Posted: 6/15/05

LifeWay Family Bible Series for June 26

Christ promises hope beyond this life

• Romans 8:18-25, 1 Corinthians 15:50-57, Philippians 3:20-21

By Mitch Randall

First Baptist Church, Bedford

There was something different about her. She walked through the door that night, and immediately everyone in the room took notice of the beautiful stranger. Her face beamed with a glorious softness that made her look … well, angelic. As she strolled into the room of onlookers, it was as though she were walking on air.

Her husband was the first to confirm everyone’s suspicions. With a soft whisper in his wife’s ear, he said, “Are you?” Her smile confirmed what her body had already announced. She was pregnant.

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Unbeknownst to science … at least to this self-bestowed scientist … there is a change in a woman’s aura when she is with child. Her face glows, her skin softens and an angelic halo rests just above her head (OK, that might be taking it a bit too far). However, everyone admits a woman looks different when the miracle of a child rests within her. There is something aglow.

For some reason, that truth comes to mind every time I think about the glorified body for those residing in God’s heaven. When Jesus rose from the grave and spoke with Mary Magdalene, his body was somehow different. Mary did not even recognize him at first. He was able to move in and out of rooms with ease, certainly depicting there was something different about the glorified body of Christ.

Romans 8:18-25

In Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, he speaks about creation suffering labor pains in hopes of a new creation coming forth. In his breathtaking account, Paul argues that the world finds itself subject to decay, yearning to burst open to obtain the freedom of God’s glory. His language points his readers to the hope in Christ Jesus. Through Christ, the believer has been made a new creature. And when the day of the Lord comes; our bodies will be redeemed to shine in God’s glory. In other words, we are saved from the decay of this world and transformed into the glory of Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:50-57

In another letter, Paul describes the reasoning behind this great event. In 1 Corinthians, Paul explains that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. When the Lord returns, our earthly bodies will be transformed in the twinkling of an eye. At that moment, those who believe in Christ will be changed to exit this world and enter God’s kingdom. Paul quotes the Old Testament prophets Isaiah and Hosea: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

Philippians 3:20-21

Paul calls those who believe in Christ citizens of heaven. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul speaks very sympathetically to Christians waiting for the return of Christ. While in this world, where we suffer at the hands of oppression and struggle, we must remember our citizenship. We are not of this world, but derived from this world to enter into God’s kingdom. At the time of transformation, our bodies of humiliation will be conformed to the body of his glory by the power of God.

The great truth of bodily transformation remains the hope for eternal security. Through Jesus Christ, we are given the opportunity for an eternal hope. When life ends on this earth, the gospel promises there is a great beyond. When we close out eyes for the final time and Christ returns, there is a transformation of our body that ushers us into the life after life. Indeed, the best is yet to be!

Discussion questions

• What do you think happens when you die?

• What do you think the body of Jesus was like after he rose from the grave?

• What is the great hope for us after this life?

Posted: 6/15/05

U.S. says progress made against sex trafficking

By Tom Strode

Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

WASHINGTON (BP)—The international campaign to combat sex trafficking and other forms of forced servitude is making progress, the U.S. State Department’s fifth annual report on the global problem indicates.

The report provides an analysis of efforts by 150 countries to deal with an issue that involves prostitution, child-sex tourism and forced labor, and is massive in its reach:

An estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders yearly, not including millions who are traded within their own country.

About 80 percent of these victims are females, and 50 percent are underage.

At least 14,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year.

About 12.3 million people are caught in forced labor worldwide, according to the International Labor Organization.

About $9.5 billion is generated annually by human trafficking, ranking it behind only arms and drugs as a source of profits for organized crime globally, according to the Congressional Research Service.

“Shining through this global tragedy are many rays of hope,” said Ambassador John Miller, senior adviser on trafficking in people. “In addition to the tremendous efforts of heroic individuals and private organizations, governments around the globe are awakening to this issue and taking action to end this form of modern-day slavery.”

New antitrafficking measures were enacted in 39 countries last year, and there were more than 3,000 convictions worldwide related to trafficking, stated the report, which covers from April 2004 to March 2005.

The report includes a classification by tiers of compliance with the 2000 federal antitrafficking law by countries that have a problem in this area.

Fourteen countries ranked on the third tier, which is reserved for governments that do not comply with the minimum standards of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act and are not making notable efforts to do so. They are Bolivia, Burma, Cambodia, Cuba, Ecuador, Jamaica, Kuwait, North Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Togo, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE qualified for tier three primarily because they have not made significant attempts to halt forced labor trafficking, Miller said. Burma, Cuba, North Korea and Sudan continue to be on tier three because they have not dealt with forced labor, and Cambodia remains on the lowest level because the government is complicit in trafficking, he said.

Under the law, the United States may refuse aid that is not humanitarian or trade-related to governments on tier 3.

The tier two watch list is comprised of 27 countries, including China, Greece, India, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Ukraine. The watch list is for governments that are seeking to meet the minimum standards but have other problems, such as large numbers of or sizable increases in trafficking victims. Last year, 46 countries were on the watch list. Of those, 31 improved their standing this year.

Tier two, which is for governments that have made important attempts to comply, consists of 77 countries, including Afghanistan, Brazil, Egypt, Finland, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Romania, Switzerland and Vietnam.

There are 24 tier one countries that fully comply with the standards, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Nepal, Poland, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

Some of these countries are leaders in combating trafficking. South Korea arrested more than 500 people and rescued more than 1,000 victims last year, while Morocco led attempts to prosecute United Nations peacekeepers who sexually abused minors, Miller said. Sweden’s wide-ranging campaign includes prosecuting clients of prostitutes, protecting women in the sex business and funding antitrafficking information efforts in Europe, he said.

Trafficking includes such forced activities as prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation; labor in sweatshops and on farms; and child service in the military.

Sex slavery is believed to be the largest category of transnational slavery, Miller said. “It is intrinsically linked to prostitution, and we find that where prostitution is encouraged, the number of victims increases. That is why to combat sex slavery, we are urging a greater focus on demand, educating and dissuading the so-called customers.”

Sex trafficking includes the abduction or coercion of women for prostitution, as well as the sexual exploitation of minors by tourists from other countries. The United States has gained more than a dozen convictions of child-sex tourists since a law designed to combat the problem was enacted in 2003.

Last year, the U.S. government provided more than $96 million to other countries to fight trafficking.

Legislation recently was introduced in Congress in a more thorough attempt to deal with the domestic trafficking problem. The End Demand for Sex Trafficking Act, H.R. 2012 and S. 937, would fund increased prosecution of purchasers of illegal sex acts and the traffickers who exploit the victims in the United States.

The trafficking report may be accessed at the State Department’s website, www.state.gov/g/tip.

Posted: 6/15/05

Coalition launches anti-hunger drive

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—A broad-based, theologically diverse group has launched an ambitious effort to combat domestic hunger and poverty.

Several hundred Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other leaders culminated a weekend conference in Washington recently by visiting Capitol Hill offices to lobby Congress on behalf of the “Hunger-Free Communities Act of 2005.”

The legislation sets a goal of ending hunger in the United States by 2015, and would require the Department of Agriculture to report on progress toward that goal annually. It also would include sense-of-Congress language in an attempt to keep future Congresses from cutting funding for anti-hunger programs.

In addition, the legislation would create a $50 million fund to provide grants to what its supporters call “grassroots” antihunger and antipoverty programs.

The bill has a bipartisan group of sponsors, including Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) in the Senate and Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Tom Osborne (R-Neb.) in the House.

The private groups supporting the bill are as ideologically diverse as the politicians. The night before the lobby day, their representatives and more than 1,000 participants in the “One Table, Many Voices” conference gathered at the Washington National Cathedral for a rally against hunger.

“The massive reality of global hunger and poverty has revealed our own spiritual poverty and is bringing us together,” wrote Jim Wallis, head of Call to Renewal, which co-sponsored the conference, in Sojourners magazine’s online edition. “The religious leaders gathered at Washington’s National Cathedral also have different political views. But maybe soon overcoming poverty could become a bipartisan issue and a nonpartisan cause.”

Conference participant Cynthia Holmes echoed Wallis’ observation. Holmes, a St. Louis attorney and former moderator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, pointed out that three of the denominational leaders who helped lead the service were from three factions within Baptist life—CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal, Stan Hastey of the Alliance of Baptists and Barrett Duke of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

“It was a very interesting and encouraging situation to see people who really were across the theological and political spectrum uniting to make their voice heard for people who don’t have food,” Holmes said.

She said the legislation was designed “just to keep the safety net there for people who would go hungry otherwise.”

Holmes also acknowledged the sense-of-Congress language in the bill would not be legally binding on future budget votes, but supporters could try to make it morally binding. “Obviously, if they’re willing to pay lip service to it and not do it … then it’s meaningless,” she said. “They’re as good as their word. But we can hold them to their word and remind them of that.”

The legislation, known as the Hunger-Free Communities Act of 2005, is S. 1120 in the Senate, and H.R. 2717 in the House.

Posted: 6/15/05

Air Force Academy investigation widens

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—While the United States Air Force Academy has cleared its just-graduated top cadet of charges that he violated the First Amendment, Pentagon officials have announced further expansions of their investigation into the religious climate at the school.

Academy officials announced that 2nd Lt. Nicholas Jurewicz, who graduated from the Colorado Springs, Colo., academy June 1, had not acted improperly when he sent an e-mail to about 3,000 underclass cadets the day before commencement. Fashioned as a farewell from the cadet wing commander to the students who had been under his charge, Jurewicz’s message was accompanied by an attachment containing a series of quotations.

An academy press release noted: “Among about 300 quotations, approximately 30 either mentioned God in some form or were taken from the Bible. It also contained quotes from Buddha, Gandhi, Confucius, poets, authors, presidents, military leaders and a host of others.”

Neither the e-mail nor its attachment violated the Constitution’s ban on government endorsement of religion because “there was no attempt to convince any of the recipients of the intrinsic value of any one quote or quote source,” the release said. “The cadet made it plain in his farewell message at the termination of his command position that there was no compulsion for any recipient to read and/or heed what was presented.”

An academy spokesman said the determination would be the end of the investigation into Jurewicz’s e-mail.

But the incident came in the midst of a wider controversy over the religious climate at the academy, and just days after Air Force officials sent a memo reminding the service’s leaders that “using your place at the podium as a platform for your personal beliefs can be perceived as misuse of office.”

Controversy over the treatment of religious minorities at the school erupted in April, after Americans United for Separation of Church and State—a Washington group that monitors church-state issues—sent a letter to Pentagon officials complaining there was a pervasive and systematic bias in favor of evangelical Christians at the government-run school.

The letter detailed allegations of promotion of evangelical Christianity by administrators, faculty and upperclass cadets at the academy. It also alleged incidents in which cadets of minority faiths were harassed or humiliated.

Acting Air Force Secretary Michael Dominguez appointed a special task force to investigate the allegations, which have been echoed by current and former academy cadets and parents, as well as a Lutheran chaplain at the school. The task force has made a preliminary report to Air Force officials, but that document has not been made public.

In response to requests from members of Congress for an outside investigation, Dominguez sent a letter to Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) catalogued the task force and other internal Air Force investigations into the matter.

Dominguez also informed Capps the Air Force inspector general’s office would examine “specific allegations of improper conduct” against Brig. Gen. John Weida, the academy’s second in command and commandant of cadets. He was the focus of many of the allegations of religious coercion detailed in the Americans United letter.

The academy spokesman referred a reporter’s inquiries about the Weida investigation to the Pentagon. Officials in the Pentagon press office did not respond to a request for comment.

Dominguez also said in his letter that a team from the National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces visited the campus recently to study the religious climate there. The conference serves as a liaison between the armed services and more than 250 denominations and other religious groups that endorse military chaplains, including the Southern Baptist Convention, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the American Baptist Churches USA.

Conference Executive Director Jack Williamson, who had just returned from the Colorado Springs campus, declined to release any further details about the conference team or its visit, except to say team members were working on a report they would release to the Pentagon task force on the academy. The task force, Williamson said, then would decide whether to make the conference observations public.

Capps, in reaction to Dominguez’s letter, said she still had concerns that the internal investigations would be as thorough and public as possible.

“While I hope this is a demonstration that the Air Force leadership is fully engaged on this issue, I am concerned that this letter understates the very serious nature of the problem of religious intolerance at the academy,” she said, in a statement. “The issues at the academy, after all, are not simply products of media reports.”

But Dominguez asked for forbearance. “Air Force and academy leadership are deeply engaged in the question of respect for individual beliefs,” he wrote. “As this work progresses, our work—and critics of that work—will generate news stories. I ask that you reserve your opinions on this matter until I can get to ground truth through the objective processes now ongoing.”

The controversy over religion at the academy comes on the heels of a highly publicized scandal involving allegations that administrators had tried to cover up numerous accusations of rape and sexual harassment of female cadets. It resulted in the removal of much of the school’s leadership two years ago.

Posted: 6/13/05

Clinton cautions conservatives, liberals on religion

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—Former President Bill Clinton cautioned both Democrats and Republicans on their use—or lack thereof—of religious language in a summer television appearance.

Appearing on CNN’s Larry King Live, Clinton told conservatives identifying evangelical Christianity too closely with one party’s political agenda could backfire on them. Likewise, he told liberals they shouldn’t let fears about breaching the separation of church and state force them to cede moral and religious language to conservatives.

In a response to King’s inquiry about whether the “religious conservative movement in America and their power” worried him, Clinton said religious conservatives are the ones who should be worried.

“I think whenever religious people try to exercise political power in God’s name, and to say that they have the whole truth and they can impose it … that’s always hazardous,” he said.

“Our country has become the most religious big country on Earth, with more different faiths flourishing and more regular observance (of religious practice) because we haven’t had a state religion. And we haven’t had politics as religion. And we haven’t had politicians claiming to be in possession of the whole truth. So I think they should worry about it.”

Nonetheless, Clinton also admonished liberals and centrists.

“We Democrats, because we believe in the separation of church and state, have become sometimes too secular in our language, too uncomfortable with the language of faith, too uncomfortable with the honest discussions of the moral dilemmas that a lot of religious people feel,” he said. “And so we have ceded the ground of too many voters to the religious right.

“But that’s our fault. We should engage in this debate. We should involve them. And we should share our feelings about what our values are. But I don’t think that the American government or the government of any great country should become the exclusive province of a particular religious movement. And in the end, it’s bad for the religious movement.”

Posted: 6/13/05

Knockout film has just one problem

Baptist Press

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (BP)—Cinderella Man has some unsatisfying content. But more about that later.

First, focus on what’s good—very good—about this Universal picture starring Russell Crowe and directed by the most liked man in Tinseltown, Ron Howard.

Crowe plays legendary athlete Jim Braddock, a once-promising light heavyweight boxer forced into retirement after a string of losses in the ring. As the nation entered the darkest years of the Great Depression, Braddock accepted a string of dead-end jobs to support his wife and their children, while never totally abandoning his dream of boxing again. Suddenly, Braddock found himself back in the ring against the second-ranked world contender—and to everyone’s amazement, Braddock won in the third round.

Despite being pounds lighter than his opponents and despite repeated injuries to his hands, Braddock continued to amaze fight fanatics. Carrying on his shoulders the hopes and dreams of the disenfranchised masses, Braddock, dubbed the “Cinderella Man,” faced his toughest challenger in Max Baer, the heavyweight champion of the world, renowned for having killed two men in the ring.

Braddock—not so much a great boxer as a great man who boxed—climbed into the ring seeking nothing more than to provide for his wife and children. His commitment to them inspired him to the championship. And his courage inspired our nation.

It’s the best boxing movie I have ever seen. And I’ve seen them all—from Golden Boy to Raging Bull to Rocky—and all the wannabes in between.

Certainly Raging Bull, starring Robert De Niro and directed by Martin Scorsese, is the definitive boxing movie. The difference between these two films, however, is that after Raging Bull, you are overwhelmed by the artistic and technical achievements of its star, director and cinematographer, but left with senses pummeled, feeling grimy and depressed. When you leave Cinderella Man, you are uplifted, filled with optimism.

This film has one problem, though. There are several misuses of God’s name and even more of Jesus Christ. If hearing the occasional profanity is where you draw the line when choosing movies, be warned, you will hear it in Cinderella Man. That said, there is one small consolation. I did not catch the lead uttering any of these profanities. Rather, most of the objectionable language came from Braddock’s boxing manager, played by Paul Giamatti.

There are subtle but powerful religious elements and images contained in Cinderella Man. And even after a depressed and seemingly hopeless Braddock refuses to pray over dinner, later we see the family in prayer, and one gets the distinct impression that our hero has renewed his faith. This film also presents a priest not as incompetent or perverted, but as a good guy and, well, priestly.

Ron Howard’s direction avoids a phony or maudlin execution. Rather, the involving and well-paced movement of the narrative evidences his skill. Along with Howard’s desire to tell a great sports movie that is an equal love story that spotlights a tender love for family, writers Cliff Hollingsworth, C. Gaby Mitchell and Akiva Goldsman give this generation an insightful look at the tribulations people faced during the Great Depression. They also point out what brought our nation through such a long-lasting ordeal—a steadfast resolve not to let the flame of hope burn out. Though this touching look at that era saddens the heart at times, it is a revealing portrait of America’s ability to withstand overwhelming ordeals.

I hate the film’s occasional bad language, but the other elements, for me, at least, made Cinderella Man a knockout.

Cinderella Man is rated PG-13 (profanity and obscenity spring up throughout, but I caught no misuse of God’s name by the lead; intense boxing violence; the subject material of trials faced by Americans during the Great Depression may not be suitable for little ones, but it might teach teens about that devastating era).

Posted: 6/13/05

Ecumenical group delays its formal launch

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—A new ecumenical Christian group has postponed its formal organization due to a lack of enthusiasm from historically African-American denominations.

Supporters decided to delay organizing Christian Churches Together during a June 1-3 meeting held for that purpose. A large, public kick-off ceremony is scheduled at the National Cathedral in Washington in September.

At the recent meeting, held at a Jesuit retreat center near San Francisco, more than 60 representatives from 31 different Christian bodies agreed to postpone CCT’s launch until they could shore up support among historically African-American denominations—particularly Baptist and Methodist groups, which claim the vast majority of black Christians in the United States.

“The decision was made to delay a formal launch planned for this fall in order to continue the productive and positive conversation with churches and organizations actively considering joining,” read a statement from Wes Granberg-Michaelson, chair of CCT’s steering committee and executive of the Reformed Church in America. “Participants enthusiastically reaffirmed their commitment to ‘grow closer together in Christ in order to strengthen our Christian witness in the world.’”

Church leaders first envisioned CCT in 2001 as a coalition of Christian traditions that would be much broader than the older National Council of Churches. While the New York-based NCC is home to mainline Protestant groups as well as Eastern Orthodox churches and many historically black denominations, Catholics and Southern Baptists are not a part of NCC, and most evangelical and Pentecostal denominations have avoided it.

However, evangelical and Pentecostal leaders have hoped for a broader approach with CCT, bringing Christians from diverse traditions together for fellowship and common causes while avoiding “lowest-common-denominator” compromises on theological or political issues.

But that very inclusiveness may be causing the lagging support from African-American denominations. The involvement of conservative churches would diminish CCT’s “capacity to be responsive on the issues of peace and justice,” said Bishop McKinley Young of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, according to the Enterprise-Record in Chico, Calif. Young has served on CCT’s steering committee.

African-American denominational officials reportedly also were concerned that CCT would become a competitor to the NCC. However, NCC officials have been publicly supportive of CCT’s formation.

So far, according to Granberg-Michaelson, 31 denominations or parachurch groups have decided to join CCT, and observers from another 20 groups attended the California meeting.

While the SBC has declined any interest in the new group, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the American Baptist Churches USA are involved in the formation of CCT.

Posted: 6/13/05

California legislators narrowly
defeat legalization of gay marriage

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (ABP)—California legislators have narrowly defeated a bill that would have made that state the first in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage legislatively.

The 37-36 vote in favor of the bill, although a narrow majority, still was four votes short of the 41 needed for passage in the California Assembly. While all the chamber’s minority Republicans voted against the bill, a handful of Democrats either voted against it or abstained.

Last year, Massachusetts became the first jurisdiction in the United States with legalized same-sex marriage. But that action was the result of a 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision that said the commonwealth’s policy of marrying only heterosexual couples violated the Massachusetts Constitution.

California courts are considering a similar lawsuit. The state’s voters approved an initiative in 2000 that explicitly bans gay marriage.

Gay-rights advocates promised not to give up in California, generally considered one of the nation’s most socially liberal states.

And while opponents of same-sex marriage counted the vote a surprising victory, they also warned that more battles lie in the future.

“We’ve avoided this particular bullet, but more attacks on marriage are coming from judges in San Francisco,” said Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families.

“The people of California are learning that to keep everything about marriage for a man and a woman, they absolutely must pass a true-blue state constitutional amendment to override the politicians and judges who have such blatant disregard for marriage and the voters.”

Governors in two other states have vetoed gay-rights bills passed by their states’ legislatures.

Colorado Republican Gov. Bill Owens vetoed a bill that would have banned private employers in the state from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. Colorado already bans discrimination on that basis for state employees.

Owen said he feared the bill would unleash a tide of litigation, but opponents noted no state employee has filed a sexual-orientation discrimination complaint against Colorado’s government in the past five years.

A week before, Maryland Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich vetoed legislation that would have expanded the ability of gay couples to make medical and financial decisions for each other.

Posted: 6/13/05

Bush says Supreme Court nominees
will fit his judicial philosophy

By Michael Foust

Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (BP)—Speaking after a Senate deal averted a showdown over judicial filibusters, President Bush said he intends to nominate to the Supreme Court only candidates who fit his judicial philosophy.

Although the court does not have a vacancy now, observers believe a seat could come open this summer, perhaps with Chief Justice William Rehnquist stepping down.

“I look forward to talking to members of the Senate about the Supreme Court process, to get their opinions,” Bush said. “But obviously, I told the American people I would find people of a certain temperament that would serve on the bench, and I intend to do that. But we will consult with the Senate.”

The filibuster agreement struck by 14 senators—seven Democrats and seven Republicans—encouraged the White House to consult more with the Senate in nominating justices to the federal court.

Democrats have used the filibuster over the past four years to block about 5 percent of Bush’s federal judicial nominees. The compromise will allow most of the contested nominees to receive a vote. In return, Republicans vowed not to support a procedural tactic—known by some as the “nuclear option”—that would ban judicial filibusters altogether.

If a Supreme Court opening does occur, Bush said, he will “spend a lot of time reviewing the records of a variety of people and looking at their opinions and their character.”

In the past, he has cited Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas—the Supreme Court most conservative members—as the justices whose judicial philosophy he most admires.

The Senate compromise allows future filibusters only under “extraordinary circumstances.”

“I guess (‘extraordinary circumstances’) was vague enough for people to interpret the agreement the way they want to interpret it,” Bush said before adding: “I don’t know what that means. I guess we’re about to find out, when it comes to other appellate judges.”

Posted: 6/13/05

E-mail from top cadet heats up
Air Force Academy religion controversy

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—The controversy over alleged bias in favor of evangelical Christians at the United States Air Force Academy expanded when the school’s top cadet sent a graduation-eve e-mail message laced with religious references to thousands of students.

About 900 cadets graduated from the Colorado Springs, Colo., academy this spring. The day before, the school’s top graduate, Nicholas Jurewicz, sent an electronic farewell to all underclass cadets—about 3,000 in all. The letter contained quotations from military, political, literary, philosophical and religious figures, including several Bible passages.

Jurewicz sent the letter just days after Air Force officials reacted to a preliminary report on the religious climate at the academy by reminding leaders, “Using your place at the podium as a platform for your personal beliefs can be perceived as misuse of office.”

The study came in the wake of allegations that an atmosphere of favoritism toward evangelical Christianity pervades the school, fostered by faculty, administrators and leaders among its corps of cadets. Pentagon officials have appointed a task force to study the allegations, but have declined to say whether the panel’s findings will be made public.

“We will review Cadet Jurewicz’s e-mail to determine if it violates any Air Force or Air Force Academy policies,” academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker told the Colorado Springs Gazette. “If it does, we will take appropriate action.”

Posted: 6/13/05

Niñeras program provides extra care for orphans

Buckner Baptist Benevolences

The “Grandmother” program Buckner Orphan Care International launched in Russia has proven so successful that it has inspired a similar ministry in Latin America.

In Russia, Buckner hires caregivers, or Grandmothers, of all ages to work in Orphanage No. 15 in St. Petersburg, a hospital and intake center, providing care for children to supplement the orphanage’s small staff.

Now a similar Buckner program in Guatemala has changed the lives of children in a babies’ orphanage by providing additional care. The Niñeras program at the Casa Alegría —Home of Happiness—babies’ home in Guatemala City recently was initiated to overcome the problems caused by lack of adequate care.

Leslie Chace, Buckner missions director, said that prior to the use of the Niñeras, or “nannies,” as they are called, “there were two caregivers taking turns with the almost 50 babies at the orphanage.

“It was so bad, the children were lying in cribs, dirty and not able to stand or speak. When we hired the caregivers, the change was immediate. The children became responsive and happy,” Chace said.

Eleven trained Buckner Niñeras work at Casa Alegría , and Buckner has raised funding for a total of 13 of the nannies. Chace says she would like to raise the number eventually to 15, as well as find additional funding to expand the program into other orphanages.

Funding for each Niñera, said Chace, is about $200 per month, depending on the valuation of the American dollar to the Guatemalan currency, the Quetzal. For more information on sponsoring a Niñera, contact Chace by telephone at (469) 877-4521 or e-mail at lchace@buckner.org.

Posted: 6/13/05

Distributing shoes highlight of Guatemala mission

Buckner Baptist Benevolences

One of the highlights for children served during Buckner Orphan Care International mission trips to orphanages in other countries is the new shoes volunteers and Buckner staff members bring.

Donated through the Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls drive, many of the children in places like Russia, China, Africa or Guatemala receive the first new pair of shoes they’ve ever owned through the Shoes for Orphan Souls effort.

Solomon, one of the older and larger boys living at the San Gabriel Orphanage in Guatemala City, was deeply disappointed. While students and staff members from Dallas Baptist University placed shoes on the feet of the other boys with smaller-sized feet, Solomon looked on as the pile of available shoes dwindled and his dorm mates proudly displayed their new shoes to one another. None could be found to fit his feet.

Solomon was used to disappointment. He had lived with his grandmother most of his life, but was sent to the orphanage when she could no longer care for him. Feeling abandoned by a father who never visited him, he had even attempted suicide.

While he looked on as the pile of shoes vanished, Jason Hatch was looking on at Solomon.

“The first day after we did the Vacation Bible School program, I got to do the closing sermon in Spanish,” said Hatch, a DBU staff member. “He came forward following the invitation and talked to (Buckner missions director) Leslie Chace and she led him to the Lord.”

But during the shoe distribution the next day, Hatch could see Solomon’s visible disappointment. “He had the biggest feet and we hadn’t brought any sizes that would fit.”

That’s when Hatch looked at his own feet and remembered the brand new, white tennis shoes in his duffle bag back at the Christian camp where the mission group spent nights.

“I put his foot up to mine. They were the same size and he needed them worse than me.”

The next day Hatch performed a two-person Shoes for Orphan Souls ceremony, placing his new shoes on Solomon’s feet.

Hatch said the shoes represent a “new life” for the teenager. “I was blessed to see him clean on the inside when he accepted Christ and receive something clean on the outside.

“He has a new heart and new shoes to begin walking an upright life,” he said. “This made it personal. I got to be a part of leading him to Christ and a part of him getting a new pair of shoes.”

Hatch said that even though Solomon had been disappointed by his earthly father, there is an opportunity for him to know fatherly love. “When teams come, they can adopt these children spiritually. Solomon now not only has a Heavenly Father; he has men from the trip who will pray for him.”