Carroll Institute explores how Muslims look at Jesus_72505

Posted: 7/22/05

Carroll Institute explores
how Muslims look at Jesus

By Meghan Merchant

Communications Intern

ARLINGTON–“Without Jesus, there is no Islam,” Naeem Mushtaq told participants at the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute's “Jesus and Islam” seminar at First Baptist Church in Arlington.

07/22/2005 - By John Rutledge

TBM builders poetry in motion to church_72505

Posted: 7/22/05

TBM builders poetry in motion to church

By Jocelyn Delgado

Comminications Intern

For two weeks, volunteers built a family life center complex with an indoor basketball court and classrooms out of a hollow building, some supplies and a little ingenuity.

07/22/2005 - By John Rutledge

Alliance-Cuba partnership under investigation_72505

Posted: 7/22/05

Alliance-Cuba partnership under investigation

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–A missions partnership between Baptist groups in the United States and Cuba may be in jeopardy, pending the outcome of an investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department.

07/22/2005 - By John Rutledge

Alliance-Cuba partnership under investigation_72505

Posted: 7/22/05

Alliance-Cuba partnership under investigation

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–A missions partnership between Baptist groups in the United States and Cuba may be in jeopardy, pending the outcome of an investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department.

07/22/2005 - By John Rutledge

SBC, European Baptists explore network_72505

Posted: 7/22/05

SBC, European Baptists explore network

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

WARSAW, Poland (ABP)–Twelve conservative Baptists from Europe met with nine Southern Baptist leaders this month in Warsaw, Poland, in what one participant said could be a precursor to a new international organization of “like-minded” Baptists.

07/22/2005 - By John Rutledge

Bonhoeffer’s legacy felt 60 years after his execution_72505

Posted: 7/22/05

Bonhoeffer's legacy felt
60 years after his execution

By Chris Herlinger

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–When Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 39, quietly strode toward Nazi prison gallows as the Second World War neared its end, he hardly could have known that 60 years later, his life, memory and legacy would remain the subject of keen debate and fascination–not to mention outright reverence.

07/22/2005 - By John Rutledge

Book Reviews_72505

Posted: 7/22/05

Book Reviews

Word Without End: The Old Testament as Abiding Theological Witness by Christopher R. Seitz (Baylor University Press)

“This book from Israel has become a word to the church … .” Seitz is a theological scholar and has confronted an important question about the Old Testament, “Whose book is it?” It's a strange question for some of us but with many wonderful insights.

Quite often, we do not do enough investigation to see what the original writers meant by their old sayings that are foreign and generations removed from us. This book is not for the new Christian or the novice in the word of God but might be very interesting to many pastors, who desire to engage more with the Old Testament in their preaching ministry, as well as to university and seminary students. Both urban and rural pastors alike need to read chapter 1, “The City in Christian Scripture.” Human sexuality also is discussed, with a few insights from the Old Testament to be pondered in our contemporary setting and sexual situations of today.

What are you reading that other Texas Baptists would find helpful? Send suggestions and reviews to books@baptiststandard.com.

07/22/2005 - By John Rutledge

Baptist Briefs_72505

Posted: 7/22/05

Baptist Briefs

American Baptists honor Moyers. The Coalition for Baptist Principles presented a lifetime achievement award to recently retired broadcaster Bill Moyers during the American Baptist Churches USA biennial meeting. Moyers grew up in Central Baptist Church in Marshall and attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Baptist World Congress registration tops 12,000. At least 12,000 worldwide Baptists will make their way to Birmingham, England, for the Baptist World Congress July 27-31, undeterred by recent terror attacks in London. Registration for the congress climbed above the 12,000 mark July 13, Congress Director Emmett Dunn said. Only three people cancelled since the London bombings, he said, while hundreds of others–most from the United States–continue to register for the centenary congress. The Baptist World Alliance, a fellowship of 210 Baptist unions worldwide, was formed in England in 1905. Advance registrants for the 2005 meeting represent 107 countries. The largest Baptist World Congress was the 1980 meeting, when 15,000 people gathered in Toronto.

Bellevue Baptist chooses new pastor. Bellevue Baptist Church in suburban Memphis, Tenn., has called Steve Gaines of First Baptist Church in Gardendale, Ala., as pastor, effective Sept. 11. Gaines, 47-year-old president of the Southern Baptist Pastors' Conference, succeeds Adrian Rogers, 73, who was Bellevue's pastor 32 years and a three-time president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Gaines is only the fourth pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church since 1927–a legacy that includes famed preacher R.G. Lee. Under Rogers' leadership, the 28,000-member congregation moved from its location near downtown Memphis to a 377-acre campus in Cordova. Gaines pastored the 8,400-member Gardendale church near Birmingham since 1991, helping it grow into one of Alabama's largest. A native of Mississippi, Gaines is a graduate of Union University in Jackson, Tenn., and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was pastor of Lake Shore Baptist Church in Lake Dallas from 1981 to 1988.

07/22/2005 - By John Rutledge

Journey through grief offers hard-earned life lessons_72505

Posted: 7/22/05

Journey through grief offers
hard-earned life lessons

By Kelly Starling Lyons

Associated Baptist Press

RALEIGH, N.C. (ABP)–In life, there's at least one guarantee: You'll lose someone you love.

07/22/2005 - By John Rutledge

Cartoon_72505

Posted: 7/22/05

07/22/2005 - By John Rutledge

2ND OPINION: BWA to drink from ‘Living Water’_72505

Posted: 7/22/05

2nd Opinion:
BWA to drink from 'Living Water'

By Denton Lotz

Thousands of Baptist believers are making their final preparations to come to Birmingham, England, this week to celebrate the centenary of the Baptist World Alliance. Indeed, we have much to celebrate: God has brought us through 100 years, often through deserts and waterless places, often through suffering and pain, but God has brought us through because we never gave up hope or faith in Jesus Christ, the Living Water!

It will be a magnificent occasion when BWA President Billy Kim declares the BWA Centenary Congress officially open. There will be large jugs of water in the front and many young men and women pouring water to symbolize the theme, “Jesus Christ Living Water.”

07/22/2005 - By John Rutledge

Cyber Column by John Duncan: A world of contrasts_72505

Posted: 7/22/05

CYBER COLUMN:
A world of contrasts

By John Duncan

I’m sitting here under the old oak tree, wondering about a world of contrasts.

In London. grief reigns in the aftermath of terror, while innocent children play cricket in open fields and streets. Hurricanes rip through the Gulf of Mexico, but daily cruise ships sail the seas with carefree travelers. In Granbury, a trip to Wal-Mart to purchase the necessities of life is contrasted with the fact that American consumers waste money every year on things they do not need or never will use.

07/22/2005 - By John Rutledge