Posted: 11/04/05

Alito could shape future of Supreme Court

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–Presi-dent Bush's nomination of federal appeals judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court could shift the court firmly to the right–immediately and for decades to come–on issues such as abortion rights and the relationship between church and state.

If the Senate confirms his nomination, Alito would replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who is the high court's moderate swing vote.

“He has a deep understanding of the proper role of judges in our society. He understands that judges are to interpret the laws, not to impose their preferences or priorities on the people,” Bush said in comments announcing Alito at the White House.

Alito, in response, said he believes in judicial humility. “Federal judges have the duty to interpret the Constitution and the laws faithfully and fairly, to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans, and to do these things with care and with restraint, always keeping in mind the limited role that the courts play in our constitutional system,” he said.

Many social conservatives have argued some federal judges have been too willing to go beyond the original intent of the framers of the Constitution by creating rights and attempting to solve social ills with court decisions. Moderates and liberals, on the other hand, have responded that the framers understood a document written in the 18th century would have to be reinterpreted by future generations.

Alito, 55, is a Roman Catholic, a New Jersey native and graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School. If confirmed, he would join new Chief Justice John Roberts and associate justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy to constitute the high court's first-ever Catholic majority.

The remaining justices include two Jews–Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer–and two Protestants, John Paul Stevens and David Souter.

Alito's addition also would leave Ginsburg as the court's only female member.

In a press release issued a couple of hours after Bush's announcement, the head of Americans United for Separation of Church and State called the pick “deeply troubling.”

In another statement issued just minutes later, the head of the conservative Family Research Council countered that Bush “could not have chosen a more qualified nominee.”

Reaction in the Senate, which is charged with approving or rejecting the nominee, was equally polarized.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), in a Capitol press conference introducing the nominee to journalists, called Alito “outstanding” and, like Bush, demanded a swift “up-or-down vote” on him.

But about 30 minutes later, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), one of the most outspoken Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Com-mittee, denoun-ced the nomination as one that would cause significant division.

“When there is a controversial nominee for a pivotal swing vote on the court, the pro-cess should not be short-circuited or rushed,” he told reporters.

Responding to questions, Schumer did not commit to voting against Alito. Nor did he promise that Democrats would try to use a filibuster to scuttle the nomination. However, a Freudian slip in his answer may cast light on the significant misgivings Democrats have about Alito.

“Nothing is on the table and nothing is off the table. Let's learn what we can about Judge Scalia,” Schumer said, mistakenly referencing the current Supreme Court justice who is the target of moderate and liberal criticism, Antonin Scalia. Some pundits have already dubbed Alito as “Scalito” because of his alleged ideologically similarity to the court's most conservative judge.

Alito's judicial record shows he may be inclined to rule similarly to Scalia on abortion cases, but his record on church-state issues may be more nuanced.

He has been a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Philadelphia, 15 years. He was appointed to that position by President George H.W. Bush. He also served as an attorney in the Reagan administration and generally is considered solidly conservative.

He has participated in thousands of cases that leave a long judicial record, including about 300 opinions he has written.

On abortion, Alito is best known for the 3rd circuit's decision in a landmark 1991 abortion case. In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, he joined the unanimous opinion of a three-judge panel upholding most of a Pennsylvania law imposing several new restrictions on women seeking abortions.

Alito wrote a dissent on part of the decision, however, stating he also would uphold a part of the law that required women to notify their husbands before obtaining an abortion. His colleagues found that portion of the law unconstitutional, as did the Supreme Court later.

Despite some groups' misgivings, Alito's record on church-state issues may be less clear.

Chip Lupu, a church-state expert and law professor at George Washington University, said of Alito, “I don't think this guy is any radical on church-state issues.” However, he added, “I don't think he's going to be an O'Connor clone.”

Lupu and his George Washington colleague, Bob Tuttle, said Alito's rulings seem to indicate he is open to some public displays of religious items, but his rulings have not departed greatly from Supreme Court precedent in that area.

In a 1999 case, ACLU v. Schundler, Alito and his court decided a holiday display erected by Jersey City, N.J., at a municipal building did not violate the First Amendment's ban on government endorsement of religion.

The original display–which contained a Christian nativity scene and a Jewish menorah–initially was held to be unconstitutional by Alito's court.

But when Jersey City added a Christmas tree, other secularized holiday symbols and symbols of the African-American holiday Kwanzaa, a three-judge panel of the same court–including Alito–ruled the display to be constitutional, even if its original form was not.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court found a Kentucky Ten Commandments display with a similar unconstitutional history violated the constitution, despite later changes.

Tuttle said Alito's decision in the Jersey City case might mean he would have ruled differently on the recent Kentucky case if he had been on the Supreme Court.

However, the professor added, because the court's precedent in the area of public religious displays is “so maddeningly dense and confused,” rulings often vary according to the circumstances of the case.

In other church-state areas, Tuttle and Lupu said, Alito may offer some encouragement for those who believe in a strong reading of the First Amendment's other religion clause–the one guaranteeing the free exercise of religion.

Tuttle pointed to Alito's role in another 3rd Circuit Court decision, Fraternal Order of Police v. City of Newark. In that 1999 decision, the court found city officials had violated the rights of two Muslim police officers who believed they were religiously obliged to wear beards by banning facial hair for police.

Alito, writing the court's opinion, noted the city allowed a medical exemption to the rule, and thus should allow a religious exemption as well.

“I think it's the strongest free-exercise case that any of the federal circuit courts have decided in the last six or seven years,” Tuttle said, noting the decision suggests Alito would be “really stronger than Chief Justice (William) Rehnquist would have been on that same set of facts. Rehnquist and probably Roberts would have been much more deferential to the government on cases like that.”

Posted: 11/04/05

Around the State

Houston Baptist University's Guild will hold its Christmas luncheon at the Hilton Houston Post Oak Dec. 2 at 11:30 a.m. Sadie Hodo and her daughter, Alison, will be the featured speakers. Tickets are $45. The Guild is a group of Christian women dedicated to education who since 1995 have provided 104 annual and 10 endowed scholarships for career classrom teachers. For more information, call (281) 649-3362.

Primera Iglesia Emanuel in Cleburne, 30th, Oct. 16. Hector Salinas is pastor.

Robin McGee, 25th, as minister of music at First Church in Sherman.

Glen Ray, as pastor of North Woods Church in Spring, Nov. 13. He has been pastor of the church 14 years. His ministry totals 53 years in pastorates, assocational and state convention positions. He will be available for interims and supply at (713) 270-7824.

East Texas Baptist University students donated water to the Red Cross Shelter housed at the Marshall Civic Center before the school's football game with Southern Arkansas. Students also prepared a pancake breakfast for evacuees, helped make apartments ready for them to move into and took a trip to the Gulf Coast to aid in recovery efforts.

Steve Dean, as manager of Plains Baptist Assembly in Floydada, Nov. 19. He had been with the camp 12 years. A reception will be held at 10 a.m. at Calvary Church in Lubbock.

Donald Johnson, 79, Oct. 1 in Fort Worth. A pastor more than 60 years, he served churches in Johnson, Nueces, Grayson and Tarrant counties. His last church was Park Temple Church in Fort Worth. He was preceded in death by his son, Robert; brothers, Elmo, Robert and J.L.; and sister, Ethel Bunch. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Jimmie; son, James; daughter, Joyce Gumfory; brothers, Burt and Benny; sister, Eddie Burgess; nine grandchildren; and 17 great-grandchildren.

Vernon Vaughn, 76, Oct. 21 in Waco. A graduate of Howard Payne College, he was ordained as a minister in 1957 and began his ministry as pastor of New Salem Church in Lott. He went to work in 1959 as a house parent at Buckner Boys Ranch in Burnet. He left there to become pastor of Little Deer Creek Church in Chilton, where he remained 43 years until his death. He was preceded in death by his sister, Jo Snedeker. He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Darlene; sons, Kevin and Keith; sisters, Nell Erby and Betty Poe; brothers, Billy and Douglas; and three grandchildren.

J.T. Ayers Jr., 82, Oct. 27 in Corsicana. A graduate of Baylor Uni-versity and Southwestern Seminary, he was pastor of churches in Mound, Hub-bard, Gold-thwaite, Gatesville and Brownwood before moving to Corsi-cana in 1969 to serve as director of missions for Central Texas Baptist Area. He retired in the mid-'80s for health reasons but continued to teach Sunday school at First Church in Corsicana until 2003. He was preceded in death by his wife of 56 years, Ruth, and his sister, Katherine Evans. He is survived by his daughters, Annette Gibson and Judy Simpson; sisters, Ann Schwartz and Deloris Carey; brothers, Willard, Jack and Ronnie; and three grandchildren.

Volma Overton, 81, Oct. 31 in Austin. A leader in the movement to desegrate public schools in the 1970s, he also, in 1963, became the first African-American since the Civil War to join First Church in Austin. He remained at the church until his death as a longtime deacon. A contemporary of Martin Luther King, he took part in the march on Selma and was present for King's “I Have A Dream” speech. He agreed to let his daughter, DeDra, be named the chief plaintiff in the desegregation lawsuit against Austin's public schools. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Warneta; daughters, Florence Black, DeDra Overton and Sharlet Houim; and son, Volma Jr.

Brad Reedy to the ministry at First Church in Longview.

Barnie Henderson as a deacon at Little River Church in Cameron.

Milton Saltzman as a deacon at First Church in Lampasas.

Britt Clay, Jay Giddens, Ranzell Meeks, Barrett Pollard, Keith Smart and Randy Stovall as deacons at Eastwood Church in Gatesville.

Keith Gatewood as a deacon at Pleasant Valley Church in Jonesboro.

Elias Elizondo as a deacon at Iglesia El Calvario in Jourdanton.

Posted: 11/04/05

BGCT-related meetings scheduled in Austin

Posted: 11/04/05

BGCT annual meeting program highlights

Posted: 11/04/05

Buckner nurses help retirement
center residents feel loved

By Justin Henry

Buckner Benevolences

DALLAS–The nursing staff at Buckner retirement facilities believe their greatest function is to make residents feel at home and surrounded by people who care about them, said Elaine Morrison, a licensed vocational nurse at Buckner Retirement Village in Dallas.

“We feel like it is our job to show them love in the ways that are needed, whether it is reassuring them about their medication, helping them with their daily functioning or simply to hold a hand,” she said.

The staff provides a continuum of care, from independent or assisted-living to more advanced care for residents with memory loss or more intensive health needs. They become an integral part of residents' lives and make a difference in the retirement communities in which they work.

Since 1954, Buckner has met the needs of older adults through five retirement communities in Dallas, Houston, Beaumont, Austin and Longview.

Many who call the facilities “home” need some form of medical care, but the impact Buckner has on its residents is not limited simply to physical health care. The Christian environment impacts residents spiritually.

“The fact that we are a faith-based organization makes a big difference,” said Kathy Gottus, director of nursing for Parkway Place in Houston. “I've worked at other companies who operate for-profit services, but the caliber of people we have on staff here really sets them apart because they are not only gifted at what they do, but very compassionate and caring.”

Patients lives are affected every day because of the direct contact the nursing staff has with them, Gottus added.

“Buckner provides more than just health care,” she said. “The staff has the ability to transmit love and, through that love, their faith to the residents they are serving.”

Buckner lives up to the expectations of residents and their families, said Peggy Simon, a licensed vocational nurse at the Calder Woods retirement community in Beaumont.

“When people bring their loved ones to stay with us, they expect the highest quality health care that money can buy,” she said “Many times, however, the staff here goes above and beyond what they have to do and exceed the expectations of what is required.”

Simon, who has worked at Buckner six months, recently was evacuated along with residents when Hurricane Rita approached, and she discovered Buckner had plans in place to help make that transition as easy as possible. She traveled with six critical-care patients to Longview's Buckner Westminster Place, where she continued to care for them.

“Buckner was wonderful during the hurricane,” she said. “They really were prepared for everything, and we had no trouble during our relocation at that time.”

Posted: 11/04/05

Posted: 11/04/05

2nd Opinion:
Hurricane relief arrives for Texas taxpayers

By Brian Burton

My job the past nine years as executive director of a faith-based poverty-relief center in Dallas has brought much human misery before my eyes. But nothing in my prior work experience prepared me for the intense, layered trauma of the Hurricane Katrina victims.

Throughout September, I volunteered alongside other social workers and counselors at the Dallas Convention Center. In the milieu of 8,000 dazed survivors, our team did our best to offer listening ears, reassurance, housing referrals and connections to local resources.

Clarice, a distressed, tiny-boned elderly woman, sat across from me while I tried to help. Burying her face in her hands, she mumbled over and over, “I don't know this place.” Unable to console her, I turned to my friend Jan Mitura, who was able to track down the woman's granddaughter at a Houston shelter. Clarice's relieved eyes turned to mine as she said: “That's my grandbaby. She's my diamond.”

As Jan worked to reunite them, a middle-aged gentleman walked up to me looking lost. Squinting as though blocking out a glare, Pablo said he could not see after he lost his glasses at the Superdome. I randomly dialed an optometrist out of the phone book. Minutes later, an emotional Pablo and I were in my car crossing the Houston Street bridge as Jerry Jacobs, a total stranger, agreed to assist him free of charge.

Pauperized and pulverized by a storm that had washed them 500 miles away from everything and everyone they held precious, this unbroken stream of people seemed to accept their circumstances with an almost surreal peace.

While most were in shock, what struck me was their attitude. Contrary to reports I had read on the Internet, these people were exceedingly grateful. Despite losing everything, enduring the horrific squalor of the Superdome, a 10-hour bus ride, and sleeping on concrete floors, I kept hearing people say: “God is good,” “Thank you” and “I'm blessed.”

This experience has fortified my own faith and humbled me. The grace of these survivors causes me to approach the coming Thanksgiving season with less emphasis on what I own and more on the incredible life that I have been given.

In the coming weeks, every American taxpayer has an enhanced opportunity to do something extraordinary for our new neighbors while also benefiting themselves.

Remembering how local charities suffered in the aftermath of 9/11, Congress has passed the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act.

Among its provisions, taxpayers may give unlimited cash gifts to any charitable organization for any purpose up to 100 percent of a donor's total income.

Between Aug. 28 and Dec. 31, the IRS will waive the former 50 percent of adjusted gross income limit on charitable deductions, allowing donors to deduct 100 percent (donor-advised funds and private foundations are excluded).

This unprecedented act opens the door to current gifts from individual retirement accounts, qualified retirement plans, money market accounts, annuities, CDs and other types of cash assets.

Of course, donors should consult with their financial, tax or gift-planning professional before making a gift. Visit www.wilkinsoncenter.org or www.irs.gov for more information.

By returning money to taxpayers' own pockets, the government has granted an enhanced but rapidly closing window of opportunity to assist people like Clarice and Pablo in restoring hope, reclaiming dignity and rebuilding their lives.

Brian Burton is executive director of The Wilkinson Center, a faith-based organization that provides pathways out of poverty for more than 20,000 people in Dallas. Contact him through www.wilkinsoncenter.org.

Posted: 11/04/05

Huntsville church embraces
people in correctional system

By Marv Knox & George Henson

Baptist Standard

HUNTSVILLE–When David Valentine arrived at First Baptist Church in Huntsville four years ago, he looked across the street and saw a mission field. And the more he looked around Walker County, the more the field grew.

Never mind that most decent, law-abiding Christians would rather look the other way. Valentine saw six state penitentiaries and heard God calling his church to help hurting people.

First Baptist in Huntsville sits adjacent to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Huntsville Unit. It's also known as the Walls Unit, infamous for formerly housing Death Row and incredibly busy as the departure point for every male prisoner released by the state. The county also is home to the Byrd, Goree, Holliday, Hunts-ville, Wynne, Ellis and Estelle units.

Seeing the reunion of families is one of the blessings for volunteers of the First Contact ministry.

Valentine saw the obvious–1,200 inmates incarcerated in the Walls Unit and 125 to 200 offenders who are released there from Texas prisons every day, with only the clothes on their backs, $50 and a one-way bus ticket. He instinctively knew these men needed to hear welcoming words from Christians and some reintegrating with people "back home," wherever that might be.

He saw the not-so-obvious but visible–families from across Texas and beyond who travel to Huntsville to pick up a son, husband, father, friend. He recognized the uncertainty in these faces, reflecting apprehension about how this wayward loved one would respond to freedom, and how long it would last.

Valentine also soon saw an often-ignored need–the community's corrections officers and their families. He respected their contributions to society and empathized with the stress and anxiety they feel as they take on demanding, often low-paying jobs filled with daily abuse and danger.

Since the Walls Unit opened as the state's first prison in 1848, First Baptist coexisted peacefully in the Texas town known far and wide for its unique industry. Other than the occasional corrections family who joined the church, it kept its distance from the criminal justice institutions all around.

But when Valentine pointed out the needs, the church responded. Members volunteer to meet the spiritual and physical needs of all three groups Valentine identified. First Baptist operates:

Welcome Back, a ministry to the parolees who arrive from more than 100 correctional facilities across the state to be freed through the Walls Unit every day.

Last year, of the 70,000 offenders released from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, 55,000 were impacted by Welcome Back.

A central feature of Welcome Back is the opportunity for parolees to network. First Baptist volunteers offer each inmate a link to a church in the community where he intends to go. Like the tip of an iceberg, this link can provide much more than a church name and a phone number. It can translate into the three things released inmates need most–work, housing and the spiritual encouragement to “stay clean.”

Jerry Phillips, associate pastor for community ministry, passes out goodies to correctional officers. (Photo Courtesy of First Baptist Church, Huntsville)

In addition, more than a dozen volunteers like Mike Cato and Sam Longbottom are at the prison Sunday through Thursday evenings, providing men about to be paroled the next day with practical information to help them on their way. They tell them where to catch the bus, how to get their money and where they will meet family members who have made the trip to Huntsville.

While they are not allowed to share their faith directly during this evening before release, the volunteers feel a definite sense of calling.

Longbottom, who has been working with the ministry on Tuesday evenings for more than two years, looks forward to his time of service. “I think it's what Jesus commanded us to do; help others in his name.”

Cato senses a similar calling to the ministry.

“I serve God. God is my king; Jesus Christ is my Savior. And this is where he has said to me, 'Go,'” Cato said. He has been working in criminal justice ministry since 1992, long before his church began a formal ministry. Cato was the recipient of the Governor's Volunteer of the Year Award.

“I didn't deserve it, but I got it. So many people do more,” Cato said humbly. “But it was really God who gave it to me; no one else did. I was kind of down-in-the-mouth then, and he knew I needed the encouragement.”

Cato works in the Welcome Back ministry three evenings a week and gets up at 4 a.m. on Tuesdays to teach a Bible study for correctional officers.

Just as God encourages him, Cato sees himself as an encourager to men about to try to reclaim their lives.

“This ministry gives hope that they didn't have before. We're not going to reach all the men, we know that, but we're there for those who will take the help,” he explained.

He is not a part of the ministry because he is some sort of super-saint, he maintained.

“I consider myself nothing but a believer. You might call me a Christian, but I don't, because I know I'm not Christ-like, no way. I'm a reprobate and a sinner, but I'm a believer,” Cato testified.

First Contact, hospitality to 500 families a month who travel to Huntsville to pick up a newly released loved one. Volunteers help relieve anxiety by assuring them the person they are there to greet is on the release list, which the prison faxes to the church each day. Volunteers also provide bottled water and talk with the families to gather information that can be forwarded to churches and after-care ministries in the communities they will be returning to.

Primarily, volunteers ease anxieties that sometimes come with the reintegration of a family member. And since they are outside the prison, testimonies of faith are allowed.

An added bonus for volunteers is to witness the reunions.

“Not everyone has family there to meet them for one reason or another, but the ones who show up are there to support, and there is lots of kissing and hugging. It's a great thing to watch,” said Jerry Phillips, associate pastor for community ministry.

Maudie Boyd has been part of the ministry since its inception and plans to participate much longer.

“It's just wonderful to see the families reunited. And they are such sweet people,” she said. “Sometimes, they have traveled all night, and they are tired and weary and scared. They don't know if they are in the right place. We just reassure them and tell them it's going to be OK. We just share Christ's love with them,” Boyd said.

Often, the volunteers are blessed as much as the families, she said. “The families are so appreciative. They give us a big hug when they leave and sometimes write a note and send it to the church. It's truly a blessing to all of us.”

Ongoing ministry to the 7,000 corrections officers in the county.

About 25 church members volunteer in this ministry, weekly delivering soft drinks, bottled water and animal crackers to workers on each shift in each unit.

For the church, the ministry to the officers is a way to say thanks for an often-thankless job and a way to bring joy within the stress. Valentine sees it as an opportunity to recognize people who seem invisible but need encouragement.

Ministries to inmates–what corrections officers sometimes call “hug-a-thug”–abound, but the officers get overlooked, reported Joe Fernald, retired senior warden at the Huntsville Unit and a member of Elkins Lake Baptist Church.

"I've been in the system more than 20 years, and nobody has ever ministered to correctional officers. Nobody. Ever," Fernald said. "They're depicted negatively in the media. But First Baptist saw their need."

Ministry to the officers produces multiple benefits, he added.

First, the friendship and networking with the officers by the church volunteers strengthen the officers spiritually, he observed.

Valentine, in particular, excels at this. As he visits the Walls Unit, he calls most officers by name. He's taken the time to learn to speak their jargon and understand their assignments. He also knows about their families and asks how they're doing. Although not their pastor, he's become a spiritual mentor for many of them.

Second, officers who are nurtured emotionally and spiritually do a better job with inmates, Fernald added, noting, “This creates a much more favorable climate.”

Third, the impact spreads through time and impacts the state in multiple ways, he insisted.

“Think of it in terms of dollars and cents: If one person is turned around, think of the dollars that saves–$40 per day in prison costs”–when the inmate gets his life straight and does not return to the corrections system, he said.

“And then there's the human cost,” he said. “Think of the people who will not be future victims, … plus the grief and hurt that will not be inflicted on this inmate's family.

“There's connectivity between all these (First Baptist) programs–offender ministry, officer care, continuity through the parole and discharge process.”

Fernald ack-nowledged the sacrifice First Baptist makes to provide the ministry.

“It takes money and the commitment of a lot of people,” he said. “But this church is willing to commit its resources.”

The state's corrections system needs similar help from churches in or near those 100-plus penitentiary units across the state, Department of Criminal Justice leaders said.

Although only Huntsville is the release point for all male inmates, churches and faith-based organizations can impact each of the units, they said. Church volunteers can go into the units and provide inmates with skills to succeed outside when they are released, and they can provide supportive networks on the outside to keep them from falling. They also can lift up the corrections officers so they do a better job and improve the prisons.

Noting the important role churches can play in helping former inmates stay out of prison, Don Kiel, the criminal justice department's assistant director of religious programming, stressed, “Forgiveness is the paramount issue.”

“Churches are commanded to forgive,” he said, but he acknowledged, “Trust takes time.”

Churches also can help former inmates lift their heads up in society, added Bill Pierce, director of chaplaincy for the department.

“There's a stigma that comes from being in prison,” he said, noting people tend to generalize their perception of inmates without understanding what may have happened to them in prison.

“When you present what takes place in prison–the worship and Bible study,” perceptions can change, he said. “And when church people know families who have members in prison, the light comes on. They see the needs” of the offenders as people, not merely inmates.

One pressing need is for Christians to become mentors for inmates, Kiel said, noting prisoner mentorship is a new approach.

“It requires training and more than a normal volunteer,” because the demands of accountability are stringent, he acknowledged.

But the rewards are worth the investment, said Doug Dretke, director of the department's correctional institutions division.

“A mentor represents the community coming in and telling the offender, 'We care about you,'” he said.

“That has a big impact. … Mentors and volunteers deliver a significant message to the offenders–the community cares about them.”

Dretke also urged churches to help “break the cycle” of incarceration by reaching out to the children of prison inmates.

In addition to church ministries, programs like Big Brothers and Big Sisters need the kinds of volunteers churches can supply.

“The need won't go away,” Valentine said. “The prison population will increase as the general population increases. We're going to be needed more than ever before.”

And members of First Baptist will be there. “In all our criminal justice ministries, we have very few volunteers who drop out,” Phillips said. “They get to see God at work, and get to do the work of Christ.

“It's like going on a mission trip every week.”

Posted: 11/04/05

New children's curriculum
aims to teach Baptist beliefs

By Meghan Merchant

Communications Intern

A new children's curriculum from BaptistWay Press aims to teach children something pastors and Baptist General Conven-tion of Texas leaders believe has been overlooked–Baptist beliefs.

“It seems evident that there has been a decline in teaching about distinctively Baptist be-liefs,” said BGCT Executive Director Emeritus Bill Pinson, who works with the convention's Baptist Distinctives Committee and its Baptist Heritage Center. “Many churches do little teaching in this area to anyone and less likely to children than any other age group.”

Let's Explore Baptist Beliefs, written by Johnnie Human, is one of few teaching materials de-signed to fill that hole, said Diane Lane, BGCT preschool and children's consultant.

The curriculum covers distinctive Baptist foundations such as the lordship of Christ, the authority of the Bible, salvation by grace through faith, security of the believer, priesthood of the believer, baptism and the Lord's Supper, church autonomy and the importance of missions and evangelism.

"This was written to encourage families and churches to educate children on why they're Baptist," Lane said. Children should learn what is significant about being a Baptist so they can understand their heritage and have a strong foundation when they go out into the world, she added.

Pinson views childhood as the "prime time" to teach distinctive Baptist principles, since children develop basic beliefs and attitudes that last a lifetime. And while they may not be able to "grasp the full meaning and import of these beliefs," they are likely to associate positive feelings with the teachings, which will benefit them as they mature in their Christian beliefs, he said.

Pinson and Kevin Everett, pastor of First Baptist Church in Wellington, attributed the decline in teaching Baptist principles to a general loss of denominational commitment with the blending of evangelicalism. Since the end of Church Training, no program has taken its place in teaching Baptist beliefs, Pinson said.

Everett's church is using the new curriculum during Sunday evening classes. Adult classes at First Baptist Church completed a study on beliefs important to Baptists earlier.

“The foundation ought to be built very early so it will stay” with the child forever, he said, noting what he learned as a child affects his beliefs today.

Part of the training in Baptist beliefs should come from the home, and educating parents is important for educating the child, Everett said

Let's Explore Baptist Beliefs was created to be used in a variety of settings, including Sunday school classes, Vacation Bible School, weekend retreats, evenings classes and at home with families.

The curriculum is “very user friendly” for teachers and students, Lane said. Each lesson is color-coded and includes activities that “capture the interest of the child.”

For more information about Let's Explore Baptist Beliefs, contact Lane at (214) 828-5287. Orders may be placed through www.baptistwaypress.org.

Posted: 11/04/05

DOWN HOME:
At the age of '98,' Betsy knows better

Betsy has entered her second childhood.

Or maybe it's her second infancy.

Betsy is our dog. She's been part of our family 14 years this week. We got her for our daughters' birthdays when Molly turned 5 and Lindsay turned 8.

If you know the old adage that dogs age seven times faster than humans, and if you're good at your multiplication tables, then you know Betsy is 98 in “dog years.”

I'm surprised she's still around. Except for some sprained knees from time to time, and the fact she's nearly deaf, Betsy's remained in remarkably good health.

But she can't–or won't–mind her manners anymore.

One of my first responsibilities after Betsy came to live with us in 1991 was to potty-train her. Someone told us frequent trips to the backyard were the answer to Betsy's problem, which quickly became our problem.

Joanna, my wife, interpreted that to mean every time Betsy cried, she needed to go “out.” And since only one of us was ever going to go “out” with the dog in the middle of the night, I often stood in the yard with Betsy, pleading with her to do her business so Jo would let us both come back in the house and go to bed.

Well, Betsy was a quick learner. Soon, she figured out how to whack the tiny bell by our back door with her paw, and she started going “out” on her own.

Unfortunately, at age 98, Betsy's decided “out” is only a state of mind. Either that, or she's still mad at me for leaving her 11 days when I went to China this fall.

See, we have this routine in the mornings. We're almost always the first ones up. So, I let Betsy out of her kennel beside my bed and take her to the back door. For years, she has gone “out” for about two or three minutes. Then she's been content to hang out with me in the bathroom, while I shave and take a shower. Then, we both go eat breakfast.

Sounds like the foundation for a beautiful friendship. And to be quite honest, I have enjoyed Betsy's company during those early-morning hours.

But lately, when she's gone outside, she's only pretended to go “out.” First day back from my trip, she came back inside, walked through our bathroom into our closet and pretended it was the Great Outdoors. Two days later, she did it again.

This, of course, is annoying. She's been a trained dog for almost 14 years (nearly a century in “dog years”), and now she wants to act like a puppy again.

I think it's extortion. What she really wants to do is eat breakfast before I take a shower. And I might make her a deal if she'd learn to get up and put on the coffee while I shave. But no. She's a dog and doesn't have opposable thumbs and pretends she can't make coffee.

While cleaning up one of Betsy's messes, I imagined I understand God a little more clearly. How many times do we, theoretically trained and old enough to know better, make messes God has to clean up?
–Marv Knox

Posted: 11/04/05

Founder sees DRAMA as
avenue for evangelism, worship

By Leann Callaway

Special to the Baptist Standard

DENTON–During Laura Watson's college years at the University of North Texas in Denton, she was at a crossroads while searching for a place to serve in collegiate ministry.

After much prayer, Watson–a member of Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth who has an extensive background in drama and theater–felt led to create an independent, professional Christian theater ministry.

In April 2004, Watson posted audition notices throughout Denton, Fort Worth and Dallas for DRAMA–Disciples Running Around Madly Acting. The team ended up being comprised of crew members ranging in age from 13 to 53 and representing seven denominations.

“DRAMA thrives out of love for God and love for people, primarily to present the gospel to unbelievers, and secondly, to serve, encourage, challenge and teach fellow believers through acts of worship–all for the glory of God,” Watson said.

The group's theme verse is 1 Peter 4:11: “If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever.”

DRAMA has performed at youth camps, Disciple Now weekends, Vacation Bible Schools, fall festivals, coffee houses and conferences.

During the True Love Waits Rally at the Baptist General Convention of Texas' Youth Evangelism Conference, members of the troupe performed a skit titled “The Gift,” which Watson wrote when she was 14 years old.

The skit begins with Jesus handing each person a gold box with the instructions to give it to the person they marry, but not to open it until then. The drama focuses on two teenaged couples–one couple has sex, and the other does not. Both couples break up because of their choices.

In the third act, the girl who has had sex meets the boy who did not, and he leads her to Christ. She receives a new box from Jesus. They eventually marry, and on the wedding night, he opens his box to reveal his white cross of purity that he has been saving just for her. She opens her box to discover not her white cross of purity, because she already gave that away, but the red cross of forgiveness through the blood of Jesus.

“We had many technical difficulties in the first two acts that caused the audience to miss much of the story line, but in the third act, God's Spirit just fell on us and the audience. When the girl received her new box, the audience just broke into cheering and applause,” Watson said.

“When the play ends with the couple exchanging their red and white crosses, the audience jumped to their feet in a loud, standing ovation. Afterward, many teenage girls made their way to the stage, and with tears in their eyes, said they were proud to hold red crosses now, too. To see the effect of such a story on so many thousands of teenagers was overwhelming.”

In tailoring to the needs of different ministries, Watson creates a unique skit for each event.

“First, I make sure I have a clear understanding of the event we're going to be a part of,” Watson explained. “Purpose, theme, other performers, etc. are all very important in deciding what DRAMA will do. For example, if it's a camp, I want to know the theme, focus Scripture and what the speaker will speak on each morning and night. I want to make sure everything fits together well and easily reaches the audience intended.

“If it's a secular venue, I want to make sure they understand what our message will be. We don't water anything down, but we also make sure it will not turn anyone away before we have completed our performance.

“Each script is reviewed by our board of directors and one or two minister friends of mine to make sure everything lines up with God's word. Lastly, the team as a whole does a read-through where, inevitably, minor changes will be made that they think are best for the character they will be playing. Then, I send the completed scripts to event coordinators shortly before our performance date to let them review all material, as well. We work very hard to make our productions and other aspects of ministry the absolute best that they can be.”

Watson would like DRAMA to travel to Romania, Russia and the Ukraine to work with orphans and perform in churches and secular theatres.

“I have been there before and have many contacts. In fact, they wanted us there this summer, but we just could not afford it at this time. We would probably work with Buckner and Radooga, the English camp hosted by Christians in Ukraine,” she said.

Watson is exploring other missions opportunities, including being on the missions team for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. “I was part of the missions team at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and it was truly the opportunity of a lifetime. The entire world converges on one city for 10 days every four years,” she said. “What a chance to share the gospel!” Seeing lives changed for eternity is Watson's favorite part of being involved in a creative ministry, she said.

“God has been truly amazing throughout this entire experience. Sometimes when we perform, teenagers will come up to us to say they identified with a character and were brought closer to God in their walk. We tell them: 'It wasn't us. It was all God.'”

Posted: 11/04/05

EDITORIAL:
When hearts break, God stays with us

A fresh report by a team of engineering experts constructs barriers for people who want to blame–or credit–God for the magnitude of destruction Hurricane Katrina heaped upon New Orleans.

Consider several options: (A) A heartless God randomly washed away innocent victims' homes, jobs and ways of life. (B) A wrathful God righteously punished the Crescent City for its wanton lifestyle, featuring strippers, drunks and flagrant debauchery. (C) Lazy and/or greedy contractors recklessly engineered the destruction when they built the levees that eventually gave way.

The answer is (C), human sloth, greed and “malfeasance,” according to the engineering report. It was presented to a Senate committee by Raymond Seed, a civil engineering professor at the University of California at Berkeley.

“These levees should have been expected to perform adequately at these levels if they had been designed and constructed properly,” Seed noted in a story published by the New York Times. “Not just human error was involved. There may have been malfeasance.”

Seed's team is following up on indications the levee specifications may not have been adequate to withstand such a storm. But they're also verifying eyewitness reports that contractors failed to drive pilings deep enough to hold the levees, used substandard soils, and cut other corners in constructing the $450 million flood-control system.

The report acknowledges many factors contributed to the disaster. But after hearing the evidence, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) noted: “Many of the widespread failures throughout the levee system were not solely the result of Mother Nature. Rather, they were the result of human error in the form of design and construction flaws, as well as confused and delayed response to the collapse.”

This is thought-provoking news for everyone who has struggled theologically with the destruction heaped upon New Orleans by Katrina. It also offers implications for other struggles: When we wonder why bad things happen to good people. When we ask why a good and loving God could allow _______________ (you fill in the blank).

In the face of natural disaster, people tend to blame or credit God. This is to be expected, since catastrophic events of monumental proportions seem to be out of our hands.

God gets the blame when we think the results are unfair. When a baby dies of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. When a nonsmoker dies of lung cancer. When a storm wipes out a city and thousands of faithful people lose all their earthly possessions. These are the hardest theological issues, the greatest challenges to our faith. Theories abound. But the truth is plain: We don't know why. We'll never know why. But another truth gets us through. It's explained in Romans 8–my favorite chapter in all the Bible–which tells us that when we suffer, God suffers with us, and the Holy Spirit “intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express,” and which promises God “works for the good of those who love him,” no matter how bleak the circumstances. That doesn't tell us why evil pushes us to the edge of a cliff, but it gives us a ledge to stand on and a vine to cling to.

On the other hand, God gets the credit when we think the results are fair. One of the most petty and annoying examples of this was the fellow who praised God for sending the teeth of Hurricane Rita a few miles east of his home, sparing his property, as if God loves this man more than the families down the road. Plenty of people have given God credit for Katrina's havoc upon New Orleans, which has traded on its wicked heritage in return for tourist dollars. But I'm not so sure the per capita sin in New Orleans is any worse than it is in any city or village in Texas. Who does God hate worse–strippers or people who allow their state to rank near the bottom in the major indicators of child protection? Besides, thousands of New Orleans residents who suffered grievously are devout, church-going folks like you and me. I've met some of them. They're no worse sinners than your average Texas Baptist Sunday school class.

But as the engineering study shows, many calamities visit us because of our own “malfeasance.” People drink and drive. Teens take up smoking. Spouses cut with words. Some actions are more harmful than others, but they all have consequences. Many times–probably most times–God's judgment on our sin is built into the natural repercussions of our actions. Still, Scripture teaches us God eagerly waits to hear our plea for forgiveness and our cry for help. And more quickly than a volunteer can turn the ignition in a disaster-relief truck, God is there beside us.

Marv Knox is editor of the Baptist Standard.