Posted: 10/17/03

Gallup Poll finds Americans
evenly divided on question of gay marriage

WASHINGTON (RNS)–Americans are almost evenly divided on whether they think legal marriage of same-sex partners is acceptable, according to a USA Today/CNN/ Gallup Poll.

Forty-eight percent of respondents said they think permitting gay unions “will change our society for the worse,” while 40 percent said gay marriage would have no effect and 10 percent said it would make society better.

The survey also found churchgoers are more often among the percentage of Americans who think society would be worsened by legal marriage of same-sex couples, USA Today reported.

Sixty-seven percent of those who attend religious services weekly feel this way, along with 51 percent of those who attend at least monthly.

Sentiments are different among those who attend worship services less frequently or never.

Forty-seven percent of those who seldom attend services say permitting marriage of gays and lesbians would have “no effect” on society, while 14 percent say it would improve society. Almost three-quarters (72 percent) of those who never attend church said there would be no detrimental effects.

The survey also found younger respondents were more likely to think gay unions either would have no harmful effect on society or improve it. Sixty-seven percent of 18- to 29-year-olds and 53 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds felt this way.

Overall, pollsters found Americans were split on whether gay and lesbian couples should be permitted to have all the same legal rights as married couples in every state. The study found 32 percent thought that should be allowed, 35 percent thought it shouldn't and 32 percent said it didn't matter to them.

The poll of 1,003 adults was conducted Sept. 19-21 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Posted: 10/17/03

North Carolina convention removes
church for baptizing homosexuals

By Steve DeVane

N.C. Biblical Recorder

CONCORD, N.C. (ABP)–A church that was removed from its association in April has been quietly taken off the rolls of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina as well.

McGill Baptist Church was voted out of Cabarrus Baptist Association for baptizing two homosexuals. Jim Royston, executive director-treasurer of the state convention, said he and convention officers decided after hearing about the association's move that McGill should be removed from the convention's membership as well. Convention policy makes the church ineligible, he said.

In 1992, the convention's General Board changed its financial policy to exclude “any church which knowingly takes, or has taken, any official action which manifests public approval, promotion or blessing of homosexuality.” Such churches, the General Board said, are not “cooperating churches”–the terminology for membership.

“Technically, it wasn't because they were removed from the association,” Royston said. “It was the issue that brought it about. The issue, as far as I could tell, that impacted us was the public action of a church being removed from an association related to the homosexual issue.”

Steve Ayers, pastor of McGill Baptist, said the church has not made homosexuality an issue.

“We're just talking about accepting members,” he said. “I hope this doesn't mean that all gay members of churches would be purged from churches affiliated with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.”

Ayers said he thinks the convention is “treading on very shaky ground” if it's going to decide who can be members of cooperating churches. “If someone thinks there (are) not gay people in churches, somebody needs to look around,” he said.

Ayers said the church has not asked the men if they are gay, but he doesn't doubt that they are. The men first came to the church because they were invited, he said. Ayers said he wonders if churches now must have a list of questions to ask people before the church agrees to baptize them.

“When someone says they've accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their life, do you believe them or not?” he said. “That's what it comes down to.”

The convention's anti-gay policy was first used in 1992 to remove Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh and Binkley Memorial Baptist Church in Chapel Hill. Pullen voted to bless the union of two homosexual males. Binkley voted to license a gay man to the ministry.

In 1999, the policy was used to remove Wake Forest Baptist Church in Winston-Salem. The church held a same-sex union for two lesbian members in September 2000.

Posted: 10/17/03

Fight against gay marriage makes odd partners

By Mark O'Keefe

Religion News Service

DETROIT (RNS)–Michigan legislator Triette Reeves has few evangelical Christians living in her Detroit district. As a black Democrat, she has never associated with religious conservatives.

But there she was at a recent news conference, standing with white evangelical Republicans in support of a state constitutional amendment to define marriage as an institution involving a man and a woman–blocking legalization of same-sex marriage.

Speaking at a Washington news conference with leaders of 23 other religious groups opposed to gay marriage, Willie Wooten, pastor of Gideon Christian Fellowship in New Orleans, promotes Oct. 12-18 as "Marriage Protection Week." (Tyrone Turner/RNS Photo)

Across the country, unusual alliances are forming to protect the traditional definition of marriage from anticipated court rulings. While the movement draws from a variety of demographic groups, it relies heavily on two–white evangelicals and religious blacks–that have historically been at odds over issues ranging from affirmative action to welfare reform.

On gay marriage, they seem to be reading from the same Bible.

“I know people are trying to make this into a sexy thing, like, 'Ooh, it's a conspiracy, they're getting together,'” Reeves said. “I have no interest in being a Republican. I'm a Democrat. But I believe there should be some diversity in our party, and the diversity I'm talking about is the freedom to be consistent with our moral beliefs.

“From the African-American perspective, which is the only perspective I can give, our focus is, 'God said it, we believe it and we should promote it.' I know that sounds elementary, but it's really that simple.”

For years, gay marriage seemed an unlikely possibility. But that was before an eventful summer.

In June, the Supreme Court struck down Texas' anti-sodomy law, which, according to Justice Antonin Scalia's blistering dissent, clears the legal path for gay marriage. Some legal scholars say the breakthrough ruling could come in pending court decisions on gay marriage in Massachusetts and New Jersey.

Polls show the shift in thinking.

In May, a Gallup survey reported 49 percent of the public would support a law allowing gay men and lesbians to form civil unions providing some of the rights and legal protections of marriage. When a Washington Post poll asked the same question in August, support had dropped to 37 percent.

Gay rights groups are hoping that's just a blip on a longer trend line showing increasing acceptance of gay marriage. They argue the definition of marriage needs to be broadened to secure equal rights and benefits, such as Social Security survivor benefits.

“Gay Americans are taxpaying, hard-working citizens who deserve these basic legal protections,” said Winnie Stachelberg, political director of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay advocacy group.

Opposition to gay marriage is strongest among two groups, according to a survey released July 24 by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. More than eight of 10 white evangelicals and six of 10 African-Americans oppose the idea.

Given that blacks and evangelicals are extremely loyal to their respective parties, the issue presents intriguing possibilities to political strategists.

A May 7 memo by Republican pollster Richard Wirthlin calls a federal marriage amendment “an ideal wedge issue.” It says supporting such an amendment “does not alienate the base” while potentially peeling a percentage of African-Americans away from the Democrats.

“In sum,” the memo concludes, “it is an issue that if handled properly can work very much to the advantage of Republican candidates, if it gains some visibility prior to the 2004 election.”

Democrats acknowledge that theoretically, they could lose black votes. But they say it's unlikely.

“There's a real phenomenon here,” said William Galston, professor of civic engagement at the University of Maryland and a former domestic policy official for the Clinton administration. “But what is also the case is African-Americans tend to be cross-pressured on a range of issues and are intensely suspicious of relationships that take them where they don't want to go.”

Consider Walter Fauntroy. In a long career of religious and political activism, he organized civil rights marches with Martin Luther King Jr., went to Congress as a District of Columbia delegate and helped found the Congressional Black Caucus.

Fauntroy supports the marriage amendment idea. He does so, he said, because the family unit in the African-American community is already under assault, and changing marriage only worsens the situation.

“I'm unalterably opposed to anything that redefines marriage as anything other than an institution for two purposes, the socialization of children and the perpetuation of the species,” he said.

While important, the issue is rarely discussed in black neighborhoods, Fauntroy said.

“When I step outside the door of this church, nobody is going to ask me, 'Rev, what do you think about gay marriage?' That may be a nice discussion in some places, but it isn't on the radar screen here. People here are saying, 'Lord, have mercy, I don't have health care; I need more income.' And, 'Reverend, get my boy out of jail; all he had was an ounce while the guys pushing it only got a misdemeanor.'”

In contrast, conservative activists say concern about gay marriage is electrifying the evangelical Christian community, rivaling abortion as an issue.

Gary Bauer, a 2000 presidential candidate who now directs the group American Values, said, “I have not seen in 30 years of battle an issue resonating like this one.”

Posted: 10/17/03

Jews for Allah takes a page from Christian mission efforts

By Alexandra Alter

Religion News Service

DANBURY, Conn. (RNS)–It began as sort of a joke.

Mohamed Ghounem, 32, a mild-mannered, laid-off telecom worker who lives with his wife and daughter in suburban Connecticut, says it was the headline “Christ Converts to Islam” in the satirical newspaper The Onion that gave him the idea for his website, JewsforAllah.com.

At first, he laughed. Then he thought, “Why not?”

Ghounem, whose religious pedigree includes a year of study at al-Azhar, the world's foremost institute of Sunni Islamic learning, said he felt frustrated by Muslims' lack of evangelical activity.

Although Muslims are the world's fastest-growing religious group with more than a billion adherents, they haven't been active enough in the battle for Jewish souls, Ghounem said.

“Muslims haven't been doing it,” he said. “The Muslim attitude, unfortunately, was 'Jews will never convert.”

But why target Jews, fellow monotheists whose faith is regarded by many as Islam's closest relative, and who the Koran describes as “People of the Book”?

According to Ghounem's reasoning, to help the Jews, who remain dangerously ignorant of Mohammed's prophecy, and, in the long run, to turn Israel into an Islamic state.

Ghounem's goals, while seen by many as laughably far-fetched, have outraged leaders of Jewish counter-missionary groups who already have been fighting off Christian evangelists for decades and are wary of new attempts to convert Jews by aggressive or deceptive means.

A fervent admirer of Moishe Rosen, founder of the messianic group Jews for Jesus, Ghounem has studied the group's tactics and adopted their rhetoric.

Like Jews for Jesus, an organization renowned for claiming a Jew who believes in Jesus is a “completed Jew,” Ghounem says converts can maintain their Jewish cultural identity and observe Jewish holidays. He stresses Judaism and Islam's shared lineage of prophets and their similar dietary laws. And, in language almost identical to his Christian mentors, he insists that a true Jew follows Mohammed.

“If you're a true Torah follower, you'll believe in Mohammed, because he's predicted in the Torah,” Ghounem said.

He also argues Jews can liberate themselves from the stringent demands of their religion by embracing Islam.

“The holy Koran is a mercy to Jews,” Ghounem said. “A lot of the things in the Torah, they're not going to have to do anymore.”

The suggestion that Judaism's proximity to Islam justifies conversion remains odious to many, however, who see Ghounem's efforts as an affront to both religions.

“What this guy is doing is a disservice to both faith systems,” said Scott Hillman, executive director of Jews for Judaism, a group that seeks to educate and protect Jews from evangelical groups. “If he's going to say, 'Judaism is fulfilled by Islam,' he's saying Islam is incomplete.”

Others say Ghounem is simply acting on the centuries-old impetus for people of all faiths to seek converts.

Ghounem's objectives are in keeping with the principles of Islam, which encourages evangelism, said Ibrahim Hooper of the Council for American Islamic Relations. “Muslims are encouraged to present accurate and balanced information about their faith to people of all religions.”

Before he set out to convert Jews, Ghounem underwent a conversion of his own, from being an American college student who was mostly ignorant about his faith to a self-fashioned Muslim scholar combating the pervasive myths about Islam he encountered on the Internet.

Ghounem, who immigrated to the United States from Egypt at 6, said his knowledge of Islam was tenuous when he graduated from Western Connecticut University with a degree in engineering. After returning to Cairo for a year to study at al-Azhar, he began spending hours a night in chat-room debates with Messianic Jews and Christians.

Unlike Jews for Jesus, Ghounem has no sponsors and no missionaries; he relies solely on the Internet for outreach. His website, which has had more than 1 million visitors since it was launched three years ago, has attracted about 200 “converts” who use it as a support group. It also provides a forum for Ghounem to address what he calls misconceptions about Islam, like the idea that Islam was spread by the sword, that the Koran is anti-Semitic and that Jews and Muslims worship different gods.

Leaders of Jewish counter-missionary organizations claim they aren't overly concerned by Ghounem's efforts, saying the content of his website is so outrageous that most people don't pay attention.

“This is a freak show, a side show,” said Rabbi Tovia Singer, head of Outreach Judaism, a group that works to bring converts back into the fold.

Ghounem said he recognizes converts risk alienation from both faiths, but he hopes his website might lead to dialogue between Muslims and Jews.

Well, that and one other thing: “My goal is to surpass Jews for Jesus, which I consider 100 percent inevitable.”

Posted: 10/17/03

TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM:
Highest ambition

The church should offer the greatest example of forgiveness, patience, mercy, love and “watching what you say.” Unfortunately, conflict often occurs between pastor and congregation.

The church, where we preach that no one is perfect, should be a place where we do not expect perfection. But it seems rare that we hear about a loving congregation, whose members and pastor actually get along.

E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com

However, this is not necessarily the case.

Yes, some churches have problems, but others exhibit a great deal of love. If you and another member or even the pastor have difficulty getting along, try exercising a little kindness.

Remember Proverbs 15:1: “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Or Proverbs 17:22: “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”

Much, if not most, of church conflict is due to lack of respect. The Bible teaches us to look out for the interests and concerns of another above self.

Jesus taught that service should be our highest ambition. As Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, he taught humility and service.

We all want to be served, but not many want to serve.

First Peter 5 calls upon pastors/shepherds to lead by example, and 1 Timothy 5:17 teaches that leaders “who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.”

Work hard to make a difference in your church. It has to begin with someone!

Bill Adams

Port Arthur

God's purpose for people

Two Semitic language scholars corrected a translational error of Genesis 2:15 that now reads: “And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to worship and to obey.”

God's purpose for every person and nation is to worship and obey him.

Because every person rebels against God to one degree or another, God sent Jesus to pay for our sin so that through Jesus we are enabled to obey God and have our worship of him accepted.

Through Jesus, we are able to be reconciled to God and to each other. This is the gospel message, the good news, for every person who will believe.

Worship and obey God, and share the good news of Jesus with others today.

E.V. May Jr.

Livingston

Time for forgiveness

As mentioned in your editorial on Baylor family values (Sept. 22), our Baylor family needs to practice Christian values (“be-attitudes”) such as you named–love, grace, compassion and forgiveness, and patience, now!

Baylor has a great future through Baylor 2012 under the leadership of President Robert Sloan, just as it has an equally exciting history starting way back in 1845.

Now is the time for all of us to pray for the sweet spirit we need to forgive and to move forward on behalf of the many students who will pass through the halls of learning on her beautiful campus.

Joe Novak

Denton

A larger 'family'

As I read the three side-by-side articles on Baylor University's quest (Sept. 22), one particular passage by Chris Seay struck an emotional chord with me.

“Baylor exists for the sake of the church. She is 'Pro Ecclesia' and 'Pro Texana.' So, resolve these differences. Our success in Texas rests in Baylor's hands.”

I do not understand what he means by “success in Texas” or to whose success he is referring. However, when I first read this article, I felt like he was saying that without Baylor, Texas Baptists cannot survive.

I realize that Baylor has a long and rich tradition of training ministers and others for work in Texas. I agree with most of Seay's article on how the Baylor family needs to reconcile its differences.

But I do not understand how “success in Texas,” whatever that means, rests in Baylor's hands, or at least how it rests solely in Baylor's hands.

Just as there is a Baylor family, Baylor is part of a Texas Baptist family–no one member of which should be considered more important than the other.

David Tankersley

Abilene

Husbands & wives

I take exception to the statement regarding wives that says, “Listen to your wife. God made her to nag, whine and complain,” in the article titled “Christian men urged to beware of falling into sexual sins” about the LifeWay Christian Resources conference (Oct. 6).

Does that also mean that God made husbands to be sneaky, deceitful and weak? I don't think so.

Mae Knott

Kerrville

No. 1 problem

Paige Patterson believes “the war against boys and the establishment of laws to prevent men from hunting and owning guns” is the No. 1 problem in America (Oct. 6). Seriously?

While I could list homelessness, unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, terrorism and numerous other social issues that are worse than a kid not killing something with his dad, how about domestic violence?

How about the fact animal shelters outnumber by three to one shelters for women and children who are in imminent danger from a husband or boyfriend? How about women who live in fear for their lives in their own homes because he's threatened to kill the family?

What about the Dallas Police Department, which answers 20,000 calls a year for domestic disturbance, and only 100 beds in Dallas County are available as an answer to those calls? What about boys who will grow up to abuse their girlfriends and wives because that's what Daddy did?

The statement Patterson made about turning little boys into little girls because boys don't go hunting anymore seems par for the course. However, I cannot recall one verse in the Bible pertaining to godly boys and men where it states, “He must have a gun, a big dog and kill a lot of stuff.”

If America's No 1 problem really were that more little boys don't go hunting, this would be an amazing country.

Mindy Ward-Logsdon

Dallas

Manly standards

I was disturbed to read that Paige Patterson said, “Every boy needs a dog, a gun and a dad” (Oct. 6).

I have never owned a gun or even been hunting, and I don't know of anyone in my family–male or female–who owns a gun. Does this make me any less of a man?

When I was growing up, we had a family dog. It was not a “big” dog; in fact, it probably qualified as a “yip” dog. It was the best pet I ever remember having. Does it make me any less of a man because I didn't have a “big” dog?

My father passed away when I was only 11 years old. My mother continued raising me and my sister as a single mom. Does not having a dad through late childhood and adolescence make me any less of a man?

Did the seminary president even consider that one of the things every boy should have is a Bible? He needs to re-think what it really takes to be a man.

Is he looking at the world's standards or God's?

Bob Hewett

Amarillo

Posted: 10/17/03

Louisiana College requires 2000 BF&M

PINEVILLE, La. (ABP)–Louisiana College trustees have adopted new policies that give trustees more direct involvement in faculty hiring and make affirmation of Southern Baptists' controversial doctrinal statement an official requirement.

Since 1997, prospective faculty members have been asked informally if they would teach “in harmony” with the Baptist Faith & Message statement, school officials said. The new policy makes affirmation of the more conservative 2000 version of the statement an official policy.

“This simply represents an enhancement of the process we already have,” said trustee Ed Tarpley, pastor of Alpine First Baptist Church in Pineville, La.

Trustee leaders said the action, adopted during a September executive session, does not affect current faculty members and does not reflect dissatisfaction with current policy. Rather, the change was made to ensure the “Christian” character of the Pineville school, which is owned and operated by the Louisiana Baptist Convention.

However, fellow trustee Wayne DuBose, pastor of First Baptist Church in Minden, La., said the changes “raise the bar a little bit” for prospective faculty.

Previously, trustees have had final approval on new faculty members recommended by President Rory Lee and other administrators. But the new policy gives the trustees' academic affairs committee the option of a face-to-face interview with the candidates first.

Prospective faculty also will receive a copy of the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message and a letter clearly defining the college as a Christian liberal arts school “owned and operated by cooperating Southern Baptist churches in Louisiana.”

“Not every person who teaches at LC is required to be a Southern Baptist,” the letter states, “but every teacher must reflect a certain faithfulness to teach within the doctrinal tenets of our convention.”

To assure that faithfulness, prospective faculty are asked to return a signed affirmation that they have read the full text of the Baptist Faith & Message, will agree to teach in harmony with and not contrary to the faith statement, and will agree to meet with the trustee's academic affairs committee for a question-and-answer session if requested.

The policy change calls for a written yes or no response to the doctrinal statement and asks candidates to put in writing their personal understanding of a “Christian worldview,” specifically detailing their view on the sanctity of human life, the sanctity of marriage and family and creation.

The 2000 Baptist Faith & Message was significantly changed from the 1963 version.

Posted: 10/17/03

Bush proclaims Marriage Protection Week

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–In a sign that he might support an effort to amend the Constitution to ban gay marriages, President Bush heeded the call of a coalition of Religious Right groups and proclaimed Oct. 12-18 Marriage Protection Week.

Ironically, the week began one day after National Coming Out Day, when gay-rights organizations encouraged gays, lesbians and transgendered people to “come out of the closet” and reveal their sexual orientation to family, friends and colleagues.

Bush's Oct. 3 proclamation came one day after the leaders of a group calling itself the Coalition to Protect Marriage announced in a Washington press conference they were dedicating the week to defining marriage as a heterosexual-only institution.

Spearheaded by the conservative Family Research Council, the coalition's membership list reads like a who's who of influential Religious Right groups. It includes the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Focus on the Family, the Christian Coalition, and World magazine.

The week's intent is to build support for the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment in Congress. Sponsored by Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., the amendment not only would alter the Constitution to define marriage in exclusively heterosexual terms but also would override state and local laws conferring many of the benefits of marriage on same-sex couples.

The White House has not yet announced whether it would support the amendment. While most religious conservatives do, some–such as former Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga.–have said they oppose the bill on grounds that it would intrude on the states' traditional prerogative to define marriage.

But the leaders who organized the news conference believe the measure is necessary.

“We are calling on churches across the nation to act before the definition of marriage becomes deconstructed, redefined and irrelevant in our society,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.

The topic of gay marriage has come up repeatedly since the Supreme Court's Lawrence and Garner vs. Texas decision, which on privacy grounds struck down all state laws that ban gay sex.

Many experts believe the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is poised to use that ruling to legalize same-sex marriage in that state. That move almost certainly would lead to gay couples legally married in Massachusetts filing lawsuits in other states to get their marriages recognized.

Richard Land, president of the SBC's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, called on Southern Baptist pastors to preach on the sanctity of marriage.

Land said America stands at “an absolutely critical moment” because of the gay-marriage issue. He said gay marriage is “the poster child issue … for the titanic struggle that is going on in our society between those who believe in a Judeo-Christian basis for our culture and those who believe in a neo-pagan, relativist base for our culture.”

But the spokeswoman for a Christian gay-rights group labeled both Bush's proclamation and the conservative leaders' statement “anti-family” and “anti-American.”

“Bush's proclamation and the Marriage Protection Week are based on misguided religious teachings which cross the boundaries of church-state separation and the principles of religious liberty,” asserted Laura Montgomery Rutt of Soulforce.

Posted: 10/17/03

Fund helps two missionary families return to field

DALLAS–Texas Baptists are helping support two missionary families through a newly established conduit that funnels money from churches and individuals to former Southern Baptist Convention missionaries.

Four other missionary families are in the process of applying for funding.

Through the funding channel, any church or individual can send money to missionaries who resigned, retired or were terminated due to the International Mission Board's requirement that missionaries affirm the Southern Baptist Convention's 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.

At least 77 missionaries have left the IMB due to the board's stance regarding the controversial faith statement.

“Our goal is to assist our churches as they assist missionaries to fulfill their calling from God,” said E.B. Brooks, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Church Missions and Evangelism Section.

Funds must be designated for specific missionaries who want to return to their field of service. If a church does not know a specific missionary needing assistance, Texas Partnerships staff will provide information on those who are eligible to receive support through the conduit.

Missionaries must have an anchor church that essentially serves as the sending agency and holds the missionary accountable. Applicants for funds also must be invited to return to the field by a national Baptist entity, preferably one that is offering some support.

Don Sewell, director of the BGCT Texas Partnerships Resource Center, reiterated that the convention is not serving as a missionary-sending agency. “We are nothing more than funneling money to specific missionaries,” he said.

The conduit was created in response to a motion at last year's BGCT annual session.

For more information or to donate money to a missionary, contact Sewell at (214) 828-5183 or sewell@bgct.org.

Posted: 10/17/03

Missouri asks to borrow $1 million

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.–The Missouri Baptist Convention's Executive Board has proposed borrowing up to $1 million to fund its lawsuits against five former convention agencies that declared self-perpetuating boards.

Messengers to the Missouri convention's annual session in St. Louis Nov. 3-5 will be asked to affirm creation of an Agency Restoration Fund, which will be backed by a $1 million line of credit from a bank at prime rate.

The Oct. 9 action was reported in the Pathway, the state convention's new news journal, launched after the Word & Way amended its charter to remove the convention's authority to name trustees.

Similar action was taken by the Missouri Baptist Foundation, the Baptist Home, Windermere Conference Center and Missouri Baptist College.

The Pathway story said principal and interest payments on the line of credit would be paid by “authorized gifts from churches and individuals and from any award of costs recovered from defendants or their insurers.”

It said at least four churches have pledged financial support for the legal fund.

Posted: 10/17/03

North Carolina church calls missionary woman

By Steve DeVane & Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

WELDON, N.C. (ABP)–A former Southern Baptist missionary who refused the International Mission Board's request to rescind her ordination was hired as pastor of a North Carolina church Oct. 5.

Ida Mae Hays, 63, will become the first woman to serve as pastor of Weldon (N.C.) Baptist Church. She begins her new duties Nov. 16.

Hays said she was summoned to a meeting with IMB officials in July 2001 and questioned for two hours about her ordination by a Baptist church in Brazil. As a result, IMB officials asked her to rescind her ordination and the “pastor emeritus” title granted by the church.

“I informed them that I had neither the power or authority to rescind,” she said.

Two months later, IMB trustees adopted a statement saying the IMB does not recognize Hays' ordination or pastor emeritus title, said Bob Shoemake, an IMB associate vice president.

The Baptist Faith & Message, Southern Baptists' doctrinal statement, was revised in 2000 to limit the office of pastor to men. In February 2002, the IMB asked all missionaries to sign an affirmation of the statement.

But by then Hays already was scheduled to retire three weeks later at age 62, three years earlier than she planned.

“I would never sign the Baptist Faith & Message,” Hays said. “The Lord protected me because of my age.”

At least 77 missionaries have left the IMB because of the requirement to affirm the statement. Thirteen of the group were fired in May for refusing to sign or resign.

Hays said she decided in 1998 to retire early because the IMB issued its New Directions strategy, which shifted the focus of its work toward church starting to the exclusion of ministry.

Before retiring, Hays returned to the United States in February 2001 for a 13-month stateside assignment. Just before she left Brazil, First Baptist Church of Paranoá in Brasilia, Brazil, ordained her and named her pastor emeritus.

Hays said she did not seek ordination. The pastor of the church began asking her in 1990 if she would let the church ordain her. “My pastor kept saying, 'It will enhance your ministry among us,'” she said.

The Missouri native said she performed pastoral duties at the Brasilia church, serving alongside the pastor, preaching and visiting. She also supervised construction of more than 30 churches during her missionary service in Brazil. A chapel at a Baptist camp is named in her honor.

Hays said she asked God to give her a ministry in retirement. Her hiring by the Weldon church is God's answer to that prayer, she said.

“We're going to enjoy Ida Mae,” said Edna Weeks, who led the pastor-search committee in Weldon. “She's going to be good for our church and good for our association.”

Hays and Weeks said they realize the church may face some repercussions for calling a woman as pastor.

At least four other women serve as pastors of Baptist churches in North Carolina, including one other in the same Baptist association. Another four serve as co-pastors in the state.

Posted: 10/17/03

'North Dallas' changes, as does church's role

By George Henson

Staff Writer

DALLAS–The words “North Dallas” carry a connotation of affluence, but North Dallas Baptist Church is anything but affluent. But then again, it isn't located in what most locals today would call North Dallas either.

When the church began its ministry 101 years ago, this was North Dallas. With rapid development further north, the church now sits in the middle of an impoverished, multi-cultural neighborhood just north of downtown and southeast of Love Field.

Like many inner-city churches that had glory years when attendance topped 500, a change in the culture of the community in the 1980s signaled a change in ministry. By the early 1990s, the congregation was down to 20 members. The church had opened its doors to a Hispanic congregation and a Vietnamese mission but still couldn't afford the upkeep on the sprawling building.

By deeding the facilities to Dallas Baptist Association, the church and association, with direct help from several Dallas-area churches, created Crossover Ministries. Now the property has become a point of ministry for all the congregations located there as well as for Mi Escuelita, a preschool for neighborhood children. (For more on Mi Escuelita, see the Standard's June 17, 2002, issue.)

“The vision was the whole facility becoming a ministry center, rather than just North Dallas Baptist Church,” recalled Joe Mosley of Dallas Baptist Association. “It was all very intentional with an eye to developing ministries for the people living in the area.”

That desire to minister to the community has stayed strong, Pastor Kevin Holt said.

The church continues to reach out to the community, especially through its food pantry that feeds from 75 to 100 people weekly. Since many of those are homeless, volunteers are careful to provide things that don't require cooking and that don't require a can opener.

The Spanish-speaking congregation that meets at the facility, Iglesia Bautista Ebenezer, has grown to almost three times the size of the North Dallas Baptist Church congregation. Crossover Vietnamese Mission draws about 40 to 50 people each week, almost matching the size of the mother congregation. Denis Abaunza is pastor of the Hispanic congregation, and Quyen Le is the Vietnamese pastor.

To accommodate the larger Hispanic congregation, the now multi-cultural but English-speaking North Dallas Baptist congregation relinquished the church sanctuary several years ago and moved to the dining room on the bottom floor of the building.

On Aug. 10, the church celebrated its 101st anniversary with a grand opening of a newly remodeled youth building that will house the founding congregation.

While the vision of the facility being a ministry site is being realized, Holt sees many other needs in the community waiting to be met.

“We have all of mankind's worst enemies, but not the resources to combat these things like we would like to,” he explained.

From the outside looking in, the future doesn't appear bright. The 10 to 15 North Dallas members who have persevered and provide most of the church's financial resources are aging, and a savings account left from the church's more prosperous years is dwindling. Within a year, the church's bank accounts may be empty, Holt predicted.

But he's not discouraged.

“I don't think it depends on the money,” he said. “That's God's concern, and if he has a plan for us, he's going to make it happen.”

Posted: 10/17/03

On the Move

Robert Beck has completed an interim pastorate at Calvary Church in Pilot Point.

Tommy Billings to Guadalupe Association as director of missions from Mullins Association in Duncan, Okla.

Ronnie Bostick to Olden Church in Olden as interim pastor.

Wyley Chaney to Hollywood Road Community Church in Amarillo as minister of music.

Tracy Crone has resigned as music minister at Grace Temple Church in Denton.

Jennifer Dennis to First Church in Brownwood as university minister.

Scott Finley has resigned as pastor of Pilgrim's Way Church in Sanger.

Suan Fogel to Highland Church in Denton as preschool and children's director.

Luella Funderburg to Valley Ranch Church in Irving as children's minister from Grace Temple Church in Denton.

Bill Gammill to Parkway Church in McKinney as associate pastor for worship from Parkview Church in Mesquite, where he was music minister.

Richard Harbison to First Church in Tahoka as pastor from First Church in Spur.

Angela Hines to North Pointe Church in Hurst as children's minister.

Richard Jackson to First Church in Grapevine as interim pastor.

Gilbert Montez to First Church in Highland Village as small groups director.

Randy Mullin to First Church in Farwell as pastor from First Church in Silverton.

Ron Nolen has resigned as pastor of Frontier Church in Waxahachie.

James Norvell to Spring Hill Church in De Kalb as pastor.

Matt Paddack to Eastridge Church in Red Oak as youth minister.

Danny Reeves to First Church in Edna as pastor.

Shane Studdard to First Church in Sanger as music minister.

Floyd Tuckett to Friendship Church in Maud as pastor.

Corey Veuleman to Lakeside Church in Roanoke as youth minister.

Randy White to First Church in Katy as pastor from First Church in Pampa.

Ritch Wilhelmi to Memorial Church in Hot Springs, Ark., as pastor from Old Boston Church in New Boston.

Brandon Wommack has resigned at Friendship Church in Maud.

Mark Wyatt has resigned as pastor of Timbercreek Church in Flower Mound to start a church in Mobile, Ala.