Posted: 12/22/03

Lotz: SBC proposal a 'triumph of ideology over doctrine'

By Trennis Henderson

WASHINGTON (ABP) — A Southern Baptist proposal to end a 99-year-relationship with the Baptist World Alliance is a “triumph of ideology over doctrine,” according to BWA General Secretary Denton Lotz.

“SBC doctrine is a call to unity among its churches,” Lotz said. “Why then separate from the world of Baptists? In the end, it became a question of power and control and the desire of forcing Baptists of the world to fit into one particular mode or mold or interpretation of thinking. This is contrary to all Baptist understanding of the competency of the individual and of soul liberty!”

Lotz also questioned the study committee's claim that SBC leaders have failed to “secure a just forum” to air their concerns.

Noting that study committee members Morris Chapman, James Draper, Paul Presser and other Southern Baptist representatives have key leadership positions in BWA, Lotz said, “If you go through our members who chair key committees, I am questioned (by other BWA members) for having too many Southern Baptists in leadership positions.

“We're family,” Lotz insisted. “You can't have your way all the time. … We don't have a lockstep-like mentality where everyone has to repeat the same thing” about issues being discussed or debated.

Responding to the committee's charge of liberalism, Lotz said, “Of course, the BWA rejects categorically this false accusation of liberalism. It is sad that in the 21st century we use loaded terms to end discussion and to eliminate the thoughts and hearts of other people. It is a form of McCarthyism.

“Since the conservative resurgence (in 1979), BWA leadership has bent over backwards to accommodate the concerns of the present Southern Baptist leadership, but alas now to no avail.” Looking to the future, Lotz said, “We, of course, will be very sad if indeed the Southern Baptist Convention in June withdraws from the Baptist World Alliance. I think it will be bad for the SBC and will further isolate their missions work overseas.

“I think it will make it more difficult for Southern Baptist missionaries,” he added. “How will they relate to national conventions that are members of the Baptist World Alliance?

“Personally, I fear for the Southern Baptist Convention,” Lotz said, “because this decision follows in a long line of other decisions that, I believe, will ultimately lead to the dissolution and self-destruction of the SBC.”

Posted: 12/19/03

Buckner care continues in Russia
even after the shoes are put on feet

Russ Dilday

Buckner News Service

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia–The shoes Texas Baptists have sent to Russian orphans for the last five years represent only the first steps of ministry there through Buckner Orphan Care International.

Buckner, a ministry affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, supports a seven-member follow-up team that works year-round in St. Petersburg.

In addition to the annual distribution of goods collected through Shoes for Orphan Souls and the work of volunteer missions group from Texas and beyond, Buckner continues work with Russian orphans through the follow-up team.

This team provides activities that most resemble children's Vacation Bible Schools once a week in six orphanages, ensuring the message of hope in Christ is taught to children often left hopeless.

Team leader Olga Vlasenko explained the work by quoting a Russian saying: “You need to leave today as good as possible, so you're never told tomorrow you did something wrong yesterday.”

He added: “This is our ministry, and we cannot do God's work badly.”

The team's purpose in providing ministry to about 400 children weekly is a simple one, he said. “Our purpose is to save children. We encourage as many children as possible to go to church, find God's purpose and to be the best people in Russia.”

“I'm trying to give them hope in Christ,” concurred team member Ishmael Arslan, a former Muslim missionary who admits he's still a Muslim missionary but with a twist: “When I see a Muslim, I tell him about Christ.”

Arslan, one of two men on the team and a father, said being a male team member is an important part of his contribution. The children “want to see a man, because all the time they are around women.”

Because of the presence and direction of the two men on the team, he said, “When they pray, 'Our Father,' they'll know what it's like to be around one. We hope that will make sense in their spiritual lives.”

Masha Yerenskaya, who noted the team reaches children ages 3 to 12, said she became a team member because she has “a heart for missions work” and wants to influence the orphans with something to change their hearts and give them hope.

Weekly activities include Bible lessons, singing, games and crafts.

Team members invest heavily of themselves in the lives of the orphaned children, a practice that can take its toll, said Sveta Yatskaya. “When I come in, I'm looking forward to seeing the kids as a friend. But it is difficult. When I pray for them, my prayer is emotional: 'Please find a family for this child.'”

Being the mother of a 10-month-old also has changed her ministry perspective, she added. “Before, I was compassionate. I knew their life was very hard. Now I can't tell you the grief I feel for them. I'd take them home if I could.”

But personal involvement is integral to sharing the gospel message, noted team member Lena Korepanova.

“Eight years ago, when I came from another part of Russia to study in St. Petersburg, I was lonely,” she said. “I understand what it means to be lonely. The people filling that gap were Christians.

“Christ can fill the gap with these kids,” she explained. “I try to give them hope that even though they are lonely, they are not left alone. I also want them to know they are loved.”

Posted: 12/19/03

Nancy Plotts of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas helps a girl at Veritsa Orphanage decorate a Polaroid photo.	Donna Wallis of Sulphur Springs plays with a child at Orphanage No. 40 in St. Petersburg.

FOOT JOY: Shoes for Russian Souls

By Russ Dilday

Buckner News Service

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia–Putting shoes on the feet of Russian orphans brought both joy and sorrow to Nancy Plotts, a member of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas.

“There was one little girl who was so anxious to get her shoes on, but they had to be laced and they were funkily laced,” she said. “I was trying to get her to slow down and unknot them. She couldn't wait. She had to get her foot in there. She was so eager and excited to get them on her feet.

That excitement was a confirmation for Plotts, whose participation in a November trip with Buckner Orphan Care International was her first-ever mission trip.

“I had high expectations,” she explained. “My husband's been on a lot of mission trips and comes back and tells me how he feels, and I've always wanted to come back with that same high.”

Jan Kirkland of Carrollton, Ga., fits a new pair of shoes on a resident of Orphanage No. 40.

But excitement for the mother of two was tempered by sadness for the parentless children she met.

“Doing this has changed my perception of being a mother. I'll cry when I see my kids. I'll look at them differently. I may be even more loving to them, knowing there are kids out there who don't have anyone to love them.

“Toward the end, I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders,” she said. “I wanted to do something for all of them, and I can't. They need a family, and I felt so bad I couldn't provide that.”

Plotts was among 32 volunteers who distributed new shoes and coats and conducted Vacation Bible School programs in 10 St. Petersburg-area orphanages. The shoes were collected during this year's Shoes for Orphan Souls shoe drive, which gathered more than 220,000 pairs of new shoes that will be distributed to children in 40 countries.

In addition to one Tennessean and a majority of Texans, 11 team members were from Georgia, a response to the recent international adoption partnership between Buckner and Georgia Baptist Children's Homes & Family Ministries.

The group also distributed winter coats in two orphanages. The coats were featured items in this year's Buckner “Making Dreams Come True” gift catalog.

While the children loved the shoes and coats, they also found warmth in the embrace of the American visitors.

Betty Boothe, a member of Western Hills Methodist Church in Fort Worth, said many of the children responded to the show of volunteers' love with affection.

“There was a young boy, about 14 or 15, and he and I just kinda made eye contact, and I hugged him,” she explained. “When I left, he reached over and hugged me and kissed me on the neck.

“I never will forget that, because he was of the age that, at home, they wouldn't of have dared hugged you and kissed you like that, a stranger particularly.”

The Vacation Bible School program provided not only programming but a context for sharing God's love. Nancy Heard, a graphic illustrator from Dallas, was a natural choice to lead a craft session in which children decorated frames around Polaroid portraits of themselves.

“I wanted them to know that they each are special in God's eyes,” she said.

Posted: 12/19/03

Bush comments stir debate anew
on whether all worship same God

By Mark O'Keefe

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–He's the commander in chief, not the theologian in chief. Nonetheless, President Bush stepped into a centuries-old religious controversy when he recently said of Muslims and Christians, “I believe we worship the same God.”

Do we?

The question has reignited lively polemics at a time when three of the world's major faiths–Judaism, Christianity and Islam–are variously engaged in conflicts fueled by religion, in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Bush's statement came at a news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, where the two leaders affirmed their commitment to the war on terrorism and their nations' alliance in Iraq. A reporter noted that Bush often says “freedom is granted by the Almighty,” and asked if the president believes Muslims and Christians worship the same God.

At his home in Bethesda, Md., Akbar Ahmed, chairman of Islamic studies at American University in Washington, watched intently on live television, realizing the answer could have religious, social and political impact.

“I even watched his body language,” Ahmed said. “There was almost a split second of withdrawal in which he was really looking to himself, as if to ask, 'What is the real answer?' He was aware of the enormous implications of what he was about to say.”

While Ahmed is delighted with Bush's response, some conservative Christians are not.

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, representing the country's largest Protestant denomination, said Bush is “simply mistaken.”

“There is one God, and his name is Jehovah, and his only begotten son is Jesus Christ of the seed of Abraham and Isaac, whose mother was the Jewess virgin, Mary,” said Land, touching on points that divide Christians and Muslims. “Jesus our Savior has made it clear that we must know his Father through faith in him and him alone.”

Ted Haggard, a Colorado Springs, Colo., pastor and president of the National Association of Evangelicals, issued a statement saying that while evangelicals will continue to support Bush, they cannot agree that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.

“The Christian God encourages freedom, love, forgiveness, prosperity and health, while the Muslim God appears to value the opposite,” said Haggard, repeating an argument that American evangelical Christians have used since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Some Muslims are tired of the spiritual jabs.

Azizah al-Hibri, founder of KARAMAH, an organization of Muslim women lawyers for human rights, finds it “incredibly possessive, a not too holy quality, to argue that the God of one's religion belongs to it alone and no other.”

Islam has a more inclusive approach, Ahmed said. He quotes Sura 10, verse 47 of the Koran, the Muslim holy book: “To every people was sent an apostle to teach them in their own language, in their own country, making things clear.”

The implication, he said, is that while Muslims believe Mohammed was the last and greatest prophet, other faiths, such as Buddhism, also have role models who walked a righteous path.

“Osama bin Laden would probably throw a bomb at me if he heard this,” Ahmed said, “but the Buddha may be a prophet of Islam,” even though Buddhism is not a theistic religion.

Other faiths make similar allowances.

“Many contemporary Jews, myself included, believe the fundamental spiritual truth of the universe is accessible to everyone, but everyone gets that truth through their own psychological, social and economic framework,” said Rabbi Michael Lerner, founder and editor of Tikkun, a liberal Jewish magazine.

Jeffery Long, a professor of religious studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, quotes a maxim of his faith tradition, Hinduism, that “truth is one, paths are many.”

Here is how the professor helps his students see the issue: If you are traveling to Pittsburgh, which way should you go? From Elizabethtown, “the answer is west, unless you want to circle the globe,” Long said. But from Chicago, the answer is east.

“To speak of 'the one true way to Pittsburgh' is a bit nonsensical,” he said. “The way to Pittsburgh is the way that gets you there. It's the same with ultimate truth.”

Despite efforts by Bush and other Christians to speak supportively of Islam, religion scholars say there are at least two central tenets of Christianity that Muslims and adherents of other religions cannot easily accept.

The first is that Jesus is both man and God, and the second is that God is three persons in one–Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

If a Christian asserts that “God is Trinitarian and that God includes Jesus, then Muslims do not in fact believe in that God,” said Ingrid Mattson, professor of Islamic studies and Christian-Muslim relations at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Conn. Islam portrays Allah–Arabic for God–as a single whole who cannot be divided into multiple parts.

Ramesh Richard is a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary who used to be a street preacher in his native India, where people believe that God takes countless manifestations. While Christianity may appear offensive or intolerant to some, he said, Christians have a responsibility to proclaim hard truths.

“If all of us are building bridges to heaven, your way is as good as my way,” Richard said. “But what if God built my bridge? Then it's not my bridge, it's God's. That's what happened with Jesus.

“Once you put Jesus in the equation of God, you have a problem with other religions.”

Posted: 12/19/03

Veteran journalist Ken Camp
elected managing editor of Baptist Standard

DALLAS–Veteran Texas Baptist journalist Ken Camp has been named managing editor of the Baptist Standard.

Camp, 43, has worked in the Baptist General Convention of Texas news office since 1984. For the past seven years, he has been director of news and information.

His byline has been a regular feature in the Standard for two decades, as he has reported on the ministries of Texas Baptist churches and missions endeavors such as Texas Baptist Men's disaster-relief work.

Ken Camp

Camp recently wrote a book about the history of Texas Baptist Men, “Anyway, Anytime, Anywhere.”

His writing has won numerous awards from the Baptist Communicators Association and the Religion Communicators Council. He twice has won BCA's top writing honor, the Frank Burkhalter Award–once for coverage of healing found in Texas communities after hate crimes and again for combined coverage in the Standard of the 1999 shooting at Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth. He won RCC's top writing honor for a story about the Texas death chamber in Huntsville.

For the BGCT, he has covered the Texas Legislature and has served as Dallas bureau chief for Associated Baptist Press. He has coordinated annual coverage related to the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas missions. He also has coordinated the newsroom for BGCT annual sessions.

Through all of 2000 and part of 2001, Camp served as interim director of the BGCT communications office.

At the Standard, he will succeed Mark Wingfield, who has resigned to become associate pastor at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas.

Camp was elected to the new role by the Standard's board of directors Dec. 11. He will begin work Jan. 1.

“Baptist Standard readers are blessed that Ken Camp will succeed Mark Wingfield. They're not only two of the top Baptist journalists; they're among the best journalists anywhere,” Editor Marv Knox said.

“Ken will be a tremendous asset to the Standard. After covering the BGCT for two decades, he knows Texas Baptists' heartbeat better than anyone. Ken will continue to help us understand the issues and challenges that face our churches, associations and convention. And in his new role, he will be a wonderful interpreter of all the missions and ministry possibilities before us.

“Ken's commitment to Christ and his church, love and devotion to his family, and personal integrity are unsurpassed. I'm excited about working with him, and I know Baptist Standard readers will appreciate their new relationship with him as well.”

BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade expressed regret for the Executive Board's loss but delight for the Standard's gain.

“Ken Camp represents the very best in Texas Baptist life,” Wade said. “No one knows us better. He cares deeply about missions and evangelism and the work God has given the BGCT and the churches to do in advancing all the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom. His integrity is a mile deep and wide. What he writes, Baptists can put in the bank.”

Wade called Camp “one of the finest Christian laymen I have ever met. His love for his family and his church encourages all who know him. I am proud that our convention staff could provide for the Baptist Standard such a gifted and committed man to take this incredibly important role in Baptist life.”

Becky Bridges, coordinator of the BGCT Communications Center, echoed Wade's praise: “Ken Camp's great writing skills will help keep the Baptist Standard at the top tier of all religious newspapers. He is a world-class reporter whose heart for missions and evangelism is apparent in everything he does.”

A native of Greenville, Camp earned a bachelor of arts degree in English and journalism from East Texas State University in Commerce and a master of arts in communication degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

He and his wife, Diane, have three sons, Daniel, Matthew and Nathan. The Camps are members of South Garland Baptist Church in Garland.

In other action, the Standard board elected new officers.

Jim Nelson, an Austin attorney and member of Hyde Park Baptist Church, was elected chairman of the board.

He will work with Vice Chairman Charles Walton, pastor of First Baptist Church of Conroe, and Secretary Charles Risinger, an engineer and lay leader at First Baptist Church of Longview.

Posted: 12/19/03

Endowed position launches CBF
emphasis on church starting growth

By Krista Carnet

CBF Communications

ATLANTA–Since 1999, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's church-starting ministry has helped launch 54 churches that are either holding services or are in the planning stages.

Much of the credit goes to one congregation. “Dunwoody Baptist Church in Atlanta was the visionary for church starts,” explained Phil Hester, the Fellowship's associate coordinator for church starts.

In 1999, Dunwoody sold a piece of land with the intention of donating $1 million to endow the Fellowship's position of associate coordinator for church starts. Hester filled the position in 2000. Since then, he has developed partnerships with churches and individuals in 18 states and regions.

"There is a growing awareness and awakening in Cooperative Baptist Fellowship concerning the strategic importance of church planting." —Daniel Vestal

Hester works with local coordinators of missions in larger states like Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and North Carolina. He also partners with institutions like the American Baptist National Ministries, the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Virginia Baptist Mission Board.

CBF-sponsored churches are started on the basis of need, including an evaluation of whether there is a moderate evangelical church in the community, Hester explained. The next step is researching whether there are enough resources to start a church. It takes anywhere from $50,000 to $200,000 to plant a church.

The CBF and the BGCT currently are cooperating on three church starts–in San Antonio, Belton and Midlothian–in addition to others that are now up and running.

Steve Abbe, pastor of CrossRoads Fellowship, a church start in Waco, emphasized the importance of understanding the calling to start a new church.

“Not everyone is called to do this,” he said. “You have to have the faith that God is going to lead you through. And you've got to be a leader. The gift of leadership is very necessary; you have to know how to resource and network.”

CrossRoads Fellowship held its first service June 1 with 15 people. Nearly six months later, the church has 72 members and is preparing to baptize 15 more people. The church also is carrying on the vision for church starts by making a 10-year commitment to begin churches in Brazil.

“There is a growing awareness and awakening in Cooperative Baptist Fellowship concerning the strategic importance of church planting,” said Daniel Vestal, the Fellowship's national coordinator. “There is also growing energy and enthusiasm for starting new churches, and I am grateful for the way the Spirit is moving in us and through us in the birthing of new missional churches.”

Posted: 12/19/03

As troops fly through DFW Airport,
chaplains offer comfort and aid

By George Henson

Staff Writer

DFW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT–Schedules for jetliners are not the only ones at DFW Airport. Chaplains there believe God prepares divine appointments for them daily.

"There are 45,000 airport employees and an average of 162,000 passengers who come through here each day, so you can see where with that many people there is a definite need for some pastoral care," Chaplain Ruth Trittin said.

That job has only grown since November, when United States soldiers stationed in Iraq have been coming home for 15-day leave. Almost every day, a charter plane brings a group home and another plane takes a group back to duty.

Greeting the inbound group is generally a happy occasion as families are reunited, but the outbound trips bring more angst, explained amother chaplain.

He recalled a soldier who learned while home that his wife was leaving him and was carrying another man's baby. Just before he left, she told him she was going to kill herself, and then she departed in the family car. "And now he's returning to Iraq where he could lose his own life," he said.

When the chaplain asked the soldier if he wanted to pray about the situation, the soldier said he didn't do that much. He did give permission to pray with him, however. "I'm positive I won't know how that all works out, but that sergeant will know," he said.

The chaplain also has watched as many fathers met their infants for the first time while home on leave. He's also watched how difficult it is for those soldiers to give up the baby as they board the plane for Iraq. Some women who have gone full-term have induced labor so their husbands can be present for the birth while home.

"You can imagine how hard that must be for a soldier to leave this daughter he's only just met, especially since he knows what he's going back to," he said.

But it's not only the good things that are hard to leave behind, he pointed out.

"Just name it, and it's happened either while the soldier was gone or during the short stay while they've been home," he said. "Now they're leaving while their family is in total upheaval."

The chaplains give each soldier a copy of the Gospel of John, a prayer request card, a small wooden cross and a granola bar. The chaplains also go onto the plane and say a departing prayer as the troops head back to Iraq.

"Maybe three out of 100" will refuse to take the spiritual aid, he said.

Trittin, who is pursing a master of divinity degree at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth and is a member of Western Hills Baptist Church in Fort Worth, said while she just began ministering at the airport in May, she is sure she will be ministering there a long time.

"The neat thing about being here at the airport is it is an international community with people from around the world here every day," she said. "It really is an international mission field in itself."

Ministry at the airport generally doesn't happen during scheduled events, she said. "It's really neat when one, two or three people happen by the chapel and it's a divine appointment that God has set up to work out his divine mystery in their lives."

Even when people come to the chapel for services, it's a little different, she said, because it's obvious they didn't come to hear the preacher. "They don't know who will be preaching, so you know they must have been drawn by God."

People who visit the chapel come from every part of the world and from all faiths. A guest book at one of the four airport chapels bears signatures from almost every state in the union as well as Nicaragua, Brazil, Italy, England, Switzerland, Bolivia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Peru, Canada, Sweden, Taiwan, Japan, Poland, Zimbabwe, Austria and Cambodia.

With the large number of troop transports, Dallas Baptist Association has begun assisting the ministry by sending some of the chaplains involved in Victim Relief ministry to help.

The large number of troops moving through the airport also has led to the Army to keep an eight-person unit assigned to the airport. They assist the soldiers in making their connecting flights and provide hotel vouchers for those who find themselves stranded overnight with nowhere to stay.

The chaplains try to support this group that works 48-hour shifts, catching sleep whenever possible.

Chaplains normally wear a navy-blue uniform, which when accompanied by an identification badge leads many travelers to assume they are airport employees.

When people ask her for help that's fine with Trittin. "People think we are airport personnel so they ask us a lot of questions, but that's an opportunity so your have to walk around with you spiritual eyes open all the time."

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 12/19/03

Garland church takes a byte out of
unemployment with teaching ministry

By George Henson

Staff Writer

GARLAND–Spring Creek Baptist Church is doing its bit to take a byte out of unemployment.

A new computer-training ministry emerged as the church sought a way to make a long-term impact on its Garland neighborhood, Pastor Bryce Greene said. “We were looking for a viable and sustainable community ministry that no one else was doing.”

The church identified unemployment and underemployment as the need and computer training as the opportunity.

For two years, church members have offered training in Microsoft Office programs, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. More than 150 adults have taken at least one course through the ministry

Participants in the computer-education program of Spring Creek Baptist Church in Garland work on classroom assignments.

“Most come to us either jobless or in need of a better job,” Greene said. “Usually, by the time they complete their first course, they have a job. That was our purpose in doing the training.”

The church has set up a training center with eight work stations. Much of the hardware and networking system was donated, but the church paid for the furniture and rent space. Classes are offered on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

Church prospects have been the primary beneficiaries of the program so far, Greene said. “If people from our membership want to come, they are welcome. But right now, we're full.”

Most classes have a waiting list, which Greene believes demonstrates the need for the ministry. Some people attend the classes upon the recommendation of the Texas Workforce Commission.

Deacon Cliff Snell, one of the class facilitators, said one of the most gratifying parts of the ministry is to see people become confident and proficient and go on to better employment.

“They are usually here from three to six months learning the various software. After that, they have usually found a job, or upgraded the one they had and don't have the time to come any more.”

Just as importantly, the ministry has helped the church advance its presence in Garland, Greene said.

“It's been a good means of establishing ourselves in the community, of giving our people who are involved an avenue for ministry and for establishing ourselves as a dependable partner with the various governmental and social service agencies.”

Posted: 12/19/03

Baptist Building staff breaks
the bank to aid Texas hunger offering

By Ken Camp

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS–Baptist Building staff recently offered hope and help to hurting people through bashed banks, bottled water and books bought for children.

Three times a year, all Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board personnel spend five days in lengthy staff meetings. But the most recent staff week included not just meetings, but also opportunities for meeting needs.

The Christian Life Commission, Woman's Missionary Union of Texas and Texas Baptist Men gave employees the chance to participate in a variety of mission-action projects during staff week.

Chip Kingery of ProVision Asia, Jana Whitworth of Dallas Baptist Association, Joyce Gilbreath of the Christian Life Commission, BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade and CLC Director Phil Strickland examine a pile of money donated by Baptist Building employees.

Several weeks ago, staff received plastic “rice bowl” banks from the Christian Life Commission, along with encouragement to fill the banks for world hunger.

Then the commission hosted a “rice bowl demolition” event at the Baptist Building. Various offices were asked to group themselves into five-person teams, adopting names like “Bowl Weevils” and “Mommas Against Hunger.” Teams were given hammers to break their banks, and then they raced to count out the pennies, nickels, dimes and dollars scattered on the floor.

The Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger received $1,105.76 from the effort.

Chip Kingery of ProVision Asia, a Christian economic development ministry in India, and Jana Whitworth, community ministries associate for Dallas Baptist Association, expressed appreciation for what those dollars will mean in neighborhoods around the Baptist Building and on the other side of the globe.

“It was fun for us all. But the best part is that there will be people who will live and have a chance to thrive who would not have, but for this offering,” BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade wrote in an e-mail to staff after the event.

The last day of staff week was devoted to spotlighting the ministries of Texas WMU and Texas Baptist Men, and Baptist Building employees participated in learning activities that benefited several related missions projects.

Employees bought bottles of water for $1 each, and proceeds went to “Pure Water, Pure Love,” a ministry to provide Southern Baptist missionaries with water purifiers or water purification kits. The effort raised $271, more than enough to buy a water purifier for one missionary family.

Baptist Building staff members also brought 69 children's books, 23 audiocassette tapes and 122 padded mailers for the Texas WMU Story Book Project, as well as contributed $50 toward the emphasis.

The restorative justice ministry project enables the child of an incarcerated woman to hear his or her mother's voice reading a bedtime story. The mother in prison reads a children's book aloud, records the story and then sends the book and tape to her child.

Staff members also prayed for specific missions needs and ministries, wrote 71 notes of encouragement to directors of Christian Women's Job Corps sites throughout Texas and shopped for Christmas gifts in the World Crafts catalogue. Baptist Building staff spent close to $200 on WorldCrafts, an economic development project of WMU.

Posted: 12/19/03

In Africa, youth witness a miracle of loaves & fishes

By Jo Upton

CBF Communications

When Christian teenagers from North America and Kenya visited the Baptist Children's Centre Orphanage in Nairobi, the true spirit of cultural exchange occurred.

“School was out on break, so the community had been invited to attend the day camp at the center,” said Melissa Browning, a member of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco who serves with her husband, Wes, as a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Service Corps worker in Kenya. “We expected 50 kids to attend, and since there were 60 campers, we felt prepared.”

But the unexpected happened. As the teenage campers arrived at the center, children came running to greet their buses–all ages, all sizes. The crowd continued to grow until it reached 200, making the lunches planned for 50 a predicament. As camp staff advised the campers of the lack of food, they answered with one voice.

“Before they could finish whispering the word into the students' ears, they each replied, 'Give my lunch to the kids,'” Browning said.

While campers led children in games, crafts and Bible stories, adults divided sack lunches into smaller portions. Browning said the room grew silent as someone asked, “What should we do with the extra food?”

All the lunches had been provided, with four huge bags to spare.

“It was the miracle of the loaves and fishes happening all over again in a poor slum outside Nairobi,” Browning said. “As we gave away our own lunches, we had enough for everyone to eat.”

That evening, the campers shared their feelings about the events of the day. A young man from Kenya, whose father serves as pastor of one of the larger churches in Nairobi, stood up and thanked the volunteers for coming and sharing the experience in the slum. He said the event helped open his eyes to circumstances in his own country.

The summer trip to Kenya was several years in the making, a joint project between Passport, a CBF-affiliated camp program, and Africa Exchange, a non-profit organization under the CBF ministry of global missions.

Posted: 12/19/03

Texas students hit the road
on mission during Christmas holidays

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

While Texas Baptists are celebrating Christmas with warm fires and loving families, many college students will be taking the holiday spirit beyond their campuses.

In what is developing into a trend, more college students are taking foreign mission trips between the fall and spring semesters through the Baptist General Convention of Texas Student Missions program, commonly called Go Now Missions.

Three years ago, the BGCT Center for Collegiate Ministry facilitated a foreign trip for one team. Last year, there were three teams. This year, there are six mission teams incorporating 55 students from 10 Texas campuses. An additional 10 semester missionaries will leave by Jan. 5.

Along with the overseas efforts, Baptist Student Ministries are getting involved in stateside and local missions between semesters. BSMs at the University of Texas at Austin and Tarleton State University are going to Santiago, Chile. South Plains College students are going to Mexico. West Texas A&M students are going to New York City, and a Navarro College BSM group is working at Mission Arlington. Several BSMs will do local work.

Brenda Sanders, BGCT Baptist student missions consultant, is excited to see more young adults looking to take advantage of their time between classes and believes missions involvement will continue to escalate.

The overseas trips provide missions opportunities for students who cannot give up an entire semester or summer, Sanders said. For others, the holiday efforts are another chance to spread Christianity before their upcoming summer-long missions experience.

“They're saying: 'I have free time. Why wouldn't I go?'”

Five of the six Texas mission teams are headed to East Asia, where members will share the Christian message of Christmas through drama and song at universities.

Although it can be difficult to express Christianity in this area, missionaries can freely share the story of Jesus' birth through a dramatic presentation because the production is viewed as an avenue to educate East Asia students about American culture, Sanders explained.

This trip is especially meaningful to the team from First Baptist Church in Canyon, said Brian Sullivan, college minister. The congregation made a covenant with workers in the area to send students annually, but a team was held back last year because of the SARS virus threat.

In early January, the sixth mission group will travel to St. Vincent in the Caribbean Sea, where college students will lead Bible studies and worship services for children and youth in local Baptist churches. The volunteers also will do some minor construction and painting.

Posted: 12/19/03

First African-American Executive
Board chair has law background

By Ken Camp

Texas Baptist Communications

HOUSTON–When John Ogletree first felt God's calling into ministry, he thought there must have been a mistake.

At 29, he had completed law school, passed the bar exam and started a successful legal practice. So before taking the leap, Ogletree spent 10 months meeting with his pastor at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Houston to pray, study and confirm that calling.

“When God started messing with me, I was angry and confused,” he admitted. “I thought everything I had done up to that point had been a waste.”

But looking back, the founding pastor of First Metropolitan Baptist Church in Houston can see how God was preparing him for future leadership opportunities, including the chairmanship of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board. When he assumes the post in January, he will be the first African-American to serve in the role.

John Ogletree

“My background has given me the opportunity to be exposed to people, ideas and organizations that have shaped my leadership style,” Ogletree said. “It has put me into circles with other leaders who have helped to shape my leadership focus.”

Ogletree grew up in Dallas attending Mount Tabor Missionary Baptist Church and then College Park Baptist Church. Later, he joined Rose Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, where his father–who also entered the ministry late in life–was pastor.

He graduated from Wilmer Hutchins High School, where he played football and ran track, and then he went on to the University of Texas at Arlington. There he served on the student congress and as vice president of the student body.

After he graduated from the South Texas College of Law in Houston, Ogletree practiced law for about 16 years. Several years into his legal practice, he started First Metropolitan Baptist Church in northwest Houston.

The church has grown from an original core group of 13 to more than 1,300 resident members, with about 800 adults and youth attending two worship services each Sunday.

For nearly 10 years, Ogletree worked as a bivocational pastor. Even then, he devoted most of his legal practice to representing churches, particularly in conflicts requiring mediation.

The last eight years, he has served his church full time and found time for extensive denominational service. He has been moderator of Union Baptist Association and was part of the initial 32-member founding board for Texas Baptists' new missions network, WorldconneX. After a term as vice chair of the BGCT Executive Board, he was elected chairman of the board for 2004.

“I see us becoming an inclusive, kingdom-minded organization from the top down,” Ogletree said, describing his vision for the BGCT. “Leadership on the Executive Board is a collaborative kind of leadership, and I look forward to working with Dr. Charles Wade and in harnessing the collective wisdom of the board.”