Posted: 8/22/03

Posted: 8/22/03

Churches keep greater share at home

By Mark Wingfield

Managing Editor

The amount of money flowing through Baptist church offering plates has increased 112 percent in the last 15 years, but the amount of money churches give to missions causes has increased at only half that rate.

An analysis of financial data reported by Southern Baptist Convention churches shows congregations nationwide are sending smaller percentages of their undesignated offerings to the Cooperative Program unified missions budget. That budget funds both state and national missions programs.

Further, designated giving to special missions offerings also has increased at only half the pace of increases in undesignated giving to church causes.

This is a trend found not only in Texas and not only among Baptists, explained Sylvia Ronsvalle, executive vice president of empty tomb, a Champagne, Ill., ministry devoted to increasing awareness of missions funding needs.

“These trends are common to the church in the United States,” she said. “Churches seem to be turning inward. They seem to be emphasizing the comfort and happiness of members over the transformation of those members.”

Just the facts

Here are the facts among Southern Baptist churches, as reported on the Annual Church Profile and published by the SBC Executive Committee in the convention's annuals:

Undesignated receipts in SBC churches grew 112 percent from 1987 to 2002, from $3.2 billion to $6.8 billion.

Total receipts in SBC churches, combining regular budget gifts and special offerings, grew 120 percent over 15 years, from $4.3 billion to $9.5 billion.

Total missions expenditures reported by churches, including Cooperative Program, special offerings and local missions, grew 55 percent in the same period, from $663 million to $1 billion.

Gifts to the Cooperative Program nationwide, including both the portion retained by state conventions and the portion forwarded to the SBC, grew 49 percent, from $337 million to $502 million.

Designated giving to the SBC's special offerings–primarily the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions, Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American missions and the world hunger offering–grew 56 percent, from $109 million to $170 million.

The average percentage of a church's undesignated receipts sent through the Cooperative Program decreased from 10.52 percent in 1987 to 7.39 percent in 2002. As a percentage of undesignated offerings, local churches have decreased their Cooperative Program giving by 30 percent.

That trendline more than any other is the one that worries denominational officials, missions leaders and missions workers.

“That's not a healthy trend if you want to name Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior,” Ronsvalle said.

Church challenges

So what's going on? Are churches simply hogging more money for themselves while mission boards freeze appointments?

It's not that simple, according to several analysts.

“I personally feel Baptists' commitment to missions is as strong as ever, but it has been influenced by other factors,” noted Clay Price, research director at the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Price has monitored these giving trends across three decades of denominational employment.

First, Price said, “as the education level of pastors and church staff has increased, so has cost of salaries and benefits.”

That was echoed by Phill Martin, education director for the National Association of Church Business Administration based in Richardson.

Specifically, he said, rising health-insurance costs have wreaked havoc on church budgets. “With multiple years of 25 and 30 percent increases in the cost of health coverage, it is a significant impact on church budget issues.”

Second, churches have faced increasing land and building costs.

Third, the price of keeping the lights on and the heat or air conditioning running has increased significantly.

Fourth, churches have experienced a long-term trend of members wanting to be personally involved in direct missions–sometimes as a full or partial substitute for giving to send others.

That point was echoed by Cliff Tharp, research director at LifeWay Christian Resources and coordinator of the Annual Church Profile.

“Many more churches have groups go on trips, do volunteer missions,” he noted. “That may be impacting Cooperative Program giving, but I have nothing to quantify that.”

Price recalled a book written about 30 years ago by Robert Kilgore, then director of church loans at the SBC Home Mission Board. In “How Much a Debtor,” Kilgore drew upon his banking and church experience to estimate that most churches in 1973 spent 15 percent to 20 percent of their money on local expenses, another 10 percent to 15 percent on missions, 40 percent to 50 percent on staff salaries and benefits, and 15 percent to 35 percent on debt service.

Through NACBA, Martin continues to monitor the ratio of church personnel costs to total church budget, and the portion spent on personnel continues to grow, he said.

“We've slowly seen that number rise. In our latest survey, 45 to 55 percent is the norm we see,” Martin explained. “We're seeing it on the higher side of those numbers more often now. Health insurance cost is the driver.”

“As local expenses, salaries and debt have risen, there has been a squeeze on the missions portion of church budgets, including the Cooperative Program,” Price explained.

More local missions?

One of the explanations churches often give for reducing Cooperative Program giving is increased expenditures on local missions.

The statistics support this assertion to a small degree. Total missions expenditures reported by churches grew 55 percent from 1987 to 2002, a better growth rate than the 49 percent gain in Cooperative Program giving. However, that small distinction pales in comparison to the 112 percent growth of undesignated receipts.

Martin, a former church business administrator who has filled out the Annual Church Profile form before, believes it may not accurately report all church missions expenditures.

Tharp, too, agrees with that caveat, noting that while the definition of what constitutes “mission expenditures” on the report is defined broadly, not all the correct data gets passed along. National data in recent years could be slightly skewed downward, he added, because two state conventions have not reported their numbers on this item.

Price is willing to give churches the benefit of the doubt and acknowledge many may not accurately report their full missions spending on the profile. Often, missions spending is spread throughout a church's budget in such a way that the person who completes the annual statistical report may not know where to gather all the data.

Yet, a clear trend still exists, Price added, noting the consistent pattern of Cooperative Program giving, total missions expenditures and designated offerings to grow at only half the rate of undesignated giving to the churches.

“The fact that all three of these have experienced about the same growth seems to be some indication that other factors have pushed or pulled these missions dollars downward,” he said.

Is politics to blame?

Political tensions in Southern Baptist life over the last two decades could be explored as a factor in missions-giving trends, but Price discounted that as not a likely influence. Ronsvalle affirmed that the picture of SBC churches looks similar to what she sees in other evangelical and mainline churches, regardless of whether they have experienced controversy.

Put another way, has the SBC lost missions money to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the group formed by moderate Baptists disenfranchised from the SBC in the 1990s?

Total dollars given to the Cooperative Program did hit a brief plateau from 1991 to 1993, the same time the CBF was launched. However, in those early years, the CBF served as an alternative pass-through funding mechanism for a number of SBC ministries.

That plateau in giving also corresponded to a national economic downturn in the second half of the first Bush administration.

SBC leaders never claimed to have taken a financial hit from churches defecting to the CBF. To the contrary, the SBC has boasted of sailing along without missing a beat.

CBF supporters, meanwhile, have contended the combined missions reach of the two organizations is greater than what the SBC could have accomplished alone.

The $8.7 million in undesignated gifts to the CBF in the fiscal year ended June 30 represents less than 2 percent of more than $501 million given through the Cooperative Program in 2002. The undesignated gifts to the CBF represent less than 5 percent of the Cooperative Program income that flowed to the national SBC in 2002.

In 1996, the first year for which complete giving data is available for the CBF, it received $7.4 million in undesignated gifts. Had that amount been given directly to the SBC's national causes instead–which CBF supporters claim is unlikely–the SBC's undesignated income would have increased by 10 percent rather than 4 percent.

Such a leap is inconsistent with the 1 percent to 4 percent gains posted by the SBC in the decade prior.

What cannot be deduced from the available data is how much of a shift in giving might have occurred between various types of Baptist churches. For example, it is possible that increases in giving to the SBC by more conservative churches have offset decreases in giving to the SBC by CBF-friendly churches.

How low can you go?

Regardless, one fact remains unchanged: The percentage of churches' undesignated receipts going to missions has dropped by one-third in 15 years.

Charted on a linear path that assumes a continued steady rate of decline, that would take Cooperative Program contributions to zero in another 30 years–bad news for state conventions and the SBC as well.

Both Ronsvalle and Price believe that's not likely to happen, however.

“It will never reach zero,” Ronsvalle said, noting her agency had generated controversy in the past by extrapolating such a course to zero missions giving.

Even if the Cooperative Program ceased to exist, Baptists would find a way to cooperate to fund missions, Price insisted. “Baptists have too long a history of working together to do missions. We would come back to the point of saying, 'We could do more if we pooled our money.'”

And despite the decreasing percentage of church offerings given to missions, the Cooperative Program remains a “sizable” force for missions, Price noted.

What's the answer?

If denominational bodies want to increase missions giving from churches, they need to increase feedback, suggested Ronsvalle.

“We have found, repeatedly, church members will give to missions if they understand the need, if it's explained to them,” she said. “But people want to know what their money is doing when it leaves the congregation. If you don't have feedback mechanisms to tell people the difference they are making, they feel like they're sending their money away and it's not accomplishing anything.”

Most denominations are not well equipped for this type of reporting, she admitted. What's required, she suggested, is more like the statements of activity airlines send frequent fliers.

“If you're a frequent flier, you can fly, and two weeks later, you're going to get a specific report back showing you where you've been, how many miles you flew.”

On the other hand, “you can give money to your denomination and not be able to track it.”

That failure combines dangerously with a trend of church members wanting to support missions efforts they not only can see but can personally participate in, added Robert Parham, executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics in Nashville, Tenn.

“The day has long been over when churches were willing to give their money to someone else to determine what to do with it,” he explained. “People want to see their money at work. It's an issue of trust. They ask, 'Why should we give our money to a bureaucracy?'”

Back to the root of all evil

While it's easy to blame churches for keeping more of the offerings for their own discretionary use, the root of the missions funding challenge lies with individual Christians, Ronsvalle asserted.

“The church, and particularly missions, is shrinking as a market share of people's spending,” she said.

The average member of a Christian church in the United States gives only 2.6 percent of his or her income to the church, Ronsvalle reported.

If all church members gave a biblical tithe of 10 percent, nearly $80 billion in additional funds would flow into missions annually, she said.

How does that figure compare with world need? By some estimates, a mere $2.5 billion could stop the deaths of 11 million children worldwide under age 5. An $80 billion investment could end the worst cases of world poverty, empty tomb contends.

Ronsvalle wishes churches not only would give more money to missions but would challenge Christians to be better stewards of their financial resources.

“There has been a vacuum of leadership on the national level to raise people's eyes off their own individual needs,” she said. “There has been a lack of comprehensive vision to challenge people to be willing to invest in the kingdom” of God.

Church leaders ought to more boldly counsel church members who seek fulfillment through consumerism, Ronsvalle urged, suggesting that buying a third car and moving to a bigger house is not the stairway to heaven.

“We don't really believe what we say we do,” she concluded. “Because if we did, we'd be spending our money differently.”

Posted: 8/22/03

State Baptist conventions feel
the pinch of decreased giving this year

By Mark Wingfield

Managing Editor

Times are tough all over for state Baptist conventions seeking to fund their ongoing ministries.

A mid-year survey of the largest state conventions found none meeting their Cooperative Program budgets.

Editors of state Baptist papers in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia provided giving data for the period from January through June 2003. Data was not available from editors in Alabama, Virginia, Florida, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas.

In every state for which data was available, Cooperative Program giving not only is lagging behind budget but also behind last year's giving.

Texas and Missouri, two states that have experienced convention splits in recent years, both are running more than 10 percent behind budget. But even some less-politicized states, like Tennessee for example, are running nearly 10 percent behind budget.

Cooperative Program budget deficits at mid-year range from 3.73 percent in South Carolina to 18.5 percent in Georgia.

For some state conventions, the picture is even more challenging regarding funds available for use in state-run ministries. In North Carolina, for example, total Cooperative Program receipts are running 8.44 percent behind budget, but funds available to use in state ministries are running 16.87 percent behind budget.

That distinction is possible in states like North Carolina, Virginia and Texas that allow churches more freedom to customize the distribution of Cooperative Program gifts. In Texas, the amount of money available for state use is running 14.03 percent behind budget, a slightly greater deficit than the 11.65 percent lag in total Cooperative Program giving

June turned out to be a dismal month in giving across the board, editors reported. For example, William Perkins, editor of the Mississippi Baptist Record, wrote that Cooperative Program giving there dropped below the $2 million mark in June for the first time in 34 months.

Although Mississippi started off the year with record giving, that pattern did not hold, he said. “Only April and July have surpassed monthly needs.”

Similar accounts are given for other state conventions.

However, most noted an upturn in giving in July and hopeful prospects for August.

Clear reasons for the across-the-board slump in giving are hard to come by as well, although the downturn in the national economy often gets cited as a factor.

“North Carolina has lost a lot of manufacturing and tech-based jobs, which probably impacts the drop, but I think there's also a growing apathy toward denominational giving, more interest in local church and self-direction of missions money,” said Tony Cartledge, editor of the North Carolina Biblical Recorder.

Staff at the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina are holding expenses to 85 percent of budget, as are staff at the Baptist General Convention of Texas, where 20 positions were eliminated this month.

Designated giving–which includes special missions offerings and donor-directed gifts–also has declined this year in most state conventions. Of those reporting data in this category, only Kentucky showed a slight increase, of one-tenth of 1 percent.

The impact of this year's lower giving through state Baptist conventions is masked in some cases by the fact that budgets for 2003 were set with little or no growth. That decision was made in many state conventions because of slower budget growth last year.

That means, for example, that in some cases the 2003 budget is 5 percent to 15 percent less than last year's budget. When gifts fall below the new budget line, that doubles the impact of the loss over previous years.

Mid-year giving trends in state Baptist conventions
	BGCT	N.C.	S.C.	Mo.	Ky.	Tenn.	Miss.	Ga.
Percentage
over/under
CP budget	-11.65	-8.44	-3.73	-11.15	-4.09	-9.38	n/a	-18.5
% Increase/
decrease from
last year	-4.02	-2.82	-2	-1.92	-2.71	-4.17	-2.82	-1.48
Percentage
over/under
state budget	-14.03	-16.87	-3.73	-11.15	-3.32	-9.38	-4.53	n/a
% Increase/
decrease in
designated gifts	-4.28	-6.25	-1.69	n/a	0.10	n/a	n/a	-4.3

Posted: 8/22/03

TITHING TAKES A TUMBLE:
Fewer households give a tenth

By Ken Walker

Baptist Press

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (BP)–The news that tithing declined by about 62 percent last year presents the church with both a warning and a challenge, say several experts in Christian financial and theological circles.

Earlier this year, the Barna Research Group reported the results of a survey of 1,010 American adults that showed the proportion of households tithing–giving 10 percent of income–to churches dropped from 8 percent in 2001 to just 3 percent in 2002.

“Different challenges have caused people to choose not to tithe,” researcher George Barna said. “For some, the soft economy has either diminished their household income or led to concerns about their financial security. For others, the nation's political condition, in terms of terrorism and the war in Iraq, has raised their level of caution.”

However, others trace the root of the problem to a failure to educate people about biblical stewardship.

Howard Dayton, chief executive officer of Crown Financial Ministries in Gainesville, Ga., believes the church has made a strategic error. By focusing solely on how members should handle 10 percent of their money from God's perspective, church leaders have neglected teaching anything about the other 90 percent, thus leaving people unprepared for comprehensive stewardship.

“People don't know what God says about how to earn money, save it, spend it and invest it,” said Dayton, who wrote Crown's small-group studies, which are used by 5,000 churches nationwide. “Others aren't motivated to give because they don't know what God says about giving.”

This lapse could sound an ominous warning for the church over the coming 10 to 15 years.

During the 1990s, one Southern Baptist pastor told Dayton that members over age 65 accounted for 58 percent of his church's donations. As the older members died, it required five people under age 35 to replace an elder's giving.

“His question to me was, 'What's going to happen when these dear old saints go home?'” Dayton recalled. “He said, 'We won't be able to fund the work.'”

This trend affects para-church ministries as well, Dayton added, mentioning one whose average supporter was age 34 in 1992 and age 52 a decade later.

However, education can reverse this trend, Dayton insisted.

Within the past year, Crown surveyed 60 churches. It discovered that within three years of completing its biblically based study, the average participant had reduced debt by $20,000, saved $10,000 and increased giving by 62 percent.

One example is Clearview Baptist Church in Franklin, Tenn. There, participants in one small group collectively paid off $150,000 in debt, according to Gary Aylor of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.

“Another way the average church misses it is that the only time the pastor speaks about money is when they have a capital campaign or a stewardship Sunday,” Dayton said. “That's totally wrong.”

Posted: 8/22/03

HISPANIC WOMEN'S CONFERENCE:
The meaning of life

By George Henson

Staff Writer

KELLER–Discovering your life's mission is crucial to having a life that renders eternal positive consequences, Albert Reyes told participants in the Celebrating the Hispanic Woman Conference.

Reyes, president of Hispanic Baptist Theological School in San Antonio, told the gathering at First Baptist Church in Keller that a collision with a wandering cow on a dark West Texas road was a turning point in his life. He hit the cow without having a chance to brake, sending the animal up, crashing down on the top of the car and then over the back.

A state trooper who arrived on the scene a short time later looked in the vehicle and then asked where the driver was. When Reyes identified himself as the driver, the officer was greatly surprised.

Flag bearers await their entrance for the annual parade of flags at the Celebrating the Hispanic Woman Conference, held at First Baptist Church in Keller. The flags represent the homelands of women attending the conference.

“He said, 'I've never responded to a call like this that I didn't find a decapitated driver.' From that day forward, I've always believed there was a reason why God spared my life,” Reyes said.

Likewise, Reyes said, God has a purpose for each person's life. “We don't serve our purpose, our family's purpose or our church's purpose. We serve God's purpose.”

The secret is to pinpoint what that purpose is, he said. “If you can write down in one sentence the purpose of your life, you can discriminate against the things that waste your time.”

Reyes provided his personal mission statement as an example: “My life's mission is to develop kingdom leaders from my circle of influence to the ends of the Earth.”

Reyes reminded the women that the greatest power any person has is the power to choose what they want to do with their lives. Being the only part of creation that has the power to choose also is a great responsibility, he said.

“The greatest choice you make is what you are going to do with your life. God expects you to steward your life, to invest it.”

Do something that has eternal consequence, something that will have an impact on the kingdom of God, Reyes urged.

He led the women to develop their personal mission statements using a tool he was first exposed to by Robert Sowell, a California director of missions who previously served in Texas.

The first step is to decide where God is working and then to discover what excites or angers you, Reyes said. “Take what you see God doing and combine it with your passion and develop a statement of how you think the world should be.”

He then counseled the women to consider what God might say to them as they stood before God after death and what those left behind might say about the impact of their lives.

Other considerations include the potential impact of key relationships and learning what others perceive to be your strengths, he added.

The purpose of a personal mission statement is to focus energy on doing what is important so that more power can be exerted. For example, he said, light diffused provides illumination but has little power, but light focused in a laser beam can cut steel.

“God gave you this opportunity, this life,” Reyes said. “What are you doing with it?”

Posted: 8/22/03

Professor proposes proper purpose of anger

By George Henson

Staff Writer

KELLER–Despite what many people think, anger is not a sin, Nora Lozano told women attending a breakout session of the Celebrating the Hispanic Woman Conference.

Lozano, an assistant professor of theology and Bible at Hispanic Baptist Theological School, said her preparation for the seminar was hampered because “not much has been written about anger from a Christian perspective. It makes us uncomfortable.

“Either we have been frightened by an angry person or are uncomfortable with our own anger,” she said.

While anger in men is considered more acceptable to society, most people do not want to be around angry people, she said. “In society, angry people are not welcome. We don't have signs that say that, but we don't need them.”

Women who display anger generally are thought of as not feminine or as unattractive, she added. “Women are taught to underexpress their anger. We are told, 'Go in the corner and come out when you are done.' This is bad because many times it leads to depression.”

Anger, however, is not a bad thing in itself, Lozano maintained. “Anger is an emotion; it does not have a moral standing.

“The problem is not with the emotion but what we do with it that makes it good or bad,” she explained. “Anger is not a sin; it's what we do with it that can be sin.

“We were all created by God with this emotion, and all God made was good. If we say anger is wrong, then we are saying God made a mistake.”

Anger can be useful if employed correctly, she added. “Anger is a signal that something is happening that we are not comfortable with and should not be ignored.”

Using a definition of anger devised by psychologist and author Harriet Lerner, Lozano offered a catalog of things that might cause anger, including being hurt, having one's rights as a person violated, and not having needs and wants met.

Anger also could be a signal that too much of one's self–beliefs, values, desires or ambitions–are being compromised in a relationship, she added. Or anger may signal that someone is giving more than they are comfortable giving in a relationship.

“Anger is a signal to do something,” Lozano said. “Don't ignore it.”

Properly handled, anger can improve situations, she continued. “All the great social movements we have had are because someone got angry and said, 'No more.'”

Anger also may signify caring, Lozano asserted. “If I am doing the work of getting angry, it is a sign that I care about the relationship and want to do something to improve it.”

Unresolved anger, on the other hand, leads to resentment and bitterness, she said.

“If anger in a marriage is ignored, it can lead to divorce. Or it can lead to Christian divorce, where we live in the same house but you stay on your side and I stay on mine and don't you even think about coming on my side,” she said.

Lozano counseled the women to examine their anger to find its root because the thing that brings it out may not be the real cause.

Safe places to express anger also should be found, she said. “Share it only with someone you trust, not on Wednesday night at church during testimony time.”

Posted: 8/22/03

Iraq workers anticipate arrival of food boxes

By Mark Kelly

International Mission Board

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)–Southern Baptist workers in Iraq are excited about the expected late-August arrival of 46,000 boxes of food packed by churches this past spring for hungry families in Iraq.

The workers said they are grateful Southern Baptists cared enough to send a practical demonstration of God's love to Iraqis who are struggling to put their country back together.

“I'm thrilled, because I know how much the Iraqi people have suffered,” a missionary said. He cannot be identified because of security concerns. “And I also know what their perceptions of Americans are, and of Christians.

“To have something tangible that we can present to a Muslim family, just to say, 'We love you, God loves you and we want you to have this as a demonstration of that love,' is very significant.”

In April, churches all over the United States began filling 70-pound boxes with rice, flour, beans and other food staples. Each box will feed a family of five for about a month. In June, the boxes arrived at ports in Norfolk, Va., and Houston, where they were loaded into containers to be shipped overseas.

The boxes have left The Netherlands and are expected to arrive in the Middle East in late August to be transported overland into Iraq.

Southern Baptist volunteers and other Christian co-workers will place the food boxes directly into the hands of Iraqi families in September and October.

Collecting 2.4 million pounds of food was a generous demonstration of compassion, another worker in Iraq said.

“I am very pleased and thankful for the response of Southern Baptists to the crisis in Iraq,” he noted. “It makes me proud to be Southern Baptist and for the heritage we have (that is) continuing on in this great and wonderful opportunity.

“The need for prayer is greater than ever now, as we put something tangible in Iraqi families' hands and in their homes. We now need the Lord's presence so that the message of the gospel can go forth–from generosity on that side of the ocean to the hospitality and reception of these Iraqi families–that they would receive these boxes and receive the message of Christ as well.”

The workers in Iraq have requested prayer for several needs:

Safety of the food boxes as they transit stormy seas.

Delivery of the boxes into the right hands in Iraq.

A proper attitude in delivering the food and receptive hearts to receive it.

The volunteers who will help distribute the boxes.

That the gesture would result in a network of relationships that will further God's kingdom.

Jordanian Baptists, who are using vacation time and personal money to reach out to Iraqis.

All believers who are and will be serving in dangerous places.

Posted: 8/22/03

Groundbreaking set for
Baptist Learning Center

CORPUS CHRISTI–Groundbreaking ceremonies are scheduled Sept. 12 for an addition to the Baptist Learning Center of South Texas.

The new structure will include four apartments, a conference room and office space for the Baptist Student Ministry at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Baptist Learning Center is an autonomous educational ministry that relates to the Baptist General Convention of Texas but receives no BGCT funding. The center collaborates with Howard Payne University and Hardin-Simmons University to offer courses toward the bachelor of arts degree and master of divinity degree.

One of the four apartments to be built will house a retired professor who will teach at least two courses through Baptist Learning Center each semester. The second apartment will house faculty who come from out of town for short-term assignment, including summer sessions and weekends.

The third apartment will be designated for missionaries on stateside assignment, who also will teach while on furlough. The fourth apartment will provide housing for an associate director of the BSM.

The groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. at 7000 Ocean Drive in Corpus Christi.

Posted: 8/22/03

Texas Baptist Forum:
Anger instead of love

You write about showing love toward the homosexual (Aug. 11), but I don't know any.

I'm angry, though, when it is flaunted in my face by the media. It is not right, and I don't like it being presented as completely all right.

If a person is struggling with a sin for deliverance, I can empathize and sympathize, for I, too, have wrestled. If, however, they are going to threaten me and tell me I have to accept what they are doing, then I do not have love but anger.

How dare they do that to me!

Kent Matthews

Lafayette, Ind.

Lousy examples

Having just read your editorial on homosexuality (Aug. 11), I hasten to write to express my appreciation for the clarity with which you discuss the issue. This is one of the very best statements I have seen on the topic. And living in the Twin Cities area, where the Episcopal Church just held its controversial general meeting at which it approved the appointment of a homosexual bishop, believe me, I've seen recently a lot of really bad editorial statements on the subject.

I particularly appreciated the way you addressed the common, yet inadequate, ways most Christians approach the issue. Your observation, “We say more than we realize when we speak of 'hating' before 'loving'” is insightful.

If I have anything to add to your observations, it would be that we as Christians have done a lousy job of living out a biblical view of marriage. Some of us have been so busy making noise about the so-called “homosexual agenda” that we have neglected to live out, and not just talk about, a truly biblical understanding of marriage. No wonder so many non-Christians reject or are unimpressed by what Christians say about marriage. Far too often, our behavior is no different than the surrounding culture. Look at the divorce statistics for Christians and non-Christians.

Mike Holmes

St. Paul, Minn.

Ticking time bomb

I agree we need to speak the truth in love, but I believe you left some important considerations out of your editorial about homosexuality (Aug.11).

A person doesn't have “homosexual tendencies” as opposed to heterosexual ones. If you've ever observed a homosexual rights rally up close (I have), you will discover that a homosexual's sexual preference is always a part of his identity.

This is why dealing with these people in love is difficult. Their first point is that their sexual preference–homosexuality–must be accepted as part of the person's identity. This is not negotiable.

God “gave them up to uncleanness especially the lusts of their own hearts” (Romans 1:24). The Greek word translated “lust” is the same word used in Matthew 5:28, in which Jesus warns us that if we look on a woman with lust we have already committed adultery in our hearts. Notice, this fellow in Jesus' example didn't act yet. But in God's eyes, he's already guilty.

This is where sin originates–in the heart.

God loves the homosexual. But we cannot tell the homosexual that he can be a pastor, deacon or some other church leader so long as he follows the “don't ask, don't tell” policy. Let's face it. The Bible wasn't written to be politically correct.

A homosexual as a church leader is a ticking time bomb. And our job is not to isolate or destroy–it is to disarm in love and allow the redemptive power of God to do its work.

Mike Sheeran

Houston

Spectacular love

My pastor has a 30-year-old daughter who was retarded from birth. The parents did not reject their daughter, who is nearly blind today. They accepted the situation and loved her, even when questioning God's will.

My daughter was rejected by her mother and me for many years because she was a lesbian. We had very little communication with each other and no family relations.

The Bible is clear regarding homosexuality, yet it is also clear regarding the love of money, an unforgiving spirit and multitudes of sinful attitudes.

After an intensive spiritual study over many weeks, God led me to stop negative criticism of others in sin, including my own daughter, who has become a best friend. The Lord showed me that Jesus did not agree with the adulterous woman, or Peter's denial at the crucifixion and other sinners within the four Gospels.

Yet Jesus accepted them as being a part of the real world. He demonstrated his spectacular love for those who had unlovable actions. These are very definitely those for whom he died.

A few church members will not accept gays, inmates, motorcyclists, homeless people. They appear to have no Christ-like love for others.

Without “acceptance” and “unconditional love,” it is no surprise they/we are unable to introduce lost persons to Jesus.

Gilbert Thornton

Longview

Repeat partners

We were surprised mission volunteers were advised to avoid returning over and over to the same location in Mexico (Aug. 11).

After years of a scattered approach, our church is partnering with one border church, and we hope to continue that partnership until the Lord comes. We decided to do so after bringing in seminary graduates from Mexico as ministry consultants. They understood both cultures, and they felt we Americans needed a more relational, servant-minded approach.

Now, nearly one-fourth of our people have been to visit our sister church. They pray for and give to people they know and love. And next summer, our sister church from Mexico plans to send a team up to help us do Vacation Bible School and outreach to the Latino community in Dallas.

We also were advised to stop calling our trips “mission trips.” Rather, these are ministry trips, where both churches join together for the furtherance of the gospel.

Another surprise: Our spring break is the worst time for them to host us. And nine days is too long.

The ideal time for them? Three or four days before Christmas, when extra food is on the table, and their relatives are visiting and interested in whatever events the church is hosting.

There are also lines at the border full of bored people ready to read whatever literature we hand out. Yes, this is the worst time for many of us, but we are called to serve, not to be served.

Gary and Sandra Glahn

Rowlett

Penchant for sinning

Murder, stealing, greed and adultery run rampant in our American culture. Does anyone really believe that posting the Ten Commandments everywhere will help curtail our penchant for sinning?

Will God bless America more if the Ten Commandments are posted in every school and significant public place? Will their posting lessen the source of most wrongdoing–the love of money, or greed?

If they had been on display at Enron's corporate headquarters, could a scandal have been averted?

Public display of the Ten Commandments to show America's religiosity does not honor God. To be effective, the Commandments must be engraved on a person's heart, soul and conscience. Emanating out of such a soul will come an outward manifestation of what really pleases God–a pure and genuine religion that puts God first, others second and self last.

Many people are misguided by politicians' attempts to make religion a political issue, but God is not fooled.

Paul L. Whiteley Sr.

Louisville, Ky.

Moses & Land

Will someone please tell Richard Land not to make us Baptists look so stupid by his support of the government on the Ten Commandments issue!

After all, if Moses would have obeyed the “law of the land” of Egypt, we would not even have the Ten Commandments!

Kerry J. Hodgkinson

Orange

Lawless actions

A retired Alabama judge told me former Gov. George Wallace set the state back 100 years. More recently, Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala., said Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has set the state back 40 years.

Interesting: One hundred forty years ago, the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg were fought and the outcome of the Civil War was determined.

Moore's case isn't an Alabama issue. Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to support Moore as he defies the U.S. Constitution and the teachings of the Bible by prohibiting U.S. marshals from removing Moore's rock from public property.

All over the country, people are being urged to show their disrespect for the law by coming to Alabama and interfering with the enforcement of the law.

I heard Don Wildmon of the American Family Association say if Moore is forced to comply with the law, it will “be the end of civilization as we know it,”

It's difficult to believe so many people who call themselves “Christians” are willing to commit these lawless acts in support of an arrogant politician who has no respect for the Constitution or the Bible.

Carl L. Hess

Ozark, Ala.

No equality

Melissa Crawford really stumbled onto something (Aug. 11): Where the Apostle Paul doesn't specifically say, “Thus saith the Lord,” we can just ignore it!

How sad that some are so blinded by worldly ideals that they would undercut the authority of the apostles.

The Bible says the apostles, prophets and Jesus Christ are the very foundation upon which the church is built (Ephesians 2:20). In Revelation, the wall of the city has 12 foundations upon which are written the names of the 12 apostles (Revelation 21:14).

Thirty years ago, black Christians and white Christians couldn't worship together because the church of that day accepted the world's racist value system.

Today, we are doing the same thing with equality.

Since adopting this belief in the 1960s, we have seen the divorce rate skyrocket, and this is the root cause of almost every social problem we have in America.

Evidently, no Baptist preachers or theologians have the courage to say it, so I'll say it for them: Christ does not teach equality! The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. The two are not equal.

It is only the sinful, Christ-rejecting world who demands that everyone be equal.

Jimmy Stanfield

Texas City

Silent canary

While the Bible warns of the danger of pride, the ancient Greeks told us of the tragedy of hubris, exaggerated pride with presumption.

Baylor University leaders would do well to learn from both Scripture and classical literature.

Imagine the presumptuous folly of simultaneously reaching toward the ambitious goals of becoming a Tier One research university, and maintaining excellence in undergraduate education, and staying true to a historic Christian mission, and becoming a competitive force in the major sports of the Big 12 Conference.

The exaggerated pride in this equation of hubris is that Baylor officials believe they could actually accomplish this merely because they are Baylor. The inherent presumption is that these mutually opposing goals could actually be reconciled into some kind of gravity-defying synergy that would take the university where no other university has gone before, except, perhaps, Notre Dame.

This unfortunate and heartbreaking basketball scandal is the canary in the mineshaft. The bird is no longer singing, but Baylor University administrators and regents are still whistling in the dark.

James Mims

Dallas

Personal view

Recently, a brochure concerning Proposition 12, which will appear on the Sept. 13 ballot in Texas, was mailed to the electorate in which my quote, identifying me by my title as the dean of Baylor Law School, appeared, along with other quotes from former Texas Supreme Court Justices Deborah Hankinson and James Baker, as well as Darrell Jordan, a former president of the State Bar of Texas.

The quote represents my personal opinion on a public policy issue and neither was intended, nor should be construed, as an opinion on, or endorsement of, any position on the issues involved in Proposition 12 by Baylor University.

Brad Toben

Waco

Crucifixion date

“Astronomers pinpoint crucifixion time” (Aug. 11) told how two astronomers concluded that Jesus died on Friday, April 3, 33 A.D. Their reasoning is that this was a year in which a solar eclipse was observed in Jerusalem, and the eclipse caused the darkness recorded in Mark 15:33.

This cannot be correct.

Jesus was crucified during the Passover, which always occurs on a full moon. Solar eclipses occur only with a new moon–the moon must be between the sun and Earth. During Passover, the moon is on the side of the Earth away from the sun.

April 3, 33 A.D., may be the correct date for the crucifixion, but the darkness requires some explanation other than an eclipse.

Craig Davis

Houston

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 must be no longer than 250 words.

Posted: 8/22/03

Mary Hill Davis gifts help set 'bad girls' straight

By Ken Camp

Texas Baptist Communications

AMARILLO–Participants in the Amarillo Christian Women's Job Corps enjoy a class where they study “Bad Girls of the Bible.”

“They can relate,” said Janie Braddock-Gafford, a graduate of the program who now helps coordinate ministries at the Amarillo site.

It's not that she thinks they're bad. But she knows that some have made bad choices in life, and some were trapped in bad relationships. And they all want to see examples of imperfect women of faith who overcame past problems by God's grace.

That's where Braddock-Gafford comes in.

“I let them get to know me before I talk about it,” she explained. “They think I'm a churchy lady. Then when we're in Bible study, they learn about my past. That's when they say: 'Wow! She's just like me. If she can do it, I can, too.'”

Braddock-Gafford's father abused her physically when she was a child, she said. At age 12, she attended a Girls in Action summer camp where she made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ.

“My life changed drastically after that. I went home and told my father he could not hurt me anymore because I belonged to God, and through divine grace, he didn't,” she said.

But that childhood experience with Christ did not prevent her from making unfortunate choices as a young adult. She married, divorced and then became involved in fraud in an attempt to secure medical attention and food for her four children. Later, when she became engaged again, she said her fiancée violently abused her.

Even so, Braddock-Gafford believed God never stopped loving her. As far as she was concerned, he continued to send what she called “earth angels” into her life to help her.

“The Lord put people in my path every day,” she said.

She believes God also directed her attention to a flier she saw posted at a laundromat. It advertised computer classes at the Amarillo Christian Women's Job Corps.

She was out of work since health problems prevented her from continuing the heavy lifting required of a home health-care provider. A combination of arthritis and two hip-replacement operations left her temporarily confined to a wheelchair.

“I went to Christian Women's Job Corps to acquire the computer skills I needed to change professions,” she said. “I came out uplifted and self-assured.”

Christian Women's Job Corps, a ministry of Woman's Missionary Union, teaches job skills and life skills in a Christian context to low-income women. Texas Baptists help to support 26 Christian Women's Job Corps sites around the state through gifts to the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas missions.

Braddock-Gafford considered the daily Bible studies at Christian Women's Job Corps “wonderful” and the computer classes invaluable. But she said the most significant part of the program for her was the relationships she established with classmates.

“I made lifelong friends,” she said. “There's a real bonding that takes place, and we benefit from the encouragement we give each other.”

When she completed the program, she felt a strong sense that God was leading her to “give back” to the ministry. She received that opportunity when she was invited to join the Christian Women's Job Corps staff.

Now she shares the responsibilities of site coordinator with Sylvia Jordan, enlisting teachers, matching mentors with students and promoting the ministry in churches throughout the area.

She particularly enjoys interacting with students and rejoicing in their personal victories. To date, 60 women have completed the program at the Amarillo site, and three are attending college.

“I try to be an inspiration to all of the ladies who come through our doors. I tell them, 'If I can do it and come from where I came from, you can do it too.'”

In Braddock-Gafford's self-estimation, she's gone from “bad girl” to “earth angel.”

Posted: 8/22/03

Ten Commandments judge
told again, 'Thou shall not'

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (ABP) –Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was overruled by his colleagues, who ordered Moore's monument to the Ten Commandments removed from public areas of the Alabama judicial building in Montgomery Aug. 21.

After a special conference that day, the court's eight associate justices, without dissent, ordered the building manager to remove a two-ton monument to the Protestant King James translation of the commandments. Moore had placed the monument in the center of the building's rotunda during the summer of 2001–without the associate justices' consent or knowledge.

Last fall, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson declared the display in violation of the U.S. Constitution's ban on government endorsement of religion. After being upheld unanimously by a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Thompson ordered the monument removed by Aug. 20, threatening to levy fines against the state if Moore did not comply with his injunction. Moore refused, saying to do so would violate the state constitution. Moore claims that document allows the state to “acknowledge God” as the source of law.

But the eight associate justices–seven of them, like Moore, Republicans–invoked a little-used Alabama law that allowed them to overrule an administrative decision of the chief justice. The building manager erected partitions Aug. 21 to block the monument from public view.

Moore's supporters had been gathering outside the courthouse in recent days. About 500 people filled the plaza for a rally Aug. 20, the deadline for the monument's removal. Inside, 22 people who locked arms around the monument were arrested after they refused to leave when the building closed, according to the Montgomery Advertiser.

Moore, in another part of the state, reportedly cut his trip short to return to Montgomery upon hearing the justices' decision. According to the New York Times, he ordered the partitions removed and threatened to jail his fellow justices.

But in their order, his peers issued a stern rebuke to Moore. “The justices of this court are bound by solemn oath to follow the law, whether they agree or disagree with it,” they said. Moore's continued failure to comply with a higher court's order “would impair the authority and ability of all the courts of this state to enforce their judgments,” they added.

In a statement released through a spokesman, Moore said of the move to hide the monument from view, “This is an example of what is happening in this country: the acknowledgment of God as the moral foundation of law in this nation is being hidden from us.”

Moore's supporters reacted angrily to the associate justices' decision. “What they did was against the Lord,” said Rusty Thomas, a Waco minister quoted in a New York Times online story. “They betrayed a righteous man,” said Thomas, who called the other justices “Judases.”

Moore is a Southern Baptist. At least one of his fellow justices is as well, and all others except one list memberships in Episcopal or Methodist churches in their biographies on the state court's website. Senior Associate Justice Gorman Houston is a Methodist Sunday School teacher and the father of a minister.

Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor, himself a Republican, a Catholic and a previous defender of Moore's action, endorsed the associate justices' decision after it was announced. “The taxpayers of this state should not be punished for the refusal of the chief justice to follow a federal court order,” he said.

The state could incur fines to exceed $1 billion in four months if the monument is not removed, said Gov. Bob Riley.

Riley, also a Southern Baptist, released an Aug. 21 statement saying, “Although I fundamentally disagree with what the federal courts have ordered, the state Supreme Court was correct in unanimously voting to uphold the rule of law.” He added, “Because we are a society of laws, the Alabama Supreme Court has a duty to comply with the federal court order, whether they agree with it or not.”

However, Riley also said he would be willing to file a friend-of-the-court brief in Moore's behalf asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the ruling. Moore ran out of legal options for keeping the monument in place for the immediate future late on the afternoon of Aug. 20 when that court declined to delay implementation of Thompson's order pending Moore's appeal.

The U.S. Supreme Court never has ruled directly on a case about the display of the Ten Commandments in a public building. But lower federal courts have ruled consistently that such displays may be permissible as long as they would not, to a reasonable viewer, convey an endorsement of Christianity over other religions and as long as they appear as part of a larger display with other historic legal documents. Such a display of tablets depicting commandments appears on a frieze at the Supreme Court building itself.

Posted: 8/22/03

Patterson brings six from Southeastern

FORT WORTH–When Paige Patterson moved from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary this summer, he brought six staff members with him.

The North Carolina-to-Texas transplants are in addition to Patterson's wife, Dorothy, who was elected a full professor but will not draw a salary, and Patterson's faithful black Labrador Retriever, Noche, who accompanies him to the office.

Seminary spokesman Greg Tomlin said the Pattersons “invited six individuals from Southeastern to come to Southwestern with them.” They are:

Jason Duesing, a doctor of philosophy student, is Patterson's personal aide. At Southwestern, he assumed a position previously held by Barbara Walker, who was administrative assistant to President Ken Hemphill. Walker has moved to a role in the Leadership Development Complex.

Chris Thompson, also a doctor of philosophy student, is Mrs. Patterson's personal aide. He will be writing his dissertation under Paige Patterson's tutelage. Norita Drake, who was secretary to Paula Hemphill, has become secretary for Provost Craig Blaising.

Danny Moosbruger has joined the Institutional Advancement team.

Bobbi Moosbruger, who is married to Danny, will assist Mrs. Patterson as hostess for the president's home.

Candi Finch and Maurice Ahern, student interns, will work on a part-time basis. Their duties were not enumerated.

Also as part of the transition, trustees have authorized an addition to the seminary president's home to accommodate Patterson's personal library. Those plans have not been finalized, however, Tomlin said.