, predictability and comfort disturbed. I liked it better when all of the dots connected, just as they always had, and the lines were straight, drawn from point A to point B. I miss the warm womb of the past, when I knew all of the rules and all of the players.

However, I’ve lived long enough now to know that when I get too comfortable, I tend to get complacent, and from there, it’s a quick trip to a rut and a grave.

The truth is that the God of our history is the God of our present, and, if I read the sacred texts correctly, God is alive and dynamic, vibrant and life-giving, challenging the old order and spilling and splashing new wine all over the world that he loves passionately and sacrificially.

I’m learning that I cannot trust structures that won’t flex and bend and stretch and strain to grow into the newness of life.

I’m learning that I can trust the God-of-all-of-us who crashed into history in one place, at one time, to redeem a people who had gotten stuck in the old ways.

I’m learning that I am not safe in systems that refuse to allow the fresh wind of the Spirit to blow freely through them, and that I am safe in places where I can trust people who are so sensitive to that Spirit that they know when to stand their ground and hold to what is foundational and true, and when to dance with the Creator who keeps on creating, sustaining and enlivening creation.

As for me, I’m committed to what is life-giving from my past. I’m grounded in tradition that heals and empowers.

I am, at the very same time, open to what liberates and transforms in the present.

Most of all, my trust is not in the institutions that come and go, but in the Source. My faith has found a solid resting place, and so I can, as my father counseled me, “sit steady in the boat,” even when it seems that the storms are too big and our boats too small.

Jeanie Miley is an author and columnist and a retreat and workshop leader. She is married to Martus Miley, pastor of River Oaks Baptist Church in Houston, and they have three adult daughters. Got feedback? Write her at Writer2530@aol.com.

Posted: 5/03/04

Upward Homes makes dreams
come true, teaches stewardship

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

UNIVERSAL CITY–Kathleen Vinglas lights up at the mention of her home. It provides a quick way for her to talk about how Texas Baptists helped her.

About two years ago, Vinglas entered a credit-repair and affordable-housing program through Upward Homes, a partner with the Baptist General Convention of Texas stewardship office that puts families in new homes.

She went through courses about how to clean up credit, eliminate debt, prepare a budget and practice biblical stewardship, including tithing.

Personal counselors outlined specific steps to take to repair credit and coached students through the process.

Within four months, Vinglas, who was financially stable and practiced many of the principles taught in the courses prior to taking them, qualified for a home loan Upward Homes helped her obtain. In less than a year after entering the program, Vinglas was living in a new three-bedroom home in Universal City, a northeastern suburb of San Antonio.

“It made me feel great to move into a new home,” she said.

Vinglas is one of a growing number of people Upward Homes has helped in the last several years.

The nonprofit group is building 23 houses in Port Lavaca and has built 16 in San Antonio. Fourteen more Port Lavaca families are moving through the two-year program. Workshops also have been held in Dallas and Fort Worth.

Upward Homes primarily serves moderately low-income families who feel they cannot purchase a home because they cannot afford it or have credit issues, said Jeff Austin, the program's director.

This group often is overlooked because they work full-time jobs but do not make enough for homebuilders to construct homes for them, Austin said.

“They make too much to be in Habitat (for Humanity) housing and not enough for anyone to notice,” he said.

But Upward Homes staff members show them they can own a home. Banks are mandated by the government to give some loans to people who normally would not qualify.

Lenders are convinced more easily to give loans to people who show an extended commitment to moving toward financial stability and clean credit through Upward Homes classes, Austin said. Loan officers are more likely to see those loans as less risky.

In addition to paving the way for people to become homeowners, Upward Homes is laying spiritual foundations, Austin said. The classes are taught in churches and include principles of biblical stewardship. Instructors use materials from the BGCT stewardship office.

The gospel is shared with people who normally would not come to church, said Terry Austin, Jeff Austin's brother and director of the BGCT stewardship office. Some who have completed the class never heard the Christian message before.

“The beauty is it becomes an outreach opportunity for the church,” he said.

The combination of practical help with spiritual guidance strongly impacts lives, said Rodney Hill, a veteran homebuilder who works with Upward Homes. People see the church caring for them through the outreach.

“It gives them hope,” he said. “It gives them a lift.”

As with Vinglas, the homes are an easy way to share with others how Texas Baptists made a difference in a family's life, said Charlie Johnson, a former chaplain who started Upward Homes. That testimony will impact the lives of others.

“We don't sell homes,” Johnson said. “We work with people.”

Posted: 5/03/04

Southern Baptist churches show
membership growth, but baptisms decline

By Polly House

LifeWay Christian Resources

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–The Southern Baptist Convention reported a record membership of 16,315,050, up 0.41 percent over 2002, and grew to 43,024 churches, an increase of 249 new congregations, according to statistics compiled by the convention.

The statistics for 2003 were taken from data submitted by churches on the Annual Church Profile.

The SBC's LifeWay Christian Resources compiles the statistical records from reports routed through Baptist associations and state conventions.

The number of new churches represented a 0.58 percent growth. Membership figures reflected a 0.41 percent growth. These figures are down from the 2002 growth percentages of 1.04 and 1.21, respectively.

Although the SBC grew, LifeWay President Jimmy Draper said the statistics provide cause for concern.

“The incremental growth to me reflects a denomination that's lost its focus,” he said.

“The Great Commission commands us to go into all the world and make disciples. Although we've seen tremendous strides in overseas baptisms, we are not keeping up with the population growth around the world nor in America.”

While membership grew, the number of baptisms decreased for the fourth consecutive year. The 2003 total was 377,357, reflecting a 4.44 percent decrease from the 2002 totals.

This indicated a baptism ratio of 1 to 43, meaning statistically it took 43 existing church members to bring in one new member.

“There are two trends reflected in the declining baptisms,” Draper said.

“The first is a lack of urgency in our churches to baptize. I've heard from a number of people across our denomination who are saying professions of faith are good enough, and they are not teaching one of our two main ordinances of publicly identifying with Jesus through baptism. They've de-emphasized it. It is hard for someone to argue to the contrary when more than 10,000 Southern Baptist churches didn't baptize a single person last year.

“The second trend I see is that we as a denomination have lost a sense of urgency in reaching people for Christ. You can't baptize those who have not been led to the Lord.

“We face some tremendous challenges from an increasingly secularized society, and we've got to lead people to a saving faith in Christ if we are going to have a positive influence in our culture.”

Other statistics reported are:

Additions by means other than baptisms totaled 422,350, down 2.24 percent.

The number of mission congregations declined from 5,439 to 5,114, a 5.98 percent decrease.

Primary worship attendance in SBC churches was 5,873,880, a growth of 0.58 percent.

Overall giving grew by about 5 percent. Total tithes, offerings and special gifts totaled $9,105,505,497, up 4.88 percent. This figure included $7,170,236,005 in undesignated receipts.

When all other sources of income were added in, the total receipts reported by churches were $9,648,530,640, up by 1.98 percent.

Music ministry enrollment/participation grew by 2.63 percent, with a total of 1,701,848.

Sunday school enrollment grew by 0.24 percent, with a total of 8,193,886.

Discipleship training enrollment was 2,001,560, a decrease of 4.72 percent.

Missions participation also showed a decrease: Woman's Missionary Union enrollment fell by 11.52 percent to 852,205; men/boys missions education enrollment fell by 3.91 percent to 418,606.

Posted: 5/03/04

PFLAG community center named for retired Baylor prof

WACO–Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays recently opened a community center in Waco named for a retired Baylor University religion professor and his wife who have a homosexual son.

The center is named for Eddie Dwyer, 92, who taught in the Baylor religion department 37 years–including six as interim department head–and his wife, Velma, who was a credit manager in the university's financial aid office 31 years.

Paul Dwyer, a Baylor alumnus who has worked the last 30 years as a specialist in the Congressional Research Service in Washington, D.C., told his parents 13 years ago he was gay.

After his son's disclosure, the father began extensive research about scientific findings and psychological studies, as well as theological and philosophical writings, on homosexuality.

He concluded homosexuality an innate condition in some people, not a choice.

In researching the Bible, Dwyer decided the scriptural references to homosexuality as an “abomination” were cultural prejudices rather than unchanging principles.

For example, he saw the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah not as consensual homosexual relations, but rather the inhospitable nature of people who abused aliens among them by placing them in sexually subservient positions.

In a paper on the Bible and homosexuality Dwyer wrote 10 years ago, he said: “A spirit of living by faith and a motive of love are primary concerns of Christians, rather than living by a system of legalistic rules.

“In light of Paul's view of God as revealed through Christ and his major emphasis on God's plan for universal redemption, I am convinced God does not judge a person on the ground of his or her inborn nature. God measures an individual by the kind of person he or she is and by the quality of the life that person lives.”

The naming of the Eddie and Velma Dwyer Community Center came not long after an openly gay student at Truett Seminary lost his scholarship and the student newspaper was censured by the administration for an editorial supporting the legalization of same-sex unions. The Dwyers maintained the timing was coincidental.

“This is not retaliation against Baylor. I set out my views long before this cropped up in the Baylor administration,” Eddie Dwyer said.

Baylor Spokesman Larry Brumley said the university had no response on the issue. “It's not a university matter,” he said. “It's a personal matter.”

Terri Jo Ryan of the Waco Tribune-Herald contributed to this report.

Posted: 5/03/04

Nocona teens know where to go for 'soul food'

By Jo Gray

Special to the Baptist Standard

NOCONA–On any given Tuesday, about one-third of the students at Nocona High School can be found at church–eating lunch.

Nobody at First Baptist Church of Nocona recalls exactly when the congregation launched its free lunch program to attract high school students.

But until she stepped aside earlier this year, Cathy Lilley was part of it for as long as anyone could remember–17 years.

“It started through summer activities geared at acquainting young people with church,” Lilley said.

Those first lunches were held in the basement of First Baptist, with members of Bethel Baptist Church providing food every-other-Tuesday, timed to coincide with the local high school's lunch period.

Soon, it became obvious students could just as easily assemble at Bethel Baptist, so the schedule was fixed for alternating Tuesdays.

“Back then, we averaged 15 kids,” Lilley recalled. “The attendance began to increase. As more students participated, it became apparent it was almost cost-prohibitive. We invited other churches to help out.”

Now, seven Nocona churches participate in the program during the school year–First Baptist, Church of Christ, Bethel Baptist, First Assembly of God, Central Christian, First United Methodist and the local Catholic church. The last three churches alternate when a fifth Tuesday occurs during the month.

Students gather at First Baptist on the first Tuesday of each month, Bethel Baptist the second Tuesday, and so on. Many of them drive their own vehicles. For those who don't, a church van or bus provides free transportation.

Of a total enrollment of approximately 250 students in the local high school, an average of 70-90 attend the lunches on a regular basis. As many as 120 have attended.

“Attendance sort of drops off this time of year with all the end-of-school activities,” Lilley said.

While students may come for the free food, they also receive “food for the soul” through brief devotionals.

“We don't want there to be any barriers, any expectations on their part,” said Dave Woodbury, youth pastor at First Baptist.

“Our ministry is to share the love of Christ. This is the perfect opportunity to do that. We can show them how much God loves them … how much we love them by providing a free meal and a short devotional.”

Woodbury said he tries to teach the young people they are the true ministers when they are among their peers. Many of them have invited friends to take part in the meal program.

One senior said his cousin invited him. He could not recall ever being in church before and was “hanging around on the street messed up on alcohol and drugs.” He credits the free lunch program with changing his life.

“God moved in my life and lifted me up,” he said. “I learned I didn't have to do it by myself. Now, I have new friends to help me out.”

Another said she felt an atmosphere of love when she attended the lunches.

“We know we are welcomed here,” she said. “We are not judged. You can come feeling really down, but when you leave, you will always feel better.”

Several factors make this program successful year after year, organizers said. The menu includes foods the teenagers like, such as tacos, burgers and fries.

And while they may receive a message, they are never “preached at.”

So why do some of the students attend the lunches but still don't attend church?

One student described it as peer pressure: “They can come here to get the word of God, without the fear of being seen going into a worship service.”

Posted: 5/03/04

Ministry to people with disabilities
needs lots of hugs, handshakes, smiles

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Starting a ministry to special-needs individuals is as simple as a smile, handshake or hug, say Texas Baptists who lead such efforts in their churches.

Welcoming special-needs people into a congregation is the key to ministering to them, said Michelle Guppy, a leader in the special-needs ministry of Graceview Baptist Church in Tomball.

Often, the family of a disabled child feels awkward in church settings because they fear their child is bothering the rest of the congregation, Guppy said. They notice church members acting uncomfortably around their child. Sensing this, many such families choose not to attend church.

When church members greet the child and touch his hand during conversation, it goes a long way to overcoming the discomfort, Guppy said.

“As a parent, all they want is to feel welcome,” said Guppy, mother to a 10-year-old autistic boy. “We're not going to church to be healed, but to be welcomed. We want to go somewhere our children will be welcomed, and someone will tell them about Jesus.”

Many special-needs families know each other, Guppy said. When a church welcomes one of the children, word quickly spreads to other families that the congregation wants to minister to the special-needs population. Nearly one in five Americans is disabled in some manner, according to the 2000 United States census.

“If you welcome them, they will come,” she said. “They're out there.”

Graceview went beyond welcoming special-needs individuals. The congregation went and found them.

The church advertised a weekly four-hour time where volunteers would care for the child while the parents could relax.

Denise Briley, director of the church's special-needs ministry, followed the special education school bus to each home in the community.

In Bible studies, Dale Sage, founder of the special friends ministry at First Baptist Church in Longview, tries to recruit public school teachers to be leaders. They have received state training in handling special-needs individuals. But she also trains volunteers with a passion for helping disabled people.

Training helps people be more sensitive to the needs of the disabled, Sage said. Workers begin to understand what methods work best with each person. Training also helps provide a safe environment.

At First Baptist Church in Longview, all special-needs individuals 10 to 75 years old are in one group to begin Sunday school. They sing songs and do hands-on activities such as crafts and plays.

Then the group divides into smaller classes. Sage tries to put the special friends into classes of people who are the same age and learning ability.

Those who are able to sit through the worship service do, Sage said. The group tends to sit together with the teachers, who can help when needed.

Sage admits it is difficult to know how much of the classes and service each person comprehends, but she said class members need to know God loves them. Church members can serve as practical examples of how God loves them.

“We feel strongly that it is not teaching them the Bible story or a memory verse that is important,” she said. “We believe it is most important to teach them God loves them.”

The ministry blesses the family, Guppy and Sage agreed. It allows families who have not attended church to enter a fellowship. Worship becomes a family event.

“It brought the joy back,” Guppy said. “We've been blessed with faith through our journey.”

The work also blesses the church and the volunteer workers, Sage and Guppy added. The church is carrying out the Great Commission by reaching what has been a neglected group. Workers see the happiness in the eyes of the people they minister to daily.

Sage routinely attends her students' events at school and arranges camps and rallies for them. She takes them to the Baptist General Convention of Texas Special Friends Retreat yearly.

“It gets to the point you don't even see their handicaps,” Sage said. “They're just Jane and Bob and Sue.”

Graceview Baptist Church is holding a conference about special-needs ministry Sept. 24-25. For more information, visit www.thejoyministry.org.

The Baptist General Convention of Texas Special Friends Retreat is scheduled Oct. 1-2 at Mount Lebanon Baptist Encampment. For more information, contact Diane Lane at (800) 355-5285.

Posted: 5/03/04

Convencion, CBF church-starting
partnership ready for work

By Craig Bird

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

Less than a year after shaking hands and agreeing to work together, the Hispanic Baptist Convencion of Texas and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship are rolling up their sleeves toward jointly starting at least 400 Hispanic churches throughout the United States by 2010.

The agreement, including a goal of baptizing 10,000 Hispanic Christians, was formalized in June 2003. The first new congregations are expected to form this summer. Already 25 Hispanic churches and another 75 Anglo churches have committed to the project.

“My dream is that 100 or 150 or 200 of our churches will catch this vision,” said Alcides Guajardo, president of the Hispanic convention.

“It is thrilling for Anglo churches across the United States, realizing they may not have the human resources or cultural understanding it takes to plant churches among the Spanish-speaking people around them, to ask us to help. Already, especially in urban areas, Hispanic churches have a heart–and experience–to start new churches in their own areas, even though many of them are small numerically.”

That inherent desire to help birth new congregations could be the key to reaching and surpassing the goals, Guajardo believes.

“We have 1,300 churches in the Convencion, so to expect 400 of them–30 percent–to each start another church might be unrealistic,” he said.

“But another of my dreams is that after a year or year-and-a-half, the new church will be ready to organize and the Convencion partner church can then link up with another Anglo congregation and plant a new church with it and then a third and maybe a fourth. That can happen.”

Bill Bruster, the Fellowship's networking coordinator, concurs. “This is one of the most exciting partnerships CBF has entered into,” he said. “We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with the Convencion.”

That relationship is being nurtured in workshops and seminars, in addition to being promoted individually by Convencion and Fellowship leaders.

The Baptist General Convention of Texas Church Multiplication Center led a breakout session on the partnership at the Hispanic Evangelism Conference in Houston in January. Later this spring, it will host another information/training workshop for Dallas-Fort Worth-area Hispanic churches interested in being partner churches. Then in June, workshops on the partnership will be offered at both the CBF General Assembly in Birmingham, Ala., and at the annual session of the Hispanic Baptist Convencion of Texas meeting on South Padre Island.

Realizing that new churches need trained leaders, Convencion and Fellowship leaders have pledged to work together to help establish compañerismos–regional fellowships–throughout the nation to train, equip and encourage church leaders.

A key provider of trained leadership is expected to be the Baptist University of the Americas, which partners with the Fellowship on a variety of projects. In the past five years, on-campus enrollment at the San Antonio-based institution has soared from 43 to 206, while students enrolled at BUA's off-campus Baptist Bible Institutes jumped from 175 to 521.

But Guajardo notes: “There is no way BUA and all the other Texas Baptist universities combined can produce enough trained leadership to take care of the needs of Hispanic churches in Texas, Mexico, Latin America and South America and the partnership, too.

“Just like in biblical times, the key will be to find people in the community where the new churches are located that God has inspired to serve as leaders and then help train them,” Guajardo explained. “When local leaders are discovered, inspired and trained to do the work, people will respond to them as well as–and often far better–than imported leaders.”

Opportunities for local training also will be advanced by the compañerismos. These regional fellowships, in turn, could link with BUA's expanding off-campus program. In addition to numerous centers scattered throughout Texas and Mexico, BUA operates Baptist Bible Institutes in Alabama and South Carolina. Discussions are under way to expand the centers to California, Kentucky, North Carolina and Georgia.

“This partnership, coupled with BUA's role in providing theological education nationwide, is a step in the right direction for the near future for the next generation of Baptists in America,” BUA President Albert Reyes said.

“Hispanics are already the second-largest ethnic group in the United States and growing rapidly. There will be a major Hispanic presence in our country, no matter what we do. The question is: Do we want a Hispanic population that knows and loves Jesus or not?”

Posted: 5/03/04

Number of hungry people in world
increasing by 4.5 million every year

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

The number of hungry people in the United States and the developing world is greater now than it was when international leaders set hunger-cutting goals in the mid-1990s, said a recently released report by a faith-based anti-hunger organization.

At the World Food Summit in 1996, global leaders agreed to cut hunger in half by 2015–reducing the number of hungry people in developing countries from 800 million to 400 million.

But in its 14th annual report on world hunger, Bread for the World noted there are 842 million hungry people worldwide now, and the number is rising by 4.5 million a year.

The report attributed the hunger growth in part to a slowing world economy, wars and natural disasters.

Pledges by United States government leaders to cut the number of Americans living in hunger–from 30.4 million to 15.2 million by 2010–also are lagging behind, the report noted.

Currently, about 35 million Americans either don't know where their next meal is coming from, or they have to cut back on what they eat because they don't have enough money for groceries, the report said.

Food insecurity and hunger in the United States have increased three years in a row. Since 1999, the number of children living in homes at risk of hunger has increased by 1 million.

“There is no reason–save politics–that 842 million men, women and children are hungry,” said David Beckmann, president of the Bread for the World Institute, a nonprofit anti-hunger education and research organization.

“Even in a time of economic difficulty and conflict, the world–and certainly the United States–could still be making progress against hunger. What's mainly missing is a stronger commitment.”

Ironically, the report noted a poll indicating 94 percent of American voters said it was important to them to pay for domestic anti-hunger programs, and 64 percent said the United States has a moral obligation to lead in fighting hunger worldwide.

“The most direct way for the United States to help reduce world hunger is to improve and expand development assistance–the kind of assistance that helps poor countries cope with AIDS or helps subsistence farmers raise their productivity,” Beckmann said.

Domestically, the U.S. government can fight hunger best by improving and expanding its federal nutrition programs, the report asserted.

“To end hunger, the United States must make it possible for everyone to receive a livable income. That requires better education and job opportunities, assistance that helps low-wage workers support their families, and a social safety net for people who cannot work, such as the disabled or elderly,” the report said.

Bread for the World disputed the assertion that faith-based organizations and other charities can end hunger without federal programs.

“Food banks and church pantries cannot provide enough food to the people who come to them and do not reach many of the people who need help, especially in sparsely populated rural areas,” the report said.

Private donations to soup kitchens, food banks and similar programs total $2 billion to $4 billion annually, compared to $44 billion spent each year on federal programs that still are not meeting the needs of all Americans.

“Clearly, if the United States is to meet its goal of cutting hunger in half by 2010, our nutrition programs must be retooled and reformed to not only modernize and strengthen the current initiatives, but also to extend their reach to those people falling through the cracks,” Beckmann said.

The report called on citizens to “demand change” from elected leaders concerning policies that affect the poor.

“Instead of debating more tax cuts for the wealthy, U.S. leaders should be working to improve and expand development assistance to poor countries and federal assistance for hungry people in the United States,” the report said.

Baptist World Aid, the humanitarian relief arm of the Baptist World Alliance, was one of the sponsors of the Bread for the World report, along with Church World Service, the Mennonite Central Committee and other faith-based relief agencies. The International Fund for Agricultural Development provided major funding for the study.

For the full report, visit www.bread.org.

Posted: 5/03/04

Nehemiah Project: Making an impact

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

MINERAL WELLS–Many church leaders talk about the importance of breaking down walls or going beyond the walls of a church to minister. But the inspiration for Tommy Pophin's ministry vision came from an Old Testament passage about building a wall.

Pophin, pastor of Eastridge Baptist Church in Mineral Wells, became concerned about the spiritual health of his community six years ago.

As a result, he and the pastor of a non-denominational church started holding a pastors' prayer meeting at the local Chamber of Commerce building each Tuesday at noon to intercede for their city.

The Nehemiah Project was born out of that prayer meeting. The group took as its motto a portion of Nehemiah chapter two, verse 17: “Come, let us rebuild the wall … and we will no longer be in disgrace.”

Not that Mineral Wells was in disgrace, but it was economically depressed, Pophin noted. Decades earlier, the city boasted a resort hotel that drew Hollywood celebrities attracted by its "healing" mineral baths. Not quite as long ago, the city was home to Fort Walters, a key military training base for helicopter pilots.

But the “crazy water” wells dried up, the base closed and the city suffered.

Mineral Wells needed a boost–not just economically, but spiritually, the pastors concluded.

“There were a lot of barriers. We wanted to raise the spiritual level of the city and see souls saved,” Pophin said.

As the pastors came to know one another better and prayed with each other regularly, they discovered needs and a willingness to work together to meet them.

More than 200 people made faith commitments to Jesus Christ during Impact events in Mineral Wells, including 127 seeking salvation. (David May/Mineral Wells Index Photo)

For example, they found out about an African-American Church of God in Christ whose facility had been damaged by a windstorm and whose members were “ripped off” by unscrupulous building contractors, Pophin noted.

About 120 volunteers from various denominations cleaned up the church's property and started working on the rebuilding project. Christian contractors offered their services, and building supply companies donated some materials.

In addition to serving together to meet community needs, local Christians also started worshipping together. Thursday evening “nights of inspiration” draw participants ranging from Missouri Synod Lutherans to Pentecostals.

The most obvious byproduct of the Nehemiah Project was a recent six-day, inter-denominational evangelistic event.

More than 1,000 people gathered each night for evangelistic rallies in the Mineral Wells Expo Center, a metal livestock barn that was “transformed into a sanctuary,” Pophin said.

Evangelist Jon Randles preached each evening, and he spoke in schools throughout Palo Pinto and Parker counties during the daytime.

More than 200 people made commitments to Christ, including 127 first-time professions of faith, during the six-day “Impact” event and its “Lateral Impact” youth track.

“The local newspaper gave the event the largest news coverage of any event I've seen in the last 10 years in Mineral Wells,” said Mark Bumpus, pastor of First Baptist Church.

One day, the local newspaper devoted its full front page to Impact.

In addition to making a spiritual impact on the community, leaders of the evangelistic event also wanted to make a tangible, physical difference, he added.

“On Saturday, the youth were enlisted to do local mission projects–service-oriented Christian ministry,” he said.

A love offering for Lateral Impact focused on raising the standard of living for needy people in the Mineral Wells area.

Wayne Shuffield with the Baptist General Convention of Texas Center for Strategic Evangelism helped with training for the evangelistic event, and his office contributed financially.

Youth leaders and others now are helping new Christians work through an 18-week discipleship and mentoring program.

Bumpus baptized five young people who made faith commitments during the six-day event. He called it "as comprehensive an approach to evangelism in a citywide event that I've ever seen. It focused on evangelism, Christian service, the nurturing of people in follow-up and worship musical styles that appeal to adults and youth alike."

But improving the spiritual climate of the community has created one drawback, Pophin acknowledged. It takes longer to go shopping, because every trip to the store is like a family reunion.

“Now you can't go to Wal-Mart unless you have an hour and a half,” he said.

“Christians from all different churches start greeting one and sharing the joy of the Lord with each other.”

Posted: 5/03/04

Texas, Mexico partnership produces base camp for ministry

By George Henson

Staff Writer

ACUNA, Mexico–A partnership between a Mexican church and three Texas congregations has produced a ministry base camp on the south side of the Rio Grande.

Camp Getsemani, a ministry of First Baptist Church of Acuña, Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, First Baptist Church in Edna and First Baptist Church in San Antonio, is “the only semblance of a camp in the whole state of Coahuila,” said Bob Ives, a member both of Tallowood and the camp's board of directors.

The camp began when local rancher Fransisco Lopez retired and donated his ranch to the Acuña church on one condition–that it be used to serve the cause of Christ.

The population in the area has exploded since the North American Free Trade Agreement. Census figures from 1990 placed the population at 56,000, but that had grown to more than 110,000 in 2000. Some estimate the population may have doubled since then.

Members of Tallowood Baptist Church have seen that growth firsthand, sending at least one group there to minister every year since 1993.

“Acuña has been a place of tremendous growth in the last 10 years,” Ives said. “It's a very fruitful field.”

Mission teams from the United States generally use the camp, which will sleep about 120 people, as a base for a variety of mission activities, including medical clinics, construction projects and evangelism.

Tallowood now is sending its missions teams a little further up the Rio Grande, but the church still supports the camp financially and through board members like Ives and Robert Armendariz.

The camp is playing an ever-enlarging role for Mexican churches as well, they said.

“The camp is very important because it fills a big need,” said Almendariz, vice chairman of the Getsemani board. “It gives the local churches a place for retreats and training. Now churches as far away as Cancun use it as a place for their youth camps and retreats.”

The camp also is ministering to the nearby Santa Maria colonia. A medical clinic, the only health care available for miles around, opens one day a week. The clinic currently is housed in a room in one of the camp's buildings, but “we now have blueprints to build a medical clinic to house the ministry,” Armendariz said.

A benevolence ministry also provides poor families in the area with baby formula, clothing and food.

Plans call for the camp to house a theological school “to develop those leaders they are finding now,” Armendariz said. “I've been there from the beginning, so I can tell you about every brick.”

Jay Walthall, an industrial engineer from First Baptist Church in Edna, visits the camp to distribute about 1,500 pairs of glasses each year.

A pediatrician works in the medical clinic housed in a room at Camp Getsemani.

While on a trip to Venezuela as a translator for a group of Alabama Baptists, he saw the need for vision care and bought instruments to test eyes and match them with correct glasses.

He receives the eyeglasses he distributes primarily from Lion's Club International and Southwestern Bell Retired Employees of Houston, which donate glasses for indigent people.

“My primary goal is sharing Jesus Christ with people,” he said. “I never examine eyes that I don't find out about their relationship with Jesus Christ. Examining eyes for me is a means of sharing Jesus Christ.”

Dexton Shores, director of the the Baptist General Convention of Texas River Ministry, said the camp will only increase in importance to Texas churches.

“Especially since 9/11, it's such an advantage for U.S. church groups to stay on the Mexico side of the Rio Grande. The wait at the bridge (to cross the border) can be so long it can really impact the time you have for ministry,” he said.

As a result, other encampments on the Mexican side of the river are beginning to sprout. Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall has begun a partnership for a similar facility in Piedras Negras.

“Getsemani's been a model that others have seen and said, 'We need to do this in our area,'” he noted.

For more information, visit www.campgetsemani.org.

Posted: 5/03/04

CLC staff denied access to governor's office

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS–Representatives of Texas Baptists' moral concerns agency have been trying since spring 2003 to talk with Texas Gov. Rick Perry about public school financing.

As of late April, no such meeting had taken place. But Robert Black, a spokesperson for Perry, said the governor is “more than willing to work out a time” for such a discussion.

The issue of access has become more urgent in recent days with Perry's proposed school finance plan that includes introduction of video lottery terminals into the state. CLC legislative associate Suzii Paynter said the proposal opens the door to casino-type gambling.

“It has been astonishing to me that the governor does not choose to meet with the public policy agency of the Baptist General Convention of Texas,” said Phil Strickland, director of the BGCT Christian Life Commission.

“I personally have had ready access to every governor since John Connally (in the mid-1960s), both Republicans and Democrats. They haven't always agreed, but we have had the chance to make our case.”

CLC representatives first sought to meet with Perry during last year's regular legislative session, Strickland said.

One meeting was scheduled, but when the BGCT contingent arrived, the governor's office informed them Perry was not available. They met instead with Chief of Staff Mike Toomey, who formerly was a lobbyist for the gambling industry, Strickland said.

In January this year, the CLC renewed its effort. The governor's office did not respond.

Then in March, at the instruction of CLC trustees, Strickland contacted the governor's office again, but additional effort yielded no meeting.

Black, deputy press secretary in the governor's office, said a senior advisor met with a CLC representative April 8.

A meeting with the governor himself should have taken place by now, Black said. “Our director of scheduling should have been in contact with someone in your office by this time.” Black did not know if the failure was with the governor's office or with the CLC.

It has been “our intent” to have such a meeting, Black said. “If it hasn't happened, I apologize.”

He did note that the governor is “fully aware” of the BGCT's position in regard to the gambling issue. And in regard to concerns about Toomey's connections to the gambling industry, Black said, “He's not the governor.”

Perry's gambling proposal is part of a school finance package that would lower residential property taxes, shift commercial property taxes to the state and increase taxes on cigarettes and adult entertainment clubs. It would allow the video lottery terminals at Texas' horse racing tracks and on land owned by Native American tribal groups.

Perry's plan calls for 18,000 video slot machines to generate $2 billion over the next three years. Recently, the forecast has escalated to 40,000 machines.

“This is being referred to as a sin tax, but in this case they are having to create the sin to get the tax,” Strickland said.

“The burden of adding 18,000 video slot machines would fall most heavily on the poor, the disenfranchised and the citizens of our state who feel they have no opportunity for success unless they 'hit it big,'” Strickland said. “We feel the governor should be more focused on creating opportunities than selling hope with the push of a button and the spinning of numbers on a screen.”

A story in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram April 21 reported the governor as saying the proposal would reduce gambling because of the impact it would have on eight-liners, which are slot-machine-like devices that can legally pay out non-cash prizes.

Strickland took a different view. “We find the governor's claim that adding 18,000 slot machines would reduce gambling impossible to believe,” he said. Perry “claims that adding 18,000 slots would replace machines that are already illegal. The Texas Supreme Court has already ruled unanimously that eight-liners are illegal. We simply need our current laws enforced.”

In a letter to regional Texas Baptist leaders, Strickland said: “We are being told that this is not a major increase in gambling and that it will lead to better regulation of current gambling.

“Don't believe it! It is a major increase. It is 'class 3' gambling, which the gambling industry is trying to legalize without people understanding the implications.”

In Texas, gambling is divided into three classes. Classes 1 and 2 cover social games, bingo, the state lottery and pari-mutuel gambling. Class 3 refers to all other gambling.

Strickland noted several concerns with the video shot machine proposal.

For every $1 of revenue there are $3 of social costs that result from addiction, bankruptcy and crime, he noted.

“Local communities will pay the bill, which amounts to $200 a year for every person in Texas,” he said.

“Addiction is essential to the VLT slot machines, which are called the 'crack cocaine' of gambling,” Strickland continued.

“Pathological, serial addicts” provide 30 percent to 42 percent of total revenue. More children are hooked on gambling than on drugs, smoking or drinking.”

Video lottery terminal income is not dependable, the CLC director said.

“We should not gamble on the future education of our children,” he said.

“In 1991, we were assured that gambling would solve education funding.

“Today, proceeds from the lottery pay for 10 days of education a year.”

The proposal “opens the door for the gambling industry to spend millions to turn our children and adults to gambling,” Strickland said.

Video slot machines “may allow casinos in Texas,” he said.

“It authorizes 'class 3' gambling, which Native American casinos are then free to offer. Native land disputes may result in native land ownership in many locations across the state.”

Strickland ended his letter by encouraging Texas Baptists to “act now to help us stop this intense effort in the special session.”

Posted: 5/03/04

Evangelical Christians–powerful or persecuted?

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–Although American evangelicals overwhelmingly view themselves as part of mainstream America and think they hold significant political influence, they nonetheless believe they are a besieged minority, a new study has found.

And the study found evangelicals now mirror the rest of the country demographically, ranking much closer to nationwide socio-economic norms than their brethren 30 years ago.

“Looking at demographics, evangelicals are just not that different from the rest of America,” said Anna Greenberg, vice president of the polling firm that conducted the study.

Those findings came from a landmark survey conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research.

It was commissioned by U.S. News & World Report magazine and the PBS television show “Religion & Ethics Newsweekly.”

Among other results, the survey found that American evangelicals hold seemingly irreconcilable views of their role in the wider culture.

For instance, although 75 percent of all evangelicals–and 78 percent of white evangelicals–agreed with the statement, “Evangelical Christians are part of mainstream American society,” an identical percentage agreed that evangelicals “have to fight for their voices to be heard by the mainstream.”

Meanwhile, among all respondents–evangelical and non-evangelical alike–only 55 percent believed evangelicals had to fight for their voices to be heard in society, while 65 percent of all respondents believed evangelicals are part of the American mainstream.

A similar division between evangelicals' views of themselves and their perception by the broader society was evident in the responses to a question about whether “the mass media is hostile” to the respondent's moral and religious values.

Only 52 percent of all those surveyed agreed with that statement, but 72 percent of evangelical respondents did.

In addition, 48 percent of evangelicals believed that they were “looked down upon by most Americans,” while only 35 percent of non-evangelicals agreed with that assertion.

However, the evangelical respondents did acknowledge their political influence in a culture where the president and leaders of the majority parties in both houses of Congress are evangelicals.

Sixty-seven percent of all evangelicals surveyed agreed that they had either “a lot of influence” or “some influence” on the Bush administration. Only 9 percent of evangelicals believed they had “no influence at all” in the current White House.

Despite their starkly different views from other Americans on their own place in society, evangelicals now lag only slightly behind the rest of America in education and income levels.

They also are only slightly more likely to live in the South and marginally more prone to live in rural areas than the average American.

John Green, a University of Akron (Ohio) professor who specializes in the study of evangelicals and politics, said the survey results reflect the internal self-perception conflicts of a population that has seen a monumental shift in its social standing since World War II.

“This is a group of people who fall, in many ways, at the center of American society–but are, in many ways, still thinking that they are a people apart,” he said.

The survey of 1,610 respondents had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. It was conducted in late March and early April.

The study's complete results are available at www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics.