Posted: 3/05/04

Truett conference speakers issue wake-up call to Christians

By Marv Knox

Editor

WACO–Ministers can continue to serve God only because of the divine call upon their lives, David Garland told parti-cipants at the second annual pastors' and laymen's conference at George W. Truett Theological Seminary.

More than a dozen conference speakers led a three-day marathon of preaching, testimonies, Bible studies and singing on the Baylor University campus in Waco.

Garland, associate dean and professor of Christian Scriptures at Truett, heard his call from God while he was a seasick U.S. Naval Academy midshipman standing watch on a guided-missile frigate.

Jesus “comes in the midst of life when you least expect it,” Garland observed. “The Lord asked me, 'Now, are you willing to listen to my call to go into the ministry?' And then I was.”

He contrasted his own call to ministry to Jesus' invitation to four disciples, as recorded in the Gospel of Mark.

“Jesus didn't wait for the disciples to sign up. … He didn't give an IQ test,” Garland said. “There's no special preparation whatsoever. And the amazing thing is they follow–no questions asked. Why did they do this? …

“It is the force of Jesus' call alone that propels them. When Jesus speaks, 'Come,' they follow.”

Ever since then, ministers “have been strangely warmed and even possessed by that call” to follow Jesus, he added.

Garland illustrated from his own family history.

His grandfather, a Methodist missionary, raised money to travel to India to lead a boarding school. When he arrived, he learned he had been swindled–no boarding school, no job, no money.

But he stayed because God had called him, Garland reported. And he reached people for Jesus. The Methodists brought him under their auspices, and he served 33 years. He had six children in India, and three died there.

Garland's own father went to India as a missionary. He watched his sister die there. He suffered many diseases and endured hardships.

“I was never old enough to ask my grandfather, 'Why did you do it?' But I know now,” Garland said. “I never asked my dad, 'Why did you do it?' but I know now. …

“When the going gets hard, we keep going because of the call.”

That call to ministry transcends place and circumstance and grips faithful ministers, he insisted. “This is not a job. When trouble comes and you experience grief upon grief, what keeps you in ministry?

“When your congregation says no and breaks its promises, what keeps you in ministry?

“When they come to you and tell you it's time to move, what keeps you in ministry?

“It's the power of the One who calls us and will not let us go. And we cannot help but obey.”

Paul Powell, Truett Seminary's dean, noted all the speakers for the conference are Texas Baptists. Throughout the event, participants heard a verse-by-verse study of the book of Galatians by retired New Testament professor Jack MacGorman from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

Addressing a broad range of topics, other speakers illustrated the conference theme, “The Church Awake”:

Personal evangelism is the only kind, declared Richard Jackson, head of the Richard Jackson Center for Evangelism in Brownwood.

But Christians who are intimidated by personally sharing their faith need to remember Jesus is involved in the process, Jackson emphasized. “You and I are never in this alone. It is always the work of Jesus. …

“I take it for granted that people who know Jesus want everybody else to know Jesus,” he said. “But sometimes we just don't know how to share the gospel. Why? We've been convinced that to be witnesses for Jesus Christ we have to be so well versed in Scripture and theology that by our intellect we can convince people to follow Jesus.

“Well, nobody's going to believe in Jesus because you're that smart. They're going to believe because of the power of the gospel.”

Some Christians also back off from evangelism because they think it involves confronting people about their lifestyles, Jackson added.

“It's not our job to change people's lifestyle,” he said. “The Holy Spirit does that. We're just supposed to tell them” about Jesus' love for them.

Unfortunately, a very different message has been programmed into many people, Jackson acknowledged.

Because they have been told God is wholly good and they're not, “religion has helped people conclude God is mad at them,” he explained. But Christians' responsibility is to help people understand Jesus loves them, just as they are.

And that task never should intimidate Christians, he stressed. “Just think: We get to go to a bunch of folks who think God is mad at them, and we get to tell them God loves them.”

Authentic ministry involves a great deal of “leaning,” said Buckner Fanning, retired pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio.

Fanning told about an 18-year-old girl who lived in Alpha Home, Trinity's facility for alcoholic women. In a counseling session, Fanning advised her to lean on Jesus, but she lashed out in anger and vowed she could not do it.

Then, “in one of the best sermons I ever heard,” he said, a woman who worked in Alpha Home hugged the girl and told her, “You just lean on me, and I'll lean on Jesus.”

In time, that woman's love coaxed the girl closer and closer to Jesus, until she made him her Savior, Fanning said.

“Let 'em lean on you,” Fanning urged the ministers regarding the people they serve. “We need people to lean on us. Your spirit will rub off on them. Jesus is contagious.”

Former Baptist General Convention of Texas President Phil Lineberger said Christians should expect God to work in unexpected places.

He told how his family of seven children was “starved out” of a tenant farm in East Texas and wound up in a Texarkana housing project.

One day, a widow named Mrs. Long took 10-year-old Phil to hear a young evangelist named Freddie Gage, and that boy committed his life to Christ.

That relationship with Jesus, combined with his mother's admonition, “Always pray, and never give up,” propelled him to the University of Arkansas, where he attended on an athletic scholarship, and later guided him into the ministry.

Now, he's been a pastor 37 years and currently serves Williams Trace Baptist Church in Sugar Land.

“Don't ever overlook those little kids in your church and kids not from prominent families,” Lineberger said. “You never know what God's going to do.”

Worship is designed for Christians, and ministers need to remember it's linked to work, reported Bobby Dagnel, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lubbock.

“Worship is for the community of faith, the people of God,” Dagnel said, noting, “God's initiative provokes a response, and that response is worship. …

“The highest form of worship is a life devoted, consecrated, committed to a living sacrifice to God. True worship has to do with giving our very best to the Father.”

Consequently, worship requires “an activated life,” he said.

“True worship has to do not only with knowing the right things, but also doing the right things. Is our life really the embodiment of everything we teach and preach from the pulpit? Engage in the work of (God's) kingdom.”

Unfortunately, many people perceive ministers are lazy, he said, urging, “We need to be professional, but we need a blue-collar work ethic. Our people need to see us working hard. … We need to be busy about the work of the kingdom, doing something.”

God still works miracles, testified John Nguyen, pastor of Vietnamese Baptist Church in Garland and president of the Vietnamese Baptist Institute.

God performed three miracles to enable Nguyen to preach the gospel to Vietnamese in Texas today, he said, recounting how he arrived in Saigon, South Vietnam, on the last U.S. military plane out of Danang, how a miracle of timing resulted in his journey to the United States, and how a miracle of bureaucratic missteps placed him in Fort Chafee, Ark., where he reunited with the missionary who had led him to faith in Christ in Vietnam.

Thanks to those miracles, “I'm so grateful to be in this country, to be able to witness to my countrymen,” he said.

Churches must embody righteousness, stressed Ellis Orozco, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in McAllen.

“Here is a righteous church: Christ in you, touching the world,” Orozco said.

Despite popular opinion, righteousness is not found on a list of dos and don'ts, he added.

“Righteousness is incarnation; it's relationship,” he said. To illustrate, he cited the parable of the Good Samaritan, who was very different than the victim he aided, and far unlike the religious professionals who avoided the victim. Still, the Samaritan embodied righteousness because he acted out God's goodness and care.

Churches ought to be bastions of righteousness, like the New Testament example of “a city set on a hill” that glows in the darkness, he said, explaining those cities were places of refuge, where people fled for safety.

Churches ought to serve that function for people today, so they say, “If I can just make it there, everything will be all right,” he said.

God's grace and love transform lives from even the most unexpected corners of the world, reported Liz Ngan, an Old Testament professor at Truett Seminary.

“I am born of a people late coming to the gospel,” she said, explaining she was raised in a devout Buddhist family in China.

As a young girl, she attended a Catholic school and began to realize other gods were not real, only Jesus was real, but her mother insisted the family was Buddhist, she said.

Several years later, when she was almost ready to come to the United States for college, she attended a church summer camp, just to be with her friends one last time.

“That was the first time I realized how much Jesus loved me,” Ngan said. She felt she did not deserve Jesus' love and told him to go away.

“But the love of Jesus will not let me go,” she said. “Jesus has loved me from the beginning. I don't understand it. I don't need to understand it. … Jesus loves me; Jesus loves you. I pray you will see how powerful and healing this love is.”

Christians need to remember they have a “soul phone,” and its signal transmits directly God, Bruce Webb said in a sermon on prayer.

Webb, pastor of Central Baptist Church in Jacksonville, described prayer using his cell phone, which transmits a beam off a satellite directly to the phone of the person he calls.

“If our cell phones can find each other all over the United States, how much better can our soul phones go directly to God?” he asked.

Christians, and especially ministers, sometimes get discouraged, he conceded, advising, “Sometimes it seems like God is a long way off, but he's only a soul phone call away.”

Joseph Parker, pastor of David Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Austin, compared his own near-death experience to the church's task.

Last summer, Parker suffered a heart attack and collapsed in Austin.

The emergency-call tape of the incident records a police officer who helped him saying he did not have a pulse and was not breathing. It picks up the voices of nurses who passed by saying he was dead.

Still, Parker stood before the Truett Seminary conference crowd to tell the tale. “The doctors say it's nothing but a miracle,” he said. “God can do that in a spiritual life.”

And churches must not be afraid to work amid spiritual death, he admonished.

“A church that is awake must have its nostrils open–sensitive to the aroma of death,” he said. “The church sometimes goes about with a clogged-up nose, unwilling to smell the zombies … the living dead among them.

“When the church opens up its nostrils to smell death, some things will happen to help the church stay awake. When we venture with Jesus into a dirty and decaying place, the church will stay awake.”

Jimmy Dorrell, director of Mission Waco and pastor of The Church Under the Bridge, echoed Parker's theme.

“To follow Jesus means to move into the middle of the pain,” he said, calling on churches to minister to hurting people.

“Half the world lives in cities, but 80 percent of city churches have abandoned the city for the suburbs,” he noted, claiming a significant reason for that is “spiritual leprosy–a numbness of the heart.”

Churches must have compassion not only for people in U.S. cities, but also people who suffer in other places, Dorrell insisted, calling for Christians to overcome the temptation to be “pain avoiders.”

Christians never should allow their shortcomings and weaknesses to prevent them from serving God, said Roy Thoene, pastor of First Baptist Church of Gresham.

Thoene described his life before he became a Christian–a fast-living, chain-smoking, hard-drinking wild man who had quit school at age 14.

Shortly after he became a Christian, he began to sense God wanted him to preach, he recalled. He couldn't believe it until he sensed God telling him, “I didn't call you to be Billy Graham.”

Thoene's life changed so rapidly that his unbelieving family couldn't accept it. His brother tried to have him committed to a mental-health facility when he said he was called to preach.

But God enabled him to do the task, and he has been pastor of the Gresham church for more than 30 years.

“God can take an ol' country boy–foul-mouthed and a drunkard–and put him on a solid road,” he testified. “I'm a child of Jesus Christ; without him, I could do nothing.

“I don't care what God has called you to do, he'll equip you to do it.”

Joel Gregory, a magazine publisher from Fort Worth and former pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, closed the conference by asking the participants, “Do you smell like a preacher?”

Referencing the Apostle Paul's metaphor of ministers being “the aroma of Christ,” Gregory talked about how people “smell like a preacher.”

“You smell like a preacher if your life is constantly being conquered again by Christ Jesus,” he said, describing how Jesus led Paul and other faithful servants in a “pageant of triumph,” even when life's circumstances caused them to look like failures.

He told about preachers through history who had faced daunting circumstances but whose ministries were redeemed by Christ. “We look like dead men walking to some, but to others, we have the smell of life about us.”

“If you smell like a preacher, you won't peddle the word of God, you won't diminish or dilute the word of God,” he added.

He told about a pharmacist convicted for diluting chemotherapy medicine to 2 percent of its intended strength and how the judge declared, “This is an unthinkable crime.”

“I want to tell you something more unthinkable–diluting the word of life, watering it down, trivializing, thinning out the word of God,” Gregory said.

The other scent of a preacher is “changed lives rather than some other certificate,” he added.

“The ultimate credential that matters in ministry is that lives were changed,” he insisted. “When your day's done and your race is run, what matters is that lives were changed because you were there.”

Posted: 3/05/04

Leaders say drastic shift in youth
ministry needed for the 21st century needs

By Brent Thompson

Southwestern Seminary

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)–Concerned that the late-20th century model of youth ministry is flawed, a group of prominent youth leaders has issued a call for a new model that could lead to a “seismic shift” in church youth ministry philosophy, training and leadership.

“For around 60 years, student ministry has focused almost exclusively on teenagers,” said Richard Ross, professor of youth and student ministry at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

In a letter sent to youth ministry leaders around the nation last year, Ross pointed out an increasing number of youth leaders are coming to believe that model falls short.

“We now have enough history to know that the majority of students who stay on mission for a lifetime are those from emotionally and spiritually vibrant homes,” Ross wrote.

Author Josh McDowell added, “The most powerful impact upon a child's ethical, moral and spiritual development is the relationship with the parents. It is 300 times greater than the church.”

The question of how to turn student ministries more toward impacting parents and families brought together a group of 22 well-known youth leaders at the National Network of Youth Ministries Forum in Glorieta, N.M., in January.

Although these leaders represented a variety of evangelical denominations and para-church ministries, they were unified around the issue of the need for a more intergenerational approach to youth ministry, organizers noted.

The conference resulted in a document titled “The Call to Youth Ministers and the Church.”

The first part of the document contains resolutions drawn directly from Scripture. The second part contains affirmations reflecting a distinct intentionality to draw youth and parents together as much as possible in youth ministry programs.

For example, the document asks youth ministers to “acknowledge parents as the primary spiritual leaders of their children” and to “consistently … involve parents with leaders and resources that equip parents for biblical parenting and primary discipling of their children.”

The document also asks youth ministers to “include events and experiences that bring parents and teenagers together when it best achieves ministry purposes.”

Churches are called to “encourage existing youth ministers to make a transition toward parent ministry.”

“The team writing 'The Call' spent an unusually long time in prayer,” Ross said.

“We knew this effort would matter little without God's direction in writing and his empowering any future impact. At least twice as we wrote, the group fell into reverential silence as we sensed God's direct hand in giving us the words to place on paper.”

Rick Lawrence, executive editor of GROUP magazine, was present and helped draft the document.

“More than any other factor, parents are responsible for helping their teenagers grow deeply in Christ,” Lawrence said. “It's just as important for us to invest in parents' spiritual growth as it is to invest in our youth group members' spiritual growth.

“If we can get parents to see themselves as the primary catalysts for faith growth in their kids' lives, our ministries will explode. I think this is the crucial turning-point issue for today's youth ministers.”

“I am honored to be part of the group of people that are helping put this into expression,” said Sue McAllister, a long-time youth minister from Tupelo, Miss., and southeastern regional coordinator of the National Network of Youth Ministries.

“As you work with parents, there is a maturing that comes for the youth pastor as well as for the students. There is a trust factor that is built. I am looking forward to the fruitfulness of intergenerational youth ministry as we encourage youth pastors to do this.”

More than 180 people already have signed 'The Call' document, Ross said, including one youth leader from Nigeria.

The document's text, along with a list of denominational, organizational and local church leaders who have signed it, can be found at http://youthworkers.net/parents.

Ross began championing such a shift in youth ministry about two decades ago. His 1984 book “Ministry with Youth and Their Parents” was one of the first to lay out what this approach to ministry might look like.

Anecdotal evidence and some small-scale studies have indicated that not only is religion an important influence in the lives of American youth, but that the church has not been doing a good job of cultivating their spiritual lives.

Obviously, there are situations where children from troubled homes stay strong in their faith for a lifetime, Ross said. “These are wonderful, but, sadly, rare.”

Studies have shown a correlation between the spiritual health of a young person and the quality of that young person's family life.

In August 2001, the National Study of Youth and Religion was initiated to study the religious lives of American teenagers. Conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill under the direction of Christian Smith, this four-year project is funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc.

“Any broad design for student ministry for the future must include a powerful focus on parents and families,” Ross said.

Posted: 2/27/04

BGCT begins effort to craft vision for the future

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS—The Baptist General Convention of Texas has launched a process of “revisioning” that is expected to lead to reorganization of the convention’s work.

BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade announced the formation of four “revisioning teams” that will help shape a new vision for the BGCT.

He created four teams of 10 to 13 people each. Two groups consist of pastors, one younger and one older; one is comprised of laypeople; and another includes Executive Board staff members.

“I wanted to bring together a broad variety of our Texas Baptist people to seek God’s vision for our future,” Wade said. “Three years ago, we made some changes in our organizational structure, and we have seen welcome improvements. The time is right for us to look at what the role of our convention will be in the years ahead.”

Wade expressed appreciation to BGCT President Ken Hall and other officers for “their encouragement in seeing that the convention move forward aggressively in responding to the challenges presented by a changing Texas and by a world in desperate need of the gospel.”

“The officers and I desire the best Texas Baptists can do,” he said.

The revisioning teams will identify critical issues facing the convention and churches, provide opinions regarding priorities and suggest “possible models for organization,” said Chris Liebrum, director of human resources.

“We need a clearer vision that we can build toward, a vision that is so clear, so compelling it will communicate to all Texas Baptists a positive direction for the future,” he said.

Each team will meet the week of March 1-5 and hold three meetings by the middle of April, Wade said.

“The results of their work will flow to the executive director’s office, where we will develop a strategic plan and begin to work on structure and organizational solutions that will move us forward in achieving the vision God sets before us,” he said.

The BGCT Executive Board will receive reports on the revisioning process at its May and September meetings.

Sherrill Spies, a member of First Baptist Church in The Woodlands with experience in strategic planning and organizational design, will guide the process, Liebrum said, noting, “Not only does she know organizations, she knows Texas Baptists.”

All regions of the state are represented in the revisioning process, Liebrum said. The teams also have ethnic and gender diversity.

“Dr. Wade has spent a lot of time in prayer and in consultation with Texas Baptists in order to find the right people,” he said.

“Most of all,” Wade said, “we looked for people who believe God has given them a calling to do what they do. They each have a desire for the BGCT to be the most effective force for God and good it can possibly be as it serves the local churches and collaborates with our institutions and associations.

“Ultimately, all that the BGCT does should point toward salvation of the lost and growth of the churches unto the glory of God. Each of these team members shares that desire.”

The revisioning teams will address various questions, Wade said. They include:

“How can the BGCT be used of God to encourage in churches the most effective advances in evangelism, missions, Christian education and benevolent ministries?”

“How can we provide a vision of Christ and Baptist identity that stirs up a zeal for what God wants to do with us as we work together?”

“If the BGCT could be whatever God needs us to be, what kind of difference could we make in churches, in Texas and in the world unto the glory of God?”

“How can we help Texas Baptists work together in the most spiritually powerful and effective manner possible?”

For the laity team, Wade sought lay leaders with “extensive experience in business,” people who have “demonstrated skills in organizing business structures for the most efficient and effective use of resources in achieving goals,” he said.

The work of churches and the convention is more than a business, but “things good business minds have learned can be beneficial to us in the work of our convention,” he said. “Where there are better ways to do what we do, we want to know about it.”

The two teams of ministerial leaders will bring a pastoral perspective, he added.

“One group is a bit older, and the other a bit younger,” Wade said. “We wanted to gain input from pastors who have spent a lifetime learning and leading in local churches, and we also wanted input from younger ministers who have a deep sense of calling to the future God holds out before us.”

Executive Board staff members comprise the fourth group. “These men and women know our Baptist work from the inside out,” Wade said. “I have found they have some of the most creative ideas regarding the opportunities before our churches and convention. We want to have the benefit of their best thinking.”

Wade also will seek input from associational directors of missions, presidents of BGCT-affiliated institutions and seminary students.

“I pray daily God will use us to help Texas Baptist churches be all that God wants them to be and to empower us in advancing all the interests of the Redeemer’s kingdom,” Wade said. “My deepest desire is that we help one another so that our churches know themselves to be the presence of Christ in the world.”

Revisioning and reorganization are a never-ending process, Liebrum said, noting, “We will continue to monitor and evaluate.”

Team members are:

Laity team—Jim Adams, Trinity Baptist Church, San Antonio; Ed Alvarado, First Baptist Church, Donna; Mike Caraway, Southland Baptist Church, San Angelo; Bob Fowler, South Main Baptist Church, Houston; John Hicks, First Baptist Church, Amarillo; Dale Jones, Park Cities Baptist Church, Dallas; Clifford Martin, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Mansfield; Camille Miller, First Baptist Church, Austin; and Margarita Treviño, First Baptist Church, Keller.

Pastors team 1—Mario Gonzalez, Iglesia Primera Bautista, El Paso; Stephen Hatfield, First Baptist Church, Lewisville; Travis Hart, First Baptist Church, Plainview; Don Higginbotham, First Baptist Church, Harlingen; Carl Hudson, Little River Baptist Church, Rockdale; Charles Johnson, Trinity Baptist Church, San Antonio; Peter Leong, Southwest Chinese Baptist Fellowship, Stafford; Phil Lineberger, Williams Trace Baptist Church, Sugar Land; David Mahfouz, First Baptist Church, Port Neches; Rodney McGlothlin, First Baptist Church, College Station; Joseph Parker, David Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, Austin; Randall Scott, Immanuel Baptist Church, Paris; and Candy Smith, First Baptist Church, Richardson.

Pastors team 2—Carlos Alsina, Iglesia Primera Bautista, Austin; Ann Bell, Wilshire Baptist Church, Dallas; Ken Blake, Westside Baptist Church, Lewisville; Tony Celelli, Second Baptist Church, Corpus Christi; Russell Diwa, Biblical Community Church, Garland; John Durham, First Baptist Church, Irving; Lance Freeman, LifePointe Baptist Church, The Woodlands; Kevin Hall, First Baptist Church, Haskell; Kyle Henderson, First Baptist Church, Athens; Mark Newton, First Baptist Church, San Marcos; John Petty, Trinity Baptist Church, Kerrville; and Bruce Webb, Central Baptist Church, Jacksonville.

Staff team—Carol Bowman, Colleen Brooks, Keith Crouch, Jan Daehnert, Michael Evans, David Guel, Ron Gunter, Patty Lane, Milfred Minatrea, Andre Punch, Gus Reyes, Tom Ruane and Rhonda Walden.

Posted: 3/01/04

Texas Baptist leader dies in car crash

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Billy Ray Parmer, president of Gloria al Padre and former two-time Baptist General Convention of Texas second vice president, died Feb. 28 in a car crash outside Abernathy.

Parmer, 78, pulled his sports utility vehicle around two stopped cars at an intersection near Abernathy when a truck towing an 8-foot trailer hit the driver's side of Parmer's automobile, according to a Texas Department of Safety spokeswoman.

He and his wife, Joan, were airlifted to a Lubbock hospital where he died. She was in serious condition March 1.

Parmer served as pastor of churches in San Gabriel, Golinda, and Valley Mills for 38 years. He was honored as rural pastor of the year four times and received the 1995 George W. Truett Churchman of the Year award, presented by the Baylor University Alumni Association.

He served in many capacities in the BGCT besides the second vice presidency, including many committee positions. He also was co-chairman of Texas Baptists Committed.

Parmer was passionate about mission work in Mexico, friends said, and until his death served as president of Gloria al Padre, an organization that seeks to link volunteers with needs throughout the Americas in an effort to spread the gospel.

"He was very committed," said David Currie, executive director of Texas Baptists Committed. "You could always count on Billy Ray. When he said he would do something it would get done."

A service is set for March 3 at 3 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Lorenzo. Another service is scheduled for March 4 at 2 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Valley Mills.

He is survived by his wife, their five children and 12 grandchildren.

Posted: 3/01/04

CYBERCOLUMN:
A day out in the snow

By Brett Younger

On Saturday, Feb. 14, we had the best snow in Fort Worth in years, so our family decided to take a long walk. I assumed I would end up catching snowballs with my back and wore old clothes—a pair of jeans that Carol doesn’t allow me to wear in public because they’re holy in a bad way, tennis shoes, sweatshirt and an overcoat. The only thing I took with me was my keys, which I carefully put in my pocket.

The snow was gorgeous. The kids on our block were making anorexic snowmen. Years of living in Fort Worth have kept them from any understanding of how to make a proper snowman. We had a street full of snow pillars that would embarrass Frosty.

It was such big fun. When it snows, neighbors talk more. You can’t pass someone walking in the snow without speaking. Our family threw snowballs, which is fun until you get hit above the shoulders and fun until it melts and you’re wet as well as freezing.

It was nippy by the time we got back to our house after, I’d guess, a 45-minute walk. I got out my keys, but the storm door at the front was inexplicably locked. I walked around to the garage. There’s a door into the garage that we never lock, but for reasons beyond imagining, it was locked, and we’ve never had a key to that door. We’re still OK. There’s a back door, but then, and you’re not going to believe this, that storm door was also locked.

I’m locked out and I have my keys, but I wasn’t worried. We went next door to the Russells’, explained the bizarre turn of events in detail so they would know there was nothing for us to feel dumb about, and I borrowed a Philips screwdriver. Carol and Caleb, our 10-year-old, chose to stay and get warm. Graham, our 14-year-old, inspiringly, foolishly chose to believe in his father. He and I took one side of the frame around the back door off and were able to open the outside door. I was so happy with myself. Then I got out my key to open the inside door. I had forgotten that there are two looks on that door, and the push lock was mysteriously, incomprehensibly, unfathomably locked also.

Carol called A-1 Locksmith on the theory that if they’re first in the alphabet, they must be good. They immediately asked, “Are we the only locksmith you called?” I took this to mean that when snow falls, lots of people, many of whom are quite intelligent, lock themselves out of their houses.

He said he would be there in 30 minutes. He lied. We found a football in the backyard and tried to play horse on the basketball goal. It doesn’t work. Several times, I thought about throwing a brick through the window, but it just didn’t seem right.

We were huddling close to each other trying to get warm when a neighbor walked by. She said “hi.” We said “hi.” She stared. She still hasn’t figured out why we were just standing there.

Then Matt Menger, one of our church members, drove up. Matt was picking up cans for a Boy Scout food drive. We explained that our food was in a bag inside the house that was now locked. Matt was kind. He told us about almost locking his keys in the car. It was pity. Lots of people lock their keys in their car. It takes someone special to lock themselves out of their house with their keys in their pocket.

His son, John Edward, cheerfully offered a helpful suggestion, “Have you checked all the doors?”

The snow that had recently been so beautiful now seemed miserable. I know this wasn’t the Iditarod or a trip up Mount Everest, but after being outside for two hours in wet jeans with holes I was feeling cold and tired and wanted to sit down. I climbed the tree in our front yard and found a limb on which to sit. My toes were cold and wet enough to hurt. I should have worn boots. I wished we had skipped the snowballs.

When the locksmith finally, mercifully arrived, the first thing he said was, “It will be $65 for the service call and $25 for opening the door.” Does that mean that if he didn’t get the door open I would still owe him $65 just for trying? It seemed high, but I couldn’t see myself telling Carol that I sent the locksmith away because given time and a bigger screwdriver I could open the door myself.

I’d imagined that when the locksmith got there it would be like in the movies. He would pull out a James Bond-looking instrument and open the door in five seconds. It was with horror that I watched our locksmith look at each of our three locked doors with the same quizzical expression I had used. He started with the storm door at the front. Then he went to the garage door, the one for which we don’t have a key. Then he went to the back door, two locks one key. He pulled out a credit card and tried to open it.

He and I had plenty of time to talk. He told me that he’s not really a locksmith, but an engineer, who’s only doing this for a few months. This was not reassuring. He grew up in Morocco, Israel and Mexico, where I assume they have much different locks than in this country.

The locksmith said, “I could drill out the door knob at the back of the garage, but you’ll have to buy a new doorknob, which I can sell to you for an extra $20.” My brain was frozen, “Sure.”

This whole arctic event would be amusing to me, except for the last hour or so I couldn’t get a couple of people out of my mind.

On Thursday night, I had been at the Agape meal, a dinner our church shares with the homeless. My table included two men there for the first time who had just gotten out of prison. We ate chicken spaghetti and talked sports. We agreed that the Mavericks aren’t going to win until they get a big man and that the Rangers should not trade A-Rod—they didn’t listen to us. We talked about how mean churches can be and how kind churches can be. They both said they would try to come to Broadway for worship on Sunday, but they didn’t make it. We talked about their job prospects. The older man, who looked about 60, is a computer programmer. He’d gotten a government job downtown that lasted for 18 hours. He was honest about his record on his application. After he was hired, his new boss called the police to make sure it was OK, but the police said he couldn’t work there. Then we talked about where they would spend the night. The young guy had spent the previous night at the Presbyterian Night Shelter. The old one had slept on the street. The young one said: “It’s going to get cold. You better go with me.”

The Presbyterian Night Shelter is a godsend for a lot of people. On a normal night, the shelter houses about 500 people. On Thursday night, they had more than 700. On Friday night, they had more than 800. The shelter has strict rules, but the number of people and the size of the place make the rules hard to enforce. Homeless people who struggle with addictions stay away from the shelter because alcohol and drugs are prevalent. They sleep outside.

When you sleep outside in the winter, you need to avoid two elements—wind and water. You try to stay out of the wind by sleeping next to buildings on the south side, an alcove or the porch of a vacant building. You can warm up by lying on a steam grate, but they’re out in the open, so it’s hard to sleep there.

During the prayer time on Thursday, my friend mentioned that he needed a job. After the service, Ellen Swift-Wilson handed him a business card. Ellen is a member of our church who works for an AARP foundation employment program. She said: “Call me. I can get you a job.”

On Saturday morning, sitting in a tree in my front yard, I tried to imagine what it’s like to be homeless in the winter, but I can’t. I was miserable waiting for a couple of hours for someone to let me into my house. What must it be like not to have a house to be let into?

Many of the things we do as churches are good. We get together and enjoy one another’s company. We discuss. We plan. We learn. Only a few things we do are urgent. Getting people in out of the cold is urgent.

Brett Younger is pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, and the author of Who Moved My Pulpit? An Amusing Look at Ministerial Life (available in late March from Smyth & Helwys Publishing).

Posted: 3/01/04

Sloan criticizes Lariat editorial supporting gay marriage

By Marv Knox

Editor

WACO-—A Baylor University student newspaper editorial supporting gay marriage deviates from “traditional Christian teachings” and “comes dangerously close to violating university policy,” Baylor President Robert Sloan said.

An editorial in the Feb. 27 Baylor Lariat affirms a lawsuit brought by the city of San Francisco, which seeks to declare unconstitutional the California Family Code’s definition of marriage—a union between a man and a woman.

A tagline at the end of the column indicates the Lariat editorial board voted 5-2 in favor of the position.

More than 3,200 gay couples have been married since Feb. 12, when Mayor Gavin Newsom announced the city would provide them with marriage licenses, the editorial notes.

The editorial outlines response to that event, including California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s attempt to prevent the city from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples and the city’s legal challenge to the definition of marriage.

“San Francisco officials believe barring gay marriages violates the equal protection and due process clauses of the state constitution,” the editorial says. “The editorial board supports San Francisco’s lawsuit against the state.”

The editorial also offers the board’s rationale for gay marriage.

“Taking into account equal protection under the law, gay couples should be granted the same equal rights to legal marriage as heterosexual couples,” the editorial stresses. “Without such recognition, gay couples, even those who have cohabitated long enough to qualify as common-law spouses under many state laws, often aren’t granted the same protection when it comes to shared finances, health insurance and other employee benefits, and property and power-of-attorney rights.

“Like many heterosexual couples, many gay couples share deep bonds of love, some so strong they’ve persevered years of discrimination for their choice to cohabitate with and date one another. Just as it isn’t fair to discriminate against someone for their skin color, heritage or religious beliefs, it isn’t fair to discriminate against someone for their sexual orientation.

“Shouldn’t gay couples be allowed to enjoy the benefits and happiness of marriage, too?”

Sloan refuted the newspaper’s assertion.

“This position held by five students does not reflect the views of the administration, faculty, staff, board of regents or student publications board, which oversees the Lariat,” Sloan said in a statement distributed to media March 1. “Nor do I believe this stance on gay marriage is shared by the vast majority of Baylor’s 14,000 students and 100,000 alumni.”

The editorial touched off a torrent of response, Sloan acknowledged.

“We have already heard from a number of students, alumni and parents who are, as am I, justifiably outraged over this editorial,” he said. “Espousing in a Baylor publication a view that is so out of touch with traditional Christian teachings is not only unwelcome, it comes dangerously close to violating university policy, as published in the student handbook, prohibiting the advocacy of any understandings of sexuality that are contrary to biblical teaching.

“The student publications board will be addressing this matter with the Lariat staff as soon as possible.”

In his statement, Sloan sought to draw a line between free expression and inappropriate advocacy.

“While we respect the rights of students to hold and express divergent viewpoints, we do not support the use of publications such as the Lariat, which is published by the university, to advocate positions that undermine the foundational Christian principles upon which this institution was founded and currently operates.”

Lacy Elwood, editor-in-chief of the Lariat, and Wallace Daniel, chairman of the student publications board, could not be reached for comment.

Posted: 3/01/04

COMMENTARY:
Keep the government’s nose out of our seminaries

By Brent Thompson

Amid all the publicity from Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of the Christ,” few Christians will likely notice that the Supreme Court quietly published an opinion that may have just as much impact on the lives of churches and ministers as the movie. On Feb. 26 in the case of Locke vs. Davey, the Supreme Court decided 7-2 that the neither the establishment nor free exercise clauses of the First Amendment require states to fund religious instruction.

High-profile advocates such as Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice and Solicitor General Theodore Olsen argued that states should be required to fund religious instruction if they also fund secular instruction. The state of Washington argued that the principle of separation of church and state prohibits funding of religious studies.

Frankly, I am relieved that this case was resolved in this way. Sometimes Christians go too far in our zest for advancing religious rights in our country. This was such a time. Put another way, this case reminded me of the story about the little boy who decided to help himself to cookies in the cookie jar. He stuck his hand into the jar and grabbed a handful of cookies. When he tried to pull his hand out, it got stuck because he refused to let go of the cookies.

Men and women who are called by God into the ministry are generally facing a life of low pay and high stress. The low pay begins in college, continues through seminary and into their field of service. So does the high stress. It is rare for ministers to be paid a salary commensurate with the secular market value of their educational achievement. It is common for ministers to burn out or get discouraged from the stress of ministry. These concerns may explain why Joshua Davey left theology studies and enrolled in Harvard Law School during the course of this litigation.

So why wouldn’t a theology student at a private Christian college want to get all the financial help he can? Why shouldn’t a budding minister in a denominational seminary take a two-year grant like the state of Washington’s Promise Scholarship which provided $1,125 the first year of school and $1,542 the second year? Why wouldn’t the financial aid departments of seminaries pursue funding from the coffers of state and federal governments, especially in an era of declining alumni giving and increased overhead?

Here is why: Christians should not want state or federal regulators nosing around in our business. Or, with apologies to Tertullian, “What hath government to do with seminary?”

Consider this analogy: When a private donor contributes money to a college or graduate school, they are normally very interested in how that money is spent. If the money is for tuition scholarships, the donor sets up restrictions or qualifications to screen for the types of recipients who will benefit from the money. If the money is for a campus building, the donor is keen to see the architect’s plans or where their names are displayed on the final edifice. All this is reasonable and understandable because the donated money is hard-earned and the donor wants to promote some cause with it.

The government is no different. The government rarely provides scholarships to students without strings. The state of Washington, for example, set academic, enrollment and income standards which prospective candidates had to meet before they qualified for the money. Of course, it was one of those standards—the recipient would not use the money to obtain a theology degree—that got Washington into the Locke vs. Davey lawsuit.

Governments are also interested in whether the schools that benefit from these scholarship programs are meeting certain standards of conduct. If these schools discriminated in admissions on the basis of, say, religious belief or gender, it would be understandable if the government moved to stop such discrimination.

Churches should not make their ministers-in-training rely on government largesse to finance ministerial training. If a state government wants to give money to theology students without interfering with the right of the seminary to exclude applicants based on religion, gender or age, then that would be great. The same is true if a state like Washington refuses to do so. But it is unwise for Christians to force a government to fund religious education in the name of “religious freedom.”

If groups of churches or denominations want well-trained ministers, they should set up and fund their own seminaries, colleges and Bible schools, or align themselves financially with existing seminaries of similar theological persuasion. If possible, these institutes of ministerial training and their students should take as little money as possible from governments.

Our local, state and federal governments are rife with rogue mayors who issue illegal marriage licenses, spineless judges who refuse to issue restraining orders halting the practice and waffling legislators who do not want to prioritize a defense of marriage amendment. Do Christians really want the money these politicians control used to educate our ministers? Do Christians really want to give these kinds of politicians an excuse for poking around in the admissions, curriculum and placement policies of Christian colleges and seminaries? I don’t.

Brent Thompson, associate director of communications at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, practiced law in Alaska and Texas for eight years before de-activating his law licenses to enroll in seminary and enter full-time ministry.

Posted: 2/27/04

‘Passion’ reviews take issue with violence, lack of context

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—The reviews of “The Passion of the Christ” are in—and while both Christian and secular observers offered praise for it, many of the same reviewers also took significant issue with the movie.

“Even within what often looks like a self-indulgent exercise in humiliation, pain and gratuitous gore, there is no denying the moments of genuine and powerful feeling in ‘The Passion of the Christ’—some of which, by the way, evoke Jesus’ most profound teachings of Jewish principles,” wrote Ann Hornaday, in the Washington Post, summarizing her review.

Time magazine’s Richard Corliss said the film’s director, Mel Gibson, had produced an overall well-crafted product.

“In dramatizing the torment of Jesus’ last 12 hours, he has made a serious, handsome, excruciating film that radiates total commitment,” Corliss wrote. But, he added, “Gibson portrays Jesus’ agony and death in acute and lavish detail. In the end, all that gore tends to blunt not only the story’s natural power but even the sense of horror at what a God-man has to endure to save all men.”

Meanwhile, Dallas pastor Jim Denison offered unreserved praise.

“If a movie is a film you watch on a screen, this is no movie,” Denison wrote on the website of his congregation, Park Cities Baptist Church.

“You have been to Calvary. You watched as Jesus was tortured and executed, for you. You will never again wonder if God loves you.”

The film has stirred significant controversy since its production was announced in 2002, mainly for fears that its depiction of the death of Christ would stoke the kind of anti-Jewish sentiment that historically has often followed passion plays.

And although New York Daily News reviewer Jami Bernard called it “the most virulently anti-Semitic movie made since the German propaganda films of World War II,” many other reviewers said such fears were overblown.

“Is the film anti-Jewish? Well, which Jews?” Corliss asked. Besides Jesus and his followers themselves being Jewish, Corliss noted, Gibson depicts many of Jerusalem’s Jews as taking pity on the suffering Christ.

“Gibson also shows many Jews (and no Romans) treating Jesus with a kindness and charity one might call Christian,” Corliss wrote. “We acknowledge, then, that ‘The Passion’ is rabidly anti-Sanhedrin, opposed, as Jesus and other Jews were, to the establishment of the time. But to charge the film with being anti-Semitic is like saying those who oppose the Bush Administration’s Iraq policy are anti-American.”

The Washington Post’s Hornaday echoed many critics who said the film lacked historical context—both in portraying Pontius Pilate as something less than a brutal dictator and in ignoring the history of overt anti-Semitism depicted in other Passion narratives.

“Gibson has exhibited a startling lack of concern for historical context, both of the Passion’s ritualized re-enactment and of its story itself, which over the past several centuries has been used repeatedly to foment violence against Jewish communities.”

Several critics faulted Gibson for focusing obsessively on the gruesome end to Jesus’ life without providing adequate explanation for the reasons—both historical and theological—behind his suffering and death.

“Gibson’s lack of attention to other chapters in Christ’s life does indeed pose challenges to viewers—especially those who do not know the gospel story,” wrote Christianity Today film critic Jeffrey Overstreet.

“In ‘The Passion,’ the path from the garden of Gethsemane to the cross is such a marathon of bloodshed—Jesus is beaten and bloodied even before he leaves the garden—that I found myself a bit dizzy from the violence only an hour into the film,” Overstreet continued. “It became harder and harder to focus on what the director was trying to reveal concerning Christ’s teachings and his love.”

Another area of concern for many critics was the source material for Gibson’s account of Christ’s suffering. Although many conservative evangelical leaders have praised the film for its fidelity to the gospels, other Christian and secular critics have noted that the story draws from several non-biblical sources.

“Aside from its entertainment value, the movie ensures the advance of biblical illiteracy for years to come and the encroachment of flaky evangelism on those who need an authentic understanding of real faith,” wrote Baptist ethicist Robert Parham, in the webzine EthicsDaily.com.

Gibson, who co-wrote the screenplay, has said he took much of his inspiration for the torture and crucifixion depictions not only from the gospel accounts, but from the writings of a 19th-century German Catholic nun. The film features much from Catholic tradition that is not based directly on Scripture—such as Jesus passing through the Stations of the Cross and his mother, Mary, being by his side much of the way.

Despite such criticisms, many Christians are embracing the movie, flocking to theaters in such numbers that Gibson nearly recouped his $30 million investment on the movie’s first day. Many viewers attest to the movie’s power, in spite or because of Jesus’ violent death.

According to Dallas pastor Denison, at the end of the film, the central message is inescapable: “You know that the passion of the Christ is you.”

Posted: 2/27/04

Church connection key in marketing ‘Passion’

By Ted Parks

Associated Baptist Press

LOS ANGELES (ABP)—Once upon a time, pastors warned churchgoers against the evils of the silver screen. Now they are packing believers and unchurched guests alike into movie houses across the land.

The difference is what’s playing—”The Passion of the Christ,” by Hollywood heavyweight Mel Gibson.

With its R-rated, bloodstained recreation of the last hours of Jesus’ life told in English-subtitled Aramaic and Latin, film insiders predicted Gibson’s quixotic project would be a box-office flop. Instead, the movie opened with numbers rivaling Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters.

And in the audience sit many faithful church members, their seats often reserved for them by pastors.

Making its debut on Ash Wednesday, Gibson’s movie opened on 4,643 screens in 3,006 theaters with $10 million in advance ticket sales, according to Larry Ross, media representative for Icon Productions, which made the film. The media and public relations firm that Ross heads, Dallas-based A. Larry Ross and Associates, is known for its work with religious clients.

Churches are buying out entire movie houses—”four-walling,” as it’s known in the trade—to encourage their members to attend “The Passion” and take their unchurched friends with them.

In northeastern Virginia, near Washington, D.C., McLean Bible Church reserved 11,306 tickets for members and their guests, said Denny Harris, the church’s director of ministry operations. The process that snowballed into securing thousands of movie seats started with an e-mailed invitation from a theater chain asking if the church wanted to buy a couple of hundred tickets so members could see the film.

As they considered the invitation, congregation leaders were struck with the opportunities for outreach the movie offered. The goal then became to “commandeer theaters” for viewings, Harris said.

With more than 11,000 reserved movie seats, the church scheduled the film over four evenings. Interviewed after the first two nights, Harris estimated that guests invited by church members made up more than half the audience.

One of the congregation’s pastors showed up at each screening to talk to the audience about the “personal implications” of the gospel story they have just watched. And the church scheduled three workshops on “Personalizing ‘The Passion’” for people interested in finding out more.

Using Gibson’s widely publicized movie for evangelism is part of a multifaceted promotional effort by Vista, Calif.-based Outreach magazine. The magazine’s website offers a variety of products based on the film, ranging from direct-mail postcards to “affordable Passion-themed New Testaments.” Outreach sent “most churches in the United States” a DVD that included a movie trailer.

“Take time during your weekend services to show the G-rated trailer … to your congregation and then share with them how your church will be helping equip them to reach their friends and neighbors for Christ,” the website recommends. Outreach even suggests linking the movie to Easter services, perhaps by showing scenes from the DVD “to illustrate points in the sermon.”

Accompanying the recommendations are endorsements by prominent religious leaders, including well-known evangelicals Billy Graham, James Dobson, Jerry Falwell and Southern Baptist Convention President Jack Graham.

“I am praying that Mel Gibson’s movie will have a powerful impact on our culture and that it will appeal to millions of movie lovers who are starving for a glimmer of honesty regarding the miraculous and life-changing story of the one who died for everyone,” Falwell says on the site.

While marketing religiously themed films to churches is nothing new, Gibson’s movie has brought the pitch to believers to a new level of intensity, according to Gabriel Snyder, who has covered “The Passion” for the benchmark entertainment newspaper Variety. Compared with other movies similarly targeting religious markets, like the 2002 Veggie Tales feature “Jonah,” the push to pique believers’ interest in Gibson’s film comes on “a massive scale,” Snyder said.

In early January, Outreach screened the film at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., where best-selling author Rick Warren is pastor. More than 3,000 pastors and church leaders saw the movie and heard Gibson talk about it at the church, according to David Chrzan, pastor and chief of staff at Saddleback.

Warren’s church subsequently bought 18,000 tickets to offer members. When it made the tickets available on the church website, Saddleback sold nearly 10,000 in the first 48 hours, Chrzan said. The church bought out more than 40 screens.

With Warren offering a two-part sermon series on “Understanding ‘The Passion,’” Chrzan said Saddleback already felt the impact of Gibson’s movie. The weekend Warren began the series, 23,000 people attended, the largest crowd ever except Christmas and Easter. And Chrzan said the church anticipated 30,000 to 35,000 people the first weekend after the movie premiered, when Warren is to present the concluding installment of the Passion series.

In Plano, Prestonwood Baptist Church member Arch Bonnema decided to go beyond reserving seats for others, instead buying 6,000 tickets to give away. Owner of a small financial planning agency, Bonnema saw the movie in December with a group of pastors.

“When I saw it, it really changed my life,” Bonnema said. “It made everything else I had done look meaningless.”

The Texas businessman said he decided after the screening that he had to do something so that other people could see the film. When he sent out a few e-mails in December offering people the chance to go, Bonnema said, he received 23,000 e-mail requests in three days.

Bonnema scheduled his showings early on the day the film opened, Ash Wednesday. With the first screening at 6:30 a.m., Bonnema said that at 5:30—notwithstanding a 20-degree windchill and a winter downpour—a thousand people showed up to get in line.

“Just seeing these people come today, it was worth everything I own,” Bonnema said.

Nathan Mellor, minister of Hixson Church of Christ in Chattanooga, Tenn., echoed other church leaders across the nation convinced that Gibson’s movie offers a unique chance to rekindle the passion of believers, as well as reach people normally uninterested in the gospel message.

Observing that watching the movie with members of his congregation in a nearby cinema was “a real bonding experience,” Mellor reflected, “This is the biggest conversation starter we have ever had for this generation.”

Posted: 2/27/04

Leaders warn ‘The Passion’ not for most children

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Christians may want everyone to hear the gospel, but parents should be wary of letting their younger children view Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” according to faith leaders.

Christian leaders are cautioning parents to use discretion when determining whether or not their children should see the film, which graphically depicts Christ’s brutal last 12 hours on earth that led to his crucifixion and resurrection.

Many Christians are calling the R-rated film too explicit for young children and teens. Phil Boatwright, who reviews movies from a Christian perspective on moviereporter.com, calls the crucifixion possibly “the most believable death scene ever to be placed on screen.”

The violence is not only bloody but also prolonged, said Leighton Flowers, youth consultant for the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The demonic also is portrayed vividly.

The brutality is more agonizing for Christian children because they are seeing someone they love persecuted for the length of the movie, Flowers said.

The film could give some young children nightmares and flashbacks, said Bill Maier, vice president and psychologist-in-residence for Focus on the Family.

The movie is not suitable for many children under the age of 10, leaders said. Parents should strongly consider whether or not to allow anyone under 15 to see it in the theater.

“It’s too much for little kids,” Boatwright noted.

Generally, parents need to know what is appropriate for their children when determining if they should see the movie, Flowers said. They must understand their children’s tolerance for violence and ability to understand what they are seeing.

“It’s hard to pick a cut-off date because each kid is at a different point in maturity and exposure to violence,” Flowers said.

If parents are having trouble deciding whether a child should see the film, Maier encourages them to see the movie before their youth do. Adults also can choose to purchase the video of the movie at a later date and show it to their children when appropriate.

“Parents are the guardians, gatekeepers of their child’s media experience,” he said.

Maier also urged parents to attend the film with their children rather than letting them go with a youth group or friend. This allows families to discuss the movie and any emotions they are feeling immediately after the show.

Tommy Sanders, minister of childhood education at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, said the same standards that are applied in teaching the gospel to younger children should be applied to the movie.

Bible study teachers should be careful not to over-emphasize the brutality of the persecution of Christ, because it can leave them fearful, Sanders said. Younger children need to hear the message of hope in Christ clearly. The brutality of Jesus’ sacrifice is more appropriate for older youth.

The movie can invigorate the faith of mature teens, leaders said. The depiction helps viewers understand the painful sacrifice Jesus made for humanity’s sins.

“It is brutal, but there is a difference between 99 percent of (movie) brutality and this brutality,” Boatwright said. “This brutality shows what Christ went through on our behalf.”

Posted: 2/27/04

Internet buzzing as non-Christians debate 'Passion'

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

While many Christians have geared up for Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” to be the greatest evangelistic opportunity since Pentecost, non-Christian reaction to the film has been mixed.

Message boards across the Internet are filled with posts from non-Christians annoyed by what many of them see as Christians pushing their viewpoints.

“I am not against religious films at all or religions in general,” writes “Skynetdyne” on a pop.com forum. “But this is a fun film site where freaks and movie buffs come to talk about movies. Then they make these religious movies and all the (Christian) freaks start to come in. They get all mad and try to press their points of view on us movie freaks, when all we want to talk about is having fun at the cineplex.”

Dave Silverman, spokesman for the nation’s oldest non-profit group for non-religious people, American Atheists, called the movie “really preachy.” He predicted “The Passion” would not bring anyone into the Christian faith because non-Christians largely are not interested in seeing it.

Silverman decried the film’s violence and gore, calling it “Quentin Tarantino meets the pope.” He said he was disappointed the film did not present the non-judgmental elements of Christianity or answer questions people have about the crucifixion.

“This was nothing new,” he said. “This was just the Catholic view of the persecution of Christ.”

Other non-Christians are separating the religious issues from the film. On pop.com, “Cosmo_Kramer,” who noted he does not believe in Jesus, said the “film is going to be great … good quality … great story.”

“Jim” on jimlynch.com, who wrote that his spiritual beliefs have swayed greatly, was hopeful the movie would show the heart of Christianity. And he wondered if the movie would bring others to the faith.

“Still, the film will be worth watching, and it will be worth pondering what Christianity is really supposed to be about,” he said.

“I can’t but wonder if it will result in an influx of people back to the church, or if the film will simply vanish after a few months in the theaters. We’ve become such a secular country that it seems hard to believe that suddenly people will move in the other direction. I hope some good things come from it, though.”

Posted: 2/27/04

CBF must avoid partisan politics, Vestal urges

By John Pierce

Baptists Today

ATLANTA (ABP)—”We are not going to be involved in secular politics,” Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Coordinator Daniel Vestal told the CBF Coordinating Council at its winter meeting in Atlanta.

Fellowship participants are “all over the board when it comes to secular politics,” Vestal said, describing a broad spectrum, ranging from “rock-ribbed Republicans, to yellow-dog Democrats, to the tree-hugging Green Party.”

The Fellowship’s mission—to be the presence of Christ in the world—is greater than any secular political agenda, Vestal insisted.

“Please don’t divide the Fellowship over partisan politics,” he urged. “We’re about something more important than that.”

No political party “has a corner on the moral conscience of America,” he stressed.

In an interview following his report, Vestal said his comments were made not in response to the recent announcement by Southern Baptist Convention leader Richard Land about a new voter registration effort or any other particular action or concern.

“I was being preventative,” Vestal said, noting the upcoming elections will evoke political debate.

Land, president of the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, announced Southern Baptists will work with other evangelical Christians to promote voter registration through the web site ivotevalues.com.

The coalition effort avoids endorsing particular candidates, but encourages people “to vote their values,” Land claimed.

Vestal said a broader statement on avoiding partisan politics will be posted on the CBF web site, thefellowship.info, soon.

But he wanted to go ahead and express his concern to the council, he added. “I wanted to be clear about this before anything comes up.”