Posted: 10/28/05

EDITORIAL:
Pray for China, a waking global giant

The distant rumble you hear is the sound of China racing to catch up with the rest of the developed world. Without a doubt, it will happen–soon.

A mammoth economic engine drives the process. China is home to 1.3 billion people and a rapidly growing middle class. Aggressive business leaders from America and Europe fill flights to Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai. They're on their way to make the mark of a lifetime. Their entrepreneurial spirit is rivaled only by the Chinese themselves, who are economically (if not politically) free to pursue their dreams. So, China is emerging simultaneously as the world's largest market and its most competitive marketer.

You can see new China in its cities. A drive down a Beijing boulevard illustrates China today: On one end, a warren of shanties. Study them, and you can imagine how Chinese peasants lived a century ago and centuries before that. Next stands a string of communist-era apartment buildings. They're mind-numbingly uniform. They're run-down and dilapidated, deteriorated long before their time. They're also indescribably depressing. Beside them, luxury high-rises scratch the sky. In them, you can glimpse entrepreneurial China's ambition. They point where this awakening giant wants to go–straight up, in style. If you were the betting sort, you would lay good money on the likelihood skyscrapers will replace the apartments and shanties before the Beijing Olympics open Aug. 8, 2008. China will sparkle in the world's limelight.

Of course, China isn't as simple as all that. China is more like the chaotic intersections in its teeming cities. Where pedestrians and bicycles and automobiles all compete for right-of-way. Where the color of traffic symbols seems to have no bearing on what happens next. Where everything takes place at once, in dizzying speed. And where Western expectations–wrecks and utter carnage–rarely occur.

Yes, China is a land of oxymoronic contrast. Although it's communist and socialist, free-market capitalism flourishes, from the souvenir hawkers at Tiananmen Square, to the multinational corporations whose brands dominate sleek office towers. Although China reveres its 5,000-year-old culture, it zestfully latches onto Western icons, from designer clothes, to ever-present cell phones, to luxury vehicles and pirated DVDs of Hollywood's latest movies. Although China is the world's most populous country, the density of its cities combined with the breadth of its expanse means millions of Chinese live in remote rural villages, where architecture, industry and lifestyle have changed little for decades. Although closed to the outside for centuries, China is surprisingly open to the West; traffic signs feature English as well as Mandarin, and shopkeepers and restaurateurs often speak English. You can eat with a fork in Beijing.

The story of Christianity in China also is complicated and filled with contrasts. The government is communist and therefore officially atheist. Since 1954, nondenominational Christian churches have been permitted to register and hold services through the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and the China Christian Council, which assures the churches will be loyal to the government. Simultaneously, unregistered house churches have thrived across the country. Although house-church leaders have been persecuted and imprisoned–technically because they are not “patriotic”–their ranks have grown. They have asked Western Christians not to pray that persecution would cease, but that they would persevere, since blood of the martyrs has fertilized the faith.

A team of 19 Buckner Orphan Care International volunteers recently visited China. We could not interact with house-church Christians. Such a large group of Americans would bring dangerous attention. But we attended a Sunday worship service at the registered Ming Road Christian Church in Urumqi. Although some house-church advocates deride the registered churches, we experienced meaningful worship in a packed sanctuary. And although we could not understand the hour-long sermon delivered passionately by a young minister, we comprehended the fervency of the prayers, lifted simultaneously and verbally en masse by worshippers of all ages. We felt the warmth of our reception, as church members lined the aisles to greet us. We worshipped with sisters and brothers.

Combined, the church in China is growing by 30,000 new Christians each day. Pray that God will continue to bless and comfort the churches of China. Pray that God will give them strength and vision and courage. For as China emerges as a world leader, Chinese Christians may guide the 21st-century church.

Posted: 10/28/05

Committee works 'Rubik's cube'
to develop list of nominees

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS–The Baptist General Convention of Texas committee to nominate Executive Board directors has compiled its list of nominees for a streamlined board with enhanced authority, pending approval by messengers to the state convention's annual meeting.

At the Nov. 14-15 annual meeting in Austin, messengers will vote on amended bylaws related to convention governance. If approved, the revised bylaws will reduce the size of the BGCT Executive Board by more than half and grant its directors decision-making authority over matters that have been delegated to various boards, commissions and committees.

The reconstituted board is comprised of three directors from each of 30 sectors throughout the state. Sectors are drawn based on a per-county formula of 50 percent resident membership, 25 percent number of churches and 25 percent Texas Baptist Cooperative Program giving.

The current 234-member Executive Board's membership draws from 114 regional associations of churches, with each association having at least one member on the board.

Cassandra Northcutt of Longview chaired the committee to nominate executive board directors. Other committee members were Sil Ayala, San Antonio; Ronald Edwards, Goliad; James Fuller, Beaumont; Allison Gilliam, Valley Mills; Nelda Jones, Rosebud; Roger Malone, Dimmitt; Bonnie Martinez, El Paso; Nina Pinkston, Fort Worth; Kenneth Sheppard, Levelland; Danny Slaughter, Ballinger; Tiffany Wright, Dallas; and Charlotte Young, Quanah.

Participants in the process of putting together the streamlined board–factoring in geography, gender, ethnicity, church-size and a balance between laity and church staff–compared it to working a Rubik's cube. Solving one part of the puzzle threw off other parts.

“We had to look not only at finding 90 members for the board itself, but also had to look at the committees on which they would serve,” Northcutt said, noting that nominees' expertise and interests factored into the equation.

Under the new governance plan, responsibilities that have been met by the coordinating boards for educational and benevolence institutions, as well as by the State Missions Commission, Christian Life Commission and Administrative Committee, will be performed by Executive Board committees.

“All the parameters had to fit, and we had a difficult time meeting some of them,” Northcutt acknowledged. The full nominating committee met three times and held two conference calls, and each member spent hours working on individual assignments. “It was an important job, but it's one we're all glad is over,” she said.

The following are newly nominated by the committee to begin service on the 2006 Executive Board. At the conclusion of their first term of service, each of these nominees may be eligible for a second three-year term.

The “%” symbol designates nonchurch/denominational employees. Numerals following each nominee's hometown indicate the geographic sector or sectors they will represent.

Term to expire in 2006: % Ginger Blomstrom, Sugar Land, 19-22; % Virginia Bowers, Muleshoe, 2; % Anthony Bruster, Texarkana, 14; % Betty Jo Craig, Waxahachie, 9-11; Jerry Dailey, San Antonio, 26; % Leonardo Diaz, Hitchcock, 18; Doug Evans, Laguna Park, 29; % Dan Griffith, Haskell, 5; Tony Gruben, Uvalde, 28; Alcides Guajardo, Pawnee, 25; % Rebecca Hines, Houston, 19-22; % Ilene Hughes, Nederland, 17; Kenneth Jordan, Alpine, 1; Richard Laverty, Perryton, 3; % Flo Stovall, Victoria, 23; Trey Turner, Temple, 24

Term to expire in 2007: % Rudy Camacho, Fort Worth, 6-8; Roberto Cepeda, Los Fresnos, 25; Eddy Curry, Plainview, 4; Marvin Delaney, Houston, 19-22; % Carmen Estrada, El Paso, 1; % Debbie Ferrier, San Antonio, 26; % James Leggitt, Levelland, 2; Peter Leong, Sugar Land, 19-22; Gerald McMath, Carthage, 14; Royce Measures, Pasadena, 19-22; John Nguyen, Garland, 9-11; % David Ogeda, Nocona, 5; John Petty, Kerrville, 28; Jesús Ramero, Brownwood, 29; Tim Williams, Victoria, 23; Lee Wilson, Fort Worth, 6-8; % Stephen Young, Tyler, 15

Term to expire in 2008: Robert Arrubla, Fort Worth, 6-8; % Linda Brian, Amarillo, 3; Bob Dean, Dallas, 9-11; % Gloria DuBose, Midland, 1; % Larry Douglas, Missouri City, 19-22; % Janet Erwin, Bedford, 6-8; % Bob Fowler, Houston, 19-22; Johnnie Henderson, Commerce, 13; Ken Hugghins, Huntsville, 18; % Ed Pool, Nacogdoches, 16; Helen Price, Waco, 30; Harold Richardson, Tyler, 15; % Fred Roach, Richardson, 9-11; % Noah Rodriguez, San Antonio, 26; % Josúe Silva, Lubbock, 2; Byron Stevenson, Sugar Land, 19-22; % Don Ward, Fort Worth, 6-8

Current Executive Board directors to be re-elected: The following are current directors who have completed their first three-year-term and have been nominated by the committee to nominate the Executive Board to serve a second term.

Term to expire in 2008: Steve Dominy, Gatesville, 29; % Elizabeth Hanna, Beaumont, 17; % Tommy Hiebert, San Angelo, 28; % Ken Livingston, College Station, 24; David Massey, Hallsville, 14; % Jim Nelson, Austin, 27; Joel Odom, Floresville, 25; % Priscilla Pecina, Duncanville, 9-11; Bruce Peterson, Alvin, 23; Joshua Stowe, Rule, 5; Indy Vormbrock, Houston, 19-22

Current Executive Board directors who will continue to serve: The following are current directors who have been elected at a previous BGCT annual meeting. The 2006 convention does not need to vote on these directors. They will continue to serve the terms they were originally elected to. These names are provided for information only. A small number of current Executive Board directors have not decided about their future service on the board.

Term to expire in 2006: Carlos Alsina, Austin, 27; Steven Chun, Houston, 19-22; David Cooke, Devine, 28; % Charles Creed, Jacksonville, 16; % Alice Curtis, Fort Worth, 6-8; Karen Gilbert, Dallas, 9-11; David Harp, Stanton, 4; % B.J. Hart, Weatherford, 6-8; Arnold Martin, Irving, 9-11; Joe Martinez, Houston, 19-22; Nestor Menjivar, Austin, 27; % Richard Muir, Sanger, 6-8; John Ogletree Jr., Houston, 19-22; Carolyn Pickens, Houston, 19-22; % Barbara Pittman, Clyde, 4; % Rogers Pope, Longview, 15; Glen Schmucker, Dallas, 9-11; Wade Smith, Pottsboro, 12; B.L. Worsham, La Porte, 19-22

Terms to expire in 2007: % David Alford, Waco, 30; Darrell Beggs, Teague, 16; Becky Brown, Houston, 19-22; Jerry Carlisle, Plano, 12; % Gwenda Carrell, Godley, 30; Al Flores, San Antonio, 26; % Elmo Johnson, Houston, 19-22; Jim Haskell, Georgetown, 27; Ronnie Hood, Longview, 15; Ron Lyles, Pasadena, 19-22; Morgan Malone, Bonham, 12; Bruce Murray, Austin, 27; Fred Raney, Hemphill, 17; Eddie Sanchez, Dallas, 9-11; Randall Scott, Paris, 13; Ed Seay, Magnolia, 18; Chris Simmons, Dallas, 9-11; % Charlie Summers, Dimmitt, 3; % Jean Talley, Grapevine, 6-8; Chris Thacker, Eagle Lake, 24; Betty Thompson, Carthage, 13; Ed Walker, Marble Falls, 28; Charles Whiteside, Kilgore, 15

Terms to expire in 2008: % Joseph Cross, Bridgeport, 6-8; % Anna Marie Edgemon, Sulphur Springs, 13; Julio Guarneri, Fort Worth, 6-8

Posted: 10/28/05

Texas Baptist Forum

Second-class family member

• Jump to online-only letters below

Letters are welcomed. Send them to marvknox@baptiststandard.com; 250 words maximum.

"God sat with me as I remained calm and determined not to be treated with less dignity than any other citizen of Montgomery." Rosa Parks The late civil rights champion, remembering her famous display of courage in a 2000 interview with the Montgomery Advertiser (ABP) "Rosa Parks' disobedience to an unjust law was grounded … in her instinctive understanding of a higher moral order based on the sovereignty of God and the dignity of each person made in his image. Rosa Parks was not a theologian, but she knew the words of Amos and Jesus as well as if she had been their contemporary." Timothy George Dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. (ABP) "We must draw a line in the sand–a moral line in the sand against further service cuts for poor people and tax cuts for the wealthiest. This is a moral issue now. This is a contradiction, and people around the country are feeling it." Jim Wallis Head of the anti-poverty group Call to Renewal, comparing proposed federal budget cuts for the poor to tax breaks for the wealthy (RNS)

The theme of this year's Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting is “One Family–One Mission.” Well, this family member feels like a red-headed stepchild again this year.

I have only been a Southern Baptist for five years. I am a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and I pastor a church that is uniquely aligned with the BGCT. Imagine how it makes me and other family members feel to know that my alma mater does not have a place at the family table. To not allow Southwestern a spot in the exhibit hall or a place to hold its alumni luncheon makes me feel like I am a second-class family member. Am I paying for the sins of my father?

This continuing family feud makes it difficult for members like me to stay neutral. I don't want to choose one family member over another, and yet that is what I feel I am being forced to do.

Where is the love? Where is the cooperation? Where is the joy in the family? Where is the rose that President Ken Hall encouraged us to give last year to those with whom we disagree?

Clay Bowers

Houston

Old business

This tit-for-tat business has gotten old, very old.

Seeing that Southwestern Seminary has reached out to the BGCT (by requesting a booth at the annual meeting), it seems appropriate that the BGCT respond in kind.

This pettiness is doing nothing but showing the world the childishness of those involved. Grow up and do the right thing and let Southwestern have the booth.

Michael L. Simons

Cleburne

Presidential qualities

Concerning Baylor University's search for president, I don't believe they need to look very far.

Randall O'Brien, who currently is serving as interim provost, would be an excellent choice. He has been the interim dean of Truett Seminary, chair of the religion department, adviser to the president, and is a widely recognized expert on the Old Testament.

He also is quite a churchman. He has served as interim pastor of South Main Baptist Church in Houston and currently is interim pastor at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco.

O'Brien is one of the few people I can think of whom everyone likes and respects. I just think it would be a shame if Baylor didn't at least give him a serious look. They could certainly do worse, but I am not sure they could do much better.

Joe Early Jr.

Corbin, Ky.

Pastoral opportunities

One reason for such large numbers of vacancies in small churches is they ask pastors for the same amount of experience as the larger churches.

If they are going to ask a pastor to be bivocational, they also should give him opportunity to grow with them, instead of asking the pastor to already have everything together.

There are plenty of ministers who are called to the pastorate who may not have completed their degrees, yet why not give them a chance?

We were raised missionary Baptist, so we comprehend the stand Baptists take against women pastors. But plenty of qualified women carry the gospel, and qualified husband-and-wife teams would work with a smaller ministry.

S.C. Blackwell

Dallas

'Unbelievable' comparison

When I read Mark Dunn's letter comparing the value of the BGCT to the value of the Southern Baptist Convention (Oct. 3), my only thought was “unbelievable.”

I don't know what resources he is looking for, but that is primarily what the state conventions offer. It's a big world in the SBC, so the states can do a much better job of supporting individual churches. But because it is a big world out there, one individual church cannot do nearly as much as many churches working together cooperatively through the SBC.

We can't forget about “Samaria and the uttermost parts of the world.”

Sam Taylor

Hot Springs Village, Ark.

What do you think? Send letters to Editor Marv Knox by mail: P.O. Box 660267, Dallas 75266-0267; or by e-mail: marvknox@baptiststandard.com. Letters are limited to 250 words.

Posted: 10/28/05

Churches go high tech

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

VENTURA, Calif. (ABP)–A new study indicates Protestant congregations are embracing new technologies quickly.

The Barna Group survey shows that, since 2000, many congregations across regional, denominational and sociological categories have embraced the Internet, videography and other high-tech methods of carrying out their ministries.

For example, the study revealed 57 percent of Protestant churches now have a website–up from only 34 percent in 2000. The greatest increases in that category came among mainline Protestant churches, 70 percent of which now have a presence on the Internet.

The study also found that churches located in the Western states, churches with large congregations and churches with mostly white parishioners are most likely to have websites.

The survey also determined that 62 percent of Protestant churches use large-screen projection technology. In 2000, only 39 percent used large screens.

Once again, large congregations and predominantly white churches were most likely to use projection screens.

One technological area in which the study found little growth among Protestant churches was in use of electronic funds-transfer technology for contributions. Twelve percent of congregations use that service, up from 7 percent in 2000. However, churches in the Northeast have been much more open to the technology, with 28 percent embracing it.

George Barna, who directed the study, expects churches to embrace further technological trends in the next five years.

“During the next half of this decade, we expect increased broadband access, podcasting and ubiquitous adoption of handheld mobile computing devices by consumers to further alter the way churches conduct ministry,” he said.

The data for the study was gathered from telephone interviews with 845 senior pastors of Protestant churches around the country, conducted in June. The sampling has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

Posted: 10/28/05

Church views cable TV as ministry outlet

By George Henson

Staff Writer

NOCONA–Bethel Baptist Church discovered a television ministry can be both effective and cost-efficient.

About 150 people attend Bethel Baptist on any given Sunday, and when Pastor Clark Frailey came to the church one year ago, he started out by visiting everyone on the membership roll. Because much of the congregation is aging, he found about 20 of his church members living in one of the two nursing homes in Nocona or the assisted-living community.

Quite a few had been unable to attend church for prolonged periods because of their health, he discovered.

“One of the things that came out of those visits was that we had many members who were disconnected from the church, not by their minds, but by their bodies,” Frailey said.

He also noticed that every room in the nursing home and assisted-living center–not to mention every hospital and hotel room in town–had a cable television hookup. It was about 200 outlets for ministry in those locations, plus homes in the area.

Frailey had studied broadcast journalism at Oklahoma Baptist University and knew cable companies had to make time available for community access.

He investigated further and learned about leased access, available to community organizations for a nominal fee. The cost is based on the number of cable subscribers in the community, and they numbered about 900 in Nocona.

Frailey figured the amount the law required and made an offer to the cable company–which it promptly rejected.

Undeterred, he got all his paper work together and sent copies to the cable company's headquarters in Missouri. He also started out each Monday morning with a telephone call to the company's corporate offices.

“I'm not sure what their reservations were. I do know they asked me if we would be handling snakes or doing fundraising, and I assured them those things would not be happening,” he said with a smile.

Still, it was four months before the company's legal counsel called to say the church could begin broadcasting.

Bethel Baptist Church now broadcasts 14 hours a week, an hour each at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily, for $25 per week.

The church already had a camera it had purchased for funerals and other events that required overflow seating and a closed-circuit television feed. The only other equipment needed was a DVD player and a special switching unit Frailey purchased online for about $200.

Frailey does any editing on his home computer with the same software used to edit home video.

The $1,500 a year the ministry costs was raised at a premiere party. Frailey is unsure if the ministry will become part of the budget or continue to be funded at a special event.

But he remains convinced it is a good investment.

“This is one of the least-expensive ministries we have,” he said. “We can't do a communitywide mail-out once a year for what it costs us to broadcast for 14 hours every week.”

About 60 percent of the homes in the community of 2,100 people are cable subscribers.

The church-produced video programs also are available over the Internet.

Frailey estimates it costs his church about 52 cents per person per year.

While the ministry was aimed at church members who could no longer attend, others in the community also are watching, he said.

“I didn't expect that, but it is happening,” Frailey said. Things that attract outside viewers typically are special events like concerts, he said. The beginning of each broadcast half-hour also has about three minutes of promotional information such as listings of upcoming events and information about a grief support group that meets at the church.

“The masses are not flocking to us because we are on television, but we are reaching individuals,” he said.

“Also, like many churches, we have a number of women who come alone. They tell us about their man at home, 'He's not coming, but he's watching.'”

Frailey said he would be glad to assist other pastors who want to start a similar ministry in their communities and is working on a training manual for small to mid-sized churches.

“The cable companies will try to sell you the most expensive package possible and tell you it will be a couple hundred dollars a week. But if you do your homework, you can probably bring it down to pennies on the dollar,” he said.

For members like Mozelle Humble, the ministry is invaluable.

“It's wonderful,” she said. “I'm pretty much housebound because of my health, and this way I feel like I'm a part of things.

“When I see a full program, it's like I've been to church.”

Posted: 10/28/05

Church media user's guide: Keep it simple

By George Henson

Staff Writer

ARLINGTON–Just because churches can afford multimedia with fancy bells and whistles, that doesn't mean they should pull out all the stops at every opportunity, a North Texas communications instructor insists.

“Now you can get equipment at a pretty reasonable cost, when in the past it cost way too much to be practical,” said Ron Bland, a lecturer in the communications department at the University of Texas at Arlington.

“That has benefited a lot of churches, but just because you have the tools doesn't mean you're using them effectively.”

While many churches now have media screens in their sanctuaries, he said it is easy to be lured into the trap of making it look pretty and forget it is first and foremost a communication tool.

“Media is supposed to support the message. So, it shouldn't be the attention-getter,” said Bland, a Baylor University graduate. “If we are worrying about how pretty the background is, we're missing out on the fact the important thing is the words written on that background.”

Simplicity is the best way to communicate using media screens, Bland said.

“Bright letters on a dark background or dark letters on a bright background” work best, he suggested. “Keep it simple; you don't want the background to become the focal point.”

While floral or pictorial backgrounds may be aesthetically pleasing, they make it more difficult to read what is written on them. So, if the message is what's really important, use a plain background, he suggests.

“White letters on a dark background are probably best,” he said.

Bland suggests that approach in part because most congregations have a number of senior adults who don't need any additional visual challenges.

Type also looks better and is easier to read if letters are kept the same size from slide to slide. Changing the size of the letters to fill the screen is not effective communication, Bland said.

Churches using screens should leave what is written up as long as possible–until something else is ready to take its place, he recommended. Some may read a little slower than others or may be copying it down. It is frustrating to those people to approach the end and to have it disappear.

“It doesn't hurt to leave things on the screens. People who have read it aren't going to be distracted by it. They've already read what's there and put their focus back on the pastor. But for those who are still looking at the screen, give them a chance to finish,” he said.

Once churches put screens in place, they should be used for maximum efficiency, Bland said. Use the time before the service starts to display announcements of upcoming events. Photographs of new members might also be displayed, along with their names, so that the congregation can put names with faces a little quicker, he suggested.

Screens also are useful for displaying photographs or video of past mission projects and other events that might encourage participation by others, he noted.

A church website also can be an excellent communication tool, especially for smaller communities that either don't have a newspaper or one that is published only weekly. Events like funerals may come and go before the next publication date of the local paper, but the church website can get that information out quicker.

Many churches that have websites fall short of using the audio and video capabilities they offer, Bland asserted.

“It's very easy to stream the video of your services onto the Internet. It used to be that churches taped their services on audio and took them to people who couldn't make it to church. Now, we can do the same thing with video through DVDs and the Internet,” he said.

One way to get members to check the church website more often is to make sure something new is there each day. He suggested video devotional thoughts.

“Internet devotions for a week can be knocked out in 45 minutes easy,” he said. The site can then be programmed to change the video file each day automatically.

Churches need to be aware that more and more people are checking websites of churches before they ever attend. Bland and his family joined First Baptist Church in Midlothian recently, but before they attended services, Bland already had heard his pastor preach on the church's website.

“These new ways of communicating are only going to get more important,” he said.

“The church is changing; it has to. Society is changing, and if the church doesn't start using the tools people are used to, we are going to start missing out on some people.”

Posted: 10/28/05

Narnia author's stepson
describes the real C.S. Lewis

By Sarah Price Brown

Religion News Service

LOS ANGELES (RNS)–When 8-year-old Douglas Gresham met C.S. Lewis, the man who would become his stepfather, he was disappointed.

The American boy had expected the British author of The Chronicles of Narnia fantasy books "to be wearing silver armor and carrying a sword with a jeweled pommel."

Douglas Gresham

Instead, Lewis “was a stooped, balding, professorial-looking gentleman in shabby clothes, with long, nicotine-stained fingers,” said Gresham, now 59.

More than 40 years after Lewis' death, people still have their own ideas about him. Depending on whom you ask, Lewis was a scholar, fantasy writer, Christian saint–or all that and more.

As Disney prepares to release its much-anticipated movie version of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Dec. 9, more people than ever are asking: Who was C.S. Lewis? And what is his legacy?

To many, Lewis is an icon of orthodox Christianity. Despite growing up believing there was no God, Lewis turned to Christianity as an adult.

He then dedicated himself to promoting the faith and did so, his admirers say, using simple language and logical reasoning anyone could understand.

Lewis' Christian devotees find meaning in his religious works such as Mere Christianity, a collection of radio addresses Lewis gave in the early 1940s that explains the common beliefs among Christians of different denominations.

Christians also see symbolism in Lewis' children's books. For instance, Aslan–the great lion in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe who sacrifices himself for a human sinner and ultimately is resurrected–represents Jesus Christ.

In some evangelical circles, Lewis is revered. On the 100th anniversary of Lewis' birth, the evangelical magazine Christianity Today published a piece calling Lewis “our patron saint” and citing a poll in which the magazine's readers chose Lewis as the most influential writer in their lives.

“It is a bit of a paradox that C.S. Lewis, an Anglican, has emerged as a virtual 'saint' among American evangelicals,” said Mark Sargent, provost of Gordon College, a Christian school in Wenham, Mass. “But it was Lewis, more than any other author, who rekindled the life of the imagination within the evangelical community.”

Gresham, who became Lewis' stepson when his mother, Joy Davidman, married the professor, cautioned against any such interpretation of his stepfather.

“If you want to remember him, remember him as a man with all the foibles and difficulties and dark times in his life that men have … not as some kind of plaster saint,” said Gresham, whose book about Lewis, Jack's Life, was released Oct. 1. “He was a man of great humor, great warmth. He was a fun bloke to be around.”

Nobody is saying Lewis was perfect, said Bruce Edwards, evangelical author of the new book Further Up & Further In about the spiritual messages in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

“Is there hero-worship involved in how people admire Lewis?” Edwards asked. “Sure.”

But Edwards warned against linking evangelicals' admiration for Lewis to a naivete about the world.

“It's a convenient caricature to say, 'Oh, they've got their Bibles, and they've got C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity, and they've got Narnia, and they don't need to look outside their window anymore,” Edwards said. “I've never met anybody like that, who has such an ostrichlike view of the world.”

Hero-worship of Lewis is not isolated to evangelicals.

“He's very popular among people who keep the old faith, and not so popular among the modernists,” said Richard Purthill, Catholic author of the book, C.S. Lewis' Case for the Christian Faith. Purthill praised Lewis as a Christian apologist, one who gave people a rational basis for believing in Christianity.

Stan Mattson, president of the C.S. Lewis Foundation in Redlands, Calif., which encourages Christians to openly participate in scholarship and the arts, said the group chose Lewis as its mentor because Lewis was a respected scholar who “was not prepared to check his faith at the door.”

Describing himself as a “mere Christian,” Mattson said he, like Lewis, belonged to the wider world of Christianity.

Lewis “wouldn't be comfortable, really, being co-opted by any one group,” said Mark Tauber, vice president and deputy publisher of HarperSanFrancisco, the division of HarperCollins that publishes Lewis' nonfiction books.

Tauber said he continually was surprised by the broad appeal of Lewis, who wrote more than 30 books. Recently, Tauber received a call from a Mormon leader who mentioned that religious school teachers were using Mere Christianity in the classroom. “We had no idea that the Mormons were into Lewis,” Tauber said.

For Gresham, all this talk about his stepfather and his legacy is misplaced.

“People should not be trying to remember C.S. Lewis at all,” Gresham said. “They should be trying to remember the Jesus Christ whom he represented and whom he preached.”

Posted: 10/28/05

Narnia offers churches
outreach opportunities

By George Henson

Staff Writer

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a 20th century children's classic read and enjoyed by Christians and non-Christians alike. It has been translated into 40 languages and sells more than 6 million copies each year.

For that reason, some Christians believe the Dec. 9 movie retelling the C.S. Lewis story may be an even better film for churches to promote than 2004's The Passion of the Christ.

Because forgiveness and the sacrificial death and resurrection of Aslan the Lion are such key components of the story, it opens the way for dialogue, said Jarvis Ward, national facilitator of city and community ministries for the Mission America Coalition, an interdenominational group that wants to share the gospel of Christ with every person in America. “This gives people the chance to share the story within a story,” Ward said.

The popularity of feature-length films is such that the church must find a way to employ the medium, said Doug Gresham, co-producer of the film and stepson of Lewis. “I think that it is extremely important that this medium–cinema–be put to proper uses and this film is an example of how it can be done,” he said.

A variety of materials are being made available to churches for promotion of the film. The website www.narniaresources.com offers posters, mini-posters, bulletin inserts, door hangers, a resource DVD that includes clips and behind-the-scenes information, and a kit with materials for adult leaders. An event guide gives instructions on how to produce a Narnia event that includes coloring pages and lessons plans. Most materials are available only for the cost of shipping and handling.

Another website, www.outreach.com, offers a number of customizable pieces that allow churches to include information about themselves. Costs of these materials are available on the website.

Posted: 10/28/05

New books explore Lewis mystique

By Ann Byle

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–When The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was published in 1950, it was impossible to conceive the influence this story, written by a childless Oxford professor, would have on generations of readers.

Anticipating the Dec. 9 film release of Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, publishers are releasing scores of books tapping into the mystique of Narnia and its creator, C.S. Lewis.

One is by Lewis scholar Peter J. Schakel of Michigan-based Hope College, whose The Way Into Narnia: A Reader's Guide, recently was released by Eerdmans Publishing Co. Schakel offers readers a brief look at Lewis' life, as well as themes and meanings for each of the Chronicles. He also provides explanatory annotations for each book.

“I very deliberately aimed for general readers,” said Schakel, whose two other books on the subject targeted academic audiences.

"My hope is that the book will enrich and enhance and enlarge the experience of reading the Chronicles of Narnia."

Christian readers long have suggested the tales are a biblical allegory.

Schakel, the Peter C. and Emajean Cook Professor of English at Hope–in Holland, Mich.–said the Chronicles are fascinating stories that take readers into other worlds and carry significant spiritual meaning.

"Lewis was a deeply Christian man," Schakel said. "He wrote a lot of Christian nonfiction works, but I think his primary reason for writing the Chronicles was to write a story.

“He would never have wanted to sacrifice the story for a religious effect. His argument was that Christians ought to be the best at whatever they do, which would then give opportunity to witness to what Christianity is and can be, but he had to write good fiction first.”

Schakel readily acknowledges the similarities between Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, a friend of Lewis and author of The Lord of the Rings. Both Narnia and Tolkien's Middle Earth have changed our culture, Schakel said.

“These two popularized the idea of going into other worlds,” he said. “They expanded readers' appetites for it enormously and, in that sense, made the book world and the film world what it is today.”

Schakel is excited about the new film because it will introduce Lewis to a new group of fans and bring people back to the books.

"When I start to see plush Aslans and Narnia lunch boxes and Happy Meal toys, I think I'll cringe," he said.

Posted: 10/28/05

N.C. Baptists make sharp right turn

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

WAKE FOREST, N.C. (ABP)– North Carolina Baptists' hard right turn clearly appears to be picking up steam.

As recently as two years ago, control of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, once a moderate stronghold, was in doubt. But after losing a string of elections, most moderate Baptists have tired of defending the denominational battleground.

Meanwhile, emboldened fundamentalists have made several moves recently to flex their newfound muscle:

Impatient with a search process that could take 16 months to hire a new executive director, ultra-conservatives are moving to replace the convention's interim director with one clearly identified with their movement.

A new proposal would further tighten membership restrictions to exclude churches that accept gays as members or support organizations that condone homosexual behavior, creating perhaps the most specific ban of gay-friendly churches in Southern Baptist life.

Another proposal in the works would stop the convention from counting money churches send to support the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship as Cooperative Program giving. And a more drastic approach to do away with all four of the convention's alternative giving plans–returning to a traditional SBC-only budget–also is being proposed.

In July, nominees to trustee positions in the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina were rejected because they are members of churches affiliated with the Alliance of Baptists, a national organization conservatives say has a “pro-homosexual stance.”

Fundamentalists rejected several candidates for the board of the Biblical Recorder, the convention's newspaper, and replaced them with hard-liners. The nominating committee's chairman said the newspaper was singled out because it needs to become “more conservative.”

Anticipating even more contentious times ahead, the five colleges and universities that relate to the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina recently asked the convention for a formal study of its legal relationships with the schools. Such a study could lead to severing ties between the convention and some of the schools–Campbell University, Chowan College, Gardner-Webb University, Mars Hill College and Wingate University.

North Carolina Baptists of all stripes are pointing to the annual convention meeting Nov. 14-16, which will vote on many of the conservatives' proposals, as a pivotal event. But while that prospect motivated moderates to action in years past, it has generated more resignation than talk of revolution.

Moderates are not even fielding a candidate for convention president this year. Conservative Stan Welch, pastor of Blackwelder Park Baptist Church in Kannapolis, is the only candidate to emerge so far.

Already, conservatives are acting to counter any apathy that might arise among their followers because of the moderate concession.

“The fight's not over,” Bill Sanderson, president of Conserva-tive Carolina Baptists, told a rally at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary Oct. 20, one of three scheduled across the state. “We can't say we don't need to be at the convention this year.”

Greg Mathis, a former convention president and a current member of the budget committee, told the group the practice of counting CBF money that is channeled through the North Carolina budget as Cooperative Program funding is a top complaint among conservatives.

But Mathis urged attendees to support the modest CBF-related budget change rather than do away with all four alternative budgets–which would leave the convention with a single plan that sends 35 percent of church contributions to the SBC. Such a surgical, precise approach to the budget is preferable to the “chainsaw approach,” because doing away with all four plans might have unintended consequences, he said.

Posted: 10/28/05

On the Move

Franklin Atkinson to Port Caddo Church in Marshall as intentional interim pastor.

Bruce Barber to First Church in Roanoke as pastor.

Al Camp has resigned as business administrator at Grace Temple in Denton.

Cindy Combs to First Church in Amarillo as interim children's minister.

Bob Craig has completed an interim pastorate at Calvary Church in Brenham.

Matt Cumnow to Oaklawn Church in Bellmead as minister of youth.

John Curry has resigned as pastor of First Church in Blackwell. He is available for supply and revivals at (432) 923-2163.

Shelby Deatherage to Southeast Church in Amarillo as minister of music.

Marvin Denison has resigned as pastor at First Church in Cumby.

Ken Dowdy has resigned as associate pastor at First Church in Lexington.

Melinda Fotenot has resigned as minister of music at Central Church in Thornton.

Michael Goodman to East Texas Baptist University as Baptist Student Ministry director.

J.D. Graham to Silver Lake Church in Mineola as pastor, where he had been interim.

Johnny Griffin to First Church in Washburn as pastor.

Bryan Houser to Amarillo Area Association as missions coordinator from Shiloh Terrace Church in Dallas, where he was minister of missions.

Nanette Johnson has resigned as children's minister at First Church in Waxahachie.

James Jackson Jr. to Field Street Church in Cleburne as minister of community ministries.

Jeremy Johnston to Preston Highlands Church in Dallas as pastor from Builders Church in Merkel.

Codi Knowles to First Church in Denton as international ministry coordinator.

Chad Lewis to Williams Creek Church in Axtell as interim pastor.

Dusty Maxwell as resigned as minister of youth and children at Central Church in Thornton.

Henry McBrayer to Friendship Church in Cleburne as pastor, where he had been interim.

Dean Meade to Calvary Church in Brenham as pastor.

Daryl Mize to Southside Church in Franklin as pastor.

Billy Neal to First Church in Bells as pastor.

Tim Newton has resigned at First Church in Denton as youth ministry assistant.

Andrew Null to First Church in Ponder as student minister.

B.J. Ramon to Amarillo College as Baptist Student Ministries director.

Rob Ramsey has resigned as youth minister at East Sherman Church in Sherman.

Matt Reynolds to First Church in Texarkana as minister of students.

Joy Schaeffer to First Church in Wichita Falls as director of youth and children's music.

Jerome Street to First Church in Edmonson as minister of music.

Kyle Streun to First Church in Hereford as pastor.

Mika Sumpter to First Church in Denton as interim university minister.

Dennis Whatley to North Shore Church in Avinger as interim pastor.

Regina Wheat has resigned as children's director at Elmcrest Church in Abilene.

Posted: 10/28/05

Americans believe in traditional
family but tolerant of divorce

By Adelle Banks

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–Most Americans continue to believe that “God's plan for marriage is one man, one woman, for life,” but they still are tolerant of those who divorce, a new survey on family and faith shows.

A poll by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research conducted for the PBS program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly found 71 percent of Americans said they believe in the ideal of lifelong traditional marriage. But just 22 percent of those surveyed agreed “divorce is a sin.”

Religious conservatives were most likely to agree that divorce is sinful. But they still were a minority within their own ranks, with 34 percent of evangelical Christians and 30 percent of traditional Catholics saying divorce is sinful.

The survey also looked at the religious practices of traditional and nontraditional families and how people prioritize moral values. The survey was released ahead of a four-part series on “Faith and Family in America” that will be broadcast by Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

More than half of the people polled–52 percent–said divorce can be the best solution when a couple can't work out their marital problems. This sentiment about divorce mostly held across the religious spectrum, with 63 percent of those who described themselves as liberal Catholics agreeing, along with 61 percent of mainline Protestants, 50 percent of people with no religious preference, 48 percent of evangelical Christians and 46 percent of traditional Catholics.

John Green, professor of political science and director of the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron in Ohio, said the tension between the ideal image and real stresses of marriage and family life reflects the success of churches and other religious institutions in upholding a high standard for marriage.

“On the one hand, it may be that the ideal has persisted precisely because the reality has changed,” said Green, who helped analyze the survey results. “On the other hand, Americans have become much, much more tolerant of deviations from that ideal.”

Researchers found stark differences, along with some similarities, in the religious practices and beliefs of traditional and nontraditional families, which they categorized as married parents with children younger than 18 (traditional) and unmarried parents with children younger than 18 (nontraditional). For example, half the traditional parents said they attend religious services at least once a week, compared with only one-third of nontraditional parents.

But both sets of parents are almost equally likely to say religion is “very important” in their lives–55 percent of nontraditional versus 59 percent of traditional–and to say they read religious Scriptures each week–49 percent of both traditional and nontraditional families).

Brad Wilcox, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Virginia, also provided analysis of some of the survey results. He noted that while researchers have found Protestants, including evangelicals, are not more likely than other groups to remain married, there is a strong link between religious practice and stable marriage.

“Folks who go to church or to synagogue on a regular basis are much less likely to divorce,” he said.

The survey also revealed how Americans define the term “moral values.”

Asked whether certain phrases meet their definition of the term, the highest percentage–36 percent–chose “personal values, such as honesty and responsibility.” That was followed by “family values, such as trying to protect children from sex and violence on TV and the Internet.” Social issues, including abortion and gay marriage, and social justice matters, such as human rights and discrimination, each were cited by only 10 percent of the people surveyed.