2005 Archives
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Around the State
Posted: 9/30/05
Blanche Bolling, the oldest member of First Church in Schulenburg, celebrated her 105th birthday Sept. 21. A reception was held in her honor at the Schulenburg Regency Nursing Home, where she is a resident. She is pictured with Pastor Jeff Atchison. Bolling was a part of the Schulenburg church's reorganization and has been a part of its ministry all 78 years. Even at age 100, she was driving to the nursing home where she resides to pick up residents to take them to church. At that time, she also was leading a Bible study at the nursing home. Around the State
Internationally acclaimed Bible scholar Ben Withering-ton is the featured speaker at the George Knight Bible Conference to be held Oct. 6 at Hardin-Simmons Univer-sity's Logsdon School of Theology. The theme for the conference is “Dispensational-ism and the Rapture Theology: Where Did They Come From?” The 9:30 a.m. presentation, “The Rise and Spread of Dispensational Hermeneu-tics,” the 11:55 a.m. chapel service and the 7 p.m. lecture, “Enraptured but not Uplifted,” are free and open to the public. For more information, call (325) 670-1287. Dennis Prager, a national syndicated radio talk show host, will be the speaker for the inaugural Florence Quinn Distinguished Lecture Series at East Texas Baptist University. Prager, an Orthodox Jew, will speak on “The Finest Value System Ever Devised: The Case for Judeo-Christian Values.” The lecture will be held Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. in Baker Auditorium of the Rogers Spiritual Life Center on campus. Tickets are $15 for advance individual tickets, $12 for advance tickets in blocks of 10 or more, or $20 at the door. For more information, call (903) 923-2070. A four-night crusade at Dalhart Memorial Football Stadium saw 552 spiritual decisions, including 285 first-time professions of faith. Twenty churches joined together for the endeavor. Rick Gage was the evangelist. 
Earl Hendrick of The Heights Church in Richardson prepares a hospital bed for shipping to Bulgaria. Cookie Slate, a member of the church who also is a board member of Bulgarian Child, Inc., spearheaded the drive to gather donations that filled a 40-foot container with humanitarian aid for Bulgarian orphans. Major donations came from Richardson Medical Center, which donated used medical equipment, and Buckner Orphan Care International's Shoes for Orphan Souls office, which donated thousands of pairs of shoes. Other contributions included computers, play equipment and new clothes. One anonymous couple donated more than 900 pairs of new blue jeans. Over the past eight years, the church has sent 11 similar containers. A group from the church will travel to Bulgaria this month to fit orphans with new shoes, socks and clothes. Gary Singleton is pastor. 09/30/2005 - By John Rutledge
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Beaumont Buckner foster family flees Hurricane Rita
Posted: 9/30/05
Nixon (right) endured a 35-hour drive with 11 foster children, she and daughter Gayle are caring for, to reach safety in Dallas. JoAnn Cole (left) executive director of Buckner Children and Family Services of North Texas, relocated Nixon and 18 others in her foster and extended family to the Buckner Children's Home campus until it is safe to return to Beaumont. (Photos by Russ Dilday) Beaumont Buckner foster
family flees Hurricane RitaBy Russ Dilday
Buckner Benevolences
DALLAS–When the mandatory order to evacuate Beaumont arrived as Hurricane Rita approached, foster parent Ellinor Nixon's motherly instincts kicked in. She prepared the 11 children she and her daughter, Gayle, parent through Buckner Foster Care to leave the next morning for Lufkin.
09/30/2005 - By John Rutledge
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Book Reviews
Posted: 9/30/05
Book Reviews
Through Painted Deserts: Light, God and Beauty on the Open Road by Donald Miller (Nelson Books)
The first shall be fourth, and the fourth shall hopefully not be the last. In Donald Miller's third book, Searching for God Knows What, he mentions the lack of readership his first book generated. I was disappointed to learn this new fourth book is simply a re-edit of his first. Con-sequently, if you're a Miller fan based on his acclaimed Blue Like Jazz, as I am, you'll quickly sense that Through Painted Desert is really “early Miller” before he found his edgier, postmodern voice.
That being said, this road trip memoir, which journals his escape from hometown Houston to find himself, is like any road trip, spent mostly in some long stretches of predictable characters and well-traveled inspirational landscape. Occasionally though, Miller stops off at a scenic spiritual overlook that is quite memorable. The author shines when he is unpacking a metaphor for God, such as light, in some ways that use both poetry and physics to create a theological reflection that opens up some interesting new vistas on the mystery of God. Similarly, when I read aloud a particularly moving passage that explores the finitude of life, it brought tears to the eyes of some in my Bible study group.
What are you reading that other Texas Baptists would find helpful? Send suggestions and reviews to books@baptiststandard.com. 09/30/2005 - By John Rutledge
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Baptist Briefs
Posted: 9/30/05
Baptist Briefs
IMB trustees approve Elliff as VP. International Mission Board trustees unanimously ratified the selection of Tom Elliff, longtime pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Del City, Okla., as IMB senior vice president for spiritual nurture and church relations, effective Nov. 1. Elliff, 61, served two terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He and his wife, Jeannie, were appointed as missionaries to Zimbabwe in 1981, but their missionary career was cut short by an automobile accident resulting in severe injuries to their daughter.
Rainer elected LifeWay president. LifeWay Christian Resources trustees unanimously elected Thom Rainer to become the ninth president of the Southern Baptist publishing house. As president-elect, Rainer will begin working alongside LifeWay President Jimmy Draper Oct. 17 until Draper's retirement Feb. 1, 2006. Rainer, 50, is dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. A graduate of the University of Alabama, he earned master of divinity and Ph.D. degrees at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served as pastor of churches in Alabama, Florida, Kentucky and Indiana prior to joining Southern in 1994 as founding dean of the Billy Graham School. He is the author of 16 books, including Surprising Insights from the Unchurched, The Unchurched Next Door and Breakout Churches. Rainer also is founder, president and CEO of The Rainer Group, a national church and denominational consultant organization. He and his wife, Nellie Jo, have three sons–Sam, Art and Jess.
NAMB offers $10 million in church loans. The Southern Baptist North American Mission Board has designated $10 million in disaster relief loans to churches affected by Hurricane Katrina. The mission agency will provide low-interest loans up to $100,000 to Southern Baptist churches for repair of church facilities, replacement of equipment or materials, or to cover expenses while a church is displaced, said Karl Dietz, director of the mission board's church finance ministry team.
09/30/2005 - By John Rutledge
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Chihuahuan Connection founder driven to meet needs
Posted: 9/30/05
The Chihuahuan Connection's 'tater-toter' hauls potatoes in bulk. Chihuahuan Connection
founder driven to meet needsBy Terri Jo Ryan
Special to the Baptist Standard
WACO–Rick Caywood, director of the Chihuahuan Connection relief agency, doesn't believe it takes “a super-spiritual guy” to serve Christ. All it takes is someone who is driven to meet needs and bring people into a right relationship with God.
09/30/2005 - By John Rutledge
Internationally acclaimed Bible scholar Ben Withering-ton is the featured speaker at the George Knight Bible Conference to be held Oct. 6 at Hardin-Simmons Univer-sity's Logsdon School of Theology. The theme for the conference is “Dispensational-ism and the Rapture Theology: Where Did They Come From?” The 9:30 a.m. presentation, “The Rise and Spread of Dispensational Hermeneu-tics,” the 11:55 a.m. chapel service and the 7 p.m. lecture, “Enraptured but not Uplifted,” are free and open to the public. For more information, call (325) 670-1287. 
Dennis Prager, a national syndicated radio talk show host, will be the speaker for the inaugural Florence Quinn Distinguished Lecture Series at East Texas Baptist University. Prager, an Orthodox Jew, will speak on “The Finest Value System Ever Devised: The Case for Judeo-Christian Values.” The lecture will be held Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. in Baker Auditorium of the Rogers Spiritual Life Center on campus. Tickets are $15 for advance individual tickets, $12 for advance tickets in blocks of 10 or more, or $20 at the door. For more information, call (903) 923-2070. 
