Posted: 6/11/04

Baptist Briefs

Lottie Moon Offering posts record increase. Southern Baptists gave $136,204,648 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions–an increase of almost $21.2 million (18.4 percent) over 2002. It marked the largest dollar increase in the offering's 115-year history.

FamilyNet will cover SBC. FamilyNet television will broadcast daily news reports from the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis, June 15-16. FamilyNet is a 24-hour, Fort Worth-based network owned and operated by the SBC North American Mission Board.

Baptist World Congress speakers announced. A best-selling author and a former president of the United States will headline the 100th birthday celebration of the Baptist World Alliance at the Baptist World Centenary Congress, July 27-31, 2005, in Birmingham, England. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and author of "The Purpose-Driven Life" and the "Purpose-Driven Church" will be a keynote speaker. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter–a Nobel Peace Prize laureate–will teach an international Sunday school class at the meeting. Billy Kim will bring his final message as BWA president after five years in office.

Brazilian Baptists support BWA. The Brazilian Baptist Convention voted at its annual meeting to support the Baptist World Alliance and to appeal to the Southern Baptist Convention "to maintain its precious cooperation with the BWA in terms of leadership, talents and financial resources."

Moscow Seminary honors Lotz. At its spring commencement, the Moscow Theological Seminary of Evangelical Christian-Baptists conferred an honorary doctorate on Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Denton Lotz. Although Baptists around the world began praying and collecting money for a Russian seminary as early as 1905, seminary leaders credited Lotz with taking the initiative to help launch the school in 1993.

Baptist named chief of chaplains. Baptist chaplain Brig. Gen. Charles Baldwin has been promoted to the chief of chaplain service for the U.S. Air Force. He will become a major general and one of the three highest-ranking chaplains in the United States military. As chief of chaplains, Baldwin will be senior pastor of a combined active-duty, National Guard, reserve and civilian force of more than 850,000 people serving in about 1,300 locations worldwide. Baldwin, a graduate of the Air Force Academy and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, is endorsed by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Southwestern VP announces retirement. Hubert Martin is retiring July 31 as vice president of business affairs at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary after 30 years of service to the school. Martin, who came to Southwestern as a student in 1973, began his career at the end of his second year of studies when he became director of purchasing. He became the business manager of the seminary a few years later and vice president of business affairs in 1984. Martin received an honorary doctorate of humanities from Dallas Baptist University in December 2003. He also recently received the Taylor Daniels Award of Merit from the Southern Baptist Business Officers Association, an annual award given to a business administrator in the denomination.

San Francisco pastor nominated. Joy Yee, pastor of New Covenant Baptist Church in San Francisco, Calif., will be nominated as moderator-elect of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship by the Fellowship's nominating committee during the CBF General Assembly, June 24-26, in Birmingham, Ala. The moderator-elect automatically succeeds the moderator at the conclusion of a one-year term. Bob Setzer, pastor of First Baptist Church in Macon, Ga., is the current moderator-elect, and attorney Cynthia Holmes from St. Louis, Mo., is moderator.

Posted: 6/11/04

Buckner Protective Homemakers
program reunites, strengthens families

By Russ Dilday

Buckner News Service

LEVELLAND–Five children are wrestling, watching television, munching on snacks and playing games–seemingly all at the same time–inside a modest, three-bedroom mobile home. Above the noise and activity, their mother smiles and says her life is “normal.”

A year ago, life was anything but normal for Kim, a single mother in her 30s. She admits problems with drug abuse had made her life and the lives of her children chaotic.

“There was a lot of drug abuse, and it's been off-and-on for years,” she explained. “My drug abuse started when I was 12.”

Child Protective Services already had investigated her several times for her drug use, and she knew that with her personal and home life on a downward turn, the investigations could lead to losing her family.

The turning point came in March 2003. That's when she said she grew “tired of it and knew I wasn't taking care of the kids right. My house was upside-down, the kids weren't being fed, and I said, 'I can't get any higher than I've been.' I called my therapist and told her something needed to happen. CPS picked the kids up that day, and I started rehab.”

Her call to authorities started a 90-day stay in a drug rehabilitation program during which she was allowed few outside contacts.

“I didn't know much about where the kids were. They had been placed with my great aunt after being in a shelter for a couple of months,” she said.

Her oldest child was placed at Buckner Children's Home in Lubbock for specialized school needs and behavioral therapy.

She credits her faith in God for helping her through her rehabilitation and absence from her family. “I prayed a lot. I told God that he knows what's best, and if it wasn't right to get the kids back, do what's best for the kids. I did it for them, and I did it for myself.”

But after the 90-day rehabilitation period, she returned home needing oversight and help for the rehabilitation and reunification of her family. She found the help she needed in Karen Thompson of the Buckner Protective Homemakers program. And she also found a friend in Thompson.

Protective Homemakers, a program of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, is the answer for many families in need of help, especially when Buckner Children and Family Services of Lubbock put its brand on it. It provides services to families involved with Child Protective Services. Its goal is to prevent individual or family breakdown, encourage maximum independent parental functioning, prevent removal of children from the home and promote family reunification.

“I came in, taking it as a courtesy case from the town where Kim was living,” says Thompson. “I made sure Kim stayed on task, and if she needed anything, I tried to get it for her.”

The program approaches reunification and strengthening families by focusing on daily living skills such as budgeting money and finding resources to help families.

The strength of the Homemakers program, Thompson notes, is that it allows caseworkers to “do what you can do to help your families. If they need furniture, clothing or food, you find resources for those. You help them budget. If Kim needed to go somewhere, she didn't have a car, so I provided transportation, like taking her to the store. The girls didn't have beds, so we got bunk beds from a family, and now her girls have beds.”

But it's not the help Thompson brought Kim that has made the greatest impact on the family's rebuilding. “It's the positive support. She's always pushed me up, made me feel good about myself. Christmas was a good (example). If it wasn't for her and Buckner, we wouldn't have had much.

“She's more of a friend than a caseworker,” Kim emphasized, pointing out that Thompson's last visit had occurred days before. “My case is closed and she's still here.”

And “here”–home–is “different than before,” she says. “We have a routine, we wake up, we go to school, we get home and we clean. The kids hate that. It's peaceful, and we're all in bed by 10. I never slept before. We're like normal people.”

Home also has its challenges, she says. “I work, and I have had a job for nine months, the same job. My income is $600 a month and rent is $400 a month. We pay all the bills, but I'm dead broke.”

Since she entered rehabilitation, Thompson says, Kim has shown “consistency in wanting to do better for her kids, working herself to death to make things better for them. She has her faith in God, and that is awesome. That's why I feel like I can help her make it.”

Eleven-year-old Daniela has noticed the changes in her home, too. “My mom has been taking care of us, and so has Ms. Karen.”

Looking to her future without the careful oversight of Thompson and the Protective Homemakers program, Kim says: “My future is going to be day-by-day. I have dreams. I want to own a house. I want a house so bad. I want a house that my (future) grandkids can come to at Christmas.”

Posted: 6/11/04

Bush-Cheney campaign under fire for
effort to identify, target 'friendly' congregations

By Adelle Banks

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–The Bush-Cheney campaign is under fire from church-state separationists for asking supporters to help identify “friendly congregations” in Pennsylvania that might be good locations for distribution of campaign information.

“The Bush-Cheney '04 national headquarters in Virginia has asked us to identify 1,600 'friendly congregations' in Pennsylvania where voters friendly to President Bush might gather on a regular basis,” said an e-mail from Luke Bernstein, a staffer in the re-election campaign in Pennsylvania.

“In each of these friendly congregations, we would like to identify a volunteer coordinator who can help distribute general information to other supporters.”

The Interfaith Alliance and Americans United for Separation of Church and State say such a move crosses the line of using religion for partisan purposes.

“Whether or not this is legal, this is an astonishing abuse of religion,” said Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance.

“It is the rawest form of manipulation of religion for partisan gain.”

Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said churches that participate as requested could endanger their tax-exempt status.

“This is the most shocking example of politicizing churches I've ever seen,” Lynn said.

“The last thing this country needs is a church-based political machine.”

The e-mail sought coordinators in places of worship who could help distribute updates and information about voter registration “in a place accessible to the congregation.”

Sharon Castillo, a spokeswoman for Bush-Cheney '04, said the effort was designed to connect individuals, not congregations, to the campaign.

“The message … that was sent out is intended to encourage individual-to-individual contact,” she told Religion News Service. “We strongly believe that people of faith strongly support this president because of his policies, and we want to empower them to be part of our campaign.”

The reference to “friendly congregations” did not intend to suggest there should be gatherings within houses of worship specifically to help the campaign, she asserted.

“We fully respect the letter of the law, and we in no way want to imply that people should congregate at their places of worship” for political purposes, she said.

The campaign is launching similar efforts in other states, Castillo added.

Only people who had already signed up on a campaign website to be part of a “social conservative coalition” received the message, she explained.

The sign-up area for volunteers on the Bush-Cheney site mentions “religious conservatives” among 31 options for coalitions they can join.

Other categories include Catholic, Jewish, “pro-life,” home-school and various professional, racial and ethnic groups.

Placing people with religious interests in the same league as farmers and other special-interest groups shows an insensitivity on the part of the Bush campaign, said Gaddy, former pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth.

“This administration shows less sensitivity to actions that compromise the sanctity of houses of worship and the integrity of religion than any previous administration,” despite its frequent discussions of religion and houses of worship, he said.

Sandra Strauss, director of public advocacy for the Pennsylvania Council of Churches, said congregations could distribute nonpartisan bulletin inserts about the right to vote, for example, that would not violate legal and ethical boundaries.

Mara Vanderslice, director of religious outreach for Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign, said in a statement that the approach of campaigners for Bush is disrespectful to churches and risks their tax-exempt status.

“Religious voters should be encouraged to raise their voices in this election, and we expect millions of devoutly religious people to vote for John Kerry,” she said.

“Although the Kerry campaign actively welcomes the participation of religious voices in our campaign, we will never court religious voters in a way that would jeopardize the sanctity of their very houses of worship.”

Posted: 6/11/04

President tells editors he sees his
role as a voice for cultural change

WASHINGTON (RNS)–President Bush described himself as a cultural change agent in a group interview with editors and writers of conservative Christian publications.

“The job of a president is to help cultures change,” Bush told the nine writers and executives, according to an edited transcript posted on ChristianityToday.com. “Governments cannot change culture alone. I want you to know I understand that. But I can be a voice of cultural change.”

In the wide-ranging discussion, Bush addressed domestic and foreign policy, his personal prayer life and his defense of a “culture of life” and traditional marriage.

Bush said he doesn't want to be confused with a preacher, so he instead works to “let the light shine” as a secular politician.

“One of the prayers I ask is that God's light shines through me as best as possible, no matter how opaque the window,” he said.

More than once, the president said Americans have the right to worship how they wish or not at all.

“My job is to make sure that, as president, people understand that in this country you can worship any way you choose,” he said. “You can be a patriot if you don't believe in the Almighty.”

Bush said he sees Israel “a little differently” than conservative Christian leaders such as religious broadcaster Pat Robertson.

“I view Israel as a friend and ally in democracy who is in a rough neighborhood, and … we will stand side-by-side with Israel if anybody tries to annihilate her,” he said.

“I see … development of a Palestinian state as a major change agent–along with a free Iraq–in the part of the world that desperately needs free societies, out of which will come the ability for people to worship as they see fit, … the ability for people to realize their hopes.”

One questioner asked the president to respond to a concern that his interview on Arab television following the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal might have been “a mistake for appearing to be apologizing in a way that reinforces Pan-Arabism.”

Bush said he expressed his regret for the humiliation of Iraqi detainees by U.S. soldiers, but emphasized: “I never apologized to the Arab world.”

Asked if he saw evil in the way some people practice Islam, the president responded: “I think what we're dealing with are people–extreme, radical people–who've got a deep desire to spread an ideology that is anti-women, anti-free thought, anti-art and science, you know, that couch their language in religious terms. But that doesn't make them religious people.”

On the domestic scene, he considers his work on faith-based initiatives to be one of his most important efforts and thinks a change in the definition of marriage “will weaken civilization.”

Prayer, Bush told his interviewers, is a constant in his life.

“I pray all the time. All the time,” he said.

“You don't need a chapel to pray, I don't think. Whether it be in the Oval Office, I mean, you just do it. That's just me.”

Posted: 6/11/04

Volunteers with Texas ties launch
Coast Guard Academy student ministry

By Janelle Bagci

Staff Writer

NEW LONDON, Conn.–Two Mission Service Corps volunteers with Texas ties are launching a student ministry in one of the nation's most spiritually needy areas.

Randy and Sally Bond–graduates of Dallas Baptist University–will serve in New London, Conn., a town of 90,000 with five colleges and only one Southern Baptist church.

The schools include the United States Coast Guard Academy, one of the country's five federal service academies, which trains 850 students yearly for leadership positions.

“Almost everyone who serves in a leadership position will pass through the gates of the academy for training,” Bond said.

“Our ministry at the academy has the potential to touch a significant portion of the Coast Guard with the gospel. We were amazed to learn that one of our nation's military academies did not have an evangelical ministry trying to reach its cadets.”

The Bonds will arrive in New London June 19 and eagerly await the new cadets who will come to the academy June 28. They will direct New London Campus Ministry, a Baptist collegiate ministry that will seek to reach the cadets and students in the area.

“Campus ministry may be the key to reaching New England with the gospel. Studies show that 90 percent of all believers made their decision to follow Christ by age 21,” said John Ramirez, director of collegiate ministry for the Baptist Convention of New England.

Although the Baptist Convention of New England long has recognized the strategic nature of having a ministry in New London, the convention could not afford to fund such a position. By serving as volunteers, the Bonds fill the gap in a key ministry where mission funding is not available.

“It's scary, but we know the Lord will provide. We are called to live by faith and not by sight,” Bond said.

So far, the Bonds have accounted for 65 percent of their living expenses. They are trusting God to provide the remaining balance after they move.

The Bonds are seeking the names of incoming cadets so they can make contact with them before they arrive for Swab Summer, a “boot camp” experience beginning July 1.

The Bonds can be contacted at (318) 793-8857 or thebondfam@yahoo.com.

They also are looking for churches interested in taking a mission trip to New England.

“It could be as simple as a senior adult group who wants to come see the fall colors of New England and cook a meal for a bunch of hungry cadets,” Bond said. “It would be a simple trip that would have a significant impact on our work for the kingdom.”

Posted: 6/11/04

ANOTHER VIEW:
Distorted lenses show false division

By Jimmy Dorrell

All Christians wear glasses of sorts. The lens of one's worldview, often shaped by the culture a person grows up in, impacts how faith and mission are seen. The lens of Western thinking has distorted several biblical, historical, and practical factors and caused an unfortunate myopia about the relationship between evangelism and social ministries.

Biblical lapses.

The wrong lens distorts how we read and understand the Bible. In the Hebrew worldview of the Scripture, no dualism divided spiritual and physical. Meeting the needs of others was integrated into obedience to Yahweh. God's Law provided ways to help the stranger, the hungry and the sick. Yet, as the 8th century prophets pointed out, the Lord became unhappy with Israel in their efforts to worship him while simultaneously overlooking the poor and oppressed in the cities. The fall of Israel and Judah was tied to this critical distortion of God's shalom.

Jimmy Dorrell

Jesus' messiahship also was affirmed by his fulfillment of Isaiah's claim that he would bring “good news to the poor.” His ministry always included preaching the kingdom of God, which brings salvation, healing and hope. As part of the gospel, he advocated for justice among the marginalized and sacrificial responsibility to the poor, naked, sick, hungry and oppressed. It is no mistake that the Greek word for salvation includes the same root as the word for healing. Jesus' lens included evangelism and human development as inseparable.

The early church faced human need. The Book of Acts recounts the power of the gospel as the newly empowered Christians met in homes for prayer, fellowship, teaching and sharing possessions. “There were no needy persons among them” (Acts 2:42-45; 4:32-35). As the church spread, new believers were challenged to take offerings for poor Christians. And out of all that could have been asked of Paul as he met with the Jerusalem Council in his request to go to preach to the Gentiles, “all they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do” (Galatians 2:10). Biblically, it was clear one could not be “spiritual” and ignore the needs of others.

Historical distortions.

Epochs of history also have shown how our lens gets distorted. Prior to the 1900s, the conservative church in America had a record of significant ministries that met human need. Hospitals and orphanages were built, the poor were fed and housed, and “conservative Christians” were recognized for their acts of compassion to the needy.

But as liberal Christians began to identify in the early 20th century with a homeless ministry in New York's Hell's Kitchen, fear of being misrepresented with the growing Social Gospel movement reshaped established patterns of mercy ministries.

The “great reversal” occurred during the early 1900s, when many well-meaning Christians abandoned God's call to meet human need as an integrated part of the good news. In its place, a heightened emphasis on evangelism took precedence. Growing revival and crusade movements across America began to emphasize personal salvation, with no seeming connection to the needs of one's local community. Even soup kitchens and rescue missions became mere methods to preach to the poor when they came for food or shelter.

Consequently, many Bible-believing Christians have continued this over-reaction to prioritize evangelism at the expense of a more adequate scriptural understanding of a whole gospel. Neither can be abandoned, since they are intrinsically interconnected.

Practical challenges.

There is no cultureless gospel, but God's lens of truth helps us read the distortions in our own society. In light of growing postmodernism, many of the younger and unchurched generation are minimizing the church's role in society as self-centered and uncaring. Church budgets continue to reflect decreasing dollars and value of community ministries, while often spending more on themselves.

One effect is that thousands are leaving the churches in Europe and America every week. To this generation, churches that do not seem to care about their communities have little appeal to a growing culture that rejects absolutes yet recognizes compassion.

Many churches are rediscovering a healthy, holistic missiology that recognizes God is a sending God, calling the church to be missional, not to reduce missions to a program.

These churches are blessing the gifts of their membership to go to their communities and feed the hungry, visit the imprisoned, heal the sick and share the good news of salvation. They are finding that when basic needs of the unchurched are met, when economic and racial reconciliation occurs and when advocacy for those who are oppressed in the culture is expressed, there is new freshness to really hear the good news of our Lord.

Today, many churches are evaluating their own lenses that have caused some of the previous distortions and exchanging them for the corrective glasses shaped by God's Spirit.

Jimmy Dorrell is executive director of Mission Waco

Posted: 6/11/04

Lawmakers introduce bill to provide
debt relief to world's poorest nations

By Daniel Burke

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–A bipartisan group of legislators has introduced the Jubilee Act in the House of Representatives–a bill that would cancel debts the world's poorest countries owe the International Monetary Fund.

The measure would “bring the simple biblical concept of debt forgiveness into the complicated worlds of politics and finance,” one lawmaker said.

“Five years ago,” said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., one of the bill's co-sponsors, “the worldwide Jubilee movement reminded Congress that the Lord instructed the people of Israel to celebrate a Jubilee, or year of the Lord, every 50 years.”

According to Leviticus 25, God enjoined Moses to free slaves and forgive debts during a Jubilee year.

The bill was co-sponsored by Reps. Barney Frank, D-Mass.; Spencer Bacchus, R-Ala.; Jim Leach, R-Iowa; and Barbara Lee, D-Calif. The lawmakers said debt cancellation was a “moral issue,” and money saved by countries by eliminating their debt could be used for education and the eradication of disease and hunger.

“President George W. Bush often reminds us of the importance that religion plays in his life,” Waters said.

And he “should bring the biblical principals of justice and charity into the boardroom of the IMF,” Waters added.

Members of the Jubilee USA network, a national coalition of religious and secular social-justice groups, welcomed the bill's introduction.

The network “applauded the prophetic action of these five congresspeople who have demonstrated the political, spiritual and moral courage to call for the IMF to do their fair share for debt cancellation,” said Marie Clarke, the national coordinator for the Jubilee USA Network.

Clarke said the group planned to deliver a letter endorsed by hundreds of religious leaders from across the world to the G-8 countries' heads of state. The letter would emphasize the "moral imperative" of debt cancellation, she said.

With Congress' summer recess approaching, it is unclear how far the bill will get in the House, but the Jubilee coalition is excited, nonetheless.

“This is our visionary bill,” said Adam Taylor, executive director of Global Justice and an associate Baptist minister in Washington.

“This is what God's kingdom should look like.”

Posted: 6/11/04

Disney boycott thrust SBC
leaders into national spotlight

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

ORLANDO (ABP)–Southern Baptists' much-publicized boycott of the Walt Disney Co. had little effect on the media conglomerate, but it established the Southern Baptist Convention as the dominant denominational voice for conservative values, says the author of a forthcoming book.

In “The Gospel According to Disney,” Mark Pinsky, religion writer for the Orlando Sentinel, offers an assessment of the Southern Baptist boycott, which targeted the entertainment giant for gay-friendly policies and “anti-Christian” messages in its movies.

Pinsky said the boycott of Disney products did not have the intended effect of curtailing sales or changing the company's practices, but it did bolster the reputation of Southern Baptists as cultural crusaders.

“Despite fears that the boycott would make them look like backwoods, knuckle-scraping yokels–as some feared when the boycott was first proposed–Southern Baptist leaders found that this publicity helped them,” Pinsky wrote.

“In the domestic religious marketplace, at least, their controversial stands established and burnished their own brand as the conservative, family values denomination.”

The book, subtitled “Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust,” is a sequel to Pinsky's 2001 “The Gospel According to the Simpsons.”

The new book, due out in August, offers a broad, chronological analysis of the religious and social messages in Disney's feature films from 1937 to 2003. Separate chapters are devoted to Disney's theme parks and the “cultural clash” presented by the Baptist boycott.

June marks the seven-year anniversary of the Southern Baptist Convention boycott. After challenging Disney to change its ways in a 1996 resolution, the SBC joined several smaller Christian groups to boycott Disney in 1997, complaining that Disney–through its feature films and a myriad of subsidiaries–had abandoned the family-friendly image cultivated by founder Walt Disney.

“In the months and years following the boycott vote and ensuing controversy, essentially nothing happened,” wrote Pinsky, who is Jewish.

“The denomination, as some within it feared–and warned–appeared to be an economic paper tiger.”

Disney's financial fortunes “did decline dramatically” during the late 1990s and early 2000s, Pinsky noted, and Southern Baptists justifiably took some credit.

But no research validated their claim, he added. Financial analysts instead blamed recession, terrorism, sluggish retail sales and the low ratings of Disney-owned ABC-TV.

Meanwhile, only 30 percent of Southern Baptists complied with the boycott, according to a poll taken a year after it began. The New York Times last year called the boycott an “utter flop” and noted no media company would fear the wrath of Southern Baptists, Pinsky said.

However, publicity for the boycott brought “considerable exposure” to Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, landing him on the news media's “Golden Rolodex” and helping establish his daily syndicated radio show on 600 stations, Pinsky wrote.

Likewise, the media attention elevated the stature of Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Land's “telegenic rival in the denomination.”

However, Dwayne Hastings, an ERLC vice president and spokesperson, said Land and Mohler were not products of the boycott.

“They were rising stars anyway,” he said. “The times demanded that they be there and that their voices be heard.”

Land and Mohler “were somewhat prophetic in their own right” by taking on the Disney juggernaut publicly, Hastings said. But there was a downside–they and other Christian leaders were “typecast” by their opposition, he said.

About Pinsky, who has written extensively about the boycott for the Orlando Sentinel and other publications, Hastings said: “The Disney boycott helped him too. It put his name out there. All three of them benefited from it somewhat.”

Hastings disputed the conclusion of Pinsky and others that the boycott was ineffectual. “It had to have an impact,” he said.

“I would not take credit for a down-tick in their stock,” he noted, adding, “It's very, very difficult to extract out and say 'we did this' or 'we did that.'” But there were too many boycotters not to have some effect, he said.

“Too many people in my circle made decisions (to avoid Disney products) that it had to have an impact, because my family isn't that unique,” Hastings reasoned.

Beyond the economic effect, he continued, the boycott “shined a spotlight” on Disney that CEO Michael Eisner did not welcome, highlighting the company's moral inconsistencies. The boycott “definitely sensitized a lot of Americans to what Disney was,” Hastings concluded.

Before and after the boycott, Baptist critics complained Disney allowed large-scale “Gay Days” promotions in its theme parks and offered health benefits for partners of gay employees, who by one insider estimate number 40 percent of Disney's workforce of 100,000.

Land and other critics say Disney was singled out from among even more offensive entertainment companies because it cultivates a clean-cut image, while at the same time pandering to non-Christian and anti-family influences.

But, Pinsky argued in his book, Disney has always been more a reflection of America's moral direction than a shaper of it, gradually changing over the years as the predominant culture changed.

Under the leadership of Walt Disney, who scrupulously avoided offending his customers, the early Disney movies touted a vague Judeo-Christian moral consensus and good-over-evil theme, Pinsky said–“a nondenominational, nonsectarian faith, with an undergirding of unconquerable optimism.”

In the Michael Eisner years (after 1984), as America became more religiously diverse, Disney movies became multicultural, adding Eastern, Islamic, Native American and feminist viewpoints.

More importantly, Pinsky said, Disney's bottom line was always about making money, not advancing religion.

“As the country's attitudes toward religion, values and culture shifted, Disney's animated features–its historic corporate center of gravity–have shifted to accommodate them,” he concluded. “It's just business.”

While boycotters argued Disney's legacy of producing “uplifting, family-friendly fare” obligated the company to ignore customer wishes and market forces, Pinsky said, “This is a sentimental notion–naïve at best and disingenuous at worst.

“If people's tastes in entertainment are becoming more depraved … whose responsibility is that?” he wrote. “Singling out Disney for blame is like blaming one brand of thermometer for causing a raging fever.

“Although they are still loath to admit it, the conservative Christian critics who took up their cudgels against Disney were really complaining about what made America what it is today–global capitalism and the market economy.”

In one sense, Pinsky said, the showdown between the SBC and Disney reflects the increasing polarization within American society.

“The collision of these two titans was a dispute deeply rooted in the disconnect of politics, culture and geography,” he said. Southern Baptists are generally “theologically fundamentalist, politically conservative and increasingly amenable to closer involvement between church and state,” while Disney's corporate culture is “urban, West Coast, secular and, at least on lifestyle issues, liberal.”

Hastings of the ERLC conceded the Disney-Baptist conflict mirrors cultural shifts, and Disney is a reflection of a changing America.

“There's more than a fair measure of truth in that,” he said. “But (Disney executives) haven't been willing to go very far beyond the culture,” he added. To justify its family-friendly image, he said, Disney should be more willing to challenge cultural assumptions and stereotypes.

For instance, Disney films “have done a lot of children a gross disservice” by stereotyping heroes as “attractive white men,” he said. And Disney is hypocritical to champion equality while selling merchandise produced by underage, underpaid Third World workers, he said.

After seven years, Hastings said, he doesn't see an imminent end to the Baptist boycott. “When it gets beyond a certain point, you'd look for a little movement on both sides to call an end. But we haven't seen that.”

He said Southern Baptist attention hasn't waned–the ERLC still gets “one or two calls a week” for information about the boycott. But, he conceded, “We have no idea how many families are observing it.

“Being Southern Baptists, it's up to individual families to do what they want to do with it.”

Posted: 6/11/04

EDITORIAL:
Represent God for $29.95

Here's the latest from the this-would-be-funny-if-it-weren't-so-pathetic department: You can become a “legally ordained minister” within 48 hours.

At least that's what a new e-mail spam offers.

Yes, brothers and sisters, for only $29.95, anyone with a credit card and access to e-mail can get ordained. This is a value “easily worth $100,” according to IIS Ministries, the spammer behind this eternity-changing opportunity.

“As a minister, you will be authorized to perform the rites and ceremonies of the church!!” the e-mail promises. After you receive your ordination certificate “in color, with gold seal … professionally printed by an ink press,” you will possess authority to perform weddings, funerals and baptisms, as well as power to forgive sins and credentials to visit correctional facilities.

Of course, you're thinking: “Becoming an ordained minister would be great! How do I begin?” Don't worry. For just $79, IIS Ministries will send you “Ministry in a Box,” your ministry starter kit. Among other items, it includes an ordination credential with your name imprinted, a wallet ID card, a “wedding and ceremonies workbook” on CD, 15 ceremony certificates for everything from baptisms to house blessings, and (the clincher) a “laminated parking placard with embossed gold seal.”

Who could turn down a deal like that? Everybody, one prays.

Vocational ministry originates with a call from God, not a spammed e-mail. Ordination generates from spiritual wisdom of a church, not an Internet opportunist. And ministry culminates in service to others in Jesus' name, not flashing a parking pass.

Before you dismiss this ecclesiastical e-mail opportunity as tawdry and cheap, think about how congregations often look at vocational ministry. More and more churches see pastors as CEOs, to be fired when the return on investment fails to meet expectations. Many churches handle staff ministers like bit players, to be traded the way the sports franchises shuffle lineups.

Beware of e-mail ordinations, but also of treating ministers like hired hands. God's call to ministry is sacred and holy. And it's not for sale–at any price.
–Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com

Posted: 6/11/04

EDITORIAL:
Catholics, Kerry & church discipline

Pity Catholics in this election year. They're divided over whether politicians who support abortion rights and/or gay marriage should receive Communion (what most Baptists call the Lord's Supper). And for Catholics, it's not just a ceremony tacked onto the end of worship service once a quarter. Taking Communion is understood as central to being Catholic–and obtaining salvation.

If a bishop were to deny the “body and blood of Christ” to John Kerry due to his support for abortion rights, the results would reverberate spiritually and politically. Imagine the anguish of rejection by your own church. Imagine the fallout if Catholic voters feared a similar fate for supporting a fallen candidate.

Such censure does not await George Bush. One reason is because he agrees with the Catholic hierarchy on those issues. Another is because he's beyond their reach. Protestants don't believe the Roman Catholic Church can dispense or withhold God's grace. So, while the Catholic bishops' implied support may be politically comforting, the threat of their disapproval (he does counter their teaching on capital punishment) is not spiritually daunting.

Beyond politics, the Catholic/Kerry issue raises a question not discussed much anymore: What about church discipline?

Some observers claim the Roman Catholic Church has no business casting judgments on politicians' positions. Similarly, many people today insist a congregation does not have the right to judge its members' behavior, or certainly not to take public action regarding that behavior.

But that's not what Jesus said. He provided a four-part plan for disciplining a sinner (Matthew 18). “Reprove him in private,” counsel with him in the company of two or three believers, take him before the entire church and, if he remains unrepentant, “let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax gatherer.”

In generations past, church discipline–often known as “churching”–gained a horrible reputation. At least to outsiders, it appeared harsh and unfeeling, bent on vengeance and retribution. It seemed more about law than grace, more about judgment than redemption.

But if we accept the broad counsel of Jesus' teaching, we would do well to return to some form of accountability to the fellowship of faith.

To begin, we must look at Jesus' purpose–to redeem the sinner and return the person to fellowship. Jesus said the one without sin should throw the first stone of punishment (John 8). None of us is sinless, so we must approach each other humbly, with pure hearts. And then he 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.

Let's be honest. Huge business scandals revolve around church folks. Our divorce rates and incidents of extramarital affairs are virtually identical to society's. Other moral and ethical lapses abound, even if they don't make the evening news.

We need accountability and discipline in our churches. In an age of lawsuits and media hype, churchwide trials aren't the way. But our churches should emphasize caring, intentional small-group accountability, nurture and discipline.
–Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com

Posted: 6/11/04

Moore honored with Texas
Baptist Elder Statesman Award

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

INDEPENDENCE–Winfred Moore served as a pastor in the Panhandle for more than 30 years. He was honored on a statewide platform June 8 as an “elder statesman” in recognition of a lifetime of ministry.

Independence Baptist Association and the Baptist Distinctives Committee/Texas Baptist Heritage Center made Moore the 52nd recipient of the Texas Baptist Elder Statesman Award in a special service at Independence Baptist Church, the oldest continuously active Baptist congregation in the state.

Moore was pastor of First Baptist Church in Amarillo from 1959 to 1989, and prior to that, he was pastor of First Baptist Church in Borger. He now is director of the Center for Ministry Effectiveness at Baylor University in Waco.

Howard Batson, current pastor at First Baptist in Amarillo, lauded Moore as a man of courage, following in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul.

Moore demonstrated courage as he “loved a congregation without reserve for three decades.” Some pastors lead a congregation “at a distance,” Batson said, but Moore “didn't do pastoring that way. He got in the boat with the people. He took the gloves off, and he bled with the people, and they bled with him. … It takes a lot of courage to pastor people with an open and a warm heart.”

The longtime pastor also had courage to “walk against the wind,” Batson said. “He's not a politician. He never tried to call attention to himself. … All Winfred Moore has ever done is what he thought was right.”

Bill Pinson, executive director emeritus of the BGCT, now provides leadership to the Baptist Distinctives Committee, which chose Moore as this year's elder statesman.

Moore was president of the BGCT when Pinson became executive director. Pinson said that when he approached Moore about the idea of launching Mission Texas, a concentrated effort to start churches, the president insisted the convention move ahead with it immediately rather than waiting a year.

“We're going to do it now,” Pinson recalled Moore saying. “And it was done.”

Glenn Hilburn, retired chairman of the religion department at Baylor, presented the award to Moore. He said the pastor is “loved around the globe” and is a statesman not just for Baptists but for those of other traditions, as well.

When Moore first went to the Panhandle, he was not an elder statesman, Hilburn said. He was a “young whippersnapper in his mid 30s.” Ministry in the Panhandle helped the young pastor grow, and “that maturing process makes it possible to use that term 'elder.'”

Hilburn noted two women have been important in Moore's life –his mother and his wife. Moore should share the elder statesman honor with his wife, Elizabeth, he added, noting, “This is an honor for both of you.”

Fred Moore of Chicago called his father his dearest friend, confidant and source of encouragement. The two of them start each weekday with a 7 a.m. telephone call that includes prayer and Scripture study.

“He has been in private exactly what he has seemed to be in public,” the younger Moore said.

Fred Moore said his dad believes “one studied … to learn God's will, … then did it.”

The son also spoke of his father's optimism. He told of when the Moore family was moving from Tupelo, Miss., to Borger. They stopped at a service station in Arkansas, and the men there guessed Moore was from Texas. “That's right–Borger, Texas,” he told them, adding, “It's a great place to live,” even though he had yet to live there.

Fred Moore thanked his dad for living a “life that overflows” to the family and to others.

In accepting the award, Moore said, “I do qualify for this award if age is the only criteria for it.”

“Some of you are almost as old as I am,” he said. And they ought to be saying to the younger people, “The Scriptures point to far more than what the Scriptures say.”

Moore also noted younger generations seem to have a “far better vision” of what God can do than did his own generation.

BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade said Moore focused on church ministry and had no denominational ambitions. But when Texas Baptists needed him, “he said he would do what was needed.”

Wade did not mention specifics of Moore's denominational involvement, but the Amarillo pastor was active in keeping the BGCT on a course consistent with its past when the Southern Baptist Convention plotted a new course beginning in 1979.

Moore also was pushed by SBC moderates as a presidential nominee in 1985 and 1986, but he lost those votes, first to Charles Stanley, the incumbent president, and then to Adrian Rogers.

“How things would be different today if all Baptists had listened to him as well as Texas Baptists listened to him,” Wade said.

Posted: 6/11/04

LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for June 20

God uses unassuming people to do his will

2 Kings 5:1-27

By David Morgan

Trinity Baptist Church, Harker Heights

Names like Rumsfield, Meyer and Sanchez roll quickly off our lips because of news reports regarding the war in Iraq. But soldiers with names like Beverly, Buddy, Chris and Jason find themselves sleeping in makeshift tents during their year-long assignments. These unassuming soldiers are daily fighting an unpredictable enemy and working to help rebuild Iraq's infrastructure. They toil to improve the quality of life for Iraqis of all religions and ethnicity.

Compare this scenario with the recounting of a general's healing in 2 Kings 5. Naaman, the highest-ranking military official (“commander”) in the Syrian (“Aram”) army, had a chest full of medals and a wall full of citations. He had captained the Syrians to victory over Israel. Note that he is the only high-ranking official to be named. We know from other sources the names of the kings: Ben-hadad of Syria and Jehoram of Israel. The narrator chose instead to emphasize the role played by three unassuming figures in securing Naaman's healing.

A commander struck down

No one doubted Naaman's greatness. Both his master and his troops respected him for leadership and bravery. The narrator alluded to God's sovereignty over all nations when he stated God had given the foreign general victory over God's people. God had used Naaman to bring judgment on Israel. Naaman's name, which means “gracious” or “charming,” suggests a good life. Everything looked good except Naaman's skin. He had leprosy.

“Leprosy” covers a wide variety of skin diseases. It even refers to mold in houses. The root meaning of the term is “to strike down.” Why Naaman was still living at home is perplexing, because for many lepers the first step was quarantine and social isolation. Perhaps he still was in the early stages. But he certainly realized the fate that awaited him. As the disease progressed, one would lose sensation in the extremities and limbs actually could fall off.

A maiden extends hope

The narrator had set the stage for the first unassuming person to help Naaman–the Jewish maiden who attended his wife. The young captive told her master a prophet in Samaria (another name for the Northern Kingdom, Israel) could cure Naaman. The verb “cure” commonly means “to gather together.” It was especially appropriate because Naaman could anticipate isolation and separation as the disease progressed.

Naaman relayed the girl's words to his king who wrote to Israel's king requesting he cure Naaman. The general left for Israel with the letter and expensive gifts.

Receiving the letter troubled the Israelite king. He suspected it might be a pretext for attack.

A prophet gives instructions

Enter the second unassuming character, Elisha. He had heard about Jehoram's reaction and sent word to direct Naaman to him. Elisha's words, “he will know that there is a prophet in Israel” imply he would heal the Syrian.

Naaman arrived at Elisha's house with all the trappings associated with a military commander. Elisha did not appear to be impressed, but sent instructions for healing through a messenger. He told Naaman to “go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed” (v. 10).

Naaman was livid. No one dismissed him that way. Furthermore, he expected some spectacular activity, but Elisha told him to wash in the muddy Jordan. Naaman pouted that Syria had much better rivers for bathing.

Aides offer advice

The final unassuming people to intervene in Naaman's behalf were his aides. Addressing him as “father” suggests they had a genuine concern for him and his health. They may have been subordinates, but the relationship was more than simply master and servant.

They carefully and tactfully approached the general, mildly rebuking him for being unreasonable. They reminded him he would have performed difficult tasks had Elisha prescribed them. But all Elisha commanded was the simple task of dipping in one of Israel's rivers, albeit a muddy one.

The servants' words had their desired affect. Naaman accepted Elisha's remedy and obeyed the prophet. He went down to the Jordan to wash himself. The words “went down” may suggest a double meaning–he went down physically to the river, and he demonstrated his humility. When he finished dipping himself in the water, he was clean. His skin was in better shape than any man his age. It was like a little child's.

Unassuming people make a difference

A general who was a leper needed help doctors and kings couldn't give. God chose instead to heal him using ordinary people and means.

God often uses the meek and modest to accomplish divine tasks. People may want spectacular, but God uses humble and unassuming. In this case, Naaman returned to his homeland declaring Israel's God was the God of all the earth.

Question for discussion

How have you seen God work?