Posted: 2/04/05

BGCT clears hurdle toward BWA membership

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

The North American Baptist Fellowship–one of six regional bodies in the Baptist World Alliance–voted in January to accept the Baptist General Convention of Texas as a member.

The BGCT and the Baptist General Association of Virginia became the first two state conventions granted membership in the North American Fellowship.

In the past, Texas Baptists related to the BWA through the Southern Baptist Convention. The SBC withdrew from the BWA last year alleging theological liberalism, a charge refuted by Baptists around the world.

“For decades Texas Baptists have enjoyed healthy fellowship with our brothers and sisters in the Baptist World Alliance,” said Don Sewell, director of the BGCT's Texas Partnerships Resource Center.

“Through our BWA connections, we can participate in far more evangelism, church planting and community work than we can ever experience without such vital ties. Our BWA friends are biblically conservative and evangelistically zealous. I admire their faith and their joy in the Lord in spite of tremendous obstacles.”

Messengers to the 1997 BGCT annual meeting in Austin voted for the convention to “explore the possibility of the BGCT becoming a member organization” of the BWA.

That option was not open until last year, when the BWA altered its rules for membership, which previously had been limited to national Baptist bodies.

The BGCT Executive Board will be asked in its March 1 meeting to approve pursuit of BWA membership, said BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade.

If so, Sewell will present the application to BWA's membership committee during a March 7 meeting in Falls Church, Va. If that committee approves, Baptists from around the world will vote on the BGCT's application during the BWA Centennial Congress July 27-31 in Birmingham, England.

The BGCT already is a financial supporter of the BWA and its ministries. Last year, Texas Baptists gave $129,000 to BWAid projects through the Texas Baptist World Hunger Offering. They also have spent $50,000 a year on church planting efforts of the European Baptist Federation, which is one of the six regional BWA fellowships.

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Book Reviews

Who Can You Trust? Overcoming Betrayal and Fear

by Howard E. Butt Jr. (WaterBrook Press)

Whether we're talking husbands and wives, clergy and congregations, or co-workers and bosses, trust issues challenge every human relationship. For a culture that seems to live so easily at the extremes of cynicism and gullibility, Howard Butt provides a careful and much-needed reflection on the “narrow way” of trust and even timely mistrust.

Just as in his three previous works, Butt writes in his now-characteristic and compelling style of synthesizing Christian spirituality, sound psychology and personal authenticity to produce a grace-based, honest and hope-filled exploration of trust. The work is divided into three major sections–exploring the trust-versus-mistrust dilemma, then a foray into understanding human nature and why we do what we do, followed by a thoughtful exploration of how we change and grow in wisdom.

What are you reading that other Texas Baptists would find helpful? Send suggestions and reviews to books@baptiststandard.com.

Butt is at his best when he illustrates his points with both street-level and historic examples of relationships where trust and betrayal have wrestled in real life. His artistry in putting flesh on our faith through stories and dialogues will help readers hear hope for growing through the trust issues in their own lives.

Who can you trust? You can trust the wisdom of Howard Butt.

Brad Russell, pastor

The Springs Church

San Antonio

My Journey with Hepatitis C
by Johanna Wrinkle (RoseDog Books)

This is a poignant story told from the perspective of common concern. Wrinkle, a prominent English teacher among Texas educators, tells her story to encourage fellow travelers who also suffer from Hepatitis C or any other chronic illness. She does not paint herself as either hero or martyr. She does not fill the book with advice. Instead, she tells her story–one that others as patients and caregivers can relate. From the “I have what … ?” question, to the hours of waiting, the maze of hospital corridors, bedside manners, wondering if her family is getting tired of her tiredness, and waiting four years for a liver transplant that is yet to happen, Wrinkle honestly tells all. She pays tribute to the blessing of the human community, faithful family, longtime friends, Sunday school classes, study clubs and support groups. All receive recognition for giving help and strength.

Along the way in this common journey, Wrinkle underscores faith. Hers is the story of strength in Christ and faith in his future promises. Whether you are experiencing the pain of a chronic illness or caring for one who is, this book might be helpful to you in your journey.

Stacy Conner, pastor

First Baptist Church

Muleshoe

The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience
by Ron Sider (Baker Books)

Evangelical Christians divorce their spouses at a rate roughly equal to the general population, physically abuse their spouses at least as frequently as their neighbors, embrace the same materialistic values as the larger society and are more likely than most people to exhibit racist attitudes. These findings lead author Ron Sider to conclude the same evangelical American Christians who embrace teachings about miracles in biblical days deny the gospel's transforming power in their own lives.

Sider relies heavily on research by George Barna, and some readers who question Barna's methodology may quibble about the exact numbers the author cites to illustrate his point. Even so, Sider's overall diagnosis seems sound, particularly when he points to what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace” as the root cause of scandalous evangelical disregard for the “whole gospel.” Readers familiar with Sider's earlier work, particularly Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, won't be surprised that his view of holistic gospel not only includes personal reformation, but also encompasses societal transformation. He insists preaching the gospel means proclaiming the transformational kingdom of God, not just offering an exclusively individualistic view of personal salvation.

At 140 pages, Sider's latest book is a quick read, but the challenges he presents keep it from being easy reading.

Ken Camp, managing editor

Baptist Standard

Dallas

The Power of Praying Together: Experiencing Christ Actively in Charge

by Oliver W. Price

A Baptist pastor recommended Oliver Price's book on corporate prayer to me. My friend said the principles in the book had changed the Wednesday night prayer service at his church back in the late '80s. Two hundred of his 400 members are regularly attending the Wednesday night prayer service. I read the book because I was curious to find out what would make his people excited about attending a Wednesday night prayer service that is entirely devoted to prayer. The principles in this book have changed my prayer life and given me a deeper understanding of the power of believers praying together.

Tommy Malone, president

Texas Baptist Men

McKinney

The Listener (originally titled The Heart Reader)
by Terri Blackstock

I eagerly await each of Terri Blackstock's Christian novels and had just finished River's Edge when my husband gave me The Listener. Blackstock answers the question,

“What if you could hear what God hears?” Sam Bennett wakes one morning able to hear people's unspoken needs. He struggles to be a faithful witness, drawing people to Christ and fellow believers to the Great Commission. The author inspires Christians to ask and answer the question, “What must I do?”

Kathy Hillman, Immediate past president

Woman's Missionary Union of Texas

Waco

Leadership
by Rudolph Giuliani

This book reminded me that effective leadership is more than just having the right thing to say at a time of crisis. Giuliani was prepared to be an effective leader on 9/11 because he had used good leadership principles long before the crisis came. In church, leaders want to be effective in crisis, but we cannot be effective leaders in crisis unless we have laid a foundation for effective leadership before the crisis hits.

Wesley Shotwell, chairman

BGCT Governance Committee

Azle

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Baptist Briefs

Baptist Heritage sermon contest announced. Feb. 15 is the deadline for submitting Baptist heritage sermon manuscripts for a competition sponsored by the Baptist History & Heritage Society and the H. Franklin Paschall Chair of biblical studies and preaching at Belmont University. Awards include $400 for first prize, $300 for second prize and $200 for third prize. For contest guidelines, visit www.baptisthistory.org or e-mail Pam Durso at pdurso@tnbaptist.org.

CBF chaplain tapped for national committee. George Pickle, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's associate coordinator for chaplaincy and pastoral counseling, recently was elected a member-at-large on the executive committee of the National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces. The national conference is the leading organization for military chaplain endorsers and is the organization that relates directly to each chief of chaplains and their staffs of all branches of the armed forces.

Christian educators focus on engaging culture. "Equipping the Church to Engage the Culture" is the theme of the Baptist Association of Christian Educators' 50th anniversary celebration Feb. 24-26 at Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga. George Gallup Jr., chairman of the George H. Gallup International Institute in Princeton, N.J.; Michael Lindsay, speaker and consultant on the role of religion in public life; and Sue Mallory, author of "The Equipping Church," will be featured speakers. For more information, visit www.baptisteducators.org.

Former Southern Seminary VP dies. Harold Songer, former vice president of academic affairs for Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., died Jan. 23 at age 77. Songer, who retired in 1992, also was a senior professor of New Testament interpretation at Southern. He wrote the Commentary on James in the Broadman Bible Commentary and many articles for professional journals. He is survived by his wife, Florence Rains Songer; son, Christopher Songer; and a sister, Irene Laffe of Jacksonville, Fla.

History & Heritage Society meeting set. "Women in Baptist History" will be the theme of the Baptist History & Heritage Society's annual meeting June 2-4 at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. The Fellowship of Baptist Historians auxiliary will meet in conjunction with the event June 2. For more information, visit www.baptisthistory.org.

Semple serves New Mexico convention. Longtime Texas Baptist pastor and denominational leader James Semple will become acting executive director of the Baptist Convention of New Mexico March 1. Semple, who served 12 years as director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas' State Missions Commission and 25 years as pastor of First Baptist Church in Paris, has been interim evangelism ministries director for the New Mexico convention since last May.

Posted: 2/04/05

BUA students and members of a local churches in Guayaquil, Ecuador, spent the pre-dawn hours on Christmas morning giving hot chocolate and sandwiches to homeless people, including a man living in a cardboard box. A group of boys in Ecuador listen to the gospel, presented by students from Baptist University of the Americas. (Photo courtesy of Baptist University of the Americas)

BUA volunteers share gospel in
four Latin American countries

By Craig Bird

Baptist University of the Americas

SAN ANTONIO–Students at Baptist University of the Americas take the “Americas” part of their school's name seriously.

Case in point: Between semesters, three student-initiated and student-led groups and one group recruited by a short-term mission agency went “on mission” in four Latin American countries.

As a result, in Chile a Brazilian led a group of pre-teens and young teenagers to Christ. In Colombia, a leadership training team prayed for 175 conference participants, and 300 showed up. In Costa Rica, four BUA students worked as interpreters for Anglos from the United States, holding crusades in San Jose. In Ecuador, students walked the streets of Guayaquil from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. Christmas morning, sharing hot chocolate, cheese sandwiches and the love of Jesus with homeless people. And that's just for starters.

Nahomi Munoz, a senior at Baptist University of the Americas, made new friends of all sizes during a between-semesters mission rip to Chile.

“The Bible says that where there is no vision, the people perish. So, I guess it is equally true that where there is a great vision, people thrive,” Marconi Monteiro, dean of students at the San Antonio school, said after listening to reports from the students when classes resumed in mid-January.

“These young men and women have a heart for spreading the gospel, a love for people and a passion for service that not only reflects what BUA is about but enhances it. These students got guidance and advice from faculty sponsors and help with paperwork from BUA staff, but the vision was theirs, and so was the working out of those dreams.”

The Colombia group began planning and raising funds in spring 2004, and the Chile and Ecuador teams were sparked by the formation of a student missions organization at BUA last fall. The Costa Rica connection came through Javier Elizondo, the school's academic dean, who has a longtime relationship with International Commission.

In Colombia, the mission emphasized strengthening the local church so it could be more effective in evangelism and ministry, said Joel Gomez-Bossio who headed up that effort.

“We wanted to help meet a huge need there to train leaders for new churches,” he said. The seven-member team, working closely with Iglesia Bautista El Calvario in Barranquilla, led four days of simultaneous workshops.

Participants could chose two from among nine options–worship, Christian education, children's education, youth ministries, church planting, pastoral ministries, marriage enrichment, women's ministry and dealing with family violence. Aided by promotion on the city's Christian radio station, attendance exceeded expectations.

“One group even rented a bus,” Gomez-Bossio said. “And we've already been asked to come back again.”

Four students went to Chile, partnering with three local Baptist churches to work in four locations.

“We started out in small towns outside of Santiago, but when we worked in the capital, we totally changed our approach, because people in the city are so different from those in the rural areas,” Daniel Munoz explained. His group worked with youth groups, using clowning, mime, drama and workshops in addition to evangelistic preaching and witnessing.

Claudia Munoz, a Baptist University of the Americas student, clowns around with Chilean children during an evangelism event in Chillan, a small town south of Santiago.

The Chileans were amused by the unusual accents of the students but were a bit confused when Rodrigo Serrao preached. Although he could talk with them in Spanish, his sermons were in English and had to be translated.

“That's because my Spanish isn't good enough to preach in. When they found out I was from Brazil and spoke Portuguese, they understood,” he explained.

“God reminded me of my purpose on this earth, and that is to show my love for others by using my gifts and talents completely to minister to children,” Claudia Munoz said. “From the beginning, people were open and listened to us. … In some way, we left a little of us in each of those we met.”

Six students, including a husband and wife medical team, ministered in Ecuador. A women's conference in Babahoyo attracted 120 women, 40 percent of them non-Christian; youth rallies and children's activities were very popular, and the volunteers at medical clinics treated 220 people in six days while providing the opportunities to evangelize and give professional counseling, said group leader Enrique Ramirez.

Two cases were particularly memorable, volunteers said. Nelly Monroy, a 51-year-old who came for a check-up without knowing anything was wrong, registered a blood pressure reading of 200/140.

“We thought the gauge was broken, but it really was that high,” Maura Moran Escobar explained. “We told her she was in danger of having a stroke at any minute and immediately started her on medications we had brought with us.”

Later, a 36-year-old woman came to a clinic. The doctors were puzzled at first because of the black coating in her mouth and throat, until they discovered she had been eating charcoal for the past three years. The team provided both medical treatment and psychological counseling.

The BUA student mission team that went to Chile improvised a children's game involving a volleyball net and catching water balloons in a towel.

“The best thing is that both of the women, along with many others, were saved out of those experiences,” Ramirez said. “Senora Monroy was a living illustration of a spiritual truth we shared–she was in danger of dying but didn't realize it until someone took her blood pressure. And lost people are in danger of dying and going to hell and don't even know it unless we love them enough to go and tell them.”

Perhaps the group's most emotional experience came in the pre-dawn hours Christmas morning. Equipped with five gallons of hot chocolate and 150 cheese sandwiches, they walked the streets of Guayaquil, sharing food, cheer and their faith with homeless people.

The last week before classes resumed, four students worked in Costa Rica after International Commission, an evangelistic association focused on church-to-church partnership projects, contacted Elizondo with a need for translators.

All four came back wanting to go again. Each was assigned to a different team working with individual churches.

Jaime Masso was assigned to Iglesia Bautista Misionera in Alajuela, where the team “reached 77 people for the Lord.” Masso, from Puerto Rico, added he had “never in my life experienced anything like this. It was a great experience I would like to repeat.”

Iglesia Bautista Roca De Salvacion, a church that serves this poor neighborhood in Barranquilla, Colombia, was one of scores of congregations "Baptist and non-Baptist" that BUA students trained leaders for during a intra-semester mission trip.

Posted: 2/04/05

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Posted: 2/04/05

CYBERCOLUMN:
Tears tell tale of love

By John Duncan

I’m sitting here under the old oak tree, thinking of tears. Tears fall between the ears; they fall in the midst of years.

Just recently, I watched CNN detail a train wreck in Los Angeles. A suicidal man parked his SUV on the railroad track in an apparent suicide attempt. He fled his vehicle at the last minute. The parked vehicle derailed a train.

The story unfolds: Two trains derailed; people died; police officers charged the SUV driver with manslaughter; and a truck driver named Dean Jaeschke rescued a victim from the raging flames. The real-life story possesses the agony and ecstasy of life, the drama of the bizarre, and the tragedy of death.

What captured my attention in the story was the ending. The rescued victim from the raging fla

mes later died in a hospital. The truck driver drove home, received the sad news, and shed tears. “It really shook him up,” said his wife, Deborah. “It takes a lot to make that man cry, and when he came home, he was crying.” Tears flowed like rainwater dripping from a rock.

The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins says, “Now no matter, childe the name: Sorrows springs are still the same.” Fredrick Buechner says he saw his mother cry a few times, not so much when she lost her husband to suicide, but in her late 50s, when she had all her upper teeth pulled. C.S. Lewis walked through the “dark chasm of grief” when he lost his wife to cancer. He adds, “You can’t see anything properly while your eyes are blurred with tears.” Tears tell a story.

Just the other day, I performed a wedding ceremony. The bride cried while the groom smiled. I witnessed a lady sobbing during a worship service. I watched a 6-year-old cry after falling on a basketball court. I observed a man cry when telling me about his estranged wife. I must confess sometimes I cry: when my daughter went off to college; visits to cancer patients at hospitals; and at the end of emotional movies like The Notebook. Tears reveal the story of life.

This tearful discussion leads me to this: Jesus wept (John 10:35). When tears trickled, it tells us of love. Jesus wept because his friend Lazarus had died. Jesus even wept over the city of Jerusalem because he loved the people so much. Tears reveal Jesus’ love.

So here I am under the old oak tree, thinking tears. Dean Jeaschke’s story reveals love. Tears speak to the passion, emotion and even the stress of life. Healthy people cry. Tears cleanse the soul. Dean cried because of love. That’s why I sometimes cry and, probably, you, too. Mostly, it’s why Jesus wept. He loved. And it’s probably why he weeps even now. He loves you.

Now, those kinds of tears aren’t so sad after all, are they?

John Duncan is pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas, and the writer of numerous articles in various journals and magazines.

Posted: 2/04/05

DOWN HOME:
Growing old is a dog-gone shame

Nobody warned me about old age.

Let's inventory the woes: They say memory is the first to go, but I'd say hearing begins to fail before that. Then there are stiff and rickety joints, as well as fitful sleeping and voluminous snoring, when slumber finally settles in. Don't forget general grouchiness, born of a newly discovered selfishness. Finally–dare I say it in a family newspaper?–the onset of incontinence.

She's getting harder and harder to live with. More and more trouble. Less and less appreciation.

And to think Betsy was just a cuddly little puppy only 13 short years ago.

I remember when we brought her home from the Malloys'. She was a joint birthday present the year Lindsay turned 8 and Molly was 5.

As a puppy, Betsy fit in the palm of my hand. She's three parts Yorkshire terrier and one part poodle and looks like a Yorkie. We all adored her from the moment she opened those big brown eyes.

At first, she was a lot of work. Training a puppy never is easy. This was November in Kentucky, and several nights I thought I'd freeze out in the backyard, pleading for her to do her “business” before bedtime.

But soon, Betsy got the hang of whacking the bell by the back door, signalling she needed to go out. And after that, for years, she was practically no trouble at all.

In fact, our little dog has been a great comfort. Long after Lindsay and Molly quit greeting me at the door at the end of the day, Betsy would come running. I'd always stop to scratch her. Undiluted affection deserves to be rewarded.

When any of us got sick, Betsy appointed herself chief nurse. She couldn't bring the medicine or check the temperature, but she'd stay right with the puny one, looking out and offering comfort.

In the mornings, she's been my early-rising buddy. While the rest of the house sleeps, she and I eat breakfast together, and she often curls at my feet while I read the Bible and then the newspaper.

Now, Betsy is 13. That's 91 in dog years. She's old, and she shows it.

When it's time for bed, I have to wake her from her evening nap in the den so she can stumble to her kennel, just a couple of feet from my side of the bed. She's too hard-of-hearing to notice we've turned off the TV, shut off the lights, moved on.

Some nights, I can hardly sleep for her snoring. And forget about sleeping in the next morning. She's got “business” to do, and she'll complain until she gets satisfaction. Then, woe be unto me if her breakfast isn't ready when she trots back inside.

This sounds like I'm complaining; I'm not. More than anything else, I'm sad about Betsy's decline. Sad for her discomfort. Sad because, although she's fairly healthy, I know she won't be with us much longer.

A good dog is a special blessing from God, and Joanna, Lindsay, Molly and I received a double blessing with Betsy.

The other night, when Betsy got in one of her moods, I told Molly that maybe all this is God's way of making it easier on us when Betsy finally goes. Somehow, I don't think it will work.
–Marv Knox

Posted: 2/04/05

EDITORIAL:
Baptists will (no, must) share opinions

Baptists often paraphrase the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three come together in my name, they will have four or five opinions.”

We have to laugh, or else we would cry. We're a diverse–and assertive–group of Christians. We have one Lord, one baptism, one Bible and one church. But we're still beset by a multitude of opinions. Need proof? Sit in a discussion-oriented Sunday school class. Or attend your church's next business meeting. If opinions were nickels, we'd never have trouble balancing our budgets.

Texas Baptists' diverse opinions surfaced during the past couple of weeks, in the wake of the Standard's package of articles on immigration. We interviewed an illegal immigrant who happens to be a deacon. We heard from Texas Baptists who have pioneered ministry to immigrants. And we discussed the need for new immigration laws.

As you might expect, e-mails, letters and phone calls poured in. Some readers–a minority–expressed dismay that Texas Baptists' newspaper would even talk about illegal immigration. It's illegal, after all, so what's to discuss? But most seemed to appreciate the opportunity to air opinions on a topic that's vital to the future of our state and, not coincidentally, our churches and convention.

These brothers and sisters upheld our heritage. They–well, most of them, anyway–demonstrated Baptists can disagree agreeably. That's a wonderful legacy. And it, like much of authentic Christianity, runs counter to popular culture.

You've probably noticed we've become a hardened, polarized nation. The red state-blue state phenomenon of the 2004 presidential election illustrates how we divide into groups and shout at, instead of talk to, each other. A marketing study verified this. It documented how people tend to live near people who think like they do. Consequently, they go to church with like-minded people, send their children to schools with children who think like their children, and shop, dine and play with people who share their worldview. So, not only do we have red states and blue states, we have red towns and blue towns, red neighborhoods and blue neighborhoods. Increasingly, “ne'er the twain shall meet.”

“That's nothing new,” you say. “We've always had social enclaves, especially in our cities.” Yes, but those primarily were ethnic groups, which we've sought to integrate. The new polarization is based on ideas. It stratifies and divides Americans according to what they think or how they see the world. The Internet and talk radio have built their own virtual enclaves. And, striking a pose that frightens Americans who love the First Amendment, many partisans would silence all voices but their own.

Sadly, culture sometimes influences the church more than the church influences culture. For much of the past two decades, Baptists have mirrored my-way-or-the-highway methods. But when we're true to our heritage, we value frank yet civil discussion. Baptists affirm the twin doctrines of soul competency and the priesthood of all believers. We believe each person can contribute to the conversation, and by honestly sharing our viewpoints, we can find answers to the deepest challenges.

So, we need discussion. Even when we disagree, we must talk about things that matter. We need to keep talking about immigration, because it will shape our future. But that's not all. Here are some other important topics of conversation:

Key issues of this legislative session, such as financing education for all Texans, health care and child protection, as well as prevention of gambling.

The most significant reorganization of the Baptist General Convention of Texas in 50 years, including changes in governance and deployment of resources.

Worship as an expression of praise, a mode for seeking divine direction and an avenue to faith in Christ.

How Texas Baptists will build infrastructure for our future, particularly training ministers and doing missions.

The relationship of faith and learning in our schools.

The role of faith in the marketplace–how we connect what we do on Sunday morning to the decisions we make on Thursday afternoon.

The relationship of church and state, especially when the government increasingly looks to the church to solve many of our nation's social ills.

Direct discussion–whether it's in letters to the editor, church business meetings or convention conferences–sometimes makes us angry and often makes us nervous. But it's never been more important.

Posted: 2/04/05

Six steps to launch small groups for seekers

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

IRVING–Garry Poole asked a room of more than 150 Christians to do an “attitude check” to determine if non-Christians “really matter” to them.

Poole, director of neighborhood ministry at Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago, led a seminar on engaging spiritual seekers in life-changing small groups. The session, held in conjunction with the Epicenter missions and evangelism conference, was sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas, 121 Community Church in Grapevine, Denton and Tarrant Baptist associations and Willow Creek Association.

Christians must really care about “seekers” or non-Christians before starting a small group for them.

“You aren't ready if your heart isn't ready,” Poole said. “You must recalibrate your heart with God's heart.”

Poole, who wrote a book on small groups for seekers, described the process as a simple step-by-step approach anyone can use.

It provides an “excuse for ongoing spiritual conversations” with people who are “not yet ready for church.”

The groups include three to 12 non-Christians and one or two Christians who gather regularly to discuss spiritual matters, he said.

The goal, however, is not just to discuss; it's to help people become open to making a commitment to Christ.

“People learn a whole lot better if they do the talking,” Poole said. “You don't spoon-feed seekers; … you facilitate ah-ha moments.”

They will say things like, “I never knew that,” or “I get it now,” he noted.

Poole outlined six steps in launching a seeker small group.

Catch the vision. “It's understanding and caring about the seeker first,” he said. It's the attitude-check stage.

Build spiritual friendships. To do this, a Christian must hang out with non-Christians, “drop clues right away” about being a Christ-follower, look for “open windows” to engage in spiritual conversations, and know the gospel and how to illustrate it.

Extend irresistible invitations. Poole said it is best to invite a person face-to-face, be warm and friendly, be clear and specific about logistics and format, ask the person to try it once with no commitment beyond that and no pressure, and seek a 'yes' or 'no' reply. It's important to be patient, Poole said. Most people say “no” the first time.

Conduct the all-important first meeting. This involves mostly ice-breakers, in which participants get to know one another and have fun. They start light-hearted, then discussions get deeper and more personal. Scripture is then read, and participants give their knee-jerk reactions. “You're giving them a taste of what it's like to discuss the Bible in your group. … It's safe,” Poole said.

“Don't attempt to answer” theological questions, he noted. “You'll short-circuit the discovery process.”

Facilitate captivating discussions. “Seek first to understand where non-Christians are coming from,” Poole said. Then “guide seekers to self-discover biblical truths.” This process involves asking a lot of questions and listening. “Never tell when you can ask.”

Maximize the impact. A seeker small group should be “more than just a meeting,” Poole said. It should create a caring community. Plan social gatherings, call seekers between meetings and meet with members individually, he suggested.

Posted: 2/04/05

Churches challenged to recapture 'apostolic ethos'

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

IRVING–Christians are not to be curators of antiquities; they are to be God's witnesses, a Princeton Theological Seminary professor told a Texas Baptist conference.

Christianity has lost its sense of mission, said Darrell Guder, professor of missional and ecumenical theology at the New Jersey seminary.

It can be recaptured only through a “process of biblical formation,” whereby Scrip-ture reshapes a person's understanding of what it means to be a Christian.

“God has given us all we need to be faithful witnesses,” Guder said during Epicenter, a forum on global Christianity sponsored by the Baptist General Conven-tion of Texas.

“We are today in a difficult mission field, … but God has placed us in this mission field.”

Guder said an “apostolic ethos” must be recaptured.

“Apostolic defines the very nature of the true church,” he said. “To be apostolic is to be missional, is to be called out.”

The mission given by Jesus to the apostles “was not simply the conversion of souls,” Guder said. It involved founding communities of faith.

“Ethos” refers to “what God's calling produces,” the professor said.

By living in community, Christians provide a “concrete demonstration before the world” of what it means to follow Christ

“Witness defines who we are,” Guder said, and it's more than simply giving testimonies. In a court setting, witnesses do not pass judgment; they give evidence.

“Apostolic ethos is about the entire way of life,” he added.

This ethos must be recaptured, “because it's been lost,” Guder said.

“Some very profound reductions” have entered into the practice of theology, he said.

Christians often focus only on the vertical relationship with God and forget the world. It is a reduction to the individual relationship that ignores the community.

Each person has his or her own story, Guder said. But individual stories must be “woven together into God's mission.”

This mission can be recaptured through an emphasis on biblical formation. “We identify ourselves biblically as God's called and sent people.”

Through the centuries, that sense of calling has been lost or distorted, but the “biblical process will unfold our need for conversion,” Guder said.

Today's frantic lifestyle provides one of the greatest challenges to recapturing an apostolic ethos, he said.

Believers desperately need to create time for biblical formation in their lives.

Christians need to be open to what it means to be a disciple, to “what it means to think in an entirely different way,” Guder said.

Posted: 2/04/05

Churches neglecting to teach them to observe

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

IRVING–The church today often is not functioning the way it did in New Testament times because too many Christians have overlooked the “teaching them to observe” phrase in Christ's Great Commission, said Pastor Jeff Harris of Grace Point Church in San Antonio.

When the church expects people to observe what God has called them out to do, then people understand who they are in Christ and their spiritual gifts are deployed in the church, Harris said at Epicenter, a conference sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Harris called for a return to the days of a missional church.

“Going down to the local bookstore because your church is not thriving is a cop out,” he said. The proper approach is to “get on your knees and ask God what I am to teach them to observe.”

This involves a change in what Harris called a church's “infraculture,” which includes heightened expectations of church members.

Church members often are “biblically obese” today, with a “lot of scriptural intake but not a lot of exercise,” Harris said.

Grace Point Church stresses grace, growth, giving and going, he explained. Among other things, the church expects members to be able to communicate how God's grace has transformed them. It also expects members to be involved in mission endeavors, both at home and internationally.

In most churches today, “the bar's too low, and we're too afraid to raise it because they may leave, the wealthy person may walk out,” Harris said. “What would change right now if you knew you wouldn't get fired?”

The missional church also is countercultural, he said. “They're thermostats, and they're not thermometers.” Churches need to be setting the temperature, not reflecting it.

“We have a spiritual cancer in the body of Christ … because our possessions possess us,” Harris said.

Finally, missional churches are cross-cultural.

“Don't run from your context. Represent your ZIP code,” he said.

“We've got to take the cultural yoke off” in regard to generational, ethnic and other issues, he insisted. “We have to have spiritual

authenticity.”

Posted: 2/04/05

California pastor sees parallels
between first and 21st centuries

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

IRVING–God has uniquely positioned Christians in the United States to have an impact around the world as he used the Roman Empire in the first century, said John Lo, pastor of Epicentre Church in Pasadena, Calif.

The minister said he sees the first and 21st centuries as “twins,” with God using the United States as he did the Roman Empire. Spiritual hunger for truth can be found in both periods, he said during Epicenter, a Baptist General Convention of Texas evangelism and missions conference.

“The things you see on CNN are not random,” he said. “God is at work in the world today.”

Lo said God has established a “pax Americana”–a period of peace where there is a common language with the United States as the leader, just as there was a “pax Romana” during the first century. People can communicate easily around the globe.

Many are under the oppression of spiritual legalism, Lo said. Religious leaders worldwide are emphasizing the importance of strict rules as the way to God, leaving people frustrated.

God is allowing people to be put “under the oppression of the law so they will look for something real,” he said.

Politically and socially, the world is changing like it did during the first century, Lo continued. New ideas, powers and governments are coming to the forefront. Demographics are shifting, and people are viewing the world through a new lens.

“When people's lives shift, there is an openness,” Lo said.

Christie Homechanh of Grace Baptist Church in Dallas, praises God through dance during Epicenter, a BGCT evangelism and missions conference. (Photo by John Hall)

God also has blessed the United States with a diverse group of people who have the resources to touch the rest of the world, Lo said. Many Americans are “global citizens” who are much more aware of the world around them. They are interested in other countries.

Non-Anglos and foreign-born Americans, particularly, make ideal missionaries because they slide into other nations well due to their appearance and familiarity with other cultures.

“I believe we've got to get missional. Especially in ethnic churches,” he said.

Now is the time to act, Lo noted. As with the Roman Empire, these conditions will not last forever. Lo believes it may last only 20 years as China's prowess grows. If churches focus on creating devoted disciples, God's kingdom may grow by leaps and bounds as it did during the first century.

“There's a window for our best and brightest to hit the field,” he said. “How are we going to respond?”