Posted: 4/02/04

Study shows minister surplus, but few
willing to serve in small churches

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

DURHAM, N.C.–Mainline Protestant denominations face a leadership shortage in spite of an apparent surplus of ordained ministers because many of them are hesitant to enter congregational work and reluctant to serve smaller churches, a study by Duke University's Pulpit and Pew Research on Pastoral Leadership revealed.

And while the shortage is not as acute in Texas Baptist churches, small churches face the same obstacles in finding pastors, said Bob Ray, director of bivocational and small church development for the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Nearly every surveyed denomination has more than one minister–and some more than two–per congregation, but many are chaplains, professors or parachurch ministers rather than individuals serving local congregations, states the Duke report, largely based on figures from “The Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.”

Ministers who enter congregational work seem reluctant to serve smaller churches for financial reasons.

As a result, many small rural or inner-city churches are without pastors, the study reported.

Smaller congregations are less likely to provide salary and benefit packages that can support a full-time pastor, and the work there often is seen as less prestigious than ministry in larger congregations, Ray noted.

The statistics seem most optimistic for conservative Protestants, since nearly all have more than one working minister per congregation.

Southern Baptists have an average of nearly two per church, compared to an average of less than one per congregation in many mainline denominations.

But the figures on the conservative groups are misleadingly positive, according to Curtis Freeman, professor of theology and Baptist studies and director of the Baptist House of Studies at Duke Divinity School.

The numbers are inflated because conservative groups are more likely to ordain leaders other denominations do not, such as youth directors, song leaders and ministers who serve ethnic missions, Freeman said.

“People are nervous” because of the minister shortage, he said. “And it gets worse as you move toward mainline Protestants.”

While those numbers may be somewhat misleading, the numerous ministerial vacancies in small churches nationwide silently speak volumes.

About 10 percent of Southern Baptist churches have pastor vacancies at a given time.

About 12 percent of Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated churches, including many smaller congregations, typically are pastorless.

According to a study by the Presbyterian Church, USA, nearly half of its churches averaging 51 to 100 in attendance are pastorless. That percentage jumps to 76.6 percent in Presbyterian churches running fewer than 50.

Some ministers are not willing to lead smaller congregations because those churches do not provide salaries that can support their families, Ray said.

Work in smaller churches also is seen as less prestigious in the eyes of some, he noted. Small-church ministry is viewed as a stepping-stone to larger churches with better-paying positions.

Many ministers “study, go to school and look to be pastor of First Baptist Church of a county seat town,” Ray said.

To compound the issue, the number of smaller churches is increasing as larger congregations decline.

Small churches are the future of the faith, Ray said. Ministers will need to lead them.

But Ray is hopeful. He believes more people would feel called to smaller churches if congregations and seminaries encouraged believers to consider ministry in smaller venues.

Early efforts will allow ministers to develop professional skills to allow them to become bivocational, Ray said.

Congregations also increasingly are seeking to raise members of their church to lead, Ray said.

Members are recognizing gifted believers and encouraging them to become pastors, he noted.

“Bivocational churches are an ever-growing number. We've got to help those going into the ministry to see it as a viable model.

“I believe if we started early enough helping people see bivocational ministry as a viable option, people might start thinking God will call them there.”

Posted: 4/02/04

Revised Federal Marriage Amendment draws mixed reviews

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–Sponsors of a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage announced a change they say clarifies the proposal, but the amendment's opponents call the change a ruse to gain more support for the effort.

Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) and Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) announced they would alter the wording of the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment to make sure it allowed states room to enact marriage-like “civil unions” for gay couples.

Allard, the amendment's chief Senate sponsor, said the new language would “make it clear, without any ambiguity, that the states” would be able to enact civil unions.

Musgrave agreed, and said the sponsors' intent was never to ban all civil unions, but simply “to prevent states from being forced to recognize out-of-state contracts”–such as same-sex marriages performed in other states–that conflict with the state's social policy.

The head of an organization pushing the amendment said the effort is “not about benefits” that would be denied to gay or lesbian couples in many states if civil unions or domestic partnerships were outlawed nationwide.

“It is about marriage,” Matt Daniels, president of the Alliance for Marriage, told reporters. “We don't want to carry a road map in our car that tells us what marriage is by what state we're in.”

But a spokesman for one organization opposing the amendment said the changes are insufficient.

“Changing the constitution is always extreme,” said Steven Fisher, director of communications for the Human Rights Campaign. HRC is the nation's largest gay civil-rights organization.

“For over 200 years, the Constitution has been amended to expand rights, not take them away,” Fisher continued. “The amendment denies the rights and responsibilities of marriage to same-sex couples. And there's no way to change that except to defeat the amendment.”

Allard and Musgrave asserted the revised language of the amendment restricts “activist judges” from reading marriage or domestic partnership rights into federal or state constitutions without explicit authorization from legislatures.

One day after the updated version of the amendment was introduced, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) convened a hearing of the measure before the Senate Judiciary Committee's sub-panel on constitutional matters.

Cornyn and other speakers said the amendment is necessary because recent Supreme Court decisions suggest a majority of justices eventually will rule that limiting marriage to heterosexual couples violates the Constitution's equal-protection provisions.

“Either you believe that traditional marriage is about discrimination and therefore must be invalidated by the courts, or you believe traditional marriage is about children and must be protected by the Constitution,” Cornyn said.

Noting that lawsuits challenging state marriage laws have been filed in federal courts in dozens of states, he added, “Now that the threat is a federal threat, a federal constitutional amendment is the only way to preserve traditional marriage laws nationwide.”

Dick Richardson, an African Methodist Episcopal Church minister and charity administrator from Boston, told the panel he took umbrage at claims that limiting marriage to heterosexuals is discriminatory.

“As an African-American, I know something about discrimination,” Richardson told the panel.

“The traditional institution of marriage is not about discrimination, and I find it offensive to call it that.”

But Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), an African-American Baptist minister and veteran of the Civil Rights Movement's most famous battles, disagreed.

“Discrimination is discrimination,” Lewis said.

“For one, I have fought too hard and too long against discrimination based on race and color not to stand up against discrimination based on sexual orientation.”

Posted: 4/02/04

Faith-based ad consortium created

DALLAS–The Baptist Standard has joined 30 other faith-based newspapers to create a new advertising consortium serving a five-state market.

The association, called Good News Advertising, represents newspapers with 3.5 million readers.

The advertising market–created by 31 newspapers with more than 1.3 million subscribing households in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas and New Mexico–will offer quality advertisers a “one-buy” opportunity at affordable rates, organizers said.

Good News Advertising is a Dallas-based non-profit association headed by representatives of the participating faith-based newspapers.

Faith groups represented are Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, Jewish, Presbyterian and United Church of Christ. In addition to the Baptist Standard, other Baptist papers participating are the Arkansas Baptist News, the Baptist Message in Louisiana, the Baptist Messenger in Oklahoma, the Baptist New Mexican and the Southern Baptist Texan.

The association will serve as the coordinator between the publications and advertisers seeking the new market.

“This is a first in America,” said Bronson Havard, editor of the Texas Catholic and chairman of the association. “This effort creates a new market that allows high-quality advertisers to reach a very desirable population. No other print advertising medium in the country can reach this market as effectively as we can.”

The participating newspapers comprise large segments of households in the major metropolitan markets and across the region.

“We know these facts about our newspapers,” Havard said. “Our readership is strong, prosperous and educated. We are small newspapers with credibility that are welcomed into the homes of a great number of influential people.”

The newspapers have a loyal reader base and a long “shelf-life” in homes, he added.

“The new advertising market breaks down barriers to advertising in faith-based publications,” said Marv Knox, editor of the Baptist Standard and vice chairman of the association.

Instead of making 31 separate purchases in the small weekly to monthly newspapers, advertising agencies can make one buy, he explained.

“Because of the association's broad base, advertising agencies will not have to worry about the difficulty of choosing between our publications,” Knox added.

Amy Doty, vice president of the Texas Jewish Post, called the association “a win-win situation for all. … Advertisers get a good market, and the faith-based publications get to grow.”

Most of the publications are tabloid, and most offer four-color and insert capability. They have various deadlines, requiring coordination through Good News Advertising.

Sales representatives can be reached at (800) 947-0207 or at goodnews@umr.org. The Web site is www.goodnewsadvertising.com.

Posted: 3/26/04

Baptist aid worker injured in Iraq
shooting continues recovery in Dallas

DALLAS—The lone survivor of a drive-by shooting in Mosul, Iraq that killed four Southern Baptist humanitarian aid workers is recovering in a Dallas-area hospital.

Carrie "Niki" McDonnall of Rowlett was transported to Dallas from a German hospital March 20. She underwent surgery March 24 for nerve and skin grafts on her left hand and will begin physical therapy soon, said family spokesman Van Payne.

Her doctors are "very pleased" with her progress and moved her to a private room that same day, earlier than they had expected, Payne said.

McDonnall is speaking with family members who are with her at the hospital and sent a note to her husband's funeral.

Payne noted the family's appreciation for prayers and expressions of support received from people around the world.

Unidentified attackers opened fire March 15 on McDonnall, her husband and three other Southern Baptist International Mission Board workers who were researching possible humanitarian aid projects.

McDonnall was wounded in her chest, face, arms and legs, said Mark Kelly, an IMB spokesman. Bones in her right arm and leg that were shattered in the attack appear to be healing. She lost most of three fingers on her left hand.

Posted: 4/02/04

Dispute between Shorter College, Georgia
Baptists headed for state's Supreme Court

By John Pierce

Baptists Today

ROME, Ga. (ABP)–Shorter College's reorganization that created a self-perpetuating board of trustees last year “cannot stand” without the Georgia Baptist Convention's approval, a state appeals court has ruled.

The ongoing legal battle between the GBC and the liberal arts college in northwest Georgia appears headed for the Georgia Supreme Court.

The college has claimed the convention has put the college's accreditation at risk by unduly influencing trustees. Convention leaders charge Shorter President Ed Schrader and trustees with trying to remove the Georgia Baptist Convention as the rightful owner of the college.

The college transferred its assets to a new foundation following an April 2003 ruling by a Dekalb County Superior Court judge. The new entity was then named as Shorter College Inc.

The appeals court has ruled “the trial court erred in failing to consider the GBC's contention that the dissolution was a sham.”

In a prepared statement, GBC Executive Director Bob White said convention leaders are grateful for the ruling.

“The thought of losing Shorter College was like losing a member of our convention family,” White said. “We are extremely thankful that this court decision confirms the convention's position.”

Schrader was traveling out of the country and unavailable for comment. However, Shorter trustee Chair Gary Eubanks, an attorney from Marietta, Ga., said college leaders are “disappointed” with the appeals court decision but plan to appeal the case to the Georgia Supreme Court.

“We'll know pretty soon whether they'll take the appeal,” Eubanks said.

Management of the college will not change until the legal battle has run its course, Eubanks added. “As long as the appeals continue, Shorter College will march ahead.”

Posted: 4/02/04

CBF, World Vision, Buckner & Kenyan
Baptists partner to help AIDS orphans

By Lance Wallace

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

NAIROBI, Kenya–The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the Baptist Convention of Kenya and World Vision have entered a ministry partnership to help meet the needs of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

The partnership with World Vision, which includes World Vision U.S. and World Vision Kenya, calls for the Fellowship to sponsor 350 children in the Soweto area of Nairobi, Kenya, where CBF Global Missions field personnel Melody and Sam Harrell currently work.

The Hope Child Sponsorship Program allows a sponsor to connect with a child and support him or her for $30 a month.

For more information about the CBF/World Vision Hope Child Sponsorship Program, contact John Thompson with World Vision at (336) 852-5376; or orjthompso@worldvision.org.

A second component of the partnership calls for the Fellowship to work with World Vision in an area development project, a transformational development ministry that World Vision currently operates in the Soweto neighborhood and through this partnership will expand to include the Maili Saba neighborhood.

The Baptist Children's Center in Nairobi is a partnership ministry of the Baptist Convention of Kenya, the Fellowship, and Buckner Africa, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Buckner Baptist Benevolences.

Posted: 4/02/04

Archaeologist finds life lessons in ancient relics

By Craig Bird

Special to the Baptist Standard

SAN ANTONIO–Professor David Maltsberger soon will teach a nationwide television audience about biblical weapons and warfare. If the History Channel had asked him, he could have talked about church planting, too.

Maltsberger, from the Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio, participated at the Albuquerque International Symposium on Archaeology and the Bible last fall, where he was interviewed for the “Modern Marvels” TV program. The episode, “Technology in the Bible,” premieres April 7.

“I explained about chariots, bows and swords, too. But I suspect the part that is shown might focus on what I had to say about sling stones and David and Goliath,” he said.

His passion, however, is helping churches grow and students apply biblical knowledge from thousands of years ago to a lifestyle that makes a difference in the 21st century.

“Archaeology is great. I love it,” Maltsberger said. “But without making the application of historical data to how we understand the Bible and how we live our lives today, archaeology becomes just another academic exercise.”

That would explain why he's much more excited about a trip to North Carolina in October than about recent research that has carried him deep under St. Peter's Basilica in Rome to study third century graves or a trip to Turkey in March to the sites of the seven churches mentioned in the New Testament book of Revelation.

“A former student of mine has started 26 churches and has asked me to come talk to all those leaders–that's what is really exciting,” he insisted, describing his role as a “church coach” for Natural Church Growth.

For years, he struggled to reconcile his clear call to Christian ministry with his consuming interest in excavating bits of history from the ground.

“My family had a ranch in the Hill Country when I was a boy. It's now in the section of Guadalupe State Park that is closed off, the part where the governor takes important visitors. And there were Indian artifacts to be found,” he recalled. “That's what got me started.”

But by the time he attended East Texas Baptist University, he was looking at traditional ministry options such as pastor or missionary. In 1982, he and his wife, Elaine, were appointed by the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board as journeymen to Peru.

“When we were finishing our two-year assignment, Elaine signed me up for a trip to Israel with George Kelm, the archaeology professor at Southwestern (Baptist Theological Seminary) and it dawned on me I might could do both and still be in God's will,” he said. “I earned my first six hours of seminary credit in Timnah, Israel, digging.”

Five thousand years ago, the people of Sumer began to write on cuneiform tablets. The tablets were used primarily to record the sale, transfer or receipt of grain and animals. Archaeologist David Maltsberger from the Baptist University of the Americas viewed the tablets on a recent trip to Istanbul.

Maltsberger spent the next seven summers in the Holy Land as Kelm's student assistant, helping assemble the archaeology collection housed in Southwestern's library. Even after graduation in 1992, when he went to the Ukraine as a Mission Service Corp volunteer with the IMB to teach archaeology and Hebrew at Odessa Theological Seminary, he flew to Israel whenever he could to excavate a Roman house at Beth She-an.

Those trips also kept him away from home much of the time while his three older children were growing up and inspired him to create a rite of passage when each reached the age of 14–a just-me-and-dad trip to somewhere in the classical world.

“It was a sort of payback for being gone so much, but it also is a way to show them how all these shards of pottery and faint scratches on stones relate to my Christian vocation,” Maltsberger explained.

“Our first son and I went to Israel and Jordan, and our second son and I went to Greece and Turkey. Last December, our older daughter and I went to Italy.”

And while the teenager was more excited about Rome as a great place to shop, they still shared some special moments. Maltsberger's academic credentials and reputation helped get them into the Necropolis, an area of mostly third century tombs covered over when Constantine built the original St. Peter's over the theorized grave of Peter.

“There were incredible mosaics and frescos, and some of the tombs were huge–one of them had 150 people in it,” he said.

Then last month, when many Texans were enjoying spring break, Maltsberger participated in a group of professors trekking through Turkey. In order to examine several important pieces such as the Soreg Inscription from Herod's Temple, 3,500-year-old samples of some of the earliest known writing (the Sumer cuneiform) and an inscription from the Siloam inscription, the group had to plead long and hard with museum officials.

“There is not much interest in biblical research in Turkey, so I like to never have gotten permission for our group to get into the closed area where the artifacts are kept,” he explained. “Even then, they wouldn't turn on the lights.”

The group visited the sites of churches mentioned in the second and third chapters of Revelation. Laodicea especially was touching to him.

“Here was a city of 200,000 people, but along with the other six (churches), it doesn't exist today,” he said. “That tells me that if the church today isn't careful to listen to God's voice, we can suffer the same fate.

“Archaeology is the only field that turns up new information related to biblical texts, things that help us understand how things happened and, perhaps, why.”

Maltsberger returned to the academic world in 2001 after a seven-year stint as pastor of a Baptist church in North Vancouver, British Columbia, when he joined the faculty of Baptist University of the Americas.

He dreams of a renewed Baptist presence in the world of archaeology–which he believes has diminished since the retirement of Kelm from Southwestern and Joseph Calloway from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary–and of increased Hispanic Baptist involvement in the field.

“Last week, I had the first student come by my office at BUA to talk about going on some digs because it was something he might be interested in doing,” Maltsberger said. “And he isn't even one of my students! But I hope he is the first of many.”

Posted: 4/02/04

Around the State

Linda Carleton is retiring as dean of students at Hardin-Simmons University in order to coordinate that university's Community Renewal program. She retains her title as associate vice president. She has been dean of students 19 years. Community Renewal is only one of several programs she helped form while dean of students. Others include the Unity Group, the First Generation program and the leadership program. The Community Renewal program will focus on four areas–Habitat for Humanity, a Friendship House, a literacy program and teenage outreach. Carleton will operate in both positions until a new dean of students is in place.

Events

Gambrell Street Church is holding a series of special Sunday evening services during April at 6 p.m. Russell Dilday, former president of Southwestern Seminary, spoke April 4. April 11 will feature the music presentation “Christ Speaks on Festival Days.” James Dunn, president of the foundation for the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, will speak April 18. Daniel Vestal, coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, speaks April 25. Clyde Glazener is pastor.

Jeanette Eck helped 7- and 8-year-old boys with their craft projects and Bible studies during a mission trip to Honduras earlier this year. Seven women from First Church in Georgetown made the trip to assist International Mission Board missionaries Tom and Susan Canady in leading a Vacation Bible School. More than 200 children attended during the week, with an average attendance of 154.

Brentwood Church in Houston will hold a week of Easter activities, including a concert by Grammy winner Yolanda Adams at 7:30 p.m. April 9. An hour of prayer will be held at noon Monday-Thursday. Pastor Joe Ratliff will preach during that hour Friday. Saturday at 10 a.m., an Easter egg hunt will be held. Ratliff also will preach at the 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. services on Sunday, while Gregory Ingram of Detroit, Mich., will preach in the 10 a.m. and noon services.

Williamson Association will hold a seminar dealing with counseling people who are going through painful situations April 15 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The $7 cost includes lunch. Bruce Walker, director of Intimate Life Center for Relational Care, will be the instructor. For more information or to register, call (512) 930-0965.

The men's ministry of The Heights Church in Richardson will sponsor a “Better Man Conference” featuring Steve Farrar, founder and chairman of Men's Leadership Ministry. The conference seeks to help men improve their relationships with God, with their wives and families, and within their communities. The conference will be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 1. Tickets are $35 in advance or $45 at the door. The ticket includes lunch. For more information, call (972) 238-7243. Gary Singleton is pastor.

Highlands Church in La Marque will celebrate more than 50 years of service to the community with homecoming services May 2. Activities will begin at 8 a.m. Former Pastor Charles Williamson will lead a joint Bible study, and former Pastor J.V. Helms will preach in the morning service. A catered barbecue lunch will follow. Reservations for the meal must be received by April 11. For more information, call (409) 938-8441. David Dinkins is pastor.

Anniversaries

Jeff English, fifth, as pastor of First Church in Bellville.

Curtis Pruitt, 10th, as pastor of Mount Pisgah Church in Ladonia.

David Moore, 20th, as pastor of Saint James Church in Honey Grove.

Seventh and Main Church in Bonham, 50th, March 28. Jeff Johnson is pastor.

Grape Creek Church in San Angelo, 115th, April 24-25. Saturday will include a praise service beginning at 3 p.m., a catered meal at 5 p.m. and a time of testimonies at 6:30 p.m. A meal will follow the Sunday morning service. Make reservations for Saturday's meal by April 18 at (325) 653-8761. Brad Winchester is pastor.

Northwestern Church in Midland, 20th, May 1-2. The celebration begins with a 6 p.m. fish fry on Saturday. Former Pastor James Aldridge will preach Sunday morning, followed by a catered lunch. For more information, call (432) 689-0612. J. Earl Dunn is interim pastor.

Ordained

Holly Hill to the ministry at First Church in Arlington.

Mars Garcia to the ministry at Primera Iglesia in Beeville.

Joe Supak as a deacon at First Church in Orchard.

Rob Lamb, Patty Van Slyke and John Day as deacons at First Church in Bedford.

Jim Cook and Jeff Tate as deacons at First Church in Arlington.

Revivals

Edge Church, Hearne; April 18-21; evangelist, Malcolm Bane; music, Jimmy Bond; pastor, Jimmy Bevers.

Open Door Church, Queen City; April 18-21; evangelist, James Hughes; pastor, Dennis Gibbons.

Posted: 4/02/04

Organization's online auction site
sells collectibles to benefit missions

By George Henson

Staff Writer

Potential mission gifts may be gathering dust in attics, claim leaders of empty tomb, an interfaith stewardship organization.

Empty tomb is using an innovative online approach to help Christians follow Jesus' command to sell what they have and give to the needy.

Empty tomb has set up an eBay auction site designed to sell “collectibles and treasures for missions.” The site operates under the eBay seller name of “ct4m.”

Proceeds from items sold on the site are used to help fund the organization's Mission Match project. Mission Match is designed to help congregations expand their funding for mission activities.

“People often assume that Jesus only told the rich young man (in the 19th chapter of Matthew's Gospel) to sell what he had and give to the poor,” said Sylvia Ronsvalle, executive vice president of empty tomb.

“But in Luke 12:33, Jesus tells his followers in general to sell what they have and give to the poor. That instruction means someone needs to be buying what Jesus' followers are trying to sell. So the eBay site seems like a logical choice to build on this idea.”

While the organization has supported missions efforts with matching funds since 2002 through donations solicited from individuals and organizations, the eBay site began last December. The first four sales generated $2,447 for Mission Match. Of the money generated, 80 percent is available to match funds raised in congregations to expand their own mission outreach. The other 20 percent pays for selling fees and helps underwrite the expenses of communicating with the congregations.

Recently sold items range from a rare old German cardboard cat-shaped lantern to new gas-powered scale-model remote-controlled vehicles.

“What we are trying to do is give people every opportunity to act on what they say they believe,” Ronsvalle said.

Americans are financially able to support much of the world's missions efforts because of their comparative wealth, Ronsvalle said. But she acknowledged there is no guarantee that will always be the case.

“The recent stock market downturn–or correction or whatever you want to call it–shows us that we can't be sure that we will always be a nation of wealth. We need to support efforts to spread the news of Jesus Christ around the world while we have the opportunity,” she said.

While no Texas congregations have taken part in Missions Match yet, some Southern Baptist congregations have. First Baptist Church in Smithton, N.C., used a $1,500 matching grant as part of February trip to Swaziland, Africa, on a teaching mission. The congregation not only taught Bible classes, but also provided music and AIDS education.

Eastland Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn., used a $500 Mission Match contribution to start a program they called Saturday's Kids. The congregation sought several avenues to fund the church's effort to reach inner-city children.

“One of the most delightful and helpful gifts came through Mission Match,” Pastor James Austin said.

“It was delightful because it inspired several members of our congregation to become active financial supporters of Saturday's Kids. It was helpful because it helped us minister to an enrollment of about 800 African-American children who otherwise might grow up without an opportunity to become a Christian.”

Churches have several options in Mission Match. A basic matching grant of $500, $1,000 or $1,500 for a mission project can be secured by attempting to include the entire congregation in contributing to the project.

An advanced grant of $2,000 requires that at least 75 percent of the households in the congregation participate in giving, and that no household gives more than 5 percent of the total.

“The whole purpose is to try to increase missions giving in congregations,” Ronsvalle said. “We are trying to encourage people who have never given to missions to begin so that maybe they will continue in the future.

“Our vision is doubling, tripling, quadrupling the missions dollars going out from the United States in Jesus' name.”

The first step in the process is to fill out an application to reserve funds before any fund-raising efforts begin.

That will ensure the project meets the organization's guidelines and that funds will be available when the congregation meets its goal.

About $23,500 currently is available to match congregations' mission giving efforts.

For more information, visit www.emptytomb.org.

Posted: 4/02/04

Baby Boot Camp offers six weeks of basic
training for first-time mothers of newborns

By Sondra Washington

Woman's Missionary Union

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (BP)–The first six weeks of motherhood can be one of the most difficult seasons in a woman's life, author Rebecca Ingram Powell believes.

To help encourage new mothers during this physically and emotionally draining time, Powell uses military themes to help moms cultivate their relationship with Jesus Christ in “Baby Boot Camp.”

The book, subtitled “Basic Training for the First Six Weeks of Motherhood,” is published by New Hope Publishers, a division of Woman's Missionary Union of the Southern Baptist Convention.

“The first six weeks are especially tough … your own personal boot camp for moms,” Powell writes. “Your body continues to be tried as healing begins and hormones readjust. More mood swings are on the way, with postpartum depression at the front lines. Your drill sergeant wears a diaper and screams every command, waking you at all hours of the night and keeping you on your toes all day.”

As a mother of three children ranging in age from 6 to 12, Powell believes motherhood often is glamorized in a way that leaves new moms with an inaccurate view of the days and weeks ahead.

“You get so much attention when you are pregnant and when you bring the baby home”–prior to the times when “nobody else is around when the baby is up,” Powell said. “It is the hardest and loneliest time when you are a new mom. I'd like to think that women are reading 'Baby Boot Camp' when they are up at night and they need a friend.”

Originally written to encourage expecting friends in Powell's Sunday school class, “Baby Boot Camp” consists of 42 brief devotionals–one for each day of the first six weeks–reminding mothers this season of life is only temporary and God knows and understands their needs.

“The best part about this boot camp is that you don't have to struggle through it alone,” she writes. “Jesus Christ wants to walk the floor with you, climb the walls with you, jump for joy with you and run the race with you. … This is your heritage from the Lord, straight from his riches in glory.”

Using military themed chapters like “All in the Line of Duty,” “Holy Warrior,” “AWOL: My Paycheck” and “Earning Your Stripes,” Powell reveals lessons learned through her own parenting experiences. She draws parallels between the training endured by soldiers and the difficulties new mothers face.

“My goal in writing this was to encourage women to establish and maintain a daily quiet time even if it is just five minutes,” Powell said. “Spending daily time with the Lord is vitally important. Any attempt at parenting without Jesus Christ is in vain. If you don't introduce your children to Jesus, then your parenting has no eternal value.”

Powell also hopes churches will use “Baby Boot Camp” to reach unchurched parents.

“Today, we are facing the most unchurched generation ever. But when people become parents, that is a window of opportunity for the church,” she said. “New parents realize how inadequate they are for the task (and) they are reaching out to God for biblical answers, … and I think we need to capitalize on that.”

Posted: 4/02/04

Baylor Health Care gifts total $5.7 million

DALLAS–Eleven charitable gifts totaling more than $5.7 million received recently by Baylor Health Care System will support critical needs in patient care, medical education and research, leaders of the Dallas-based hospital system said.

“We are deeply grateful to receive these generous gifts that will benefit the wide range of services Baylor offers,” said Joel Allison, president and chief executive officer of Baylor Health Care System.

“Each and every gift will help Baylor fulfill its not-for-profit mission of serving the community.”

The gifts included:

$1 million from Louis and Julia Beecherl for a new endowed chair to further the work at the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research. The Michael A.E. Ramsay Chair for Immunology Research will honor the president of the Baylor Research Institute and chief of anesthesiology and pain management at Baylor University Medical Center.

$1 million from the Stuart Johnson estate to benefit cancer research.

$900,000 from the Edgar Clark estate to benefit the Ann Rambar Clark Teaching Fund for medical education.

$700,000 from the O'Rene and A.C. Horn estate to build and equip a laboratory for islet cell transplantation research in the treatment of patients with Type 1 diabetes.

$618,000 from the Caring for Generations 2003 community annual giving campaign primarily benefiting charity care.

$454,000 from the Agnes Oliver estate for general support of Baylor Health Care System.

$400,000 from Elizabeth Hartman Osborn to build a chapel and pastoral care offices at Baylor Medical Center at Garland.

The chapel will be named in memory of her father, John Hartman, a Presbyterian minister.

$300,000 from Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi and brothers of Saudi Arabia to support stroke research, cardiology research and asthma patient care.

An anonymous $200,000 gift to benefit the Kimberly H. Courtwright and Joseph W. Summers Institute of Metabolic Disease.

$100,000 from the Joseph and Gail Deering Fund of Dayton, Ohio, for research in traumatic brain injuries at the Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation.

$62,500 from the George and Fay Young Foundation of Dallas to support Type 2 diabetes clinical research and the healing environment rooftop garden on the fourth floor of Hoblitzelle Hospital.

Baylor Health Care System Foundation, a separately incorporated not-for-profit organization, raises and manages charitable funds to support Baylor Health Care System's mission of health care, education, research and community service.

Since the foundation was established in 1978, it has given back to Baylor Health Care System approximately $189 million. Support comes from about 10,000 active donors, including individuals, corporations and other private foundations.

Posted: 4/02/04

Thousands of spring break vacationers–mostly high school and college students–roam the beach at South Padre Island as giant sand sculptures depicting Jesus' resurrection, death on the cross and outstretched arms provide scenic testimony. Beach Reach mission volunteers would “hang out” by the sculptures to strike up conversations about spiritual matters with passersby.	Hardin-Simmons University Baptist Student Ministry Director Chris Sammons (right) and a group of students work in a Boston inner-city kitchen during spring break.

No break from ministry for student missionaries

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND–No written record documents commitments to Christ made one night this spring on South Padre Island. But campus minister Buddy Young said hundreds of college students used the local convention center as an altar that evening to “lay their lives down for the work of the kingdom.”

About 440 Christian college students went to the island at the tip of Texas to minister and witness to thousands of students who went there to party.

The Beach Reach missions volunteers joined hundreds of Texas students who traveled all over the country and beyond its borders to minister during spring break.

Churches and campus Baptist Student Ministries of the Baptist General Convention of Texas sponsor the annual evangelistic effort.

Some students scattered throughout Mexico to meet medical and other needs. Others journeyed to Florida to build a Habitat for Humanity house. Still others traveled to snowy Boston to support Christians there.

Bill Barker, BSM director at the University of Texas in San Antonio, took students to Vancouver, Canada, to teach English as a Second Language classes to Chinese residents.

One team shared the story of Christ with people who had never heard it before, the BGCT's Brenda Sanders said.

A group from the University of Texas, Pan Am, went to Monterrey, Mexico, as part of a partnership between Mexican and the university's Baptist ministries.

As a result of this partnership, four Mexican students will serve as summer missionaries in Texas this year, and a combined team of the two BSMs will go to North Africa later this year, Sanders said.

The Beach Reach effort on South Padre Island is the biggest single endeavor each year, but shocking news from Iraq jolted this year's volunteers. A former Beach Reach volunteer, missionary David McDonnall, had been killed along with three other Christian aid workers in a drive-by shooting. McDonnall's wife, Niki, was critically injured.

“The news of his death was devastating but not surprising to those of us who knew him,” said Young, coordinator of Beach Reach and BSM director at West Texas A&M University where McDonnall had attended college. “David was committed to missions and to proclaiming the gospel to the Arab people.”

During the Tuesday evening worship service, Young told the students how God had changed McDonnall's life through Beach Reach. McDonnall “died to the things of this world at Beach Reach and during other monumental mission moments.”

Later, Young recounted that he encouraged the students to “die at Padre, not physically, but to those things in their flesh that would keep them from wholeheartedly serving Jesus Christ.

“God took over the meeting with his presence and power. It was as if everyone was crying out for God to take away everything in their life that would hinder them from a total commitment to him. Many were lying on the floor of the convention center weeping and pleading with God to break them of anything that would hold them back from his purpose. …

“The worship band couldn't continue playing because they too were on their face before God.”

In the wake of McDonnall's death, “God's hand was raising up a new generation of Beach Reachers who were willing to take the gospel throughout the world, not fearing death because they died that night at Beach Reach,” Young said. In eternity, countless students will look back to that night as “an encounter with God that lead them to go to the nations.”

Young said one freshman told him: “This was the most intense worship I have ever experienced. I was physically drained when it was over. God broke through and changed my heart forever.”

Medical missions

Hundreds of miles to the west and a long way from the beach, a group of Dallas students and six doctors held medical clinics in Juarez, Mexico. JoAnna Hoyt, BSM director for Southern Methodist University and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, led a group of 39 medical students and seven others from SMU on the trip.

They sent out six teams to various small churches “mostly on the outskirts of Juarez,” which is across the border from El Paso, Hoyt said. They held clinics for four days, treated 1,300 patients and recorded 43 professions of faith in Christ.

One SMU junior went on the trip to “serve in any way God would allow her,” Hoyt recalled. Amanda, who didn't speak Spanish, got some of the Spanish-speaking students to help her prepare a simple explanation to go along with the pictures on an “Evangicube,” an evangelistic tool.

“There were many instances when a waiting patient would see the strange picture cube and try to figure it out,” Hoyt said. “Amanda would then get her handy notebook with the Spanish explanation of the gospel and sit down with the people and read it to them.”

Volunteers from Dallas Baptist University spend spring break working on two Habitat for Humanity building projects in Tallahassee, Fla.

One day, Amanda explained the gospel to an 80-year-old man. She summoned a medical student and the local pastor to answer the man's questions. Others watched and listened.

The old man, shedding tears, eventually gave his life to Christ, Hoyt said. Then the pastor asked the others who had been listening if they would like to do the same.

“At the end, all eight of the people sitting there had shared that they wanted to give their lives to Christ. Amanda, upon seeing the tears of the old gentleman, had no choice but to join her tears with his.

“Eight people! And all because one student was willing to serve in any way possible, even if she didn't know the language,” Hoyt said.

Ministries in Boston

Ninety-two students from Hardin-Simmons University spent spring break in Boston supporting a variety of Christian ministries, said Chris Sammons, BSM director.

They participated in more than 80 projects in the greater Boston area, including a food bank, a rescue mission, after-school programs, women's shelters and churches.

The HSU students also “prayerwalked” around several college campuses, including MIT, Harvard, Northeastern and Boston College.

Senior theology student Justin Jackson said he expected people up north to be unresponsive but was pleasantly surprised at their friendliness.

“I thought we would be bringing Jesus to them, but God was already there and at work through the ministries in Boston.”

Habitat for Humanity

Sixty-five students and staff members from Dallas Baptist University helped build two houses in Tallahassee, Fla., as part of Habitat for Humanity's Collegiate Challenge.

They put up siding, painted the interior, installed insulation and laid sod for the houses.

They also pulled up shingles and rebuilt the roof on a home that is going to be sold with the hope of using the money to buy land for three or four more Habitat Houses.

“I love doing something for people that lasts,” said Michelle Morris, a DBU freshman.

“A house is something that can last for years and is a place where a family can create a lot of wonderful memories.”

Charles Richardson and Kristie Brooks contributed to this story.