WASHINGTON, D.C. (RNS) — Is it a show about a modern-day shipwreck, featuring misfit castaways trying to survive increasingly bizarre circumstances on an island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean? Or is Lost really a show about faith, redemption, evil, predestination, love, suffering, free will and human understanding of the supernatural?

Either way, when Lost ends its six-season run on Sunday, May 23, what will remain is the debate — especially on thousands of blogs — about the religious themes sprinkled throughout the hit series.

Because of its complicated plot lines and character development, Lost virtually precludes drop-in viewing, giving it a smaller but dedicated fan base of between about 10 and 15 million viewers per episode, according to Nielson ratings.

So, while those 290 million Americans who don't watch "Lost" each week likely care very little about the show's religious symbolism, inferences or foreshadowing, Losties, as they're often called, eat the stuff up.

"By the end of first season, we began to see Lost cultivate a thematic debate about two ways to view the world," said Jeff Jensen, senior writer for Entertainment Weekly whose "Totally Lost" blog is a Losties must-read.

The options? "Either purely naturalistic terms that only science can explain," he said, or "a supernaturalistic view of the world in which we live in a fundamentally spiritual universe that deals with what theologians and philosophers call the ultimate concerns of man — who are we, who made us?"   

In purely rational terms, "Lost" is about a group of people who survive a plane crash on a tropical island, and the struggle to survive and escape. The characters include a woman on the lam for killing her father, an alcoholic surgeon, a torturer, a drug-addicted rock star and a con man, among other tough people to love.

"They are deeply broken people, but you fall in love with them," said Chris Seay, pastor of Ecclesia church in Houston and author of The Gospel According to Lost. "… We want these people to be redeemed and changed for the better."

In the first season, much of the action revolved around flashbacks o the various characters' lives and set a foundation for how their behavior on the island could be redemptive. During that first season, as the writers teased viewers with hints of who was good and who was evil, many bloggers embraced the theory that the island was purgatory.

Each of the characters in the plane crash had died, the theory went, but the series would follow their attempts to escape purgatory by coming to terms with their lives, thereby purifying their souls as a way to gain entrance to the afterlife. That theory was debunked by the show's creators.

"They said the island wasn't purgatory, but it had elements of purgatory," said Tony Rossi, a radio host and producer for The Christophers, a nonprofit Catholic organization, who writes about faith and culture on his blog, "The Intersection."

Rossi said there are some definite Catholic allusions in the series, including one in which a character (Charlie, the drug-addicted rock star) sacrifices his life for the woman he loves and her child while making a sign of the cross as he drowns.

In a more recent episode, Rossi said, a character named Benjamin Linus, who had been set up as the series villain, confesses his sins to another character who was standing in for God, before being accepted by the rest of the characters.

"That looks very much like the Catholic sacrament of reconciliation in which a priest, standing in for God during someone's confession, allows the person to be reconciled to the rest of the community," Rossi said.

Sarah Pulliam Bailey, the online editor at Christianity Today and a Lost fan, said other theological ideas have been referenced by the show's writers. One, she said, is predestination, made famous by the 16th-century theologian John Calvin.

"Are these characters' paths laid out or do they get to choose their paths?" said Bailey. "That been a debate among theologians a long time."   

Jensen, who visited the set of the Lost finale, said the big-picture religious and philosophical themes are only likely to heighten as the series draws to an end. 

"It does seem that Lost believes that the world is fundamentally piritual, that we are not just stuff, we are not just animals," Jensen said. "But I think that it's also saying that no one explanation has ever gotten it right. And they're not about to declare who is correct."
 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Former Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page is being nominated as president of the SBC Executive Committee, one of three key leadership positions in the nation's second-largest faith group in the process of being filled.

According to Baptist Press, Page, 57, is the unanimous recommendation of a seven-member search committee seeking a successor to Morris Chapman, who retires Sept. 30 after 18 years in the leadership post that oversees operations of the denomination and recommends and disburses its annual budget.

Frank Page

Page, a pastor for 30 years before becoming vice president of evangelization for the North American Mission Board in October 2009, will be presented for election at a meeting of the Executive Committee June 14 in Orlando, Fla., just prior to the SBC annual meeting June 15-16 at the Orange County Convention Center.

If elected, Page, chosen from 16 nominees and six finalists, could face tough choices if the convention approves recommendations of a Great Commission Task Force appointed last year by current convention President Johnny Hunt.

One proposal calls for increasing the Cooperative Program allocation for the International Mission Board from 50 percent to 51 percent while reducing the Executive Committee allocation by 1 percent.

The shift of $2 million would increase the IMB's budget by less than 1 percent, while reducing the Executive Committee's current $6.95 million budget by nearly 30 percent.

Chapman wrote recently expressing "grave concerns" that the report, which also recommends recognizing a new category of "Great Commission Giving" broader than the Cooperative Program, would devalue the unified funding mechanism in use since 1925.

Jerry Rankin, who retires in July after 17 years as president of the International Mission Board, welcomed the "token" step of breaking the "50 percent barrier" for funding of the IMB but said it doesn't go far enough.

Rankin said in a recent blog that he fears Southern Baptists will embrace the spirit of the Great Commission Task Force recommendations but continue trying to do everything the convention is currently doing.

"We must see what truly fulfilling the Great Commission entails," he wrote. "It means sacrificing a lot of what we are currently doing, including the traditional structure and programs with which we are familiar. Are we not willing to give it up and make some changes for the sake of a lost world for which Christ gave His life?"

Page, a member of the Great Commission Task Force bringing the recommendations, said May 18 he could not comment on the subject.

A third key leadership spot, president of the North American Mission Board, has been under interim leadership since Geoff Hammond resigned last August over leadership differences with the agency's board of trustees.

One of the Great Commission Task Force proposals is to "unleash" the North American Mission Board to take a lead role in church-planting and evangelism work now done in conjunction with Baptist state conventions through cooperative agreements. Several state convention executives have said doing away with the cooperative agreements would make it impossible for them to afford staff positions currently jointly funded with NAMB. Some have suggested the state conventions would simply reduce the percentage of Cooperative Program receipts they forward to national causes in order to keep those jobs funded.

Dwight McKissic, a prominent African-American pastor from Texas, said recently he believes one of the three leadership posts at the Executive Committee, IMB or NAMB ought to be filled by a minority to send a message that the SBC is serious about racial reconciliation. Like every current SBC agency head, Page is white. 

Page, SBC president from 2006 to 2008, was considered a dark-horse candidate when he defeated two denominational insiders on a first ballot at the 2006 convention in Greensboro, N.C. He introduced himself to media as an "irenic conservative" and "an inerrantist" who is "just not mad about it."

Observers viewed his election as signaling a desire for a more open leadership process and as a referendum of support for the Cooperative Program. Page's church at the time, First Baptist Church of Taylors, S.C., was a leading CP supporter in the South Carolina Baptist Convention, while his opponents were both pastors of mega-churches with a relatively low percentage of budgets going to the Cooperative Program.

It also marked the first time for a candidacy to gain word-of-mouth momentum in the months leading up to the annual convention largely through the use of Internet blogs.

Page told the Florida Baptist Witness he was humbled by the nomination and hoped he could help unify a Southern Baptist constituency fragmented by various controversies.

A native of North Carolina, Page is a graduate of Gardner-Webb College (now university) who earned the M.Div. at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1976. He completed a Ph.D. at Southwestern in 1980 with a dissertation that advocated full inclusion of women in ministry, including ordination as pastors. 

Page claimed to have recanted those views, which he described in 2006 as "rather extreme" and the product of an "immature theologian," shortly after graduating and said he now supports the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message article that says, "While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture."

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (ABP) — The last of 10 Americans detained while trying to take 33 children out of Haiti following the Jan. 12 earthquake was released May 17 after a judge found her guilty and sentenced her to time already served in jail.

Laura Silsby, an Idaho businesswoman who led a 10-member mission team from her Southern Baptist church to rescue children left homeless by the earthquake, was jailed Jan. 29 after trying to bring a busload of children into the Dominican Republic without proper paperwork. Silsby originally claimed the children were orphans who lost parents it the earthquake, but it later was revealed that all of the children had at least one living parent who handed them over to the Americans in hope of finding them a better life.

Haiti released eight of the 10 mission volunteers Feb. 17 and a ninth team member on March 8. Judge Bernard Saint-Vil dropped charges of kidnapping and criminal association against the 10 but ordered Silsby to stand trial on a reduced charge of arranging illegal travel.

The Associated Press quoted a Haitian prosecutor as saying Silby was convicted under a 1980 statute restricting movement out of Haiti signed by then-dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier and sentenced to the three months and eight days she had spent behind bars. The prosecution originally recommended a six-month sentence. Her maximum sentence could have been three years.

Silsby, 40, a member of Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, was expected to fly out of Haiti on May 17.

Previous stories:

Southern Baptist jailed in Haiti to stand trial on reduced charge

Last Baptist held in Haiti faces new charge

Legal expert says remaining Baptist jailed in Haiti likely to be set free

Freed Baptists hope attention will now focus on Haiti's needs

Pastor stays out of division reported among jailed Americans in Haiti

Church seeks forgiveness for mission team detained in Haiti

SBC official says he believes detained missionaries acted in good faith

Baptist group arrested in Haiti denies trafficking charge

TYLER, Texas (ABP) — A grand jury began hearing testimony May 13 in the case of two men suspected of burning down 10 churches in East Texas in January and February, a television station in Tyler, Texas, reported.

Jason Bourque, 19, and Daniel McAllister, 21, were arrested Feb. 21 on a single charge of setting fire to Dover Baptist Church near Lindale, Texas, on Feb. 8. Television station KLTV reported May 13, however, that a grand jury could indict the two men on as many as 12 different arson and attempted-arson charges.

The station cited sources who said the grand jury could hand down four different indictments against McAllister: two arson charges on Feb. 8, the night that firefighters attempted to save both Dover Baptist Church and nearby Clear Spring Missionary Baptist Church, and two charges of attempted arson. Bourque could face a total of eight possible indictments for arson and attempted arson, including the fires on Feb. 8.

Authorities said from the beginning they believed the duo was responsible for nine other church fires in four East Texas communities between Jan. 1 and Feb. 8.

Police have not reported a motive. Their former pastor said the two boys were once active at First Baptist Church in Ben Wheeler, Texas, but drifted away after McAllister's mother died from a heart and attack and a stroke and Bourque's family moved to a different town.

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

JEFFERSON CITY — Regaining control is the heart of the Missouri Baptist Convention’s ongoing legal action against three formerly affiliated institutions. If control cannot be restored, then the convention would like its “stuff” returned, a Cole County judge learned May 11.

A hearing in Cole County Circuit Court on May 11 was the latest in ongoing legal action between the MBC and three formerly affiliated institutions. In 2000 and 2001, The Baptist Home, Missouri Baptist University, the Missouri Baptist Foundation, Word&Way and Windermere Baptist Conference Center changed their charters to self-elect their trustees. The MBC filed legal action against the five on Aug. 13, 2002, to force them to rescind those changes.

Windermere has won in Cole County and in a subsequent appeal. The MBC has voluntarily dismissed Word&Way from the case, and is moving forward against the remaining three in the Cole County action.

At the May 11 hearing, Judge Paul Wilson heard arguments concerning the convention’s claims and the relief it seeks. The MBC filed a declaratory judgment in 2002, amending it five times through September 2006. The MBC’s petition claims the institutions improperly amended their charters because they did not secure convention approval for those changes.

As its name suggests, a declaratory judgment asks the judge to determine each party’s rights and responsibilities.

However, Foundation attorney Laurence Tucker argued that a declaratory judgment could only be used when no other adequate legal means exists to solve the issue. Tucker argued the case could not be presented as a declaratory judgment since the convention also includes allegations of breach of contract — another legal means to conclude the case.

A declaratory judgment also does not include a remedy for loss. The convention seeks a remedy — rescinding of the corporate charter changes and any actions by the self-elected trustees. The MBC also seeks actual and punitive damages, including the return of some physical assets.

MBC attorney Charles Hatfield argued that seeking a declaratory judgment is the convention’s best option against The Home, the Foundation and MBU because each had given the MBC the right to approve charter changes.

“We want the ability to control these institutions we set up…,” Hatfield said. “No amount of money or no amount of property can secure that.”

In addition to the right to approve amendments, the MBC has a contract with the remaining defendants, which includes each corporate charter and the convention’s governing documents, Hatfield claimed.

Judge Wilson asked Hatfield what remedies the convention would seek, other than the right to control the agencies, if the MBC pursued the case as a breach of contract.

“We want to go back to the relationship we thought we would have…the right to appoint trustees and the stuff in the original articles,” Hatfield responded. “If we can’t get that, there are other claims…. Then we would want the stuff promised — the land, the money.”

The convention viewed Windermere as the “worst-case” legal scenario because its original charter declared the corporation would have no members and no MBC rights were stated. The Foundation was viewed as a “best-case” legal scenario because its old charter included language to allow the MBC to approve charter changes, Hatfield argued.

MBC attorneys argued that under a declaratory judgment, the convention would regain control of the agencies and their assets because the institutions’ actions would be rescinded.

If the court determines the case should be pursued as a breach of contract, the MBC should regain control of the institutions and their assets as restitution, Hatfield argued.

Either way, the MBC feels it has “a serious wrong” and is seeking the best legal remedy, the lawyer added.

TBH attorney Eric Walter pointed out that in a March 2008 ruling, former Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan determined that a contract did not exist between the MBC and Windermere and that any covenant agreement that existed is not enforceable.

Judge Wilson indicated he would not issue any rulings yet. Instead, he will hear arguments on additional motions still active in the case.

Another hearing has been set for 9:30 a.m. June 9 at the Cole County Courthouse in Jefferson City.

LEWISVILLE—One of music minister Rob Veal’s latest additions to his hymnal collection arrived from an unexpected source.

A woman sent it to Veal with a note saying her father had clipped an article about Veal’s collection from the Aug. 24, 2001, edition of the United Methodist Reporter and placed it inside the hymnal with a note saying, “When I pass, send the hymn book to him.”

Veal's oldest hymnal is a tiny 1801 edition of Psalms Carefully Suited for Christian Worship, designed to fit easily into a woman’s purse. He also owns a battlefield hymnal from the Civil War.

Veal, associate pastor of worship at Northview Baptist Church in Lewisville, owns 1,434 hymnals and gospel songbooks—and he’s still looking for unique additions to his collection.

Veal started accumulating hymnals and bound collections of gospel songs soon after he began to lead church music at age 16. Some senior adults at church requested songs unfamiliar to him, and he set out hunting for the music.

“I started buying books because the church couldn’t afford them,” he recalled.

His interest in rare books was piqued when he discovered, on sale for $4 at a second-hand bookstore, a 1937 Stamps-Baxter paperback edition of Favorite Radio Songs from KRLD in Dallas, autographed by Virgil Stamps.

In the last 30 years, he has added significantly older and rarer books to his collection, the oldest being a tiny 1801 edition of Psalms Carefully Suited for Christian Worship, designed to fit easily into a woman’s purse. He also owns a battlefield hymnal from the Civil War.

In addition to The Broadman Hymnal from 1940 and copies of the 1926, 1956, 1975 and 1991 editions of The Baptist Hymnal, Veal’s collection also includes several editions of British Baptist hymnals published by the Psalms and Hymns Trust of London and a copy of the 1918 Primitive Baptist Hymn and Tune Book.

But even a casual glance at the collection reveals its eclectic and ecumenical nature—everything from an Amish hymnal in German to an 1846 Universalist hymnal from Boston.

Rob Veal, associate pastor of worship at Northview Baptist Church in Lewisville, owns 1,434 hymnals and gospel songbooks—and he’s still looking for unique additions to his collection. (PHOTOS/Ken Camp)

In addition to a wide variety of hymnals representing many denominations, Veal’s collection also includes many collections of gospel songs from the singing conventions that once were popular throughout the South.

Veal believes preserving the wide range of hymn and gospel song collections is important because the songs tell the story of what has moved the hearts of people over the last 200 years.

“We sing the things that we feel when we encounter God in different ways,” he said.

“History unfolds in the songs we sing.”

Veal continues to add to his collection, and he is willing to pay shipping costs for any unique donations. Contact him at BRobertVeal@aol.com.

HUNTSVILLE—Each Tuesday during the fall and spring semesters, Lauren Sierra, campus missionary for the Sam Houston State University Baptist Student Ministry, walked to the center of campus where student activities were buzzing, taking with her two metal folding chairs and a white board that read, “Take a seat—questions about life.

As hundreds of students passed by on their way to class, Sierra sat for a few hours, leaving the second chair open for anyone who needed to sit and talk about life. Many students walked by, avoiding eye contact and heading to the other side of the walkway to avoid the chairs. But Sierra sat patiently, believing God would bring the people who needed to hear hope and need a friend to listen.

“One thing I like about the “Take a Seat” method is that they can come sit down if they want,” Sierra said. “I’m not forcing anyone to come sit down with me. One of the first things that I say is that: ‘At any point in this conversation, you are free to get up and go. You won’t offend me. I’m just here to learn about your life and share my life with you.’”

When students sat in the chair, Sierra began asking general questions about their major, what they think the purpose of life is or if they follow a religion, questions that help get a conversation started. Then she listened, looking for ways to share the hope of Christ with each student.

“I’ve had students tell me they are bent towards sin,” Sierra said. “I’ve had students tell me they have a nature of darkness in them. Good thing is that Jesus is the light, so I’m able to share the gospel with them.”

Lauren Sierra (right), campus missionary at the Sam Houston State University BSM, listens to a student who came to talk during the “Take a seat” outreach. (PHOTOS/Kaitlin Chapman/BGCT)

Sierra feels like this ministry and other BSM ministries are reaching the campus because they are fulfilling a need for community many students have. In the process, Sierra brought other BSM students with her to teach them how they, too, can offer a listening ear and a kind and truthful word to other students.

“When we talk about meeting needs, I think one of the biggest needs we need to meet on this campus is community,” Sierra said. “People need someone to talk to, and I’m trying to provide that for them and share the gospel while doing it.”

To continue offering community beyond the outreach effort, the BSM served as host to more than 18 small-group Bible studies around campus.

Chris Stanley, BSM director at Sam Houston State University, and the BSM staff discipled student leaders to guide the small groups of 10 students held on-campus in dorms and activity centers, making the groups open and available to other students.

Many of the small groups are considered seeker groups, where not all the students are Christians. Leaders are sensitive to this and lead discussions relevant to students who are seeking truth about Christ.

“The main goal is to make disciples because that is what we feel like we have been charged to do,” Stanley said. “Our small groups are really for our students to come together, get connected and get some spiritual grounding. Then for those who facilitate the groups, (we encourage them) to look for those in the groups who want to go deeper. Then they draw them aside and talk to them about what that would look like and entail and begin to meet with them weekly to do that very thing. Really, our ultimate goal is to make reproducible disciples.”

Through this process, several students professed faith in Christ.

For instance, freshman Shalyse Thomas became friends with fellow freshman Stacey Monks and invited her to attend a small group. She agreed, and arrived seeking someone to answer her questions about religion.

Monks, who considered herself agnostic, said she was at the point of frustration, not knowing what to believe about religion but had not tried to get her questions answered in the past. Monks said she had heard of Christ before, but had no idea about the relevance of the cross.

Sam Houston State University BSM campus missionary Lauren Sierra sits in the middle of campus encouraging a student. Last fall, Sierra was moved to start an on-campus outreach that would build community on students while sharing the gospel, so she started “Take a seat.” (PHOTOS/Kaitlin Chapman/BGCT)

Soon Thomas and Sierra were spending time weekly with Monks outside of small group, talking through her questions about faith and Christ. At one point when Sierra was sharing the gospel with her, Monks called her crazy for believing the Bible.

“She wanted a logical explanation of the Trinity, which I couldn’t give to her, and I said that it will have to be revealed by God. I do remember telling her: ‘Stacey, God loves you, and I think he is pursuing you. I think you want to believe in him, and I promise if you seek for God, you will find Christ because he is God.’ She looked at me and said, ‘Lauren, you are crazy.’”

Sierra and Thomas patiently continued to spend time with Monks and prayed God would open her eyes to truth.

“In October of last year, I really started to pray for Stacey. She was just really on my heart,” Thomas said. “Then in December, I invited her to small group. It took a month or two of her coming to small group and asking questions to start to see the love Jesus has for her and the love we had for each other here at the BSM.”

Eventually, Monks started reading the Bible on her own, continuing to search for answers to her questions.

“It was definitely a process,” Monks said. “It took me several months just for things to click. It even took me a couple of months to even start reading the Bible on my own. Eventually, I was readying Matthew, and it just clicked. This is truth.”

Monks walked into the BSM one day, and her countenance was different, Sierra said. She could tell Monks had accepted the love and salvation of Christ.

“I feel worthy now,” Monks said. “Before, there was just always something missing. Since I’ve found the love of Christ, it’s filled that gap. Before, I was depressed. I was lonely. I felt unworthy. Now that Christ is in my life, I have love. I have worthiness. I never feel alone.”

Monks now is being discipled by Thomas, and she is sharing her faith with others, helping them see that Christ also can change their lives.

As God has been transforming BSM students to live intentional, missional lives out of the overflow of their love for Jesus, Stanley said, God is using them to change and influence many lives with the hope of Christ.

“We have seen a life transformation throughout,” Stanley said. “Students who have been dealing with life issues for years and years have seen new life as Christ has broken them and brought about renewal in their life. Accountability and getting into the word has been part of that but also just that aspect of God working and transforming lives. … It has been amazing to see God at work.”

AUSTIN, Texas (ABP) — Two Baptist ministers joined about two dozen other religious leaders in a May 12 press conference at the Texas Capitol to decry school textbook standards they say would weaken instruction about religious liberty and the separation of church and state.

Roger Paynter

"Our Founding Fathers understood that the best way to protect religious liberty in America is to keep government out of matters of faith," said Roger Paynter, pastor of Austin's First Baptist Church. "But this state board appears hostile to teaching students about the importance of keeping religion and state separate, a principle long supported in my own Baptist tradition and in other faiths."

The event, one week before the State Board of Education begins final debate on proposed new social studies curriculum standards for Texas public schools, was sponsored by the Texas Faith Network, a coalition of more than 600 mainstream and progressive clergy and project of the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund.

In March board members voted 10-5 along party lines to amend textbook standards to correct what a bloc of social conservatives view as hostility toward Christianity and traditional values.

Proposed changes to the curriculum include downplaying the role of Thomas Jefferson among the founding fathers and requiring teachers to cover "Judeo-Christian" influences on the nation's founding.

Larry Bethune

A group of historians said many of the changes are historically inaccurate and that they would affect textbooks and classrooms far beyond the state's borders. Texas is one of the two largest textbook purchasers, giving publishers incentive to tailor their curriculum with that market in mind.

Republican board members defeated an amendment that would have required students to examine the reasons the founders "protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others."

Also speaking at the press conference was Larry Bethune, pastor of University Baptist Church in Austin. "We don't want to be the laughing stock of the nation and certainly don't want our children to be taught a very narrow religious agenda," Bethune told television station News 8 Austin.

"We think it's very important that Texas children understand religious liberty and its place as the First Amendment of our Constitution and Bill of Rights," Bethune said.

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (ABP) — After resigning abruptly in 1992 from one of the largest and influential churches in the nation, First Baptist Church in Dallas, and going through a divorce within two years, Joel Gregory's ministry appeared to be over. Through it all, he says, one minister kept calling him.

The late E.K. Bailey, the pastor of Concord Missionary Baptist Church in Dallas, asked Gregory to preach at his International Expository Preaching Conference. Though Gregory didn't know it at the time, it was actually an endorsement of his ministry that led to the white southern preacher being invited into hundreds of African-American churches and conferences.

Joel Gregory

Gregory describes the experience — the first step toward redeeming his ministry that today includes serving as professor of preaching at Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary — in a new book by Judson Press co-authored with Georgetown College President William Crouch.

In What We Love About the Black Church, Gregory and Crouch say much of America's religious history is marked by white churches taking a patronizing attitude assuming they have the right answers and need to help black churches with money, programs and organization. Based on their own experiences worshipping as white ministers in African-American settings, however, they argue that black churches have much to offer that would greatly enrich white churches if they are willing to learn.

Gregory said in an e-mail interview the most important lesson he learned is that the black church really practices grace. "White Baptists talk grace but to some extent revert to law in assessment of their own lives and the lives of others," he said. "Blacks are willing to take you where they find you, believe in your, pick you up and believe that you can say a good word for Jesus. Every Sunday in every black church I have experienced, now in the hundreds, grace is an active reality."

Crouch, a preacher's kid who grew up watching his father, Henry Crouch — the longtime pastor of Providence Road Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., and a founder of the Alliance of Baptists — cope with the ugliness of racism in the South, set a goal of leading Georgetown, a predominantly white college founded in 1787, to become a campus of diversity.

Under his leadership the percentage of students of color at the college has increased from 3 percent in 2005 to 10 percent by the fall of 2009, with a goal of 20 percent by 2015. The school has also launched the Bishop College Alive project, aimed at resurrecting the spirit of a historically black college in Texas that closed its doors in 1988. It marked the first time in American educational history that a predominantly white college has honored the alumni of a historically African-American college.

Crouch said one difference he has noted in visiting white and black churches is hospitality. Visiting a large white Baptist church one Sunday morning, Crouch said he was cordially welcomed by an official greeter but left the service feeling like an outside observer instead of a truly welcomed participant in worship.

William Crouch

He contrasted that with a first-time visit to a large African-American church in Chicago, where he was greeted with a handshake he described as "the lean." That is where right hands grip in a traditional handshake but left hands wrap around the other's back and right shoulders lean in and touch. He later learned is a nearly universal salutation among African-American men.

Upon learning he was a minister the greeter insisted on escorting Crouch to the pastor's office. He was introduced to the pastor, the assistant pastor and the senior deacon and asked by the senior pastor to remain with him in his office while the choir director led the congregation in pre-worship praise and singing and later to sit with him on the pulpit platform. Before the service began, every deacon, even though they didn't know his name, greeted Crouch with "the lean." By the time the service started, he wrote, "I was already a part of the fellowship."

Gregory said black and white churches will move beyond arm's-length cordial relationships only when they start getting involved in one another's lives. "We need more than annual pulpit exchanges," he said. "We need stated bi-cultural programs where black folks and white folks get into one another's homes, have meals and go through a guided discussion book with grace and openness."

He said well-intentioned efforts by whites to interact with blacks in joint worship settings fail to produce meaningful relationships because blacks "are quick readers" of white people's real attitudes toward them.

"The late Rev. Dr. E.K. Bailey told me one time, 'Gregory, we have had to read what white folks are really thinking for 400 years in order to survive. We can tell in an instant if a white person fears us,'" he said.

"That is true," Gregory continued. "We need a pure heart to meet on level ground. We need honesty and conversation. We also need to be able to be serious about stereotypes and at the same time be able to laugh out loud together at the misconceptions that we have of one another. I have seen great healing in such respectful, shared humor at the irony of our misconceptions."

Gregory said he hopes the book will be of equal interest to clergy and laity in both black and white churches. "We need it to be," he said.

"Make no mistake," Gregory said. "Prejudice is evil and serious. We cannot laugh it away. I believe the more time Christian blacks and white can spend with one another in homes, missions and conversations the perceived distances will melt."

–Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

ORLANDO, Fla.—Are people really responsible for all the things they do? Do they have what theologians call God-given “free will” to choose between right and wrong?

Those questions are at the heart of a four-year research project under way at Florida State University that aims to determine whether, and how, free will exists.

Funded by a $4.4 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation, the project will gather together scientists, philosophers and theologians around the question of what factors—free will, genetics, environment, God or something else—lead us to do all the things we do.

“Gathering evidence for it one way or another, it’s quite possible,” said Alfred Mele, a professor of philosophy at Florida State who will lead the project. “Scientists have been looking for evidence for and against free will since the early ’80s.”

The debate however, is much older. For instance: Do humans, through their own freely chosen actions and decisions, determine whether they will go to heaven or hell? Does an omniscient God already know how things will turn out in the end? Does God give humans the free choice to turn away?

In the early 1980s, neuroscientist Benjamin Libet conducted an experiment that found subjects’ brains registered the decision to flex their wrists roughly 300 milliseconds before the subjects themselves became aware of their decision to do it. Libet concluded “conscious free will never is involved in producing a decision, and you can see how there’s a quick road from there to ‘there actually is no free will,”’ Mele said.

The research led some to believe that brain processes traceable to genetic and environmental factors, and not free will, determine our decisions. Others think that while people might not be immediately aware of the decisions our brains make, they still possess the free will to veto these decisions.

But Mele, the author of two books and more than 170 articles on the concept of free will, doesn’t discount the more common definition of free will—one used by the courts in determining guilt and premeditation.

“There really is nothing more to it than sanely, rationally assessing reasons and then deciding on the basis of those reasons, as long as nobody is pushing you around or forcing you,” he said. “In that view of free will, it’s pretty obvious there is free will.”

The “Big Questions in Free Will” research project will devote $3.4 million for projects around the world to explore the concept of free will from scientific, philosophical and theological perspectives.

Scientists will look for evidence proving or disproving whether free will exists. Philosophers and theologians, meanwhile, will seek a better definition of the concept, helping scientists to know precisely what evidence they are looking for, Mele said.

Perhaps it is difficult to reconcile concepts such as fate and destiny with free will, but it is possible for an omniscient God to coexist with the idea of free will, said Kevin Timpe, an associate professor of philosophy at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho.

“There is a difference between knowing what someone is going to do and causing them to do it,” said Timpe, author of Free Will: Sourcehood and Its Alternatives. “I know what my wife is going to order when I take her to certain restaurants just because I know her very well. But I also think my wife is freely choosing to order.”

What if researchers discover free will does not exist? Two studies portend a troubled future, Mele said. One found its subjects cheated more when they believed they were not responsible for their own decisions; another found subjects’ behavior growing more aggressive when their belief in free will was suspended.

Norman Geisler, the author of 70 books including several on free will, said the idea that free will does not exist is incompatible with the Bible and the doctrine of original sin, which refers to the sin inherited from Adam and Eve’s transgressions in the Garden of Eden. If Adam’s decision was not made freely, then that presumably makes God responsible for evil in the world.

“The Bible constantly affirms that man is free, that he can choose his destiny, that he’s morally responsible,” said Geisler, whose books include Chosen But Free. “To say that we are pre-determined is to blame God for our choices. Secondly if all our actions are pre-determined, then why doesn’t God save everyone? Because if he can save everyone apart from their free will and he if really loves everyone, then he would.”

NIPAS, Chile—More than two months after an earthquake rocked Chile, rains have begun and winter soon will arrive, leaving a group of Baptist pastors bracing for the cold in small tents that have become their impromptu homes in the wake of the disaster.

Eliseo Avila (left) is one of 10 Chilean Baptist pastors a Texas Baptist Men team discovered still living in tents near their devastated homes after an earthquake struck Chile. Seeing them broke the heart of Ernie Rice (right), who led the TBM disaster assessment team. (PHOTOS/Courtesy of Ernie Rice)

For Eliseo Avila, pastor of three congregations, it’s simply the latest challenge. He remains jittery, jumping on occasion when sounds spark memories of the earthquake. At times, he struggles to contain his emotions.

Avila is one of 10 Chilean pastors a Texas Baptist Men team discovered still living in tents near their devastated homes. Seeing them broke the heart of Ernie Rice, who led the TBM team.

“They’re approaching their winter, and it’s raining,” said Rice, a member of First Baptist Church in Stockdale. “They’re in a high degree of misery.”

TBM is working on a plan to construct housing for each of the pastors, using Texas volunteer teams to provide labor. But the effort faces obstacles. Lumber cannot be imported, and the factory that produced 80 percent of the area’s steel was severely damaged by the tsunami that resulted after February’s earthquake. TBM leaders are investigating a number of options, including shipping prefabricated homes to Chile and importing steel for roofing.

Rice, a veteran of disaster relief ministry, described the devastation in Chile as “powerful.” One apartment complex broke in two and fell to the ground. The top six floors of a high-rise building collapsed.

Texas Baptist Men discovered 10 Baptist pastors living in tents after an earthquake destroyed their homes.

Numerous churches were affected to varying degrees. Government officials have begun inspecting buildings and identifying necessary repairs before they can be used again.

While the rebuilding efforts understandably have consumed much of the Chilean Baptists’ time and energy, they remain committed to sharing the gospel in their communities, Rice said. They continue to plan a major evangelistic effort in the coming months, hoping to continue building on the ministry that has seen the country’s evangelical presence double to 15 percent in the past decade.

TBM has committed to partnering with the congregations affiliated with the Baptist Union of Chile in their efforts to rebuild pastors’ homes and church facilities and to support evangelism efforts.

Ernie Rice, a veteran of Texas Baptist Men disaster relief ministry, described the devastation caused by an earthquake in Chile as “powerful.” One apartment complex broke in two and fell to the ground. The top six floors of a high-rise building collapsed.

“My heart is with those people who are faithful servants who are fully committed to (Christ) and are suffering,” Rice said. “It’s affecting the ministry. It’s time for us in North America to come to their aid. It’s tough, man. It’s tough. They need our help. They need our resources. They need churches to come alongside them and partner with them in the ministry.”

For more information about volunteering to serve in Chile or providing financial support for the disaster relief efforts there, visit www.texasbaptistmen.org or call (214) 828-5350.

Texas Baptists’ Church2church initiative is working with TBM to help congregations partner with Chilean Baptist congregations. For more information on this ministry, visit www.texasbaptists.org/church2church or call Marla Bearden at (888) 244-9400. 

LAS VEGAS (ABP) — A simple metal-pipe cross in the middle of the Mojave Desert that inspired a passionate Supreme Court debate about religious freedom has reportedly been stolen.

The cross — successor to one first erected as a World War I memorial in 1934 — stood atop Sunrise Rock, next to a road in a remote part of California’s Mojave National Preserve. The location is about 70 miles south of Las Vegas and 200 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

Several news agencies — including The Los Angeles Times, The Las Vegas Sun and the Associated Press — reported May 11 that the cross disappeared at some point late May 9 or early May 10.

Although several crosses erected by private groups have stood on the spot over the years, the most recent version was built of painted metal pipes by a local resident in 1998. Federal officials covered it with a plywood box to comply with court orders while the monument’s fate wound its way through the courts.

According to the AP report, National Park Service officials said the crime was discovered May 10 when a service employee was sent to replace the wooden box, which itself had been destroyed by vandals over the weekend prior to the theft.

The employee discovered the cross missing, with the bolts that had connected it to its concrete mount cut.

Motives for the theft, the Park Service said, could range from a protest against the April 28 Supreme Court ruling in the cross’s favor to a case of common thieves seeking scrap metal.

But a conservative religious legal group that argued in favor of the cross declared the theft vandalism and appealed for funds to erect a replacement in a website posting May 11. The Liberty Institute noted, as part of its appeal, that the legal wrangling over the cross isn’t finished.

“While the memorial was temporarily saved by the Supreme Court's ruling April 28, the case isn't over yet,” the statement said. “The court's opinion says that the lower court erred in striking down a congressional act that would transfer the land on which the memorial sits into VFW [Veterans of Foreign Wars] hands, and sends the case back to the lower court so they can correct their ruling.”

The Liberty Institute and the VFW, the American Legion and several other veterans’ organizations are offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the capture of those responsible for the theft.

Groups that opposed the cross standing on government land denounced the crime. Peter Eliasberg, the American Civil Liberties Union attorney who argued on behalf of the retired National Park Service employee who originally sued to remove the cross from the preserve, told the AP, “We believe in the rule of law and we think the proper way to resolve to any controversy about the cross is through the courts.”

Don Byrd, who blogs for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, said the theft was “just sad.”

He continued, “Think what you will about whether it's appropriate as a national monument, or whether it is constitutional; there's no reason for this kind of vandalism, which hopefully was not driven by the Supreme Court's recent decision….”

In the case, a splintered Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that a lower court should reconsider its ruling against an attempt by Congress to preserve the cross by transferring the land on which it sits to private hands. However, the justices in the majority expressed several different opinions as to why the cross should remain in its spot.

It is not immediately clear whether an effort to erect a replacement for the cross would be legal, given the court rulings on its fate.

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Robert Marus is managing editor and Washington bureau chief for Associated Baptist Press.

Related ABP story:

Church-state separationists mixed over desert-cross decision (4/28/2010)