Posted: 4/02/04

This year marks the 125th anniversary of the founding of Buckner by R.C. Buckner (left), who served as its first president from 1879 to 1919.

Buckner honors BGCT, Park Cities, orphans' home alumnus

By Russ Dilday

Buckner News Service

DALLAS–The Baptist General Convention of Texas, Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas and Buckner Orphans Home alumnus Bill Annis have been named recipients of the R.C. Buckner Founder's Award for their contributions to Buckner Baptist Benevolences.

The awards, which recognize organizations and individuals who have made a significant impact on the ministry of Buckner, were to be presented during the annual Founder's Day banquet April 2 in Dallas. This year marks the 125th anniversary of the founding of Buckner by R.C. Buckner, who served as its first president from 1879 to 1919.

During its heyday as a residential home for children, Buckner Children's Home in Dallas served up to 800 children and provided its own school system, with organized sports teams.

The Baptist General Convention of Texas was slated to be honored with the R.C. Buckner Founder's Award for Philanthropist of the Year for its historic support of Buckner. Through the unified giving plan of the convention known as the Cooperative Program and the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions, the BGCT donates nearly $1 million annually to Buckner ministries.

In addition to its financial support, the BGCT “also assists Buckner in communicating our mission to Texas Baptist churches and their members,” Buckner President Ken Hall said. “This invaluable support helps churches and their members engage directly in the work of Buckner as volunteers and supporters.”

Hall is current president of the BGCT, a position held by R.C. Buckner for 19 years. In one of his last acts as BGCT president, Buckner ceded control of Buckner Orphans Home to the BGCT in 1914. Today, the BGCT nominates one-third of the Buckner board of trustees.

BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade noted: “The real recipient of this award is not the convention but the churches. We've acted on their behalf to help channel their funds to the place it ought to go.”

Park Cities Baptist Church was to receive the R.C. Buckner Founder's Award for Dedicated Church Service for its “heart and passion for missions and ministry” said Hall, who pointed to the 65-year-old congregation's very first offering as an example of its giving spirit.

“A portion of the gifts collected was donated to Buckner Orphans Home for the care of children. That gift began a relationship that continues today.”

From its beginning with three orphans in 1879, Buckner has grown to provide care for children, individuals and families in 25 cities and towns across Texas and in other countries. Buckner also has created new and innovative ways of offering prevention and intervention for at-risk children and families, senior adults and families wishing to share their homes through adoption. (Misty Keasler Photo)

Currently, individual members, Sunday school classes and the church as a whole are instrumental in the ministries of Buckner in Texas and internationally. Along with financial support, church volunteers work alongside Buckner staff as volunteers in Dallas, across the state and in other countries.

“Their work is a testimony to the commitment members of Park Cities Baptist Church have to the care and welfare of children,” Hall said.

Partnering with Buckner allows the church to follow a biblical mandate to serve others, Pastor Jim Denison said.

“Through Buckner, our members can individually know across a given year that they have helped fulfill Acts 1:8 by meeting needs with the Good News of God's love. It's offering a cup of cold water in Jesus' name. It's easy to do one or the other, but through Buckner, we're able to do both and were so grateful for that opportunity.”

Buckner alumnus Bill Annis of Houston was to be honored with the R.C. Buckner Founder's Award for Dedicated Service for his volunteer work with Buck-ner. Annis, who lived at Buckner Orphans Home (now Buckner Children's Home) from 1954 to 1963 along with his seven siblings after their father was killed in an accident, also is current president of the Buckner Home Alumni Association.

Annis is well-known among Buckner staff and volunteers because of his truck. The 53-foot trailer he uses in his business as a long-haul trucker is a billboard of Buckner logos, which were funded by the Alumni Association in support of Buckner. In addition, he uses the big rig to haul donations of shoes, medicine, teddy bears and other items for Buckner.

Acknowledging the award given in gratitude for his service, Annis showed equal gratitude for Buckner's contributions to his life.

“If Buckner hadn't been there for my mother, God knows where my brothers and sisters and I would have grown up,” he said. “When I grew up, there was an orphans' home, and they did a lot for my family and me. I try to give back some to them what they gave to me.”

The Buckner Home Alumni Association has been a consistent supporter of Buckner's ongoing ministry to children, Hall said. “And Bill, as their president and through his volunteer efforts, represents that spirit of support and volunteerism.”

Posted: 4/07/04

COMMENTARY:
Worth dying for

By Brett Younger

I’ve forgotten which war they were protesting, but I remember the words on the sign: “Nothing is worth dying for.” The person carrying the placard was cynical, honest and representative of prevailing sentiments.

Death has an increasingly bad reputation. Woody Allen spoke for most when he said: “I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve immortality by not dying.” Death is considered the greatest enemy.

If asked, “Is there any idea for which you would die?” wouldn’t you guess that fewer people would answer “yes” today than 50 years ago? When we say that someone has a “martyr complex,” we mean that he or she has an unhealthy attitude toward life. The implication is that people who are willing to die must be mentally unbalanced, because the ultimate value for healthy people is their own life.

Holy Week is given to the remembrance of a person who believed there was something of more value than his own life. Jesus died for the sake of truth. He held on to his vision of God as a loving parent—even at the cost of his own life.

Lent ends with an execution. People gather at the feet of the victim to ask the hard questions raised by his death: Is anything worth dying for? Are there people for whom we would die? Would we die for a belief or a hope? If we had only one truth for which to give our lives, what would it be? How should the certainty of our death lead us to live?

The root meaning of the word “martyr” is “witness.” The implication is that when people die for what they believe, they’ve said something important that we need to hear. Many of those who listened at the cross believed they heard that the best they could do was give their lives to the God of hope, no matter what the cost.

In a strange way, believing that there are values greater than our own life and coming to terms with our impending death helps us live. It’s OK to be afraid of dying, but we should be even more frightened by an incomplete life.

Our day-to-day decisions aren’t likely to lead to martyrdom, but each day we have to decide if we will give away our time and attention. Giving our lives away may mean turning the other cheek; standing with the people who are losing; doing good that will receive no applause; sitting in a home where someone has died; treating discarded people as children of God; shopping for someone else’s groceries; baking cookies that we won’t eat; reading stories to someone else’s children; taking flowers to someone who’s not our type; visiting someone else’s mother in the nursing home; watering someone else’s plants; washing dishes we didn’t dirty; discussing current events that don’t interest us; sending cards when we don’t know what to write; talking about faith when we would rather be silent; doing good for people who will do no good to us in return; weeping when others weep; praying not for an easier life, but for strength to give our lives away; discovering that if there’s nothing for which we would die, then we don’t have enough for which to live.

Brett Younger is pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas

Posted: 4/02/04

EDITORIAL:
More churches need to go bivo

Are churches needlessly starving their pastors? And what's the connection between pitiful pastoral pay and the plague of vacant pulpits?

A new study by Duke University's Pulpit and Pew Research on Pastoral Leadership validates these questions. The Duke survey documents a national shortage of pastors, which is especially acute in small rural and inner-city congregations. These churches have a hard time providing sustainable salary and benefits that can support a full-time pastor. (See the full story here.)

The survey shouldn't surprise anyone who's paid close attention to churches. At any given moment, about 12 percent of churches affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas are pastorless. Of course, every church is going to be pastorless from time to time. But many small churches are chronically pastorless, due both to short tenures and long vacancies.

Let's be honest: Pay is an issue. God calls pastors, but salaries sustain them and enable them to remain. And while their calling may be pure and passionate, pastors need a livable salary. Their cars break down, stomachs get hungry, children need braces, clothes wear out and health fails, just like laypeople. The problem is compounded when a church that cannot or will not pay a sustainable salary and provide fair benefits insists its pastor serve full time. The burdens and pressures on such pastors are enormous.

That's why, as the Duke study shows, pastors disproportionately feel God's “call” to churches that provide better benefits. And who can blame them? You can't name many laypeople who intentionally seek jobs that don't pay enough to raise a family.

More churches need to designate themselves as bivocational congregations and seek pastors who feel called to work in the community as well as labor for the Lord. While bivocational ministry is a tremendous challenge, it also can be liberating to pastor and church alike. The pastor is freed from the expectation of “getting by” on too-little income. The church is open to a broader array of possible pastors and the opportunity to enjoy longer pastoral tenures as well. And don't overlook an added bonus: Bivocational churches often act differently than congregations with full-time pastors. Since they vividly realize they aren't paying someone to do all their ministry for them, their per capita involvement in serving God and their communities many times exceeds previous expectations.

Posted: 3/12/04

Fort Worth evangelist shares gospel
message by clowning around the world

By Leann Callaway

Special to the Baptist Standard

FORT WORTH—Eugenio Adorno, better known as Chagy the Clown, says he entertains audiences the same way secular circus acts do. But his performances have the added bonus of presenting the gospel.

"I am a creative evangelist who uses the art of clowning and many other tools to share the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ," he explained. "People say that laughter is the best medicine, but I want to share medicine for the lost soul."

Adorno, who was born in Puerto Rico, is a member of Templo Bautista Emanuel in Fort Worth. He performs 200 times a year as a clown for evangelistic crusades, Vacation Bible Schools, block parties and other outreach efforts. He also uses illusions, comedy, storytelling, balloon sculpting and juggling in his acts.

"Clowns bring laughter, but only God can fill a heart with joy," he said. "I enjoy making people of all ages laugh, but I am thrilled when I see people rendering their lives to our Lord, Jesus Christ."

Adorno also teaches in clown conventions and has created his own clown seminars, where he tells how a relationship with Jesus Christ changed his life.

"Part of this ministry is to share what I have been able to learn," he explained. "I use this opportunity to share my knowledge but most of all to share about Jesus, the one that has turned my life around."

Adorno came to faith in Jesus Christ at age 21.

"I heard about Christ through a female friend, Audria, who later became my wife," he explained.

At the beginning of their marriage, the couple committed themselves to full-time ministry and became missionaries for the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board. In 1992, they were commissioned as resort ministry directors for Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Three years later, they moved to Fort Worth where Adorno attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

In the last decade, Adorno's clown ministry has reached people all over the world.

"Every ministry opportunity leaves an impression in my life," he said. "It doesn't matter if the event is for a small group of 10 or for an auditorium with 30,000 people. God's power is evident in all of them."

One of his most treasured ministry experiences took place in 2002, when his parents attended a performance in Puerto Rico.

"As I finished the altar call, my father came to me and said that he invited Jesus into his life."

Posted: 4/02/04

Worship works when leaders relate
honestly to each other, Swindoll says

By Samuel Smith

Southwestern Seminary

FORT WORTH (BP)–Honest and supportive relationships between worship leaders are necessary for a church to reflect God's plan, author and radio Bible teacher Chuck Swindoll told participants at the 2004 Church Music Workshop at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Swindoll, senior pastor at Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, and Bruce Stevenson, executive pastor of worship and music at Stonebriar, discussed how pastors and staff can work together.

“Relationships are the foundation. Just beyond the relationship with Christ is the (importance of) relationship with one another, and we don't tolerate lingering offenses or difficulties among individuals,” Swindoll said.

“If there is such, I'm not aware of it, and as soon as I'm aware of it, we talk it through. If we can't, somebody has got to go.”

Stonebriar Community church places high value on worship, he emphasized.

“We embrace worship as a major reason we are on the planet, and Sunday provides us with the opportunity to do it corporately,” he said.

Stevenson outlined five pillars of worship–education, balance, excellence, creativity and character.

Education ensures continuity between the history of the church and future generations, he asserted.

Both Swindoll and Stevenson emphasized the importance of balance in worship.

Acknowledging that many churches face dissension between members about worship styles, Swindoll put the issue in perspective.

“We have centuries of history, which is one of the treasures of the church,” Swindoll said. “It just fries me to think that everything is now about 1990 on. How dumb can you get? Nothing I preach is from 1990, but now it's all about 2004.”

Incorporating the great hymns of the faith and modern Christian music into worship services helps keep things interesting, Stevenson said.

“Chuck has often told me that people come up to him and say, 'I didn't like what you did this Sunday morning,' and his response is, 'Well, come back next week, because it will be different,'” Stevenson said. “We will seek to use every means that we can to bring the word of God to life and to bring worship to life as well.”

If someone consistently and uncharitably complains about the church's worship style, it may be in the church's and that person's best interest for him or her to worship elsewhere, Swindoll said. At the very least, worship leaders should not let the vocal minority shape how they plan worship services.

“You cannot let a carping critic or two shape your philosophy,” Swindoll said. “We are not here to give you what you want; we are here to provide what you need.”

Stevenson offered his own conviction about putting music-style preference ahead of true worship: “I think we, as worship leaders, will to some degree stand judged because of the way we have divided churches based solely on musical preference.”

Lack of creativity evident in many modern services is unworthy of the God Christians serve, Swindoll said.

“Many churches have become business meetings with music and words thrown in, and that angers me,” he commented. “God gets the leftovers.”

Authenticity in worship reflects one of God's attributes and is exactly what people need, he added.

“Bruce never makes me smile, or forces it, or dumb stuff like that. That is all manipulative stuff,” Swindoll said. “Some folks do not come to smile. Their hearts are broken. … They didn't come to play games. They came to meet with God.”

The pastor's relationship with the minister of music makes possible the implementation of a worship style that reaches out to everyone in the congregation, he said.

“Whenever I disagree with (Stevenson), I tell him. Whenever I think we may have gotten a little too extreme, I tell him. When I think we need to lighten up on something, I say it, and he is just as free to say to me whatever he needs to say,” Swindoll said.

“It is all about that relationship. If you are sitting on pins and needles, you cannot talk like that. You cannot even think like that.”

Posted: 4/02/04

Building campaign helped unify, strengthen
congregation, Mineral Wells pastor testifies

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

MINERAL WELLS–Members of Fairview Baptist Church identified a problem they are glad to have: Their sanctuary is too small for them to carry out their mission.

The congregation worked cooperatively to address the issue, said Pastor John Tunnell. Members understand their mission is to reach the 600 homes located within a five-mile radius of the church. Fairview Baptist is the only evangelical presence in the area.

Church members frequently “prayer-drive” streets and neighborhoods in their community. They are familiar with the spiritual lives of many people in the area, and they see the potential for church growth.

But the congregation must make room for the people. Its sanctuary is full with the 120 worshippers in the congregation. The church needs to expand, Tunnell said.

“I think everyone agrees. We love our church. We love our church family. If we're going to reach this area, we've got to expand. There's no choice.”

The Baptist General Convention of Texas Church Facilities Center helped the church design a building that would meet its needs. Then the congregation entered a United We Build campaign with the help of the BGCT stewardship office.

Joyous stewardship is one of the 11 characteristics of a healthy church identified by the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

The church formed several teams to garner excitement about the fund-raising and building campaign.

One team went into other members' homes to explain the need to build. Prayer vigils were held.

Ivan Potter, the BGCT's director of United We Build, led a weekend seminar to help the church prepare spiritually for the campaign. A harvest team went to homes to find out how much each family pledged to give.

Finally, the church celebrated the members' sacrificial pledging. Believers promised to give $200,000 toward construction of a new sanctuary. Weeks later, members gave the largest offering in the church's history.

Though the church has to raise more funds to build its facilities, Tunnell said Fairview is heading in the right direction. The building campaign is helping prepare the congregation for God to bring large numbers of people to the church, he noted.

It has built excitement and strengthened unity in the congregation, he said.

The pastor acknowledges he initially was nervous about a building campaign, but the congregation is stronger because of it.

“There's no way we could have a successful United We Build program without (Potter's) help and all the resources BGCT provides.”

For design help with new or existing buildings, contact the BGCT Church Facilities Center at (214) 828-5134. For help with building campaigns, contact the BGCT stewardship office at (800) 231-5096.

Posted: 4/02/04

Around the world, Moms in Touch lift up children in prayer

By Mary Jacobs

Religion News Service

DALLAS–Women carrying flags from around the world paraded through the cavernous ballroom. An audience of 1,600 women looked on, singing, eyes glistening, arms raised.

They had traveled here from 50 states and 38 countries. And they had one simple thing in common–all were Christian mothers who meet once a week, for one hour, to pray for their children and their schools.

“For such a time as this, we have been summoned here by God,” Fern Nichols said from the podium. “This is a family reunion.”

The gathering was the 20th anniversary celebration of Moms in Touch International. Nichols started the organization at her home in Poway, Calif., in 1984. Worried about her oldest son, who was starting junior high school, she invited a few other moms to join her for prayer.

Today, 20,000 groups meet in 95 countries, following the same basic pattern of prayer Nichols used at her kitchen table with the first group. The organization estimates about 150,000 women participate worldwide.

“God is working one mom at a time,” Nichols said. “And one day we want to have a Moms in Touch group praying for every child in every school in every nation.”

Nichols recently finished a book tour for “Every Child Needs a Praying Mom,” which she co-wrote with Janet Kobobel Grant. It tells of the organization's humble beginnings and rapid growth.

“People ask me, 'That's all you do–is pray?' But we think that's the greatest thing you can do,” Nichols said.

With her children grown, Nichols now attends a weekly “Grandmas in Touch” group and devotes her time to developing the worldwide organization.

Moms in Touch has expanded to include incarcerated mothers, moms who homeschool and groups that pray specifically for special-needs children, pre-schoolers, adopted children or “prodigals”–children struggling with problems such as addiction, depression or rebellion.

Marlae Gritter, the organization's national director, is one of the moms who has prayed for a prodigal. Joining Moms in Touch in 1991, she asked God for healing for her daughter, Michelle, who was angry, depressed and, at one point, suicidal.

Gritter said her prayer–that her daughter “see herself as God sees her”–was answered, and Michelle, now 21, has begun turning her life around.

Other moms shared stories of children restored from life-threatening illness or from drug and alcohol addiction and of schools “renewed” to be more accepting of Christian values.

Conference sessions offered training in how to lead and organize local groups. Nichols taught the four-step method of prayer used in every Moms in Touch meeting–praise, thanksgiving, confession and intercession.

Evelyn Christenson, 82, a veteran leader of prayer seminars, delivered the conference's keynote address. Her 1968 book, “What Happens When Women Pray,” inspired Nichols' approach.

Maragaret Bategeka-Ssekidde traveled from Kampala, Uganda, to attend the conference. After organizing 50 Moms in Touch groups in Uganda, she said she sees a difference in the children, who follow the example of their mothers.

“Children are like high priests,” she said. “They pray so beautifully for their fellow students.”

Martha Nichols of Cordova, Alaska, believes her prayers were answered–even though her son, Josh, age 13, was killed last November in a hunting accident.

“My prayer was that he would see other people through Jesus' eyes and love them no matter what,” she said.

At Josh's funeral, she said, dozens of people shared stories of how Josh had been a friend to the friendless, such as befriending a disabled boy and an unpopular girl. Many used the exact words she had used in her prayers to describe Josh.

With many participants coming from Africa, Latin America and Asia, the group was fairly diverse. Most Moms in Touch in the United States, however, are white. Leaders say they are working and praying to make the organization more inviting to African-American and Hispanic women.

Lisa Taylor of Denton, an African-American, spoke at the conference about arriving at her first meeting with Moms in Touch and seeing “a room full of pretty white women.”

She felt uncomfortable but eventually linked up with a group that clicked. She now leads a Moms in Touch group and told how the group's prayers and support helped her persevere through a crisis with her youngest daughter.

Some Moms in Touch groups combine prayer with “words and deeds”–offering encouragement to teachers and schools through homemade goodies and messages of support.

Although the group wants to bring “biblical values” into the public schools, it doesn't lobby or advocate. Prayer, members believe, is their best weapon against secular values, negative peer pressure or sexual experimentation.

“We are going right in front of every school,” Nichols said. “And we are saying, 'Satan, you cannot have them.'”

Posted: 4/02/04

Country church believes new life may
rest on the other side of the nearby cemetery

By George Henson

Staff Writer

SOMERSET–New life for Old Rock Baptist Church may rest just the other side of the cemetery, Pastor Melvin Schupp believes.

The church, built in 1866 after the congregation moved from another community, always has been small and rural. Even though a highway now runs within earshot, the church remains hidden from passersby.

Most of the drivers have other destinations anyway, but soon that will be changing.

Toyota plans to build a new plant nearby.

Already, land values are rising, and new homes are beginning to pop up.

“That Toyota plant is going in, and the population around here is growing like mad,” Schupp said. “What we're trying to do here is look to the future.”

For now, Old Rock Church's facility is big enough. “Twenty is a pretty good crowd,” Schupp admits. But the 74-year-old pastor is looking a few years down the road.

“We've set a goal to raise $200,000 in five years to build a new building. Where we are now, we have no room to build and no education space either,” he said.

The church is bounded closely on all sides by land. Part of the land belongs to a family not currently wanting to sell.

The rest is a cemetery that has almost as long a history as the church.

Schupp hopes one day the land on the backside of the cemetery can be secured for a new building–a site that would make the church visible from the highway and afford a larger footprint for a new facility.

While acknowledging some reluctance to leave the building where they have worshipped for many years, Schupp said the congregation realizes the need to prepare for the future.

“We don't want to move the church, but we don't have any room to build,” he said.

“They like the church they've been in for all these years, but they're ready to do what's needed.

“When you have people who have sat in the same pew for 50 years, it's a little difficult to move, but they're behind the idea.”

In the meantime, the church is investigating the possibility of erecting a tall cross at its current location so it can be seen from the road.

The Toyota plant is expected to employ more people than the current population of Somerset, and a number of support companies also are being built to service the plant.

The automobile plant should be completed in 2007.

“We're trying to get a jump on things so that we're prepared,” Schupp said.

He doesn't want the church's historical marker to be mistaken for a tombstone.

Posted: 4/02/04

Study shows minister surplus, but few
willing to serve in small churches

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

DURHAM, N.C.–Mainline Protestant denominations face a leadership shortage in spite of an apparent surplus of ordained ministers because many of them are hesitant to enter congregational work and reluctant to serve smaller churches, a study by Duke University's Pulpit and Pew Research on Pastoral Leadership revealed.

And while the shortage is not as acute in Texas Baptist churches, small churches face the same obstacles in finding pastors, said Bob Ray, director of bivocational and small church development for the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Nearly every surveyed denomination has more than one minister–and some more than two–per congregation, but many are chaplains, professors or parachurch ministers rather than individuals serving local congregations, states the Duke report, largely based on figures from “The Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.”

Ministers who enter congregational work seem reluctant to serve smaller churches for financial reasons.

As a result, many small rural or inner-city churches are without pastors, the study reported.

Smaller congregations are less likely to provide salary and benefit packages that can support a full-time pastor, and the work there often is seen as less prestigious than ministry in larger congregations, Ray noted.

The statistics seem most optimistic for conservative Protestants, since nearly all have more than one working minister per congregation.

Southern Baptists have an average of nearly two per church, compared to an average of less than one per congregation in many mainline denominations.

But the figures on the conservative groups are misleadingly positive, according to Curtis Freeman, professor of theology and Baptist studies and director of the Baptist House of Studies at Duke Divinity School.

The numbers are inflated because conservative groups are more likely to ordain leaders other denominations do not, such as youth directors, song leaders and ministers who serve ethnic missions, Freeman said.

“People are nervous” because of the minister shortage, he said. “And it gets worse as you move toward mainline Protestants.”

While those numbers may be somewhat misleading, the numerous ministerial vacancies in small churches nationwide silently speak volumes.

About 10 percent of Southern Baptist churches have pastor vacancies at a given time.

About 12 percent of Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated churches, including many smaller congregations, typically are pastorless.

According to a study by the Presbyterian Church, USA, nearly half of its churches averaging 51 to 100 in attendance are pastorless. That percentage jumps to 76.6 percent in Presbyterian churches running fewer than 50.

Some ministers are not willing to lead smaller congregations because those churches do not provide salaries that can support their families, Ray said.

Work in smaller churches also is seen as less prestigious in the eyes of some, he noted. Small-church ministry is viewed as a stepping-stone to larger churches with better-paying positions.

Many ministers “study, go to school and look to be pastor of First Baptist Church of a county seat town,” Ray said.

To compound the issue, the number of smaller churches is increasing as larger congregations decline.

Small churches are the future of the faith, Ray said. Ministers will need to lead them.

But Ray is hopeful. He believes more people would feel called to smaller churches if congregations and seminaries encouraged believers to consider ministry in smaller venues.

Early efforts will allow ministers to develop professional skills to allow them to become bivocational, Ray said.

Congregations also increasingly are seeking to raise members of their church to lead, Ray said.

Members are recognizing gifted believers and encouraging them to become pastors, he noted.

“Bivocational churches are an ever-growing number. We've got to help those going into the ministry to see it as a viable model.

“I believe if we started early enough helping people see bivocational ministry as a viable option, people might start thinking God will call them there.”

Posted: 4/02/04

Revised Federal Marriage Amendment draws mixed reviews

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–Sponsors of a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage announced a change they say clarifies the proposal, but the amendment's opponents call the change a ruse to gain more support for the effort.

Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) and Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) announced they would alter the wording of the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment to make sure it allowed states room to enact marriage-like “civil unions” for gay couples.

Allard, the amendment's chief Senate sponsor, said the new language would “make it clear, without any ambiguity, that the states” would be able to enact civil unions.

Musgrave agreed, and said the sponsors' intent was never to ban all civil unions, but simply “to prevent states from being forced to recognize out-of-state contracts”–such as same-sex marriages performed in other states–that conflict with the state's social policy.

The head of an organization pushing the amendment said the effort is “not about benefits” that would be denied to gay or lesbian couples in many states if civil unions or domestic partnerships were outlawed nationwide.

“It is about marriage,” Matt Daniels, president of the Alliance for Marriage, told reporters. “We don't want to carry a road map in our car that tells us what marriage is by what state we're in.”

But a spokesman for one organization opposing the amendment said the changes are insufficient.

“Changing the constitution is always extreme,” said Steven Fisher, director of communications for the Human Rights Campaign. HRC is the nation's largest gay civil-rights organization.

“For over 200 years, the Constitution has been amended to expand rights, not take them away,” Fisher continued. “The amendment denies the rights and responsibilities of marriage to same-sex couples. And there's no way to change that except to defeat the amendment.”

Allard and Musgrave asserted the revised language of the amendment restricts “activist judges” from reading marriage or domestic partnership rights into federal or state constitutions without explicit authorization from legislatures.

One day after the updated version of the amendment was introduced, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) convened a hearing of the measure before the Senate Judiciary Committee's sub-panel on constitutional matters.

Cornyn and other speakers said the amendment is necessary because recent Supreme Court decisions suggest a majority of justices eventually will rule that limiting marriage to heterosexual couples violates the Constitution's equal-protection provisions.

“Either you believe that traditional marriage is about discrimination and therefore must be invalidated by the courts, or you believe traditional marriage is about children and must be protected by the Constitution,” Cornyn said.

Noting that lawsuits challenging state marriage laws have been filed in federal courts in dozens of states, he added, “Now that the threat is a federal threat, a federal constitutional amendment is the only way to preserve traditional marriage laws nationwide.”

Dick Richardson, an African Methodist Episcopal Church minister and charity administrator from Boston, told the panel he took umbrage at claims that limiting marriage to heterosexuals is discriminatory.

“As an African-American, I know something about discrimination,” Richardson told the panel.

“The traditional institution of marriage is not about discrimination, and I find it offensive to call it that.”

But Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), an African-American Baptist minister and veteran of the Civil Rights Movement's most famous battles, disagreed.

“Discrimination is discrimination,” Lewis said.

“For one, I have fought too hard and too long against discrimination based on race and color not to stand up against discrimination based on sexual orientation.”

Posted: 4/02/04

Faith-based ad consortium created

DALLAS–The Baptist Standard has joined 30 other faith-based newspapers to create a new advertising consortium serving a five-state market.

The association, called Good News Advertising, represents newspapers with 3.5 million readers.

The advertising market–created by 31 newspapers with more than 1.3 million subscribing households in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas and New Mexico–will offer quality advertisers a “one-buy” opportunity at affordable rates, organizers said.

Good News Advertising is a Dallas-based non-profit association headed by representatives of the participating faith-based newspapers.

Faith groups represented are Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, Jewish, Presbyterian and United Church of Christ. In addition to the Baptist Standard, other Baptist papers participating are the Arkansas Baptist News, the Baptist Message in Louisiana, the Baptist Messenger in Oklahoma, the Baptist New Mexican and the Southern Baptist Texan.

The association will serve as the coordinator between the publications and advertisers seeking the new market.

“This is a first in America,” said Bronson Havard, editor of the Texas Catholic and chairman of the association. “This effort creates a new market that allows high-quality advertisers to reach a very desirable population. No other print advertising medium in the country can reach this market as effectively as we can.”

The participating newspapers comprise large segments of households in the major metropolitan markets and across the region.

“We know these facts about our newspapers,” Havard said. “Our readership is strong, prosperous and educated. We are small newspapers with credibility that are welcomed into the homes of a great number of influential people.”

The newspapers have a loyal reader base and a long “shelf-life” in homes, he added.

“The new advertising market breaks down barriers to advertising in faith-based publications,” said Marv Knox, editor of the Baptist Standard and vice chairman of the association.

Instead of making 31 separate purchases in the small weekly to monthly newspapers, advertising agencies can make one buy, he explained.

“Because of the association's broad base, advertising agencies will not have to worry about the difficulty of choosing between our publications,” Knox added.

Amy Doty, vice president of the Texas Jewish Post, called the association “a win-win situation for all. … Advertisers get a good market, and the faith-based publications get to grow.”

Most of the publications are tabloid, and most offer four-color and insert capability. They have various deadlines, requiring coordination through Good News Advertising.

Sales representatives can be reached at (800) 947-0207 or at goodnews@umr.org. The Web site is www.goodnewsadvertising.com.

Posted: 3/26/04

Baptist aid worker injured in Iraq
shooting continues recovery in Dallas

DALLAS—The lone survivor of a drive-by shooting in Mosul, Iraq that killed four Southern Baptist humanitarian aid workers is recovering in a Dallas-area hospital.

Carrie "Niki" McDonnall of Rowlett was transported to Dallas from a German hospital March 20. She underwent surgery March 24 for nerve and skin grafts on her left hand and will begin physical therapy soon, said family spokesman Van Payne.

Her doctors are "very pleased" with her progress and moved her to a private room that same day, earlier than they had expected, Payne said.

McDonnall is speaking with family members who are with her at the hospital and sent a note to her husband's funeral.

Payne noted the family's appreciation for prayers and expressions of support received from people around the world.

Unidentified attackers opened fire March 15 on McDonnall, her husband and three other Southern Baptist International Mission Board workers who were researching possible humanitarian aid projects.

McDonnall was wounded in her chest, face, arms and legs, said Mark Kelly, an IMB spokesman. Bones in her right arm and leg that were shattered in the attack appear to be healing. She lost most of three fingers on her left hand.