Posted: 9/19/03

95 missionaries urge restraint in preacher talk

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) –Ninety-five retired Southern Baptist missionaries who served in the Middle East and North Africa recently signed a resolution calling for U.S. Christian leaders to quit making inflammatory statements about the faith of people who live in the region.

They mailed their admonition in a letter to former Southern Baptist Convention President Jerry Vines and Richard Land, executive director of the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

In a sermon Vines preached at the 2002 SBC Pastors' Conference, he called Mohammed, the founder of Islam, “a demon-possessed pedophile.” He also implied Allah, the Islamic god, turns people into terrorists.

The missionaries' letter also cited Land's endorsement of President Bush's pro-Israel policies.

Both actions are particularly distressing to missionaries, the resolution said.

“Because of the deep and continued concern for all the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa, we, the retired missionaries of this area, urge Christian leaders in America to respect the faith, values and aspirations of all the peoples of the entire area, and to reflect this respect in their public and private statements,” the resolution said.

The retirees represent more than 1,625 years of combined experience with the SBC International Mission Board. A group of current IMB workers in predominantly Muslim countries issued a similar call for restraint last January.

Vines and Land did not respond to requests for comment. Likewise, the International Mission Board declined comment.

Posted: 9/19/03

Book offers peek at pop artists' faith

By Jason White

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–Moby praising pornography and Jesus. Johnny Cash singing gospel songs while strung-out on drugs. P. Diddy rapping about guns and God.

These are just a few of the conflicting images at the heart of a new book on religion and music, “Spiritual Journeys: How Faith Has Influenced 12 Music Icons.” The book, which includes contributions from five authors, explores the religious beliefs of some of the biggest stars in pop music today, from Bono to Bob Dylan to Lauryn Hill.

Foundational to the book is a notion that pop stars are like modern day preachers, singing songs with messages more powerful than one hears Sunday mornings. In trying to understand these messages, the book takes pop stars and their religious beliefs seriously.

“We don't trust the guy in the suit reading to us from the Bible, banging the pulpit and shouting about the end times. We do, however, trust the guy in the baggy pants and FUBU jersey telling us what life is like, what relationships are like, where hope can be found,” Jason Boyett writes in the introduction to the book.

Boyett says the goal of the book is to understand the pop stars for who they are in and of themselves, not to cram them into some traditional understanding of what a religious person should look like.

“The purpose is not to pigeonhole them into a certain faith tradition or to 'out' these musicians as believers–we're not stamping 'Christian' on their foreheads. … Rather, the goal is to explore the way their spiritual paths have intersected with their art. What kind of faith is evident? Where is it evident? And what does it mean for the listener?” he writes.

Boyett's comment could be read as a metaphor for the book itself. Just as the authors avoid stamping “Christianity” on the musicians' foreheads, so they avoid calling their own book “Christian.”

Yet the book does appear to have been written from a Christian perspective, and the artists it covers are all connected to Christianity in some way.

“The intention of this book is to shed light on the spiritual journeys of many significant musical pop culture icons that our target audience–Christian twentysomethings–have enjoyed listening to over the years,” said Cara Baker, managing editor of Relevant Media Group, the book's publisher.

Baker stressed the book is not intended to be evangelistic.

“It is not meant to persuade anyone to Christianity. It is meant as an entertaining read, written as a biography-style anthology for those who have enjoyed these artists' music to delve a little deeper behind what influences them,” she said.

One of the stronger essays in the book is about Johnny Cash, the legendary country singer whose career hit a revival before his recent death, even landing a hit song on MTV, a rarity for a gray-haired drawler.

Author Steve Beard describes Cash's faith as a rather straightforward brand of Christianity, with enough hellfire and brimstone references to satisfy a backwoods Baptist preacher.

The catch is that Cash's own life was a rollercoaster affair that saw him swing from highs of singing gospel tunes to the lows of his drug addiction. The two sometimes mixed in the same performance.

Another chapter explores the religious beliefs of Bob Dylan, the mercurial singer-songwriter. Scott Marshall, author of the Dylan chapter, writes that Dylan was born Jewish, but converted to Christianity in 1979.

“In early 1979, Larry Myers and Paul Emond, two pastors from the Vineyard Church, visited Dylan's home in Brentwood, Calif. and shared the gospel. Not long afterward, Dylan came to faith in Jesus, was baptized and enrolled in a discipleship class through the Vineyard,” Marshall writes.

Despite converting, Dylan continues to support Jewish causes and charities. In 1997, for example, Dylan sang a benefit concert for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish charity in Los Angeles.

Later that year, he sang for the pope, leaving Dylan-watchers bemused.

In addition to Cash and Dylan, the book explores the religious beliefs of Sean Puffy Combs (also known as P. Diddy), Lauryn Hill, Moby, Al Green, Wycleaf Jean, Scott Stapp, Destiny's Child, Lenny Kravitz, T-Bone Burnett and Bono.

Posted: 9/19/03

Posted: 9/19/03

Texas Baptist Men's disaster
relief fleet expands to 35 vehicles

By Ken Camp

Texas Baptist Communications

The Texas Baptist disaster relief fleet of emergency response vehicles continues to grow with the addition of a new tool trailer and the prospect of a “rolling bunkhouse.”

The Texas Baptist Missions Foundation helped raise $30,000 from individuals throughout the state to purchase the emergency response tool trailer.

That brings to 35 the number of Texas Baptist disaster relief vehicles, including those owned by churches or associations. They include two 18-wheel tractor-trailer rigs, one equipped with a mobile field kitchen and the other used for transporting food; 10 smaller regional food service units; a mobile command post; 18 clean-out units, including shower units, chainsaw trailers and mud-out equipment; a portable generator trailer; a flat-bed trailer for transporting large containers; one child care trailer; and a Victim Relief Ministry unit.

The new equipment trailer is devoted exclusively to rebuilding and repair projects after disasters, according to Leo Smith, interim executive director of Texas Baptist Men.

The additional equipment will allow volunteer builders promptly to repair churches, encampments and other facilities damaged by disasters, while already-scheduled Texas Baptist Men Builder projects proceed as scheduled.

In addition to disaster relief and other ministries, Texas Baptist Men coordinates a major volunteer building effort, mostly involving retirees. This year, the various builder teams have worked on 18 churches, 16 camp projects and three special projects, including My Father's House of Lubbock, and they have built 765 pieces of furniture, 700 cabinets and completed nine brick-laying projects.

In the near future, Texas Baptist Men leaders hope to add a “rolling bunkhouse” to the disaster relief vehicle fleet. The trailer would provide on-site lodging for 16 disaster relief volunteers.

“In past years, our disaster relief volunteers have been sleeping on the floors of churches, gyms, civic centers and other facilities,” said Dick Talley, logistics coordinator for Texas Baptist Men. For older volunteers who have been unable to sleep on the floor, Texas Baptist Men has provided motel rooms.

“When volunteers are housed miles from the kitchen unit, transportation is a difficulty,” Talley added.

On-site housing for disaster relief volunteers would eliminate the cost of motel rooms, alleviate transportation problems and allow volunteers to work in shorter shifts, with rest breaks as needed, he noted.

Estimated total cost for the on-site bunkhouse is $40,000, including a generator to make the unit self-sustaining. The Texas Baptist Missions Foundation is seeking individual donations, as well as applying for grants, to fund the project. For more information, contact the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation at (800) 558-8263.

Posted: 9/19/03

TOGETHER:
Churches & BGCT focus on missions

I love worshipping in our churches, sharing fellowship and experiencing the heart for missions and evangelism that permeates our congregations.

CHARLES WADE Executive Director BGCT Executive Board

Recently, I visited First Baptist Church of Nederland. The church reaches out to inmates at a nearby state prison, and the week before I arrived, 300 prisoners had attended a revival service. Pastor David Higgs invited me to accompany him and Sam Maggio, a Sunday School teacher who has ministered to inmates every week for more than 25 years, to baptize some of the men who had made professions of faith in Jesus. We took 10 men into the prison yard, where a large trough had been filled with water. Pastor Higgs baptized several and then asked me to assist.

It was the perfect ending to a day focused on missions, beginning with a marvelous missions emphasis in the church's morning worship service and continuing in an afternoon missions fair. Children of the church had marched in carrying flags from around the world. The pastor had introduced the parade by saying: “People from over 100 countries of the world have come to Texas. These flags represent the incredible challenge that has come to all of us who live in Texas. God has trusted these dear people to our care … to share the good news of Jesus with every one of them.” That day, the church surpassed its Mary Hill Davis Offering goal of $6,000, and more money was still coming in. Additionally, the church had its largest budget offering for the year, and church members gave more than $2,000 for benevolence ministries.

When I preached that morning, I thanked the church for its strong support of all the Baptist General Convention of Texas is doing to help churches and ministries reach out to all segments of our state. And I emphasized the importance of coming to our state convention in Lubbock Nov. 10-11.

This year's convention will be different from anything we have done in the past. The order of business committee and convention officers have worked hard to make this a time of praise, worship, fellowship, inspiration and information. General sessions will be shorter. Participants will be able to choose from among 40 special conferences designed to equip church leaders. And instead of scheduling the missions celebration at the end of the convention on Tuesday evening, it will be on Monday evening when messengers still are in town and the energy still is high.

Of course, important votes will be taken. Texas Baptists want to have a voice in matters that affect them, their churches and our missions vision. But there is much more to this year's convention.

If I still were a pastor, I would look over the list of breakout sessions. Then I would identify church members who are eager to learn and interested in preparing themselves better to help the church do new, creative things. Regardless of the number of messengers allotted to your church, if you have more people in your congregation who could benefit from these sessions, bring them all to Lubbock. We are determined to give real value–ideas and information you can take home to the place where God is using you in being the presence of Christ in the world.

Please make your room reservations and travel arrangements as soon as possible. I hope to see you in Lubbock.

We are loved.

Posted: 9/19/03

Trooper learns of God's love through crash

TEXARKANA–A tragic accident almost took his life, but now Paul Sigman has a life he considers much richer.

Sigman, 28, had been enjoying a successful, if brief, career as a state trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety. He moved to Texarkana in 2001 after graduating from a police academy and rescued a man from a burning vehicle his first week on the job. That incident, along with his everyday efforts, earned him the title Officer of the Year.

Paul and Amy Sigman, with daughter Annabelle, strengthened their faith in God through Sigman's recovery from a near-fatal automobile accident. The state trooper quotes a favorite author: "You will never know God is all you need until God is all you have."

Last year, Sigman and his wife, Amy, started attending First Baptist Church in Texarkana at the invitation of one of his co-workers.

“I was raised a Catholic, but I had really given up on church,” Sigman confessed. “When Amy got pregnant, we decided that life was good and the Lord was blessing us. We wanted to give our child a church home. We looked for a Baptist church because Amy was raised Baptist.”

The Sigmans became regulars at the church, not only at worship, but also Sunday School, and on Jan. 5 of this year, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior.

That day was a turning point in the young family's life, but another loomed just ahead on June 17. Sigman and his partner were on patrol near Maud, driving in a torrential downpour. They had decided it was no longer safe to drive even the 20 miles per hour they were traveling and were looking for a place to leave the highway when their car hydroplaned into the path of an oncoming truck.

Both men sustained considerable injuries, but Sigman's partner was able to leave the hospital after a few days. Sigman, who had been driving, was not as fortunate, even though the brunt of the impact was on the passenger side of the vehicle.

“The doctor told me the only thing holding me in the car was my lap belt, so my head was free to move around. The shoulder harness had slipped over my arm and shoulder. In our car, we have a steel console that is bolted into the floor. That console was ripped out of the car from the force of the accident and my head hitting it,” he said.

The remains of Sigman's patrol car.

When the wrecker driver arrived on the scene, he had to return to his vehicle to compose himself after seeing Sigman. From his eyebrows to his nose, his face had been torn open. His sinuses were destroyed and his nose crushed. His eye was ripped in four places. His skull was fractured in so many places his brain was exposed.

Unconscious and unaware, he was taken to Wadley Regional Medical Center in Texarkana, where his wife was brought by her boss after learning of the accident.

“When I got there, he was bandaged and bloody and they would not let me talk to him because they were honestly afraid his blood pressure would rise and he was not going to survive,” she said.

Sigman's injuries were such that he needed to be transported to the trauma center at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, but the still-raging storm ruled out air transport. He made the 175-mile trip by ambulance, with his wife traveling in a patrol car right behind.

Sigman stayed in the Intensive Care Unit for several weeks, sedated and on ventilator as his body healed.

During those long days, their church family at First Baptist gave them a great deal of support. Leaving for Dallas, Mrs. Sigman had $20 in her bank account. When they reached Dallas, baby Annabelle was without formula, and her mother worried about how they were going to get by. Friends, family and DPS officers made sure that did not become a problem.

Many came to stay with her at the hospital. Others took care of Annabelle and then returned her to her mother at times to give her something to think about other than her husband's plight.

Associate Pastor Larry Sims “came in with money from the church to help us out. That was such a surprise for Amy and such a relief,” Sigman reported. “Our church family was so wonderful. They took away the financial burden and let Amy worry about me. We could not have done it without the church's help.”

Once Sigman had recovered to a degree, the sedation stopped and the pain began. It was a pain he couldn't describe, but then he realized there was someone who didn't need him to try.

“I have walked through the valley of the shadow of death. Actually, God carried me through it,” he said. “I tried to explain how bad the pain was, but I knew that a person would have to die to experience this kind of pain.

“Then one day, I thought of the pain Jesus had to go through on that cross. He suffered far worse than I did. He could have asked God to take it away, but he didn't,” Sigman reflected.

On July 9, Sigman underwent 11 hours of reconstructive surgery at Zale Lipshy University Hospital in Dallas. Titanium mesh and plates protect his skull and will eventually harden to bone-like structures. His vision, although light sensitive, is as it was before the accident. His recovery is expected to be complete.

Sigman has returned to light duty at the Department of Public Safety, and he has a message he wants to be heard even louder than his miraculous physical recovery.

“God's grace and love for me are the only reasons I survived,” he said. “My heart is overflowing with God's love. I would do it again tomorrow just to be this close to God. If people knew how much God loves us, there would not be a church big enough to hold everyone.

“One of my favorite quotes is out of a book, 'The Purpose Driven Life,' that Larry gave to me, and I live by these words every day: 'You will never know God is all you need until God is all you have.' I have got to share what God has done in my life. If the accident was the trade off, it works for me,” Sigman said.

Reported by Michelle Oubre, a writer in Texarkana

Posted: 9/19/03

Young to be nominated for
BGCT second vice president

By Marv Knox

Editor

HOUSTON–Dennis Young, pastor of Missouri City Baptist Church in Missouri City, will be nominated for second vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas this fall.

Marvin Delaney, pastor of South Park Baptist Church in Houston, announced he will nominate Young when the state convention holds its annual session in Lubbock Nov. 10-11.

Dennis Young

Young will join two BGCT agency leaders to be nominated for the convention's top offices.

The presidential candidate is Ken Hall, president of Buckner Baptist Benevolences in Dallas. His pastor, Jim Denison of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, will nominate him.

Albert Reyes, president of Hispanic Baptist Theological School in San Antonio, is the nominee for first vice president. He will be nominated by his pastor, Charlie Johnson of Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio.

Young would make a strong BGCT officer because of his depth of commitment to the convention and his involvement in missions, Delaney noted.

“Dennis has for a long time been a really strong supporter of the Baptist General Convention of Texas' work,” Delaney said.

In fact, Young has been on both the receiving and giving ends of the BGCT's missions and ministry programs, he added.

Young was the founding pastor of Missouri City Baptist Church in the early 1990s, and one of the new congregation's most significant supporters was the BGCT's Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas missions, he explained. During the ensuing decade, the church has grown, and it is a strong supporter of the offering, which now helps other churches get started.

Through the years, Young also has participated in direct missions projects in various parts of the world, Delaney said. Young has served in Jamaica, St. Eustatius, South America and Nigeria.

Young's involvement began while he served on the staff of South Park Baptist Church, Delaney said, noting that involvement persisted while Young led the Missouri City congregation as a mission of South Park and continues now, even as the church is self-supporting.

“Dennis has been serving on the (BGCT) Executive Board, and he has been chosen for a number of committees because of his diligence to his work,” Delaney said. “He's intimately involved with BGCT life.”

Young said he is willing to be nominated for the BGCT vice presidency because he has “a strong sense of urgency for … building God's kingdom.”

“I'm a BGCT man all the way through,” he said, adding the state convention's strategic principles “will assist us in reaching the world for Christ.”

Young particularly resonates with the BGCT's theme, “Being the Presence of Christ,” he noted.

“I could see myself being the presence of God through the BGCT in all areas of work. … I had the privilege of planting a church, and I would want to be an influence for church planting.”

The advances ethnic groups are making in Texas through the BGCT are gratifying, added Young, who is an African-American. He has worked with ethnic Texas Baptists to encourage their involvement in missions. And he is a founding board member of the as-yet-to-be-named BGCT missions network.

Another priority for Young is reaching teenagers with the Christian gospel, he said.

“These are the leaders of tomorrow,” he explained. “In some churches, teenagers haven't been able to shine. But if we're going to reach this world, teenagers have to be a great part of this (missions and evangelism) force.”

Evangelism and discipleship among teens produces a “dual impact,” he said. “We reach them, and they reach their peers. When they get motivated and get the opportunity, they will network … to spread the gospel and build God's kingdom.”

“Family” also should be a priority, he stressed. “As Baptists, we are family. We are children of God. We all have to love each other and treat each other with dignity and respect. This aids in building God's kingdom.”

Young has been pastor of the Missouri City church since 1992. He was on the staff of South Park Baptist Church from 1978 to 1991.

In addition to serving on the BGCT Executive Board and missions network board, he has served on various BGCT and Union Baptist Association committees.

He has been involved in the Fort Bend Independent School District, the Fort Bend Pastors' Association and local civic organizations.

He is a graduate of Brooklyn College in Brooklyn, N.Y., and the Houston Graduate School of Theology in Houston.

Young and his wife, Fanny, have two children, Fandenia and Dennis II.

Posted: 9/19/03

NEIL SPERRY:
Radio Gardener

Since 1978, gardeners in North Central Texas have gleaned their planting, weeding, spraying and harvesting information from the voice of Neil Sperry, first over WFAA radio and since 1980 over KRLD on Saturday and Sunday mornings. He also broadcasts daily statewide over the Texas State Radio Network and will be inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in October. His radio show, "Neil Sperry's Gardens Magazine," and a Texas gardening calendar have been judged the best communications of their kind by the Garden Writer's Association of America, and his book, "Neil Sperry's Complete Guide to Texas Gardening," has sold more than half a million copies.

A native Texan, Sperry attended Texas A&M University and has two degrees in horticulture from Ohio State University. He taught horticulture in high school two years and was a horticulture specialist with the Texas Agriculture Extension Service. He and his wife, Lynn, have three children. When he is not gardening, he is involved in a variety of hobbies, such as photography, painting Santa Clause figurines and making pens from historic woods of Texas. Proceeds from the sale of the pens go to the McKinney Education Foundation and Serenity High School. The Sperrys are members of the Lutheran Church.

Neil Sperry displays an assortment of the pens he has made from the historic woods of Texas. Among them are pens made from the Treaty Oak in Austin, a live oak at the Alamo and from a bat used by Rafael Palmeiro.

Q.

You speak of your father often on your radio program. I know he was a major influence in your career choice, but was there an event or events that solidified the decision?

I have always wanted to be a horticulturist. It's inbred into me. I don't think it came from my dad, although being in botany he certainly nurtured it, and he was a very nurturing person, a very patient college professor. I just don't remember ever wanting to do anything else. In fact, I knew so early that in all those aptitude tests they put us through in school, I skewed them to the point that they said something like, “You've rated 108 percent on being outdoors.” It's a lifelong love.

Q.

Why did you choose your particular area of work?

I enjoyed landscaping, nurseries, going to nurseries. The first ones were Dyess Nursery in Bryan, Cornelius Nursery in Houston, Lambert's in Dallas. Mom and Dad would take me to Houston, and I would ask them to take me by Cornelius'. Sterling Cornelius has heard this story. He's one of my heroes. Wonderful man. That's all I've ever wanted to do.

When I started to A&M, I majored in horticulture. I worked in the floriculture department. I had a nursery all the way through high school. I was lucky enough to be student body president during my senior year, and we had major planting campaigns on the campus, and the community center in College Station was my school. Those are my trees out front, up and down what was Jersey Street. I planted live oaks up and down that road. It is now George Bush Boulevard on the way to the presidential boulevard. That's kind of fun to look back on that.

Q.

What is the greatest challenge facing Texas gardeners?

There is no question it is the climate. It is a foreboding climate. So many Texans are transplants, and wherever they are from, the climate was easier where they came from than it is here. It is a relearning thing. When people come to Texas, they have to put away their old plants, their old tools and their old techniques.

Timing is so different. It is different in Texas from Amarillo to the Rio Grande Valley. I do a statewide radio program, and it's tough to tell people in the spring that it's time to plant peas when I may be off by three months in another part of the state.

Q.

What is the most frequently asked question you receive?

How often should I water a given plant? Coincidentally, it is the question to which I somewhat apologetically say, “I don't have an answer.” It depends on temperature, soil type, vigor of growth. If a plant is dormant, it won't need as much water as it would at the same temperature in the growing season. That's a hard one to answer, but it's by far the most common.

Thirty-two percent of the calls I get are turf or lawn driven. I have taken more than 200,000 calls over the 25 years I have done that six hours a weekend, and part of it I have done eight hours. That's a lot of calls, and there is some repetition. Out of the 32 percent, by far the most common is how they should get rid of a weed, Dallas grass, clover or nut sedge, dandelions, etc.

Q.

You exhibit an amazing amount of patience in dealing with your callers. Is that something that comes naturally, or have you had to work at it?

I am not patient, as I always tell people. But apparently the facade is out there that I am patient. I also always tell people I have an off button for the microphone. But I am more patient with callers than I am with myself. I know there are areas I don't understand very well, such as car repair. I am the guy who called the gas company to get help in lighting the pilot light on my water heater when I couldn't get it going and then had the service man tell me: “Mr. Sperry, you have an all-electric home. This is a fuse problem.” I have learned to be patient accordingly.

Q.

Do people stop you on the street to ask you about gardening questions?

Everywhere. I am flattered by that, lucky to have that opportunity. I chose radio but also do a lot of TV, and I can tell the difference if I have been on TV recently and go into a garden center, because I get recognized. What I have always told myself is radio is just fine for me. First of all, I have a face for radio, and I can always be quiet when I go out in public; I can't be invisible.

Q.

How did your pen making get started?

Pen making got started as a give-back for the help our family received. We have a child in recovery now eight years from cocaine addiction at age 16. We are deeply indebted to the organization that identified our child's problem in 20 minutes that psychiatric counseling and even pastoral counseling had not done in two years.

I think if I had one message to give parents, it is how little control we have over children. By my nature, I am somewhat controlling, and I thought I could protect my family from that. We moved to the country to get out of the city life, and the drugs came right here with us. I was so beholden to that organization for helping us, and they were in dire straits, and so I started making pens and giving them the proceeds from the sales.

I love to make and paint Santas and had thought of using them as Santas for Sobriety, but in two hours I sold all I had made in five years. The pen making became a more expedient way of doing it. They have been a real blessing. I have sold a lot of them.

Q.

You often refer to Serenity High School in McKinney and your passion for it. How did that develop, and what is your involvement with the school?

Serenity High was started in 1999. In 1995, after our child was diagnosed as addicted to cocaine, in only a few days we were at a wonderful rehabilitation center called Hazelden in Plymouth, Minn. While we were in Minnesota with our child, we were made familiar with a school, Sobriety High School, in Edina, Minn. Sobriety is private; Serenity High is public, a part of the McKinney school system.

My wife has been on the school board here in McKinney for 20 years and is on the Texas Association of School Boards board of directors, and it was our goal as Serenity got started that it would be a model school. That is beginning to happen, and it is our hope that it will be reinvented in other districts and other cities.

It is so neat to see young men and women who have been to rehab–that is the requirement at Serenity–and be successful there. Serenity High was named by young people in recovery, and the name won by one vote over “Not High School.” It is a very special opportunity.

The most common thing you hear at the two graduations held each year is, “I never thought I would see this day.” It is really an emotional graduation ceremony. Finding out our child at 16 was a cocaine addict was the best thing that ever happened to our family, from the standpoint of bringing us together and bringing me to my knees in humility and thanks to God for the blessings we have been given and the strength to move on to another day. I wouldn't trade where we are for anything.

Q.

How important is religious faith in your life?

Religious faith is very important to me. I find the serenity prayer to be monumentally important: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference.” I don't read very well, and so I don't sit and read the Bible. I don't read anything. I have dyslexia and didn't find it out until five years ago. I wondered why I had so much trouble proofreading.

So, from that standpoint I wouldn't want to be set up as someone who is in church every Sunday. I am on the radio every Sunday. People know right where I am. But I pray to say, “Thank you.” I pray to ask for advice, not favors, and I am very conscious of God's presence in my world. There are many things that have happened to me as a father and husband, and I think they have been focused in these last eight years even more. In my 12-step group, there are things called “God things,” and they could not have happened any other way.

Q.

Aside from your pens, do you have other hobbies?

Yes, I am addicted to hobbies. I did a story once about the collections of a life. As a child, I had matchbook covers from my dad's travels. I had an arrowhead collection and learned to hunt and make arrowheads. I had a rock collection and then began collecting woods. My garage is full of woods that predate the pen making. Then there were Santas and chocolate molds. I am making shore birds now. Gardening is the same way; I have collections of day lilies and haworthias or other plants. I am at peace with it. My wife just looks the other way and dismisses it as Neil's latest fetish.

Interview by Toby Druin

Posted: 9/5/03

Does your church harbor pirates?

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Pirates not only have ruled the Caribbean at the box office this summer, they've continued to ravage the music industry, including the Christian music industry.

Christian Music Business • Does your church harbor pirates? • Ministers suspected among best-known music pirates • Christian contemporary music: business or ministry? • Destination Known charts a course

Illegal downloads and compact discs are pushing people out of work and narrowing the Christian music industry, according to insiders.

Christian music sales have fallen for the first time in two years, and piracy is largely to blame, according to John Styll, president of the Gospel Music Association. Although he does not have solid numbers of Christian music downloads from file-sharing sites, he said several factors indicate large amounts of activity.

Many songs from Christian artists appear on peer-to-peer file sharing sites, where people can trade electronic files across the Internet. Songs from artists like Michael W. Smith, Third Day, Amy Grant and Stephen Curtis Chapman are readily available.

Additionally, recordable compact discs outsold music CDs by a 2-to-1 ratio this year in North America, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Sales of MP3 players, which play the digital files, jumped 56 percent last year.

Couple these facts with the 10.23 percent decline in Christian music sales in the first six months of this year compared to last year, and Styll believes the connection is obvious.

Proponents of file-sharing claim the process does not hurt anyone because the artists already make outrageous amounts of money.

Styll agrees the retail price for an album is too high, but illegal downloading and CD burning hurt everyone in the industry, from engineers to producers to CD manufacturers, he added. One record label cut its workforce 10 percent because of the sales reductions, he said.

“I would keep making music for free, but because I work for a label, I don't think those people should work for free,” said multiple Dove Award nominee Shaun Groves.

Piracy also decreases the variety of Christian music available, said Groves, a Tyler native. He believes recording labels are allowing their artists to take fewer risks because the profit margin is so slim that investors cannot afford for any album to lose money. To ensure projects make money, executives produce only albums that will have mainstream appeal.

That means leaving certain topics out of contemporary Christian music, Groves mourned. It also means signing fewer new artists and cutting other performers faster. Had such a mentality prevailed in the past, artists like Rich Mullins, who was not immediately successful, would have been dropped and not blossomed into major Christian music favorites, he added.

“If you make music that has the whole truth of Scripture, it's risky,” Groves said.

Todd Agnew, whose first single off his debut album shot to No. 1 on the Christian pop charts, echoed Groves' thoughts, saying he does not expect to make money during his first year of touring behind the album but hopes to survive to make a second record.

“We're swimming as fast as we can to keep our heads above water,” he said.

Despite the negative effects of illegal downloading and CD burning, Styll and the artists agree that digital music can have a promotional purpose. Mainstream artists such as Toad the Wet Sprocket and John Mayer gained popularity through fans spreading their music without buying it.

But the artists must choose to market themselves that way, Styll said.

Whether they make that choice or not, popular artists most likely will end up on a file-sharing network. Groves does not get upset with people who ask him to autograph a CD of his music they have copied rather than bought because he does not believe people understand it is illegal.

Ryan Gregg of Dallas-based Addison Road, a band trying to get signed to a major label, does not agree with illegal burning or downloading, but he looks at a copied album as an avenue to larger fan support.

“If someone is willing to burn a CD, maybe in the long run they'll come to a show or buy a T-shirt,” he said. “This is not to say we support burning our CD, but I just don't think it is cool to get mad at people about it.”

Meanwhile, the Christian music industry is working to harness the promotional potential of the digital age, while educating the public on copyright laws, Styll said.

A board of directors from four major labels is investigating digital issues. One of their first steps is to begin inserting a piece of paper in each album thanking the owner for purchasing the music rather than illegally copying it.

Several labels have already printed, “Unauthorized duplication prohibited by law” on the CDs. Rocketown Records initially added the warning: “That includes downloading and file-sharing,” but since has changed the wording to simply: “Don't steal music.”

“It's a small bit of type, but hopefully it will feed the conscience of a buyer or two,” said Angela Magill, vice president of business affairs and general counsel at the label.

Manufacturers continue to work on technology that prevents people from downloading and burning songs. Until then, the carrot holds more promise than the stick.

Groves hopes to entice fans to buy his album rather than download the songs illegally. He added a promotional video and a live version of a song to his latest album. He also included a Power Point display for worship use.

Artists and labels also are encouraging fans to use legitimate websites such as liquid.com that charge about 99 cents per song to download.

“The industry has got to convert to the digital world and make it easy and affordable,” Styll said.

But that won't be the end of the battle, Styll noted. The industry fought piracy before CDs and will battle it long after the industry catches technology, he said.

“I think this will always be a problem in some form.”

Posted: 9/5/03

TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM:
Judicial activism

I've noticed in the media coverage of Judge Roy Moore's Ten Commandments travail in Alabama a constitutional “sleight of hand” being performed by pundits before an unsuspecting public.

Those opposed to the judge's display of the Ten Commandments have cleverly substituted the phrase “state endorsement of religion” for “state establishment of religion.” Moore's 5,000-pound monument represents the “endorsement of a specific religion” we are told.

So what? Nothing in the Constitution prohibits the government from endorsing, preferring or even supporting with tax dollars a particular religion, just as President Thomas Jefferson–the father of the phrase “separation of church and state”–did when he requested funds from Congress to support Christian missionaries to the Kaskaskia Indians.

The First Amendment to the Constitution only prohibits “Congress” from making a “law” regarding the “establishment” of a state religion such as our forefathers experienced. Period.

Moore is not a congressman and has no power to establish a state religion.

The Alabama controversy is just one more example of judicial activism run amuck. By creating an imaginary right for citizens to be shielded from any type of religious expression in the public square (we had better get to work sandblasting the phrase “Praise be to God” from atop the Washington Monument), the courts are taking away the very real constitutional right the 10th Amendment grants us for protection from federal imperialists like federal Judge Myron Thompson.

Robert Jeffress

Wichita Falls

Balancing principles

Judge Roy Moore has created a stir. Who is right? The answer is somewhere in-between.

In most conflicts, there is more than one principle involved. That is true here.

Yes, we want to avoid constraining others to the altar. God himself does not. No, we should not let anyone stop us from telling others of our Savior. Yes, we want to maintain “law and order.” No, we do not want to mar Martin Luther King's example of civil disobedience.

How are we supposed to do the calculus to resolve these issues? “Let every man be fully convinced in his own mind.” God is actually less concerned whether Moore keeps the statue in the courthouse than he is that all of us do our best to figure out the best answer we can and act accordingly. God is well able to take things from there.

Here is the ultimate point: “Do not judge your brother, because to God he stands or falls.”

Argue with passion, but don't forget saints can differ and yet maintain fellowship with each other. As with meat offered to idols, I submit keeping the Ten Commandments posted in the Alabama courthouse falls in that category.

Thomas F. Harkins Jr.

Fort Worth

Marital equality

Christian duty demands a response to Jimmy Stanfield's assertion that Christ did not teach equality (Aug. 25).

We are clearly taught that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, but all are one in Christ Jesus. Certainly that means all are equal and capable of fulfilling any role to which they are called by God.

Those who would demand women submit to their husbands without imposing a similar duty upon the husband implicitly suggest a man has free reign over his wife and thus support an unjust, un-Christian slave system.

The Apostle Paul instructs us to submit to each other (Ephesians 5:21) and follows that with explicit instructions to the covenanting marriage partners. Wives submit to their husbands, and husbands love their wives.

What does love require? An uncoerced self-sacrifice of or subordination of one's own will to the good of the other without concern for self. What does submission demand? Certainly not subjugation but rather a free surrender of one's will to the good of the other without regard for self-interests.

Submission and love, therefore, are synonymous, and man and wife are thus equal partners in marriage. Each partner has different duties and responsibilities, but they both are commanded to love each other equally and exclusively and to mutually serve each other for as long as they both shall live.

Kevin T. Holton

Waco

Women & silence

Melissa Crawford quotes a phrase from 2 Timothy 2:12 where Paul tells Titus that he “does not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man; she must be silent” (Aug. 11). She contrasts the “I do not allow” with “thus saith the Lord.”

If that were the only place that the issue were raised, then she may have a point. But consider: “As in all congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the church. They are not allowed to speak but must be in submission as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husband at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only one it has reached? If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am saying is the Lord's command. If (she) ignores this then (she herself) will be ignored” (1 Corinthians 14:33b-38).

Burt Bull

Kingsville

Science & religion

For once, there is a mutual interest shared by good science and good religion. The State Board of Education will hear final presentations on new biology textbooks Sept. 10. These will frame the understanding of evolution our children are taught for the next six years.

Texans for Better Science Education will advocate complete and open teaching of evolution by correcting factual errors in texts and covering both the strengths and weaknesses of theories. Fortunately, Texas law requires this. We will present a petition already signed by thousands of Texans.

Evolution supporters are mounting a campaign of censorship to retain errors implying science explains the origin of life from natural causes. That means no action of a Creator. New understanding makes clear that science has not established this.

Standard readers can register their support for getting their children's biology texts brought up to date. Sign the TBSE petition at www.strengthsandweaknesses.org.

Ide Trotter

Duncanville

Baylor together

I am not a Baylor man. In fact, my most sacrificial experience with Baylor is the tuition I pay for my two children. I love the institution that I attended, Georgia Tech, because it produced a community that all graduates celebrate.

But I also have developed a love for Baylor. The vision that Robert Sloan has developed is a prime reason for my attachment. Why not the world's premier evangelical institution of unparalleled learning? Sounds like something the founders of Baylor would have been excited about.

I know Robert Sloan. He is a good man, Christian gentleman and evangelical scholar who loves the Lord. If he has made some mistakes, he is not alone. Most ministers, university professors and church members also have made our share.

But I believe President Sloan is a man we can all unify around. He has Baylor and the kingdom of God at his heart.

As an outsider looking in, I would like to say to the Baylor family that now is the time to join together, not shoot at each other, because only the evil one wins when that occurs.

By the way, isn't there something I have heard about a “Good Ol' Baylor Line”?

Jim Haskell

Georgetown

Poor leadership

In telling me recently his pastor had resigned, a friend also related: “In all of his years with us, he never dragged us into this denominational mess. He never mentioned it from the pulpit.”

Texas Baptists are a missions-minded people. The channel for most of them since 1925 has been the Cooperative Program, which, in all its forms, supports missions statewide, nationally and overseas. For the sake of the thrust of this letter, let's ignore the fact that the (new) Southern Baptist Convention, which has responsibility for the national and overseas portion, bears little resemblance to the pre-1979 convention.

Most Baptist churches are challenged to support the Cooperative Program. Although in many the percentage is declining, most still give a significant percentage of their income through the CP to support those mission endeavors.

It is poor stewardship of the office of the pastor and poor leadership to on one hand challenge a church to support missions endeavors through the Cooperative Program and on the other ignore the new philosophy behind missions programs that has taken root since 1979 and how it became entrenched.

Toby Druin

Waxahachie

No sheepdogs

In “Hearing God,” Dallas Willard presents two sentences that answer the Baptist dilemma today.

First, he writes, “To manipulate, drive or manage people is not the same thing as to lead them.”

Second, he quotes C.H. Spurgeon, “I would sooner be the leader of six free men, whose enthusiastic love is my only power over them, than play the director to a score of enslaved nations.”

Maybe it is time for all sections of Baptists to pray that the Lord of the harvest would send us shepherds rather than sheepdogs.

Marvel G. Upton

Sacramento, Calif.

God's truth

Jerry Barker wrote, “God has miraculously supplied us with the Bible in exactly the form and using exactly the words that he wants us to have at this moment in time” (Aug. 11). I believe this statement just as surely as I believe that God exists. However, the words on paper do not become truth until they are “hid in the hearts” of those who believe and trust in God.

God's truth comes to us through his creation; the words of Moses and the prophets; his Son, the Living Word; and the words of the apostles and other inspired New Testament writers.

We can know all truth as the Holy Spirit brings it to our remembrance. We must seek all possible help through prayer and the teachings of godly pastors and teachers. God's truth is ultimately revealed when it becomes evident in the lives of Christians.

James M. Skipper

Pearland

God forgets

When one of my preacher friends announced one Sunday that he'd be preaching on “Five Things that God Doesn't Know,” it caused the immediate departure of some scandalized saints. And I'm sure some might depart on a sermon titled “What God Doesn't Remember,” too.

God has a good memory. He remembers the times we've thought on his name (Malachi 3:15). He remembered the thief on the cross, his covenant with his people, and that we're in the Lamb's Book of Life. He even has the hairs on our heads numbered (Matthew 10:30).

But even though he is an omniscient God, there's something he promised never to remember–our forgiven sins.

Doug Fincher

San Augustine

Defense of Piper

In response to the question, “Did Christ die for us or for God?” Roger Olson (Aug. 25) is certainly correct to answer “both/and,” not “either/or.” Christ died for the glory of God and for the love of his people. But Olson is incorrect to suggest that John Piper denies this.

A search on the DesiringGod.org website shows that Piper has written, “The death of Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of divine love” (Romans 5:8); that becoming a Christian is first asking the question, “Am I persuaded that Christ died for me and I died in him?” and then answering, “Yes, from the heart”; that a key component to spiritual warfare is saying to Satan, “Christ died for me. Christ was raised from the dead for me”; and that the phrase “in his blood” (Romans 3:25) “is precious because it means that Christ died for me.” The examples could be multiplied.

In fact, before this article was published, Piper responded to an inquiry from Olson regarding these “reports from youthful listeners.”

Piper responded that he has always said “yes” to the question of whether Christ died for us. But if he had ever denied it, he would need to repent or explain that he means, “Christ did not die for us in the way he died for God, and Christ died for God to deal with the greatest problem so that he could then deal justly with our problem.”

In response to Olson's criticism that Piper did not mention love as one of God's attributes on display in the magnification of his glory, Piper pointed out that he speaks about the love of God at almost every place that he goes.

Piper thanked Olson for the heads up about how his message was being heard, promised to take this into account as he crafted his messages and indicated that he didn't want to be misunderstood or biblically unbalanced.

Therefore, it is certainly disappointing that Olson would perpetuate this misunderstanding in print, implying that Piper denies the “both/and,” and saying that “the God proclaimed by John Piper” is “aloof and self-absorbed.”

In fact, Piper loves to stress the paradoxes of God's majesty and intimacy, terror and tenderness, severity and sweetness. “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: 'I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.'”

Justin Taylor

Executive editor

Desiring God Ministries

Minneapolis

Correction

I apologize to the admirers and heirs of J.B. Phillips, who, rather than Paul Little, wrote “Your God is Too Small” (Aug. 25).

Thanks to the perceptive readers who caught the mistake and urged its correction.

Roger E. Olson

Waco

Fine response

The editorial on homosexuality (Aug. 11) is the finest Christian response to the challenging situation of homosexuality that I can remember ever reading.

No alarmist talk about “the demise of civilization”; no rose-colored glasses optimism; no separation of people (who are all sinners) into categories of good and bad. Common sense based on Christian love and God’s revelation.

Dick Garrett

Fort Worth

Question not productive

I appreciate the main point of Roger Olson’s article: we must not emphasize one aspect of God’s character over another (Aug. 25). I also grant to Olson that the writings and preaching of John Piper may be lacking in multiple references to God’s love.

However, asking ourselves the question, “Is your God too big?” is not a productive one. In order to gain the interest of people in our culture, we often emphasize warm, inviting aspects of God’s character, such as his mercy and kindness. In time, our churches lose sense of the majesty of the God whose “greatness no one can fathom” and the one who has earth as his footstool (Psalm 145:3; Isaiah 66:1).

Olson closes his article by saying an overemphasis of the glory of God makes God seem impersonal and aloof. Surely God was not aloof when he revealed the depth of his glory to Moses in Exodus 33 or when Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up in Isaiah 6.

God’s promotion of his glory is the most loving thing he can do for his creatures. By doing so, God gives us what we most need—himself.

I have found Piper’s emphasis on God’s renown refreshing and utterly helpful. Though Olson’s point is well taken, some of his conclusions can be dangerous to a church that desperately needs to “ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name” (Psalm 29:2).

Cliff Lea

Corpus Christi

Teach the Commandments

We need to make a stand for God and his Son, Jesus.

You have heard of the removal of the Ten Commandments monument in Alabama. My plea is to teach these commandment’s to our children. We cannot let the devil take over without a stand for our Lord. The devil cannot win, and neither will the “dark side.”

What will happen next? Are they going to take “God” out of “God Bless America”? They say they are trying to “seperate” state and church. But what are they really trying to do?

Please pray that God will triumph.

If we go on preaching the Ten Commandments, Satan will have lost. The more this word is spread,through the church,the sadder Satan become’s.

Zola Lee

New Albany, Ind.

Paul chose word deliberately

Jimmy Stanfield writes, “How sad that some are so blinded by worldly ideals that they would undercut the authority of the apostles” (Aug. 25). I did not sense Melissa Crawford was in any way attempting to undercut the authority of the Apostle Paul in her letter (Aug. 11). I would hasten to say, “How sad that some are so blinded by traditional teachings and faulty interpretations of Scripture that they would undercut the actual teachings and writings of the apostles.”

Alluding to Ephesians 5:23, “For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church …” as justification that “Christ does not teach equality,” Stanfield does what too many people do. He interprets a small section of Scripture by a paradigm he has already configured for himself rather than taking into consideration what Scripture, as a whole, teaches about a subject.

For the record, Paul deliberately chooses the word “kephale” for “head,” a word that was never used to mean “boss” or “chief” or “ruler,” but, instead, meant “head” as in a person’s physical head, but also a military term, as in “one who leads,” in the sense of being the first into battle.

And don’t forget Paul also writes, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female,” but all are “one in Christ Jesus,” (Galations 3:28, 29) and “co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:14).

Pamm Muzslay

El Lago

We are to stand for truth

Women preachers and homosexuals confused! Listening to the “angel of light” instead of the word (1 Corinthians 14:33-35) ? Women again taking the bait—apple—and man right behind. Now homosexual preachers, and marriage being approved (Leviticus 18:22-30)!

Don’t be ashamed of the word, asserting, agreeing to issues such as “women should have the right to be pastors,” just because not wanting to hurt someone’s feelings or be politically correct. Jesus was very blunt, as was John, Peter and Paul presenting the Word.

We are to stand for truth, not error that infiltrates our churches, our thoughts. If the thought and/or practice disagree with the word, then it is wrong.

Marriage in God’s sight is when the virgin comes together with a husband, as she was made to bear children (1 Timothy 2:11-15). Paul’s point is the body can only have one head (she forfeited her chance), and the man is to preach (he fell because of love, not lust), and is held accountable for the fall, and now responsible for spreading the word. If not, there would have been no need for her to be a partner, but a slave, or just a playmate.

Case in point to prove this is that of a homosexual. If a homosexual should be saved, his (or her) “playmate” cannot be automatically saved, as the male/female relationship of marriage for becoming one cannot be attained. Acts 16:31 agrees with 1 Corinthians 7:14. Virgins, singles come on their own. All can be in Christ.

James Parks

Dallas

What do you think? Submit letters for Texas Baptist Forum via e-mail to marvknox@baptiststandard.com or regular mail at Box 660267, Dallas 75266-0267. Letters may be edited to accommodate space.

Posted: 9/5/03

Texas Tidbits

HBTS alumni reunion planned. Alumni, faculty, and staff of Hispanic Baptist Theological School will join in a reunion event Oct. 3-4. The event will begin with dinner on the Riverwalk in San Antonio Friday night before a day of activities Saturday. Current students are organizing an international fair, decorating booths and cooking food from their countries of origin. Alumni will have opportunities to take their best shots at staff in a dunking booth. To RSVP, call HBTS (210) 924-4338 or email rayala@hbts.edu.

Jim Wilkinson

Baylor honors former military spokesman. Jim Wilkinson, who served the last 10 months as director of strategic communications for Gen. Tommy Franks at U.S. Central Command, received the 2003 Baylor Communications Award Aug. 25. The award recognizes those who have distinguished themselves in the field of communications and in their communities. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Wilkinson served as Gen. Franks' principal spokesman. In addition to a number of other roles within the Republican Party, Wilkinson served as a spokesman for George W. Bush during the Florida recount. From 1992 to 2000, he worked for U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey. The Waco Tribune-Herald reported that Baylor President Robert Sloan recently offered Wilkinson a position as vice president for university relations. Instead, however, Wilkinson accepted a new role as communications director for the 2004 Republican National Convention. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington and Johns Hopkins University.

UMHB receives grant. The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor has received a $200,000 grant from the Thomas Kinder and Martha Farris Foundation of Floydada for the Mayborn Campus Center. Martha White Farris is a 1942 graduate of the university. She served as honorary chair of the university's "Challenge Beyond 2000" campaign that raised $17 million.

Parkses at HSU. Kent and Erika Parks have returned to the Hardin-Simmons University Baptist Student Ministries office for the fall semester as missions consultants. They are Southeast Asia regional facilitators for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Their daughter, Katy, 18, is a fourth-generation family member enrolled as a freshman at HSU this fall.

Bawcom named to UMHB position. Amy Bawcom has been named director of institutional research at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. She will coordinate the institutional effectiveness program, which evaluates work processes in all departments for accreditation purposes. The daughter of UMHB President Jerry Bawcom, she is a 1993 graduate of UMHB with degrees in business administration and English. She received a master's in English language and literature from Baylor University, and she currently is working on a doctorate in educational administration at Baylor. She has been a professor of English and assistant registrar at UMHB.

Matthews to perform at Wayland. Marvin Matthews, Christian vocalist and an alumnus of Wayland Baptist University, will headline the Gospel Sing-spiration, a Gaither-inspired evening of music featuring area singers Sept. 20. The event is sponsored by Wayland's Alpha Psi Omega service fraternity and will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Harral Memorial Auditorium. Tickets are $10 per person. Matthews will be present gospel music backed by a mass choir of singers from throughout West Texas.

Tipton named associate dean. Lucia Tipton has been named associate dean of the Scott and White School of Nursing at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. She has been a member of the UMHB faculty, teaching adult health and critical-care nursing, since 1976. She received a bachelor of science degree in nursing from Baylor University in 1971. Her graduate degrees include a master's in psychiatric-mental health nursing from Texas Women's University and a doctorate in adult health nursing from the University of Texas at Austin.

BGCT child care available. Free child care will be provided as a service for out-of-town messengers to the Baptist General Convention of Texas Nov. 10-11 in Lubbock. Care for infants through pre-kindergarteners will be offered at First Baptist Church, a five-minute drive from the Lubbock Civic Center. The service will be offered Monday from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Tuesday from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Reservations are required. Contact Cathy Jones, preschool minister at First Baptist Church, by Oct. 15, at (806) 747-0281 or cathy@fbclubbock.org.

HSU conference focuses on worship. "Worship: Reaching Up, In and Out" will be the theme of a conference for pastors and ministers of music sponsored by Hardin-Simmons University's School of Music and Logsdon School of Theology Oct. 3-4 on the HSU campus in Abilene. Robert Webber, a nationally known worship leader, will be the keynote speaker. Worship specialists will lead small-group seminars. Cost is $35. For more information and to register, visit the conference website, www.hsutx/edu/mwc/, or contact Clell Wright or Bill Tillman at (325) 670-1426 or (325) 670-1287.

Clarification: One sentence in the Aug. 25 article, "BGCT to create funding channel for some former missionaries," incorrectly stated that the funding channel for former missionaries "will become part of a new, as-yet-unnamed missions network of the BGCT." The funding channel will be offered as a potential project for the missions network once it is operational, but any decision about assuming responsibility for the funding of missionaries rests entirely with the network's board of directors.

Posted: 9/5/03

See second cartoon here.

“I understand you don't like my ponytail, Mrs. Tidwell, but there are more inflamatory issues at hand.”