Missionaries bring light to ‘heart of darkness’_80904

Posted: 8/06/04

Union Femenil Misionera elected officers during the Woman's Missionary Union of Texas Leadership Conference in Waco. The officers are: (l-r) President Irma Alvarado of First Baptist Church in Donna, Secretary Frances Barrera from Jericho Baptist Church in Plainview and Vice President Esther Molina of Primera Iglesia Bautista in Round Rock.

Missionaries bring light to 'heart of darkness'

By Sarah Farris

Texas Baptist Communications

WACO–Texas Baptists do not have to go far to find “world-class lostness,” Missionaries William and Orpha Ortega told the Texas Leadership Conference.

In Mexico and Central America, only one person in 10 is an evangelical Christian, they noted.

Although the Roman Catholic Church dominates the region, the church in Latin America is mixed with pagan religions, idolatry and belief in redemption through works, they asserted.

Orpha Ortega

A large portion of southeast Mexico is called “the heart of darkness,” the couple said. Fewer than 2 percent of the residents in the heart-shaped region are evangelical Christians.

“People think they must go far, but open your eyes,” William Ortega said during the missions training conference, sponsored by Woman's Missionary Union of Texas.

The populations of Alaska, Arkansas, South Carolina, Colorado, Wyoming, Maine, Louisiana, Kentucky, Indiana, Mississippi and Washington, D.C., combined make up the number of non-believers in Mexico City alone, said the Ortega's oldest daughter, Vasti.

The population of the city is nearly 27.5 million, but only about 250,000 are evangelical Christians.

The Mexican area with the highest percentage of Christians–Chiapas, with 14 percent –is the region with the highest amount of Christian persecution in Mexico.

According to the Open Doors world watch list, this area ranks 30th globally in persecution. Christians in Chiapas have been jailed, and some of their homes have been burned, Ortega said.

The National Baptist Convention of Mexico has set goals of 10,000 Baptist churches with 1 percent of the nation's population on the membership rolls and ministering among 10 unreached indigenous people groups in Mexico and 10 unreached people groups internationally, the Ortegas said.

Mexico City Baptist missionaries have created a program called City-Takers to help achieve this task.

The strategy is “to cast the vision through presentations and media, mobilize national church planting teams, equip the church planting teams and start new churches that will multiply themselves.”

The organization relies on short-term missionaries, dedicated to Mexico missions from four months to two years. New missionaries are assigned to specific duties based on their individual talents and experience.

Short-term missionaries also are involved in the mobilization of the Christian church in Mexico.

A mobilized church, the Ortegas said, prays specifically, gives sacrificially and goes strategically.

Baptist Nursing Fellowship elects officers

Texas Baptist Nursing Fellowship officers, elected during the Woman's Missionary Union Texas Leadership Conference are: (l-r) First Vice President Melba Wilkerson from First Baptist Church of Henderson, President Linda Garner of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, Second Vice President Lupe Koch of Primera Iglesia Bautista in Fort Worth, Secretary/Treasurer RaNon Caraway from First Baptist Church in Brady and Nominating Committee Chairperson Anne Morrison of Macedonia Baptist Church in San Antonio.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




WMU speakers challenge women to be followers of Christ_80904

Posted: 8/06/04

Joy Fenner (center) announces Suzy Wall (left) of Hereford as the first recipient of a missions scholarship named in Fenner's honor. Wall will minister during the Olympics in Athens this August. Fenner credited Jeane Talley (right) with getting the fund started through her "stewardship of time, money and personality."

WMU speakers challenge women to be followers of Christ

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

WACO–The parade of speakers at the Texas Leadership Conference spanned several generations. They included missionaries, the children of missionaries and just regular Texas Baptists. But all spoke of following Christ in missions.

The theme of this year's conference, sponsored by Woman's Missionary Union of Texas, was “Christ Followers,” and the program illustrated the varied ways people follow Jesus.

Christ followers are servants, said Wanda Lee, executive director of national WMU. They are ordinary people who heard and listened closely when Jesus said: “Take up your cross and follow me.”

“He issued an invitation to follow him all the way, all the time,” Lee said.

Jesus is asking for a “sold-out commitment,” she added. “I suspect there are those days when it would be easier to just pack it up and go home.”

Amanda Perez (left) of Lubbock receives the Sybil Bentley Dove Award from Wanda Lee, executive director of national Woman's Missionary Union. Perez, whose three sons joined her on stage, received the award and scholarship because of her involvement in Christian Women's Job Corps, first as a participant and now as a volunteer. She is the second participant from her Lubbock CWJC group to recieve the national honor.

But Jesus set a different example, she noted. “He never gave up, no matter what the difficulty.”

Elaine Tate, a member of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, said the involvement in missions by her 7-year-old daughter, Kathryn, shows there is “no age limit or requirement for Christian service.” Kathryn has taken dinner to children at Buckner Baptist Benevolences homes.

Diana Lewis, a missionary in Arkansas, told of her work with people living in poverty. “I believe low-income people are our most unreached people group.” She encouraged participants to “study and learn about the poor where you live.”

Carolyn Woods, a member of the Texas WMU African-American advisory council, spoke about efforts to revive mission work in African-American churches, particularly through the Sisters Who Care women's program.

“There are opportunities out there for all of us,” she said. “We must go beyond the walls of our churches, get out in the community and do kingdom work.”

William and Orpha Ortega, missionaries in Mexico City, said Mexican Baptists have set a goal to plant 10,000 churches by 2010.

“It is a window of opportunity for the Baptist General Convention of Texas to work side by side (with Baptists in Mexico) … to reach Mexico for Jesus Christ,” Ortega said.

He challenged Texas Baptists to seize the opportunity to share in gospel with people in a neighboring nation who live in spiritual darkness.

Kay Parks, a former missionary to an unreached people group in southeast Asia, said she “began to realize it would take a mighty act of God” for the people to understand the gospel. Prayers eventually led to physical and emotional healing.

Cindy Gaskins, a pastor's wife serving with an international church in Hong Kong, told of a young woman who helped the ministry there.

“People of the nations smell the fragrance of Christ in her life,” Gaskins said.

Linda Gibson, missionary to Thailand, told how Jesus used simple objects to communicate truth and how that principle helped Thailand. She used things like balloons and stamped envelopes to share Christ with a people group who are gifted at crafting silver jewelry.

Nancy and Bruce Muskrat, missionaries to Argentina, are professors of church music in Buenos Aires. They perform classical music concerts that serve as tools for evangelism. In many cases, they noted, concerts have led to the creation of small group Bible studies.

Their adult daughter, Amy, said she wouldn't trade her experience as a missionary kid “for anything in the world.”

Being involved in her parents' ministry provided a rich cultural experience and the chance to travel to churches and lead in worship, she noted.

Baptists from at least nine nations and people groups, including two national women's leaders from Korea, attended Texas Leadership Conference this year.

“We are a glimpsing a bit of heaven,” said Carolyn Porterfield, executive director of Texas WMU. “God really does love the whole world.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




Use ‘basics’ to involve families in missions_80904

Posted: 8/06/04

Use 'basics' to involve families in missions

WACO–The key to getting families involved in missions is to “just make a start” and stick to the basics, a veteran missions volunteer told a Woman's Missionary Union training conference.

“You can use the basic things you already know and make them something special,” Suzy Wall of Hereford said during a workshop titled “Hats Off to Families on Mission” during the Texas Leadership Conference in Waco.

Wall, who will serve as a mission volunteer at the Olympics in Athens, Greece, gave participants several ideas for getting families involved.

Suzy Wall of Hereford offers helpful hints for involving families in missions.

bluebull Take your family and another family to a park in the afternoon and string beads. Other children at the park will want to join the activity.

bluebull Cook food, such as cookies, and take it to a children's or nursing home for a holiday, but check with the facility ahead of time. Have children help with both baking and delivery.

bluebull Help cook and serve at a soup kitchen.

“Seeing people in need teaches (children) so much,” Wall said.

bluebull Buy and take birthday party decorations to a family that cannot afford any. Take them to the parents and let them use them.

“Single mothers desperately need help,” she said.

bluebull Enlist teenage boys to change oil in someone's car.

Go by on Thursday to determine the type of oil and filter needed and let the person know you'll be back on Saturday to change them, she suggested.

bluebull Provide babysitting for a single mom who may just want to spend some time alone reading a book or taking a bubble bath.

bluebull Repair the home of a disabled person and prepare a picnic on the lawn for lunch.

bluebull Volunteer to be a “prayer warrior” in a Bible study group.

bluebull Make balloons for children attending associational summer camps.

bluebull Make a garden and share the vegetables with the elderly. "

There are a lot of people who enjoy that, but they can't do that anymore," Wall said.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




God chooses people for special tasks, but only uses the available, Bible teacher says_80904

Posted: 8/06/04

God chooses people for special tasks,
but only uses the available, Bible teacher says

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

WACO–God chooses certain people as his instruments for particular times and purposes but can use them only when they make themselves available, a Bible study leader told the Texas Leadership Conference.

Gaynor Yancey, director of the baccalaureate program in Baylor University's School of Social Work, taught a Bible study on the conference theme, “Christ Followers.” Woman's Missionary Union of Texas sponsored the annual missions training event on the Baylor campus.

Yancey focused on four women in Scripture whom God used to meet special needs–Queen Esther; Mary, the mother of Jesus; and Mary and Martha of Bethany.

The Old Testament book of Esther is peculiar among the Scriptures in that God never is mentioned by name. “But Esther was significant to God's plan, and we can see God's fingerprints literally all over Esther's life,” Yancey noted.

God allowed Esther to become queen of Persia so the Jews would have an advocate before the king when a law was passed that could have resulted in their extermination, she said.

She pointed to two key phrases spoken by Esther's relative, Mordecai. He suggested to Esther that she had been elevated to royal position “for such a time as this.” And he told her if she remained silent, “relief and delivery” for the Jews would come from somewhere else.

Yancey, who served 25 years with the Southern Baptist Convention's Home Mission Board in inner-city Philadelphia, urged the women in her seminar to ask themselves if God had brought them to a place of influence at a particular time to set right some injustice or meet an urgent human need.

“God has a plan for your life and mine,” she said. “If we don't follow that plan, God will use someone else. But the needs will be met.”

Turning to the New Testament, Yancey pointed to Mary, the mother of Jesus, as God's chosen instrument for a one-of-a-kind task.

She stressed the angel's words to Mary, “Nothing is impossible with God.” And she challenged Texas Baptist women to echo Mary's words, “I am the Lord's servant.”

Yancey urged the women to say in response to God: “If you are calling me to ministry to this person, if you are calling me to meet the needs of this group, if you are calling me to help with this organization or this committee, may it be to me as you have said.”

Yancey also briefly examined Mary and Martha, sisters of Lazarus.

Their household–three single adult siblings–was not typical for that time, she observed. But their home became a much-needed “place of safety” for Jesus during his Judaean ministry–due in part to Martha's spiritual gift of hospitality and in part to Mary's attentive devotion to Jesus.

As a university professor, Yancey observed that many of her most dedicated Christian students understand what Mary knew–the importance of spending time with Jesus.

She noted some of her students set aside time on their daily planners for Bible study, prayer, journaling and reflection, and they treat that time as inviolable.

“In order to be effective instruments of God, we have to have time when we draw aside and experience Jesus,” she said.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




Storylist for 8_09_80904

Storylist for 8/09/04 issue

GO TO SECTIONS:
Texas       • Baptists      
Faith       • Departments       • Opinion       • Bible Study     
FRONTPAGE ARTICLES
Floods prompt outpouring of ministry

Associations help pregnant women in need, one at a time



Floods prompt outpouring of ministry

Associations help pregnant women in need, one at a time

No second term for Hall as BGCT president; cites need for diversity

Casino impact studies ignore social costs, researchers say

Gambling industry has money, but opponents insist they have hope

God's Man in Texas

Operation Multiplication strategy builds on Jesus' discipleship model

Three Russian orphans still need parents

'777' on the pager means somebody is praying

Volunteers are 'hands and feet of Jesus' to Valley families

DBU students seek to 'turn the tide' against AIDS in Africa

Biblical ignorance, lack of prayer lead to conflict, mediator says

San Antonio church collects, fills backpacks for 525 South Texas children

Baylor regents take no action on president, reaffirm commitment to Baylor 2012 vision

Bivocational ministers' group changes name

San Angelo-area volunteers start pilot Christian Men's Job Corps program

Houston youth experience international missions

Texas Tidbits

On the Move

Around the State


WMU LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
Mission Arlington nurtures, trains next generation of missionaries

Women challenged to invest time in the lives of poor families

Missionaries bring light to 'heart of darkness'

WMU speakers challenge women to be followers of Christ

Use 'basics' to involve families in missions

God chooses people for special tasks, but only uses the available, Bible teacher says




WMU mission volunteers reach out to Pittsburgh

Crossover Indiana yields more than 1,900 professions of faith in Christ

Baptist World Alliance General Council looks to the future

BWA to launch global evangelism strategy at 2005 meeting

SBC withdrawal from BWA compromised worldwide Baptist testimony, general council resolution asserts

Canadian Southern Baptists take steps toward name change

Pastor's slideshow voting guide sparks complaint with IRS

Baptist Briefs



Serving God in dark places is a privilege, shooting survivor tells new missionaries



Study reveals Protestants becoming minority religious group within U.S.

Religious students' politics cross lines

Social justice takes back seat to hot-button political issues

Coalition urges Supreme Court to ban death penalty for minors

Welfare overhaul needed, group says



Texas Baptist Forum

Classifed Ads

Around the State

On the Move



EDITORIAL: 'How can you call yourself a Christian & vote like that?'

DOWN HOME: TP can't wipe pain of 'lasts'

TOGETHER: BWA blesses Baptists from Texas

Texas Baptist Forum

ANOTHER VIEW: Morality demands war against AIDS

Cybercolumn by Berry D. Simpson: Changes



LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Aug. 15: God participates in every facet of every life

LifeWay Family Bible Series for Aug. 15: Christians need to follow God's word and grow

LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Aug. 22: Applying God's word leads to renewed passion

LifeWay Family Bible Series for Aug. 22: Humility is the posture for service to God, others

See articles from previous issue 7/26/04 here.




CYBERCOLUMN by Jeanie Miley: God always will be with us_80904

Posted: 8/02/04

CYBERCOLUMN:
God always will be with us

By Jeanie Miley

I could be wrong about it, but I just don’t believe in a godless society.

It is entirely possible that I am dead wrong, but I don’t think any human being can take God out of a classroom or a culture.

I could have on blinders and be in denial so deep that I don’t know up from down, but I cannot accept the proposition that God has abandoned anyone.

As a young child, I remember being impressed with the words “omniscient,” “omnipotent” and “omnipresent.” Maybe it was because my earthly father was so reliable and trustworthy that I could so easily accept and believe that there was no place I could go where God was not. My father’s passion for Christ made it easy for me to remember Jesus’ promise, “I am with you always.”

Jeanie Miley

Frankly, the problem isn’t God. To the end of my life, I will believe that God will never leave us or forsake us. I am fully confident that God really is at work in all things, attempting to bring about good, even when God does leave us to the choices we keep making that prevent him from doing what he longs to do for us.

I get it that the problem is that we humans don’t cooperate with what God is trying to do. We thwart the purposes of God and stifle the flow of God’s healing, transforming, liberating and empowering mercy, grace and love. We act in self-willed and self-destructive ways, and then, when we get the results we have been earning all along, we have the audacity to declare that God has left the premises.

The problem is not that God is not at work. The problem is that we have often become so blind and deaf and insensitive to the workings of God that we often don’t recognize God’s initiatives when they are right in front of us.

God did not wind the world up to let it to tick on its own. The problem is that we sometimes live with such paltry, immature and limited concepts of who God is that we cannot see God-at-work all around us. We are so attached to our small gods, the god we can keep in a box and the god we can control and manage, that we don’t often don’t “get it” until we are smacked in the head by a two-by-four, and maybe that is what two-by-four moments are for!

I am responsible to make sure that I keep my own inner life fine-tuned to the still, small nudges of the Creator/Sustainer/God who is constantly asking me to let him work through me. I am responsible for maintaining my inner life through the spiritual disciplines that feed my soul so that I can recognize God’s presence. I am responsible for not doing the things that “quench the Spirit” and inhibit God’s purposes.

And I am responsible for making sure that, in the places where I hold responsibility to other people who are aching to believe in Immanuel—God-with-us—I do the kinds of things that make it easy for God to work. I don’t have to do everything, but I am called to do what is mine to do. I am responsible for “helping God help us” in ways that are consistent with my own call and gifts.

It is unmitigated arrogance to think that we can take God out of the world he made and loves.

It is irresponsible to lead others to believe that anyone has the power to do that.

And it is dangerous to make decisions based on error.

Jeanie Miley is an author and columnist and a retreat and workshop leader. She is married to Martus Miley, pastor of River Oaks Baptist Church in Houston, and they have three adult daughters. Got feedback? Write her at Writer2530@aol.com.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




Super Summer speaker Kyle Byrd shuns ‘middle of the road’_80904

Posted: 7/30/04

Super Summer speaker Kyle Byrd shuns 'middle of the road'

By Leann Callaway

Special to the Baptist Standard

SUGAR LAND—After being offered a contract with the Texas Rangers, Kyle Byrd struggled with the choice between a career in professional baseball or the pursuit of the Lord's call on his life to ministry.

But after much prayer and consideration, he decided to "step off of the baseball playing field and into the evangelistic harvest field."

From there, Byrd established Front Line Ministries and became a sought-after youth communicator.

Kyle Byrd of Frontline Ministries

Now, 16 years later, Front Line Ministries is based out of Sugar Land, where Byrd and his family are members of First Baptist Church. In a few months, they will be relocating to the Hill Country, where they plan to help start a church.

“Front Line Ministries exists to address the front line issues facing the American student,” he explained. “The message is simple: a personal relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, is the only hope a student has to finding life's ultimate purpose.

“There are two bottom-line choices in life: the world's way or God's way; one leads to destruction, the other to life. Once a student chooses life, I challenge them to follow Christ, without reservation. I teach unapologetically that there is no such thing as 'middle-of-the-road' Christianity.”

While speaking at numerous youth conferences, such as Super Summer, Hot Hearts Student Conference and Youth Evangelism Conference, Byrd's messages have impacted thousands of students to follow Christ.

As a teenager, temptations from sports, alcohol, money, and success produced a clouded outlook on Byrd's life. At age 17, however, he was led to the Lord by Jack Bell, who was his Sunday School teacher and high school baseball coach.

In addition to speaking at evangelistic events, Byrd often speaks at public schools, where his messages are designed to challenge students to quit following the crowd and to listen to their own convictions.

“If you want to change the behavior of today's youth, you're going to have to get involved in their experiences and help change their belief system,” he said.

“Consistently seeing students experience a new life, by accepting Christ as their Savior, reminds me regularly why God has called me to this ministry. While I find tremendous satisfaction in seeing Christian students sell out to following Jesus, there is nothing quite like hearing students cry out in repentance to God for their sin and asking him for forgiveness. Then, to see how the faithfulness of God stuns them … it is beyond my ability to communicate in words.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




Buckner seeks adoptive parents for Myson, African-American newborn_72604

Posted: 7/23/04

Buckner seeks adoptive parents
for Myson, African-American newborn

DALLAS–Myson, a newborn African-American boy, urgently needs parents to adopt him, according to Buckner Adoption and Maternity Services.

“We are confident God has the perfect family for him,” said Courtney Warren, community relations representative for Buckner.

“We are asking Baptist Standard readers to please pray for Myson and others who need forever families, and please forward this information to anyone you know who might be interested in this situation.”

Myson needs parents, according to Buckner Adoption and Maternity Services.

Myson's need for placement illustrates an ongoing need by Buckner “for families to adopt African-American and biracial babies,” Warren said.

“We need Christian families to come forward and provide the love and care for a child that only a family can. At times, there are a number of healthy babies waiting in foster care for a family.”

Myson, born May 20, is available for adoption immediately to a qualifying family, she said. Buckner is seeking a Christian family of any denomination, race or ethnicity, either in or out of state.

“Myson's birthparents prefer that he be adopted into a two-parent family,” Warren explained.

“However, single parents also will be considered.”

Buckner practices open adoption, in which the birth family of a child is involved in choosing an adoptive family, the birth family and adoptive family have ongoing contact after placement, and the adopted child and birth family have an opportunity to know each other.

Families adopting through Buckner pay a fee for recruitment and care services. The fees enable Buckner to care for additional children, Warren said.

“This baby has never been in the (Child Protective Services) system,” she explained.

“His birthparents made an adoption plan for him at birth. … Buckner has borne all the expenses associated with his care.”

Buckner Adoption and Maternity Services is a ministry of the 125-year-old Buckner Benevolences.

The adoption services agency recruits, studies, educates and approves adoptive families who can provide loving, secure, Christian homes for children being placed for adoption. Continued support services are provided to assist adoptive families with parenting issues.

Support services may include continued contact between the birth parents and the adoptive family.

Last year, Buckner Adoption and Maternity Services provided help to more than 100 women in crisis pregnancy situations.

For families living outside of Texas, “we would want to know about your willingness to make trips to Texas for visits,” Warren said.

“We would also need a home study done by a licensed agency in your state, and we will need to comply with … regulations.

“We anticipate a week of transition time for Myson, so families who live outside of North Texas will need to stay with family or friends or in a hotel during the transition.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




Louisiana College trustees elect new chair in closed session after former leader resigns_72604

Posted: 7/23/04

Louisiana College trustees elect new chair
in closed session after former leader resigns

PINEVILLE, La. (ABP)–Trustees of Louisiana College, faced with the resignation of their chairman and the school's president, have elected a new trustee leader in a closed-door, off-campus meeting.

Bill Hudson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Rayne, La., announced his election as trustee chair after the meeting, which was closed to reporters and visitors, according to the Town Talk newspaper in Alexandria, La. No vote count was announced.

Hudson succeeds another pastor, Joe Nesom of First Baptist Church in Jackson, La., who resigned June 27, claiming trustees were making decisions intended to “humiliate and punish those that they despise.”

A majority of the trustees already had agreed to call a special meeting to remove Nesom, who attended the meeting as a regular trustee.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools will send a fact-finding team to Louisiana College Sept. 1-3 to review matters of governance and academic freedom.

The college has been torn by controversies between the conservative majority and a moderate minority on the board for several years.

The tension has come to a head in recent months, with several well-publicized controversies over issues such as a new policy requiring new faculty hires to submit a statement outlining their “worldview,” as well as a policy forcing faculty to have all classroom materials approved by the academic dean.

Many faculty members have protested the policies, saying they endanger academic freedom.

Conservative board members have defended the policies as necessary to maintain the school's fidelity to its Baptist roots.

The college's president and academic vice president resigned earlier this year. Although they did not cite it in their reasons for leaving, many observers believe the controversy played a decisive role.

In Nesom's letter, he said of the board: “Our concerns have turned from academic excellence, and from a desire to see the college embrace its Baptist heritage with enthusiasm, to concerns that have nothing to do with historic Baptist doctrines or practice.”

He said he could “see nothing good coming of this situation” and warned of several negative consequences:

“A loss of donors who will justly be concerned about the academic integrity of the college.” Nesom cited one potential endowment gift of “better than $5 million” that he knows to be in danger.

bluebull “A genuine threat to the accreditation of the college because of investigations that are certain to come” from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accrediting association. Officials announced this summer that the group will send a committee to the school in September to investigate complaints that the board may be violating a provision of the association's principles for governing boards. The provision prohibits member schools' boards from being controlled by interest groups.

New board Chairman Hudson said the investigation is “not the end of the world.”

bluebull “Litigation, for sundry reasons, that will be harmful to the college.”

bluebull “A general loss of good will from the constituency of the college.”

bluebull “A loss of students and qualified faculty and staff members who will not want to remain under leadership of questionable integrity.”

Nesom also said he feared that some board members “are trying to frustrate the selection process for a new president.”

A search committee is seeking former President Rory Lee's successor. Trustee John Traylor serves as the interim president.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




Federal Marriage Amendment died in Senate_72604

Posted: 7/23/04

Federal Marriage Amendment died in Senate

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)–Senate supporters of a constitutional ban on gay marriage failed to muster a simple majority in support of the amendment July 14, most likely killing the proposal until next year.

A motion to cut off debate and proceed to a vote on the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment failed 48-50. Such a motion requires 60 votes to succeed in the Senate.

If senators had voted on the amendment itself, it would have required a two-thirds majority–or 67, assuming all 100 senators cast a vote.

The Senate's Republican leadership hoped to bring the bill before the chamber for a regular up-or-down vote by mid-July.

However, a dispute over substitutes that might have more appeal to moderates in both parties caused Democrats to balk.

Proponents of the amendment touted their effort as an urgent response to “attacks” on traditional marriage, some contending the survival of America depends on stopping the gay-marriage movement.

A constitutional amendment is necessary, they said, because “activist judges” are interpreting the Constitution to advance the gay agenda.

Amendment supporters added they will not abandon their cause, despite the Senate defeat.

“The battle has just begun,” said Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), the bill's chief Senate sponsor. “I think this is a very strong first vote.”

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), another proponent of the measure, compared the vote to similar gay-marriage bans that failed to pass state legislatures on their first votes but succeeded in subsequent tries.

Almost all Senate Democrats who spoke in opposition to the amendment also said they oppose same-sex marriage, he noted.

“We won on substance but lost on procedure,” Brownback explained. “This is a central issue. It will continue to be engaged.”

However, Allard admitted the proposal and similar ones likely would not come up again this year in the Senate.

Meanwhile, gay-rights supporters said the vote was a resounding victory for their cause.

“Today's vote is a very powerful repudiation of bigotry in America,” said Barry Lynn, director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Cheryl Jacques, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said the vote was an example of “an attempt to divide Americans that backfired and divided Republicans.”

Six Republicans crossed the aisle to vote against further consideration of the constitutional amendment. They were Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Colo.), Lincoln Chafee (R.I.), Susan Collins (Maine), John McCain (Ariz.), Olympia Snowe (Maine) and John Sununu (N.H.).

Of the Senate's 49 Democrats, all but five voted against proceeding with the amendment. Robert Byrd (W.Va.), Zell Miller (Ga.) and Ben Nelson (Neb.) departed from their colleagues on the vote.

John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina–the expected Democratic nominees for president and vice president–did not return to Washington from the campaign trail to vote on the procedural matter.

However, they previously stated their opposition to the amendment and said they would come back to Capitol Hill to vote against the amendment itself if it had come to an up-or-down ballot.

Both Kerry and Edwards oppose same-sex marriage but say amending the Constitution to ban it is too drastic a step.

In the days leading up to the vote, the amendment's supporters–chief among them President Bush–lobbied intensely on its behalf.

The Senate's Republican leadership bypassed committees and the normal legislative process to force quick action by the full chamber on the amendment, despite objections from some within the GOP itself.

Democrats charged Republicans with bringing up the bill–despite knowing it would fail–to boost turnout among religious conservative voters in this fall's presidential and congressional elections.

Giving credence to that charge, Religious Right activist Gary Bauer said the Senate vote will become a factor in the elections.

“I think that Senator Kerry has a tremendous problem here,” Bauer claimed.

Brownback likewise predicted voters will pay attention to their senators' action on the amendment.

“I think it will be a significant issue in the fall elections,” he said

And a group that has been outspoken in favor of the bill–the Family Research Council–issued a press release predicting doom for anti-amendment candidates.

“We now know which senators are for traditional marriage and which ones are not, and by November so will voters in every state,” council President Tony Perkins wrote. “Every time this issue is forced into the public square, the opposition to same-sex 'marriage' among the American public grows.”

The issue of gay marriage came to the forefront last year, when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court legalized same-sex marriage in that state.

Supporters of the constitutional amendment defend their election-year push by arguing that, in the absence of a constitutional ban on gay marriage, it will likely be imposed on the entire country by future court decisions.

“This wasn't driven by politics; this was driven by activist courts,” Allard said.

But legal scholars are divided on whether the federal Supreme Court is anywhere near accepting a case regarding same-sex marriage, much less rendering a decision that would impose same-sex marriage on the entire country.

The proposed amendment reads: “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any state, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman.”

The proposed amendment is Senate Joint Resolution 40. Leaders in the House of Representatives have announced their intent to bring a similar version of the amendment to that chamber's floor by November.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




Proponents of marriage amendment pledge to continue their campaign_72604

Posted: 7/23/04

Proponents of marriage amendment
pledge to continue their campaign

By Kirsten Pasha

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)–Despite a first-round defeat for the Federal Marriage Amendment July 14, proponents vowed to continue fighting and say they expect to win.

Matt Daniels, president of the Alliance for Marriage, a coalition of Christian and other groups that has led the fight for the amendment, said the Senate's 48-50 decision to end consideration of the proposal will only spur “democratic debate” on the topic.

“We introduced our marriage amendment in both the House and Senate in order to let the people decide the future of marriage,” Daniels said.

“And our amendment will continue to gain ground so long as activists continue to strike down our marriage laws in court.”

A ruling last year by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which legalized gay marriage in that state, triggered the current constitutional debate.

Gay-marriage opponents say only an amendment to the U.S. Constitution will protect other states from having to accept gay marriages.

“Marriage, the union of one man and one woman, has always been recognized as the foundation of human society, but today marriage is sadly in need of protection,” said Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“It is a shame that the Senate did not have the opportunity to vote on this amendment that is so necessary to the well-being of our nation.”

In the week leading up to the vote, supporters of the amendment waged an intensive lobbying campaign. The Family Research Council reportedly delivered petitions to the Senate signed by 2 million supporters of traditional marriage.

Ten thousand people gathered July 11 for a “Battle for Marriage” rally in Memphis, Tenn. The rally, featuring top Religious Right leaders, was held at Bellevue Baptist Church, one of the largest Southern Baptist congregations, and broadcast on Christian cable channels.

Rally speakers urged Christians to contact their senators prior to the vote and support the amendment. And they did just that.

The Washington Post reported Senate offices “were deluged with phone calls and e-mails prompted by heavy grassroots mobilizations over the weekend, topped off by two appeals for passage by President Bush.”

A spokesman for Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), an amendment proponent, said the public response was unprecedented.

“Sen. Brownback has received more thoughts on this issue than any other issue during his time in the Senate, especially over the last few days,” said Aaron Groote.

Likewise, Chris Lisi, a spokesman for Sen. Mark Dayton (D-Minn.), an amendment opponent, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press, “We haven't seen this kind of grassroots lobbying effort since the Iraq war.”

And, according to Larry Thompson, a staff member of Bellevue Baptist Church, the lobbying effort won't stop with the Senate defeat.

“We are still encouraging our people to contact their Congress members and show their appreciation for their votes or disapproval if they voted against [the FMA],” he said.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said the Senate vote is “just round one in the debate over marriage, and now that it is over, we begin training for round two. We now know which senators are for traditional marriage and which ones are not, and by November, so will voters in every state. … This fight has just begun.”

But supporters of gay marriage likewise promised to continue the fight.

The effort “springs from a deep commitment to a biblical understanding of justice, a commitment to fairness,” said Daniel Pryfogle, interim director of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, which supports gay and lesbian rights.

“We want everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation, to enjoy the same rights in this country,” he said.

“There's relief at this stage that the bill will not go forward, but at the same time, we know a lot of organizing is going on to push this kind of legislation. We aim to do what we can to oppose these efforts. … One of the most important things under way is proclamation–churches preaching a message about fairness and justice.”

Laura Montgomery Rutt, director of communications for Soulforce, an interfaith pro-gay group, complained supporters of the Federal Marriage Amendment are using gays and lesbians as “political pawns” in an election-year strategy.

“To have this come up just before the elections shows that the religious-political conservatives are playing politics with people's lives,” she claimed. “This is simply wrong.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.




God’s gift so great, Christians can’t keep quiet, pastor says_72604

Posted: 7/23/04

God's gift so great, Christians
can't keep quiet, pastor says

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

SAN ANTONIO–God has given Christians something worth talking about, and it's too good for them to keep it to themselves, insisted Charles Booth, the featured preacher at the African American Fellowship/Church Health and Growth Conference.

God's miraculous work in healing and altering lives around the world will lead people to faith, said Booth, senior pastor of Mount Olivet Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio.

To illustrate, he recalled the story of Jesus healing a deaf man, as recorded in the Gospel of Mark. Although Jesus told witnesses not to tell anyone about the incident, the crowd could not contain themselves and reported the miracle to many others.

Charles Booth, pastor of Mount Olivet Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio, tells the African American Fellowship/Church Health and Growth Conference the Christian message of God's wonder-working power is too good to keep quiet.

Similar miracles happen daily, as God works in human lives, he noted. People get off drugs, see cancer disappear overnight and survive difficult surgeries. When the miraculous happens, individuals are compelled to tell others.

“When I put my mind on revival and remember what (God's) done, I've got to tell someone,” Booth said during the Baptist General Convention of Texas-sponsored event.

And when Christians speak the truth of the gospel with power, they can “get the hell out” of others, he promised.

The gospel may not immediately change lives, because sin is so ingrained in a person's life, but the message will work in a person over time and bring him to know Christ, he observed.

“I believe the power of Christ in the first century is the same as it is in the 21st century,” Booth said.

Speaking the truth with power and certainty must be done in pulpits as well, he added.

Too many times, pastors are turning their heads from sin within their congregations and avoiding preaching biblical principles because they are afraid of upsetting people, he claimed.

But God's movement in lives gives a depth to people's faith and provides each person a testimony, he continued. Those stories touch lives in the name of Christ.

African Americans in particular have a glorious song to sing as God brings them out of a long history of bondage, he said, noting the civil rights movement and resulting legislation have brought new freedoms to African Americans and given them an opportunity to praise God for his goodness.

“When you are delivered, God gives you a song,” he said.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.