Posted: 12/03/04

Texas Tidbits

Wayland dedicates 11 scholarships. Wayland Baptist University celebrated homecoming 2004 by dedicating a record 11 endowed scholarships. They are the Salla Stephens Bradshaw and John Ray Stephens Endowed Scholarship, the Earl and Ollie Greene Endowed Music Scholarship, the Claude Hutcherson Family Endowed Scholarship, the Vernon and Mary Wilson Jackson Endowed Scholarship, the Charles and Elizabeth Jinks Endowed Scholarship, the Jodie and Bessie Jopling Endowed Scholarship, the Lucile and Earl W. Miller Endowed Music Scholarship, the Lucian and Audrey Morehead Endowed Scholarship, the Ailese Parten/Charlene Clay Root Endowed Scholarship, the W. Neil Record Endowed Scholarship and the Guy Woods Endowed Music Scholarship.

Scholarships endowed at HSU. Music, science and math students at Hardin-Simmons University will benefit from two recently endowed scholarships established at the Abilene university. Henry and Koma Fields of Claude established the Robert and Barbara Dennis Endowed Music Scholarship. Scholarship recipients must be music majors who are full-time students and must maintain a 2.5 overall grade point average and a 3.0 grade point average in music. The Joe and Lynn Sharp Sciences and Mathematics Endowed Scholarship has been established to assist full-time Texas undergraduate students enrolled in the Holland School of Sciences and Mathematics at HSU. The scholarship may be awarded to one or more students with a 3.0 grade point average. Recipients must be active in a local Baptist congregation and be in good disciplinary standing.

Baylor faculty member named ETS officer. Francis Beckwith, associate professor of church-state studies and associate director of the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor University, was elected vice president of the Evangelical Theological Society at its recent meeting in San Antonio. In November 2005, he will become president-elect of ETS and serve as program chair at the organization's 2006 annual meeting in Washington, D.C. A graduate of Fordham University and the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Beckwith is the author or editor of more than a dozen books.

Posted: 12/03/04

TOGETHER:
Epicenter: Ground zero for revival

At the end of every year while I was a pastor, I gave thanks for the people who were saved and baptized that year in the church. I also prayed, “Lord, help us reach even more people for Christ next year.” Years ago, someone said to me, “God is easily pleased but hard to satisfy.” That's the way I felt about our evangelism efforts–pleased but not satisfied! Every pastor understands the feeling.

Where can you get help so you and your church can be more effective in reaching people for Christ?

You have asked the Baptist General Convention of Texas for help that will relate to your church.

Let me recommend Epicenter. For a geologist, epicenter is the place in an earthquake from which the power emanates and shakes the earth. For Texas Baptists, Epicenter is the gathering from which, we are praying, God's spiritual power will spread throughout Texas and touch the world. When the first disciples gathered to pray, Luke notes, “the place where they prayed was shaken.” I am asking God to make that happen with us.

Wouldn't you like to be there when God chooses to move and changes us, preparing us to be messengers of reconciliation and instruments of transformation? Throughout our world and across our state, there are those who have never heard of “the” Christmas gift. Their only hope is found in the One our church members have come to know.

Epicenter will happen Jan. 28-29, 2005, in Irving. Formerly known as the Texas Evangelism and Missions Conference, Epicenter is the place where we are asking God to spark a renewal of passion for the lost that live around us and around the world. I like what the leaders are saying about Epicenter–a forum on global Christianity that will include intimate worship experiences, challenging messages, times of interactive dialogue with cutting-edge global leaders and life-changing prayer.

Who will be there? Our pastors from across Texas will be there–some younger, some older, some from every part of Texas, some from every ethnic group, some from large and some from smaller churches.

Who else? Dallas Willard, whose call to authentic discipleship, his Trilogy on Discipleship, is marking this generation of Christians, will be there. So will Darrell Guder, professor of missional theology at Princeton University. Guder is known for his seminal work on the missional church and his prophetic call to Christians to examine and respond to the negative impact nominal Christianity is having on our churches and culture. Through Carol Davis, we will confront realities of 21st century missions in a global era characterized by instant communication and accessible transportation. We can know everything right now, and we can go anywhere in less than a day!

Jeff Harris from San Antonio is one of our younger Texas Baptist pastors, and he will help us relate to what a local church can do in missions and the passion that God gives to a church willing to do anything and go anywhere.

We will go home from Epicenter with a renewed and lively commitment to equipping every church member to be on mission in their own primary mission field–the workplace, neighborhood, school or social network where they have ongoing contact with the greatest number of lost persons.

This time together could change your vision for evangelism and missions. That could change your church. And that could change the world!

We are loved.

Charles Wade is executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas

Posted: 12/03/04

From Red River to Rio Grande, Paris
couple blazes ministry trail for others

By George Henson

Staff Writer

PARIS–Gerald and Ora Lee Tomes have blazed a trail from the Red River to the Rio Grande that many others are eager to follow.

The Tomeses have been working to help the people along the Rio Grande 14 years as Mission Service Corps volunteers. In recent years, their love for the people there has become contagious among other church members in Red River Valley Baptist Association.

Tomes is a retired medical technologist and has worked to help build and furnish a hospital in Saltillo. His specialty is upgrading medical labs until they can pass all certification tests.

Mrs. Tomes is a licensed professional counselor who teaches Christian counseling methods to Mexican pastors and their wives.

A primary focus of their ministry throughout the years has been medical mission trips to set up clinics along the Texas/Mexico border.

An offshoot of that ministry is Christmas in Mexico. The first year of the Tomeses' ministry, a medical clinic was planned, and the couple thought it would be fun to have a bag of small trinkets and candy to give the children at Christmas time. They put together 50 small bags.

Over the years, that ministry has grown to more than 3,000 bags for children–far beyond what the Tomeses can handle alone. Many of their friends at First Baptist Church in Paris, where they are members, help prepare the bags. Groups and individuals from other churches also help stuff the bags. Other churches involved include Immanuel, Providence and Mount Olive churches in Paris, and Maxey Baptist Church in Sum-ner.

Included in each bag are toothpaste, a toothbrush, soap, small toys, pencils, crayons, pages from coloring books and small stuffed animals.

Churches throughout the Red River Valley Baptist Association collect items to go into the bags.

Once the bags are filled, the Tomeses take the bags to Mexico for distribution in feeding centers, medical clinics, orphanages and other places indigent children gather. The distribution also is a big job, but they have help with that, as well. Students from the Baptist Student Ministry of Paris Junior College drive more than eight hours as soon as they finish their exams to meet the Tomeses in Mexico.

Joey Dean, one of the students who made the drive last year and will return to help again this year, said he especially likes passing out the bags at the orphanages.

“It's kind of cool to be able to go to another country and do something nice for somebody else,” he said.

Baptist Student Ministry Director Jonathan Perry said the experience is a good one for the students.

"We try to do a multi-pronged approach to ministry–discipleship, local missions and stuff bigger than us," Perry said. "We're trying to teach the value and need for missions and how there is a place for everyone.”

In addition to distributing the bags, the students also have learned several praise songs in Spanish in preparation for their trip, as well as developing an interpretative dance piece and several dramatic skits.

Perry said it is more than the young children who make an impact on the college students.

“A lot of the kids in Mexico that we will meet are around our age but have very different beginnings. But we all have need of God's grace, and that gives us our common ground,” he said.

Red River Valley Association Director of Missions Warren Hart said the Tomeses have made others in the association aware of the opportunities for ministry in Mexico.

“It's the closest location for foreign missions work and the easiest place for them to not just give to missions, but do foreign missions,” Hart said.

Most of the churches that help with the Christmas in Mexico project also have their own individual ministries throughout the year.

The common denominator in most of those are that the Tomeses are there to pave the way using the contacts they have made during more than a decade of service in the area, said Tim Reger, pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church.

Reger has been part of several medical missions trips each year since 1996. Growing up in Southern California gave him a knowledge of the Spanish language, but his ministry stems from a deeper calling.

“I have great love for the Latin American people and desire to build relationships with them,” he said. “I also have a great desire to help medical doctors and others to see what physical needs can be met so that we might reach the world with the gospel.

“Also, I have now built some relationships with doctors and pastors in the Saltillo area over the years, and it's always nice to go back and see these friends and support them in their ministry.”

Reger said several church members also now have made mission treks to Mexico with him and the Tomeses, and many more church members have supported their efforts through prayer and financial gifts.

Recently, his church sent funds to finish the roof on a new feeding center.

“It was thrilling to see them see a need and do what it took to take care of it,” he said.

That desire to meet needs also is apparent in the Tomeses' own church, First Baptist. The young women's ministry group there has bought numerous items for several orphanages in the Saltillo area.

“We've really enjoyed seeing the fruit of ministry,” said Debbi Cutrell, one of the leaders of the ministry group. The young women hold an auction each year to earn money to support the ministry.

“When we started this 13 years ago, it was mainly craft items. Now, we have everything from gift certificates to babysitting to home-cooked meals. We try to communicate that everybody has something they can contribute,” she said.

Some people still contribute craft items such as quilts and woodworking items.

The Girls in Action at First Baptist in Paris put together bags of cookie mixes and make Christmas ornaments.

“It's fun to see the things come in each year and see how eager they are to be involved,” Cutrell said.

The auction raises more than $3,000 each year.

The money has been used to buy industrial-sized cooking stoves, as well as beans, rice and shoes for the orphanages.

The Tomeses don't want to retire, but he admits, “God has blessed us, but it's gotten to the point with our health that we're beginning to look for someone to keep it going after we're gone.”

And with all the people and churches now involved through their influence, Baptists in the Paris area say that seems assured.

Posted: 12/03/04

Ugandan faith-based microcredit
organization focuses on investing in people

By Dale Hanson Bourke

Religion News Service

NTUNGAMO, Uganda (RNS)– Generous Katagira, 26, says she should be thinking about getting married. Most Ugandan women her age have already settled down and started a family.

But Katagira is not like most Ugandan women. A university graduate, she manages the office of a Christian microcredit organization, overseeing a portfolio of more than 1,000 loans, most for $100 or less, for some of her country's poorest people.

In a country known as the home of dictator Idi Amin and the birthplace of AIDS, Katagira exemplifies the faith and determined optimism that has brought Uganda back from the brink and made it a model of how the battle against poverty and sexually transmitted diseases can be won. Like many of her fellow Ugandans, Katagira is not as interested in charity as she is in investing–in people.

“Ugandans have been through a great deal, but we are strong,” she says. “I tell the women, especially, that they are stronger than they know and the future can be whatever they make it.”

This is the country where the rate of AIDS infections has dropped most dramatically. But it still is high, and the rural poor now are the most likely to be infected. In microcredit groups like the ones Katagira oversees, AIDS education is required.

The AIDS crisis is everywhere in Uganda. But it's most clearly seen in the faces of the orphaned children who roam the streets of every city and village, often carrying younger siblings and begging for food to make it through another day. Almost every family in Uganda has taken in additional children, severely straining their resources and creating the need for additional income.

The tragic situation is just one example of how poverty and AIDS are connected.

UGAFODE, Katagira's organization, is one of several nationally controlled, faith-based microcredit groups in the country that are attempting to address the poverty and AIDS crises in tandem. Part of the international network of Opportunity International–which believes faith and small loans can change lives and even countries–UGAFODE has the discipline of a formal financial institution but a compassion that drives it to work only with the poorest of the poor.

“The banks wouldn't let most of our clients come on the front porch,” says Katagira, who spends her days managing a portfolio of loans made to people with little or no collateral.

It's a situation most bank officers would find ludicrous. But to Katagira and her colleagues, the results are nothing short of miraculous.

“The first time one of our clients goes to a bank to open a savings account is always a time of celebration,” she says.

In the small village of Ruhaama, a 10-minute drive from her office, a group of 17 entrepreneurs is having its weekly “trust bank” meeting. The trust bank concept and microfinance in general are simple, but the results can be profound.

A group of individuals band together to seek small loans and support one another in their work and repayment. It's effective when the group commits together to cross-collateralize the loans. Should one woman default, the others pay her portion.

Defaulting rarely happens. Instead, the individuals seem to form a community of support, encouragement and innovation. They buy materials from one another, share market stands and trade labor for food or products. In their weekly meetings, they share their experiences, pay back loans and seek larger ones.

This group has named itself “Spirit is Willing.” Like most, it's made up largely of female entrepreneurs. Twelve women and five men have loans to fuel their craft, agriculture and sewing businesses.

“We have found that if we give a woman 100 shillings and a man 300 shillings, the woman will do more with her portion in a shorter amount of time than the man,” says Katagira with a broad smile. “Also,” she notes ruefully, “women are more faithful in repayment than men.”

The leader of this group is a woman in traditional dress who stands and speaks to a group of American visitors.

She tells of the loans received and repaid in recent months and their plans for the future. She talks about the faith that helps bind the group together and expresses gratitude about the training they have received, not only in business but also in health and in AIDS prevention. She then points to the 28 children assembled and sitting quietly in their school uniforms.

“These are all orphans,” she explains. “Because of the loans we have received and what we have earned from our businesses, the members of our group are able to care for all these orphans, pay for their uniforms and hire a teacher for their schooling.”

In this southwestern Ugandan village near the border with Rwanda, the children supported by this group are only a small portion of the orphans roaming the streets.

But here, there is hope. If businesses continue to take off, the trust group plans to adopt more of these children. Members speak of this with matter-of-fact commitment.

A little girl rises to sing a song. The interpreter cannot keep up with the lyrics, but she whispers broken phrases: “An orphan's life is very hard. … We lose the people we love and we have no one to care for us. … We work hard, but we never have enough to eat. … We are very glad when someone takes us in.”

Katagira, who has been examining loan books and taking notes during the meeting, stops writing to wipe tears from her eyes.

“It is not about money,” she whispers. “It is about transformation.”

At the next group meeting, the women begin to sing and dance to welcome the visitors. Generous Katagira lives up to her name in every way, embracing her clients and joining the dance with abandon. “Generous has many, many friends,” says one of the clients.

At times, Katagira seems almost in awe of her clients as she visits the goat farm of one woman, noting the incredible progress, then examines the baskets of another woman, admiring the quality. “I call this my 'blessing' group,” she says. “They inspire me so much whenever I visit them.”

Those who receive loans from UGAFODE seem to appreciate the encouragement and training as much as the funds themselves. They know this is not a handout. It's up to each of them to take the money and make a difference.

As she pauses at a client's small shop, Katagira points out another group of dirty children in the streets, some carrying babies. “We have much more work to do,” she says. “Maybe I'll think about getting married year after next.”

Posted: 12/03/04

Vermont judge grants child-custody
rights to partner in same-sex civil union

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–A Vermont judge has ruled that gay couples united in civil unions should be treated no differently than heterosexual married couples who have had children by artificial insemination when it comes to custody disputes.

The decision sets up a dispute with another family-law court in Virginia–meaning the issue of the rights of same-sex couples ultimately could end up in the Supreme Court.

A Vermont newspaper reported that Rutland-based Family Court Judge William Cohen had ruled that Janet Miller-Jenkins, who resides in Fair Haven, Vt., has custody rights to 2-year-old Isabella Miller-Jenkins.

The child was born to Lisa Miller-Jenkins when she and Janet were united in a civil union under Vermont law.

The couple was living in Virginia at the time they entered into the union, which gave them all the same rights and responsibilities as married couples. After Isabella was born, the two divorced, and Lisa Miller-Jenkins returned to Virginia, taking the child with her.

A Virginia judge later ruled that, under that state's law, Lisa Miller-Jenkins, the birth mother, has custody of the child.

Under a recently passed law, Virginia has become one of the most restrictive states in the country for same-sex couples, denying them any rights or privileges resembling those given to heterosexual married couples.

But Vermont law meant Janet Miller-Jenkins had equal custodial rights as her ex-partner, Cohen said.

“Parties to a civil union who use artificial insemination to conceive a child can be treated no differently than a husband and wife, who, unable to conceive a child biologically, choose to conceive a child by inseminating the wife with the sperm of an anonymous donor,” the judge wrote.

“Under Lisa's interpretation of the law, because there is no established precedent in Vermont, the husband would be no more than a mere step-parent and would be required to adopt the child in order to be considered a parent in the eyes of the law. This argument is without merit,” he said.

Both women are appealing the respective negative decisions in each state. Normally, a federal law designed to smooth out custody disputes across state lines would rectify the situation, but it never has been tested with respect to a same-sex couple.

The dispute means that, if the parties do not reach a settlement, the Supreme Court could be forced to deal with the issue.

Posted: 12/03/04

CYBERCOLUMN:
‘… born again in us’

By Brett Younger

We have been through so many Christmas seasons that it’s become routine. We’re used to the sounds of the approaching Yuletide—jingle bells, silver bells, Salvation Army bells, Christmas cards from Southern belles and the one-tolling-for-thee-shopping-bell.

Santa is around more than some family members. “The Miracle on 34th Street” doesn’t seem particularly miraculous many more. We’re no longer inspired (if we ever were) by the television specials where sad, lonely busy people tempted to skip the whole business are suddenly inspired to decorate, bake and wrap. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire sound no better than microwave tater tots.

We’re also used to wise men in bathrobes and angels in bed sheets. We hardly hear the constant pleas to smile, hug someone, and buy our brother-in-law a tie. Most of the time it is routine.

But there are moments:

Moments when, like the Grinch, we discover that “perhaps Christmas is not something you buy in a store, Christmas is just a little bit more” and the sound of the carols becomes less bothersome.

Moments when the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future remind us that Tiny Tim lives across town, and we have more turkey than we can eat.

Moments when Clarence convinces Jimmy Stewart (and us, too) not to jump off the bridge, and we think we might have heard an angel get her wings.

Moments when we imagine God coming as a helpless child who needed his diaper changed and his nose wiped, and, for a fleeting instant, we are overwhelmed by the love of God.

As they got closer to Bethlehem, Joseph kept saying: “It’ll be all right. We’ll stay with my relatives”—a fine idea that turned out to be. The town was crowded, with the census and Christmas coming up, so there was no room anywhere. When Joseph tried to explain that Mary was expecting a baby, the hotel clerk said something like, “Don’t blame me; I just work here.” The clerk didn’t lie about there being no room, but if there had been one, this couple looked so poor that he might have lied. If there had been a vacancy at the Bethlehem Best Western, they couldn’t have afforded it.

Though no Christmas pageant has ever included them, Mary and Joseph may have exchanged a few cross words when they found that she was in labor with no chance of getting home. Whose bright idea was this trip? Why hadn’t they left early enough to find a place to stay? How was Joseph supposed to know it would take so long and the city would be so crowded? Why was Mary so emotional? What were they going to do?

Joseph was frantic to find a place to sleep. Though they were surrounded by people, they never felt more alone. Joseph did the best he could—at least he got a roof over Mary’s head. They spent the night in a stable—a first century parking garage.

Mary had her child without an epidural. She wrapped him in a cloth diaper and laid him in a feed trough. The Hallmark cards picture Mary and Joseph kneeling in adoration, but they were too busy trying to figure out how to care for a baby to do much kneeling.

The news of the long-awaited Hope was delivered not as you might expect to the ministerial association or the city council, but to shepherds—the ancient equivalent of garbage men.

People who are usually left out—a teenage girl, a confused fiancé and blue-collar workers—were the first to hear this story of God’s love. The angel said: “I’m here bringing you good news of a great joy which will be to all people. Today your deliverer was born.”

The holly jollyness of Christmas will dissipate. We’ll be back to the routines soon enough, but we can for a holy moment open our hearts to the possibility of joy. If we listen carefully to the sacred story, God will be born again in us.

Brett Younger is pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth and the author of “Who Moved My Pulpit? A Hilarious Look at Ministerial Life,” available from Smyth & Helwys (800) 747-3016.

Posted: 11/24/04

Cross-country church connections bringing revival

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Prayer is connecting Texas Baptists with Christians from New England to the Rocky Mountains, and it is bringing revival with it, firsthand observers report.

Churches in the San Felipe and Colorado Baptist associations, which make up Coastal Plains Baptist Area, have connected with Christians in New England and Colorado through prayer-based partnerships.

San Felipe Association is partnered with Southeast New England Baptist Association, and Colorado Association is partnering with Arkansas Valley Baptist Association in the state of Colorado. The Baptist General Convention of Texas and its Texas Partnerships Resource Center facilitated both relationships.

Rather than launching the partnerships with mission projects, Harold Sellers, director of missions for the Coastal Plains Baptist Area, started by pairing at least one Texas church with each congregation in the New England and Colorado associations.

Leaders communicate prayer requests, needs and praises to each other at least once a month, Sellers said. From there, a relationship has developed naturally. Ministers from Colorado Baptist Association in Texas sent their pictures to leaders in the Arkansas Valley Baptist Association in Colorado.

The communication and prayer have been encouraging, Colorado and New England directors of missions said. There are fewer churches in these areas than in Texas, and ministers are not as well connected.

“We have some churches here where it is 45 to 50 miles to the next Southern Baptist church,” said Frank Cornelius, director of missions for the Arkansas Valley Baptist Association in southeastern Colorado. “The pastors get lonely.”

“It is such a source of encouragement to know people are praying for each other,” said Rafael Hernandez, director of missions for the Southeast New England Baptist Association, which includes Rhode Island and eastern Connecticut.

Communication helps each side know the other’s needs, Sellers said. Then each party has set out to assist the other.

San Felipe Association helped put together the first youth camp for Southeast New England Association in several years. Later, the Texas churches donated money to help New Englanders turn a church into an associational office.

Texas ministers consoled a family with Colorado state ties after the loss of a loved one. Texas Baptists also have done several projects in Colorado.

And Baptists from New England and Colorado have helped Texas churches by sharing ideas about ministries that worked for them. Colorado Christians also repaired facilities at the Baptist encampment at Palacios last year.

“It’s been a true partnership,” Cornelius said. “We’ve done a lot together.”

The relationships have brought revival to Coastal Plains Baptist Area, Sellers said. Churches allowed God to work in their ministry because it was based in prayer.

“I think one of our greatest needs today is revival,” he said. “I think that always starts with prayer.”
For more information on partnership missions, contact the BGCT Texas Partnerships Resource Center at (214) 828-5181.

Posted: 11/24/04

Kentucky Baptists divided over a vote on
officers, a constitutional amendment and the BWA

By Trennis Henderson & David Winfrey

Kentucky Western Recorder

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP)—"Kentucky Baptists Connect," an ambitious five-year ministry emphasis, was intended to be the primary focus of the Kentucky Baptist Convention's annual meeting in Louisville.

But the business sessions featured more division than connection. Messengers split their votes on such major issues as officers, a proposed constitutional amendment and the Baptist World Alliance.

Hershael York, a professor and associate dean at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, was elected president by a vote of 686-627 over Rusty Ellison, pastor of the moderate Walnut Street Baptist Church in Louisville.

Adam Dooley, pastor of Red House Baptist Church in Richmond, was elected first vice president, and Todd Linn, pastor of First Baptist Church of Henderson, was elected second vice president. Both are identified as supportive of the “conservative resurgence” in the Southern Baptist Convention.

York is pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church in Frankfort, as well as professor of Christian preaching and associate dean of ministry and proclamation in Southern Seminary's school of theology. Prior to his election, York said one his goals is for state convention entities to "enjoy greater camaraderie and partnership with Southern" Seminary.

Acknowledging "hurts or grievances" among some Kentucky Baptists in the wake of Southern's change of direction since Al Mohler's election as seminary president in 1993, York added, "It's time to heal old wounds."

"Kentucky Baptists want someone who is going to represent them all," York said, adding, "I think this convention is overwhelmingly committed to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what has to be pre-eminent in our minds and in our efforts and in what unites us."

During business sessions, messengers rejected a proposal to allow the convention's four colleges to have non-Baptists serve in up to one-fourth of their trustee positions. The proposed constitutional amendment was intended to permit the colleges to recruit non-Baptist alumni and donors as board members.

Although the proposal called for all trustees to be "Christians who are in harmony with historic Baptist beliefs," opponents of the measure voiced concern that those beliefs were not defined. After lengthy debate on the issue, messengers voted 595-383 against the plan.

A proposal from the convention's mission board to establish a study committee to examine "how the Kentucky Baptist Convention may relate to the Baptist World Alliance" also was rejected on a 510-444 vote.

The proposal was introduced in the wake of the Southern Baptist Convention's decision in June to withdraw its membership and funding from the international Baptist organization.

Joe Samples, pastor of Greenland Baptist Church in Corbin, said he saw no need for a yearlong study on the issue.

"The work of a study committee really has already been done," he said. "Our Southern Baptist Convention as a whole already has made the decision to pull their collective funding from the Baptist World Alliance."

Citing the convention theme of "connecting all people to Jesus," Bill Ellis, minister of education at Crestwood (Ky.) Baptist Church, voiced concern that rejecting the study would, in effect, keep Kentucky Baptists from working with millions of fellow Baptists around the world through BWA.

"Kentucky Baptists Connect," a five-year focus on evangelism, discipleship and leader training, calls on Kentucky Baptist churches to baptize 125,000 people by 2010, an increase of more than 40 percent over current baptism levels.

Convention leaders commissioned a study by Barna Research Group to gain insights about reaching Kentucky's "unchurched" residents, a term used to describe people who are not involved in a Christian congregation.

Barna Vice President David Kinnaman reported that most Kentuckians who don't attend church aren't just unchurched but "de-churched."

The study found that 32 percent of Kentucky's adult population is unchurched and that 81 percent of Kentucky's unchurched previously attended a church. Among that total, 42 percent of unchurched adults previously attended a Baptist church.

"We've had our chance with the vast majority of these people," Kinnaman said. "It's not a failure of evangelism; it's a failure of discipleship."

Acknowledging the tremendous challenges in reaching unchurched Kentuckians with the gospel, Kentucky Baptist leaders hosted a Kentucky Baptists Connect commitment service during the meeting's Tuesday evening session. A total of 290 participants filled out pledge cards, committing to "pray for this effort and encourage my church to actively participate."

Storylist for 11/22/04 issue

• Distance no barrier for churches in partnership

• Worship is an end in itself, not just a means to an end, Hardin-Simmons professor insists

• Texas-based MercyMe receives American Music Awards honors

• Texas Baptist mission trips to Mexico increase 25 percent with 620 groups

• Author lectures at DBU

• Church planting leader suggests best way to launch a church is 'START'

• Abilene's Pioneer Drive Primetimers find joy in serving others

• Nigeria offers evangelistic door to reaching rest of Africa, national Baptist leader says

• Laotian refugee found God and reason for living in a camp in Thailand

• Family ministry should focus on family strengths, Hardin-Simmons prof says

• HSU Friendship House opens

• Alcohol-related wreck changed future student minister's life

• On the Move

• Around the State

• Texas Tidbits



• At 86, Billy Graham says he's feeling his age but stays committed to preaching the gospel

• Tennessee Baptists to investigate teachings at three affiliated colleges

• North Carolina Baptists retain multiple giving options

• Mississippi Baptists elect first Hispanic officer, avoid effort to make 2000 Baptist Faith & Message official doctrinal statement

• Missouri Baptist Convention moves toward tightening its membership requirements

• Debate over academic freedom rages at Louisiana College

• Illinois Baptists cut governing board membership by more than half

• Fellowships seek to match passion for the outdoors with love for Christ

• Arkansas Baptists endorse Federal Marriage Amendment, oppose gambling

• Italian Baptists ask U.S. Baptists to appeal for peace in Iraq

• Baptist Briefs



• SUDAN: 'Falls the shadow'

• Ivory Coast violence could spread across Africa, church leader warns



• WADE BURLEIGH: Carving out a ministry



• Florida court rules school voucher program unconstitutional

• Religious Right opposes pro-choice Republican as Senate committee chair

• Kerry failed to link vision to values, operatives say

• Protestant ministers cite divorce, negative media influences and materialism as common threats to family, research says

• Bob Jones president praises Bush election

• Nomination for attorney general draws mixed reviews



• Texas Baptist Forum

• On the Move

• Classified Ads



• EDITORIAL: Hunger offering Every penny counts

• EDITORIAL: Calculus of lame duckery

• DOWN HOME: Decisions await matrimonial path

• TOGETHER: Priorities map BGCT transformation

• ANOTHER VIEW by Joe Alcorta: Consider reasons to offer thanks

• Texas Baptist Forum

• CYBERCOLUMN by Jeanie Miley: Start with love



• BaptistWay Bible Series for Nov. 28: Weakness in Christ can be a mighty thing

• LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Nov. 28: Following Christ is about relationship, not ritual

• LifeWay Family Bible Series for Nov. 28: Tell everyone the good news–God is great

• BaptistWay Bible Series for Dec. 5: Jesus teaches followers how to be disciples

• LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Dec. 5: Meals can be times of eternal significance

• LifeWay Family Bible Series for Dec. 5: Proclaim Christ Lord with the way you live life

See articles from previous issue 11/15/04 here.