Posted: 10/17/03

Russian orphans ready for adoption

Several children living in Russian orphanages are available for adoption by Christian families and singles through Buckner International Adoption Services. Among them is this boy, age 4-6, who recently was identified as adoptable by Russian authorities.

Debbie Wynne, clinical director for Buckner International Adoption Services in Dallas, said that adopting through Buckner is “a mutual process. We walk with you every step of the way, from completing your home study to our overseas staff accompanying you in your child's birth country.”

More information on international adoption through Buckner is available by calling (866) 236-7823 or visiting www.bucknerinternationaladoption.org. Buckner also will offer orientation meetings Nov. 18, from 6 to 9 p.m.; and Dec. 16, from 6 to 9 p.m. at 4830 Samuell Blvd. in Dallas.

Posted: 10/17/03

SBC giving grows slightly for year

By Mark Wingfield

Managing Editor

The Southern Baptist Convention ended its fiscal year Sept. 30 with undesignated receipts slightly ahead of the previous year and well ahead of budget.

However, overall giving–including undesignated gifts to the Cooperative Program unified budget and designated gifts to special causes–fell nearly 1 percent for the year.

Cooperative Program gifts of $183.2 million exceeded the previous year's gifts by $878,584 or 0.48 percent.

Cooperative Program gifts also exceeded budgeted allocations by $6.2 million or 3.5 percent. By policy, the SBC sets its Cooperative Program budget based on actual receipts in the fiscal year two years prior. That means the budget for the 2002-2003 fiscal year just ended was set based on actual receipts in the 2000-2001 fiscal year.

The $6.2 million surplus was distributed to SBC entities on the same percentage basis as the Cooperative Program budget, meaning 50 percent went to the International Mission Board, 22.79 percent to the North American Mission Board, 21.64 percent to theological education, 3.32 percent to the SBC Operating Budget administered by the Executive Committee, 1.49 percent to the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and 0.76 percent to the relief program of the Annuity Board.

The SBC fared better for the year than many of the state Baptist conventions that forward church contributions to the national convention. Few of the larger state conventions are on track to meet their budgets this year, and several have implemented cost-cutting measures as a result.

Among the 14 largest and oldest state conventions–those considered the traditional base of the SBC–eight sent less money to the SBC Cooperative Program in 2002-2003 than the year before. Where increases were recorded, they often were modest.

Oklahoma is the most notable exception, with a 6.34 percent growth in Cooperative Program contributions.

The Missouri Baptist Convention recorded an 11.53 percent increase in Cooperative Program giving to the SBC, but close observers said that likely represents a bookkeeping anomaly. The convention, which has been engaged in significant controversy, got behind in forwarding Cooperative Program funds in 2002, explained Bill Webb, editor of the Word & Way newspaper. The convention caught up on contributions by year's end.

Because the SBC's fiscal year runs from October through September, that made the Missouri convention's contributions at the end of the previous fiscal year look artificially low and contributions at the beginning of the 2002-2003 fiscal year look artificially high, Webb explained.

Contributions from the Baptist General Convention of Texas also created a bookkeeping anomaly. For its fiscal year just ended, the SBC recorded a 7.34 percent increase in Cooperative Program contributions through the BGCT but a 15.30 percent drop in designated contributions through the BGCT.

Beginning in January 2003, the BGCT changed the way it sends Cooperative Program funds to the SBC from churches that choose the BGCT's Adopted Budget option. Under the previous procedure, funds were withheld or restricted from some SBC entities, which caused the SBC Executive Committee to classify those contributions as designated gifts rather than Cooperative Program gifts. Since January, those restrictions have been removed, causing the Executive Committee to classify as Cooperative Program gifts some contributions that were considered designated the year before.

That shows up in the SBC's accounting as a $3.5 million decrease in designated contributions from the BGCT for 2002-2003 and a $751,217 increase in Cooperative Program contributions.

When Cooperative Program and designated gifts are considered together, the SBC experienced a net loss of $2.7 million in contributions through the BGCT for the year, however.

Losses in contributions from the older, larger state conventions were offset by gains from newer, smaller state conventions, including new-growth areas outside the South and new SBC-friendly conventions started in Texas and Virginia.

The Dakota Fellowship, for example, recorded a 21.56 percent gain in Cooperative Program gifts, from $23,498 to $28,564. The Hawaii-Pacific Baptist Convention increased giving 10.32 percent, from $298,751 to $329,577.

The new conventions in Virginia and Texas, both formed by conservatives who believe their traditional state conventions are not loyal enough to the SBC, continued to grow in giving to SBC causes.

For the second year, the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia Convention gave more to the SBC Cooperative Program than the older Baptist General Association of Virginia. The younger convention gave $3 million, while the older convention gave $2.3 million.

However, the older convention gave almost twice as much in designated money to the SBC as the newer convention ($5.1 million versus $2.6 million), evidence of some BGAV contributions given to the SBC with limitations or exclusions, thus not counting as Cooperative Program by the SBC's standards.

In Texas, the older convention, the BGCT, continued to outpace the newer Southern Baptists of Texas Convention in both Cooperative Program and designated giving to the SBC.

The BGCT sent the SBC $30.2 million, including $11 million in Cooperative Program and $19.2 million in designated gifts. The SBTC sent the SBC $14.1 million, including $8.4 million in Cooperative Program and $5.7 million in designated gifts. The SBTC sends 51 percent of all Cooperative Program gifts to the SBC, while the BGCT forwards various percentages of church contributions based on each church's request.

Although the BGCT continues to be a greater source of income for the SBC than the new Texas convention, the SBTC now ranks as the SBC's 10th-largest contributor of undesignated Cooperative Program funds.

An SBC Funding Task Force recently warned that the national convention faces an impending funding “crisis” unless churches up their giving to cooperative missions. The warning was based not on a decline in total-dollar giving to SBC missions but on gains that have not kept pace with inflation. It also was based on statistics that show local churches have decreased the percentage of their own undesignated offerings that go to missions causes.

Posted: 10/17/03

Professor ponders tech-driven mediocre morality

By Jeffrey MacDonald

Religion News Service

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS)–Quentin Schultze has a problem with personal technology. It's just not the problem many critics think he has.

After writing “Habits of the High-Tech Heart: Living Virtuously in the Information Age,” this Calvin College professor finds himself fending off barbs from those who say he resists progress. But resisting progress, he says, is not his goal.

Instead, Schultze aims to warn users of new technologies that, if unchecked, technology will subtly lead people to adopt a morality of mediocrity. New gadgets from e-mail to cellular phones promise convenience and power above all else, he argues. So unless human beings make a point to cultivate such higher virtues as loving, self-restraining and truth-telling, they will come to adopt the low-level ethics of their machines.

Quentin Schultze

“We have to make sure the values of efficiency and control are not the predominant values in our lives,” Schultze said. “Other values come first.”

Schultze makes his case in a 209-page book that Publishers Weekly calls a “clear-eyed critique,” despite its “didactic tone.” Through chapters on “Identifying Our Techno-Moral Crisis” and “Moderating Our Informational Desires,” Schultze provides a guide for navigating the many temptations of the Information Age while developing strong moral character against the odds.

At the heart of Schultze's case lies an assumption that “no medium is neutral,” but instead each cultivates particular habits among its users.

Instant messaging, for example, places a premium on the immediate gratification of receiving text without any wait. Although convenience and speed are good things, Schultze argues, they are not more important than a thoughtful analysis that makes an instant message worth reading. But this insight, he fears, gets easily lost in the daily frenzy to gather information at an ever-faster rate.

“From the perspective of cyberculture, listening is inefficient, old-fashioned and impotent,” Schultze writes. “Yet listening, like non-violent social protest that seems to lack any action, can morally revitalize us, build community and promote social justice as well as personal responsibility.”

For all his poignant observations, however, Schultze is hardly getting an ovation in high-tech circles as a prophet whose time is overdue.

“Anyone who talks like that is automatically branded a Luddite or the next” Unabomber, said Rodney Brown, managing editor of a journal covering the high-tech industry in New England. “The average person isn't going to start criticizing the convenience that new technology brings.”

Even one of Schultze's most generalized points–“technology is not a panacea for society's social ills”–has been contested in a setting that caters to young users of personal computers: Wired Magazine.

“The idea that technology is not a panacea, and shouldn't be looked at that way, is misguided at best,” said Adam Fisher, senior editor of Wired. “In a lot of ways, technology is a panacea. There are technological solutions to many of our society's problems.”

Two examples, from Fisher: DNA testing can determine guilt or innocence in a rape case, and video surveillance can provide security that was heretofore impossible to achieve. He notes that video cameras raise new concerns about privacy but adds that technologies tend to solve more problems than they create.

Schultze is not the first author to take aim at the potentially illusory promises of high technology, yet he brings a perspective seldom heard in the public critique. He approaches the subject as a Christian scholar who sees human beings as “stewards of the God-created world,” where it's better to “obey God rather than play God.” Such an overtly religious viewpoint has seldom been heard in public conversations around technology and changing lifestyles.

“My ideas are not completely original,” Schultze confesses on his website (www.calvin.edu/ ~schu/). “Most of them are rediscoveries of ancient truths found in the Hebrew and Christian traditions.”

For all his reliance on the thought of St. Augustine and other theologians of the ancient world, Schultze has no interest in avoiding new technologies. In addition to maintaining a slick website, he considers himself an “avid” surfer of the Internet.

Calvin College professor Quentin Schultze worries that rapid technological advances will lead to a morality of mediocrity as more emphasis falls on efficiency and control rather than higher virtues such as love, restraint and truth-telling.

Posted: 10/17/03

Action urged against slavery in Sudan

WASHINGTON (BP)–As a brutal civil war continues to rage in Sudan, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a resolution condemning slavery in that country and urging the Bush administration to impose sanctions.

The resolution, which passed unanimously last month, says the United States should encourage the United Nations to require annual investigations of abuses in Sudan, according to an Associated Press report.

In April, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights voted to drop requirements for annual reports on human rights violations in Sudan and make the country eligible for financial funding. The House resolution asked that the requirements be reinstated.

During his five-day tour through Africa in July, President Bush participated in discussions on ending the bloodshed in Sudan.

A religion-driven civil war has plagued the largest country in Africa for nearly two decades. The ruling Islamic regime has waged what has been widely described as a genocidal campaign against Christians, animists and moderate Muslims in the southern and central regions of the country.

The effort supported by the Khartoum government has included slave raids and the bombardment of hospitals, churches, schools and relief stations. It also has involved rape of women and children as well as the forcible conversion to Islam of children and starvation for Sudanese who refuse to convert.

Since 1983, about 2 million people have died in Sudan's civil war, according to the AP report.

Last October, President Bush signed the Sudan Peace Act intended to press the Islamic regime to end its military campaign against its own citizens. The legislation provided immediate aid to southern Sudan's beleaguered citizens and required the White House to monitor peace negotiations and to enforce sanctions on the Khartoum regime if it was not negotiating in good faith or was interfering with humanitarian aid.

The new law “demonstrates the clear resolve of the United States to promote a lasting, just peace; human rights, and freedom from persecution for the people of Sudan,” Bush said.

In his agenda for U.S.-Africa relations, the president called for both sides in Sudan to make their final commitment to peace and human rights and end the suffering in the country.

Posted: 10/17/03

The mosaic floor in a 5th or 6th century A.D. synagogue depicts the seven-branched candelabrum (menorah). A team of Israeli and Albanian archaeologists discovered the synagogue in the Albanian city of Saranda.

Ancient synagogue discovered in Albanian city

JERUSALEM (RNS)–A team of Israeli and Albanian archaeologists has uncovered remnants from an ancient synagogue in the Albanian city of Saranda, opposite the Greek island of Corfu, the Hebrew University announced.

Dating to the 5th or 6th century A.D., the synagogue was utilized over several periods and converted into a church during its final stage.

Although Albanian archaeologists discovered the site 20 years ago, at the time they did not realize it contained a synagogue. When further excavations hinted at the compound's Jewish roots, they called in Israeli experts from the Hebrew University Institute of Archeology.

The recent joint excavation uncovered two pieces of mosaic, one featuring a seven-branched candelabrum (menorah) flanked by a citron (etrog) and ram's horn (shofar), all symbols linked to Jewish holidays, Hebrew University said in an Oct. 8 announcement.

The other contains a number of representations, including a variety of animals, trees, symbols alluding to biblical lore and the facade of a structure resembling a temple, possibly an ark to hold the Torah. Other mosaic pieces at the site preceded the synagogue's construction.

“This is the first time we have discovered Jewish remains in this region from this period,” said Gideon Foerster, one of the Israeli archeologists who participated on the dig. “From that perspective, it is very significant. We must go on excavating.”

Foerster noted that the synagogue is just one part of a complex that is largely unexcavated. “There are a number of small buildings and a street built atop the ruins,” he said.

Posted: 10/17/03

Texas Tidbits

ETBU holds spiritual emphasis. East Texas Baptist University recently held its Spiritual Emphasis Week, with guest speaker Neil McClendon, a vocational evangelist and ETBU graduate. "Christianity is not what you do; it is who you are made into," he said in one of the five services. Worship music was led by Ross King of Bryan.

HSU to honor three at homecoming. Three graduates of Hardin-Simmons University will be honored with Distinguished Alumni Awards Oct. 24 during homecoming activities. They are Fran Osborne Adkins, a veteran television personality for Big Country audiences over KTAB-TV; Lt. Col. (retired) Consuelo Castillo Kickbusch of San Antonio, a 20-year U.S. Army veteran who was the first woman to be commissioned as an officer through the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at HSU; and Dan Yeary, who has been pastor since 1993 of North Phoenix Baptist Church in Phoenix.

HSU honors Lacewells. Robert Lacewell and Martha Nollner Lacewell of Abilene will receive the Keeter Alumni Service Award Oct. 25, the highest alumni honor granted by the university. The couple are active supporters of HSU's School of Music and the physical therapy department. He has served on the HSU board of trustees since 1996 and currently chairs the School of Music Foundation. She served five years as music foundation secretary and currently is chaplain for the alumni association. The Lacewells have been significant donors to the university, creating several scholarships, building projects, academic chairs and awards. They are members of First Baptist Church of Abilene.

Musical groups to tour campuses. Jars of Clay and Caedmon's Call are coming to Texas on what promoters are calling "The Thinking Man's Pop Tour." The tour targets 30 college markets, including four in Texas and one in Oklahoma. Texas and Oklahoma dates and locations include Oct. 30, Fellowship Church of Grapevine; Dec. 3, Baylor University in Waco; Dec. 4, Austin Music Hall, Austin; Dec. 5, Lloyd Noble Center, University of Oklahoma; Dec. 6, Loba Center, Longview.

Youth Leadership Summit planned. The second annual Youth Leadership Summit, planned for youth and young adults who have been called into the ministry, will be held at Hispanic Baptist Theological School in San Antonio Nov. 21-22. More than 150 people attended last year, and 250 are expected this year. Both Spanish and English tracks will be offered. Scholarships are available for the first 150 youth to register. The event is sponsored by HBTS and the Center for Strategic Evangelism/Ethnic Evangelism of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. For more information, contact rayala@hbts.edu, www.hbts.edu or call (210) 924-4338.

Jon Campbell

DBU names general counsel. Jon Campbell has been named general counsel for Dallas Baptist University. He moves from the law firm Chamblee & Ryan, where he worked as a litigation attorney. The Dallas native earned bachelor of arts degree from Baylor University and master of theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary. He holds a law degree from Texas Tech School of Law. He currently heads the Christian Legal Society's Dallas chapter. He and his family are active members of The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson.

Pastor writes on Halloween. Ken Lovelace, pastor of Grand View Baptist Church in Mesquite, has written a brochure explaining his faith-based opposition to observing Halloween. The six-page brochure traces the history of the holiday and draws on biblical references to warn of dangers associated with Halloween. Lovelace also provides suggestions for alternative celebrations and observances. Copies of the brochure are available from Lovelace by calling (972) 681-2284 or writing to the church at 1401 US Highway 67, Mesquite 75150. The church's website is www.GVBConline.com.

HBU gives four Spirit of Excellence honors. Houston Baptist University presented its Spirit of Excellence Award Sept. 23 to Sen. Lloyd Bentsen Jr., Jake Kamin, Don McMillian and Stuart Morris. Karen Hughes, adviser to President George W. Bush, was featured speaker for the annual gala dinner that raised $450,000 for renovation of the Glasscock Center and Mabee Theater on the HBU campus.

HBU honors alumni, faculty and staff. Houston Baptist University named two recipients of its Milton Cross Award this fall, Linda Higginbotham and Allene Lucas. The university's Distinguished Alumnus Awards were given to Cliff McGee, a pediatric psychiatrist with the Mental Health and Retardation Authority of Harris County, and Manfred Jachmich, Houston restaurateur and owner of Morgan's on Montrose. Meritorious Service Alumni Awards were given to Vivian Camacho of the HBU staff and Candace Desrosiers, a public school teacher in the Houston area. The Opal Goolsby Outstanding Teaching Award was given to Brenda Whaley, associate professor of biology; Randy Wilson, associate professor of sociology; Melissa Wiseman, assistant professor of economics; and Christopher Hammons, associate professor of political science. Recipients of the Mayfield Outstanding Staff Award were Cynthia Young, assistant vice president for institutional research; Hugh McClung, assistant vice president for treasury operations; Mary Purcell, retired director of development; and Charles Miller, HBU police officer.

Youth ministers and pastors invited to HBU. Houston Baptist University plans a ministerial convocation and luncheon for youth ministers and pastors Oct. 23 at 10 a.m. Bruce Wilkinson, author of "The Prayer of Jabez," will be the featured speaker. For more information or to make a reservation, contact Sarah Bible at (281) 649-3329 or sbible@hbu.edu.

UMHB plans missions emphasis. The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor's Missions Emphasis Week is scheduled for Oct. 27-31. Guests include Mike Cahill of Wycliffe Bible Translators, Ghana; Gayla Vardeman Corley of the International Mission Board, Zimbabwe; Ralph Dawson of Mission Aviation Fellowship, Indonesia; James and Robbi Francovich of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, India and Latin America; Stan and Kirsten Granberry of CBF, France; Norman and Gunita Harrell of IMB, Portugal; Jane Masters of IMB, China; Walter Mickels of the North American Mission Board; Dave Mutchler of Wycliffe Bible Translators, Papua New Guinea and Guatemala; Ralph and Judy Reed of Wycliffe Bible Translators, Mexico; Kathryn Riley of IMB, Singapore; Darrel Seals of IMB, Philippines; Tricia Stringer of IMB, Benin, West Africa. These missionaries will speak in classrooms and in chapel services. For more information, contact Shawn Shannon at (254) 295-4234.

DBU to honor Weirs. Dallas Baptist University will honor the Weir family, owners of Weir's Furniture Village in Dallas, at the 16th annual Russell Perry Free Enterprise Award Dinner Oct. 20. The dinner is hosted by DBU in conjunction with the Russell Perry Free Enterprise Committee and co-sponsored by the Dallas Morning News. Proceeds from the dinner provide scholarships for DBU students. Ray and Bea Weir founded their company in 1948. Their son, Dan Weir, served as president of the company from September 1992 through June 2003. Their daughter, Patsy Weir Moore, began working at the store in 1974. Dan Weir's wife, Martha, began working for Weir's in 1978. Members of the third generation now hold positions of leadership and oversee the day-to-day operations of the business. Mark Moore, son of Patsy Weir Moore, has served at Weir's 19 years, and in July 2003 became the third president. United States Sen. John Cornyn will provide the keynote address at this year's banquet.

Posted: 10/17/03

Twenty children build a village to fund housing in Mexico

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP)–It may take a village to raise a child, but it took only 20 fifth- and sixth-graders to build a “Bible town.”

What started as a miniature building project to teach the books of the Bible to Sunday School children at Vestavia Hills Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., turned into an event that raised $5,400 to build real homes in Mexico.

The children decorated 66 miniature houses, one for each book of the Bible.

“The class got enthused about the project and included other buildings, parks, lakes and streets in the town,” explained Julie Roller, one of the Sunday School teachers.

“We were teaching the kids to arrange the houses in the order that the books are organized in the Bible,” added Mindy Bodenhamer, another Sunday School teacher. “The project took a twist that none of us planned. Before we knew it, we and the kids were discussing ways the properties could be used as a fundraiser, and it started snowballing.”

The church has worked with missionaries in Los Mochis, Mexico, for several years, and the children decided to raise money specifically to build houses for the homeless in the area.

The children advertised in the church newsletter and displayed the Bible town on tables for everyone to see over a two-week period. Bodenhamer said the children hoped to make more than $100 by selling their houses.

“The practical side of me was afraid the kids would be disappointed,” Bodenhamer said. “I could see they were dreaming–like how big their lemonade stand could be.”

However, the result exceeded everyone's expectations.

“It was wonderful to see how a small project done by kids here could help families there so much,” Roller said. “It's awesome what God can do with a little bit.”

Roller's husband, Bob, who also helps teach the Sunday School class, said when the kids explained how the money could specifically help families in Mexico, the donations for the Bible town houses began pouring in.

“Seventy-five dollars would be half of what it costs to build a small home for a family in Mexico, to get them off the street,” he said. “We had so many people wanting houses that we had to make extra.

“The whole church embraced this project,” he continued. “They were so excited to see kids get excited. The excitement spread to everybody.”

Fellow church members Bob and Billie Lochamy bought one of the buildings from the Bible town.

“I saw what was happening and was amazed,” Bob Lochamy said. “It was not just left as a teaching and learning experience. The children gained so many more benefits.”

The Roller family went to Los Mochis in June on the church's annual missions trip to help with Vacation Bible School in the town.

“It brought it to life for our family to see the living conditions down there,” Bob Roller said. “Car hoods and refrigerator boxes were used for walls in homes.”

Roller said he took lots of photos and showed them to the fifth- and sixth-graders when he returned. “I got to see what the homes will look like once they're built,” he said. “It put feet to the project.”

While on the mission trip, Julie Roller said, it was particularly meaningful the day she taught the story about Jesus feeding the 5,000 in Vacation Bible School.

“I saw that God did it again,” she said. “He turned these little houses into big houses.”

Posted: 10/17/03

D.C. voucher proposal withdrawn

WASHINGTON (ABP)–For the time being, the Senate has halted a bill that would create a publicly funded school-voucher program in the District of Columbia.

On Sept. 30, Republican leaders withdrew from consideration the D.C. appropriations bill, which included the voucher provision. Although it had been debated in the Senate for several days, the bill's supporters reportedly were worried they didn't have enough votes to overcome a threatened Democratic filibuster.

A similar D.C. voucher provision already has passed the House on the thinnest of margins–209 to 208.

The bill would provide tax funding for scholarships that poor students could spend at any participating private school in the city–including religious schools.

If passed, it would be the first federally funded voucher program in the country, which opponents say would set a dangerous precedent. Congress rejected a nationwide voucher program last year.

Although the Supreme Court declared a statewide voucher program in Ohio did not violate the Constitution's ban on government support for religion, church-state separationist groups, along with many public-education lobbying groups, still oppose vouchers.

During debate in the Senate, Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, the bill's chief sponsor, told his colleagues across the aisle that their opposition would do nothing to improve the status of the troubled Washington school system.

But voucher opponents said D.C. public schools are improving and that other education-reform models, such as public charter schools, are producing positive results in Washington.

The provision fell victim to the filibuster threats and the pressing nature of several other appropriations bills the Senate must consider soon–including President Bush's $87 billion request for aid in Iraq.

Posted: 10/17/03

Baptist Memorials names new bus for Welch

SAN ANGELO–Baptist Memorials Center dedicated a new $53,000 bus in honor of longtime employee Betty Welch.

Welch, who died in December, worked for Baptist Memorials Center 26 years, primarily as director of transportation.

She is remembered for service beyond the basic requirements of that job, driving residents wherever they needed to go. She did grocery shopping for residents who did not have the strength to do it themselves, sometimes working 20 grocery lists simultaneously.

Welch and her husband drove one resident to a funeral in Houston and made it back to San Angelo in time for work the next day.

In 1999, she received the Customer Service Award for the state of Texas from the Texas Association of Homes and Services for the Aging.

The new bus was dedicated in Welch's honor because she would have loved a new bus, said Wes Wells, administrator for Sagecrest, a Baptist Memorial Center unit. Welch also was very well known around San Angelo.

Funds for the bus were raised through donations given primarily by Baptist Memorial Center's Auxiliary, private donors and a golf tournament.

The bus carries Welch's name, years of service and a tribute to her that reads, “Her heart was her roadmap.”

Posted 10/17/03

CYBERCOLUMN:
Good news

By John Duncan

I am sitting here under the old oak tree, wondering about good news. The Romans spoke of good news as glad tidings. Jesus came preaching the good news. Everybody likes to hear good news.

The year was 1967. Good news was hard to find. The U.S. State Department announced that 5,008 Americans were killed in 1966 during the Vietnam War. Protesters marched the streets for peace. Lyndon Johnson served as president while trying to work through he upheaval of Vietnam on the American psyche. Families anguished as loved ones were missing in action. A fire broke out in Apollo 1, killing three men. Racial segregation and prejudice caused a whirlpool stir in society at large. The Cold War froze international politics. The poet Langston Hughes died in 1967, too, forever leaving an imprint of dreams for good news as a wishful thinking in his own thoughts: “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?”

John Duncan

Good news faded in 1967, but the news kept coming. The Beatles sang “Penny Lane” on the radio. Katherine Hepburn had Hollywood abuzz in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers won the first Super Bowl. Mickey Mantle hit his 500th homerun. A gallon of milk cost $1.15; bread, 22 cents; gas, 28 cents; and a postage stamp, 5 cents. Christian Barnard performed the first heart transplant in Cape Town, South Africa. “Andy Griffith” and “I Love Lucy” greeted the television airwaves as two popular shows. Oh, for the return of Mayberry and laughter.

In churches and camps across the South, good news of a different sort suddenly began to spread. Bob Oldenburg and friends from Broadman Press began to write music from an office in Nashville, Tenn. The times begged for good news. The times called for action. The tumultuous times invited Christian action. The times called for “Good News,” one of the first youth musicals written for young people and for the church.

Words began to flow from a ready writer, Bob Oldenburg, the writer and composer of many of the songs: “Good News is the way of living, Good news is the way of giving. Good news says come on, get with it; Good news says wake up and live it!” The musical score followed, and the theme of God’s good news began to take shape in musical pizzazz: We’re Gonna Change This Land!

Just the other day, I sat with Bob Oldenburg on his back porch. He sat in his wheel chair. I rocked in a curved rocking chair. I looked beyond the porch on the hill in Granbury where his house sits overlooking the picturesque lake. I listened as Bob shared with me how he wrote the words in 1967 and how young people sang “Good News” in 1968.

Bob’s gleaming eyes peered at me, then drifted at a distance as if he were watching in his cinema mind a video clip of yesterday. He looked at me again and talked.

“The music had a beat, youth music with a beat, and the young people loved it,” Bob shared with excitement. Never wanting to take any credit for himself or away from another, Bob explained how the music was “led by the Lord and God’s own hand.”

Bob wove stories of how the kids loved the music, how the good news spread, and how a group of young people sang with guitars at Glorieta, N.M., and in churches on Sunday nights.

“The music struck a chord with kids, but with adults the music was controversial,“ Bob added, almost as if he were hearing the rhythm of the music in his head.

I had heard Bob say on another occasion that one pastor said, “We’ll have none of this music in our church!” He stopped the good news. In another church, a deacon unplugged the guitar. Controversy swirled in Baptist circles long before Amy Grant was singing “My Father’s Eyes” and long before the Michael W. Smith worship music was played in churches as it is today with keyboards, electric guitars and electronic drums.

Good news upsets the apple cart at times.

Good news upset the Pharisees so much in Jesus’ day that they wanted Jesus killed.

Death in 1967 had been in the news because of the Vietnam War, and, to my knowledge, no death threats were made against Bob Oldenburg’s life for writing “Good News” and bringing controversy to the church of that day. However, real, genuine, life-changing good news touched the hearts of many who both sang and heard the good news of Jesus’ gospel set to electrifying music.

This was not hymns and anthems for choral production, but rather Elvis’ cousin had come to the church in the form of a church musical with rock-n-roll, or at least, news about Jesus the Rock with a little roll.

Bob’s eyes moistened as he talked about salvation. “One college student explained how Christ came into his heart after the singing of ‘Good News.’”

“Come Alive,” one song shouted. The young man came alive with Christ. Jesus made him a new creature. The scene repeated itself countless times as young people invited Christ into their hearts. Who knows what might have happened in the church where the pastor stopped the music or where the deacon unplugged the guitar?

I asked Bob, “What did you feel and think as you wrote ‘Good News’?”

He quickly responded, “The only life worth living is the Christ life.” He then quoted Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless not I, but Christ lives in me.”

I looked beyond the porch. The wind rippled Lake Granbury. The sun made the lake sparkle. Leaves flowed green, yellow and red on trees surrounding the lake. I looked at Bob, sitting in his wheelchair, eyes watery, body frail as a board easy to bend because of cancer’s merciless decay, and saw that gleam in his eye.

Today, as Bob whispers about final things in the grand finale of his life and recalls yesterday and struggles through each day while anticipating the pain and joy of tomorrow, I know Bob’s heart overflows with good news. He longs for home.

In my mind, I hear the Apostle Paul as I see Bob, “Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). I hear Paul, but suddenly a tune, a “Good News” tune with words, Bob’s own words, begin to rattle in my brain:

“I have a home with love all around, mine it will always be, There mother love and sweet tender care come as a blessing rare;

“Dad always gives the help that I need, but what of it all,

“If it is not getting through?

“This is my land with freedom for all, mine it will always be, Here liberty and justice for all comes as a blessing rare;

“Mine to enjoy and mine to protect, but what of it all,

“If it is not getting through?

“He is my Lord, my Master and King, mine He will always be, Freedom from guilt and freedom from death come as my blessings now;

“Unending joy and abundant life, but what of it all,

“If it is not getting through?”

For Bob Oldenburg, soulful saint of the good news and faithful servant of the living Christ, the gospel has gotten through to him. His life stands as a testimony of faith. As one wise sage once said, “No test, no testimony.”

Bob faces the test of life and death, yet smiles in the joy of Christ’s abundance as he awaits his home with love all around. His faith lives on! His testimony sings! God’s Good News echoes into eternity.

And so this is life: Cold wars and dreams that dry up like raisins in the sun and “Penny Lane” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” and “I Love Lucy” and guitars and leaves changing fall colors and a wind ripple in the lake and laughter and dripping tears—and a smile full of good news!

John Duncan is pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas, and the writer of numerous articles in various journals and magazines.

Posted 10/17/03

Article List for 10/20/03 issue