Posted: 3/14/08

Explore the Bible Series for March 23

Celebrating Easter’s Significance

• John 20:15-18, 1 Corinthians 15:3-6, 20-22

By Donald Raney

First Baptist Church, Petersburg

What do you think about when you hear the word Easter? Is it brightly colored eggs, large Sunday lunches with all the family, elaborate dramatic presentations, or fancy new clothes? Apart from the special music and events with our church families, Easter should do something in our lives each year. Easter lies at the heart of the Christian message. The miracle that happened on Easter is the why we have hope. Jesus rose from the dead. He overcame humanity’s greatest fear, the grave, and offers new abundant life to all who would believe. Many today may not believe that this happened, but the Bible clearly tells us He did. As believers we are called and encouraged to celebrate and proclaim the truth and significance of Jesus’ resurrection. We are called to do this not only as we gather to celebrate through worship on Easter Sunday, but to celebrate the new life through our individual lives every day. The Good News of Easter is that Christians worship a Savior who is alive. Our response to this holiday should be to celebrate the significance of that message by allowing it to transform our lives.

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Marvel at the Empty Tomb (John 20:1-9)

She had watched Jesus die on Friday. She saw where they buried Him. They did not have time to prepare His body to be buried, so she had decided to take the spices to His tomb on Sunday morning. Early Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene went to His tomb in order to finish Jesus’ burial. When she got to the tomb, she saw that it was open and the large stone was moved from the doorway. In her shock and confusion, she did the only thing she could think to do. She left the tomb and went to find the apostles. When they arrived at the tomb, the disciples could hardly believe what they found. The tomb was empty and the burial clothes looked as if they were awaiting the burial of someone. Today we are very familiar with this story of Easter morning. For nearly 2000 years we have heard it read and preached and watched dramatic reenactments. This familiarity has in some measure robbed us of the sheer amazement which greeted the first visitors to the tomb that morning. We read the story of the horror of the crucifixion on Friday knowing that Sunday morning changed everything. Perhaps it would deepen our appreciation and celebration of the significance of Easter morning if we could try to approach the tomb the way that Mary, Peter, and John did that first Easter morning.

Listen to the Witnesses (John 20:15-18)

After Peter and John left the tomb to find the other disciples, Mary, still lost in her confusion, remained to consider what she had witnessed over the previous three days. As she did, a man approached and asked why she was crying. Locked in her perception of the way the world worked – a world where the dead did not return to life – Mary’s mind did not recognize the man as Jesus. Yet as her spoke her name, her eyes were opened to the truth. Mary is then sent by Jesus as the first evangelist of the resurrection. Many today are bound by a worldview which can only accommodate those things which can be understood through the senses and explained through reason and the laws of nature. Their minds cannot grasp that anyone would willingly die for the sins of others and that that person would rise from the dead. Such things simply do not happen in the “real world,” they conclude. Yet beginning with Mary, hundreds during the first few weeks and millions since have proclaimed (some at the cost of their lives) that the tomb was indeed empty and Jesus is alive.

Recognize the Gospel’s Significance (1 Corinthians 15:3-6)

Paul was not among those who personally met Jesus prior to his death or during the time between His resurrection and ascension. It was during that time that the mane then known as Saul was in training as a Pharisee. It was only after he began to actively persecute the new “Christian” believers that Saul met Jesus. Yet following his brief encounter with Jesus on a road to Damascus, Saul the persecutor came face-to-face with the life-transforming significance and power of the Gospel and became Paul, the greatest evangelist and church planting missionary the church has ever had. Just as we can often lose the impact of the sight of the empty tomb, we can also lose sight of the real significance of the Gospel. This is especially a danger for those who perhaps grew up in the church and accepted Christ as our Lord as a child. Yet if we truly wish to live out our salvation and fulfill our divine commission to proclaim the Gospel to a dying world, we must never allow ourselves to become too casual in acknowledging or describing the infinite significance of the message of Easter.

Celebrate New Life in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:20-22)

In John 3, Jesus describes the act of accepting the Gospel as being “born again.” Paul talks about experiencing a new life as we surrender our lives to Christ. In a very real sense believers do enter into a new or reborn life when they choose to believe the Gospel. They are no longer bound by the penalty or guilt of past sin and experience the indwelling of the very presence of God in the form of the Holy Spirit. They enjoy the abundance of life which Jesus promised in John 10:10. Yet there seems to be a slight misunderstanding about this new life. The newness of this “new life” refers to our experience after we accept God’s gift of salvation. The experience of hope, peace, joy, meaning, and purpose in life is “new” to us, but it has been available to us all along. This new experience of real life is what God created each of us to experience from our physical birth. We were not created to live as slaves to sin, but were created to enjoy a constant flow of abundant life throughout our lives. Thanks to the price Jesus paid, as we accept and celebrate the truth of the Easter story, chains are broken and we experience the real life in the presence of God which God always intended us to enjoy.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 3/14/08

Bible Studies for Life Series for March 23

Alive with power

• Ephesians 1:18-21; 2:4-9; 3:16-21

By Gary Long

Willow Meadows Baptist Church, Houston

There are a lot of fakes in this world. Modern painters make copies of masterpieces that are almost indistinguishable from the original. Cubic zirconium is passed off as a real diamond. Counterfeit cash is passed off for the real green. We even put vinyl siding on our homes—plastic that has a fake “wood grain” in it. Even our bodies are becoming less real and more fake by way of surgical enhancements of all kinds.

A little critical thought yields the conclusion that we are willing to settle for imposters, and you’d likely be right in assuming we do the same in our spiritual lives; we settle for something less than the real power of the living God.

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Easter offers the chance to reflect on the power of God to raise the Christ, but it also offers the chance for your students to reflect on the power of God to change their lives for good. Better than any self-help book, the power of God can do more than create “your best life now.”

The God of Easter offers awesome power

Paul offered a prayer for the church at Ephesus and the central part of that prayer is Ephesians 1:17-23. Paul wanted the church to know the power of God was so awesome it was able to overcome death completely. What’s more, the Scriptures speak to us today, teaching that we are able to tap into that same awesome power when we believe in Jesus and his resurrection. This is new hope that is real and substantial—a true diamond, not a cubic zirconium fake.

Practical pointer—the power of God is on display throughout our cosmos. The Christian band Third Day expresses it well with the simple lyrics: “God of wonders, beyond our galaxy, You are holy, holy! The universe declares Your majesty.”

Consider asking your learners to listen to this song during class and answer questions about where they see and experience God’s power in their world. This is a good time to remind them that the Easter event displays God’s ultimate power over all forces—especially the forces of death.

The God of Easter offers saving power

By the time Paul gets to the second chapter of Ephesians, he is ready to talk about the saving power of God. In Ephesians 2:4-9, Paul teaches it is by faith that we are able to receive the grace of God—which is able to save us from our sin and brokenness. The result is that the power of God comes alive in us through Christ, and we are able to know this power and be redeemed by it. This is the power needed in this world, and it is power that is real—not like the wood grain on your vinyl siding!

It’s easy to miss the amazing nature of this saving power until it becomes personal. My firm belief as a pastor is that until a believer can articulate what God’s saving power means in her life, she will be missing out on what that power can do on the spiritual plane.

Students in your class who’ve never made the decision to follow Jesus will appreciate hearing your story of how saving power has changed you. This is a great opportunity for you as teacher to tell the story of what God’s saving power has meant in your life. If you’re having trouble framing it, consider completing this set of sentences:

1. Before I came to faith in Jesus, my life was ______________.

2. I first recognized my need for Jesus’ saving power when I ____________________.

3. Since I admitted my need for the saving power of Jesus, the following things have changed in my life: _____________________.

If you’re teaching a class of seasoned Christians, this is a good opportunity to help them articulate their own story of salvation so they might be better prepared to tell others when opportunities arise.

Put your class through those same three sentences above and ask them to share their answers with a partner in the class. Then challenge them to keep their spiritual eyes open in conversations with friends to tell their story.

This is an exceedingly important exercise in light of the “fakes” in the world. Having thought about how God’s power has changed your life will help you and your students offer an authentic story to a world that is hungry for truth and is sick of the shallow appearances of truth.

The God of Easter offers spiritual power (Ephesians 3:16-21)

Paul’s prayers for the Ephesians return to the topic of power, but this time it is not about resurrection power or saving power, but about real spiritual power for the believer. Three times in the passage Paul uses the word “power”: Once in reference to the power within us that comes from the Holy Spirit (v. 16), once in reference to the power that comes from understanding the depth and width and breadth of God’s love for us (v.18), and once in reference to the power of God at work within us to do more than we can ask or even imagine (v. 20).

Because of this spiritual power, it is possible for those who trust Jesus to depend of him for strength in the face of hardship and difficulty.

It’s also a positive reminder that God is at work doing things bigger than we can even imagine, and we are able to see that God’s strength is deeper than our finite minds can grasp.

My youngest daughter learned to swim about the time she turned 2. Because she had older siblings that “pushed” her to swim, she advanced quicker than the older sibs did when they were little. As a result, she is a great swimmer. It became her favorite thing to swim all the way down and touch the bottom of the 10-foot section of the pool. It took her a while to learn how to swim down, but over time she worked hard and gained the strength necessary to push herself to the deep bottom. After her first time accomplishing the goal, she erupted back to the surface of the pool and gasping, exclaimed, “I touched the deep, Daddy! I touched the deep!”

That was almost five years ago, and that story has become a strong metaphor for me about understanding the power of God. Here’s what I mean: With the power of God at work in our lives, we are able to dive deep, swim hard and gain strength for the living of life, even when the water is over our heads.

Unlike my daughter’s ability to “touch the deep” of the pool, we are never able to “touch the deep” of God’s power. There is no end to his saving power and the spiritual power he gives us. We gradually grow stronger by way of the spiritual disciplines but we need—and have accessible to us—the power of God for the living of life and the understanding of the deep mysteries of God’s essence. And there’s no faking that.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 3/14/08

Will evangelical center emerge
to rival waning Christian Right?

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP)—If the Religious Right is losing its influence, as many pundits predict, will it be replaced by the “other” evangelicals—a center-and-left coalition with a broader social agenda and a kinder, gentler brand of cultural engagement?

Advocates say centrist evangelicals are a bona fide constituency that is re-emerging after three decades spent underground—or at least ignored by the media and society at large.

Although these other evangelicals have no dominant spokespersons and no representative organization, at least not yet, they say they are every bit as worthy of the “evangelical” label as their counterparts on the right—and every bit as numerous.

In fact, Christians can “be more evangelical by being less conservative,” argues Baptist theologian and author Roger Olson. And he’s written a book to tell them how.

“Evangelicals are leaving the Religious Right in droves,” added Christian activist Jim Wallis, for three decades the social conscience of the evangelical left. “This evangelical center is getting so big.”

So, how many evangelical centrists are out there?

Political scientist John Green, the preeminent researcher on evangelical politics, concluded 10.8 percent of American voters in 2004 were in the evangelical center, compared to 12.6 percent of voters on both the evangelical left and evangelical right.

But that doesn’t include African-American and Latino evangelicals, about half of whom are centrists. And those numbers likely have swelled in recent years, if Wallis and others are correct about the exodus on the right.

Driving the shift among evangelicals is “the refusal of the center or the left to confine moral values to abortion and homosexuality,” said ethicist David Gushee, who insists researchers and reporters err by grouping evangelicals into “bipolar” camps of left and right.

That shift is sped by the generational transition also taking place in society, said Gushee, a centrist Baptist who teaches at Mercer University and its seminary, both located in Georgia. The students he meets today, even at conservative Christian colleges, are more likely to campaign against sex trafficking, torture and environmental abuse than abortion or gay rights, Gushee said. And they’re fed up with the right’s “slash and burn” approach.

“The younger generation is definitely turned off to the culture-war mentality and all the anger,” he said. “They believe it violates the Spirit of Christ.”

Gushee, Wallis and Olson all have new books coming out about the emerging evangelical center and its broadened social agenda.

All three say faith steers the political views of moderate and progressive evangelicals— particularly young adults—to include a varied pallet of issues: poverty, war and peace, care of the environment, immigration reform, AIDS, lingering racism, torture, support for human rights, genocide in Darfur, and other social issues the Religious Right has largely avoided.

In a January poll by Beliefnet.com, self-described evangelicals ranked poverty, the environment, health care, education, the economy, governmental reform, and ending torture and the Iraq war as more important issues than abortion or gay marriage, the right’s two hot-button issues. And, perhaps most surprising, a majority of survey respondents were conservative.

A similar result came from a 2006 Zogby International poll of voters in the mid-term elections. Those voters said “kitchen table” issues—the economy, Iraq, poverty and greed —mattered more than abortion or gay marriage. Fewer than 9 percent of voters named abortion or gay marriage as the top moral issue. And the number of religious Americans who voted Democratic in 2006 increased significantly over 2004.

“If Christians are still reading the Bible seriously, and they’re reading it from Genesis to Revelation, then it’s impossible to ignore the broader issues,” said Gushee, who says the evangelical center is growing and will set the tone for Christian cultural engagement in the future.

“A historic shift is occurring,” Richard Cizik, vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals, said in a Scripps-Howard interview. “It is equivalent to an earthquake in slow motion—people aren’t sensing it.”

Cizik, the NAE’s progressive VP for governmental affairs, has himself been the target of evangelicalism’s old guard—such as Focus on the Family founder James Dobson—who accuse him of distracting evangelicals’ attention from the bread-and-butter issues of abortion and homosexuality.

The 2008 presidential election is demonstrating that religious voters are anything but monolithic. New surveys from the Pew Forum and the Barna Group suggest evangelical voters are in play for Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, both of whom are professing Christians with social agendas mirroring the new, broader evangelical definition of public morality.

Conservative evangelicals insist their obituary is premature. While they remain uneasy with their presidential options, they still carry weight in the electorate—particularly in the Republican Party. And they expect to have an impact on the presidential election.

But clearly the landscape has changed since the early days, when Jerry Falwell prayed publicly for God to speed the death of “liberal” Supreme Court justices.

“The Christian Right has made some mistakes and has been declining and is losing its market,” said Gushee, the author of The Future of Faith in American Politics. “The classic sex-and-abortion agenda is not resonating in this election season. And their ability to direct foot soldiers is declining.”

The shift to the center, if indeed it is one, is not entirely new, Olson said. In How to Be Evangelical Without Being Conservative, he argues that historically evangelicals—rather than being dependable stalwarts of the conservative status quo—often have been radicals on doctrinal and social issues like worship and slavery.

A professor of theology at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary, Olson is a “Northern evangelical” transplanted to the South. He calls himself a “post-conservative evangelical” and staunchly refuses to surrender the term “evangelical” to the right wing.

“We are evangelical, and we have every right to be called that,” he said. But he admits he and his cohorts have a public-relations problem. “Those of us who are not conservative need someone who is famous who can come on radio and TV and nuance things.”

It is possible to be evangelical and be liberal socially, Olson maintains. For instance, he argues, a Christian can be patriotic without succumbing to nationalism, can favor the redistribution of wealth without being a socialist, and can innovate in worship without trivializing it.

The term “evangelical” has a rich history that predates the Religious Right, Olson says, but “it is a very problematic term right now” for those who don’t consider themselves fundamentalist or conservative.

“Many ‘former’ fundamentalists are calling themselves theological evangelicals,” he said, citing Jerry Falwell Jr., the 47-year-old chancellor of Liberty University, founded by his fundamentalist father.

And he concedes that centrists may lose the battle over language: “I don’t want to say that conservatives will win, but they are winning.”

Besides the often-pejorative nature of the term, Olson and Wallis say they also have a problem with the political language of right, left and center. “They are so tied to the Enlightenment,” Olson said. “‘Post-conservative’ means I want to be off that spectrum.”

In his new book, The Great Awakening, Wallis, founder of a faith and justice network called Sojourners, prefers the terms “moral center” and “gospel center,” trying to lift Christians above the political fray.

The three authors also use different criteria to define “evangelicals.” Wallis and Gushee employ theological definitions of evangelicals that focus on core beliefs. Olson prefers an “experiential” definition—evangelicals are “God-fearing, Bible-believing, Jesus-loving” Christians, he says.

Many historians don’t use “evangelical” to describe Baptists because their history did not intersect with American evangelicals, who grew as a moderate response to early-20th century fundamentalism. But Olson and Gushee embrace it.

They are both Baptist, but they come from different historical streams. Olson grew up in a Pentecostal family and later became a Baptist in the North. Gushee is a former Roman Catholic. Both work for progressive universities with Southern Baptist roots.

“Most moderate Baptists are center or center-left evangelicals, they just don’t know it,” Gushee said. “I want to help moderate Baptists reclaim the term ‘evangelical’ and re-associate with other evangelicals who are kindred spirits, if they only knew it.”

Evangelicals in the northern United States are willing to work across denominational lines, Olson added. “In the North, we evangelicals get together with anyone who looks fondly upon the cross.”

Sharp theological lines are less important in the North because Christians are a minority, he said. A “Jesus-centered piety” is common-enough ground for fellowship. “I think most Baptists in the town I grew up in would be part of that. But Baptists in the North are so fragmented, it’s hard to classify them.”

Gushee said the recent New Baptist Covenant meeting, which drew an estimated 15,000 moderate-leaning Baptists of different races and traditions to Atlanta, is a healthy sign of the growing strength of centrists.

But Covenant organizers say their movement will not become a denomination or institution. Likewise, other centrist evangelicals—scattered in dozens of denominations—have no organizational identity or rallying point. The National Association of Evangelicals currently is fragmented over its identity and focus.

“What’s needed is a new national organization that is truly centrist and truly viable,” Olson said. “The NAE could be that, but it has lost some steam. … I’m still hopeful about the NAE.”

Will evangelicalism’s new “middle” hold without some structure? There’s more hope than certainty among its advocates.

One observer, historian Bill Leonard, dean of the Wake Forest Divinity School, is skeptical a middle can emerge within evangelicalism because the movement is already so divided, pitting one vision of “orthodoxy” against another.

“‘Middle ways’ may not be a luxury that evangelicalism can afford in the years ahead,” he said.

Meanwhile, don’t look for the Religious Right to collect its marbles and go home quietly. While conservatives remain uneasy with their ‘08 presidential options, they still carry weight in the electorate, particularly in the Republican Party.

Their numbers may be dwindling, “but the commitments of many in the movement have not waned—hence, (Republican Mike) Huckabee’s dramatic Southern victories on Super Tuesday,” Leonard said. “But the movement is certainly aging, and many of its leaders are dead or less active.”

“The real test of the Religious Right and its political influence is in the 2008 election and its dominance in one particular party,” he concluded. “We’ll see.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Storylist for week of 3/17/08

TAKE ME TO: Top Story |  Texas |  Opinion |  Baptists |  Faith & Culture |  Book Reviews |  Classifieds  |  Departments  |  Bible Study



• Will evangelical center emerge to rival waning Christian Right?



• Should Christians use violent video games to lure teens to church?

• What has Hobbiton to do with Jerusalem?


• Robbie Seay Band musically tells story of ‘God who created and pursues us'

• Houston pulpiteer urges: Be a blessing

• After a long dry spell, church gives revival meetings another try

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

• UMHB Easter pageant draws thousands

• On the Move

• Around the State

• Texas Tidbits

Only Make Believe?
• Should Christians use violent video games to lure teens to church?

• What has Hobbiton to do with Jerusalem?


• Judge rules for Windermere; Missouri convention to appeal

• Baptist Briefs


• Study links subprime mortgage crisis to U.S. poverty & hunger

• Science has contributions, limitations in end-of-life issues

• Oxford researchers get $4 million to study origins of belief in God

• Some analysts say Huckabee may be new face of the Religious Right

• Faith films still not flooding big screen

• Movie argues for gentler church approach to divorce

• Couple urges truce in war between faith and science

• Catholics paid $615 million on abuse claims

• Muslim leader decries American ‘bigotry'

• Prof claims he has found lost Ark of the Covenant

• Some Southern Baptists decry timidity on environmental issues

• Christian rocker Larry Norman launched genre

• Faith Digest


• Reviewed in this issue: The Begotten by Lisa T. Bergren, William Wilberforce: A Biography by Stephen Tomkins and The House That Love Built: The Story of Linda & Millard Fuller, Founders of Habitat for Humanity and the Fuller Center for Housing by Bettie B. Youngs.


• Texas Baptist Forum

• Classified Ads

• Cartoon

• On the Move

• Around the State


• EDITORIAL: U.S. faith swapping & relationships

• DOWN HOME: A father's love plumbs divine depths

• IN BETWEEN: Mentoring: Is someone coaching you?

• 2nd Opinion: A microcosm of the body of Christ

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

• Texas Baptist Forum



• Explore the Bible Series for March 23: Celebrating Easter's Significance

• Bible Studies for Life Series for March 23: Alive with power


Previously Posted:
• Nabors resigns as BGCT chief financial officer

• Ethicist describes recipe for global warming skepticism

• Volunteer missionaries needed for Eagle Pass

• Obama speech to denomination spurs IRS investigation of UCC

• Baptists provide opportunities to oft-shunned Roma people

• Circles of Support help teens devise a plan for the future

• Circumcision: Are parents cutting out the sign of the covenant?

• Moyers describes recovery from addiction, recovery of lost faith

• Academy president announces retirement plans

• Texas Baptists held at gunpoint in Mexico

• Kidnapped worker, Afghan driver apparently dead in Afghanistan

• Buckner to resume mission trips to Kenya

• Children's home opens cottages to leadership program for intercultural youth


• See articles from the previous 3/03/08 issue here.

Posted: 3/06/08

Moyers describes recovery from
addiction, recovery of lost faith

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

SAN ANTONIO—William Cope Moyers grew up believing the prayer his parents taught him: “God is great. God is good.” But when his childlike faith in a good and great God died in a flash, he sought to fill the void in his soul with drugs and alcohol.

Moyers described his long struggle of recovery from substance abuse—and recovery of his faith—at the Texas Baptist Christian Life Conference March 4 in San Antonio, sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Growing up, Moyers recalled having everything most children want. As the son of Bill Moyers—former White House staffer and acclaimed journalist—he considered his childhood idyllic. His parents loved him. They provided for all his needs—physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually.

William Cope Moyers

And in return, he was everything most parents want. He excelled in school. He was active in his community and his church.

“I lacked for nothing growing up,” he said. “I had it all. I led a comfortable life.”

In an instant, that changed July 18, 1971, a date he describes as the day “God let me down.” While he and his family were vacationing in the mountains of New Mexico, he saw a lightning bolt strike a tree, travel through it and hit a nearby family. It killed that family and Moyers’ faith, as well.

“That was my introduction to death and the end of life and the death of my faith,” he said It also signaled the beginning of “questions that would haunt me for decades.”

Moyers struggled to rationalize how a God he understood to be “great” and “good” could allow—or worse, cause—something like that to happen. Desperately, he tried to reclaim his faith, even going to the extent of getting baptized, but he felt no different. He would fall asleep whispering, “God, where are you?”

As the search went on, he began struggling with a sense of unworthiness and his imperfect faith. At 15, he found what seemed to fill what he described as “the hole in my soul”—marijuana.

• Watch Christian Life Conference video clips here.

“I developed a faith in a power greater than myself,” he said. “That was the marijuana that I voluntarily ingested in my body.”

At 18, he began drinking—legally at that time. In time, he was binge drinking and addicted to hard drugs, including crack cocaine. He became more distant from others, including his family. He didn’t take care of himself physically. He was no longer active in a church.

“I was a walking wreck,” he said. “Alcohol and drugs stole my soul and hijacked my brain.”

At age 30, he hit bottom in a Harlem crack house. When his family discovered the extent of his addiction, they were shocked.

“My wife never saw it coming,” he said. “My parents were stunned.”

After three weeks in the psychiatric ward of a New York City hospital and an extended stay at a residential treatment center in Minnesota, Moyers began the recovery process, but looking back, he see it only as a tentative beginning.

“I began to make my dance with God again, but it was a dance to a tune I composed and sang—a dance on my terms,” he said.

Moyers relates his experiences in his book, Broken.

Moyers forthrightly described the false starts and relapses he has experienced. He reached a turning point during a major relapse that left him on the floor of a crack house in Atlanta.

“I went there to die. I had been swallowed alive by the black hole of despair.” The malt liquor and cocaine were no longer having the same affect on Moyers, they “were no longer the shield of deniability that I was going down.”

As suddenly as the lightning strike that began his downward spiral, a bolt of hope literally came knocking on the door of the crack house. A voice called for “the white guy.”

“It was not me getting up off the floor,” Moyers said. “My legs were moving, but it was not me moving my legs.”

“I said, ‘I’m done God, have me,’” he recalled. “In that moment, I was broken. And in that moment, I was delivered.”

From that point forward, Moyers has been on the road to recovery—one day at a time, one step at a time.

He continues battling, saying that the recent days have been extremely tough and noting he’s “hit rock bottom” sober.

Asked to explain what that means, Moyers described it as “a painful moment when you realize how difficult life is.” But he insisted he is learning to “deal with life on life’s terms”—not relying on drugs and alcohol.

In the recovery process, he rediscovered his faith. He’s betrayed his faith on occasion since becoming sober, he acknowledged, but he’s clung to it, as well. He trusts God will pull him through, a day at a time.

“Belief is one thing and trust is another,” he said. “I had to trust God could do for me what I could not do for myself.”

 

With additional reporting by Managing Editor Ken Camp

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 3/10/08

Ethicist describes recipe for
global warming skepticism

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

SAN ANTONIO—Conservative Christians generally have turned a cold shoulder to concerns about global warming, but ethicist David Gushee believes he understands why.

“Climate change is among the most heavily reported stories—and in my view, one of the most significant human challenges—of the 21st century,” Gushee, a professor at Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology, told the Texas Christian Life Conference.

David Gushee

Even so, cultural, ideological and theological factors combine to make many evangelicals skeptical about global warming, he observed.

Gushee believes “die-hard anti-climate-change soup” follows this recipe:

• Begin with disdain for the environmental movement.

Some conservative evangelical Christians associate environmentalists with the 1960s counterculture and “flower power” hippies, he noted.

Others equate the environmental movement in general with “non-Christian or eclectic eco-spiritualities,” he added. “It’s Pocahontas talking to spirits in the trees.”

• Add a distrust of mainstream science.

The same scientific method that produces evidence for global warming also runs contrary to the biblical literalism that teaches the Earth was created in six days less than 10,000 years ago, he observed.

• Watch Gushee's address and other Christian Life Conference speakers here.

“Some use climate change as a proxy for endless fighting of evolution battles,” Gushee said. And Christian talk-radio thrives on generating conflict, he noted.

Furthermore, many conservative evangelicals fail to understand the scientific peer-review process. They seize on a few the findings of a few dissenting scientists rather than the peer-reviewed findings of international scientific panels.

“Think of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as peer-review on steroids,” he said.

• Blend in mistrust of mainstream media.

Gushee characterized the attitude as “if it’s in the New York Times, it must not be true.”

Conservative niche news outlets and Christian talk-radio reinforce preconceived perceptions that do not challenge the conventional wisdom of political ideologues, he noted.

“There’s a need for Christian exposure to diverse new sources,” he said. “The niching of the news has made it so that we never have to encounter an idea we don’t like.”

• Throw in loyalty to party and president.

In recent years, environmentalism has been linked to the Democratic Party. Former Vice President Al Gore “has become a lightning rod” attracting people who are skeptical about global warming because they view the issue through a political lens, he said.

But that could be changing. Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, has bucked the right wing of his own party by supporting legislation to reduce the level of greenhouse gasses, Gushee noted.

“Whoever is elected president from among the remaining candidates, I believe we will have significant climate change legislation. And it’s about time,” he said.

• Combine with the belief in libertarian free-market economics as God’s will.

Conservative Christians with a commitment to unfettered capitalism inherently are opposed to government intervention in the marketplace, he noted.

“Real or exaggerated worries about the economic effects of climate legislation,” particularly on the poor, also figure into the equation, he added. Some evangelicals genuinely fear efforts to reduce greenhouse gasses will cause a loss of jobs and have a negative impact on the poor.

• Add a dash of reluctance to believe the unbelievable.

“Season with the belief that human beings are too frail, small and insignificant to change something as big as the planetary climate,” he said.

Ironically, Christians who believe in a resurrected Savior who was God in the flesh should, of all people, should find it easier than most people to accept “inconvenient and surprising truths,” he noted.

• Mix in a misunderstanding of divine sovereignty.

A resurgence of an extreme form of Calvinism “cuts the nerve of acute human responsibility,” Gushee said.

The belief that God ordains all things and therefore whatever occurs is destined as part of his plan leads to “the obscenity of complacency,” he insisted.

“Technological enhancements of human power heighten human responsibility,” he stressed. And biblical Christianity presents “a God who genuinely rules and humans who genuinely decide.”

• Add an unhealthy dose of dominion theology.

A reading of Genesis that focuses on the idea of human dominion of creation—the idea that God gave people free rein to exploit the earth for their own benefit—needs to be reexamined, Gushee urged.

“It’s time for rereading Scriptures and rethinking theology,” he said. Gushee suggested an approach that focuses on creation stewardship and “reclaiming the wounded creation for God.”

Rather than sipping the stew of die-hard climate-change skepticism, Gushee offered another entrée.

“A better path is to apply the best scientific resources in conversation with the best theological reflection to discern what it means to be disciples of Jesus Christ today,” he said.

And considering “how much is at stake” and in light of the threat that global warming presents, it places a special responsibility on Christians “in red-state America” to exercise influence, he added.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 2/29/08

Texas Baptist Forum

No ‘baggage’ carried

Although I was not a voting member of the Baptist General Convention of Texas executive director search committee, I was part of the process to recommend Randel Everett to the Executive Board.

• Jump to online-only letters below

Letters are welcomed. Send them to marvknox@baptiststandard.com; 250 words maximum.

“I don’t give a rip about the IRS. I don’t believe in the separation of church and state, and I believe the IRS should stay out of church business.” Wiley Drake Former Southern Baptist Convention vice president, on possible IRS censure for his endorsement of presidential candidate Mike Huckabee (ABP) “Trying to turn God into some sort of heavenly hit man is repugnant. There is more than a whiff of the Taliban in this action.” Barry Lynn Executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church & State, responding to Drake, who told supporters to pray for God to curse Americans United staffers after they asked the IRS to investigate him for allegedly improper politicking (RNS) “This problem can no longer be a back-burner issue for evangelicals. … It is time to spend our energies helping create a better national health-care system.” Christianity Today An editorial in the evangelical publication (RNS)

When I read the letter written to  the Standard by Joe Worley about connections to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (Feb. 18), I had to respond to his assumptions about the committee members. 

At no time did I hear any member of the search committee promote the CBF, oppose the Southern Baptist Convention, or any other group.  They were deeply concerned about finding the person that God was leading to fit the profile that was developed with the input of all Texas Baptists who cared enough to attend listening sessions or submit opinions. In fact, I sensed a great caution in the effort to find someone without a lot of “denominational baggage” who would truly represent Texas Baptists and be a bridge to other groups.

I personally long for the day when we are so focused on our missions opportunities that we do not care with which group you are connected.

Jerry T. Bradley, president

Children at Heart Ministries

Round Rock

Evangelism missing

For some time, I have been aware of a significant disconnect between the ideology and theology of the leadership of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and many of its member churches. However, after reading the Feb. 18 edition of the Baptist Standard, my worst suspicions have been confirmed.

Bewildering was the nagging question of whether or not the powers that be at the Standard and the BGCT really believe that Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Tony Campolo and Marian Wright Edelman are the people who speak for Texas Baptists.

No Baptist I know would disagree with the need for treating people with kindness, generosity and justice. Growing up in Mississippi, I observed firsthand the effects of the sin of racial prejudice. These are all worthy topics of discussion for Baptists. The real disconnect as I read the issue is the central message of the gospel. Man’s greatest need is for salvation made possible by the atoning death of Jesus Christ. As I scoured the pages of the report, I found no reference to evangelism or the need of personal repentance. What I did find was a naïve minimizing of significant theological differences.

The end result for the BGCT and the Baptist Standard’s participation in the event is an even greater disconnect from the members of BGCT churches and pastors. This will likely manifest itself in further decreases in funding and the continuation of the exodus of churches from the state convention.

Keith Sanders

Keller

Unite around calling

I feel compelled to respond to Samuel Rodriguez’s comments (Feb. 4). Many fine, genuine Christian people agree with the political views of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. This does not mean these Christians have replaced Matthew, Mark, Luke and John with Limbaugh and Hannity. Neither does it mean their faith is inferior to that of those who have different political views.

I can’t help but wonder what the reaction would have been if a white speaker had made such a comment about Latinos or another minority group.

Such arrogance and hostility should have no place in the church, much less in positions of church leadership. Interestingly, it is this same toxic mentality that ruined the Southern Baptist Convention. Rodriguez may advocate different views than those of the SBC hierarchy, but the underlying contempt for dissenting opinions is the same.

To be sure, the gospel transcends any political agenda. While Christians are certainly free to have and advance their political views, this should never replace or be confused with the primacy of the gospel.

What is important is that evangelicals be united by their love of the gospel, personal piety and joint mission. This is what the New Testament talks about, not politics.

We ought to be able to disagree over matters of public policy and yet be united around our common calling as the church.

David Rodgers

Texarkana

Lenten testimony

“No thanks, I gave that up for Lent,” some people say this time of year. Some deny themselves chocolate, television and even carbon. These sacrifices can improve health, time management skills and the environment. Yet I wonder if fasting for Lent helps us focus on the meaning of Easter.

What is the purpose of Lent? Easter marks the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Lent provides the opportunity for Christ-followers to reflect on the passion of Christ. In doing this, we assess life, confess sins and repent. Fasting provides an opportunity to develop our dependence on God.  

Yet I rarely hear this explained in discussions about Lent. People openly share about their fast yet hesitate to tell why they fast. This approach reminds me more of the Pharisees Jesus rebuked (Matthew 6) than the disciples empowered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 4). No wonder the world stands unimpressed and unchanged by Easter.

Ever wonder what God would do if we kept our fast to ourselves and instead spoke openly about the death and resurrection of Christ? (Acts 4:12)

Stephanie Dean

Dallas

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 3/07/08

Circumcision: Are parents cutting
out the sign of the covenant?

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

NEW YORK (ABP)—The foundational symbol of God’s ancient covenant with his people is getting a lot less common in the United States, but medical and theological debates still rage about the propriety of circumcision.

Recent legal battles over whether parents can mandate circumcision for their children and new medical findings regarding the relative merits and risks of the practice have given parents reason to pause.

A family circumcision set and trunk from the eighteenth century included a wooden box covered in cow hide with silver implements: silver trays, clip, pointer, silver flask, spice vessel.

The debate, although originating in the religious realm, now deals mainly with social mores and the latest scientific consensus.

At the height of circumcision’s popularity in the mid-20th century, 90 percent of American males were circumcised.

But the rate in the United States has declined steadily since the 1970s, according to the National Hospital Discharge Survey and other health organizations. In 2005, roughly 80 percent of all U.S. males were circumcised.

That percentage is likely to decrease in the future, as recent annual statistics show that only 56 percent of male babies born in America are being circumcised.

Some Baptists who once understood the procedure to be an American standard rooted in biblical tradition now are taking a second look at it.

Catherine Bell did just that when she decided not to circumcise her son Nicolas, now 4. She had remained undecided about the procedure prior to her delivery, but at the hospital, when she happened to hear some recently cut babies crying, she opted out.

“My reasoning was, I just didn’t see the point,” said Bell, who attends First Baptist Church in Paragould, Ark. “I know there’s a very small risk of things going wrong, but why do it if you don’t have to?”

She’s not alone. According to Jennifer Lusk, a registered nurse in the pediatric urology department at Houston’s Texas Children’s Hospital, ever-increasing numbers of expectant mothers are questioning the practice.

“It used to be that people would come in and say, ‘We want this done!’ Now it’s like, ‘We’ve done a lot of reading, the older kids are circumcised and my husband is circumcised, but … I’m not sure if we have to do this,’” Lusk said. “More people are figuring out that they don’t have to. They’re starting to ask questions about it.”

In some areas, it’s a slow change. Bell said Nicolas is a minority in their small city—as far as she knows, he is the only uncircumcised boy in the two pre-schools he’s attended. And family members, she said, “laid it on thick” when they heard Bell and her husband, Jerry, decided not to have their son snipped.

Many of her friends are curious about her decision to forego the operation, she said, adding that ignorance is the main factor in the public’s reticence to accept it as “normal.”

“People think it’s unusual because of a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding about why it’s even done,” she said. “People just do it because it’s what everybody else does.”

Everybody in the United States, that is. Only 30 percent of males worldwide are circumcised, according to the World Health Organization. The procedure is most prevalent in Muslim countries, Israel, the United States, the Philippines and South Korea. Various tribes in Africa also use the practice, sometimes as a counterpart to female circumcision.

Though not mentioned in the Quran, the practice is discussed in the secondary collection of Islamic holy writings known as the Hadith, and Muslim scholars still debate whether it is mandatory or merely recommended.

And while most Christians associate circumcision with Abraham’s Genesis-based covenant with God, it was prevalent in the ancient world well before then, according to Jim Nogalski, a professor of Old Testament at Baylor University.

“Circumcision in the Middle East was a fairly common practice,” he said. “There are varying versions of where it came from and who did it first. Prisoners are often depicted naked (in ancient art), so you get a certain sense that there were circumcised people.”

After the Greeks conquered the known world, however, trends changed. The Greeks greatly admired the human form, had no problem with public nudity and considered circumcision to be mutilation of the body. The taboo against circumcision became so great that Jews were not allowed to participate in the Greek world’s (clothes-free) gymnasiums, and some underwent reconstructive surgery.

Among the earliest Christians, circumcision became a topic of heated debate. Paul and a faction of the ancient church known as the Judaizers debated the relevance of the procedure in light of the New Covenant. Some thought that in order to be Christian, a man had to be Jewish, which meant being circumcised, Nogalski said. Others thought no one should be circumcised against his will.

A third group, described mostly in the books of Luke and Acts, believed Jews, but not Gentiles, who became Christians should be circumcised. A fourth group, most notably in Ephesians, believed a proper reading of Scripture showed that literal circumcision was no longer expected for anyone, Nogalski said.

Like their ancient counterparts, modern Jews attach significant symbolism to the circumcision ceremony, called a brit milah or bris. For Jews worldwide, it is one of the fundamental ways to identify with their faith.

A mohel is a Jewish leader specially trained to conduct the circumcision ceremony. New Jersey rabbi Mark Cooper, a Jerusalem-trained mohel, said circumcision celebrates the vitality of the Jewish tradition and expresses hope and confidence in the future of the faith.

“The ceremony is a covenant ceremony, and it serves the purpose of formally welcoming the child into the people of Israel with God,” said Cooper, who is a fifth-generation mohel.

The ceremony also serves the purpose of celebrating parenthood and committing to raise the child in the Jewish faith, said Cooper, who performs several circumcisions a month. It is not unlike a baby-dedication service for Baptists or an infant baptism for other Christians.

But while matters of faith and tradition dictate circumcision for Jewish males, social norms and the medical community have largely dictated its prevalence for non-Jewish Americans.

Experts in sexually transmitted infections called for universal circumcision as early as 1914, but the practice among Anglo-Saxon Protestants in the United States gained momentum in the 1930s from obstetricians and gynecologists who touted the medical advantages of the operation.

Most medical books around that time began to prescribe circumcision to relieve a wide variety of conditions, and many thought circumcision led to improved personal hygiene.

What’s more, in the 1950s, American insurance and welfare programs began paying for the procedure, which removed any financial burden from having it done, noted Robert Darby, an Australian medical historian who maintains the site www.historyofcircumcision.com.

The U.S. military was another important influence, according to Darby. During World War I, the military circumcised adult soldiers and sailors in order to make them less susceptible to diseases. Then, he said, when the fathers returned home, they approved the practice for their sons.

Indeed, several current medical studies seem to echo circumcision proponents who say it helps prevent urinary-tract infections, HIV and sexually transmitted diseases.

However, a number of circumcision opponents have become increasingly vocal against the practice, which they consider unnecessary at best and mutilation at worst.

There are several anti-circumcision organizations, including one called Jews Against Circumcision. Circumcision opponents say the procedure causes extreme pain, decreases sensitivity during sex, and produces long-term psychological and sexual trauma. They also say parents have no right to make a lifelong decision for their young son, especially when the procedure risks complications like profuse bleeding and infection.

Others wonder about the economic side of the practice—doctors push it, they say, because they get paid for performing a relatively uncomplicated procedure. And discarded foreskins are often sold for use in private bioresearch labs, the pharmaceutical industry and even beauty products.

Lusk, the Texas Children’s Hospital nurse, agreed that there is no medical reason to perform a circumcision.

“It’s an option right when the baby is born—it’s done only if the parents want it done,” she said.

Darby said the argument that circumcision prevents diseases that can be spurred by poor hygiene is disingenuous.

But he also mustered a moral argument. “Circumcision is based upon the erroneous principle that boys … are so badly fashioned by Creative Power that they must be reformed by the surgeon,” Darby wrote.

He added that circumcising boys to lessen the risk of sexually transmitted infections could have the unintended consequence of encouraging promiscuity in circumcised young men.

“The plea that this unnatural practice will lessen the risk of infection to the sensualist in promiscuous intercourse is not one that our honorable (medical) profession will support. Parents, therefore, should be warned that this ugly mutilation of their children involves serious danger, both to their physical and moral health.”

American medical institutions have taken more of a neutral stance on the issue. In 1997, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reclassified neonatal circumcision from a “routine” to an “elective” procedure.

Since then, 16 states have stopped including circumcisions in Medicaid plans, with more considering the option.

Texas Children’s Hospital offers the procedure as an option for parents, unless there are conflicting medical issues that require it. Typically, children under 10 pounds and one month old undergo an injection of local anesthetic and are given a sugar-soaked pacifier to suck on during the procedure, Lusk said. Others receive general anesthesia and get the operation done in a clinic.

The wounds—having been wrapped in gauze and petroleum jelly—usually heal within one month, she said.

Still, as a new mother, Bell couldn’t bear to think of her son undergoing the cut, and she may be ahead of her time.

“It’s weird for me now to see boys who are circumcised,” she said. “Why cut on something you don’t need to cut on?”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 3/07/08

Circles of Support help teens
devise a plan for the future

By Haley Smith

Baptist Child & Family Services

SAN ANTONIO—When young people age out of the foster care system, they are required by law to sit down with a counselor or social work to develop a plan for the future and learn about available benefits. But a program offered by Baptist Child & Family Services goes far beyond what the law requires.

Circles of Support, part of the agency’s Preparation for Adult Living program, help teenagers make the transition to independent living.

Circles of Support meetings offer foster youth along a support system and the opportunity to work together to plan and accomplish goals for the future. (Photo by Martin Olivares/BCFS)

Initially, the program contracted to perform 96 Circles of Support meetings its first year; it provided 135 planning meetings for teens coming out of state, ensuring the young people knew where to go for help and how to access resources available to them.

Now halfway through its second fiscal year, the program plans to complete 175 support meetings before August, according to Coordinator Jessica Salinas.

“I usually ask the young person to give me a list of names of who they would like to invite to their meeting,” Salinas said. “They often invite biological families, teachers, pastors and foster parents, forming a true circle of support.”

The young adult and the people he or she invites to attend bond over a meal provided by the agency, since the meetings tend to last several hours.

“I don’t know what it is about food, but eating together seems to break down so many walls in our meetings,” Salinas noted.

The state coordinator also attends the planning meeting at the Preparation for Adult Living transition center, which presents the chance to discuss issues and options.

“We use the opportunity to focus on the young person’s strengths, as it does no good to focus on weakness,” Salinas explained. “We want to know how we can help, whether that is through continued therapy or other options.”

Ideally, meetings should take place when the young person in foster care is age 16, but some planning meetings are not scheduled until he or she is 17 or 18. The agency creates a priority list based on age and circumstance.

“For example, we just had a student known for having a tendency to run away. Although only at the age of 16, we went ahead and rushed a COS meeting,” Salinas said. “We want to make sure these kids know the benefits available to them and the fact that they won’t be eligible if they check out of the system early.”

The agency attributes the success of the program to the cooperation and teamwork of related organizations, as well as a positive connotation surrounding the program.

Most referrals to the program come from Child Protective Services workers who later receive a copy of the established plan.

“CPS likes the Circles of Support program because they are often so busy that it helps to have assistance with the task,” Salinas said. “We had trouble in the beginning getting referrals because people didn’t know the purpose of the program. Everyone seems to take advantage of our services now though.”

In rare cases when a teenager is not interested in having a support meeting, the CPS worker makes a plan with the youth without family and friends in attendance.

Child Advocates of San Antonio also supports the Circles of Support program with a quarterly service in which both organizations then tag team to solicit referrals from CPS.

The overall connection to other programs fuels the system, generating awareness of the opportunity, with expectations of numbers rising for next year. For example, youth often begin their training with the Preparation for Adult Living program at age 16, where they attend six classes. The last class titled “Planning for the Future” introduces the students to Circles of Support and gives them the opportunity to sign up for the program.

The program also works with several partners in the San Antonio area to help students fulfill their plan. Alamo Work Source assists in finding the students employment prior to and pending graduation. Norma Davila, president of Education Source, helps secure scholarships and financial aid.

The youth’s transition worker—along with everyone in attendance at the meeting—receives a copy of the plan so they can work together to help the young adult achieve the goals.

“Before these support meetings, young people would leave care and after a gap of one or two years, they would find their way back to us, but at that point in crisis mode,” Salinas said. “This program ensures that those young adults don’t slip through the cracks.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 3/07/08

Wes Craig visits churches and ministry centers to learn how Project Ruth can help facilitate the needs of Roma church leaders. (CBF photos courtesy of Wes and Susan Craig)

Baptists provide opportunities
to oft-shunned Roma people

By Carla Wynn Davis

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

BUCHAREST, Romania (ABP)—Susan and Wes Craig learned early during their three-year assignment to Romania that most locals are disgusted by the minority Roma people, often called “gypsies.” And that’s what made a particular church meeting so powerful.

While talking about his work at the Gypsy Smith School, which provides education and training to Roma church leaders and evangelists, Wes Craig noticed a Romanian man with his hand on the shoulder of a Roma boy. Their relationship seemed like that of a father and son—something that flies in the face of Romanian social norms. Craig said he saw, in that simple act, Christianity at work.

“A Romanian treating a Roma like family is a demonstration of the power of the gospel and a testimony to how God can change a heart,” he said.

Susan Craig ministers at the Ruth School for Roma children.

Supported by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the Craigs have worked with the Roma people since 2006. They are part of Project Ruth, a Bucharest-based charity established in 1992 to help Roma children, who often drop out or fall inescapably behind in school. The organization’s Ruth School helps children re-start and finish their education.

“At Ruth School, (the children) all are given the opportunity to receive a school education through grade eight,” said Susan Craig, a Houston native. “At the end of the eighth grade they take a national exam, and if they pass, then they can continue their education at an academic high school.”

Susan Craig works in the Project Ruth office as a coordinator of activities, volunteer trips and day-to-day logistics.

Her husband works in theological and leadership education with Roma pastors at the Gypsy Smith School. The school helps Roma like Sandu, a friend of the Craigs who continues to serve as the administrator of his church even though his non-Christian parents harass him for his faith.

The school gives Sandu the support he needs to grow as a Christian, Craig explained.

Wes Craig banters with some Roma childen.

“At the school, Roma church leaders are encouraged and further equipped for the ministry (to which) God has called them,” he said. “For the Roma of Romania to be reached with the gospel, it really must come through Roma reaching Roma, and this is one way we can encourage and support this.”

Project Ruth survives on donations and involvement from churches in the United States. The Craigs’ church, DaySpring Baptist Church in Waco, provides prayer and encouragement. And a group from the church will visit them this spring.

Boulevard Baptist Church in Anderson, S.C., has also long helped the ministry by sponsoring children at Ruth School, raising financial support for specific projects and sending teams of church members to help in tangible ways.

It’s just a simple example of how a local church can make a lasting and meaningful impact in the world, both Wes and Susan Craig agreed.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 3/07/08

Obama speech to denomination
spurs IRS investigation of UCC

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—A speech Sen. Barack Obama made last year to his fellow Congregationalists has spurred an Internal Revenue Service investigation that threatens the tax-exempt status of an entire denomination.

Leaders of the Illinois senator’s United Church of Christ are fighting back, saying the IRS charges are baseless and “disturbing.”

In a letter dated Feb. 20 and received by church officials Feb. 25, IRS official Marsha Ramirez said “a reasonable belief exists” that the denomination violated federal law. Churches and other nonprofit groups organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code are barred from endorsing or opposing candidates and political parties.

Sen. Barack Obama speaks to the United Church of Christ's synod meeting in June 2007. (See video of Obama's speech here)

The UCC is generally considered the nation’s most liberal large Protestant body. Obama has been an active member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago for more than two decades. Trinity is the UCC’s largest congregation.

In the IRS letter, Ramirez said the agency’s concerns “are based on articles posted on several websites” that described Obama’s June 23 appearance at the UCC’s biennial General Synod meeting in Hartford, Conn.

The senator—by then an announced Democratic candidate for president—spoke to about 10,000 church members, according to the denomination and news accounts.

But UCC officials said they took pains to ensure that the speech was not perceived as a campaign event or an endorsement of the candidate.

Obama was invited “as one of 60 diverse speakers representing the arts, media, academia, science, technology, business and government. Each was asked to reflect on the intersection of their faith and their respective vocations or fields of expertise,” a UCC news release said.

It also said church officials invited Obama as a church member rather than in his capacity as a candidate and said they asked him to speak a year before he declared his intention to run for higher office.

“The United Church of Christ took great care to ensure that Sen. Obama’s appearance before the … General Synod met appropriate legal and moral standards,” UCC General Minister John Thomas said. “We are confident that the IRS investigation will confirm that no laws were violated.”

Prior to the speech, a church official told the crowd that the appearance was not intended to be a campaign event and that campaign-related material and other forms of electioneering would not be allowed inside the event venue.

The IRS letter claimed that “40 Obama volunteers staffed campaign tables outside” the Hartford Civic Center, where the event was held. But church officials said they barred any campaigning inside the venue.

Thomas said that, while he believes the investigation will ultimately acquit the denomination, he nonetheless is concerned about its effect.

“The very fact of” the investigation’s existence “is disturbing," Thomas said. “When the invitation to an elected public official to speak to the national meeting of his own church family is called into question, it has a chilling effect on every religious community that seeks to encourage politicians and church members to thoughtfully relate their personal faith to their public responsibilities.”

IRS officials do not discuss such investigations with the press because tax information is private. But several ministries and local congregations have been warned and investigated in recent years for electioneering.

The agency currently is investigating Southern Baptist pastor Wiley Drake for using church letterhead and a church-sponsored radio show to endorse Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

Last year, the IRS ended an investigation without any sanctions against All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Pasadena, Calif. It had been under investigation for a guest sermon its former rector had given just before the 2004 presidential election. In it, he strongly criticized the war in Iraq but said he believed that both President Bush and his Democratic opponent, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, were good Christians.

IRS officials contended that the sermon amounted to an endorsement of Kerry over Bush. The church contested the charge. In a September letter to the congregation announcing that it was ending its investigation without penalty, IRS officials said they continued to believe the church had illegally intervened in the election.

All Saints’ legal defense ended up costing more than $200,000, according to church leaders. Anticipating a similar financial burden for the UCC, Thomas sent an appeal Feb. 27 to church members asking them to donate to a special legal-defense fund.

“In order to adequately defend ourselves, as well as protect the broader principle of the freedom of religious communities to entertain questions of faith and public life, we will need to secure expert legal counsel, and the cost of this defense, we are told, could approach or exceed six figures," Thomas wrote. “This is troubling news.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 3/07/08

Volunteer missionaries needed for Eagle Pass

By Analiz González

Buckner International

EAGLE PASS—It’s been almost a year since the tornados ravaged Eagle Pass, but huge needs continue.

Church leaders in the area are seeking to help, but they need the assistance of upstate volunteers, said Dexton Shores, Buckner International’s director of ministry development in Mexico and along the border,

“They showed me a list of 10 families with major house damage that haven’t gotten any attention,” Shores said. “Most of it is roofing, sheetrocking, window installing, door installing and things like that. Any size church could come and help, but it is something financially accessible for smaller churches who think they might not be able to afford a mission project.”

Iglesia Bautista Peniel, First United Methodist Church and First Baptist Church in Eagle Pass offered to provide lodging for $10 a night per person. They have also supplied construction materials. The churches are teaming up with people of all Christian denominations in the recovery effort through a project called Interfaith Recovery Effort.

“If there are churches that can bring more material, that would be great,” Shores said. “But if not, we can still use the help of anyone who can help with construction reparation. They just need someone who can hammer in nails.”

People also are needed to work with children and youth to teach Vacation Bible School.

“We’re afraid that if we don’t get some people signed up soon, they’ll make summer plans and then these people won’t be helped,” Shores said. “They need a lot of help.”

Monica Rich, volunteer coordinator for Interfaith Recovery Effort, said her group has brought together volunteers of different Christian denominations to rebuild homes.

“There are still about 21 families left that we would like to help,” Rich said. “One week we had Methodists, Baptists and Catholics all working together. It is always a positive thing to have peace building among the different denominations that haven’t necessarily been used to working together in our history.

“We are welcoming people to come have their youth summer mission trips here, bring their senior citizens—there is something for everybody to do.”

For more information, contact Dexton Shores at (210) 771-2904 or e-mail Dshores@buckner.org.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.