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Texas Baptist Forum
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.
03/08/2008 - By John Rutledge
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Circumcision: Are parents cutting out the sign of the covenant?
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. 03/07/2008 - By John Rutledge
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Circles of Support help teens devise a plan for the future
Posted: 3/07/08
Circles of Support help teens
devise a plan for the futureBy 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) 03/07/2008 - By John Rutledge
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Baptists provide opportunities to oft-shunned Roma people
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 peopleBy 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.
03/07/2008 - By John Rutledge
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Volunteer missionaries needed for Eagle Pass
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,
03/07/2008 - By John Rutledge
