Posted: 6/25/04

Senate overwhelmingly approves amendment that extends
federal hate-crimes protection to include gays and lesbians

WASHINGTON (ABP)–By a large majority, the Senate voted to extend federal hate-crimes protections to homosexuals.

Senators voted 65-33 to add crimes based on a victim's real or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or disability to the list of hate crimes that federal law-enforcement agents can investigate or assist local officials in investigating.

The move came as an amendment to the bill appropriating Department of Defense funding for 2005.

It was added by its sponsors in an effort to attach it to legislation that would be likely to pass. Adding sexual orientations to hate-crimes statutes has proven divisive in the past.

“It is no secret that with all the turmoil on the issue of gays and lesbians and their rights in this country, there are very strong feelings on both sides of this issue,” said Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), who introduced the amendment in the Senate.

“I believe in gay rights. But I also believe it is not right in the case of marriage for a few liberals to dictate to the rest of the country a new standard.”

But, Gordon added, “Notwithstanding that, I have always felt before you get to marriage, you ought to get rid of hate.”

The appropriations bill to which the hate-crimes amendment was attached, S. 2400, still is under consideration by the Senate.

Posted: 6/25/04

Hendrick Health Systems selects
new president to succeed Waters

ABILENE–The Hendrick Health System board of trustees has named Tim Lancaster to succeed Michael Waters as president and chief executive officer.

Waters is slated to retire Nov. 1.

The board unanimously selected Lancaster, who has been chief executive officer of Brownwood Regional Medical Center since 1998, during a recent called meeting, said Chairman Scott Hibbs.

“Our task was to find someone who would not have to fill Mike Waters' shoes but would build a legacy of his own,” Hibbs said.

“Tim Lancaster is a proven leader and innovator in the healthcare field. He fits the mold of someone who will continue our rich heritage of great leadership and commitment to our mission.

“The board is confident Tim will have the full support of the medical staff, employees, volunteers and the community.”

Lancaster, who served previously as chief executive officer at D.M. Cogdell Memorial Hospital in Snyder, is a graduate of Texas Tech University and has a master's degree in healthcare administration from Texas Woman's University.

He is a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and currently serves as an area regent.

“I am very excited about the opportunity to be a part of Hendrick Health System,” Lancaster said.

“Hendrick has such a rich heritage with such strong support that I am honored to be chosen to help lead this organization as it opens a new chapter in its history.”

Hendrick Health Systems is one of seven healthcare institutions affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Posted: 6/25/04

Illusionist uses sleight-of-hand tricks
as visual aids for gospel presentation

By Leann Callaway

Special to the Baptist Standard

FORT WORTH–For more than 20 years, Christian illusionist Bruce Chadwick has been cutting people in half or making them float in the air as illustrations for his sermons.

He has traveled around the world with his illusion ministry, performing at evangelistic crusades, Vacation Bible Schools, camps, retreats, youth rallies, church fellowships and other outreach events.

“Illusions generate a sense of anticipation,” he said. “An illusion performance used in conjunction with a church-related activity draws both saved and unsaved individuals to the function, who otherwise might have never come.

“Our programs entertain with good old-fashioned family illusion shows that are filled with laughter, mystery and excitement. After establishing rapport with our audiences, we turn our presentations to a more serious note, where the gospel of Jesus Christ is presented. We use the illusions as visual aids and communication tools that parallel and illustrate our messages.”

Chadwick began performing small illusions when he was 8 years old. A year later, he made a profession of faith in Christ. As a teenager, Chadwick realized God wanted him to use his talents to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

“During an unforgettable youth revival weekend at my home church, Wilshire Park Baptist Church in Midland, I felt God's call to go forward during an invitation time and dedicate myself to vocational Christian illusion service,” he explained. “This call to use illusions in ministry has never wavered and was a motivating reason to earn my college and seminary degrees.”

After graduating from Baylor University in Waco, Chadwick received his master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

Today, his ministry is based in Fort Worth, where he owns an illusion retail shop.

In addition to his performances, he has designed and fabricated illusions and special effects for theme parks, movies and other illusionists. He has published several works on the psychology of illusion and is highly regarded among his peers as a creative consultant and expert in the field of illusion mechanics.

During his illusion shows, Chadwick frequently is asked the difference between an illusionist and a magician, which gives him another opportunity to share the gospel.

“Illusion effects are puzzles,” he explained. “There are always rational explanations behind them. The Bible is very specific in condemning the practice of witchcraft, spiritualism, divination and other forms of the occult, but the Bible says nothing about illusions.

"Of course, the modern illusionist is not in the business of playing with occult powers. He does not claim supernatural abilities and never tries to make people believe he possesses such. "An illusionist is much more concerned with sleight-of-hand as an entertainment form and constantly striving to find the best way to pull a rabbit out of his hat."

Posted: 6/25/04

TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM:
Practice the pledge

As Southern Baptist Convention messengers voted to pull out of the Baptist World Alliance, our church was having Vacation Bible School.

Each day, I felt personal grief as we pledged: “I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag, and to the Savior for whose kingdom it stands, one brotherhood, uniting all Christians, in service and love.”

I can remember as a child we said, “uniting all mankind,” but that was changed to “uniting all Christians.” Problem is, 'neath the banner of the cross, we can no longer even say, “uniting all Baptists.”

We either need to remember our pledge and support our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world or change the pledge again to reflect our practice. I am for practicing what we pledge right now!

Bill Fowler

Pleasanton

Connect with people

I do agree with this week's editorial (posted online last week): It is time all Baptist leadership begins to reconnect with people at the local level.

It seems most Baptist leaders–state and national–only wish to advance their own personal agendas instead of having faith in God that he will lead messengers to vote according to his will and not the will of a handful of men.

Unfortunately, SBC leaders appear to lack representation from ethnic groups with the exception of this Korean pastor from California (Second Vice President David Hwan Gill). But where are the Hispanic and the black representatives in key leadership posts?

I was glad to see that for the first time in Baptist General Convention of Texas history, all of the key committees are headed by persons of minority descent, thus demonstrating a more inclusive convention, unlike others. I believe that the BGCT is striving to be inclusive of all peoples and congregations of all sizes.

If this continued disconnect with the people continues, though, there will not be a convention but a string of very loosely affiliated churches with very limited resources to do evangelism on a glo-bal scale.

The motion that Claude Thomas made (to consider changing the SBC's name) is a very telling indication that leadership in the convention is disconnected from the average church member or leadership really has taken a very elitist view of the average church member.

Ruben Harrison Jr.

Laredo

Keep finest generals

You reported that evangelical Gen. Jerry Boykin has been linked to Iraqi prison abuse (May 31). So what?

The liberal media has overplayed the prison-abuse-by-Americans thing. Yes, the Iraqis were toyed with and made fun of, but I doubt any were hurt seriously. Yet the Iraqi soldiers are killing our soldiers and beheading civilians.

We need to keep all the finest generals we can. The Iraqis are still killing our soldiers every day, while we thought we were trying to make Iraq a democratic country and free them from dictatorship.

We caught Saddam Hussein by going there. Let's get on with his trial. He knew his capture would be mild by soft-hearted Americans who will keep him in jail for years probably.

Let's keep Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin in his command.

Do not question his authority. We need him.

Also, forget about the Iraqi prison abuse and get on with what we are in Iraq for.

Marilyn Green

Dallas

Meanings of communion

Please be advised that your editorial is inaccurate–there is no similarity between what Baptists call the Lord's Supper and Holy Communion (June 14).

For Romans and Anglicans, the Coptic and Orthodox, the Polish National Church, Assyrians and almost every other Christian church, the sacrament of our Lord's body and blood is a means of grace, a sign of grace received, and is quite vital to one's ongoing salvation.

It is only you Protestants who deny the real presence of Christ in the holy sacrament. In so doing, you are attempting to separate yourselves from the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Offered in this state of rebellion, the elements of bread and wine are such that they may in no way be compared to the consecrated elements which become for us the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

Please do not make this comparison again. It just doesn't wash.

Linda McMillan

Austin

Missing out on wrath

In “Catholics, Kerry & church discipline” (June 14), your editorial said: “And then he (Jesus) said an unrepentant sinner should 'be to you as a Gentile and a tax gatherer.'” Imagine how a Jew in Jesus' day would feel if he were treated like that. He would want desperately to rejoin the family, to feel accepted again. Jesus' way does not seek humiliation; it provides 'tough love' incentive for repenting and returning home.”

Sure, maybe that can happen. But don't you think the point of this text is that these issues have a best-case scenario solution (loving correction, repentance and mercy) and a second-best-case (removal of fellowship, a sense of judgment).

I think you've lost touch with the concept of the wrath and judgment of God.

Mark Boone

Dallas

Grateful for reporting

I am aware you do not need me or anyone to come to your defense, but after reading a letter so full of venom, vitriolic acid and over-the-top attempts to judge the editor on moral and spiritual grounds (“No fear of God,” June 14), I would like to go on record as being eternally grateful for the consistently fair reporting I read in this informative paper.

Marv Knox's editorials are perceptive, profound, well-written and honest as he reports what is happening in Baptist life. To ignore the continuing struggle in Baptist polity is unrealistic and bad journalism.

As our basic tenets in the old Southern Baptist Convention were changed, many people followed those leaders who led them to revamped doctrines that pulled us from the high road we were on as we marched toward a bold mission thrust. Now, Baptists are perceived as infighting, bitter, jaded, cynical, angry and–most astonishing of all–prideful.

The SBC has put us all into convenient categories of conservative or liberal, male or female, Republican or Democrat, SBC or CBF or BWA, heterosexual or homosexual, them or us, right or wrong, good or bad, 1963 Baptist Faith & Message or 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.

Under the directives of power-hungry men, the SBC is so polarized that it has spent most of its forward motion needed for kingdom building defending authoritarian, non-Baptist practices.

We rely on the Baptist Standard to continue in your excellent work informing us as to what is happening in Baptist life across Texas.

Ragan Courtney

Austin

Mentoring program

The wonderful story on Lenard Hartley of San Angelo and his passion for mentoring pastors (May 31) reflected his humility and quiet service to others. But those who know him and have the special blessing of working with him would want others to know his passion for mentoring has reached farther in the community than the story told.

He was enlisted to develop and lead the mentoring component of the first national pilot for Christian Men's Job Corps in San Angelo. With very little to go on, he created a mentoring program that meets the specific needs of the job corps and designed the training and organization components that could very likely be the prototype for the national ministry.

The early success of this key element to the ministry already is showing fruit in the lives of the first participants, as he is teaching and training laymen how to walk side by side, man to man, as encouragers and accountability partners.

The desire of this mentoring model is that it might become the format to be incorporated in a national Christian Men's Job Corps in the near future.

Thanks to Lenard Hartley for the courage to minister and serve in new ways.

Toni English

Athens, Ga.

Proud of faith

I have been reading the Baptist Standard since my salvation experience, about four years ago.

During that time, I have made a transition from my Roman Catholic roots to the Baptist faith. The way this publication presents our faith in both tone and theology has enabled me to make this change.

Thanks for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, which has made this Texas Baptist proud of his faith.

Donald Rhea

Mansfield

Indulgences return

The sale of indulgencies seems to have returned, only now they are bartered.

In exchange for giving churches control of reproduction and “making charity profitable,” churches permit the government to regard life lost because of “preemptive” war, capital punishment, hazardous working conditions, pollution, unsafe food and water, and cars that explode, roll over or come apart as less sacred than unborn life.

Where is Martin Luther?

Robert Flynn

San Antonio

Loud hairdo

I cannot hear a word singer Rebecca St. James is saying as long as she wears that sick hairstyle of Michael Jackson (June 14)! Why imitate him?

Roy Anderson

What do you think? Submit letters for Texas Baptist Forum via e-mail to marvknox@baptiststandard.com or regular mail at Box 660267, Dallas 75266-0267. Letters must be no longer than 250 words. They may be edited to accommodate space.

Posted: 6/25/04

Immigration to Texas presents new
opportunities for missions outreach

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

The continuous influx of immigrants to Texas creates an avenue for churches to improve the lives of large numbers of people, according to observers familiar with immigration statistics.

Studies show legal and unauthorized immigrants and their children continue to be one of the state's primary sources of population growth, accounting for as much as 53 percent of population expansion during 1990-2000.

They still primarily come from Mexico, but significant numbers of Iraqis, Bosnians, Iranians, Sudanese, Vietnamese, Somalis and Cubans also have settled in Texas. Nearly 90 nations are represented in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Ethnic groups can be found across Texas–in universities, migrant worker camps, major cities and throughout the Rio Grande Valley, said Patty Lane, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas intercultural initiatives office.

Many of these newcomers need help once they enter the United States, said Steven Camarota, director of research for the independent Center of Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C. A significant number of immigrants do not have a high school education or an adequate grasp of English.

As a result, more than half of immigrants and their children live near or below poverty, Camarota noted. More than 40 percent of that group are without health insurance. About one in every five household heads is receiving welfare.

This is where churches can step in and make a difference, Camarota emphasized. Efforts to help immigrants acquire high school graduate equivalency degrees and become fluent in English are keys to improving lives.

Education and use of English open employment opportunities for immigrants that can lead to economic stability, Camarota added.

“All the available evidence suggests the two best indicators of success is education and attainment of English,” he said.

Congregations also can assist immigrants by helping them find housing and providing them with essential needs such as food and clothing, Camarota said.

Many ministries that serve non-Anglo people groups in Texas are funded by the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions, promoted by Woman's Missionary Union of Texas. About $200,000 of the 2005 offering budget is earmarked to specifically work with ethnic groups. Additional funds are allocated for community ministries that also may meet the needs of people groups.

Lane said these needs can be met across Texas. Though immigrants are more concentrated in larger cities, pockets of people groups are throughout the state.

These ministries play a key role in sharing the gospel with everyone in Texas, Lane said. Meeting the physical needs of immigrants opens an avenue to telling them about Jesus.

Efforts to translate materials to each group's “heart language” also are funded, Lane noted. Translation helps people better connect with the gospel.

“When they hear it in another language, it may not be a language that connects to their heart,” she said.

“There's a disconnect. It's called a heart language because that's how they feel. That's the language they think.”

Working in all people groups is putting the Great Commission of reaching all people into action, Lane added.

Multi-ethnic ministries give Texas Baptists a glimpse into what heaven will be like, she said.

“We need to always be looking for who are the new groups coming and making sure there is a Christian witness among them,” Lane said.

Posted: 6/25/04

Missions partnerships build
relationships, expand ministries

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communication

Texas Baptists are expanding ministries through relationships fostered by the Texas Partnerships Resource Center of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions.

Ministries are expanding rapidly worldwide because of funds from the Mary Hill Davis Offering, said Don Sewell, director of Texas Partnerships.

More than $100,000 of the 2005 offering budget is slated for partnership missions around the world.

Funds are used to train and orient mission teams. They also have been used to improve Baptist encampments in the Northwest United States and work with church growth and international students in New England.

“The spirit of missions is what Mary Hill Davis is all about,” Sewell said. “We carry out that legacy through Texas Partnerships. We gladly work with all kinds of Texas Baptists–the laity, the ministers, the different cultures–and we're honored when we have the opportunity to find a match for them overseas or in the United States.”

Some of the funds will help support 12 indigenous church starters through the European Baptist Federation. Christians are working in nations such as Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Moldova, Ukraine and Latvia.

Most of the workers are beginning churches in areas with little if any Baptist presence, according to reports from Daniel Trusiewicz, who coordinates the effort.

Leaders are using strategies such as youth camps and sports camps to make inroads into communities.

In Moldova, offering-supported church starters focus on reaching children. One offers them music lessons and is hoping to start a youth club in his town. Another organizes evangelistic efforts around Christian holidays. In the summer, he sends children to Christian camps.

Funds from the Mary Hill Davis Offering, promoted by the Woman's Missionary Union of Texas, also support work in the Baptist Convention of New England through a partnership with the BGCT.

Money is allocated to specific requests from the New England convention, particularly to start churches or help ministries on the verge of expanding greatly.

Texas Baptist support “has pushed our work forward at least five years,” said Jim Wideman, executive director of the Baptist Convention of New England.

“In specific areas, it would be more than that.”

Wideman, a Texas native and Baylor University alumnus, said he is grateful for the support from Texas Baptists.

The financial contributions, mission teams and encouragement have helped expand Baptist work in the region, he remarked.

Specifically, he noted Vermont Baptists witnessed a record number of baptisms and mission teams last year.

“That's because Texas Baptists chose to partner with us,” he said.

The Mary Hill Davis Offering supports the following efforts through Texas Partnerships:

Orienting and training for mission teams

Exploring new partnerships

Improving Baptist camps in the Northwest United States

Helping church starting and water purification efforts in Mexico

Working with international students in New England Baptist Student Ministries

Enlisting and encouraging Texas Envoys to minister long-term around the world

Doubling the size of the chaplaincy office at the university in Hong Kong

Starting churches in Germany and Spain

Expanding opportunities in West Africa and Nigeria

Posted: 6/25/04

Subcommittee hears debate on religious expression

WASHINGTON (ABP)–Former judge Roy Moore and church-state expert Brent Walker squared off in a lively debate about religious expression and the First Amendment during recent testimony before a congressional subcommittee.

Moore, Walker and others testified before the Constitution subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Alabama officials removed Moore as chief justice of the state Supreme Court last year after he defied a federal judge's order to remove a Ten Commandments monument he had placed in the rotunda of the state judicial headquarters.

Before the Senate subcommmittee, Moore said the debate over religious expression in the public square is a debate between those “who understand the First Amendment and those who do not.”

He said the First Amendment's ban on government establishment of religion did not apply in his case because his monument was not an establishment of religion and wasn't erected by the federal government.

But Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, said Moore's action to set up the monument is hard to understand as anything other than an establishment of religion.

Moore, himself a Baptist, accused Walker of “hypocrisy” for leading a Baptist group but saying “that a public official cannot represent God.” But Walker denied saying or believing that.

Noting that public officials can allow their belief in God to influence their actions in many ways, Walker said, “What you can't do is put up a monument in the middle of the courthouse that starts by saying, 'I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. You shall have no other gods before me.'

“If that's not establishing a religion, I don't know what does,” he continued. “That's not an acknowledgement; that's an establishment.”

Posted: 6/25/04

On the Move

Jerry Duffer has resigned as minister of worship/music at First Church in Friendswood to join a ministry in Botswana, Africa.

George Easter to New Hope Church in Vernon as pastor, where he had been minister of education.

Eric Emblem has resigned as minister to students at First Church in Friendswood.

Bo Faulkner to First Church in Gonzales as summer youth minister.

Will Fish to First Church in Throckmorton as pastor.

Gary Godkin to Red Springs Church in Seymour as pastor.

Bentley Gwynn to First Church in Halfway as pastor.

Kevin Hall to Oakwood Church in Lubbock as pastor from First Church in Haskell.

Heath Powers to First Church in Runge as pastor.

Jason Pratt to Jonesboro Church in Jonesboro as youth minister.

Scott Reed to First Church in Floydada as minister to students from Seven Oaks Church in Wills Point.

Francisco Reza to Primera Iglesia in Lampasas as pastor.

Kevin Rodriguez to First Church in Kenedy as summer youth director.

Kyle Streaun to First Church in Crockett as pastor of family ministries from First Church in Olton, where he was pastor.

Tracy Suits to First Church in Point as minister to youth.

Lee Vrombrock has resigned as pastor of Purmela Church in Purmela.

Posted: 6/25/04

Posted: 6/25/04

African-American Southern Baptists examine their history

INDIANAPOLIS (BP)–Citing progress in minority representation and optimism toward racial inclusiveness, speakers at the annual African American Southern Baptist History Project said God is continuing to work among Southern Baptists.

Chronicling the growth of racial inclusiveness in the 16-million-member denomination, several speakers pointed to new growth since Southern Baptists became proactive about seeking change. The meeting at Gabriel Missionary Baptist Church was held prior to the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting in Indianapolis.

“The SBC's racial image is becoming more Christian as churches increasingly reflect the values of Christ toward other people groups,” said Sid Smith, director of the Florida Baptist Convention's African American ministries division.

He spoke on “Southern Baptists Reaching African-Americans,” an article from the Journal of African American Southern Baptist History, which was released at the history gathering.

“The absence of major backlash along with increased acceptance of minorities in mainline leadership are significant factors pointing to the dawning of a bright day of progress,” Smith continued. “The modern SBC is bigger, better and more Christian because of embracing inclusiveness. … As the maturation process continues, the potential of doing even more is great.”

Vaughn Walker, professor of black church studies at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., spoke on cooperative ministries and racial reconciliation.

The second volume of the Journal of African American Southern Baptist History is available through the Black Southern Baptist Denominational Servant's Network. For more information, call (800) 226-8584.

“Life as a slave was a blend of labor exploitation, sexual exploitation, illiteracy, limited diet and primitive living conditions,” Walker said. “Only in their private time of leisure in the evening or on Sundays and holidays could slaves find respite from the relentless demands of bondage. … Essentially, slave culture revolved around three elements: family, music and religion.”

Walker described G.K. Offult, a 1948 Southern Seminary graduate who–because of a Kentucky law–was not allowed to sit in classrooms with white students nor participate in graduation ceremonies but was tutored by seminary professors in their offices. Later, J.V. Bottoms, B.J. Miller and Claude Taylor, 1952 Southern Seminary graduates, sat in hallways to listen to professors' lectures.

“It appears that certain Southern Seminary professors as well as other individuals affiliated with the convention became the leaders for the SBC in the area of racial reconciliation long before the convention proper assumed any significant leadership role,” Walker said.

“If the Christian community–black, white, brown, red–cannot model authentic racial reconciliation, there is little or no hope for our society's survival,” he said. “Racial reconciliation will be realized when each of us decides that racial bias and prejudice has no place in our walk with God, has no place in our individual congregations, and no place in our homes.”

By 1972, cooperative ministries was an official component of the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board, Walker said. He cited the work of Sid Smith with the SBC Sunday School Board and Emmanuel McCall at the Home Mission Board as pivotal in the development of racial reconciliation in the SBC.

“Many in the SBC, black and white, reviewed the 1995 SBC statement of apology for the 'demonic' institution of American slavery as a significant step toward true racial reconciliation,” Walker said.

David Cornelius, mobilization specialist in church services at the Southern Baptist International Mission Board, traced the history of African-American involvement in international missions.

George Liele, a freed slave and preacher from South Carolina, left the United States in 1783 under persecution and within a year had started the First Baptist Church of Kingston, Jamaica, Cornelius said.

Another freed slave from South Carolina, Prince Williams, was the first African American Baptist missionary to the Bahama Islands. In about 1790, he organized in Nassau what became Bethel Baptist Mission.

Lott Carey in 1815 led in organizing the African Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, the first organization for international missions founded by African Americans in the United States.

Despite the fact the SBC was founded in part over the issue of slavery, a year after the founding in 1845 of its Foreign Mission Board, the new SBC had appointed two African-Americans as missionaries, John Day and A.L. Jones, Cornelius reported. “Over the next 40 years, the board either appointed or gave support to more than 40 black missionaries.”

But in the aftermath of the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves, coupled with Jim Crow laws that intensified discrimination, “the vision for world evangelization that many of the early black Christian leaders had exhibited became blurred,” Cornelius said.

“During the 19th century, African-American missionaries serving under appointment of white-administered missionary-sending agencies most often had to have white supervisors available before being sent to the field. It was well past the mid-20th century before most white-administered sending agencies, especially those that are denominationally based, would accept African-American candidates. These hindrances no longer exist.”

Bill Sumners, director of the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives in Nashville, spoke on “Bridge Builders: Baptist Women and Race Relations at the Turn of the 20th Century.”

Annie Armstrong, memorialized in NAMB's annual Easter offering for North American missions, “more than any other Southern Baptist leader of her time, took action to cross racial barriers,” Sumners said. That was in the late 1800s.

“An immense amount of good can be done–not only in developing the colored women here at home, but in doing work in Africa–if we can get the colored women organized as missionary workers,” Armstrong wrote in 1897 to R.J. Willingham, then-secretary of the Foreign Mission Board.

Nannie Helen Burroughs, daughter of skilled slaves, was Armstrong's counterpart in the black community, Sumners said. She worked to develop summer training opportunities for black youth. Una Roberts, who wrote extensively in WMU and HMB publications in the early 1900s, “championed improved race relations among black and whites and was active in the Commission for Inter-racial Cooperation.

“The efforts of these three women spanned more than three decades of the early 20th century,” Sumners said. “Their cause was not primarily improved race relations, but … it was this spirit of cooperation and inclusiveness on behalf of the gospel that drove these women to challenge the racial code of America.”

Posted: 6/25/04

Bush assures Southern Baptists he will
defend traditional view of marriage

By Steve DeVane

North Carolina Biblical Recorder

INDIANAPOLIS–President Bush promised messengers at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting he would “defend the sanctity of marriage against activist courts.”

Bush's address via satellite marked the third straight year he has spoken to the meeting. Messengers interrupted his speech more than 15 times with applause, including several standing ovations.

Some of the loudest cheers came when Bush mentioned his defense of marriage.

“The union of a man and woman is the most enduring human institution, honored and encouraged in all cultures and by every religious faith,” he said. “And government, by strengthening and protecting marriage, serves the interests of all.”

Bush got another standing ovation when he referenced his signing a ban on partial-birth abortions.

“I am working to build a culture of life in America,” he said. “Common sense and conscience tell us that when an expectant mother is killed, two lives have ended and criminals should answer for both.”

Bush added his administration will continue its support for crisis pregnancy centers, adoption incentives and parental notification laws, as well as other measures dear to the pro-life movement.

“I propose to double federal funding for abstinence programs in schools and community-based programs,” he said.

“And I will work with Congress to pass a comprehensive and effective ban on human cloning. Life is a creation of God, not a commodity to be exploited by man.”

Bush talked about military victories in Afghanistan and Iraq but said tough challenges lie ahead. “In Afghanistan and Iraq, we will finish the job.”

Bush thanked Southern Baptists for their strong support of the war on terror. He called freedom “God's gift to every man and woman who lives in this world.”

Bush cited his economic accomplishments and attempts to release federal funding to faith-based groups. He called on lawmakers to stop holding up his judicial appointments.

“It is time for those senators to stop playing politics with American justice,” he said.

Before Bush spoke, SBC President Jack Graham praised Bush's strength and resolve, saying the president and Southern Baptists have “strong, shared values.”

Tim Goeglein, a special assistant who deals with evangelicals for Bush, talked to messengers a short while before Bush. Goeglein thanked Southern Baptists for praying for “the Bush- Cheney administration.”

Bush's address to the SBC this year comes in the middle of his re-election bid. The November election pits Bush against Democrat Sen. John Kerry, with many polls showing the race as a dead heat.

Recently, the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission launched a website, www.iVoteValues.com, to “promote awareness of the immediate and long-term importance of value-based voting.”

At a meeting in Raleigh, N.C., about a month before that election, ERLC President Richard Land told a group God is not a Republican or a Democrat, but God is pro-life, pro-family and not pro-homosexual.

The ERLC website lists issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage on which Bush and many Southern Baptists would likely agree.

An announcement in the SBC Bulletin, distributed daily at the annual meeting, included a statement: “Pastors, you would be amazed at how much freedom you and your church have to legally be involved in the election process–without endangering your non-profit status.”

As part of the iVoteValues.com effort, ERLC officials unveiled a trailer designed to help people register to vote and research campaign issues.

The trailer will be hauled across the country between now and the November election.

With additional reporting by Erin Curry of Baptist Press.

Posted: 6/25/04

LifeWay vice president announces departure;
president to set retirement date early next year

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP)–Gene Mims, a key vice president at the Southern Baptist Convention's publishing house for 12 years, announced he is leaving to return to the pastorate.

Mims, 54, vice president of church resources at LifeWay Christian Resources in Nashville, told Associated Baptist Press he will leave Sept. 30 but as yet does not have a church to go to.

Meanwhile, LifeWay President Jimmy Draper said he likely will announce his retirement date early next year. He expects to give LifeWay trustees 12 to 18 months to find his replacement.

Mims' sudden departure without another job “is unusual,” the vice president said, but he insisted he was not pressured to resign.

The church resources division, which employs 645 people, sells Sunday school literature and other materials to most of the SBC's 43,000 churches, as well as non-Baptist congregations.

LifeWay's 2003 revenues–$414 million–were down last year 0.7 percent from the previous year and are expected to be below budget in 2004, according to a February report to trustees. Church resources, by far the largest division in LifeWay, has suffered financially as well.

But both Mims and Draper said the division's financial performance did not factor into Mims' departure, and Draper said such criticism of the division has been misdirected.

Mims said he will stay through September–the end of LifeWay's fiscal year–to finish preparation of next year's budget and allow Draper time to replace him.

According to several LifeWay sources, Mims had hoped to be considered to succeed Draper, 68, who is expected to retire sometime in the next two years.

“That was in a lot of people's minds, but frankly, I have no interest in that,” Mims told ABP. Resigning now rather than waiting for Draper to retire “would stop any speculation in that regard,” he added.

Mims' announcement is “a little unusual,” Draper acknowledged, “but we decided to do that so there would not be any question. … I'm sure he would be honored to be considered (for president), but that is never anything he has campaigned for.”

The two former pastors often have talked about missing the pulpit, Draper said.

Regarding Mims' return to the pastorate, Draper said: “The timing seemed right. … It's a sad-happy time. He's made tremendous contributions for us.”

Mims became LifeWay vice president in December 1991. At that time, he was pastor of First Baptist Church, Cleveland, Tenn., and had served as a LifeWay trustee since 1984.

Mims served as pastor of churches in Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama and Texas. He is a native of Mississippi. He and his wife, Ann, have two adult children.