Posted: 10/04/05

BaptistWay Bible Series for Oct. 16

Straying from God leads to a downward spiral

• Judges 2:6-7, 11-19

By Ronnie Prevost

Logsdon Seminary, Abilene

It happens every fall at Hardin-Simmons University (where I teach). New students arrive. They move in their new (for them) dorm rooms. They meet new friends. They find their way around campus and around Abilene. This is the time they have anticipated for years. On their own for the first time, it all is so very exciting.

Then classes begin. They find their classrooms, meet professors, and receive course outlines and assignments. Reality sets in. They realize college is a lot of work. Then they become aware they are the ones who must make themselves do all those things that, previously, someone else (parents mostly) did for them—or, at least, tried to.

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Most of these students promised their parents they would study and live as their parents taught and encouraged them. Most do—eventually. The students’ well-intentioned promises are relatively easy to make and are expected by the parents.

However, living up to those promises is quite another thing. It requires a maturity and discipline that enables the students to make the sacrifices such commitments require.

In our Scripture passage, Israel was much like those new students. They were in the long-anticipated “Promised Land.” Israel had served God (to varying degrees) while Joshua and the leaders who outlived and succeeded him were alive. But now Israel was “on its own.” No longer was there a leader such as Moses or Joshua to guide them and hold them accountable. Their commitments were now theirs to keep—or break.

Their forebears had committed to serve God and, so, he had blessed. But this newer generation was different. Judges 2:10 describes this generation as one “who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.” Now, before we criticize them, perhaps we should ask why they knew neither God nor his mighty acts for Israel.

The previous generations had committed to follow God. To varying degrees, they had lived out their promises to personally and corporately live up to Deuteronomy 6:4-6. It was what was to be the great Jewish statement of faith—their basic creedal statement.

As verse 6 had called them to do, the commandments may have been “on their hearts.” However, it seems they may have forgotten 6:7 continues, “Impress them (the commandments) on your children.” Perhaps they kept their personal commitments. Unfortunately, they had not fulfilled their responsibility to nurture their children toward the same dedication.

Judges 2:11-13 describes the results. Israel turned their backs on God, worshipped other gods and generally “did evil.” This was the first step in what is referred to as “the cycle of Deuteronomic history” which was to haunt Israel.

The second step of the cycle is found in verses 14-15: God was angry and removed his protection. The third step is that God’s people cried out to him for deliverance from their oppressors. The fourth step is that God delivered his people.

Toward that end, as we read in verse 16, God raised up leaders known as “judges.” The judges were rulers, military leaders and deliverers. They were and are an interesting assortment of types and stories—Samson, Deborah, Jephthah, Ehud, Gideon, etc.

The judges were called by God to stand up for the oppressed even though the Israelites were the ultimate causes of their own oppression. Their authority was limited to the time of the crisis. The Lord God still was their king—not the judges.

So, Israel was delivered. What a shame that once the crises had passed and they were once again safe, the people still did not listen and returned to idolatry (v. 17). And verses 17-19 indicate the cycle continued. For Israel, it was a downward spiral. Seemingly unable to keep commitments they had made, theirs was a repetitive history—a vortex of sin that was pulling them down.

We cannot live lives of faith based on someone else’s commitments, either. We must make our own. But have we? How well have we kept the promises we made (and make) to God? Do we turn our backs on God and follow other gods? Finally, how does that place us, individually, in our own downward spirals? Hebrews 12:1 challenges us to rid ourselves of anything that keeps us from following God.

However, we must take one other step and ask ourselves: Will the next generation have faith? In what will they have faith? Part of our role in living faithfully is to teach our children. If we do not, by what we say and how we live, who will?

We cannot make their commitments to God. They must do that themselves. But we can dedicate ourselves to their nurture. Just as we do not want to settle for too little for ourselves, let us not do so for our children. To do so will condemn them to be caught in their own downward spiral. Rather, let us give them—and our God—our very best.

Discussion question

• Thomas Merton once wrote, “The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little.” How are we settling for too little when we forget what God has done for us and, so, follow other “gods” in our lives?

• How can we honor our heritage of faith commitment by teaching and nurturing those who come after us?

Posted: 10/04/05

Family Bible Series for Oct. 16

Jesus’ coming broke down barriers

• Ephesians 2:11-22

By Donald Raney

Westlake Chapel, Graham

We live in a very fragmented world. Humanity has developed many different ways to draw lines between groups of people. National origin, race, social and economic standing, and religion are just a few of the ways we have separated ourselves from those who are different than us.

During the time most of the Bible was written, there were two primary groups: The Jews who were members of a religious community united by God’s covenant given at Mount Sinai, and the Gentiles, which included everyone else. Throughout history, these somewhat artificial boundaries have led to distrust, hatred and open conflict. Peace seems to be a concept the world cannot grasp.

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This not only is true on a national or international scale, but most individuals find themselves on an unending quest for personal peace. The good news is that true peace does exist, and it is available to all people. In Ephesians, Paul tells us in order to experience that peace, we simply have to remember the past, understand what Jesus has done for us and accept our place in God’s kingdom of peace.

Ephesians 2:11-13

Paul begins this part of his letter by calling on the Ephesians to remember their past. Memory is a powerful force in the life of any individual. It is a particularly important force within the life of a believer. Christianity is based on the individual and corporate memories of all believers. Throughout the Bible, we are commanded to remember the great acts of God in the past, as well as the examples of believers who have preceded us.

In the present passage, Paul specifically calls on his readers to remember that, as Gentiles, they formerly had been outside of the covenant between God and the Jews. Since they did not possess the physical sign of membership in the covenant community, circumcision, they were “excluded” and “without God in the world” (v. 12).

Notice that Paul subtly points out that this separation was the work of humans, not God. In verse 11, he states the exclusion of the Gentiles had been enforced by “those who call themselves ‘the circumcision.’” Paul wants his readers to think about the days when they were excluded from the community of God’s people so the contrast with their current standing would be made that much clearer in their minds. Because of what Jesus had done, they now were able to come near to God because in Christ “there is neither Jew nor Greek” (Galatians 3:28).

Ephesians 2:14-18

Through his life, death and resurrection, Jesus had “destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” (v. 14). Jesus brought peace to a world of distrust by opening access to God to everyone.

The peace Paul refers to here does not necessarily mean the complete removal and absence of trouble. Though God’s desire is for all humanity to live without barriers between groups, the fallen state of the world and human nature leads us to continually build those walls. The peace Jesus brings is an inner peace that enables us to live at peace with others and with God, even in the midst of troubles.

Notice Paul does not say Jesus brought us peace but that Jesus is our peace. In Matthew 10:34, Jesus says he did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Jesus is our peace because he brought a sword to destroy the mindsets and strongholds of this world that had divided us against each other. Jesus came to be the foundation for experiencing real peace between all people and between humanity and God. Jesus removed the barrier between Jews and Gentiles by fulfilling the law in his life and then taking those distinctions with him to the cross.

Jesus not only preached a message of peace; he showed what a life of peace looked like through his life and then provided the way for all to experience a life of peace through his death.

Ephesians 2:19-22

As a result of what Jesus did, Gentiles may now fully participate in the building up of the kingdom of God. By removing the barrier, Jesus has become the cornerstone of a new temple. This new temple represents what God had intended from the beginning.

God’s call to all of humanity has been the same from the start. The prophets of old, along with the more recent apostles, all have proclaimed God’s message of peace and reconciliation. Since humanity failed to understand that message, God became one of us to demonstrate concretely the way God desired for us to live in a world free of man-made boundaries between people. Such a world is one in which God’s Spirit may fully reside.

In ancient Israel, the temple was seen as the place in which the actual presence of God resided behind the veil in the form of an overwhelming cloud. Gentiles were allowed to enter only the outer most courts of the temple. Now God was building a temple out of the lives of all who believed in Jesus. In that temple, all believers can experience the true peace of God. Through that temple, God can proclaim his message to a world that does not know peace.

Discussion questions

• What does the word “peace” mean to you personally?

• How can we be instruments of God’s peace in breaking down barriers?

Posted: 10/04/05

Explore the Bible Series for Oct. 16

Grace is the only healing balm for sin

• Romans 5:12-21

By Trey Turner

Canyon Creek Baptist Church, Temple

A woman works in the garden district of New Orleans at a busy deli. She and her husband support their three children and her mother. They do not receive government support but depend on public transportation to get around the city. As with so many families in America, there is too much month left at the end of the money. The family is oblivious to the news broadcasts as the airways are deluged by warnings about the storm people now look back upon with horror and disbelief. Her family also is oblivious to the fact that Hurricane Katrina is about to rob her of the quality of life she now takes for granted.

This is not just the story of a fictional friend, but also an illustration of how every person is spiritually bankrupt and in need of God’s grace.

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This lesson is a wonderful reminder about the grace that once brought awe to the Christian soul. Unfortunately, grace is sometimes a compartmentalized theological doctrine with little life of its own because it is taken for granted. No one needs to be reprimanded for this; it is wonderful not to have to worry about grace when you know God in Christ Jesus paid for sin with his life (5:8). This week, let the believer remember the extent of God’s grace.

Need of grace (Romans 5:12-14)

Paul contrasts Adam and Jesus. In Paul’s reasoning, both are firsts who accomplished something for humanity: The first is death, the second is life. Unfortunately, the contrast Paul wants to make has been misunderstood.

Some denominations will clutter the passage because of a heritage of faulty presumption. J.W. MacGorman draws attention to the foundation of the belief of original sin and beginning of the practice of infant baptism from this passage. In a commentary on Romans and 1 Corinthians, MacGorman shows how verse 12 says “because all sinned” instead of what the Latin Vulgate says “in whom all sinned.” This is crucial for the believer to understand his or her responsibility in sin.

MacGorman tells how the early Catholic theologian Augustine built this flaw into the following centuries of Christian doctrine. Here is the flaw—since Adam sinned, every person is born with Adam’s guilt needing to have the “original sin” somehow washed from him or her.

This is simply not what the passage says. The Bible says, “Death came because all sinned.” Adam may have been the first sinner, but people have since been shown their own sin.

People are not aware of their sin until the standard is held up for comparison. Jeff works with brick, and at a men’s event he showed the men gathered how a board looks straight until it is put against a plumline, or held in a way to reveal flaws. Jeff does not trust his own eyes in his work but uses tools that tell him the truth. Likewise, people sinned before God gave his people the law through Moses. The purpose of the law was to point out God’s standard and show the need for grace. “Sin reigned” (v. 14) so that even righteousness was tainted. Remember, all of this is to show a contrast between Adam and Jesus, especially how the solution brought by Jesus is greater than the mess Adam started.

Experience of grace (Romans 5:15-17)

Verse 15 is where the contrast is made. Paul writes, “the gift is not like the trespass” and “how much more did God’s grace … .” These two phrases are key to understanding Paul’s foundational belief that God has provided salvation which is adequate for the sin in this world. The sin which flooded and stained every aspect of human life now has met its limit. It is the grace of this other man, Jesus Christ, which “overflows” to the many (v. 15).

People have amused themselves with the question, “Can God create a rock so large he cannot move it?” Let us ask a more productive question, “Can people create a more sinful mess than God can straighten out?” Paul says no, because “how much more” will those who receive that grace live life? The death the man brought cannot be more than the life God brings. It is “God’s abundant provision” (v. 17).

Abundance of grace (Romans 5:18-21)

In this abundant response, God does not trample people’s free will. Each person must receive this provision (17). The matter is not that God cannot save every person, but he has limited himself to those who would receive that provision. Though Paul writes “all men,” the phrase talks of abundance with regard to God’s provision and not universal salvation. There is no sin God could not cover. There is no person or group outside of God’s hope for salvation.

Colored eye charts are used diagnostically to show what is wrong with a person’s eye. If you have ever used one of those and discovered macular degeneration or another eye disease or malfunction, you will know the test is given so the person can get help.

Imagine the law like one of the colored eye charts. God’s law “was added” so grace can increase “all the more.”

Discussion question

• Typically, when sin increases, the Christian personally retreats from God and others. Since God’s grace overwhelms sin, how can Christians show this same compassion to others?

• Who likely does not deserve it but desperately needs that compassion from you and your Lord?

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Posted: 10/03/05

Massachusetts legislature votes
to keep gay marriage legal

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

BOSTON (ABP)—The Massachusetts legislature overwhelmingly has rejected an effort to repeal legalized gay marriage in that state.

The move bucks a national trend against gay marriage and means same-sex couples may continue to marry in that state until at least 2008.

On a 157-39 vote, the Massachusetts House and Senate, meeting jointly, voted down the second reading of a proposed amendment to the state’s constitution. It would have banned gay marriage but created “civil unions,” which replicate many of the same rights and responsibilities of gay marriage.

The vote kills efforts to place the amendment before Massachusetts voters for final approval in the 2006 elections.

In March 2004, the legislature voted 105-92 to approve the same amendment. However, that vote came prior to the advent of court-ordered same-sex marriages in the commonwealth. They commenced in May of that year.

The fact that thousands of gay marriages have since taken place—and that many of the politicians who opposed the amendment in the first place won in the fall 2004 elections—has changed the political atmosphere surrounding the issue in Massachusetts.

Several legislators who supported the amendment in 2004 voted against it this time—including a Republican state senator who co-sponsored it.

“Gay marriage has begun, and life has not changed for the citizens of the commonwealth, with the exception of those who can now marry who could not before,’’ said Brian Lees, the Massachusetts Senate’s minority leader, in announcing his changed position. He noted that banning gay marriage now that thousands of same-sex couples are married in the state would have meant “taking action against our friends and neighbors.”

But one of the legislature’s staunchest gay-marriage opponents, Democratic Rep. Philip Travis, said he would continue his opposition.

“The union of two women and two men can never consummate a marriage,” he said. “It’s physically impossible. We can’t get around that.”

Travis and others—including Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, who is widely believed to be prepping for the 2008 presidential race—still support an amendment that would ban gay marriage outright. However, Massachusetts law requires two successive sessions of the legislature to approve any constitutional amendment before it is sent to voters for final approval. That means any gay-marriage ban would come before voters in 2008 at the earliest.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in 2003 that the state constitution requires officials to offer marriage to same-sex couples on an equal basis with heterosexuals. The marriages began in 2004.

The ruling stirred controversy nationwide. Partially as a result, voters in more than a dozen states approved measures last year banning same-sex marriage. They joined dozens of other states that already had such laws on the books.

Legislatures in Vermont and Connecticut have approved civil unions but stopped short of same-sex marriage. Other states have created “domestic partnership” arrangements similar to civil unions.

Last month, California legislators approved a measure that would legalize same-sex marriage—less than five years after the state’s voters chose to ban it. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger cited that vote in saying he would veto the measure. But gay-rights advocates have put pressure on the socially liberal actor, noting recent opinion polls that find likely California voters evenly divided on the issue.

Posted: 10/03/05

Woman searches for GA who made
a valentine card that touched her heart

By Virginia Kreimeyer

Special to the Baptist Standard

AUSTIN—“Jesus loves you,” is a familiar phrase many children hear at home and church. It’s no surprise a Girls in Action member named Cori wrote those words on a Valentine’s Day card she made as a mission project last February. But little did she know what kind of impact that simple message would have on one woman’s life.

Cori was only one of many GAs and other church groups who sent gifts and made Valentine’s Day cards for Christian Women’s Job Corps participants. But her red and pink construction paper card with a dark blue heart and hand-lettered “Jesus loves you,” made its way to the Austin CWJC site.

“I saw and chose a big red valentine made of construction paper that said, ‘Jesus loves you,’” said Shirley Proctor, one of the Austin participants. “I knew it came just for me. I took it home, put it on the fireplace mantle near the couch where I slept.”

Growing up in Utah, Proctor explained: “My life has been filled with church, but not God. I felt alone, unworthy and afraid. Additionally, abuse, deaths, tragedy and a broken family plagued my life.”

Her choice to move with her daughter to Austin became the turning point in her life. Her daughter initially had an appointment with Chris Rowley, director of the Austin Christian Women’s Job Corps. But when the young woman cancelled, her mother felt compelled to follow through.

“When I walked through he door, I knew why,” she said. “In my heart, I knew I was meant to be there. I asked to join and was allowed to do so. I was filled with joy every time I entered the door. And I still am.”

Living in a small home with her children and grandchildren, Proctor slept on the living room couch. She had placed the colorful Valentine’s Day card from Cori on the fireplace mantle across from the couch.

“Problems kept me from sleeping and night after night I was drawn to that heart more and more,” she recalled. “It was as though the heart gave me comfort. On a very bad night, I picked up that heart and held it to me. I prayed and cried to God and it came to me, ‘Believe the message in the heart.’”

On April 1, clutching Cori’s valentine, Proctor prayed to receive Christ as her Savior. Three weeks later, she was baptized.

“My life is no longer empty. I know now why I was born and why I’m living,” she said. “I just needed to turn my life over to God.”

Teachers at Christian Women’s Job Corps discipled her through Bible study and other courses.

“My journey to God through Jesus Christ started there and became so very important to me,” she said.

This summer, she joined Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin.

“I now have a wonderful family in Christ,” she said “I am serving and learning all I can. I am praying for the same for my family that I love very much.”

Proctor volunteers at the Christian Women’s Job Corps site and shares her testimony with everyone she can.

“I really wish I could meet Cori and thank her for the valentine,” Proctor said. “The card Cori made me was a very precious gift I will always treasure. I am on the road home to my heavenly Father through my Savior Jesus Christ.”

She asked anyone who can identify the card’s creator to contact her through Chris Rowley at Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin. Call (512) 459-6587 or e-mail Crowley@hpbc.org.

Posted: 10/03/05

Remarks by President Albert Reyes
at the fall meeting of the BGCT Executive Board

By Albert L. Reyes, DMin, DDiv

President, Baptist General Convention of Texas

Buenos Dias mis hermanos y hermanas! Saludos en el poderoso nombre de Cristo Jesus nuestro Senor y Salvador! Good morning brothers and sisters! Greetings to you in the powerful name of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior! Today is our third and final meeting this year of our Executive Board and my final opportunity to address this body as president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Thanks. I would like to take this time to personally thank you for your support and affirmation this year. Our times together have been full of blessing and encouragement. I would also like to express my appreciation to Dr. Charles Wade, our executive director for his leadership and his ongoing passion to lead us to do together what we could not do alone! Dr. Wade, thank you for your leadership this year! I want to also take this moment to thank our Executive Board Staff who serve with Dr. Wade for their commitment and loyalty to the Texas Baptist Family. Thank you for doing the challenging task of reorganization. I especially would like to take this opportunity to thank Ron Gunter for his diligence and focus on reorganizing our Executive Board Staff. You will hear more about his work later in our meeting. Drs. Michael Bell and Stacy Conner have been a joy to work with this year. I will miss their fellowship and partnership in this role. Finally, let me take this moment to commend our Executive Board Chair, Dr. John Ogletree for the excellent manner in which he has led us over the past few months.

BGCT Annual Meeting. We are just a few weeks away from celebrating our annual meeting in Austin, Texas. By now you know that our theme is “One Family – One Mission.” We hope to focus on our fellowship, our business, and our time together to celebrate the mission that draws into our Texas Baptist Family. I hope you will make plans on being there. You will notice that we are introducing Weekend Fest with a concert and exhibits on Saturday as well as events on Sunday prior to the our annual meeting schedule for Monday and Tuesday. I look forward to seeing you in Austin in November.

Year in Review. I started out last March challenging our Texas Baptist Family to consider a Jesus Agenda for the work ahead of us. We were to consider Governance changes through a restatement of our Constitution and Bylaws, and the Re-Organization of our Executive Board Staff, above our regular business this year. At this September meeting you will consider the culmination of countless hours of work, led primarily by Dr. Wesley Shotwell and those that have served with him on his committee. Make no mistake, the restatement of our Constitution and Bylaws coupled with the ongoing Reorganization of our Executive Board Staff is indeed the beginning of the transformation of our beloved BGCT and Texas Baptist Family. In fact, I would go as far as to say that these changes represent the most dramatic organizational changes our convention has seen in a generation of Texas Baptist life. In my earlier remarks this year I encouraged us to keep an outward focus on those who represent the primary object of a Jesus Agenda rather than merely focusing on ourselves. That message is vital to our transition into the new BGCT.

In my May Executive Board remarks I focused my attention on the subject of change. I asked what our theology of change was? That is, what do we believe about the God who never changes but is constantly changing the world in which we live and seeks to transform us into our new nature? I attempted to hold up a mirror for us to gaze into and to invite the Master to gaze into the core of our being. I invited us to look into the heart of the most Dynamic Change Agent to ever live: Jesus of Nazareth. I asked us to consider our response to change as well as the Divine Change Maker.

Change This Year. I could not have envisioned the change that we would see this year beginning with the Tsunami that rocked our world in December. I would not have imagined that Katrina and her twin sister Rita would make a surprise visit to the shores of Louisiana and Texas sending evacuees into our cities and churches. We would hope that Katrina’s and Rita’s sisters would stay home and not make their way into our Gulf Waters again this year. But if they do, we will be ready. These natural disasters have taught me that life is fragile, change is certain, and Texas Baptists have seized the multiple opportunities to be the presence of Christ in a world that desperately needs a word of hope and the peace that passes all understanding.

Someone has said that Grief is when something finishes before we wanted it to. Certainly the interruption of life for millions of people in the Gulf Coast Region and the introduction of death for countless numbers of people and their families has ushered in the experience of grief for many friends and neighbors. The shock, disbelief, denial, anger, depression, and all our God-given emotions designed to help us cope with change have hit us without rhythm or advanced warning. While my own family has not been personally impacted by the Tsunami or the Twin Hurricane Sisters, we have had our own losses this year, nevertheless. Many of you have continued to pray for my wife of almost 24 years, Belinda, as we have struggled through her diagnosis of Chronic Pain and Chronic Fatigue, otherwise known as Fibromyalgia. We have experienced our own sense of grief and loss on a daily basis. Belinda has regained about 50% of the strength she had about 18 months ago. She has given up her passion for teaching and stepped out of a tenure track position at Our Lady of the Lake University to stay home. Some of you have asked me how I have managed this year with the weight of this office, my work at BUA, and the increased attention my family has required of me this year. Well, I am not sure how I have managed other than re-engaging my daily time with the Master and depending on your prayers and support. This is not the first loss we have faced, nor will it be our last. That’s because change and loss are a natural and normal part of this life.

Job. We have learned to make our confession of praise. We have learned to say with Job: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” But can we take it up a few notches and learn to say with Job: “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him?” The true test of our identity in Christ can be found at the core of our character. Who we really are tends to surface in the midst of loss, change, and conflict. We are led to ask ourselves this question: Is life really about our Lord and Savior and his purposes in the world or is it about me?

The Servant. One of the refreshing images for me this year as I have traveled to the many meetings at the Baptist Building has been the magnificent sculpture in front of the building. It is a depiction of Jesus washing the feet of one of his disciples. The posture of Jesus is a bold reminder to me of who I really am, at my core. I am a servant and I wash feet. We wash feet on our knees. We use water, a towel, and some soap. We are Texas Baptists. We serve, that’s what we do. It matters not where we are assigned to serve, or whose feet we are assigned to wash, for the servant only wishes to please the Master and produce clean feet. We serve a living Savior; he is in the world today. We know that he is with us, no matter what our critics may say. We see his hand of mercy and we hear his voice of cheer. And just the time we need him, he is always near. He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today; he walks with us and talks with us even through the Hurricanes’ way. He lives, he lives, salvation to impart. You ask me how I know he lives, he lives within our hearts.

The living Lord invites Texas Baptists to wash the feet of orphans, the elderly, the under-educated, the feet of those with different cultures, the feet of our churches, and those in need. We are one family, with one mission: to incarnate the good news through serving. So, let’s grab a towel, let’s get to our knees, and let’s keep serving the world next door to the Glory of God!

Posted: 10/03/05

Victims of freak Mexico flood offer
help for hurricane victims lodged in San Antonio

By Craig Bird

Baptist Child & Family Services

SAN ANTONIO—Compassion knows no borders as the world responds to the needs of the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

In April 2004, the neighborhood anchored by Emmanuel Baptist Church in Piedras Negras, Mexico, was the epicenter of a freak flood that left about 80 people dead and survivors clinging to tree limbs and rooftops.

Several Baptist General Convention of Texas-related ministries—led by the Rio Grande River Ministry and Texas Baptist Men disaster relief teams—responded.

So, when members of the congregation heard about the hurricane evacuees pouring into San Antonio, they wanted to help. They contacted Dexton Shores, director of BGCT River Ministry.

Shores had volunteered to work with Baptist Child & Family Services to provide meals at the shelters for special needs evacuees and told him they were taking up a special offering to send to BCFS.

“Emanuel Church had flood waters seven feet high in their sanctuary last year and they definitely felt the pain and suffering of Katrina Victims,” Shores said.

The founding pastor’s son called Shores to let him know the small congregation had taken up an offering for Katrina victims and wanted to know where to send it.

“Knowing the poverty in this community that is just recovering from its own disaster, I anticipated an offering of $100 or so. I was moved with emotion when I received the check for $500 designated for Hurricane Katrina victims from this small Mexico congregation,” he said.

The National Baptist Convention of Mexico also informed Shores were sending a love offering to support Texas Baptists relief efforts for hurricane victims.

“We continue to be touched by the generosity of so many people who want to be a part of caring for these people who have been through so much—but we are far beyond being surprised because God’s people care about others,” said Kevin Dinnin, president of BCFS.

“We accepted the responsibility of operating shelters for people with physical and emotional/mental handicaps without any assurance how we could pay the bills. It was more than a step of faith; it was a swan dive of faith. But we took it knowing that the resources were out there somewhere—even in Piedras Negras. We are humbled that the members of Emmanuel Church partnered with us in this ministry.”

Posted: 10/03/05

FEMA plans reimbursement
to churches for relief aid

WASHINGTON (ABP)—In a largely unprecedented move, the Federal Emergency Management Agency says it will offer monetary reimbursement to churches and other houses of worship aiding Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

Some watchdog groups greeted FEMA’s Sept. 26 announcement with skepticism. But an attorney for a Baptist organization said the special Katrina circumstances make the situation more than a simple question about the proper separation of church and state.

“Any time the government enters a formal arrangement with houses of worship, a red flag should go up for advocates of religious liberty,” said Holly Hollman, general counsel at the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. “The general rule is that churches should have no financial entanglement with government.”

The courts have generally frowned upon direct government grants to churches or other deeply religious organizations except to perform secular social services.

However, those grants are usually provided with strict regulatory oversight from government agencies. Federal courts have said government agencies subsidizing prayer, worship, evangelism or other explicitly religious activities violates the First Amendment.

The Washington Post first reported FEMA’s decision Sept. 27. The paper said FEMA officials made the decision at the behest of Congressional Republicans and officials with the American Red Cross.

According to the newspaper report, FEMA officials said the program would be the first “large-scale” effort to reimburse churches involved in recovery from a natural disaster.

The funds would only be available to houses of worship that established shelters, food-distribution centers or medical clinics at the request of state or local officials, FEMA said. And only churches in the three states most affected by Katrina—Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama—would be eligible.

But for churches in those circumstances, “a wide range of costs would be available for reimbursement, including labor costs incurred in excess of normal operations, rent for the facility and delivery of essential needs like food and water,” FEMA spokesman Eugene Kinerney said.

The churches would have to document their costs in the reimbursement requests, just like secular non-profit agencies seeking reimbursement.

Churches routinely house evacuees or the homeless in the initial days following a natural disaster, but then turn them over to long-term Red Cross facilities soon afterwards. But FEMA and the Red Cross have been stretched to the limit by two years of repeated significant hurricane strikes on American shores. Therefore, many church shelters are housing people for much longer periods of time than congregational leaders may have anticipated.

In addition to that, some churches providing services in the Katrina-devastated zone are facing financial hardship of their own—with large proportions of their own congregations evacuated, homeless and unemployed.

Hollman acknowledged the circumstances are unprecedented. But, she added, the FEMA decision is problematic unless the reimbursement process is adequately monitored to assure no churches are reimbursed for religious activities.

“Because there is a unique relationship between church and state under our constitutional system, certain safeguards must be in place,” she said.

In a Sept. 27 statement criticizing the FEMA decision, Americans United for Separation of Church and State pointed to several examples of Christian groups doing Katrina relief and proselytizing. One was a report in the Southern Baptist Convention’s news service about SBC disaster-relief workers distributing evangelistic tracts and Bibles in the hurricane zone.

“If these groups can’t separate their evangelism from their relief work, they should not be eligible for public funding,” Americans United Executive Dirctor Barry Lynn said.

But the head of the agency that coordinates SBC disaster-relief efforts told the Post that he would decline government aid.

“Volunteer labor is just that—volunteer,” North American Mission Board President Bob Reccord said. “We would never ask the government to pay for it.”

Posted: 10/03/05

TBM cooking 8,000 meals a day in Beaumont

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

BEAUMONT—At Beaumont’s Ford Center, smiles appear before the sun comes up and continue well after it sets among a group of Texas Baptist Men cooking more than 8,000 meals each day for disaster relief officials, firefighters, police officers and military personnel.

Workers wake up as early as 4 a.m. to begin putting cooking equipment in place and do not finish cleaning supplies from the last meal until after 6 p.m. Still, they find the energy to share stories as they sit on plastic chairs next to the cots where they sleep.

The men start the day with a devotional and discussion about meals counts and menu items, but the conversation from that point can go in any direction—hurricanes, electronics, cars, agriculture, religion, even politics.

Many of them have just met each other in the past couple of weeks, but the North Texans discuss topics with the laughter and camaraderie usually reserved for longtime friends.     

Bob Childers of Immanuel Baptist Church in Paris said it is a joy to serve with a group of men who want to help others in the name of Jesus. The Baptists are united behind a common goal of serving God by serving others.

“We’re just trying to make people’s lives better,” he said. “People in this disaster have a lot of needs.”

Larry Burks, the team’s coordinator, sees groups bond like this each time Texas Baptist disaster relief volunteers come together. Workers are unified in spirit and in action.

“You wonder how that could be,” he said. “For believers, it’s right there in front of you, the brotherhood, the spirit you have. Even though they may be strangers, you have a kindred spirit in Christ our Lord.”

The friendly atmosphere has endured what others might perceive as trying circumstances. The team serving in Beaumont was originally staged in San Antonio to wait for Hurricane Rita to run her course. Then it was directed to Huntsville. Before the team arrived there, it was asked to go to Houston. Then it was redirected again, this time to Beaumont.

Shortly after arriving, the men set up to prepare meals the next day. The volunteers unloaded their equipment from a trailer and cleaned it up. Just as they were finishing, three trailers of bottled water came. They unloaded the water late into the night.

Still the volunteers’ spirit remains high. The work is tough, but Burks said the men remained focused on helping people in need.

“Every one of these guys has a heart for Jesus,” Burks said. “They love Him. They know if he were here walking the earth, he’d be helping people. We’re his ambassadors, so to speak.”

Posted: 9/30/05

Chaplain serves military
assigned to hurricane-ravaged area

By Sue Poss

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

GULFPORT, Miss.–Chaplain Stan Campbell stood in the middle of an intersection praying with three military personnel who stood guard at a checkpoint in Gulfport.

It was part of his daily routine since Sept. 7 as one of 90 military chaplains serving in the area hit by Hurricane Katrina.

Campbell, from Nash-ville, Tenn., is a member of the Tennessee Air National Guard and a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship-en-dorsed chaplain. When the call went out that chaplains were needed to minister to soldiers working along the Gulf Coast, Campbell volunteered.

“I don't interact much with the victims of the hurricane,” he said. “My main purpose is to provide spiritual support to soldiers.

“Even though the soldiers are here, life continues for their families back home.”

For example, he ministered to one soldier who needed emergency leave to deal with end-of-life issues with his father.

“Situations like that can be multiplied dozens of times over,” Campbell said. “On any given day, several soldiers need to go home for crises, or they have a personal problem and need counseling.”

Chaplains also help soldiers who need stress counseling because of what they see as a result of their duty.

“Just being somebody to talk to in a caring, supportive way and listening to them is very important,” said Campbell, a member of Woodmont Baptist Church in Nashville. In addition to visiting soldiers in their work area, chaplains also offer Sunday worship services and staff a tent for meditation, Bible reading and quiet time for the troops.

Back in Nashville, Campbell is a hospital chaplain. He sees a lot of similarities between his role at St. Thomas Hospital and his role as military chaplain.

“In the hospital setting, I can't change the fact that a loved one is dying, but I can pray with and minister to the family,” he said. “It's the same here. I can't change the situation, but I can help the soldiers deal with it.”

It is also similar in that he works in an ecumenical setting both in the hospital and military. “In the hospital, I have a staff of colleagues with endorsements from different denominations, and the same is true here,” he said.

There are differences too.

“Here, we are in a national crisis. It's stressful for the soldiers, many of them guardsmen, because they are out of their own environments,” Campbell said. “There are also tens of thousands of soldiers here, which means there are long lines for nearly everything, and living conditions are not optimal.”

Campbell has been a military chaplain since 1991, and has had only one other deployment, a three-week stint with an engineering company working in Israel. His wife, Kate, is a recording artist who debuted a new CD the day after her husband left for Gulfport.

“I'm glad that he is able to serve but hate he has to be away,” she said.

“Kate has always been very supportive of my being in the military,” Campbell said. “One thing we both have realized is that it is a big commitment and a great sacrifice to be in the Guard.”

Campbell believes it's worth it.

“Chaplains provide a ministry and presence among the troops,” he said. “It's not just about a service on Sunday. They have 12-hour shifts, and having somebody to come by just to say hello, to hear them talk about their families back home, means so much to them.”

Posted: 9/30/05

Help families prepare for
troops' return, chaplain urges

By George Henson

Staff Writer

GEORGETOWN–As many churches minister to soldiers and their families while they are in Iraq and Afghanistan, retired Army Chaplain Al Lowe is ready to help churches prepare ministries for the soldiers' return.

Lowe returned from Iraq earlier this year, retiring after 23 years of service.

“It's important ministry for churches to prepare the families for the return of the soldier,” he said. “There's a couple of sure things at work here: These soldiers are going to come home, and there is going to be a reintegration of the soldier.

“The question is, 'Is it going to be a painful experience, or is the church going to minister in such a way that it is a growing, positive experience?'” he said.

One reason reintegration of soldiers back into their families and their everyday lives is so difficult is because it is so sudden, he explained.

“In World Wars I and II, soldiers had a month to decompress as they came home aboard ship,” he explained. With the use of airplanes as troop transports, that time has been cut to hours.

Some soldiers had a difficult time flipping the switch from the violent, armed conflict mode to family man, and the violence persisted once they arrived home. The armed services noticed the problem, and now all branches of the service provide soldiers with training about what they can expect.

It is just as important for families to be trained in what to expect from a returning soldier as well, Lowe said.

Families need to know the soldier who returns will not be the same person who left. Since soldiers have different duty schedules, food is available around the clock, and soldiers get out of the habit of eating at the times they once did with their families. Their personal habits also may have changed.

On the flipside, things also have changed at home. The spouse left at home may have become more independent, prices have increased, babies may have been born or learned to walk or talk since the soldier was home, and family members may have died. In short, life has gone on and is not at the same place as when the deployment happened.

Some changes are spiritual. Lowe baptized 25 reservists while in Iraq, and all became active participants in worship services in Iraq. He doesn't know if they all became active in churches in the States, but if they did, that will be a new dynamic in their families–one that may or may not be accepted well.

Some common problems for families of returning soldiers are:

Control. A spouse who has had control of the household, children and finances may not be ready to give it back.

Attention. Many spouses expect that once the soldier comes home, they will be the center of attention, but often that is not the case, Lowe said. Many choose to continue spending much of their time with the people they served with overseas.

Anger. Many return with anger that doesn't dissipate on its own. Even as a chaplain, Lowe said, he battled anger on his return.

Discipline of children. “Many want to make up for the year they lost in about 15 minutes, and child discipline goes out the window,” Lowe said. This also may mean a firm hand to correct what they see as a laxness that has crept in during their absence.

Lowe wants to help churches across the state learn to minister to soldiers and their families. At one time, churches located near military bases had the responsibility of that ministry, but the huge number of reservists has spread the military population into almost every community, he said.

“I can't jump up and down and stomp loud enough to say, 'Get your church organized to minister to these guys and gals.' You say you don't have any in your church. Yes you do; they're in your community.”

Elaine Chambers, the wife of a chaplain and the head of the family-readiness groups at Fort Hood, cited ample evidence of the need for ministry to families of soldiers.

Part of that ministry starts with deployment, not return, she said.

Some soldiers who were the dominant force in the household have left behind spouses who don't know to write a check, read a bus route schedule or call a taxi. Churches can help teach those skills and others.

Churches also can help by setting up places where military spouses can send and receive e-mail.

“It saves a lot of wear and tear on the mind, soul and spirit to be able to know they are OK,” Chambers said of regular e-mails to and from Iraq.

Churches should also be aware that in many situations, things go awry in the household left behind after about half a year, she noted.

“We have learned that crazy happens, and crazy happens at about the six-month mark,” she said. “Things would be going along fine, but then everything comes apart. At six months, something happens, and it happens to everyone.”

Sometimes it is a plumbing problem, car repair or other stress-increasing event, but most often, it is emotional in nature.

“Even people with great faith and great support systems at this point have worried about their soldier all they can stand,” she said.

Some spouses left stateside decide they don't want to be married anymore, she said.

“When the 4th Infantry came home, divorce courts stopped taking divorce petitions because they were backlogged six months with the ones already filed,” she said.

People who have someone to talk to them about the need for marital fidelity and other issues found that in a little while, ” the six-month crazy” would gradually fade and they could return to waiting expectantly for their soldier's return, she added.

“But many got back people they didn't send away, and they weren't prepared for that,” she said. That preparation is something Lowe and Chambers would like to help churches establish.

As an illustration, she said, she had made a scrapbook for her husband chronicling his time in Iraq. When she presented the gift she had so carefully prepared for him, he handed it back without even looking at it.

“He said, 'I can't relive that right now.' I thought, 'How ungrateful' at first, but now I realize that's OK,” she said.

She also echoed what Lowe said about spouses being upset about not getting the attention they were expecting when the soldier returned.

“They need to be prepared for that lack of attention. When the 4th Infantry returned, they could not immediately be all about the family, and many of their spouses just walked. It happened in large numbers; it happened in astounding numbers. They didn't know what to expect.”

Knowing what to expect can make the difference in whether or not families are able to survive the transition of the soldier's reintegration into the family, Lowe said.

Lowe is willing to come to churches to help educate families and help churches get a grasp of what kind of ministry they could have, he said.

He can be reached at (254) 258-9955 or provider28@sbcglobal.net .

“Reintegration is going to be a challenge, but when we work together, the challenge is lessened,” he said.