Posted: 10/15/04

LifeWay Family Bible Series for Oct. 24

Jesus brings meaning and purpose to our lives

Matthew 19:16-30

By Angela Hamm

First Baptist Church, Lewisville

For many Christians, this week's story is a familiar passage of Scripture. We must be careful to not allow our familiarity with the story to hinder us from experiencing truth and change in our lives. God's word is meant to invade our lives and change us from the inside out. We have much to learn from this rich young man.

The story

Jesus was asked by a rich young man what good thing he must do to obtain eternal life. This young man seems to come to Jesus with sincerity. He was really curious to know what he needed to do to receive eternal life.

Jesus addresses the man's presupposition that he can do something good enough to attain eternal life, which is only possible with God. Goodness can be measured only by God because God is the standard of goodness.

The young man asked Jesus what commands he must obey. Jesus responded to the man by citing the essence of the Ten Commandments. The young man was convinced he had kept the commandments and then asked Jesus what he still was lacking. Jesus encouraged the rich young man to sell all he had, give his money to the poor and follow him. When the young man heard Jesus' words, he left because he had many possessions and loved them more than he loved Jesus.

Although the disciples were astonished, the rich young man left without being willing to sell his possessions. Jesus announced it is virtually impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, yet Jesus taught the disciples that with God all things are possible.

The application

By the world's standards, this young man had it all. Yet he lacked the one thing he could not buy or obtain on his own–real life. Jesus tells us his purpose is to give life in all its fullness (John 10:10). The real life of Jesus gives our lives meaning and purpose.

Jim Collins, in his book “Good to Great,” writes: “Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don't have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.”

The rich young man wanted to do something good (19:16), but he had great possessions (19:22). The young man settled for good when he could have had great. In other words, the young man desired a great thing–real life–yet he was unwilling to do a good thing.

Experiencing real life

At the heart of experiencing a real life are the words “follow me.” Experiencing real life comes from following Jesus. Experiencing real life does not come through following a set of rules. It does not come through having a lot of money. It does not come through owning many possessions. Following Jesus is the only way we can experience what real life is all about.

Experiencing real life is all about relationships. We are to grow in our love for God, which results in growing in our love for people. When we desire God more than money or possessions or fame, we will gain the greatest treasure of all.

A young student went to his spiritual teacher and asked, “Teacher, how can I truly find God?” The teacher took his student to a nearby river and invited him to go into the water. When they got to middle of the stream, his teacher said, “Please immerse yourself in the water.” The student went under the water, and immediately his teacher put his hands on his student's head and held him under water. The student began to struggle. His teacher kept holding him under the water. Moments passed, and the student began thrashing the water. Yet the teacher continued to hold him under the water. Finally, the teacher released his student. The student shot up from the water grasping for air. The teacher waited for a few moments and said, “When you desire God as much as you desired to breathe the air you just breathed–then you shall find God.”

What do you desire today? Experiencing real life is a desire to follow God. If an individual has good health, a good home, a good family, wealth, yet never experiences a real life in following God–that individual is just existing.

Jesus offers to give us life in all of its fullness. Let us experience real life and live it out.

Discussion questions

Did anything in this lesson resonate with you?

IN what areas of your life have you settled for good rather than great?

How did the story of the teacher and student relate to your life, especially the last sentence: “When you desire God as much as you desired to breathe the air you just breathed–then you shall find God?”

Posted: 10/15/04

LifeWay Family Bible Series for Oct. 31

Christ has the power to change lives for eternity

Mark 5:1-20

By Angela Hamm

First Baptist Church, Lewisville

Today we come to the end of the unit Looking for Change. We have discussed that one responsibility of every Christ-follower is the willingness to be changed and to be in a position where God's ways can be the believer's ways. Yet the human tendency is to hold on to what is known and to what has been comfortable. Hopefully, this series of lessons has been a challenge to move out of comfort zones and into the transformational process of becoming more like Jesus Christ.

The story

Jesus and his disciples arrive in the land of the Gerasenes. Immediately, Jesus encounters a man who is demon possessed. We are not told how the demon entered the man and took control of his life. We do know God's word tells us Satan's ultimate purpose is to “steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). The man had lost his purpose for living.

Mark's description of this tormented man is graphic. He lives in a graveyard, sleeping in cave-like tombs. This man lives isolated from all human contact. He is so violent and out of control people are unable to restrain him. Day and night, he howls and wails. He cuts himself with broken pieces of stone. This demon-possessed man desires a changed life, and Jesus is there to initiate the change.

When the demon-possessed man encounters Jesus, he is fully aware of who Jesus is. The man kneels in homage before Jesus; he uses Jesus' divine name, “Son of the Most High God”; and he appeals to Jesus not to punish him.

Jesus asks, “What is your name?” The answer is “Legion.” The word “legion” referred to a contingent of 6,000 Roman soldiers–this man is tormented by an army of demonic spirits.

The demons beg Jesus not to send them out of the area. Jesus commands the legion to leave the man, and they leave. Jesus allows them to go into a herd of pigs. The man immediately has a changed life. He is dressed, instead of naked. He is in his right mind, instead of screaming and wailing.

Application

This story reminds us evil is alive and well in our present world and Jesus can bring freedom.

Jesus Christ can make hopeless situations into hopeful situations. Jesus has the power to change lives. He has the power to remove any stronghold in our lives. Jesus wants to invade our lives and make us more like him. He wants to cross into the places where evil has a stronghold on people's lives and give them freedom.

Let us look at Galatians 5:19-22 in order to develop an application for our lives. “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results–sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, envy, drunkenness, wild parties and other kinds of sin.”

Looking at the list in Galatians, there may be some life tendencies with which a person struggles and some that are no struggle at all. For the things with which there is a struggle, a red flag should go up that it needs to be determined if these things are a stronghold in one's life. This list shows us God does not assign a point system to the sinful nature. In God's eye's, sin is sin. And all sin has the ability to take residence in our lives and become a stronghold.

Christ followers have two choices: We can allow the flesh to control us, which leads to destruction, or we can allow the Holy Spirit to lead and control our lives. We have a force inside of us that gives our lives strength, wisdom, power and peace.

A grandfather from the Cherokee Nation was talking with his grandson. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves. One wolf is evil and ugly. He is anger, envy, war, greed, self-pity, sorrow, regret, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, selfishness and arrogance. The other wolf is beautiful and good. He is friendliness, joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, justice, fairness, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, gratitude and deep vision. This same fight is going on inside you and inside every other human as well.”

The grandson paused in deep reflection because of what his grandfather had just said. Then he finally cried out; “Oyee! Grandfather, which wolf will win?”

The elder Cherokee replied, “The wolf that you feed.”

What needs to be released in your life today? What is your stronghold? The Holy Spirit is waiting and willing to bring deliverance. The Christian faith is in the people changing business–the transformation of people into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

Discussion questions

Did anything included in the Galatians list surprise you?

What are some things you can do to live a Spirit-driven life?

Posted: 10/15/04

Public policy should be measured against
plumb line of social justice, lecturer insists

WACO–Biblical justice demands either a change of heart or change of resident in the White House, renowned preacher James Forbes told a symposium at Baylor University's Truett Seminary.

Reading from the Old Testament book of Amos, Forbes said he was struck by the image of God measuring policies and practices by a plumb line to determine if the nation was in line with principles of righteousness and justice.

Forbes, pastor of the historic Riverside Church in New York City, called people of faith to measure modern-day politicians by that standard and vote accordingly on Nov. 2.

“We face a time of choices and a recognition that our nation has strayed from some of its founding spiritual, moral and democratic principles,” he said. “People of faith care deeply about the soul of our country. They feel inspired to roll up as the prophet Amos did a series of principles by which to test their leaders' policies.”

Forbes, delivering the Parchman Endowed Lectures at Truett Seminary, presented a 10-point social justice test by which he said politicians, political parties and public policy should be judged.

“If these principles apply, there must be a change either in administration or a change within administration,” he said.

Public policy should be measured against the following plumb line, Forbes asserted:

Does it seek the common good rather than the interests of a few?

Is it truthful in facts and motives?

Does it promote unity and inclusion? Does it help reduce polarization and fragmentation in society?

Does it offer good news for the poor? Does it reverse the trend toward an ever-widening gap between rich and poor?

Does it protect the vulnerable? Is it good for children, the elderly and the disadvantaged? Does it show sensitivity to the spirit of the Golden Rule?

Does it provide for free press, free discussion and the expression of dissent along with fair and just methods of participating in the democratic process?

Does it encourage respect for people and nations other than our own? Does it respect the fundamental dignity and rights of every human being? Does it use diplomacy as a valued instrument of statecraft in resolving international conflicts and refrain from unilateral military action or empire-building and domination strategies?

Does it ensure ecological responsibility and sustainability?

Does it reflect good global citizenship, involving respect for all cultures and nations and collective responsibility for the common good of the global community? Does is it refrain from nationalism, militarism and imperialism based on a sense of national superiority?

Does it lead by example? Does it promote a more ethical society and uphold trust in public offices?

Concerning these principles, Forbes later told a reporter: “I would like to see the Republicans embrace them. I would like to see the Democrats live up to them.”

Christians have a responsibility to seek God's guidance and cast informed votes, Forbes told his seminary audience.

“If you vote and you do not have a serious consultation with your God, then you have voted falsely,” he said. “It is a spiritual responsibility to vote as close as you can … inclined towards the will of God. … If you want to vote right, you must pray for your vote; you must listen to different opinions before you vote; you must read before you vote; you have to think; then you have to consult with Jesus; and then you've got to make up your mind.”

Forbes chided politicians of all stripes for “retreating from the public good,” citing economic figures that contend the current gap between “the haves” and “the have-nots” is the widest in 50 years.

The country “didn't get that way overnight, nor is it likely to be reversed overnight,” he asserted. And a course correction will demand spiritual–not just political–reformation, Forbes insisted.

“America will not come back because of this election,” he said. “America will only come back with a great awakening. Then we will begin to see a social amelioration.”

Based on reporting by Terri Jo Ryan of the Waco Tribune-Herald and Lori Fogleman of Baylor University.

Posted: 10/15/04

Duane Brooks	Robert Creech	Wayne Young

Men find church-based fraternity worth their
time, even if it means meeting before dawn

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

HOUSTON–Two Houston Baptist churches have discovered how to get several hundred men to church at 6 a.m. once a week.

“They come because it meets a need,” said Duane Brooks, pastor at Tallowood Baptist Church. “It answers the questions they are asking: 'What does it mean to be a man? How can I get better at being a husband? How can I be a better father to my children and a better son to my parents?'”

Tallowood and University Baptist Church each recently started a six-month journey toward “authentic manhood” through Men's Fraternity. The groups they launched are among more than 400 started since August 2003 at churches throughout the United States and in China and Australia and among military personnel in Iraq.

Robert Lewis, teaching pastor at Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, Ark., started developing the Men's Fraternity curriculum 14 years ago.

Weekly meetings include a brief teaching time, followed by small-group exercises in which men are encouraged to explore their pasts, define manhood, create a code for living and develop a plan for keeping each other accountable to that code.

Using the Old Testament example of King David, the program examines the “four faces of men–king, lover, warrior and friend,” explained Pastor Robert Creech of University Baptist Church.

“A big part of it initially is looking at how the past affects us,” he said. “There's an exploration of the wounds men carry” such as having absentee or abusive fathers.

“It is transforming in the sense that it invites our men to unpack their bags, look into their pasts and see not only who they are but also what they do,” Brooks added. “Ultimately, it brings Scripture to bear on men's lives and decisions.”

The program meshes well with University Baptist Church's discipleship emphasis on helping members grow in Christ-likeness, Creech noted. But while the Men's Fraternity is church-based, it reaches far beyond a single congregation.

Men from more than 40 churches representing several denominations attend the weekly Bay Area Men's Fraternity meetings at University Baptist Church. Even some men who claim no church affiliation have been drawn to the meetings.

“It's giving them a chance to talk about things that just don't get talked about,” Creech said.

Families will benefit from men participating in the program, he believes.

“We're teaching men to be present and accounted for at home,” Creech said. “It's encouraging men to be engaged in life more directly through relationships with family, friends and God.”

Wayne Young, coordinator of the Bay Area Men's Fraternity, thinks churches and the community will benefit.

“I personally believe a church is not any stronger than its families, and families are not any stronger than the fathers in them,” he said. “Some fathers are not in the picture at all. But even in some homes where they're around, they're passive. They're captured by work commitments and other distractions.”

Young, a layman at University Baptist Church, believes the Men's Fraternity teaches a “counter-cultural” message.
“Today's culture places men in the position of being measured by material success and the world's standards,” he said. “It's all focused on the trappings of life–temporal things that don't really matter.”

Young thinks Promise Keepers rallies, weekend men's retreats and church-based recreational activities have their place, but Men's Fraternity offers a deeper opportunity for ongoing spiritual development. While the initial program lasts about six months, additional studies are available, and some Men's Fraternity groups have been meeting for several years.

Mark Felton, a layman at University Baptist Church and member of the Bay Area Men's Fraternity leadership team, said the program satisfies a hunger many men feel.

“A lot of men are frustrated with the ideas of manhood presented in the media,” he said, pointing to role models who either are passively indecisive or criminally aggressive.

“We have fathers of teenaged sons who come wanting to know how to learn and teach rules for manhood.”

The intergenerational small-group experience available through Men's Fraternity particularly meets a need, he added.

“We develop deep bonds in small groups,” he said. “The group becomes a band of brothers to whom we are accountable.”

Posted: 10/15/04

Habitat leadership transition agreement
reached; founder Fuller retires as CEO

By John Pierce

Baptists Today

AMERICUS, Ga.–Millard Fuller, the Baptist layman who founded Habitat for Humanity International with his wife, Linda, in 1976, will relinquish the title of chief executive officer but continue as “founding president” of the housing ministry.

Fuller has been in dispute for several months with Habitat's board of directors that appointed a new managing director in June and called for Fuller to retire as president in January, 2005. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Habitat's best-known volunteer, has intervened on two occasions to seek a compromise.

A press release from Habitat's headquarters in Americus, Ga., states the Fullers will serve as ambassadors for the ecumenical Christian housing movement that will dedicate its 200,000th house this year. Fuller said earlier he wanted to be in a leadership role when that milestone is reached.

“Now as I approach my 70th birthday, it is time for a change,” said Fuller, according to the release. “I will remain very engaged in the ministry as a spokesperson and strategist, and will help in every other way I can to strengthen and expand the work of Habitat for Humanity throughout the United States and around the world.”

Board Chairman Rey Ramsey announced that Paul Leonard, managing director since June, will serve as Habitat's CEO until a permanent replacement is named. David Williams will remain in charge of day-to-day management as chief operating officer, a job he has held for several years.

“With today's actions,” said Ramsey, an attorney in Baltimore, “everyone involved in the organization can keep their focus firmly on the future.”

Posted: 10/15/04

Dawn Larley (left) of Handley Baptist Church in Fort Worth cleans the kitchen of fellow church member Geneva Moore (middle). Handley Pastor Robert Bennett (right) rakes the yard

Fort Worth church shows love by 'sweating for Jesus'

By George Henson

Staff Writer

FORT WORTH–Sixty members of Handley Baptist Church recently converged to turn a house back into a home.

Geneva Moore has lived in the house many years–so long it had fallen into disrepair.

The first time Pastor Robert Bennett visited this faithful church member, he knew something had to be done.

“I was crushed by the fact that this lady could hardly get around in her own home with her walker because the floors weren't level. There were multiple other problems, because her husband had died years ago, and she had just gotten older and couldn't handle the house's problems,” he said.

The city threatened to condemn the structure.

Volunteer Chris Hamilton (left) hangs a window screen.

But her church family came to her rescue. A small crew of workmen spent three weeks repairing the roof and raising the home's foundation to level the floors. Then on one Saturday morning, 60 people wearing bright yellow “Sweating for Jesus–We are His Hands” T-shirts gathered to give the home a good going-over, inside and out.

They painted the exterior and interior, cleaned the kitchen, garage and yard, repaired a gaping hole in the front porch, installed new telephone wiring, and replaced the windows, including the frames. The home received the finishing touches of new carpet and draperies a few days later.

All of that took a lot of hands.

“We had kids, grandmas, students–all kinds of people,” Bennett said.

Bob Taylor, a retired layman charged with crew leadership for structural and exterior projects, said they all were drawn to the house by the same motivations.

“People are actually hungry to serve–they just don't always know it until the try it,” he said. “The Lord has always given me a hunger for helping widows.”

Bennett said the project goes well with the church's emphasis for the year. “Our whole theme has been 'Love God, Love People,'” he said. “We're just trying to put our hand into God's hand and see where he leads us.”

In addition to fixing up the house, the church also passed out flyers in the neighborhood, encouraging people in the area to come to the worksite, have a doughnut and meet church members.

Bennett expressed surprise at the number of people who answered that invitation.

The project encouraged several other residents in the area to clean up around their homes, he added.

The project also encouraged the people who took part, Bennett said. A celebration meal with photographs capped the evening and added to the enthusiasm.

“They're ready to tackle another one,” Bennett said.

“We've found four or five people with smaller things that need doing, and the church is ready to take them on.”

Posted: 10/15/04

Historical Society explores roles
of associations in doctrinal diversity

The Texas Baptist Historical Society at its fall meeting in San Antonio will examine how Baptist associations have handled issues of doctrinal diversity.

Paul Stripling, director of missions emeritus of Waco Baptist Association, will present the program, focusing on ways associations have dealt with topics such as charismatic worship, alien immersion and the ordination of women.

The society's lunch meeting will be at 10:45 a.m., Nov. 8 in San Antonio's Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center, prior to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting.

The business session will include election of officers and recognition of history award winners.

Cost is $15 per person, payable at the door, but the deadline for reservations is Nov. 2. To make a reservation, call (972) 331-2235 or e-mail tbhc@bgct.org.

Posted: 10/15/04

Texas hunger offering helps support
development projects around the world

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptists Communications

BANGALORE, India–A 4-year-old boy in Bangalore, India, who was born with his feet turned backwards can walk today because of a ministry supported through the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger.

That boy no longer faces a future as a man with useless legs, unable to support himself and subject to poverty and hunger, said Joe Haag of the Baptist General Convention of Texas' Christian Life Commission.

ProVision Asia, a ministry to handicapped and hungry people in India, provided the boy's surgery for $300.

The ministry in Bangalore, led by Chip and Jean Kingery, is set to receive $5,000 next year from the Texas offering. ProVision Asia, however, will receive only a percentage of that if Texas Baptists fail to achieve the $750,000 offering goal.

Texas Baptists churches are encouraged to set aside the four Sundays prior to Thanksgiving each year to emphasize the hunger offering, Haag noted. Many churches collect the offering throughout the year, but 40 percent of the funds is given in the final three months of the year.

Funds for the offering are collected during a fiscal year that begins in October each year. They are distributed during the calendar year that lags three months behind.

In the fiscal year that ended in September, Texas Baptists gave $774,344 through the offering. That is an increase of 19 percent above the $648,841 given the previous year. But it still fell short of the $800,000 goal. Consequently, ministries did not receive 100 percent of the planned funding.

The CLC changed the way it handled hunger relief beginning in 1996, moving away from lump-sum contributions going to other agencies and toward a system that provides more accountability, Haag said. Now, the CLC spells out which specific ministries the offering supports before Texas Baptists ever begin giving to it.

Five percent of the offering goes to administrative costs, Haag said. The rest is divided generally: 60 percent international, 25 percent Texas and 15 percent the United States beyond Texas.

As in the India ministry, the Texas offering “doesn't only feed people, but it helps people to feed themselves by attending to the long-term causes of hunger and poverty,” he noted.

The international funding requests come primarily through three sources–the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, national member bodies of the Baptist World Alliance and BGCT's Texas Partnerships Resource Center, Haag said.

In the United States, the number of states receiving hunger funds from Texas has grown to 10, plus the District of Columbia. “The states are applying to us because they're getting less funding” from the Southern Baptist Convention, Haag said.

Ministries seeking funding through the offering must reapply each year, and the CLC receives four times as many funding requests as it has money to support, Haag said. “And we hardly ever fund at the level people ask for.”

But Haag sees the potential for much greater giving. If one in 20 Texas Baptists gave $10 to hunger relief each month, the result would be 15 times greater than what is now being given.

Ministries supported by the offering are varied and wide-ranging. In Texas alone, $187,500 is earmarked for hunger relief efforts in Amarillo, Austin, Brownwood, Conroe, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Decatur, Del Rio-Uvalde, El Paso, Fort Worth, Freeport, Houston, Midland, Mineral Wells, Odessa, the Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio and Weatherford.

In other states, $112,500 will be spent. The ministries vary greatly, because the needs vary greatly.

In Iowa, for example, there is food distribution, literacy training and job skills developing in the growing Hispanic community of Denison.

There is food distribution, after-school tutoring, job and life skills classes, parenting training and crisis counseling in a part of Des Moines with an increasing number of refugee immigrants and the accompanying high crime, poverty, school dropouts, unemployment and drug abuse. In eight rural areas, the offering helps support crisis hunger relief, after-school projects and job training.

Overseas, the hunger offering reaches to ministries in Puerto Rico, Brazil, Romania, Congo, Malawi, Israel, China, Thailand and many other places.

For complete 2004 and 2005 lists of supported ministries, see www.bgct.org/hunger.

Posted: 10/15/04

Christians from Iraq flee
rising Islamic fundamentalism

By Dale Gavlak

Religion News Service

AMMAN, Jordan (RNS)–Iraqi Christians flocked to the Latin Catholic church in the Hashmi district of the Jordanian capital, a drab working-class area, where they celebrated Mass in the ancient Chaldean language.

On a recent Sunday, some 200 worshippers packed the sanctuary, adorned with a simple wooden cross and a picture of the Virgin Mary and Christ. Here, away from their native country, these Iraqi Christians felt safe.

Fearing lawlessness and rising Islamic fundamentalism in their own country, large numbers of Iraqi Christians are fleeing to neighboring Jordan and Syria.

No one knows for certain how many of Iraq's 750,000 Christians have left the country since the removal of Saddam Hussein, but estimates are in the tens of thousands.

Most of Iraq's Christians are Chaldean Eastern rite Catholics who are autonomous from Rome but who recognize the pope's authority.

Other Christian groups include Roman and Syriac Catholics; Assyrians; Greek, Syriac and Armenian Orthodox; Presbyterians; Anglicans and evangelicals.

The level of mistreatment Christians face in Iraq is disputed, even among Christians themselves, but no one can deny the fear, which is palpable among those crossing the border. Church bombings in Baghdad and Mosul only fuel that fear, but so do individual stories, even though few can be substantiated outside of Iraq.

One Christian attending the Mass, Samir, requested that his full name not be used because of fear of reprisals against his family. A businessman from Baghdad, he recounted how militants linked to renegade Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al Sadr recently kidnapped and tortured him until his family paid ransom money.

“A gang came to my shop with machine guns and forced me into a car, where I remained for nine days,” Samir said. “They wanted $200,000 from me.

“They repeatedly hit me and poured boiling water all over my body. I was held hostage until my family paid them $50,000 to finally get me released.”

The man, in his mid-fifties, now walks with a cane, and burn marks are visible on his body. He says he and his family fled to Jordan but hope to find permanent refuge in Australia because he cannot find legal work here.

Samir and other recently arrived refugees said militants are targeting Christians in Iraq because they perceive the Christians have money. They also say Islamists have attacked predominately Christian-owned liquor, fashion and music shops, demanding their businesses be shut down because they are deemed offensive.

Another fresh arrival in Amman, Bernadette Hikmat, says all this is unwarranted because Iraqi Christians are peaceful and have had a low-key presence in Iraq for 2,000 years.

“Christians in Iraq do not instigate violent acts,” Hikmat said. “But unlike the Sunni and Shiite Muslim communities, we have no big tribes to support or protect us against harm, so that makes us vulnerable.”

The 29-year-old former government employee says she and her two younger brothers escaped with a few of their worldly possessions in a couple of suitcases.

“I believe we are also being targeted as Christians because we are viewed as suspected collaborators with U.S. and Western forces amid a rising tide of Islamic fundamentalism,” she said. “Of course, this is not true, but this perception only increases our problems.”

The synchronized bombings of five churches in recent weeks and another car bombing at a Baghdad church Sept. 10 have sent further shock waves into the Christian community.

The blasts killed 11 people and wounded more than 50 in Baghdad and in the northern city of Mosul.

They were the first significant strike on Iraq's Christians, who make up about 3 percent of the country's 25 million people.

A previously obscure group, the Committee of Planning and Follow-up in Iraq, claimed responsibility and warned more attacks would follow.

But Iraqi officials blame Al-Qaida ally and Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi for the assaults.

As a result of continued instability, many Christians are choosing to leave Iraq rather than return to their church pews.

Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, has condemned the attacks on the churches as “hideous crimes” but the country's migration minister says the exodus of Christians continues.

Pascale Isho Warda, herself a Chaldean Catholic Christian, estimates that 40,000 Christians have left Iraq because of a lack of security and organized attacks on their churches.

But the U.N. refugee agency disputes the figure. A spokesperson for the Iraq program of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees based in Amman said the estimate is unsubstantiated.

He said reliable numbers are hard to come by because many refugees have gone directly to foreign embassies, such as the Australian or Canadian embassies, to make their claim and have bypassed the United Nations in the belief that a claim of religious persecution will provide a chance for quicker asylum.

The refugee coordinator for the Middle East Council of Churches in Jordan, Wafa Goussous, said no Iraqi Christians have sought assistance directly from the organization.

Instead, Iraqi refugees go to their church communities upon arrival in Jordan for needed aid, such as housing and food.

The priest of the Latin Catholic church in Amman's Hashimi district, Raymond Musili, has put the figure of recent arrivals from Iraq at about 7,000 at his church alone.

In Syria, the U.N. refugee agency operating in Damascus reports about 4,000 Iraqi Christians have sought refuge in the country.

But even with the growing climate of fear in Iraq, there are stalwart Christians who choose not to leave their homeland. A small group of Pentecostal Christians visited Amman recently from Baghdad and reported their church is growing, despite pressures.

They also refuted claims of intimidation from Muslim militants.

What is irrefutable is the fear and anxiety among many Christians, who see their future as uncertain, at best, in the new Iraq.

Posted: 10/15/04

Louisiana College selects assistant dean
at Southwestern Seminary as new president

PINEVILLE, La. (ABP)–Trustees of Louisiana College announced that Malcolm Yarnell of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary will be the embattled school's eighth president.

Yarnell, assistant dean of theological studies and associate professor of systemic theology at Southwestern Seminary, was offered the job after a closed-door session of trustees.

“Today is a great day for the college,” emphasized Ed Tarpley of Pineville, La., who headed the presidential search committee.

“Malcolm Yarnell is an outstanding theologian and teacher. He has a love for students and faculty, and he is truly a man that all Louisiana Baptists can be proud of.”

The college's trustee board has been divided between the fundamentalist majority and a moderate minority, and the school is now under investigation by its accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Trustee Chair Joe Nesom resigned June 27 as fellow trustees prepared to remove him from office. Nesom denounced “unwise unilateral actions taken by certain board members.”

At a news conference announcing Yarnell's decision to accept the post, Tarpley was asked if he had confidence in the new president's ability to heal tensions at the school.

He called Yarnell “a peacemaker” and “a consensus builder … who's going to come in and listen to everyone and do what is best for the students, the faculty and the entire Louisiana College community,” he said.

“And I think, with all those characteristics, he'll be able to come in and start the healing process and move Louisiana College forward.”

Yarnell, a Louisiana native, previously was academic dean and vice president for academic affairs at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo.

He holds a bachelor's degree from Louisiana State University, master's degrees from Southwestern and Duke University and a doctor of philosophy from Oxford University.

He has been pastor of churches in North Carolina and Louisiana.

Posted: 10/15/04

Jonathan Marin hugs Decisions for Life program director Christina Diaz in celebration of his selection to the advisory panel for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. He is the only Texan among the 22 youth named to the working group which will meet in Washington, D.C., three times during their 18-month service. They also will serve as national spokesmen for media outlets. (Craig Bird Photo)

Sexual abstinence program changes teen's life

By Craig Bird

Baptist Child & Family Services

SAN ANTONIO–Four years ago, Jonathan Marin didn't know what an abstinence program was. Today, he's a nationally recognized leader in the effort to lower the incidence of pregnancy among teenagers, and he credits a program of Baptist Child & Family Services with changing his life.

Last month, the high school senior was named to the 22-member Youth Leadership Team, an advisory body to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. He is the only student from Texas selected for the panel, which will meet in Washington, D.C., three times over the next 18 months to help develop policy, as well as serve as media spokesmen for the organization.

A few years ago, no one would have predicted such an outcome.

Not Marin. “I was a terrible little kid,” he said.

Not his mother. “I was telling him I didn't want to see him wind up in jail like his brother, or running with gangs, or dead in the streets, but he wouldn't listen,” she said.

Not even Christina Diaz, program director of Decisions for Life, a Baptist Child & Family Services-sponsored sexual abstinence program. “Let's just say Jonathan was one of our more challenging students,” she said, struggling to be diplomatic.

But Marin believes the Decisions for Life program and staff “saved my life and showed me I could reach my dreams.”

Antoinette Marin looks with pride at her son, Jonathan, and gives thanks for the influence the Decisions for Life program had on his life.

Those dreams include becoming the first college graduate in his family and a pursuing a career in the U.S. Army.

It's been quite a trip, from a trouble-prone eighth-grader to a role model who publicly states: “I promise to be sexually abstinent; to be drug- and alcohol-free; to promote unity to others. I am a leader. I will succeed.”

“It's not easy to do the right thing all the time,” he admitted. “That is one reason it is important to take the pledge in public and in a group. We can support each other. I know I've got younger kids looking to me for leadership, and that encourages me.”

Decisions for Life is a long-term program that focuses on preventing teen pregnancy through leadership development.

The program “encourages positive decision-making by creating in our young people a sense of hope and a belief in unlimited possibilities,” Diaz explained. “In a community that continually faces the challenges of high teen pregnancy rates, family breakdown, juvenile crime and school dropouts, our students are invested in making a difference not only for their futures but for the futures of others as well.”

Marin joined Decisions for Life in 2000.

“He was in the eighth grade, and we were just getting started,” recalled Diaz, who nominated Marin for the Youth Leadership Team. “Early on, we sometimes wondered if he'd ever come around, but he kept with it and has become one of our key leaders–not only out front but behind the scenes. He piles up more hours on community service projects than anyone.”

Marin has become a committed and vocal proponent of teenagers delaying sexual activity, she said.

“Jonathan hasn't been afforded the opportunities many other young people have had, but he believes in the power of his dreams. He believes he has the power to make a difference for himself and for others around him.”

Last year, Diaz was speaking at a school and used Marin as a success story, but she didn't identify him by last name. Afterward, a teacher asked if she were talking about Jonathan Marin.

“When I said yes, he didn't believe me,” she recalled. “He kept saying: 'It can't be the kid I'm talking about. There's no way that kid was going to amount to anything.' He's come so far. I'm just so proud of him.”

Antoinette Marin, Jonathan's mother, agrees.

Decisions for Life “kept my son off the streets,” she explains. “The staff has always been there for him, and they taught him things that he wouldn't listen to when I tried to tell him. I wish a program like this had been around for my older son, and maybe he wouldn't have gotten into drugs and been sent to prison. I wish there had been something like this for me when I was growing up!”

Both her sons have brought tears to her eyes–grief for the bad choices her elder son made and joy for the achievements of her younger boy.

At an award ceremony in 2001, Marin received his first “Leader of Leaders” recognition from Decisions for Life. After accepting the medal, he walked into the audience and hung it around his mother's neck.

“That's the first time I made my mother cry–at least for a happy reason,” he recounted.

Leaders of Decisions for Life share the sense of pride Marin's mother feels.

“If you only knew how far he's come to get to where he is now,” Diaz said. “I'll never forget the first time I saw him in his ROTC uniform. He came into my office and was standing in the door when I looked up. His shoulders were back and his chin was up, and he had the look of a winner in his eyes. ”

The image struck her so hard that she grabbed her camera and took a photograph.

“Sometimes when I'm putting in another 10-hour day and feeling overwhelmed by all the problems the kids in this community face, I get really tired,” she admitted. “But then I remember things Jonathan says and what his mom says, and I know I can keep going. Kids like Jonathan are what make it all worthwhile.”

Posted: 10/15/04

'Godfather' of Religious Right dead in Memphis at age 78

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–A Southern Baptist layman credited with being the “godfather” of the modern Religious Right is dead at age 78.

Ed McAteer died after a long battle with myeloma, a form of cancer, Oct. 5 at his home in Memphis, Tenn. His wife, Faye, was with him when he died.

In the late 1970s, McAteer became convinced the nation was on a declining moral trajectory. He left a successful career as a salesman and executive with Colgate-Palmolive to enter political advocacy.

He soon became one of the driving forces in convincing Jerry Falwell, the fundamentalist Baptist television preacher, to enter politics in the late 1970s. McAteer–along with Religious Right activists Paul Weyrich, Paul Viguerie and Howard Phillips–helped Falwell found the Moral Majority in 1979.

Although the Moral Majority no longer exists, it was the first major organization encouraging fundamentalist Protestants to get involved in secular politics.

McAteer organized the first National Affairs Briefing, which brought about 15,000 pastors and other conservative Christian activists to Dallas in 1980. At that meeting, then-presidential candidate Ronald Reagan cemented his ties to the Religious Right by famously declaring, “I know you can't endorse me, but I endorse you.”

McAteer–a member of Bellevue Baptist Church near Memphis–devoted much of his time in recent years to building support among evangelical Christians for Israel.