Posted: 9/02/05

On the Move

Zac Ashley to Mount Ararat Church in Houston as minister of students from First Church in Deer Park.

Doug Blount to First Church in Burleson as adult minister of education.

Brent Bowden to Central Church in Italy as youth minister.

Blake Butler to School Creek Church in Lampasas as minister of youth.

Gilbert Cantu has resigned as pastor of Primera Iglesia in New Braunfels.

Michael Cosgrove to Red River Valley Association as director of missions.

Sam Douglass has resigned as pastor of Ridgecrest Church in Greenville.

Jim Drake to First Church in Snyder as pastor of worship and arts from Vista Ridge Church in Carrollton.

Tommy Elder to Bethel Church in Quanah as pastor.

Jerry Ford has resigned as pastor of First Church in Tenaha.

Chris Havard to The Heights Church in Richardson as minister of spiritual growth and formation from First Church in Atlanta, Ga., where he was minister to young couples.

Chad Hayes to First Church in Royse City as pastor.

Glen Hickman has resigned as pastor of Proctor Church in Proctor.

Chuck Humbert to Thousand Oaks Church in San Antonio as pastor from Lochwood Christian Fellowship in Littleton, Colo.

Derek Johnson has resigned as youth minister at First Church in San Marcos.

Chris Liles to Oak Street Church in Graham as minister of music.

Shaun Lynch to First Church in Chillicothe as youth minister.

Bob Manning to First Church in Loraine as interim pastor.

Maurice Marrow to Magnet Church in Wharton as pastor.

Larry Mayberry to First Church in Wharton as youth minister.

Travis Monday has resigned as pastor of Harris Avenue Church in San Angelo.

James Quesenberry to the University of North Texas in Denton as interim director of Baptist Student Ministry.

Evan Reed to Bulverde Church in Bulverde as youth minister.

Candace Reynolds to First Church in Venus as minister of youth.

Jeff Roe to Windom Church in Windom as preteen minister.

Laura Smitherman to First Church in Burleson as minister to children.

Tommy Spencer to Calvary Church in Vernon as pastor.

James Tippit to Harris Creek Church in McGregor as pastor.

Milton Tyler to Harris Avenue Church in San Angelo as interim pastor.

Chris Wigley to First Church in Burleson as minister to students.

David Wood to Trinity Church in Bonham as minister of youth and education.

Posted: 9/02/05

Ongoing practical ethics column debuts

“Right or Wrong?”–an ongoing column designed to help Baptist Standard readers make wise ethical decisions–premieres in this edition of the newspaper.

“Right or Wrong?” is a collaboration between the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon School of Theology and the newspaper, Standard Editor Marv Knox announced.

“Our lives are incredibly complex these days. Everywhere we turn, Christians face complicated issues regarding right and wrong,” Knox said. “The goal of this new column is to provide practical, down-to-earth, biblical answers to real-life ethical questions.”

The board of directors and staff of the Standard are excited to team up with the T.B. Maston Chair and Logsdon School of Theology to produce the column, he added.

“Bill Tillman (the T.B. Maston professor of Christian ethics at the Logsdon School) is the leading educator of Christian ethics among Baptists today,” Knox explained. “As content editor and director of the column, he brings depth, experience and wisdom to the task of educating all of us about ethical decision-making.”

Tillman noted history has come full circle, now that the T.B. Maston Chair is sponsoring an ethics column in the Standard.

Maston taught Christian ethics to thousands of Baptist ministers during his 41-year tenure at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Tillman said. “They became pastors, teachers, denominational leaders and missionaries–spreading around the globe, living out their callings, and those callings carrying out the impact of Maston on them.”

For many of those years, Maston wrote an ethics column that was published in the Standard, Tillman recalled. And one of Maston's books was titled Right or Wrong?

“T.B. Maston dealt with some of the most difficult issues of the day–race relations, for example–but also those which call for continual and consistent address, such as church-state relations, family relations, a sense of stewardship of creation, one's own integrity and integrity on the corporate scale.”

Those issues will provide fodder for the new column, Knox said, noting he and Tillman will present ethical questions that impact the daily lives of today's Christians.

Tillman and Knox will formulate the ethical questions to be asked in each edition of the Standard. Seven writers from across Texas will take turns responding to the questions. Tillman will edit their answers for the column.

The “Right or Wrong?” columnists are Van Christian, pastor of First Baptist Church in Comanche; Stacy Conner, pastor of First Baptist Church in Muleshoe; Jeph Holloway, associate professor of religion at East Texas Baptist University; Kelvin Kelly, pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church in Abilene; David Morgan, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Harker Heights; Emily Row, program coordinator for Texas Baptists Committed; and Philip Wise, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Lubbock.

Tillman and Knox encouraged readers to submit ethical questions for the column. Send them to Tillman at btillman@hsutx.edu.

“What a privilege to be a part of the ethical conversations going on among us,” Tillman said. “I think Dr. Maston would be proud.”

Posted: 9/02/05

Texas Tidbits

Bivocational ministers re-elect officers, award scholarships. Members of the Texas Baptist Bivocational and Smaller Membership Ministers and Spouses Association unanimously re-elected officers during the group's annual statewide conference in Belton. Officers are President David Keith of Carlton Baptist Church in Carlton, First Vice President Randy Rather of Tidwell Baptist Church in Greenville, Second Vice President Robert Cepeda of First Baptist Church in Los Fresnos, Secretary Rosalind Ray of Fairy Baptist Church in Fairy and Treasurer Tom Echols of Eagles Wing Baptist Church in Crowley. The association awarded $1,000 scholarships to three ministry students–Sharon Williams and Angelina Villanueva of Dallas Baptist University and Randy Curtis of Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon Seminary.

UMHB launches sports management graduate program. The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor is offering a new master of business administration program with an emphasis in sports management. Coordinator Mickey Kerr said the program is a collaborative effort between the College of Business and the College of Education. The program is specifically designed to provide leadership and management skills to a person looking to develop a professional preparation for multi-faceted, sports-related opportunities at the corporate, agency, professional and amateur levels. Students will learn the combined curriculum of business management and sports marketing, sports law and the financial aspects of sports management. For more information about the new graduate program, contact Kerr at (254) 295-4232.

DBU launches honors program. Dallas Baptist University is launching a new undergraduate honors progam this fall. Phil Mitchell, assistant professor of English, will lead the University Honors program, designed specifically to challenge academically gifted students. University Honors is a 30-hour program designed to help students make connections across academic disciplines, to encourage a high level of critical thinking and independent learning and to familiarize students with the full 2,000 years of Christian tradition. The University Honors program also will partner with the Paedeia College Society, an eight-year-old organization founded and led by DBU philosophy professor David Naugle, to offer an annual faculty-student fall study retreat and an annual spring conference. Guest lectures by noted Christian scholars, a weekly worldview symposium and involvement in local cultural events are other ways that the program will strive to build a strong learning community of faculty and students. In fall 2007, the University Honors program will sponsor its first Honors Study Abroad program in London. More information about the University Honors program, including financial aid information and online applications, is available at www.dbu.edu/honors, or call the University Honors program office at (214) 333-5526.

Ministry-focused graduate programs endorsed. The Baptist General Convention of Texas Theological Education Committee recently endorsed four ministry-focused graduate programs from Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University's School of Social Work and Dallas Baptist University. The group affirmed Truett's master of theological studies program and Baylor's church social work specialization of its master of social work degree plan. The committee also endorsed DBU's master of arts degree in worship leadership and ministry track of the school's doctoral program in leadership studies. BGCT endorsement allows ministry students certified by a BGCT-affiliated congregation to receive scholarship funds from the convention.

Posted: 9/02/05

TOGETHER:
Katrina calls for prayer, going, giving

The terrible force of Hurricane Katrina has left us overwhelmed by the pictures and reports we are seeing and hearing. This is a tragedy for millions of people who are connected to the families and culture of the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast. The devastation is complete in some areas. The death toll likely will grow over the next few days. How to be there in ways that truly help is on all our minds.

Thank God for the police, fire and National Guard units that have responded quickly. We are grateful for the ministry of the American Red Cross and Salvation Army. And Baptists are proud and thankful for the immediate response of our Texas Baptist Men. Within hours, they were in Marshall, using the facilities of First Baptist Church to stage their equipment in preparation to go into Louisiana. The day after the storm, one unit was in place. The next day, all the units had been assigned.

Executive Director BGCT Executive Board

The Astrodome in Houston was opened to shelter those who had to flee the Superdome in New Orleans. One of our Texas Baptist Men's feeding units was dispatched to feed 20,000 people a day in Houston-area shelters.

Calls have been streaming into our offices. Some of our camps have called to say they are sheltering people. Our institutions are responding. Churches in Southeast and East Texas have opened their doors to provide places of refuge. Pastors are telling their people: “Just because we cannot do everything is no excuse to do nothing. We will be the presence of Christ for those in need.”

You may wonder, “What can I do?”

First, I would like to report that you already have done a very important thing. The early response of our Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief units and of our BGCT-trained chaplains equipped for trauma counseling was all made possible because of your Cooperative Program and Mary Hill Davis Offerings over the past year. The infrastructure for helping Texas Baptists be ready when any crisis occurs has been built and is sustained by our regular church giving.

Now, continue to pray. When you see a crisis, let that be a reminder to pray. God is at work in every event of life. He is not asleep. Pray that God's love will be ex-perienced. Pray that someone who loves God will be at every person's side to comfort and bless. Pray that faith will be deepened or rekindled or found by all who are going through this time of stress, loss and grief. Pray for miracles of God's presence to abound.

Then, encourage and support someone in your church who might feel God's leadership to offer themselves over the next few weeks to go to a place of need and help. There are many different skills needed. Call (214) 828-5350, and someone with Texas Baptist Men will help you find the most effective way volunteers can be assigned to serve.

Finally, you can give. One hundred percent of disaster relief funds sent through the Baptist General Convention of Texas always reach the areas of need. You may direct your personal gifts or the gifts of your church in any one of these three ways:

BGCT Disaster Relief.

Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief.

Texas Baptist Mission Foundation Disaster Relief.

The same address serves all: 333 N. Washington, Dallas 75246-1798. You can even give by using a VISA or MasterCard. Call (800) 558-8263.

We all will do what we can.

We and they are loved.

Charles Wade is executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Posted: 9/02/05

Warren clarifies affiliation with SBC

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

LAKE FOREST, Calif. (ABP) –Saddleback Community Church is the largest congregation in the Southern Baptist Convention. But is it really Southern Baptist?

Pastor Rick Warren told a group of journalists in May the 40,000-member church no longer is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention. But he retracted that statement Aug. 20, saying he misspoke.

A transcript of the interview, posted in May on the website of the Pew Forum for Religion and Public Life, was altered to delete the declaration at Warren's request, a Pew spokesman said.

In a recent interview, Warren clarified his position, saying: “I'm Southern Baptist. Our church is Southern Baptist. And we are a leader in SBC missions support in our state.”

In the original May 23 interview, Warren responded to a question by Rebecca Haggerty of NBC's Dateline, who asked in what denomination he grew up.

Warren responded: “My father was a Baptist pastor. I grew up in little tiny churches of less than 50 people. I call myself an evangelical. We are … .”

Haggerty apparently interrupted, asking, “Your church is not a Baptist church?”

Warren responded: “No–it was. In the early years, when we first got started, it was a part of the Southern Baptist Convention. One out of 10 churches in America is an SBC church, and the reason the denomination's so big is that every church is totally independent. The denomination has no control over it. So basically we cooperated with them in their missions program, but now we're doing our own missions program.”

The altered transcript, on the other hand, ends the quotation with “I call myself an evangelical.” It then jumps to the next question by Haggerty, on a different topic.

Warren, whose book The Purpose-Driven Life has sold a record 20 million copies, asked Pew to change the quote, which the organization did. But not before the transcript got passed around among some Southern Baptists, stirring discussion on several Internet chatrooms and weblogs.

The rumor of Saddleback's departure from the Southern Baptist Convention took on more credence after the July Baptist World Alliance meeting in England, where Warren, a keynote speaker, disagreed publicly with the SBC's withdrawal from BWA.

Saddleback Community Church, started by Warren and his wife, Kay, in 1980, always has downplayed its denominational affiliation because of what Warren calls “widespread misperceptions” about Southern Baptists.

Saddleback claims 40,000 members and regular attenders, which would make it the largest church in the country.

In 2004, the church gave $150,000 through the California Southern Baptist Convention, which qualifies it as a California Baptist and Southern Baptist church.

Warren said he misunderstood Haggerty's question during the May interview.

“At one point, I thought I was asked if Saddleback was identified as a Southern Baptist church, and I told the reporter 'no' because we've never had Southern Baptist in the name of our church,” he explained in an e-mail. “Reading the transcript, I saw that the question was, 'Your church is not a Baptist church?'

“In the early years of our church, we used to put the byline 'Southern Baptist Convention' under the name 'Saddleback Community Church' in our ads, business cards and brochures, but we dropped that by 1982. But for 25 years, our church has been involved in the convention at the association, state and national level and has no intention of changing that.”

“The bottom line is, I jumbled my words in haste trying to quickly explain that Saddleback has thousands of members–over 4,500–who've gone on short-term missions around the world. It appears that I said we're not supporting Southern Baptist missions, but, of course, that simply isn't true.”

Warren said a person in the public spotlight is bound to “eventually say something he didn't mean, or intend, or even believe.”

“Any individual's ministry and impact needs to be evaluated in toto, and not on the basis of one stray comment from a live–and sometimes adversarial–interview,” he added.

“I trust that fellow Southern Baptists will realize that my and Saddleback's mission is better reflected by our faithful track record over 25 years, rather than my fatigue in the spotlight during a busy week.”

Posted: 9/05/05

CYBER COLUMN:
Weak link

By Berry D. Simpson

Thursday morning, July 21, Tigoni, Kenya: “The best showers in Africa are in the Windsor Club,” said John. He was right. It was even better than the hot showers at the Mission House in Nagela, near Kaabong; we earned those showers hiking for hours across the rough ground of northeast Uganda, then hauling solar-heated water in a yellow plastic five-gallon jerry can to an overhead bucket-and-spout arrangement in the bathroom. The trick, surprisingly enough, was blending enough cool water with the hot to make the shower comfortable. On my first attempt, well, Cyndi and I had to dash back and forth under the water to keep from scalding ourselves.

At Windsor, an excellent facility, I didn’t have to haul any hot water. I remember standing under the large showerhead, volumes of hot water drenching my hair and skin, and thinking: this is just amazing. Even if I had to stand on one foot to keep my left leg extended out of the stream of water so my bandage wouldn’t get wet and come loose. I was still under a nurse’s care for a big blister on my left heal and I knew I’d be in trouble if I lost the bandage. I was sad to be so crippled up that I had to skip the morning run with Cyndi and John and Linda (I worked out in the weight room instead). My knee was still hurting and I had injuries on both feet.

Saturday evening, July 16, Nagela, Uganda: it was my worst time, most depressing time, during the entire Africa adventure. I was feeling sorry for myself; feeling like unnecessary baggage. Because my knee was hurting after Friday’s long walk to Lochom I couldn’t make the trip to Lopelpel on Saturday, a 20-mile round trip. And because I didn’t go, Cyndi couldn’t go either. There was some concern that the villagers might think she was John’s wife and not my wife, and it would be too distracting to explain it over and over.

I also had a quarter-sized blister on my left ankle, and I could feel another blister-in-the-making under my right big toe. And if those weren’t enough, somewhere along the way I kicked a stump or a rock and bruised my left big toe under my toenail. Saturday morning I drained the fluid from under my toenail, put band aids on my blisters, and wore my knee brace so we could walk around the area surrounding the mission house and into Kaabong town. I was embarrassed to be the weak link in the group. I knew John didn’t expect any of us to walk with him step for step day after day, but I was dismayed to break down so quickly.

I came to Africa knowing my knee would give me fits sooner or later. I planned to keep walking on it as long as I could, and then put on my knee brace and walk some more. I figured I could tough out anything for one week. John and Jacob and Tubo and Losilo would be walking every day; I wanted to do my share. Walking is such an important part of this mission effort, and I was determined to be part of it.

Well, the next morning I was feeling much better; I switched from blaming myself to damage control. I put duct tape over the bandages and had no further blister problems after that. I knew I’d l probably lose my big toenail after we got back home to Midland, but I’ve lost them before and it’s no big deal. I wore my knee brace the remainder of the hikes to remind me to be careful while crossing the plowed fields.

And so, standing in the wonderful hot shower at Windsor, I wondered:

What was the message from all these injuries? What was I supposed to learn?

Maybe it was a simple reminder that my effectiveness to God does not depend on being tough, or using my skills, or being strong. Rather it depended on my humility and willingness, and on God Himself.

Standing in the shower I prayed: Lord, I’m sorry for thinking I can do anything from sheer willpower. I’m wrong, and it’s a sin for me to think that way. You called us to Africa. This trip was Your idea. We never would’ve thought about an international trip only one month after Katie’s wedding. You called us to Africa to bring honor and glory to You, to lift up Your name, and I confess I’ve gotten in Your way. Please forgive me. Please heal my knee, my toe, my blisters. Please keep the rest of me together and don’t let me fall apart any more. Please let me walk and talk and live in such a way that You are glorified. Amen.

Berry Simpson, a Sunday school teacher at First Baptist Church in Midland, is a petroleum engineer, writer, runner and member of the city council in Midland. You can contact him through e-mail at berry@stonefoot.org.

Posted: 9/02/05

BGCT childcare services to house
children from Louisiana institutions

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

Child and family services agencies affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas opened their doors and made resources available to people displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency asked the Baptist agencies to place up to 2,000 children from child care institutions in Louisiana and Mississippi who could be relocated to Texas.

Children could be moved to Baptist Child & Family Services’ facility in San Antonio, Texas Baptist Children’s Home’s Round Rock campus and its Miracle Farm facility near Brenham, South Texas Children’s Home in Beeville and Buckner Baptist Benevolences facilities in Beaumont.

Buckner also prepared to offer family care for foster families at its East Texas units and at Camp Buckner retreat center near Burnet.

Valley Baptist Academy in Harlingen—which closed as a residential high school more than two years ago—also was reopening dormitories that could provide 200 beds for family care.

FEMA asked Baptist Child & Family Services to take the lead in providing care for people with special needs ranging from autism and Down’s Syndrome to non-ambulatory elderly adults. The agency prepared to receive 600 people with special needs on Sept. 2.

Agency staff prepared to transfer many of its San Antonio emergency shelter and long-term residential care children from its campus near Lackland Air Force Base to its youth ranch in Luling. The institution removed bleachers from the campus gym and pews from the chapel to expand capacity.

Baptist Child & Family Services also sent mobile medical clinics from Laredo and San Antonio to Biloxi, Miss., and Baton Rouge, La., as part of the Texas Baptist disaster relief response. The two mobile units, which cost $250,000 each, provide state-of-the-art facilities, including two treatment rooms.

Baptist Child & Family Services can receive donations for its hurricane relief efforts at 909 N.E. Loop 410, Suite 800, San Antonio 78209, by credit card at (210) 832-5000 or online at www.bcfs.net. For more information, call toll-free (888) 545-4222.

Buckner Baptist Benevolences is accepting contributions at five sites to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. Buckner can accept cash donations at all sites, as well as online at www.buckner.org.

Other items needed are shoes, clothing and food staples. Only new clothing and shoes can be accepted. Buckner initially sent 2,500 pair of shoes from its Shoes for Orphan Souls drive to Louisiana through a partnership between Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas and University Baptist Church in Baton Rouge.

Collection sites are:

• Houston – Buckner Children and Family Services. Contact: Maggie Pilgreen, c/o South Main Baptist Church, 4100 S. Main Street Houston, TX 77002. Phone: (281) 630-6610.

•Beaumont –Beaumont Children’s Village, 9055 Manion Drive , Beaumont, Texas 77706, Michelle Harris (409) 866-0976; mharris@buckner.org

•Dallas – Buckner Crisis Relief Center, 4828 S. Buckner Blvd. #B, Dallas, TX 75227, Jackie Belt (214) 275-9002; jbelt@buckner.org

•Longview – Buckner Children and Family Services, 110 E. Cotton Street , Longview, TX 75601, Greg Eubanks (903) 757-9383; guebanks@buckner.org

•Lufkin – Buckner Children and Family Services, 3402 Daniel McCall, Suite 21, Lufkin, TX 75901, Judy Morgan (936) 637-3300; jmorgan@buckner.org

Posted: 9/02/05

Right or Wrong? Interracial dating

“My Anglo daughter is dating an African-American young man. I don’t know if this is right or not. What is your advice?”

Issues of race have long been a test case for American Christianity. On Aug. 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of having a dream that his children someday would live in a nation where they would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. The simple description of interracial dating demonstrates how far we still have to go in this area.

In the question, the complex issue of dating is reduced to one factor—the color of skin. This reduction is the heart of racism, and racism always is contrary to the heart of God.

The gospel message centers on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for all people. This message focuses on the family relationship created by the union of believers with God. No one race or other group of people has a monopoly on this relationship. The result of one God and Father is that all Christians are part of one family.

This unity always has been difficult to maintain. The culture of the New Testament and the culture of today are strikingly similar in that they divide people rather than unify them. The prominent means of division always have been by race, social status and gender. The gospel pointedly addresses all these areas of division. Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female are specifically mentioned as divisions of people that have been overcome by the unity of God.

The question of dating, then, cannot be answered simply on the difference of skin colors. Many factors should be considered concerning whether or not these two young people are compatible. The reality of life is there are many areas where their similarities and differences will make or break their relationship. The simple difference of race, however, cannot be the sole determining factor.

The questions that must be answered concern those similarities and differences. In today’s society, difference in race often also means a difference of culture and background. This is true not only for race, but for any other significant social distinction. Do these young people share a common concept of important issues such as family, church, tradition and values? Are they both Christians, and if so, do they come from similar worship experiences? How will these differences affect their ability to communicate and find common ground on which to build a relationship?

A second area that must be addressed concerns the ability of the young people to function in the face of adversity. While racism clearly is wrong and contrary to the basic principles of Christianity, we nevertheless live in a society still struggling with it. While the consequences of such a pairing are less severe than they have been in the past, definite social consequences still must be dealt with. These range from the simple distractions of stares and pointing to the real danger of violence. Are they mature enough and prepared to handle such possibilities?

This relationship also will affect others besides the couple. Their family, friends and community all will have to face difficulties related to this pairing. Will these struggles be justified by the new relationship?

These questions cannot be used to mask inherent racism and thus provide an acceptable form of discrimination. They are, however, significant issues that should be adequately addressed before entering into any relationship.

–Van Christian, pastor, First Baptist Church, Comanche

Right or Wrong? is sponsored by the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon School of Theology. Send your questions about how to apply your faith to btillman@hsutx.edu.

Posted: 9/01/05

Condition of New Orleans Seminary still unknown

By Michael Foust

Baptist Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)—New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Chuck Kelley wants to know the condition of his campus.

But after a levee broke and flooded most of the city, Kelley was still trying to get word as to the extent of damage at the Southern Baptist seminary. The campus was evacuated just before Hurricane Katrina hit.

“We do not know … the extent of the flooding that may have happened after the levee broke. We just have no idea," Kelley said, “But we are grateful that our seminary is located on one of the higher parts of New Orleans. Our campus is mostly above sea level — unlike much of the city."

Prior to the levee breaking, Kelley said the damage left by Katrina was "significant, but not catastrophic by any means." For example, as of Aug. 29, campus buildings had roof damage, the seminary chapel had been heavily damaged, an older campus apartment building was in 3 feet of water and numerous trees had been lost, having been weakened by termites over the years.

But then the levee broke. Water rose in the city Aug. 30 and much of the next morning. Officials said Aug. 31 that water was no longer rising, although they had yet to fix the levee. One official said it would take a "minimum of 30 days" to drain the city. After that, work would begin to clear debris, which he said would take much longer.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Tuesday she wants the city to be evacuated. It could be weeks or months before residents of much of New Orleans are able to return. It is estimated that 80 percent of the city is flooded.

The seminary set up temporary offices at its North Georgia Extension Center in Decatur, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta. Kelley and seminary officials are scheduled to meet "to assess where we are and where we're going."

"New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary is going to re-open, no question," Kelley said.

Kelley said that as far as he knows, all students and faculty members are alive and safe. A "small skeleton crew" of approximately 18 people that remained on campus during the storm was to be evacuated Wednesday by the Coast Guard, Kelley said.

"All of our people, to the best of our knowledge, are safe," he said.

Kelley's mother and father, New Orleans residents, are safe and in Fort Worth with their daughter, Dorothy Patterson, Kelley said.

Southern Baptists, Kelley said, need to "pray that the conditions in the city will stabilize."

"We cannot start even planning our process of cleaning up and whatever rebuilding we need to do until the situation stabilizes," he said. "We need to pray that God will show them a way to stop that flooding and get the water level stabilized."

Kelley also requested prayer for the seminary.

"Pray for the circumstances of our seminary family," he said. "They're all over the southeastern United States. Virtually all of us on campus now are homeless. My wife and I have what we can put in our car in an hour, and that's it. We're all homeless." Kelley's home is located on the campus.

Updates about the seminary's condition and its plans for fall classes will be posted at www.sbc.net and on the seminary's website, www.nobts.edu. The seminary's website has experienced extremely high traffic and has been inaccessible much of the time.

Posted: 8/24/05

Consultant for U.S. Embassy in
Baghdad saw need for 'oasis' of hope

By Carla Wynn

CBF Communications

ATLANTA—Steve Hemphill, a Baptist layman from Monett, Mo., spent 17 months in Iraq—not as a soldier, but as a U.S. Department of State consultant working to establish an Iraqi justice system.

Officially, Hemphill was senior consultant-justice at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, a White House appointment he held for a year. Prior to that, he was senior legal adviser to the Ministry of Justice and Prisons for the U.S. Defense Department during the time of the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Hemphill’s first full day in Iraq left a deep impression.

“First words uttered, ‘Good morning’ are followed by a massive blast, which sent everybody to the floor and scurrying away from the windows, though none were broken,” he wrote Jan. 18, 2004, for a “Dispatches from Baghdad” feature that appeared on the website of William Jewel College, Hemphill’s alma mater.   

That blast killed six people. “A memorable start to what will surely be a memorable tour of duty in Iraq,” he wrote.

Hemphill’s tour included more car bombings, gunfire and explosions that kept him up at night and prayer calls from mosques that woke him up before sunrise.

Great reformation had to happen in prisons, which had been independently operated, he noted.

Hemphill helped establish a national prison system held accountable to international standards of care and human rights, preventing situations like a 300-capacity prison south of Baghdad that once held 2,500.

“That would have required taking turns lying down to sleep at night,” he wrote in one of many e-mails he sent to family and friends during his Iraq assignment. 

Judicial reform was another priority.  Judges believed to be corrupt were fired.

“We hired new judges whom we felt were committed to changing Iraq. The ongoing training of the new judiciary is a key to the elimination of corruption as a mindset,” Hemphill said.

During Hemphill’s tenure, nearly $1 billion was spent for justice reform with the overall challenge of developing democracy.

“Democracy is a relative thing. For those who are sacrificed in the pursuit of it, it immediately becomes irrelevant. The rewards of democracy are reserved for those who don’t sacrifice everything,” he wrote. 

Hemphill returned home this summer to Missouri, where he worked 13 years as a prosecutor. Iraq still is the hotspot it was before Hemphill arrived.

“Problems existed before my arrival and will remain long after my departure. … The positives of this experience far outweigh the negatives. (But) if I was lying in a bed at Walter Reed Army Hospital, I might feel differently,” he wrote in his final e-mail.

But Hemphill is hopeful for Iraq. Although his job description didn’t include bringing spiritual hope to the area, it still happened.

“Jesus felt the need to walk all over Palestine sharing (the) Good News.  The least I can do is try to follow his example,” Hemphill said. “We truly have given hope to the Iraqi people, and it has already opened the door for me and other Christians to share our more personal hope.”

In the Iraqi desert, not everything is as it seems; an oasis can be a mirage. Hemphill predicts many more years and lives will be lost before Iraq can be determined a peaceful democracy or not. 

“Pray prospectively,” he wrote. “When it comes time to pray for Iraq, pray for an oasis.”

Posted: 8/31/05

CYBER COLUMN: God calls collect

By Jeanie Miley

Sometimes, people ask questions about what it means to be called by God, and when they do, I tremble, remembering back to my own naïve and idealistic 16-year-old desire to serve God in some way.

In 1961, there weren’t that many options available to me within my own narrow world, and my realistic father, who also was my pastor, wisely counseled me to keep my options open. He need not have worried, for at the time, my mind could not stretch enough to accept that I, as a woman, could be called by God to anything other than a supportive role and a secondary calling.

Through these decades, I have to say that whatever call has been mine, I have had to wrestle with it, and yet, it has also led me to great joy and deep satisfaction. Indeed, I have found that when God calls, he calls collect.

Early in my adulthood, I adopted the conviction that all Christians are called and all are uniquely gifted to live out their own call. I believe that exercising one’s own gifts, in service to God, is not for the privileged few, but for all who have been saved by the redeeming love of Christ. We are saved in order to serve, and we are blessed in order to be a blessing. The world is too broken and too needy for anyone’s gifts to be wasted. Christianity is not a spectator sport, and all gifts are needed and necessary for the work of the body of Christ on earth.

Dealing with the significance and tenderness of the issue of calling and finding one’s true vocation is a complex and serious things for me, and when I talk about it, I feel as if I should take off my shoes, for the subject is holy ground. Indeed, finding one’s true calling and living it, no matter what, is one of the most significant and holy tasks of the individual Christian.

And yet, where there is the possibility of Great Mystery, there also lies the potential for great confusion and distortion.

From my life experience, I know for sure that there is a need for great discernment and deep wisdom when it comes to the issue of finding and falling one’s own true calling. There are few things worse than being in the wrong profession or trying to do a ministry or a calling that doesn’t match your own personal gifts.

It takes time to discern whether you are responding to your programming from your family of origin or to the calling of God. It takes courage to sift through the various cultural pulls to power and privilege to know whether your calling can stand the tests of time and trauma. And it takes true grit, sometimes called faith, to hang in there when the testing gets tough.

It is a huge thing to wrestle with God and with your own ego needs, and, given the blind spots each of us has as to our own motivations, it is hard to know the difference between our own will and the will of God

I now know that a calling really is where the world’s deep need matches your own great joy.

I now know that living your calling can take many forms, and that you know you’ve found it when you never run out of ideas about how to express it, you must do it, no matter what—and you’d do it, even if you never got paid for it.

Most of all, I know now that when you’re living your calling, the accolades or rejections of others don’t matter nearly as much as that sense of knowing the pleasure of the One who made you.

Jeanie Miley is an author and columnist and a retreat and workshop leader. She is married to Martus Miley, pastor of River Oaks Baptist Church in Houston, and they have three adult daughters. Got feedback? Write her at Writer2530@aol.com.

Posted: 8/31/05

Pastor, missionaries share ideas
during sabbatical in Thailand