Posted: 3/19/04

Evangelicals make mark on society
as they bring faith into marketplace, author says

DALLAS–Evangelical Christians are making a mark on American society as they bring their faith into the marketplace, author Michael Lindsay told students and faculty at Dallas Baptist University.

Lindsay, a Baylor University graduate who is completing his doctorate in sociology at Princeton University, recently delivered the second annual George Gallup Jr. Distinguished Lectures Series at DBU.

At one point in American history, faith was deemed private and not appropriate for discussion in the public sphere, he told a DBU chapel audience.

But a new generation of evangelical Christians is breaking out of that mold, said Lindsay, who co-wrote two books with Gallup.

Research among self-identified evangelical Christians throughout the United States identified a growing group of leaders in Hollywood, Silicon Valley, New York City and Washington, D.C. These individuals have become convinced Christianity is not a private faith, Lindsay noted.

“Evangelicals are rising to positions of influence and power in this country, and they are working to bring their faith to bear on their vocations,” he said.

“These committed believers, in turn, have begun to change their world in big ways.”

Lindsay challenged the DBU student body to catch this vision of cultural renewal.

“These new trends are exciting, and a cause for great hope,” he said.

“And the most exciting things are occurring among your generation.”

Lindsay, who served previously as special assistant to the president at DBU, told faculty and staff to remember the mentoring role teachers at Christian schools perform.

“Mentors help us find our way,” he said.

“And as mentors to DBU students, you are helping these young people find their way and become all that God has called them to be.”

Posted: 3/19/04

Hearing held on same-sex marriage

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–The Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on the Constitution held a hearing recently to discuss the advisability of amending the Constitution to ban gay marriages.

This was the second such discussion convened by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the subcommittee's chairman. The subcommittee sponsored a similar hearing Sept. 4. Since then, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court twice has affirmed that state's Constitution requires equal marriage rights for same-sex couples.

The Federal Marriage Amendment, currently making its way through both houses of Congress, would ban marriage and “the legal incidents thereof” for same-sex couples nationwide. Although polls show the amendment has some support from the general public, most political observers say it has little chance of passing.

At the latest hearing, Cornyn said banning gay marriage should be “a bipartisan issue.” But Democrats on the panel balked at that suggestion.

In his opening statement, Cornyn said the amendment was necessary because “activist judges like those in Massachusetts, California and elsewhere” are presenting “a clear and present danger to traditional marriage laws across the nation.”

But Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), the Judiciary Committee's ranking Democrat, said an amendment wasn't necessary and called Bush's support for one “an attempt to salvage his faltering re-election campaign.”

Kennedy added: “President Bush will go down in history as the first president to try to write bias back into the Constitution.”

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) also announced the Senate will vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment before the year is over. “If we allow activist judges to redefine marriage, we are gambling with our future,” he said at a pre-hearing press conference with FMA supporters. The Senate, he added, “can't let that happen.”

Proponents of the amendment argue that once gay marriages are legally recognized in one state, the courts will force other states to recognize them.

But an expert in the portion of the U.S. Constitution that requires states to recognize legal acts of other states said there is no legal precedent for states being forced to recognize marriages performed in other states when such marriages violate the second state's public policy. “The (Constitution's) full faith and credit clause has never been read to reach that result,” said Lea Brilmayer, a professor at Yale Law School.

States that ban marriages between first cousins, for instance, have not been required to recognize first-cousin marriages from other states.

“There's always been vast differences in marriage laws between one state and another,” she said.

Under questioning by senators, Brilmayer did concede that federal courts may eventually overturn all state bans on same-sex marriage under a challenge based on a different part of the Constitution–its equal-protection provisions.

Dick Richardson, a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and head of an inner-city children's social-service agency in Boston, testified in favor of a gay-marriage ban.

“The dilution of the ideal–of procreation and child-rearing within the marriage of one man and one woman–has already had a devastating effect on our community,” he said.

“We need to be strengthening the institution of marriage, not diluting it. … This discussion about marriage is not about adult love. It is about finding the best arrangement for raising children, and as history, tradition, biology, sociology and just plain common sense tell us, children are raised best by their biological father and mother.”

The hearing room was packed with same-sex couples–many of them accompanied by their young children–who had been encouraged to attend by gay-rights groups.

The proposed amendment would be the first since Prohibition designed to curtail rights rather than expand them. A reporter asked Richardson, an African-American, if that fact gave him pause in casting his support behind the FMA.

“This is about children. If you want to talk about discrimination, maybe children are being discriminated against,” he responded.

Posted: 3/19/04

RANGE WRITER:
Western author Elmer Kelton

Elmer Kelton is the author of more than 40 novels, including his latest, “Texas Vendetta,” now on bookstore shelves. He is the winner of seven Spur awards from the Western Writers of America and has had three of his novels appear in Reader's Digest Condensed Books. Four have won Western Heritage Awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. He has been honored by the Texas Institute of Letters, the Western Literature Association, the National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock and the Larry McMurtry Center for Arts and Humanities at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls. He received honorary doctorates from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene and Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

A native of Crane, Kelton attended the University of Texas, earning a bachelor's degree in journalism. He spent 15 years as farm and ranch writer-editor for the San Angelo Standard-Times, five years as editor of Sheep and Goat Raiser Magazine and 22 years as associate editor of Livestock Weekly, from which he retired in 1990.

He and his wife, Ann, have two grown sons and a daughter, four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. They live in San Angelo.

Q.

Did you read much as a young boy?

I read everything I could get my hands on as a kid. I was a worry to my dad because every time he looked around I was reading something. I read everything, no matter what it was about. I loved books and magazines. I loved stories–western stories, adventure stories, anything like that. I remember reading “The Wizard of Oz” when I was in about the third grade, but I particularly loved stories about cowboys and horses. I was a voracious reader.

Elmer Kelton

Q.

Who were your favorite authors?

As a youngster, the ones who influenced me toward what I do now, at that period of my life, were J. Frank Dobie, Will James and Zane Grey. Each of them had different but somewhat the same basic material. But then I read western pulp magazines and got to know by name some of the old western pulp writers and got to meet some of them as I grew older. Those three, Dobie, James and Grey, were probably No. 1, but I read the adventure novels by Robert Louis Stevenson and Rudyard Kipling.

Q.

When did you first think about becoming a writer?

I started making up stories of my own by the time I was 8 or 9 years old, and I think from that point on, I knew pretty much, in some way or another, that is what I wanted to do.

Q.

You grew up on a ranch. What was your life like? What was your routine?

I don't know that we had a routine. At the time, my dad was the ranch foreman for the McElroy Ranch at Crane, I was the oldest of four boys.

We all went to school, but when school was out in the summer, Dad always had something for us to do. We spent a lot of time on horseback working cattle and spent a lot of time doing menial things such as digging postholes, fixing fence and pulling sucker rods out of windmills. That's the part of life that never gets in the books. It was just whatever dad wanted us to do, and he tried to keep us busy. He was a hard worker himself, and he wanted us to know how to work, and we grew up with a Christian work ethic. Even now, if I'm not doing anything, I've always got a little guilt feeling. I owe that to my dad, I guess. Anyway, it was a fun life in its way, although some of it was hard work. I was always a little ashamed of my cowboy abilities, because I just wasn't as good at it as some of them were. I compensated for it by reading and took a lot of vicarious pleasure out of the stories.

Q.

You have written more than 40 novels. What is the most difficult part of the job?

I guess the most difficult part is to make yourself sit down and work at it. Of course, you have to come up with a story, and often it's hard to come up with a good workable plot to build your story around. I try to tell my stories through the characters, but I have to have plot for them to work with–a problem or obstacle or whatever it is to be worked out to tell a story. You have to have some problem or obstacle or you don't have a story.

So working that out can be tough sometimes. I'm working on one now where I am going back to a character I've used before, and I'm already up to 100 pages, and I still don't know where I'm going with it yet. I don't have a clearly formulated plot outline in my head, but I trust the character to take care of me. He'll lead me through it.

Q.

What do you like most about writing novels?

Finishing one. It's not hard physical work, although you often feel physically drained after you've stayed with it for hours at a time. It's mostly mental work, but it certainly can sap your strength. Getting the feeling that you've done a good day's work, that you've gotten several good pages on paper, or, any more, on the computer. There's a lot of satisfaction after you're done, though it's hard work while you're doing it. Robert Louis Stevenson once said he hated to write but loved having written, and there's a lot of truth in that.

Q.

How do you deal with writer's block?

I usually try to analyze what is the matter with me. I think that most of the time writer's block is a subconscious thing that happens when you either haven't thought it out too well or you've tried to make something happen in the story that doesn't really quite fit. At some subconconscious level, I think that stops you, and when you finally trace it back and analyze where you've gone wrong and fix it, the block disappears.

Q.

How much time do you spend writing?

I don't know. I don't quantify it. On days when I am home, I try to spend the better part of the day at it, five or six hours, although I may be doing other things, too. … It's hard to try to do a specific number of pages a day, because some days it just flows and other days it's like pulling teeth, word by word, and you feel good if you get a couple of decent pages together. I don't set myself a quota, although I do set myself a deadline for finishing a project. Right now, I'm trying to do a book a year. As long as I feel I'm meeting that goal, I don't stress myself over it.

Q.

You are doing a book a year, and you said you had about 100 pages on another. Are you thinking about others as you write this new one?

Not at this moment. In the past I would be working on one and thinking about the next couple or three. Now, as I get older, I'm taking them a book at a time. And my family and my agent have been after me to do my memoirs, so I probably will do that next after I finish this book.

I'm getting up on 78 now, and I don't know how many more books are left.

Q.

Did you work for a newspaper to make a living so you could write novels, or did you write novels so you could afford to work for a newspaper?

I think either one applies to some degree. The newspaper work was for a living. I enjoyed it and specialized in agriculture for 42 years, but the biggest part of the time it subsidized my novel writing. It paid the freight, for the groceries, for the house, so I didn't have to depend on my books for a living. It freed me to write the kind of books I wanted to write because life didn't depend on whether I sold that book or not.

Having a steady job was a liberating influence for me as a writer, but my overall ambition was always to be a fiction writer. As it turned out, my journalism career gave me the background for a lot of the books I've written. … I've always felt the two careers complemented each other.

Q.

Where do you get the idea for a novel?

That's hard to answer. Sometimes it's from a story I hear or some story I've read out of history. I usually try to pick a period of history when there is change and a natural conflict because of that change. There's always a natural conflict when you come into a period of intense change, because you have people who are trying to promote the change and those who are trying to hold the status quo. I have tried to write about just about every major period of Texas history.

Q.

How many of the characters from your life on the ranch and later show up in your novels?

Quite a few. They may not come directly, but I try to borrow from people I've known and known about. Charlie Flagg in “The Time It Never Rained” was a composite of a bunch of ranchers I knew, including my father. Hewey Calloway in “The Good Old Boys” was a composite of a number of cowboys I knew when I was growing up. Those are probably my two strongest characters I've written about. Other characters come from various places. … I try not to take some real person and set him in a book as he is, but I borrow things from people and use them.

Q.

Why do you think books about the West have such broad appeal?

I think part of it is there is a mystique about that frontier period in our history. … That frontier experience, the westward movement goes back to something in a person's family history, some way or another, so there is a relationship, and you think in some sense this is about your forebears.

In another sense, readers perceive it as a simpler time when good was good, bad was bad, black was black, white was white, and you didn't have all these shades of gray to contend with. You have the feeling, although it probably isn't necessarily true, that people were more independent and not little cogs in a big wheel. It's sort of an escape for people. It serves a function, like the old myths in Europe served in their time. … I guess people need myths to tell them who they are.

Q.

What role has religious faith played in your life?

It hasn't been No. 1, but it has always been an underlying factor in my life and the way I view things. My people on both sides of my family over the years tended to be Baptists. My mother became a Methodist and brought us up Methodist. It's been a factor in guiding my outlook on life, right and wrong. … When I went off to service in World War II, I found myself at 18 in a front-line infantry company in Germany, and I thought about it a lot at that time. I kept a little Bible in my pack, and just before I shipped out for overseas, I was at Camp Howse in Gainesville and went to a little Methodist church. They gave me a prayer book, and in the back were a bunch of hymns. One that they sang was “Just as I Am.” I memorized it, and during the time I was on the front line with a knot of fear in my stomach, that hymn and prayer book pulled me through it.

Three or four years ago, I had a heart attack and was told I had to have bypass surgery. I felt real peaceful about it. I said whatever the Lord wants for me, that's what will be and went into it with total calm and peace. That faith was there.

Interview by Toby Druin

Posted: 3/19/04

Some ministers' children drawn to life of ministry

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Being a minister can be tough. Church members expect their ministers to be perfect while dynamically leading congregations to bring heaven to earth.

Ministers' concerns include finances, evangelism and Bible studies. And they regularly deal with people in times of crisis, such as illness or death.

The position also comes with little job security. Many ministers last only a few years with one church.

This setting would drive some people away from being a minister, but some Texas Baptist ministers' children see the experience as an education that prepared them to answer their own calling to ministry.

The pressures and struggles on a minister's family are difficult for maturing children to understand, but those issues can make people stronger in their faith, said Ridge Adams, pastor of Willow Grove Baptist Church in Moody, whose father, Tom, is pastor of Pendleton Community Church in Moody.

Hindsight allows Adams to see the sacrifices of his childhood as character-building experiences.

“Originally, I didn't want to become a pastor,” he said.

“I saw the struggles we went through to make ends meet.

“I think maybe I did not understand the nature of the adversity. Reflecting back on those experiences, there was growth, there was a display of grace.”

Dale Perkins Jr., music minister at First Baptist Church of Atlanta in East Texas, said it was helpful that his father intentionally projected a positive image of the church.

The older Perkins, music minister at Mobberly Baptist Church in Longview, did not mention any frustrations with his work or church members, his son said.

He encouraged children to get involved in congregational activities.

“We grew up thinking the church was a perfect place,” said Perkins, whose brothers also are ministers.

Parents who are ministers can help prepare their children for their calling, said Don Blackley, associate pastor of music and worship at First Baptist Church in Richardson.

His son, Trent, is minister of music and worship at First Baptist Church in Sunnyvale.

Mature ministers can help people who feel a call to the ministry understand the commitment they are making, Blackley said.

Beyond that, fathers serve as mentors for their grown children.

Perkins speaks to his father as often as five times a week. Adams' church sponsors his father's church.

Parents and children can encourage each other and discuss the ministry together. Blackley and his son have worked together through the Singing Men of Texas.

“We spend a lot of time talking about music, ministry, objectives, and now we can talk about the problems,” Perkins said.

“As far as I'm concerned, he's the best music minister that's ever been. Why would I go to anyone else for advice?”

Posted: 3/19/04

Panhandle preaching conference focuses on reconciliation

By Toby Druin

Editor Emeritus

PLAINVIEW–Reconciliation was the theme of the 83rd annual Panhandle Pastors' and Laymen's Conference, and before it was over, conference planners got a chance to apply it.

They reconciled themselves to the weather, a four-inch snowfall, and called off the final night session.

But in more than 11 hours of preaching, singing and testimonies in the other four sessions held at Wayland Baptist University, several hundred who braved the weather heard Chris Seay, Joel Gregory, four of their retired leaders and the Lowries–D.L. and his pastor sons John, Steve and David–exhort them to be reconciled to God, to their fellow Baptists and to non-Christians who see the church as more interested in making them behave than it is in sharing the grace that comes through belief.

Seay, pastor of Ecclesia, a ministry in the Montrose section of Houston, told the pastors he was there to provoke their thinking and challenged them to trust the gospel and use inroads provided by movies, television and music to talk to people about Christ.

A third-generation Baptist pastor, Seay said his is the first “post-Christian” generation, and every year an increasing number of people his age are walking away from the church, many of them doing so because their Internet-oriented worldview demands a bigger church than they are being presented.

One study, he said, showed evangelical Christians are the third-most despised people, behind pedophiles and serial killers.

“The perception is we are here to judge and condemn,” Seay said.

“We have become a people so concerned with morality we've forgotten the gospel. We should deal with morality after people come to Christ. Only in Christ do we have the power to change things.”

Too many Christians want to hold the people they are trying to lead to Christ at arm's length, he said. “We must live among these people who are consumed with sin and vice.”

Seay showed several films made by children and adults in Ecclesia to illustrate that even a very simple presentation of the gospel story is powerful.

Leonel Gonzales, president of the Hispanic Pastor's and Laymen's Conference, speaks with Alcides Guajardo, left, president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention, and Glen Godsey.

Christians should follow the example of the Old Testament figure Daniel and his friends, Seay said. They lived among people who worshipped false gods, but they remained faithful to scriptural teachings. Likewise, Christians must “live in the world. If we are not the salt (that non-Christians need to experience) then no one will be,” he said.

Non-Christians are searching for family, as evidenced by the extreme popularity of the television series, “The Sopranos,” which depicts the family life as well as the criminal activity of a mafia family.

“People are striving for a sense of family and find it in a criminal family, not the family of God,” he said. “I urge you to interact with people. They will understand the beauty of the glory of God. That beauty is the most persuasive aspect of the gospel.”

Gregory made an emotional return to the conference after a 13-year absence following 13 consecutive years of leading the Bible study in the late 1970s and through the 1980s.

Invited by conference President Charles Davenport of First Baptist Church of Tulia, Gregory said the conference was a “place I didn't expect to be again.”

Giving his testimony, the one-time pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas noted he resigned that position 12 years ago this September, moving from a “mansion to a tiny apartment, from a large compensation to a job as a commissioned salesman selling funerals door-to-door.”

He didn't want to face people, he said. “Over two years, my life disintegrated. Some people on whom I called shut the door in my face; others burst into tears.”

He came to realize that most people “were just barely making it” in life, he said, and he found that when he was barely making it, he lacked the faith that he was still a preacher.

“I no longer believed I would ever say a word for God again,” he said.

But two or three people kept calling and saying God hadn't given up on him. And one, the late E.K. Bailey of Dallas, “called me week after week,” he recalled. In 1997, Bailey “dared to ask me to preach at a pastors' conference at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas. There were 1,000 preachers there.”

Gregory said he has disqualified himself from ever serving as a pastor again but felt that God had deposited something in him–a “treasure in an earthen vessel”–and he wanted to use it.

He talked to Stephen Olford, the longtime pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in New York City, and “the closest Baptists have to a pope,” he said, and Olford reminded him that God had given him the calling and gift of preaching.

“Let no one mistake the fact that I don't know the depth of my failures,” Gregory said. “We don't fall up; we fall down.”

Some people rejoice that he is preaching again, he said, while others wish he would never say another word.

“If there is anything left in the story of my life,” he added, “it is that the excellence of the power be of God and not of me. The only reason I have to stand anywhere is the excellence of the power of God.”

In other messages, Gregory said that what lasts in this world are things connected with the gospel and kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ and that Christians should be “living stones” serving the “living Stone” that is Jesus Christ.

Grover Neal, pastor of St. John Baptist Church in Amarillo and a veteran in the battle for improved race relations, cited an “Issues and Answers” pamphlet on the subject produced by the Southern Baptist Christian Life Commission in the early 1970s, saying the first place to address the problems of race relations is in churches.

“Only the church can address the sin of racism,” he said. “Wouldn't it be good if every church emphasized that I am my brother's keeper and we should love each other as Christ loved us?”

Alcides Guajardo, president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas, cited the need to reach Hispanics for Christ. Noting Hispanics will be the majority in Texas by 2013, he said: “We must reach Hispanic Texans. If we do not do much more than we are doing now, our future as Texas Baptists is not very bright.”

Guajardo also spoke at the 10th annual Conference of Hispanic Pastors and Laymen held in Brown Chapel at Wayland. More than 180 attended.

The sermons by D.L. Lowrie, retired pastor of First Baptist Church of Lubbock, and his three pastor sons, John of First Baptist Church of Abernathy, Steve of First Baptist Church of Dalhart and David of First Baptist Church of Canyon, were a first for the conference.

John, preaching from John 17:20-25, said it is God's will that brothers be reconciled, that such reconciliation will change the questions being asked from who killed Christ to why he died and because Christians are the “doxology” of God–“If the world is going to see Jesus Christ, it will see him in you.”

Steve, reading the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18, said reconciliation is connected to revival.

He recalled a revival meeting at one of his churches where revival came when people began to confess sins committed against others in the congregation.

“Jesus said that before we pray, we are to ask for forgiveness,” he said.

David noted the accounts in Acts of Paul and Barnabas coming together and then splitting over the use of Mark and then Paul later noting Mark's usefulness.

Conflict in families, including Baptists, is normal, he said, and God can use it to advance his cause.

“God won't give up because we can't get along,” he said. “God isn't finished with us yet. I'm praying for the day when we will come to our senses and admit we are helpful for each other.”

God wants Baptists to move past using labels to using names, he said. “Imagine all of us at the table and Jesus at the head of the table. It could happen if we stop using labels.”

“So many conflicts come over trivial matters,” said D.L., preaching from 1 Corinthians 8:1, where the issue was over whether to eat meat from pagan altars and Paul noted knowledge had led to strong opinions and a split.

“Knowledge leads to an inflated sense of importance; it's the nature of knowledge that it puffs up and leads to pride,” Lowrie said.

“Love edifies the lover and the person loved. … If you love your brother, you do nothing to hinder him or get in the way of him growing and being useful in the Lord. We have enough knowledge.”

The conference is sponsored by the associations and areas in the Panhandle and South Plains. Four retired directors of missions–Strauss Atkinson of Caprock-Plains Area, Chester O'Brien and B.L. Davis of Amarillo Association, and Floyd Bradley of Caprock-Plains Area–brought theme interpretations.

New officers for 2005 are Jackie Gestes, president, pastor of New Horizon Baptist Church of Lubbock; Steve Vernon, president-elect, pastor of First Baptist Church of Levelland; vice president, Danny Andrews, layman, First Baptist Church of Plainview; Kenneth Glidewell, second vice president, layman, First Baptist Church of Paducah; and Charles Bassett, secretary-treasurer, retired longtime Wayland Baptist University staff member, currently at First Baptist Church of Weatherford.

Posted: 3/19/04

Churches slow to acknowledge members
have problem with pornography

By Beau Black

Religion News Service

FORT WORTH (RNS)–Pornography is a multi-billion-dollar industry and widely available via the Internet–no longer just a dirty little secret.

And evangelical churches, who over the past decades have led the public policy crusade against indecency, are slowly starting to admit to widespread use of pornography among men in their own pews.

Between 40 percent and 70 percent of evangelical Christian men admit they struggle with pornography, says Henry Rogers, a corporate chaplain who records his own experience in “The Silent War,” a book published by New Leaf Press.

Rogers and other like-minded experts say pornography addiction has become a problem of epidemic proportions, one that divides men from family and faith.

It is a tricky problem to address.

“The devil loves a secret,” says Al Meredith, pastor of Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth. “You don't have to go down to an adult store now and risk being seen in the parking lot” when pornography is readily available on the Internet at the office or at home.

Unlike eating disorders or substance addiction, pornography and sexual addiction still bear a stigma that years of Oprah-ization have drained from other behaviors. Many pastors decline to preach on lust, much less pornography.

Now, because of the spread of Internet pornography and studies indicating the number of men who look at it, churches like Wedgwood and McLean (Va.) Bible Church near Washington, D.C., along with Promise Keepers and the college-targeted Passion ministry, are wading into battle, speaking out against pornography and launching counseling and support groups to help people who struggle with it.

Some experts question whether pornography is a problem at all. British attorney and ethicist Francis Bennion writes in “The Sex Code: Morals For Moderns” that “stimulative pornography” is helpful and should generally be treated as “not immoral.”

Not so for Christians, says Eddie Traughber, a counselor at Austin Street Church of Christ in Garland.

Scripture clearly condemns pornography, Traughber maintains. “According to what Jesus says, if you look lustfully at a woman, you've committed adultery in your heart.”

Viewing pornography can have the same addictive effect on brain chemistry that alcohol or drugs do, Rogers says. “It satisfies for a season, but you want more. It's the same with alcohol.”

Rogers has observed the effect of pornography on the marriages of men he's counseled.

“Your wife won't compete with pornography. The woman online will do whatever I want, and my wife won't do that,” he says. “Nothing cuts at the heart of a woman more than finding out her husband isn't satisfied with her.”

And men aren't the only ones falling into the trap. Shannon Ethridge, author of “Every Woman's Battle,” recalls a recent survey of Today's Christian Woman magazine readers. Of the conservative Christian respondents, 34 percent admitted to accessing visual porn on the Internet, she says. “I think women are finally saying, 'Hey, I'm not the only one.'”

How does viewing pornography turn into an addiction? Colorado Springs-based counselor Doug Weiss identifies some warning signs:

Thoughts preoccupied with pornography.

Spending more time with pornography than you want to.

Losing interest in other activities.

Promising to stop but repeatedly failing.

Finding someone to open up to is a crucial first step in overcoming pornography as an addiction, says Traughber. Whether it's a counselor, pastor or friend, confessing sins is a biblical and psychological imperative.

Next, he says, “you have to be willing to perform a 'radical amputation'–getting rid of the Internet, using a filter, getting rid of magazines, not going to certain parts of town” to begin to break the addictive cycle.

Weiss urges the church: “Get out of denial.” Pastors need to talk about pornography from the pulpit, admitting their own struggles. Rogers says he looks forward to the day when pastors don't call the “porn guy” to come speak but deal with it themselves.

Finally, Weiss encourages churches to “pick a leader and start a (support) group.”

Dave Brown, men's pastor at McLean Bible Church, says aside from offering counseling and encouraging accountability, his group's approach involves refocusing men on “what biblical manhood is” including “the unique responsibilities God has given them in their families, marriages, churches and communities.”

“All of us struggle with sin,” says Meredith. “The only one who gains from (keeping it secret) is the devil. All of us have the idea that 'if anyone knew what I struggle with, they'd throw me out of here.'”

Ethridge points to the Bible for inspiration.

“There's always that feeling that no one will understand. But it goes back to Scripture that no temptation has seized you except what is common to man. There's nothing new under the sun,” she says.

Posted: 3/19/04

At 95, Bev Shea still awed by the wonder of it all

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

George Beverly Shea often wished he could preach like his father and grandfather, but he seemed to lack the “gift.”

Even so, when he was on staff at WMBI, the Moody Bible Institute's flagship radio station in Chicago, a professor advised him to “turn (his) eyes to the pulpit,” because he'd never be able to make a living singing sacred music.

Shea didn't listen. Instead, he began a career as a Christian singer that has spanned six decades, perhaps sharing the gospel in song with more people than anyone in history as featured vocalist with Billy Graham's evangelistic crusades.

“Bill Fasig, our team instrumentalist who went to be with the Lord soon after the 2002 Metroplex Mission in Dallas, said, 'God uses music to open the heart and the word of God to fill it,'” Shea said. “I just try to set things up for Mr. Graham to talk about the Lord.”

Shea recalled a time several years ago when he was invited to submit an entry to the “Guinness Book of World Records” as the person who has sung live to more people than anyone. He never bothered to fill out the paperwork.

While that record remains unconfirmed, other honors have come his way through the years–10 Grammy Award nominations and one Grammy Award, as well as induction into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and the Religious Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

His resonant bass-baritone voice has been heard on “The Hour of Decision” radio program more than 50 years, and he has recorded more than 70 sacred music albums and composed Christian standards such as “The Wonder of It All.”

But his greatest joy has come in traveling with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, singing gospel songs on every continent and in every state of the Union.

He shared recollections from many of those evangelistic crusades, as well as other personal reflections, in a recent book, “How Sweet the Sound,” published by Tyndale House.

In the book, which he refers to as “just a collection of stories glued together,” he identified more than 50 of his favorite hymns and gospel songs.

He told about being deeply moved when he visited the graves of John Newton, the former slave trader who penned “Amazing Grace,” and Fanny Crosby, the blind composer of more than 8,000 gospel songs, including “Blessed Assurance.”

And he recounted the story of a truck driver who said he was moved to tears every time he heard “Lord, I'm Coming Home” on the radio. Shea personally led the man to faith in Jesus Christ.

In addition to Shea's memories of hymns such as “Rock of Ages” and “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” the book also includes lesser-known family favorites, such as the blessing for food sung around the dinner table of his boyhood home in Canada.

He resisted the idea of singling out one favorite but acknowledged: “I never really get tired of 'How Great Thou Art.' It wears well. It still gets to your heart.”

While Shea speaks fondly of friends in contemporary Christian music, he admitted: “I probably would make a fool of myself if I tried (to sing contemporary music). I stick with the old ones. They have the ability to get to the heart so quickly.”

At the church Shea and his wife, Karlene, attend near their North Carolina home, the worship service every-other week follows a contemporary format.

“We stand for 15 minutes at a time, singing songs nobody will even think of tomorrow,” he said with disapproval. “But there are good songs being written. There always needs to be change.”

Shea pointed out his friends Kurt Kaiser and Ralph Carmichael were on the cutting edge of Christian music 25 years ago. He also voiced great respect for modern composers such as Michael W. Smith and performer Michael Tait of dc Talk, who have become a part of recent Billy Graham Missions, as the evangelistic crusades are now called.

At age 95, Shea already has committed to participate in upcoming evangelistic meetings in Kansas City and Los Angeles this year, in addition to Graham's return to Madison Square Garden in 2005.

“Madison Square Garden almost has to be the last one for him at his age, and I'm 10 years older than he is,” he said.

Shea knows his voice is not as strong as it once was, but he said: “I'll go along and do what I can. … I talked with Mr. Graham less than a year ago, asking if he wanted me to step down because of my age. He told me, 'If you lose all your teeth, just come whistle.'”

.

Posted: 3/19/04

Emergency food shipment arrives in war-torn Haiti

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS–A planeload of food sent by Texas Baptist Men arrived earlier this month in Haiti, a country recently ravaged by civil war.

More than 300 pounds of non-perishable food landed at the airport in Cap Haitien.

The food will be distributed through an agricultural training center that TBM has worked with in the past.

TBM is coordinating the relief project through a missionary to Haiti with whom the Texas volunteers have worked on earlier missions efforts. He temporarily relocated to Florida when civil unrest in Haiti began.

Organizers of the relief effort hope the food will ease the people's struggles, said TBM Executive Director Leo Smith.

Food is becoming scarce because shipments are difficult to get in the country.

“It's the innocents who suffer when they are in civil war like they are there,” Smith said.

“We aim to bring some relief to them.”

According to reports, the country remains in chaos. Armed gangs continue roaming the streets despite the presence of a multi-national peacekeeping force led by the United States.

Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned as a rebel force sought to overthrow him Feb. 29. Gerard Latortue since has been named president.

Texas Baptists can contribute financially to the relief project by designating checks “Haitian relief” and sending them to Texas Baptist Men, 333 N. Washington, Dallas 75246-1798.

Posted: 3/19/04

Houston church believes ministry
begins at home, particularly among the church staff

By George Henson

Staff Writer

HOUSTON–When Lisa Archinal started seeking a ministry project for her Sunday school department, she realized she didn't have to look beyond the households of her church's staff.

Her father, Clois Smith, was a minister more than 45 years, 27 of those as an associate pastor at Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston.

When she sought a ministry project that would force her department of young married couples to look past their own needs, the wives of staff members seemed a natural choice.

“As the child of a staff wife, I saw that many times they give a lot of ministry, much of it behind the scenes, and often it goes unnoticed,” she said.

While she moved away for a time, she has returned to Tallowood, which has 11 staff wives.

As a part of the ministry, the Sunday school department gives a bit of special attention to each of the staff wives at Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, wedding anniversaries and birthdays.

The ministry also has grown to include an annual appreciation dinner, and for the first time this year, a girls' night out at a local hotel.

“A businessman in our church donated some 'hotel points' he had accumulated, and we were able to treat them to a dinner and a movie, and put them up in a downtown hotel for a kind of slumber party, where they could just enjoy time together,” Archinal said.

“We're just trying to do whatever we can to show them how much we love and appreciate them.”

Laura Rogers, one of the members of the department who plays a key role in the ministry, believes it is time well spent.

“I think this is an important ministry, because our ministers do so much, and their wives are always there to support them. Their wives are the ones that are left home alone many nights, and I think it is important to support them as well,” she said.

Archinal devotes Thursdays each week primarily to prayer for the wives of the Tallowood staff.

“I call them every few weeks to get any confidential prayer requests they might have, and I don't share those with anyone,” she said.

Melanie Brooks, wife of Pastor Duane Brooks, said the ministry not only is greatly appreciated, but also fills a real need.

“It's just a wonderful experience. They remember our birthdays and anniversaries and send us simple things and a note. It's just really nice,” she said.

“Also, they allow the staff wives to get together as a group. Our husbands get to do that at staff meetings and quarterly retreats, but because we are involved in different ministries in the church, we don't really have any other times that we are all together, and that makes it really special.”

Posted: 3/19/04

Worship growing more diversified,
survey of Protestant churches says

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

The typical worshipper in a Protestant church today is more likely to be singing choruses projected on a screen and taking notes from his pastor's PowerPoint presentation than he was five years ago, a new study reveals.

But the same research shows most churches still sing traditional hymns and use a printed order of worship at least once a month.

Ellison Research, a marketing research firm in Phoenix, Ariz., conducted the survey for Facts & Trends magazine, a publication of LifeWay Christian Resources.

According to survey results published in the magazine's March-April issue, churches moving toward more contemporary worship styles outpaced those shifting to more traditional styles by an 11-to-1 margin.

Researchers surveyed 659 ministers in all 50 states representing all major Protestant denominations. Geography, church size and denomination were carefully tracked to ensure appropriate representation and accuracy.

Ministers currently active in church leadership were asked whether worship style in their church had changed in the last five years. Fifteen percent said their worship has become much more contemporary, and another 36 percent said it was somewhat more contemporary. Forty-four percent noted no significant change, while 5 percent said their worship has become more traditional in the last five years.

Movement toward a more contemporary worship style was most pronounced in the larger churches and among Pentecostals. Twenty-seven percent of churches with 200 or more members had become much more contemporary, compared to 14 percent among mid-sized churches, and 9 percent among churches with fewer than 100 members.

Pentecostal churches were more than twice as likely as non-Pentecostal churches to report a major shift toward contemporary worship styles (31 percent, compared to 12 percent).

Not surprisingly, pastors under age 60 were almost twice as likely to have led their church toward much more contemporary worship as were older ministers.

The study also examined specific elements used in worship, and it showed the greatest increase in the last five years was in the use of electronic media, though they still are used by fewer than half of all American Protestant churches.

Five years ago, only 5 percent of Protestant churches used computer graphics presentations at least once a month. Today, projected computer graphics are used in more than one-third (36 percent) of all Protestant churches. Five years ago, 4 percent used video clips during worship services, compared to 29 percent now.

The number of churches using praise and worship choruses nearly doubled in the last five years (from 38 percent in 1999 to the current 74 percent). Churches using drama have grown from 23 percent to 42 percent.

But if pastors are trying to appeal to a visually oriented generation with a short attention span, they're missing the mark in at least one area. The survey showed the average sermon is nearly 31 minutes long–roughly the same length as it was five years ago.

And some other things remain unchanged. Nearly all churches (95 percent) pass an offering plate, bag or basket in the worship service. A clear majority of churches observe communion (89 percent), sing traditional hymns (88 percent), print an order of worship (85 percent) and use hymnals (78 percent) at least once a month in worship.

A majority of Protestant churches still have choirs (62 percent), use congregational or responsive readings in worship (52 percent) and offer Sunday night worship services (51 percent).

The study found considerably more diversity in worship today than was present just five years ago, said Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research.

“Of the 17 worship elements we explored in this study, the average church today uses 9.8 of them once a month or more,” Sellers noted. “Five years ago, the average church used 7.3 of them. Even traditional elements such as hymns, altar calls and communion celebrations have become more common as churches diversify what they offer to worshippers.”

For more information, visit www.ellisonresearch.com/PastorStudy.htm.

Data summary:

Passing an offering plate/bag/basket etc.: 95 percent use today, 80 percent used five years ago

Celebration of communion: 89 percent use today, 72 percent used five years ago

Traditional hymns: 88 percent use today, 76 percent used five years ago

Printed bulletin/order of service: 85 percent use today, 68 percent used five years ago

Hymnals: 78 percent use today, 73 percent used five years ago

Praise & worship choruses: 74 percent use today, 38 percent used five years ago

An altar call: 67 percent use today, 52 percent used five years ago

Children's sermon or children's worship: 65 percent use today, 47 percent used five years ago

A choir: 62 percent use today, 55 percent used five years ago

Congregational/responsive readings: 52 percent use today, 44 percent used five years ago

Worship on Sunday evenings: 51 percent use today, 44 percent used five years ago

Drama (skits or sketches): 42 percent use today, 23 percent used five years ago

Identifying visitors (stand, raise hands, etc.): 38 percent use today, 34 percent used five years ago

PowerPoint or similar computer graphics: 36 percent use today, 5 percent used five years ago

Video clips shown in the service: 29 percent use today, 4 percent used five years ago

Christian rock/pop/country music: 25 percent use today, 9 percent used five years ago

Secular music: 7 percent use today, 4 percent used five years ago

(Courtesy of Facts & Trends)

Posted: 3/19/04

Around the State

Dusty Burris, a student at East Texas Baptist University, will be the opening act for the contemporary Christian singing duo Shane & Shane March 30 at Centenary College in Shreveport, La. The concert is free to area college students with a valid student identification card. Burris is a member of Immanuel Church in Marshall, where his father Carlton Burris is pastor.

Jessica Wright, president of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Nursing Students Association, has been elected Southern Regional Director by the Texas Nursing Students Association.

Girls in Action from First Baptist Church in Friendswood recently delivered a check for $851.71 to Texas Baptist Encampment in Palacios to help repair the damage dealt by Hurricane Claudette. They had attended the camp a few weeks before the storm and were upset to learn it had been damaged. They raised money by having a bake sale, cake walk and parents' night out. The girls are pictured with camp Director Rob Kessler in front of the Gulf Coast dorm, one of the buildings destroyed by the hurricane.

Williamson Association will hold a team leadership training course at its offices April 5 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Deadline for registration is March 29. For more information or to register, call (512) 930-0965. Clint Anderson is director of missions.

Anniversaries

Teo Cisneros, 20th, as pastor of Templo Jerusalem in Victoria.

Bob Billups, fifth, as senior associate pastor of First Church in Denton.

David Edwards, 10th, as pastor of Main Street Church in Georgetown.

Glenn Ward, 30th, as pastor of Acton Church in Granbury, March 28. The church will hold a banquet in his honor at 5:45 p.m.

First Church in Paris, 150th, April 24-25. Saturday will include a reception for former staff and members at 2:30 p.m. in Heritage Hall. At 6:30 p.m., a reunion choir fellowship and rehearsal will be held in Fellowship Hall. Former Pastor James Semple will preach the Sunday morning sermon, followed by a catered barbecue lunch. A celebration service featuring preaching by former Minister of Education Bill Taylor will follow the meal. Former pastors James Riley and Ronald Prince also are expected to attend. For more information or to reserve tickets for the catered lunch, call (903) 785-6431. Randall Perry is pastor.

Events

The Concert Choir of Hardin-Simmons University will present a concert at Gambrell Street Church in Fort Worth March 24 at 6 p.m. Admission is free, but an offering will be collected. Clyde Glazener is pastor.

First Church in Nacogdoches will present “The Majesty and Glory of Easter” at 7 p.m. April 4. For more information, call (936) 564-7379. Allen Reed is pastor.

Contemporary Christian music artists Bebo Norman and Ginny Owens will present a concert to celebrate the opening of the worship center at The Heights Church in Richardson April 24 at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $10. For more information, call (972) 231-6047, ext. 292. Gary Singleton is pastor.

Retiring

Dan Bates, as pastor of Heards Prairie Church in Bremond. He had served the church seven years and has been in ministry 41 years. He is available for preaching or music supply and interims at (936) 825-8244.

Deaths

Felton Jones, 94, Jan. 19 in Hamlin. He was minister of education at First Church in San Angelo from 1947 to 1966. After his retirement, he stayed to teach a men's Sunday school class for more than 20 years. He was preceded in death by his wife of 65 years, Grace, in 1999. He is survived by his daughter, Sandra Thompson.

Gilbert Callaway, 78, March 6 in McKinney. On the day he was born, doctors told his mother he would not survive his first year due to a serious heart defect. He did, and was pastor of his first church at age 19. Congregations he served as pastor include First Church in Wylie and First Church in Lewisville. In 1979, he became director of missions for Collin Association, a position he held until his retirement in 1993. Following retirement, he continued to serve as a Sunday school teacher, Bible class instructor at the Collin County Jail and Meals-on-Wheels volunteer. In 2001, he was honored by Gov. Rick Perry and the state of Texas with the Paul and Silas Award for his volunteer work at the jail. In 2003, Collin Association honored him by establishing the Gilbert Callaway Love Offering to benefit new and existing Baptist ministries. He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Nora; daughters, Connie Atkins, Carla Falkner and Kelly Callaway; brother, Melvin; sisters, Dorothy Boen and Vera Anderson; four grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

Nita Jones, 73, March 8 in Arlington. She and her husband, Don, were missionaries with the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board from 1957 to 1993, serving in Korea. After retirement, they returned to Grand Prairie, where she formed a handbell choir at Inglewood Church. She is survived by her husband of 53 years; daughter, Elizabeth Adkins; son, Preston; and three grandchildren.

Kathleen Jones, 81, March 15. The daughter of Southern Baptist missionaries, she was appointed herself by the Foreign Mission Board in 1953. With the assistance of two nurses, she opened the medical and church work in Kediri, Indonesia. During 35 years of service, she was staff physician, administrator, outpatient clinic supervisor and resident supervisor at the Baptist hospital there. After retirement, she worked for many years at the Cornerstone Clinic for Women in Little Rock, Ark. She is survived by her sister, Mimi Abington.

H.L. Hall, 79, March 16 in Longview. A U.S. Navy veteran of World War II and the Korean War, he was a member and deacon at First Church in Longview. He was preceded in death by his brother, Forrest. He is survived by his wife, Chlo; son, Ken; daughter, Joyce Homeyer; sisters, Ernestine Roden, Ethel Stroud and Shirley Robinson; brother, Don; four grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.

Ordained

George Tijerina to the ministry at First Church in Hallsville.

Michael Tollison to the ministry at North Park Church in Sherman.

Rick Myatt to the ministry at Heights Church in Temple.

Fred Williams as a deacon at First Church in Rowlett.

Jim Burleson, Glen Glasson and James Tucker as deacons at First Church in Gorman.

Revivals

First Church, Lipan; March 21-24; evangelist, Homer Martinez; music, David Best; pastor, David White.

First Church, El Campo; March 28-31; evangelist, Tierce Green; pastor, Rick DuBroc.

Belmore Church, San Angelo; March 28-31; evangelists, Rod and Barb Thomas; pastor, Kevin McSpadden.

First Church, Center; March 28-31; evangelist, Ronnie Hill; interim pastor, Roy Fish.

First Church, Savoy; March 28-April 1; evangelist, James Seigler; music, Jack Vest; pastor, Byron Brown.

Lamar Church, Beaumont; April 2-4; evangelist, Sammy Fuentes; pastor, Warren Wargo.

Northside Church, Highlands; April 4-7; evangelist, Larry Taylor; music, Gene Littlejohn; pastor, David Brumbelow.

South Park Church, Beaumont; April 4-7; evangelist, David Crain; pastor, James Blackwell.

First Church, Rising Star; April 4-7; evangelist, Cody Moree; music, The Cherrys; pastor, David Williams.

Posted: 3/19/04

Baptist Briefs

Lottie Moon Offering shows increase. If initial projections hold true, giving to the 2003 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering will be up between 18 percent and 22 percent over the previous year, Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin announced recently. Surpassing the $133 million goal–or reaching the $150 million challenge goal–would enable the IMB to loosen restrictions on missionary appointments imposed in 2003, he said. The record $115 million Southern Baptists gave to the offering in 2002 was an increase of 1.15 percent over 2001 but $10 million short of the goal.

SBC online registration available. Churches can register their messengers to the 2004 Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis online at the convention's website, www.sbc.net. A church-authorized representative can complete the registration process by providing the church's seven-digit ID number (found on the Annual Church Profile); the name of the church's moderator or clerk; the church's membership, gifts to SBC causes, state convention and associational affiliations; and the messengers' names. Online registration ends at midnight June 12.

SBC child and youth registration opens. Registration is open for families who want to enroll their children in the preschool child care, the children's conference or the youth Centrifuge held in conjunction with the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Indianapolis. For all information regarding registration, visit www.sbc.net and click on "2004 SBC Annual Meeting Pre-Registration."

CBF UN missionaries move. Two Cooperative Baptist Fellowship missionaries to New York's diplomatic community have moved to North Carolina. Ana and David D'Amico have served as missionaries at the United Nations for the past eight years. Last month, they moved to Raleigh, N.C., where they will develop ministries to Hispanics. The D'Amicos will continue to attend United Nations' conferences and connect other CBF missions personnel to conferences relevant to the Fellowship's ministry worldwide. Eventually, they will pass their responsibility as UN liaisons to Dean Dickens of Dallas, the Fellowship's associate coordinator for North American mission teams.

Central names Marshall acting dean. Molly Marshall, professor of theology and spiritual formation at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Kan., has been named acting academic dean at the school. She fills the post left vacant by James Hines, who resigned to begin full-time teaching duties as the seminary's tenured professor of religious education.

CBF seeks China volunteers. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is enlisting volunteers for summer teaching positions in China through the Chinese University and China Christian Council. The CBF 2004 China Summer Program consists of five trips of varying duration and cost. Applications are due by March 31. For more information, call (877) 856-9288 or e-mail at volunteer@thefellowship.info.

Top administrators leave Louisiana College. The president and academic vice president of Louisiana College in Pineville, La., are leaving the Baptist school. Rory Lee, president for seven years, announced March 15 he is leaving at the end of the semester to become executive director of the Mississippi Baptist Children's Village. His announcement came just days after the resignation of Ben Hawkins, vice president of academic affairs. It was the same day trustees met in an executive session, and alumni joined students in a campus rally protesting the trustees' December decision to require faculty members to get all classroom materials pre-approved by the academic vice president. In addition to the book-screening policy, trustees now require all new faculty members to submit a worldview statement that includes their beliefs on the sanctity of life and marriage.