Posted: 9/5/03

Website explains all about
unreached people groups

By Ashley Haygood

International Mission Board

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)–Ever wondered how far the gospel has advanced among a particular people group? Ever wondered which people groups are the least evangelized? Ever wondered what a “people group” is?

A new website will help answer those questions and many more.

Visitors to www.peoplegroups.org may search more than 11,000 people groups by name, country, religion, language or status of evangelization. The information provided on each people group includes alternate names, country, primary language, religion and population.

A list of all the world's people groups is available, as well as tables and charts on the status of global evangelization. Visitors even can add information about pockets of unreached people groups they have discovered in their own cities.

Information for the site is collected through a global network of evangelical missions researchers, then gathered and analyzed by the global research department of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. Much of the information reflects first-hand research conducted on the field among the people groups themselves.

The site is updated continually, thanks to the feedback link viewers can use to add a people group or update information already on the site. The number of people groups and details about them change constantly as researchers improve their information.

The site also offers answers to frequently asked questions and explains some of the frequently used missions acronyms that laypeople often find confusing.

Posted: 9/5/03

Texas voters to consider church taxation measure

By Ken Camp

Texas Baptist Communications

The tax exemption for church-owned property that is leased to a private school or held for future relocation could be extended if voters approve Proposition 3 on Sept. 13.

If approved, Proposition 3 would authorize the Texas Legislature to exempt from ad valorem taxes for six years any property owned by a religious organization that is leased for educational purposes or owned for future expansion.

The tax exemption would not extend to any church-owned property that produces revenue for the congregation. To curb potential abuses, a church would have to pay penalties and back taxes if it sold exempt property.

According to a voters' guide produced by the League of Women Voters, “Religious organizations are currently exempt from ad valorem taxes on their places of worship, adjoining parking lots and property owned for the purpose of housing clergy.”

Local tax districts may assess taxes on property that a church buys for expansion. Currently, the tax code allows only a three-year tax abatement for churches to develop unused land. Tax districts are empowered to decide how much of a church's land is unused and to assess tax value at a cost per square foot.

During the 78th Texas Legislature, Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Fort Worth, introduced a bill that would have exempted all church property contiguous to existing worship space.

The bill was filed in response to issues raised by Christ Lutheran Church of Fort Worth. The church bought 13 acres in the mid-1990s for expansion, but it was not able financially to develop the entire property in three years. Consequently, the small congregation paid more than $25,000 in ad valorem taxes in 1998, 1999 and 2000, according to Pastor Randy Bard.

Both the Texas House and Senate approved a conference committee substitute bill that expanded the tax abatement for church-owned property from three years to six years. Gov. Rick Perry signed the bill June 20, but it is contingent upon approval of Proposition 3 by voters statewide.

Proponents of the constitutional amendment argue the current system places an unfair burden on churches. Opponents say it would deprive cities, counties and school districts of property tax revenue and create an advantage for private schools over public education.

Both the Dallas Morning News and the Houston Chronicle took editorial positions in opposition to Proposition 3. The Dallas newspaper said the constitutional amendment “could lead to an ecclesiastical land rush,” and the Houston paper called the proposition “overly broad” and “unfair.”

But Suzii Paynter, director of citizenship and public policy with the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission, offered support for the proposition. “The property tax system in Texas is broken. Adding further burden to church property makes it more broken.”

Paynter maintained the value churches bring to communities in terms of services provided exceeds the value of tax exemption. She noted a study by Ram Cnaan, director of the Program for Organized Religion and Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania, supporting that view.

Voters on Sept. 13 also will rule on Proposition 12, authorizing the legislature to set limits on non-economic damages in lawsuits against doctors and health-care providers.

A “yes” vote would validate HB 4 from the 78th legislative session, which set non-economic damage caps of $250,000 per health-care provider and $500,000 per facility in any single medical malpractice suit.

Advocates of Proposition 12–including leaders of Baylor Health Care System–maintain the constitutional amendment will help reduce health costs and allow doctors, hospitals and nursing homes to continue serving patients. They argue that failure to place reasonable limits on non-economic damages has caused liability insurance premiums to escalate and forced health-care providers to reduce or eliminate services.

Opponents of Proposition 12 say placing a cap on non-economic damages would unfairly limit a patient's right to legal redress, particularly in the case of non-wage earners such as children, homemakers, the elderly and the disabled.

Posted: 9/5/03

Quanah women find prayer really changes things

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

QUANAH–Prayer changes the way Christians view their communities, according to members at First Baptist Church of Quanah. It helped folks at this North Texas farming community see a multitude of people who need Jesus.

About 15 church members, mostly women, started gathering in several small groups several years ago to pray for non-Christians in their community. Through the groups' efforts, more members began to realize how many people in the town of 3,000 were not believers.

That helped them see the people they encountered on the street corner or grocery store as people needing a relationship with Jesus Christ, said Charlotte Young, the pastor's wife, who started the first prayer group. “It made us aware that there are people all around us … that may be good people, but they don't have a relationship with Jesus.”

This keener awareness motivated members to share their faith with people they interact with on a regular basis, said Pastor Clint Young. “Praying for lost people changes the way you act.”

Ultimately, the women of the church became focused on reaching their town for Christ through relationships. They engaged people regularly in spiritual conversations and followed up on needs, as they learned to do through the Women Reaching Texas materials produced by the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

“We're relational, so we don't want to upset anybody,” Mrs. Young said. “Most women look at evangelism as confrontational, that you're putting someone on the spot.”

But the Women Reaching Texas curriculum “equipped me and many other women to share without confronting,” she added.

The combination of prayer and intentional evangelism proved effective. After praying for more than a year, the women noticed people for whom they had been praying entering the church. Those newcomers soon were baptized and became involved in ministry.

Amy Butts, a member of the first prayer group, vividly recalls when her sister-in-law committed her life to Christ, calling it an “amazing experience.” She said she believes the conversion was the direct result of persistent prayer.

“I believe completely in praying for the lost,” she said. “It works.”

The process of prayer and building relationships works better in a small town than quick bursts of evangelism not built around relationships, the pastor reported. “It has changed the focus to a relational approach rather than a salesman approach.”

Mrs. Young said she continues to be amazed as the prayer groups carry on and people come to know Christ.

“People are open if we're willing to share our faith,” she emphasized. “We've seen such answers to prayer. It's been awesome.”

Posted: 9/5/03

World harbors 35 million refugees

WASHINGTON (RNS)–Almost 35 million displaced people were living in refugee camps or other temporary shelters last year, including a growing number who were unable to leave their countries, according to the 2003 World Refugee Survey.

The number of those uprooted from their homes but still living in their countries rose from 17 million in 1998 to 21.8 million in 2002, while the number of those seeking protection outside their countries has steadily dropped from 16.3 million in 1994 to 13 million last year.

The increase in the internally displaced stems from a growing inhospitality to refugees and a large number of internal conflicts, such as civil wars, said Roberta Cohen, co-director of the Brookings Institution and Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies Project on Internal Displacement.

In addition, more than 4 million people were newly uprooted in 2002, although some returned home by the end of the year.

The situation for these refugees and the internally displaced is dire, advocates say.

“Increasingly, refugees are not offered any options but are warehoused around the world so that generations of refugees are growing up in camps, their life in limbo, no hope for the future, many of them hungry,” said Lavinia Limon, executive director of the U.S. Committee for Refugees, a program of the Immigration and Refugee Services of America.

“These are very human tragedies,” Limon said. “These are individuals suffering what most of us can't imagine.”

The 258-page annual survey revealed trouble spots on almost every continent.

The survey did contain some bright spots.

The fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan allowed 1.8 million uprooted Afghans to return to their homes. The death of rebel leader Jonas Savimbi in Angola prompted 800,000 displaced individuals and 80,000 refugees to venture back.

Posted: 9/5/03

New Testament as fashion magazine a hit with teen girls

By Alexandra Alter

Religion News Service

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS)–Where are teenage girls turning for advice about fashion, dating and getting along with their parents? Would you believe, the New Testament?

After years of trying to sell Bibles to one of the nation's savviest, most cynical consumer groups, Bible publishers at Thomas Nelson have developed a new way to snare adolescents' interest–turning the sacred book into a magazine.

Revolve, the new Bible for girls between the ages of 12 and 17, offers the complete New Testament in a fashion magazine format, replete with images of stylish, smiling young women, quizzes and celebrity birthdays.

Gushing effusively over Revolve, Brooke Nichols, 15, of Nashville, Tenn., could only think of one flaw–the omission of the Old Testament.

“When I have to use the Old Testament in Bible study, I have to pull out my other Bible,” she said.

Nonetheless, Nichols said Revolve has been a big hit with her friends at public school.

“My friends, they don't like to read the Bible, but once they saw it they were like, 'I'm going to have to get me one of those,'” she said.

The idea for Revolve developed after market researchers discovered a shocking truth about teenagers–they don't spend a lot of time reading the Bible, said Laurie Whaley of Thomas Nelson publishers.

“We've made a great industry out of selling Bibles to teenagers, and they're not reading them,” Whaley said. “The intent is to both make the Bible more interesting and to attract girls who would never pick up a leather-bound Bible but who would certainly pick up Revolve.”

The magazine format was intended to appeal to media-saturated teenagers, said Kate Etue, managing editor of Revolve.

“A lot of times, we've put the word 'teen' on something and thought that would be enough,” she said. “Even kids who come from a Christian subculture are very media-savvy.”

To meet discriminating adolescents' standards, Thomas Nelson brought in Thor 5 One, an Irish firm that designs the album covers for the rock band U2. The result–a glossy cover photo of three smiling teenage girls with glistening teeth and glowing skin, under florescent pink and blue headlines promising beauty secrets, quizzes and Q&As.

“They're great because they don't make things look churchy or Christiany,” Etue said of the designers. “They have a real fresh perspective on Christian products.”

When the product suits them, adolescents prove to be avid Bible buyers. The Extreme Teen Bible, which Thomas Nelson published in 1999, sold more than 800,000 copies in four years. The average Bible sells 40,000 copies a year.

Study Bibles and other Bibles directed at teens account for 25 percent of all sales at Family Christian Stores, a chain with over 315 outlets nationwide that recently started selling Revolve.

Mark Beyer, Bible buyer for Family Christian Stores, said he has seen mixed reactions to Revolve.”There are some people who look at it and go, 'What's that?' and other people look at it and get it,” said Beyer, adding that he was sure the product would be a hit when it was deemed “cool” by his 15-year-old daughter. Since its release, Revolve has already exceeded sales expectations, said Whaley, who would not provide exact sales numbers.

While some applaud efforts to make the Bible more attractive to teenagers, others have voiced concerns that tailoring the Bible to appeal to a particular group might send the wrong message.

Russell Dalton, author of “Video, Kids and Christian Education” and director of the Religious Communications program at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, said he worried “niche Bibles like Revolve might encourage kids to look at the Bible in a myopic way.”

While discussing issues like pregnancy, relationships and tattoos in the context of Christianity might be helpful for adolescents, sidebars such as “Are You Dating a Godly Guy?” might “make it seem as though the Bible is just talking about their concerns,” Dalton said.

“The danger there is that they're not reading the Scripture for itself,” he said.

Parents who ask their teenagers what part of the Bible engaged them most might be surprised to hear them cite the sections where “guys say what they like about girls.” Would that be Peter's letter advising women not to braid their hair, decorate themselves with gold or wear expensive robes? No, it's “Guys Speak Out,” a serial sidebar in Revolve featuring teenage boys' thoughts on how girls should dress and behave.

Posted: 9/5/03

Student FISH club allowable

PHILADELPHIA (ABP)–A student Bible club was wrongly barred from meeting at a Pennsylvania high school, according to a federal appellate court.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals made the decision after Melissa Donovan, a senior at Punxsutawney Area High School, claimed the school district would not let her Bible study group, FISH, meet during an activity period after school began.

“FISH is a group that discusses current issues from a biblical perspective, and school officials denied the club equal access to meet on school premises during the activity period solely because of the club's religious nature,” Judge Ruggero Aldisert wrote.

The school district had argued that permitting the group to meet during the school day would amount to a government endorsement of religion.

Aldisert disagreed, noting the meetings were voluntary and did not involve teachers.

Posted: 9/5/03

One-fourth of sexually active teens report abuse, study finds

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Among teenagers who have had sex, one-quarter of those relationships included some form of abuse, with nearly one in 10 teens reporting physical abuse within their relationships, according to a study by Child Trends.

The study also found that one-fourth of teens who have had sex reported having sex with their first partner only once.

Richard Ross, founder of the abstinence program True Love Waits and professor of youth and student ministry at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, drew a link to the entertainment business' inaccurate portrayal of sexual encounters.

“In order to titillate bored adults and hormonally raging teens into buying $8 movie tickets, the movie industry usually portrays teen sex as a grand adventure without consequences,” Ross said. “This study suggests otherwise. For any number of reasons, one-fourth find their first sexual encounter with a partner so negative that they never repeat the mistake. Even more alarming, one-quarter find that what they thought would be magical is instead filled with shoving, insults, disrespect and even violence.”

One-fourth of teenagers who have had sex reported that verbal abuse such as name-calling, insults, threats of violence and disrespectful treatment occurred within their first sexual relationship, the Child Trends study noted. Nine percent reported physical abuse, and 7 percent reported both physical and verbal abuse.

In other findings, Child Trends reported that a majority of teens viewed their first sexual relationship as more than a casual fling, with 85 percent of teens defining their first sexual relationships as romantic involvements and 61 percent having begun sex within three months of the start of a romantic relationship.

Teen girls were more likely to have older partners, the study found. Among sexually active teens, half of girls reported their first sexual partner was at least two years older. Nearly one in five girls had a partner who was four or more years older.

Founded in 1979, Child Trends is a non-profit research organization based in Washington, D.C., and dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing science-based information to improve the decisions, programs and policies that affect children.

The Child Trends study found that among teens who had sex, 59 percent discussed contraception with their partners before they had sex for the first time. Twenty-two percent reported never using contraception with their first sexual partner.

Concerning ethnicity, 17 percent of sexually active Hispanic teens experienced physical violence in their first sexual encounter, compared with 6 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 12 percent of non-Hispanic blacks. Also, Hispanic teens were less vigilant when it came to using contraception, the study found, with 36 percent reporting they did not use contraception during their first sexual relationships.

“Though this study is filled with troubling news, we must not miss the best news,” Ross said. “The study reaffirms that now less than half of teenagers have had intercourse before 18.”

Posted: 9/5/03

Temple Mount open for visits by non-Muslims

JERUSALEM (RNS)–For only the second time in three years, the Temple Mount, revered by Jews, Muslims and Christians, is open to visits by non-Muslims.

Since Aug. 20, hundreds of Jews and Christians have visited and prayed on the Mount, which Muslims call Haram al-Sharif. Currently, non-Muslims may visit between 9 and 11 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, but not on Friday, the Muslim sabbath.

Once the home of the first and second biblical temples, the Temple Mount stands above the Western Wall and contains the Holy of Holies, Judaism's most sacred site. It also is the site of the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest place in Islam.

The Wakf, the Muslim religious body that controls the mount, closed the site's gates to non-Muslims in the fall of 2000 after Ariel Sharon, then the head of Israel's opposition Likud Party and now prime minister, visited the shrine to underscore Jewish rights to it.

Sharon's provocative visit sparked the current intifada.

The renewed access to non-Muslims is the result of months of behind-the-scenes negotiations between officials from the Wakf and Israel, as well as input from Palestinian and Jordanian sources.

In May, with little fanfare, Israel and the Wakf quietly began admitting non-Muslims to the mount, a fact that did not arouse wide-scale demonstrations. Three weeks ago, the Israeli government stopped the visits, citing unspecified security concerns. With the tacit agreement of the Wakf, Israel reinstated access Aug. 20.

Historically, non-Muslims have been able to visit the mount on-and-off since the 1920s. However, Jordan prohibited Jews from reaching the mount and other eastern Jerusalem holy sites during its reign over that part of the city from 1948 to 1967.

While many Jews hailed the latest development, saying that Jewish worshippers must never again be denied access to its holiest shrine, some from the most Orthodox stream said Jews should not visit the mount out of fear that they might inadvertently tread on ground considered too sacred to touch.

Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupoliansky, an ultra-Orthodox Jew, told the daily newspaper Ha'aretz he feared a Muslim backlash and even more bloodshed. He made his remarks the day after a Palestinian bomber blew up a commuter bus full of Jewish worshippers returning from prayers at the Western Wall.

Ruediger Scholz, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Ascension, a German-speaking congregation on the Mount of Olives, voiced similar concerns.

“We need to see the political implications, and whether they outweigh opening the site,” Scholz said. “If the situation worsens, then it wasn't worth it.”

Posted: 9/5/03

TOGETHER:
Listen & respond to 'God's call'

In the parsonage where I grew up, our family's practice was to pray before every meal. One evening, the phone rang just as we sat down to eat. My brother, Jim, picked up the receiver and answered, “Our dear Heavenly Father … .” I don't know who was more surprised, the caller or my brother.

But what if God did call us? How would we respond? The Scriptures are full of moments in men's and women's lives when God called. From Adam to Abraham, Moses to Mary, God personally called his people.

God has called people to share the gospel in word and deed.

God wants all to hear and be saved because he loves us and wants to spend eternity with us. But the only way for anyone to be saved is to place hope and trust in Jesus Christ. If we could be saved in any other way, Jesus would not have had to die on the cross. He prayed the night before he died: “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). There was and is no other way for God to accomplish the redemption of the human heart.

Our Week of Prayer for Texas Missions is Sept. 14-21. Every year, Woman's Missionary Union of Texas lays before our churches the needs of Texans and others who need to know God loves them and wants to spend eternity with them.

This year's theme is: “Hello, God is calling. Are you listening to me? Really listening?” (Matthew 11:15).

I hope your church and your Sunday School classes will pray for those who need Christ and those who are answering God's call to share the gospel with them.

When we pray for people and ask God to use us in reaching out to them, two things usually happen. We begin to sense God calling us to do some particular act of service and witness. And we want to give generously to help missionaries do what God has called them to do.

The Mary Hill Davis Offering is Texas Baptists' way of responding annually to the needs of those who need God's touch.

There are large-ticket items like assisting in church starting to meet the challenge of 10 million unchurched Texans and another 1.7 million people who are coming to Texas over the next five years.

There are small-ticket items like assisting Baptist college students who serve in mission projects and providing scholarship funds to help ethnic students attend Texas Baptist schools.

There are funds to help minister to prisoners and their families and to provide youth camps where students respond eagerly to the gospel.

When I read the description of the 64 ministries that this offering helps to support, and when I hear the testimonies of those whose lives have been changed forever, I want to urge you and all those you know to give sacrificially to help us reach our goal of $5.1 million.

Every dollar given will help draw someone to Christ.

Think about what your church gave last year to the Mary Hill Davis Offering. Encourage your church family to go significantly beyond that total this year.

The lives and eternal destiny of people God wants to save hang in the balance.

We are loved.

Posted: 9/5/03

Seven in 10 U.S. children still live with two parents

By Mark Wingfield

Managing Editor

WASHINGTON–Despite the public perception that single-parent homes are becoming the norm in America, seven out of 10 children under the age of 18 still live in two-parent homes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

However, 30 percent of America's children live with one parent, most often a mother. Children living in single-parent homes are five times more likely to live with their mothers than with their fathers, according to Census data.

The statistics are drawn from a new Census Bureau report, “Children's Living Arrangements and Characteristics,” released this summer.

The report notes that not all children listed as living in single-parent homes actually live in homes where only one adult is present. The Census data does not fully capture data on children living in a home with a parent and a non-married partner, for example.

The percentage of children living at home with two parents has decreased slightly over the last decade, to 69 percent in 2002 from 73 percent in 1991.

Children who did not live with two parents in 2002 were most likely to live with a single mother. Twenty-three percent of all U.S. children lived with single mothers, compared to 5 percent who lived with single fathers.

In 2002, African-American children were 2.65 times more likely to live in single-parent households than Anglo children. That gap has increased slightly over the last decade. In 1991, African-American children were 2.57 times more likely than Anglo children to live in single-parent families.

In 2002, 53 percent of African-American children lived in single-parent families (up from 49.1 percent), compared to 20 percent of Anglo children (up from 19.1 percent), 30 percent of Hispanic children (down from 31.1 percent) and 15 percent of Asian children.

Children of all races who live with a single father are significantly more likely to live in a household with a cohabiting partner than children living with single mothers.

In 2002, 8 percent of U.S. children (5.6 million) lived in households with at least one grandparent present. In the majority of these cases, a parent also was present even if the grandparent owned or rented the home.

However, the 118,000 children living with grandparents but not with parents were twice as likely to live below the poverty level.

Among children with two parents in the home, 97 percent had at least one parent active in the labor force, and 62 percent had two parents active in the labor force.

Stay-at-home mothers were 56 times more prevalent than stay-at-home dads, although 1.5 million children lived in households with stay-at-home dads. Only a fourth of those dads, however, said they were at home primarily to care for the family.

In 2002, 13 million U.S. children lived in households with stay-at-home mothers. That's 18 percent of children overall and 31 percent of two-parent households.

Nationwide, 30 percent of children lived in households with family incomes below $30,000 annually, and 29 percent lived in households with family incomes of at least $75,000. Nearly half of all children lived in households with family incomes of $50,000 or more.

Five percent of children lived in public housing, and 11 percent received food stamps.

Children living in single-parent homes were twice as likely as children in two-parent homes to be sustained by family incomes of less than $30,000.

Nationally, 88 percent of all children had health-insurance coverage, compared with 91 percent of children living with two parents, 86 percent of those with single mothers and 82 percent of those with single fathers.

These statistics were drawn from the Annual Demographic Supplement to the Current Population Survey, which uses Census 2000 as the base for its sample.

Posted: 9/5/03

FROM DESPAIR TO DIPLOMA:
UMHB student walks a new road now

By Miranda Bradley

Texas Baptist Children's Home & Family Services

BELTON–Crystal Caswell considers herself one of the least likely people ever to make it to college this fall.

Not only has she entered the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor with more than $10,000 in scholarship assistance, she has a new perspective on life, thanks to the ministry of another Baptist agency just down I-35 in Round Rock.

One of eight children born to a drug-addicted mother and an alcoholic father, Caswell often was beaten for simple things. By the time she was 9, she said, she prayed for Child Protective Services to take her and her siblings away from their abusive home.

“I just got tired of being hit for dropping an empty cup on the floor or leaving the refrigerator door open,” she said.

Finally, she was placed in foster care for three years–one and one-half years at one home, and then one and one-half years at her next home, where later she was adopted.

The foster mother who adopted her put up an outward front of love, she said, but only to gain approval for the adoption papers. “As soon as those papers were signed, she made it clear she didn't like me. She even told me she didn't want me; she just wanted my brothers.”

Caswell began concentrating heavily on schoolwork to avoid confrontations with her new mother, sometimes even skipping meals so she wouldn't have to eat dinner with her. Around her sophomore year, the abuse at her home caused even that crutch to crumble. She failed her 10th grade year, causing her to repeat it the following fall.

Throughout her three-year stay with her adopted mother, Caswell ran away dozens of times, trying to avoid the pain and confusion of her home life.

“The cops knew me very well, not because I was destructive or anything, but because I ran away so much,” she said. “I just didn't want to be where someone didn't want me.”

Finally, Caswell decided she would run and way and never come back. She packed her bag and hit the road, eventually stopping to call the runaway hotline. After a short stay in temporary housing, she was brought to Texas Baptist Children's Home, a ministry supported partially through gifts to the Baptist General Convention of Texas Cooperative Program.

She was 16 years old and on the brink of security for the first time in her life.

“I was a little scared at first,” she recalled. “That went away when I met my house pop. That day I went to sleep because I was so tired, and I woke up with five faces standing over me.”

Her new brothers and sisters wanted to meet the addition to their family. One of them was Selinia, Caswell's new roommate, now her close friend.

The change of scenery brought a change of heart as well.

“At first, I just thought God was not on my side,” she said. During family devotions, she huddled in a corner, rolling her eyes. Now, she reads the Bible daily, thanks to the influence of a youth conference she attended as a junior.

“It just opened up everything for me. Now, instead of blaming (God), I'm thanking him for helping me through everything I've been through.”

Now she has left the children's home for a new chapter in her life, as a freshman at UMHB, also a BGCT institution.

She still can't believe she received more than enough scholarship assistance to cover her tuition and books for the first year.

“Before I came here, college was something I thought was only a dream,” she said. “It would never happen to me. Now, it's real. I'm going to college.”

Unfortunately, she has no false hopes of support from her adopted mother or her biological mother. Recently, she contacted her biological mother out of curiosity. It was a bitterly disappointing moment.

“She didn't even remember me,” Caswell reported. “When I told her I was going to college, she sounded surprised.”

Without the help of Texas Baptists, Caswell believes she certainly would have followed her mother's path.

“If I hadn't come to TBCH, I know I would be strung out on some sort of drugs now,” she said. “I'm very thankful I came here. It saved my life.”

In a strange twist of fate, the girl who once could care less for other people hopes to make caring for them her life's work. At UMHB, she plans to study nursing.

“I like making people smile,” she said. “It's important to me to take care of people because so many people here have taken care of me.”

Posted: 9/5/03

Waco church start delivers real love

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

WACO–The Temple of Deliverance and Development started following a vision from God, and now the temple is filled with God's people, the pastor said.

Building on a “keep it real” atmosphere where members come as they are, the Waco church has grown steadily to serve 50 members and routinely draws about 35 people for Sunday worship.

The congregation's warmth invites people of different ethnicities and backgrounds, said Taronica Weaver, a church member and the pastor's sister. Each visitor is welcomed with a hug and an “I love you,” she added.

Pastor Larrye Weaver's plainspoken manner of teaching is easy for members to understand and relate to, according to Sheila Waits, a church member.

“He just breaks it down,” Waits said. “He doesn't use big words like other preachers. He's just a down-to-earth preacher.”

Weaver said he delivers “motivational and inspirational” sermons as he moves among the congregation “like Jesus did.”

The church recently launched a Sunday School program to help members develop their faith. The new venture represents an effort to fulfill the second half of the church's name.

“Deliverance is what Jesus did for us on Calvary,” the third-generation pastor said. “The development part is what needs to happen on a daily basis.”

Church members regularly hold revivals at a nearby apartment complex known for drug problems and catering to the low-income “down and out,” Taronica Weaver said. Church members are taking the gospel to the residents with the purpose of bringing hope and changing lives.

The church also is consistently involved in community projects, volunteering the time to raise money for local causes.

As a new church start, Temple of Deliverance and Development receives funds from the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas missions.

Pastor Weaver credits the church's quick growth and ministry to following God's will. “God ordained” the church to move in such a manner, he said.

“Anytime God tells you to move and you move, amazing things happen,” Weaver emphasized.