WACO—Baylor University’s newly approved academic strategic plan includes a foundational goal to develop a community known for its “unambiguously Christian educational environment.”

Baylor’s board of regents approved a plan to implement Illuminate, the university’s academic roadmap for the next five years, at its May 11 meeting in Waco. The board also approved a doctor of philosophy in preaching degree program at Baylor’s Truett Theological Seminary.

In addition to the goal regarding an “unambiguously Christian” environment, the other three pillars of Baylor’s plan are to create a community recognized for:

• “Transformational undergraduate education.”
• “Research and scholarship marked by quality, impact and visibility.”
• “Nationally recognized programs in human performance through the arts and athletics.”

Christian missions ’embedded’ in plan

An earlier draft of the four pillars included references to “deep faith formation in the Christian and Baptist tradition” and “excellence in teaching and mentoring.”

President Linda Livingstone emphasized Baylor remains “deeply tied to its Baptist tradition” and that the university’s Christian educational environment and Christian mission “flow out” of its Baptist heritage.

She also noted the reference to excellent “teaching and mentoring” is one aspect of a “transformational undergraduate education.”

“Elements of Baylor’s Christian mission are embedded in all aspects of the plan,” Livingstone added.

Joel Allison, who was elected to a second term as chair of the board of regents, reiterated one of the “non-negotiable” considerations for any decision made by the board or administration is that it “keeps Baylor a Christ-centered institution.”

Signature academic initiatives outlined

Regents approved five signature academic initiatives related to the plan, which Livingstone identified as “building on Baylor’s strengths” while addressing critical needs in society:

• Health—Focus on environmental, family and community factors in health, biomedical research, health policy, law, leadership and ethics, and undergraduate health and medical education.
• Data Sciences—Focus on biomedical informatics, cybersecurity and business analytics, with an overarching theme of ethical uses of large-scale data.
• Materials Science—Focus on technologies that make products faster, stronger and lighter, providing solutions for enhanced quality of life.
• Human Flourishing and Ethics—Focus on understanding the conditions by which humans, communities and societies flourish.
• Baylor in Latin America—Focus on health and disease prevention; business development and international trade; human capital formation and education; immigration, migration and human trafficking; congregational development; democratic governance and economics; and culture and arts.

Doctorate in preaching degree approved

The newly approved doctorate in preaching at Truett Seminary—one of five degree programs regents approved—will help prepare “the next generation of pastor-scholars,” as well as equip preaching professors, said Todd Still, seminary dean.

“I am grateful for our university’s approval and support of this strategic doctoral program—the first Ph.D. program for our relatively young seminary,” Still said. “Over time, we trust that this program will produce a steady stream of homileticians who ‘divide the word of truth’ with conviction, clarity, creativity and care.”

Scott Gibson, who joined the Truett faculty from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, will direct the program, expected to launch in fall 2019. It is the only one of its kind in the free-church tradition offered at a major research university, Baylor officials noted.

“The final step of approval by the board of regents of the Ph.D. in preaching signals the beginning of an exciting future for homiletics at Baylor and Truett,” Gibson said. “I look forward to directing the program and to the valuable contributions future students make to the church and to the academy.”

Other professors in the program include Jared Alcantara, formerly from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and Joel Gregory, who holds the George W. Truett Endowed Chair in Preaching and Evangelism.

“This is the outcome of more than 10 years of discussions, drafts, rethinking and revising,” Gregory said. “Along with our distinguished new faculty, it marks Truett as one of the national centers of homiletics.”

In other business, regents:

• Approved a $660.1 million operating budget for 2018-19, which includes an additional $9.9 million for scholarships.
• Re-elected Allison as chair and Daniel Chapman of Dallas, Jerry Clements of Austin and Mark Hurd of Redwood Shores, Calif., as vice chairs.
• Elected leaders for various committees, including Dennis Wiles, pastor of First Baptist Church in Arlington, as vice chair for the student life committee.
• Approved the U.S. Army Graduate Program in Anesthesia Nursing that culminates in a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree program, a Master of Arts in Teaching and joint Bachelor of Science/Master of Arts in Classics degree program; and a Doctor of Occupational Therapy degree program.
• Elected Michael McFarland of Crowley and Todd Reppert of Houston as at-large regents.
• Welcomed Katie Joe Baumgardner Luningham of Atlanta, Ga., and Gordon Wilkerson of Lubbock as regents elected by Baylor alumni.
• Confirmed three regents elected by the Baptist General Convention of Texas—Allison, Rene Maciel from First Woodway Baptist Church and Jennifer Walker Elrod of Houston.

FORT WORTH (RNS)—Longtime Southern Baptist leader Paige Patterson, embroiled in controversy over past remarks about domestic violence and his descriptions of women, issued an apology.

“I wish to apologize to every woman who has been wounded by anything I have said that was inappropriate or that lacked clarity,” said Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, in a May 10 statement titled “An Apology to God’s People.”

“We live in a world of hurt and sorrow, and the last thing that I need to do is add to anyone’s heartache. Please forgive the failure to be as thoughtful and careful in my extemporaneous expression as I should have been.”

Audio and video prompt firestorm

The statement was the latest attempt by Patterson or his seminary’s officials to contain the reaction to an audio clip from 2000 that emerged two weeks ago, in which Patterson said he considered it unbiblical to recommend divorce, even in cases of domestic abuse.

In that clip, he told a story of instead advising a woman who was physically abused by her husband to pray quietly on her knees while her spouse slept.

In a 2014 video, he describes a 16-year-old young woman as “built” and notes the Bible uses similar language—“beautifully and artistically” made—to describe the creation of the first woman.

‘No excuse’

In the first sentence of his apology, Patterson cited a “sermon illustration used to try to explain a Hebrew word (Heb. banah “build or construct,” Gen. 2:22)” and said it and other sermons have “obviously been hurtful to women in several possible ways.”

“I would also like to reiterate the simple truth that I utterly reject any form of abuse in demeaning or threatening talk, in physical blows, or in forced sexual acts,” he said.

“There is no excuse for anyone to use intemperate language or to attempt to injure another person. The Spirit of Christ is one of comfort, kindness, encouragement, truth and grace; and that is what I desire my voice always to be.”

A former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Patterson is considered an architect of its conservative resurgence—what critics call a takeover—that began in 1979 and has been a revered figure among many Southern Baptists.

But in the last week, separate groups of Southern Baptist women and men have issued open letters to the trustee board of Patterson’s seminary questioning his current leadership. The board scheduled a special meeting on May 22.

“To all people I offer my apology, but especially to women, to the family of Southern Baptists, my friends and the churches,” Patterson concluded. “I sincerely pray that somehow this apology will show my heart and may strengthen you in the love and graciousness of Christ.”

Varied reaction to apology

Karen Swallow Prior, a Southern Baptist, an English professor at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., and a signatory on a letter of Southern Baptist women concerned about Patterson’s remarks, said she was pleased to see the apology.

“It’s definitely a step forward,” Prior said in a phone interview. “Repentance is proven over time, and I hope that Dr. Patterson continues to weigh and consider the impact that his pattern of harmful statements to and about women has had.”

The May 6 letter she signed had more than 3,000 signatories by Thursday. It has been followed by a letter from Southern Baptist men signed by more than 200.

“We join our sisters in declaring that Jesus is nothing like this,” the men wrote. “Dr. Patterson’s behavior confuses the message of the gospel. His continued leadership—without repentance and reprimand—calls into question the witness of the Southern Baptist Convention.”

Meanwhile, some prominent men in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination tweeted their appreciation of his apology.

Steve Gaines, current president of the Southern Baptist Convention, said: “I am so grateful for this apology to women” from Patterson. He encouraged his Twitter followers to read and retweet it, and to “please pray for our Southern Baptist Convention.”

Ronnie Floyd, a former SBC president, thanked Patterson on Twitter for “clarifying your position and leading towards unity.”

Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano and another former SBC president, said: “Thank you Dr. Patterson for your heart to seek peace and unity with a clear and unequivocal apology.”

Robert E. “Bob” Dixon, who led Texas Baptist Men three decades and pioneered disaster relief ministry among Southern Baptists, died May 10. He was 90.

Dixon led the missions organization to blaze a trail for Baptists in disaster relief ministries after Hurricane Beulah hit the Texas Gulf Coast in 1967.

Under his leadership as executive director, TBM created a network of trained volunteers and developed a fleet of response vehicles that became a prototype for disaster relief ministry throughout the Southern Baptist Convention.

Responded to ‘invitations from the Father’

He also led the organization to respond to what he called “invitations from the Father” to minister globally, from disaster relief throughout Latin America to refugee relief among Kurds in Iran.

Those who served alongside him noted Dixon always recognized TBM’s vast array of ministries as assignments from God, not evidence of human achievement.

“I’m grateful the Father taught me early on that it’s his work and his kingdom. I’m just a recruiting director,” he often said.

‘A spiritual giant’

Dixon “would be the last person to tell you how much he shaped and influenced TBM,” TBM Executive Director Mickey Lenamon said.

“He was a spiritual giant and has literally touched millions of lives through TBM,” he said.

Lenamon counted Dixon as his spiritual mentor since the mid-1970s, when they traveled together to St. Cloud, Minn., to help start a church.

“Bob taught me to read the Book and talk with the Father on a daily basis,” Lenamon said. “Other than my parents, Bob Dixon has had the most influence on my life.”

He credits Dixon with teaching him an important leadership principle—to ask, “Who can do the job better than me?”

“He taught me to look for other’s spiritual gifts and empower them to serve,” Lenamon said.

Preparation for ministry

Dixon was born in eastern Tennessee and professed his faith in Christ at age 11.

He served in the Sixth Naval District during World War II. While in the armed forces, he played on a Navy baseball team, and he spent two years later as a catcher on the Washington Senators AA club.

Dixon next worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority, where he received disaster relief training from the U.S. Bureau of Mines—experience that later proved valuable in ministry.

When he felt God calling him into youth ministry, he and his wife Jean moved to Fort Worth, where he attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and served on staff at College Avenue Baptist Church.

He went on to serve in church recreation and youth ministry at churches in Mississippi and Tennessee before he was invited in 1966 to return to Texas to become state director for the Royal Ambassadors missions program for boys.

Three years later, he became TBM executive director, a post he held 29 years. After he retired from the staff position, he was elected TBM president.

‘A courageous visionary’

“Bob Dixon was a man of vision, who was able to see what others don’t,” said John LaNoue, who served alongside Dixon on the TBM staff.

Before he went to work for TBM, LaNoue designed and built the first Baptist disaster relief mobile unit, working closely with Dixon, who secured funding for the project and handled organizational details.

“Bob always had an amazing insight into what we would need next,” LaNoue said.

He marveled at Dixon’s capability to energize and mobilize men to respond when God presented an opportunity to serve, as well as Dixon’s spiritual sensitivity.

“He was a courageous visionary who had the ability to inspire others to do God’s work,” LaNoue said.

Man of prayer

Don Gibson, retired executive director of TBM, first joined the organization’s staff in 1982 as lay renewal director. He assumed the position before there was any budget for it, but Dixon gave him the job, trusting God would provide.

Dixon always gave God the glory for anything TBM accomplished, Gibson noted, and he made it his life’s work to fulfill the Apostle Paul’s admonition in Colossians 4:17 to “complete the work you have received in the Lord.”

Gibson characterized Dixon as a man of prayer who was open and obedient to God’s leadership.

“Bob helped me, encouraged me, taught me, and I know he prayed for me and the others on our staff,” he said. “He prayed over all the assignments he believed God gave TBM to fulfill.”

‘Down-to-earth servant leader’

Bill Pinson, executive director emeritus of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, likewise marveled at Dixon’s prayer life.

“When you heard him talk with the Father in prayer, it was listening to an intimate conversation of a person with Someone he loved with all his life,” he said.

Pinson called Dixon “one of the greatest, and yet humblest, persons I have known—a truly godly man.”

“Yet when I think of him, I do not think of a halo but of the warm smile of a terrifically practical, down-to-earth servant leader,” he said.

“Constantly searching for God’s leadership, he became an amazingly creative leader, constantly charting new directions for Texas Baptist Men. As a result, TBM became one of the most effective ministry organizations in the world, and Dixon always gave God the credit. …

“Heaven’s population is greater and earth is better because of the life and ministry of Bob Dixon.”

A memorial service is scheduled at 2 p.m. May 19 at the TBM Robert E. Dixon Missions Equipping Center in east Dallas. Dixon requested that volunteers who serve with TBM wear their ministry uniform to the service. In lieu of flowers, the family requested memorial gifts to TBM, 5351 Catron Dr., Dallas, TX 75227 or click here to make an online donation.

HOUSTON—Texas Baptists offered pastors and other church leaders reminders about biblical stewardship, including education in personal and church budgeting, at a one-day Giving Your Money Purpose retreat at Houston Baptist University.

The event, one in a series sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas Center for Ministerial Excellence, was designed to encourage ministers and provide strategies to allay the financial pressures pastors and their families often experience.

The initiative is made possible by the Lilly Endowment, which aims to improve the financial literacy and management skills of pastoral leaders, as well as help develop and strengthen each pastor’s ability to provide fiscal leadership and bolster church members’ knowledge of scriptural giving principles.

Provide for the shepherds

Many pastors lack adequate pay, not to mention benefits like insurance and retirement plans, said Tammy Tijerina, director of the Center for Ministerial Excellence.

“We’re trying to remind people to not neglect pastors and their families. We want them to be financially supported,” she said. “It’s God’s plan that the pastors—shepherds—are provided for. Pastors across the nation are facing economic challenges. We are saying: ‘We hear you. Let’s work together so that Baptist churches are there in the future.’”

Ward Hayes, senior pastor of Valley Grove Baptist Church in Stephenville, who presented workshops at the retreat with Larry Post, a certified public accountant and deacon at Sugar Land Baptist Church, emphasized the significance of talking about financial issues in the church.

“It’s not just about managing funds, but about giving them purpose and making them a strength,” Hayes said.

Presented from a biblical basis

Workshop topics included tithing, savings, Sabbath rest, budgeting, and formulating individual and church resources plans.

“There is disparate financial information out there,” Post said. “We are presenting it from a biblical perspective. There is a biblical basis, and God has a plan.”

That biblical emphasis prompted Joe Theus, pastor of Canaan Missionary First Baptist Church in San Antonio, to make the trip to Houston.

“We came to refocus and get back to the basic principles of church stewardship and discipleship. We want to align ourselves biblically,” he said. “For me, it’s confirmation that we’re going in the right direction.”

‘Help the pastor … help the church’

Theus emphasized his congregation will benefit from his involvement.

“If you help the pastor, you’re going to help the church,” he said.

Graceland Community Church Pastor Rivers Glover likewise said his Missouri City congregation will benefit from the material presented at the retreat.

“It’s something that our church needs retraining on—the things that God has made us accountable for,” he said. “I think the main thing I’ve gotten out of it is wherever you are, be all there. Give God all.”

Additional Giving Your Money Purpose retreats are scheduled May 19 in Plainview, June 2 in San Antonio and Sept. 8 in El Paso. For more information, click here.

Baylor University commissioned 500-plus students to serve this summer as camp counselors. The May 1 commissioning ceremony officially marked the university’s commitment to support and pray for all students, camp partners and the young people who will attend these summer camps, organizers noted. Baylor President Linda Livingstone talked to the students about her own positive experiences at Fellowship of Christian Athletes summer camps. Fourteen summer camps were represented at the commissioning service.

East Texas Baptist University honored Misty Scott, director of Mission Marshall, and J.C. Hughes, director of the City of Marshall Public Works, at its inaugural Good Samaritan Luncheon, honoring their servant leadership to the community. Scott, an ETBU graduate, has led Mission Marshall since 2012. “Viewing all people as the children of God, she serves the community wholeheartedly,” said Wallace Watkins, retired pastor of Central Baptist Church in Marshall. Hughes is a Marshall native who attended Kilgore College and ETBU before beginning a career in the oil and gas industry. He began his public service career in 1981 by serving as Marshall’s assistant city manager for the next 18 years. Since 2010, he has served as the director of Public Works and Water Utilities.

At the Buckner Hope for Children fund-raising dinner in Dallas, May 1, Former President George W. Bush and his daughter, Jenna Bush Hager, talked about the importance of faith, family and service to people in need during a question-and-answer session with WFAA-TV news anchor Cynthia Izaguirre. Buckner International President Albert Reyes presented the Bush family folk-art depictions of Jesus washing feet, artwork crafted from banana leaves by a Kenyan artisan whose family was served by the Buckner Family Hope Center in Nairobi.

The Howard Payne University Woman’s Club presented its Yellow Rose Award to Sharon Mitchell Guthrie, a member of First Baptist Church in Stephenville. The HPU Woman’s Club gives the award annually to a woman who has exhibited exemplary leadership within her sphere of influence, shown support for the university and represents Christian values and beliefs foundational to HPU.

Dallas Baptist University posthumously recognized Dewey and Bess Ellis as recipients of the 2018 Decatur Distinguished Alumni Award at the 30^th annual Decatur Baptist College reunion. He served as an elementary schoolteacher, claims agent with the M.K.T. Railroad and owner of a funeral home in Wellington. She was a homemaker. The honorees’ son, Dick G. Ellis, the first pediatric surgeon to practice in Tarrant County, received the Decatur Honorary Alumnus Award. The Decatur Baptist College Class of 1958 recognized Gary Cook, chancellor and former president of DBU, for his efforts to establish the reunion. Decatur Baptist College was founded as a junior college in 1898, moved to Dallas in 1965 and became Dallas Baptist University in 1985.

East Texas Baptist University marked Arbor Day by planting three live oak trees in memory of James Morgan, a 2005 ETBU gradate and former Tiger baseball player who was killed in a 2012 plane crash at age 29. Each year, Tiger Athletics honors Morgan’s legacy by selecting a current student-athlete to wear his jersey number, 16. The recipient, chosen by a team vote, is selected for displaying athletic excellence, academic integrity, community service, leadership and overall Christian character. Senior Dylan Sumpter, who received the 2017 James Morgan Award and dons the No. 16 jersey each game, led in prayer at the tree-planting service, and ETBU Student Body President Reid Adams read the story of creation from Genesis 1:1-13.

Howard Payne University recognized Donnie Auvenshine, professor and dean of the School of Christian Studies, and Eydie Henderson, administrative assistant for the School of Christian Studies, for 25 years of service to the university. HPU also named Corey Ash, associate professor of music and director of bands, as Outstanding Faculty Member for the 2017-18 academic year and Martha Fothergill, coordinator of records and reports, as Outstanding Staff Member.

Anniversaries

135^th for First Baptist Church in Lufkin. Mark Newton is pastor.

20^th for Duane Brooks as pastor at Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston.

10^th for Brian Barkley as pastor at First Baptist Church in Edmonson.

Jonathan Michael Jones resigned as associate pastor at First Baptist Church in Slaton to teach at Western Texas College in Snyder.

Aurelia Davila Pratt to Peace of Christ Church in Round Rock as lead pastor. Former pastor Kyle Tubbs moved to Decatur, Ga., to lead new church starts for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

David Arlen Blanton, longtime minister of music, died March 21. He was 83. Blanton was born Nov. 4, 1934, to J.C. and Nora Blanton in Victoria. After he graduated from Patti Welder High School, he completed a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Texas. During his college years, he met and married Juanita Rayburn in 1956. After a few years working in the oil fields, he felt called to ministry. He earned a master’s degree in church music at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served 33 years as minister of music at First Baptist Church in Beeville. He loved hunting, fishing, working on cars, golfing and telling stories. He tuned pianos, enjoyed close friends, ministered to people, influenced a generation of musicians, shared in mission work around the world and loved his family. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Juanita Blanton; a son, Kent, and his wife, Elaine; a daughter, Rhonda Selph, and husband, Chad; seven grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Kay Law; and brother, James Blanton.

Mark Rogers Chew, pastor of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Denton five decades, died April 6. He was 76. He was born in Boyle, Miss., Feb. 26, 1942. He attended Fred Moore High School in Denton and graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas. He earned his associate degree from North Central Texas College and his bachelor’s degree from Southern Bible Institute. Later, he received a Doctor of Divinity degree from the International Bible School in Houston. In 1967, Chew was called as pastor of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, one of the oldest historically black churches in Denton. Under his leadership, the church developed its outreach ministry and Rays of Hope, a program that enables people with personal hardships to work through life challenges as a family instead of on their own. He marked his 50^th anniversary at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church last December. He was the first African-American elected to the Denton City Council, serving three full terms in the 1980s and two additional consecutive terms in the 1990s. He also was president of the Denton County NAACP eight years. He served on the Camp Copass board of directors and was a member of the Denton Ministerial Alliance. In addition to his service as pastor, he also worked as an insurance and real estate agent and broker. He was preceded in death by a son, Mark Jerome Chew; two daughters, Sheila Ann Chew and Phillis Renea Chew Murrell; a sister, Jean McCrary; and two brothers, Earl Chew and Bill Chew. He is survived by his mother, Dorothy M. Chew; his wife of 38 years, Rose Marie Chew; five children, Barry Jones, Rosalyn Chew, Lura Chew McClendon (MJ), Shelly Bayless Butler and Marcus Chew; adopted daughter, Jackie Webb; 12 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; sisters Mary Ann Chew, Shirley Chew, Jackie Whitlock and Jasmine Chew; and brothers Fredrick Chew, Merlin Chew and Artis Chew.

WASHINGTON (RNS) — More than 2,000 Southern Baptist women have signed an open letter asking the trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary to take action against its embattled president after audio and video clips emerged in which he said he counseled women never to divorce abusive husbands and described a 16-year-old’s body as “built.”

The letter does not explicitly demand a resignation, retirement or reprimand for Paige Patterson, one of the key leaders of the “conservative resurgence” in the Southern Baptist Convention.

But it suggests Patterson cannot be allowed to continue to lead—a stunning development in Southern Baptist life and an indication of just how pervasive the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and assault has become.

‘Unbiblical view of authority, womanhood and sexuality’

“The Southern Baptist Convention cannot allow the biblical view of leadership to be misused in such a way that a leader with an unbiblical view of authority, womanhood and sexuality be allowed to continue in leadership,” the online letter says.

In the audio interview from 2000, Patterson said he never counsels divorce, since it is unbiblical. He then proceeds to tell a story of a woman who considered her husband abusive and his recommendation that she get on her knees and pray quietly at night.

In the video, which dates to 2014, Patterson disparages an elderly woman for taking him to task for his views on women and then describes a “very attractive” 16-year-old walking by as “built,” noting the Bible uses similar language (“beautifully and artistically” made) to describe the creation of the first woman.

Patterson issues response

Patterson is scheduled to give the keynote sermon at the SBC’s annual meeting in Dallas in June, and there has been much discussion about whether he should be allowed to do so. Patterson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last week, Patterson said in a statement that he was misrepresented. Trustees of the seminary have issued a press release with Patterson affirming the importance of protecting the victims of abuse and allowing law enforcement and civil authorities to play their roles in investigating instances of domestic abuse.

“Alongside every church’s responsibility to report abusers to civil authorities stands the church’s responsibility to seek that the abuser confess to, denounce, and repent of the sin of abuse, accepting responsibility for those sinful actions, and trusting in Christ for salvation and forgiveness from sin,” says the May 1 statement from Patterson and the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees.

‘Persistent present pattern of resisting wise correction’

But the women said that was not enough.

“There’s an attitude of defiance in that apology and in the board’s refusal to address it more concretely,” said signatory Karen Swallow Prior, a professor of English at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., and a Southern Baptist, in a phone interview. “It’s the persistent present pattern of resisting wise correction and accepting responsibility for those past actions.”

Prior said she tried privately to contact the Southwestern Board of Trustees to no avail. She said a group of women drafted the letter in response. She declined to say who drafted the letter.

Dated May 6, it had been signed by more than 2,000 women, and several men, within about 24 hours. The letter is addressed to trustee Chairman Kevin Uekert. Efforts to reach the seminary and its trustee board were unsuccessful. However, the board scheduled a special May 22 meeting.

‘A watershed moment’

The swiftness with which many women signed it may be the first sign the #MeToo movement has pervaded Southern Baptist circles.

The social storm began last year with reports of a Hollywood mogul’s predatory actions toward women and has since mushroomed into a movement to address the prevalence of sexual harassment and assault against women in society.

Southern Baptists hold in their doctrinal statement, The 2000 Baptist Faith & Message: “A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ.”

The signers of the letter take no issue with that view, known as “complementarianism,” the idea that men alone should hold leadership roles in the home and in the church.

But Prior said the national effort to address sexual misconduct is affecting Baptist churches, too.

“Women, both inside and outside the church are waking up to these power structures and saying, ‘Enough is enough.’ It’s new everywhere, and even newer in the church,” Prior said. “Once the dam starts to break, then it becomes a watershed moment. That’s what I hope this is.”

WACO—Two Waco churches and the local Baptist association collaborated to reach Hispanic families through a Cinco de Mayo celebration.

Viento Fuerte Church and First Woodway Baptist Church worked with Waco Regional Baptist Association to offer food, face painting, pony rides, games, piñatas and music at the Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Familiar.

Their goal was to build relationships with families in Waco’s Austin Avenue Neighborhood, said Tom Gutierrez, pastor of Viento Fuerte.

René Maciel, who arrived at First Woodway in 2016 after serving as the president of Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio, initially proposed the idea for the family outreach event.

“I moved here with a real heart to connect with Hispanic families,” Maciel said. “There are a lot of unchurched Hispanic families in Waco.”

Most churches in the association represent one culture or ethnicity, Director of Missions Tim Randolph noted. To enhance relationships between those churches and improve their ability to reach communities of other cultures, the association plans to sponsor more events like Fiesta Familiar, Randolph said.

“Our churches would like to become multicultural, but they do not know how,” he added.

When Maciel talked to Gutierrez and his wife, Elizabeth, about his desire to reach Hispanic families, the couple knew they could bring that idea to fruition.

She serves on the association’s evangelism team, and she immediately recognized the event first would need to appeal to children.

“When you take care of the kids, the families will come back,” she said.

Rather than seeing the fiesta as a one-time event, she viewed it as a long-term investment in the lives the children. When the children grow up, they will remember who cared for them and taught them about God, she noted.

In addition to making the event fun for children, the organizers also sought to make it attractive to families by providing food.

Maciel pointed out the event raised the churches’ profile in the Hispanic community and let families know they care by bringing the party where the families live rather than expecting them to come to church.

“We want people to see we are here,” he said.

Volunteers from First Woodway and Viento Fuerte teamed up to provide the food, games and entertainment. Near the end of the event, Gutierrez presented the gospel message to everyone in attendance.

Randolph hopes more events like this one occur, as churches of varied backgrounds learn to work together.

“Our strength lies in our diversity, ethnic and cultural diversity,” he said. “A team is not complete if everyone else looks like you.”

FORT WORTH—Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s board of trustees will gather for a special called meeting May 22, prompted by controversy surrounding remarks seminary President Paige Patterson made in 2000 regarding spousal abuse.

Trustee Chairman Kevin Uekert, lead pastor of First Baptist Church in Georgetown, called the meeting for 1:30 p.m., May 22 on the seminary’s Fort Worth campus.

In recent weeks, an audio recording resurfaced from Patterson’s question-and-answer presentation to a 2000 meeting sponsored by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, in which he said the proper response to spousal abuse “depends on the level of abuse, to some degree.”

Since the recording came to light—along with a video of a 2014 sermon in which Patterson joked about a “built” 16-year-old co-ed—some Southern Baptists have called for Patterson to step down from his seminary post.

In a statement released May 6, Uekert said: “Since April 28, I and the executive committee of the board of trustees have been in conversation with our president. In light of recent events, Dr. Patterson has requested that I convene our full trustee board to meet in official session.”

‘A message to women that we must not send’

Patterson—an architect of what supporters call the “conservative resurgence” within the Southern Baptist Convention—is scheduled to deliver the convention sermon at the convention’s annual meeting at Dallas in June.

The controversy surrounding Patterson happens at a time with Paul Pressler, another key figure in orchestrating what opponents termed the “fundamentalist takeover” of the SBC, faces a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse.

“If Patterson preaches at the SBC, he will, because of his past work, get a standing ovation. Every news story will point to that moment, tie it together with the accusations against Paul Pressler, and say Southern Baptists don’t take abuse seriously,” Ed Stetzer, former executive director of LifeWay Research and now professor at Wheaton College, wrote in a Christianity Today article.

“And that’s not just a public relations crisis. It’s a message to women that we must not send.”

Stetzer went on to thank Patterson for his service, but called on him to step down.

“You did the right thing when it was hard. Now, let me encourage you to do so again,” Stetzer wrote. “Thank you for thinking first of the SBC as you step into a well-earned retirement.”

‘Be submissive in every way that you can’

In the 2000 recording, Patterson said he never counseled a woman to divorce her husband, although in extreme cases of physical abuse he occasionally advised temporary separation. Rather, he urged a woman in an abusive situation to pray for her husband and “be submissive in every way that you can.”

When the recording began to circulate online, Patterson issued a statement April 29, which said in part, “I have never counseled or condoned abuse of any kind.”

In the public statement, Patterson recounted an incident he described in the 2000 recording in which a woman approached him to talk about her desire to see her husband attend church.

“He was neither harsh or physical with her, but she felt abused,” he explained. “I suggested to her that she kneel by the bed at night and pray for him. Because he might hear her prayer, I warned her that he could become angry over this and seek to retaliate. Subsequently, on a Sunday morning, she arrived at church with some evidence of physical abuse.”

In the recording, Patterson told the woman he was “happy” about what had happened, because it prompted her husband to slip into the back door of the church sanctuary before the worship service, and the man subsequently made a commitment to Christ.

‘Probably unwise’

“For sharing this illustration, especially in the climate of this culture, I was probably unwise. … I do not apologize for my stand for the family and for seeking to mend a marriage through forgiveness rather than divorce. But I do greatly regret that the way I expressed that conviction has brought hurt,” Patterson said in the prepared statement. “I also regret for my own family this deliberate misrepresentation of my position, as well as the hatred that lies behind much of it.”

In an April 30 interview with Baptist Press, information service of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, Patterson sought to clarify his position further, saying he seriously doubted anyone experiencing spousal abuse would be morally obligated to remain in a home with the abuser.

However, he added, “minor non-injurious abuse which happens in so many marriages” might prompt a wife to “pray through this” rather than leave her husband.

No level of abuse is acceptable

Several Southern Baptist leaders quickly issued statements condemning the abuse of women.

Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources, tweeted: “There is no level of abuse of women that is acceptable.”

Rainer went on to say, “I stand with all who say ‘no’ to any type of abuse of women at any time and under any circumstance.”

Russell Moore, president of the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, affirmed Rainer’s statement on Twitter in a series of tweets.

Moore pointed to what he interprets as scriptural justification for divorce in cases of sexual immorality (Matthew 5:32) or abandonment (1 Corinthians 7:25).

“Abuse make a home unsafe and constitutes abandonment,” Moore said.

“A woman being abused should leave the house and call the police. The state should prosecute the abuser, and the church should discipline him.”

At least two Southern Baptist seminary presidents—Daniel Akin of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and Al Mohler of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary—also took to Twitter to denounce abuse of women.

Another Patterson statement

On May 2, Patterson issued a second public statement, this one in conjunction with the seminary trustees’ executive committee.

“When Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary comes to the topic of abuse, above all other emotions we feel compassion, concern and a commitment to protect women, children and others whose lives of promise and potential have been altered in tragic ways by the sin and violence of abuse. These are people whom God has made in his image,” the statement says.

The statement goes on to affirm the “vital and God-ordained role” of law enforcement and civil authorities in addressing abusive relationships and “the importance of protecting victims of abuse.”

It also affirms a statement on abuse issued by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, which calls on churches and ministries to “establish safe environments; to execute policies and practices that protect against any form of abuse; (and) to confront abusers and to protect the abused, which includes the responsibility to report abuse to civil authorities.”

A federal judge ruled May 3 that a sexual molestation lawsuit against former Southern Baptist Convention leader Paul Pressler must return to state court in Texas.

The case moved automatically to federal court when Second Baptist Church in Houston—one of seven organizations or individuals named in an alleged joint enterprise that purportedly enabled Pressler to perform immoral acts—claimed in March that it centers on federal, rather than state law.

Read it on Baptist News Global.