• 

  DOWN HOME: Just buggin’ you: count blessings_63003

  Posted: 6/27/03

  DOWN HOME:
  Just buggin' you: count blessings

  Do you ever wonder if bugs think Independence Day is a holiday too?

  The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 66 million Americans participated in a “backyard barbecue” last year. (Of course, many Texans would not call it a “barbecue” unless it involved slathering vast quantities of meat with spicy sauce, but we'll allow the Census people, probably Yankees for the most part, a generous understanding of the term.) “It's probably safe to assume a large number of these events took place on the Fourth” of July, the Census Bureau interpreted.

  Americans these days articulate all kinds of ideas, beliefs, creeds and suppositions. But it seems we can agree on one thing: When we have a holiday, we eat. And since much of America is frozen over by Thanksgiving and Christmas, the Census Bureau's estimation that the Fourth of July is the No. 1 “backyard barbecue” day of the year probably is correct.

  MARV KNOX Editor

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• editorial At Southwestern, Patterson will finish what he started_63003

  Posted: 6/27/03

  EDITORIAL:
  At Southwestern, Patterson will finish what he started

  Paige Patterson's election to the presidency of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary should help Texas Baptists clarify their feelings about the Fort Worth school. If you like what has happened in the Southern Baptist Convention for the past 25 years, you're going to love what's about to happen to Southwestern. If you don't, you won't.

  Patterson, after all, was the theological mastermind of the “conservative resurgence” or “fundamentalist takeover” of the SBC. In the early 1970s, young Patterson, then president of the Criswell Center for Biblical Studies in Dallas, teamed up with Houston judge Paul Pressler to determine how their kind of Baptists–they called themselves “conservatives”; others called them “fundamentalists”–could control the SBC. Pressler figured out how the legal and political mechanism should work. Patterson supplied the theological rationale. They claimed the SBC leadership needed to be changed, because the “liberals” in charge deny the truth of God's word.

  Paige Patterson helped engineer the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention a quarter-century ago; you can count on him to finish the job at Southwestern Seminary.

  This “don't believe the Bible” ruse worked flawlessly. For their opponents, it became as hard to answer as, “Say 'yes' or 'no': 'Have you quit beating your wife?'” So-called moderates, who struggle with short answers and sound bites, always came off as tentative and defensive. So the assertion stuck. “If they can't clearly respond to the charge, it must be true,” Southern Baptists seemed to think. Consequently, the SBC elected one fundamentalist president after another. This allowed the fundamentalists to dominate the process for selecting trustees to SBC institutions and eventually to gain complete control of the national convention.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• 

  Anonymous gift will enable CBF to appoint missionaries despite budget shortfalls_71403

  Posted 6/28/03

  CBF church starting strategist Phil Hester introduces Mary Beth Caffee, who is starting a church in Maine, one of 40 CBF new church starts across the nation. Hester was an advertising executive in Houston before entering seminary later in life and then starting a church in California.

  Anonymous gift will enable CBF to appoint
  missionaries despite budget shortfalls

  By Mark Wingfield

  Managing Editor

  CHARLOTTE, N.C.–Gifts of $9 million from an anonymous donor will enable the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship to continue to appoint new missionaries next year despite budget shortfalls.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• Missionary couple says they’re grateful to serve at all after being fired by IMB_71403

  Posted 6/30/03

  Missionary couple says they're grateful
  to serve at all after being fired by IMB

  By Mark Wingfield

  Managing Editor

  CHARLOTTE, N.C.–Two missionary couples who lost their jobs with the Southern Baptist Convention for failure to sign a new faith statement expressed gratitude to God for allowing them to serve as missionaries at all.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• 

  cbf_Campolo urges: ‘Fight the good fight’ for justice_71403

  Posted 6/30/03

  Campolo urges: 'Fight the good fight' for justice

  By Marv Knox

  Editor

  CHARLOTTE, N.C.–Christians must “fight the good fight” for justice, speaker and author Tony Campolo told participants at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's general assembly.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• 

  cbf_Healthy churches rest on seven pillars, consultant says_71403

  Posted 6/30/03

  Healthy churches rest on seven pillars, consultant says

  By Marv Knox

  Editor

  CHARLOTTE, N.C.–Although every church is unique, healthy congregations tend to reflect seven characteristics, a veteran church consultant insisted.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• Leonard: Baptists ‘bog down’ relating to people of other faiths_71403

  Posted 6/30/03

  Leonard: Baptists 'bog down'
  relating to people of other faiths

  By Marv Knox

  Editor

  CHARLOTTE, N.C.–Many Baptists bog down in theological "quicksand" as they try to relate to people of other religions, church historian Bill Leonard reported.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• Currie calls Patterson statement on women in the pastorate ‘arrogant’ _71403

  Posted 6/30/03

  Currie calls Patterson statement
  on women in the pastorate 'arrogant'

  By Mark Wingfield

  Managing Editor

  CHARLOTTE, N.C.–Paige Patterson's assertion that the Bible is “crystal clear” that women should not be pastors is “arrogant, asinine and ignorant,” declared David Currie, executive director of Texas Baptists Committed.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• Vestal: Diversity must express itself in comon stream of witness_71403

  Posted 6/30/03

  Vestal: Diversity must express itself in comon stream of witness

  By Mark Wingfield

  Managing Editor

  CHARLOTTE, N.C.–To be the presence of Christ in the world, members of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship must work together today, Daniel Vestal said at the CBF general assembly.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• Youth ministries need to enlist, affirm parents_71403

  Posted 6/30/03

  Youth ministries need to enlist, affirm parents

  By Marv Knox

  Editor

  CHARLOTTE, N.C.–Since parents are three times more likely to influence their children than the church, youth ministries must "pack the stands" with parents if they want to change teens’ lives, youth minister Spencer Good told participants in a breakout session at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s general assembly.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• 

  Churches should talk about ‘mission’ rather than budget to overcome shortfalls _71403

  Posted 6/30/03

  Churches should talk about 'mission' rather
  than budget to overcome shortfalls

  By Mark Wingfield

  Managing Editor

  CHARLOTTE, N.C.–Churches that are meeting their budgets are the exception rather than the rule, participants in a seminar on church giving patterns learned June 27.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge

• Group plans launch of ‘non-traditional’ theology school_71403

  Posted 7/03/03

  Group plans launch of 'non-traditional' theology school

  By Ken Camp

  Texas Baptist Communications

  ARLINGTON–Citing the need for "a more effective and efficient approach to theological education in a radically changing world," a group of self-described "traditional Baptists" met June 27 in Arlington to talk about launching another school for Texas Baptists.

  10/14/2003 - By John Rutledge