Posted: 5/13/05

Baylor regents name Underwood interim president

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

WACO–Baylor University regents elected law professor Bill Underwood interim president unanimously on a first ballot, newly re-elected Chairman Will Davis of Austin announced immediately after the regents' spring meeting.

Davis predicted the university could have a permanent president by Sept. 1.

The presidential search committee is ahead of schedule and ready to “start paring the field down” in looking at candidates, Davis said. The regents placed “no limitations” on whether Underwood could be considered as a candidate for permanent president, Davis added.

When Underwood was asked at a news conference if he would be a caretaker interim, Davis quickly interrupted. Underwood is “president of Baylor University until we elect a new one,” Davis insisted. “He is not caretaker of anything.”

Underwood, former general counsel for the university, represented the school in proceedings before the NCAA committee on infractions. He was spokesperson for a committee that spearheaded investigations of misconduct surrounding the death of Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy.

Last October, Underwood publicly debated Baylor Provost David Lyle Jeffrey on the proper role of academic freedom in a religious university. At that time, Underwood spoke against the evils of “autocratic dictates,” leading some Baylor faculty to see him as a champion of academic freedom on the campus.

Underwood–a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University and the University of Illinois College of Law–practiced civil trial law in Dallas before joining the Baylor faculty in 1990.

He and his wife, Lesli, are the parents of two children–Jessica, 16, and William, 11. They are members of Seventh and James Baptist Church in Waco.

Underwood will fill the post Robert Sloan vacates June 1 to assume the chancellor's role at the university. After about two years of turmoil–including repeated Faculty Senate no-confidence votes–Sloan announced Jan. 21 that he and the regents had agreed to the transition, which the regents formally ap-proved Feb. 4 on a voice vote without opposition.

Much of the criticism directed toward Sloan centered on Baylor 2012, the university's long-range plan, and Sloan's implementation of it.

Supporters praised Bay-lor 2012–and Sloan's vision–for blending strong Christian faith and the highest academic standards. Opponents accused Sloan of pulling Baylor away from its Texas Baptist roots. They claimed Baylor 2012 sacrifices classroom teaching for research and that capital expansion has created unbearable debt for the university. They also said tuition increases have priced Baylor out of the range of typical Texas Baptist families.

In other action, the board elected three new regents–Dary Stone, vice chairman of Cousins Properties in Dallas and co-chair of the pro-Sloan Friends of Baylor organization; Christian author and speaker Anne Graham Lotz of Raleigh, N.C., a member of the Friends of Baylor steering committee; and Ramiro Peña Jr., pastor of Christ the King Baptist Church in Waco.

Waco businessman Clifton Robinson launched Friends of Baylor in August 2003 to defend the university, its leadership team–particularly Sloan–and Baylor 2012 through an extensive public relations initiative.

Regents re-elected six regents to three-year terms, effective June 1–Stan Allcorn, pastor of Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene; Jay Allison of Frisco; James Bowden of Waco; Stephen Carmack of Edmond, Okla.; Har-old Cunningham of Crawford; and Minette Pratt of Fort Worth.

In addition to re-electing Davis as chair, the regents re-elected Jim Turner of Dallas vice chair and named him chair-elect.

They also approved a $296 million budget for 2005-06, an $11.8 million (4.15 percent) increase over the current operating budget. It includes a $12.1 million increase in scholarships and fellowships.

Posted: 5/06/05

Air Force to investigate religious
discrimination at Academy

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—A top Pentagon official has ordered the appointment of a special task force to investigate “lingering allegations” about religious discrimination at the Air Force Academy toward cadets who are not evangelical Christians.

Academy representatives report the panel is being established to assess a range of topics, including academy policy on religious tolerance and the influence of the chain of command on religious liberty at the academy.

Also at issue, said Acting Secretary of the Air Force Michael Dominguez, is whether academy practices “enhance or detract from a climate that respects both the ‘free exercise of religion' and the ‘establishment clauses' of the First Amendment.” Those constitutional clauses ban the government from either endorsing or limiting the religious practice of individuals or private groups.

The announcement, following several months of allegations about an atmosphere of religious harassment and discrimination at the Colorado Springs, Colo., institution, came days after Pentagon officials were sent a report that catalogued and documented many of the charges.

Attorneys for Americans United for Separation of Church and State sent Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Air Force officials the 14-page document which detailed several allegations of constitutional violations by top officials and upper-class cadets at the academy.

Among AU's allegations were that large numbers of top administrators, chaplains and faculty members openly and regularly advocated on behalf of evangelical Protestantism, often using coercive means.

The report singled out two officials—Gen. Johnny Weida, the academy's commandant of cadets; and head football coach Fisher DeBerry—and charged them with repeatedly abusing their authority to coerce students to embrace evangelical Christianity.

Among the report's allegations:

–Christian cadets who wish to attend off-campus religious services on Sundays are given special allowances to do so that are not extended to members of minority faiths or Christian groups that observe the Sabbath on other days of the week.

–Cadets or academy officials regularly offer sectarian prayers at meals, training sessions for students and at athletic events—in direct contradiction to court decisions.

–Upperclassmen cadets who are Christians are encouraged by their superiors to proselytize underclass cadets in their charge.

–Cadets of minority faiths or no faith are regularly harassed, discriminated against and frequently subjected to religious epithets at the hands of Christian cadets.

The investigation by Americans United, their report concluded, “has revealed numerous flagrant and egregious violations of the establishment clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as a general climate of religious coercion and official hostility toward those who do not practice evangelical Christianity. We have concluded that both the specific violations and the promotion of a culture of official religious intolerance are pervasive, systematic, and evident at the very highest levels of the academy's command structure.”

The Pentagon press release said the allegations “are being taken very seriously by the Air Force.” It continued: “This newly appointed task force will assess the religious climate and adequacy of Air Force efforts to address the issue at the USAFA.”

However, it also noted, “Considerable efforts have been made during the past several months at the USAFA to address issues of religious tolerance and respect.” The academy's superintendent, Gen. John Rosa Jr., implemented a plan to address the issue after “discovering perceptions of religious bias during surveys in 2004.” As a result, academy officials instituted a new training program for all cadets, called “Respecting the Spiritual Values of all People,” or RSVP.

The Americans United report alleges RSVP has changed significantly from its original form and “that the resulting RSVP program does not adequately teach and promote the fundamental constitutional requirement of separation of church and state.”

Nonetheless, when asked for comment on the AU allegations, Air Force spokesperson Jennifer Stephens said the service's “leadership continues to be confident that the academy and the Air Force at large will continue to promote self-critique, self-inspection and self-improvement in all areas.”

Stephenson said the task force may include members from outside the Air Force. A preliminary report is due by May 23, she said.

Posted: 5/13/05

Web snares college students;
offers link to ministries

By Brooklyn Noel

Baptist Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–University of Texas student Ashley Cook checks the mailbox outside her off-campus dormitory five days a week. The third-year student is, however, a “compulsive e-mail checker” who sifts through the contents of her three e-mail accounts as many as four times each day.

She also spends time online chatting with friends, researching, completing school projects and just browsing the Internet. So, it's no surprise that Cook originally became involved in the Baptist Student Ministry at the University of Texas in Austin after visiting the organization's webpage.

Increasingly, ministry leaders are finding that reaching collegians with information about college ministry news and events means venturing into cyberspace with interactive and up-to-date websites.

The CollegeMinistryLINK service of LifeWay Christian Resources is a custom edition of LifeWayLINK, a website tool for ministries. The new college edition of the service features templates and designs specifically geared to churches and campus organizations with student ministries.

For several years, University of Texas BSM Director Jimmy Daniel tried to offer an informative website for the ministry, but consistency proved a problem. As the technology-minded students who maintained the website graduated, it routinely fell into outdated disarray.

The dilemma wasn't unique to UT.

Gary McClure, marketing manager for LifeWay's e-business department, said the idea for a custom version of LifeWayLINK was “born out of feedback from campus directors and student pastors who need a web solution to effectively impact today's students. They asked for a no-hassle service that is easily managed by several people, therefore becoming graduation-proof.”

Daniel said the CollegeMinistryLINK service the BSM now uses is easy enough for him personally to update the material on the website.

“I don't have to know HTML or FrontPage to change the content,” he said. “Before, I was dependent upon a student who was web-savvy to make the changes. The simplicity is its strength.”

An effective BSM site will help college students and high school students who are researching college options understand exactly what the ministry has to offer, Daniel said. “I felt like it was important to have a website that communicates who we are.”

The website targets new students at the University of Texas who already are Christians and are seeking a Christian environment, Daniel said.

“I want to get them involved as quickly as possible so they have that Christian support,” he said, pointing out that only about 3,000 of UT's 52,000 students attend Christian services or events.

Using the website's calendar tool helps Daniel easily inform students of opportunities to participate in numerous BSM activities, which helps students “find a way to plug in.”

Helping students plug into a community also is one of the main goals David Anglin, college pastor at Longview Heights Baptist Church in Olive Branch, Miss., has for the website he maintains through CollegeMinistryLINK.

Olive Branch isn't a college town, but several schools are in the proximity, and his college program averages about 50 students each week.

“I want (the website) to be a place people can frequent that becomes a ministry arm of our church and provides a sense of community,” he said. “Community provides accountability and encouragement and challenge.”

He said he hopes one day to use CollegeMinistryLINK's discussion board feature to keep in touch with Longview Heights students who leave home for college.

“It seems like in college your relationships start to get deeper and the community becomes more important,” Anglin said. “The discussion board is key to creating that sense of community.”

Daniel said connecting students is important at the University of Texas, as well, and the prayer link feature of CollegeMinistryLINK is helping create that sense of community.

The link allows students to send their prayer requests directly to Daniel and his staff.

The petitions for prayer are posted on the BSM's site so others can offer support.

“We really have a group that prays, so I think that (link) is going to be something that is big,” Daniel said, adding that students began submitting requests as soon as the new site went live in February.

Posted: 5/13/05

Teacher sees random
encounters as divine preparation

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

PLAINVIEW–Moumin Quazi identifies with Forrest Gump. Like the fictional character, he believes a series of seemingly happenstance occurrences and encounters led him to fulfill his destiny.

“It feels like because of all the experiences I've had, everything has prepared me for a living ministry here at Wayland,” said Quazi, associate professor of English at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview. “It seemed like random events along the way, but they're culminating into this experience.”

Raised in the Dallas area, Quazi said his childhood was full of learning experiences. The son of an immigrant from India and an American mother, he recalls “a feeling of being at home in America but also a stranger.”

His parents divorced while he was a young boy, and an American stepfather introduced him to more American culture. But he still felt out of place at times.

“People weren't sure what culture I was,” he recalled. “Back then, people weren't as aware of foreign people. That really prepared me for the role of a Christian pilgrim … in the world but not of the world.”

To add to the confusion, Quazi's father had raised his son in the Muslim tradition, but his mother allowed an inquisitive spirit in matters of faith. Extended family represented varied perspectives on religion, so the decision wasn't as automatic as it might have seemed.

“In Islam, the primary means of acceptance to Allah is your own goodness,” Quazi said. “As a young adult, I heard the gospel of Jesus and felt guilty about my sin. That's when I first considered Christianity.”

Still curious, Quazi enrolled at Texas Christian University, earning a music scholarship for his saxophone talents and pursuing a degree in radio/television and film. At TCU, he studied Greek, and he marveled at the truths found in the Christian Scriptures.

“One that really stuck out was Ephesians 2: 'For by grace you're saved, not by works, lest any man should boast,'” he recalled. “I felt that God was telling me it wasn't about what I'd done but what he'd done for me. I had to accept that gift of grace.”

From that point on, Quazi said, he has lived a life of gratitude for the grace of God, rather than a faith driven by guilt. Feeling God's call on his life, Quazi followed his bachelor's degree from TCU with a master's in theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, although he admits he wasn't sure what God intended his life's ministry to be.

Seeking that niche, he interned in the university department at First Baptist Church in Dallas but found that wasn't his calling either. Ever eager to learn, he took two English classes at Tarrant County Junior College during the summer of 1989 and felt a new purpose in literature.

“To me, it's not really a subject but a springboard off of which you can jump into a lot of areas,” Quazi said. “Literature really is life.”

With diverse experiences and interests under his belt, Quazi said he was able to infuse his studies with the other facets of his life. Feeling a new calling, he enrolled in the University of North Texas and earned a master's degree and a doctorate in English while teaching as a graduate fellow.

Afterward, he taught at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio before coming to Wayland in the fall.

“When the job came up, I didn't think this was where I'd end up,” he recalled. “But after visiting here, I was sure this was not just a move for me, but a sense of my coming home.”

He recalls a visit with Wayland President Paul Armes, who encouraged the young professor.

“His advice was, 'Bend 'em, but don't break 'em,'” Quazi noted. “That fit my philosophy of teaching. … I want to stretch students within the context of literature.”

Of particular interest for his dissertation studies was the work of Salman Rushdie, a controversial author with whom Quazi felt a kinship. While Rushdie was shunned by conservative Muslims, culminating in a bounty on Rushdie's head, Quazi was disowned by his father for choosing Christianity over Islam. Quazi said his father won't pursue a relationship with him unless he embraces Islam.

On Sept. 10, 2001, Quazi was able to meet his literary hero at a Houston event. Looking back now, he said, the event seems surreal, especially in light of the terrorist attacks that occurred the next morning.

But he's cherished the experience of meeting the famed author, just one of several serendipitous events in his life. Some of these events include meeting author Margaret Atwood; meeting two tremendous musical influences on his life–Pat Metheny and Ravi Shankar, an artist for whom he and his father share an affinity; and having a poem published in a book by author Naomi Shihab Nye. He also writes book reviews for the San Antonio Express-News and recently was named editor of the South Asian Literary Asso-ciation's newsletter.

Aside from his teaching duties at Way-land, Quazi keeps in touch with his other interests. He edits the journal of the Confe-rence of College Teachers of Eng-lish, and he recently substituted as director of Wayland's jazz band.

He also spent eight weeks in the pulpit at First Baptist Church in Edmonson, preaching a series about grace, during the sabbatical absence of Pastor Jimmy Neff. It drew on his theological education.

“People sometimes ask me, 'Why didn't you stay in the ministry?' But I did,” he said. “I'm teaching, and that's my ministry. I'm very passionate about this profession as my calling.”

He's also passionate about remaining true to the gospel message of grace and living that out in his daily walk.

“I live a life of gratitude,” Quazi said. “When I feel the focus for my acceptance with God is on my works, I try to refocus the attention on Jesus and what he's done. That's my motivation for loving living–in both senses of the phrase.”

Posted: 5/13/05

Recent graduate discovers sometimes wildest dreams come true

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

PLAINVIEW–Growing up in Mexico, Santos Rodriguez dreamed of pursuing an education beyond the sixth grade. But in his wildest dreams, he never expected to walk across an auditorium stage in Plainview someday to receive a master's degree from Wayland Baptist University.

When he was young, it seemed his dreams kept slipping out of his grasp. After he completed the sixth grade, his only option for more schooling was to move.

“The townspeople where I lived all took up money to send me to another town, but the paperwork got messed up, and I didn't get to go,” Rodriguez recalled.

In addition to this, family difficulties made the boy's life tough. His mother died when he was 9, and his stepfather mistreated him. His mother's family refused to take the boy in and suggested he go to an orphanage instead.

Finally, an aunt took the boy in and raised him and a brother, who now lives in Oklahoma. At age 15, Santos left Mexico and went to California. Working as a laborer in various fields, he lived in eight states over the course of several years.

In 1977, he moved to Plainview and worked for the Edmonson Co-Op Gin, where he soon met a local pastor named Glen Godsey. Godsey was preaching at Primera Iglesia Bautista Mexicana in Plainview and invited Rodriguez to attend church services there.

Rodriguez began attending the church and made a faith commitment to Jesus Christ in 1979. Soon, he began dating Godsey's daughter Yolanda, although he now says the two “didn't like each other at first.” Things changed, however, and they soon married.

Rodriguez worked for awhile as a carpenter and doing electrical work, but he also participated in many mission trips, serving as an interpreter when Spanish was needed.

“On one of these trips, I was informed at the last minute that I would be preaching because the local pastor had an emergency,” he recalled. “During the invitation time, I came down myself and surrendered to preach.”

In 1984, Rodriguez suffered a back injury that left him unable to do hard manual labor. During his hospital stay, he had plenty of time to think about the future and decided that pursuing his education might be his only option.

“Every time Yolanda and I would pass by the (Wayland) campus, I'd say, 'This is the school I'll be coming to,' but I was cynical about that, because I had no education,” Rodriguez said. “I think I was being rebellious against God, so he put me on this path.”

He earned a high school equivalency diploma through the Plainview schools and worked on an associate's degree at Wayland.

At first, he was content with his achievements, but a mission trip to Russia in 1995 further confirmed his calling and led him to see the need for additional schooling.

“God opened my mind to coming back to school for my bachelor's degree,” Rodriguez said. “It's not me; it's only God that always makes things work out.”

He returned to Wayland that year, carrying a full load while working fulltime in a new position–pastor of Iglesia Bautista Date Street in Plainview. Rodriguez earned his bachelor's degree in history and religion in 2000.

But that milestone would prove to be just another step in his educational journey.

“A year after I finished my bachelor's degree, I began to have that urgency to learn more,” Rodriguez said. “It's just something inside me. I like school, and I like to learn. I think I'm trying to fulfill God's purposes and fill a void in my own life.”

He researched the graduate program at Wayland, noting that going further with his education “seemed like a dream.”

With the religion faculty supporting and encouraging him to pursue the degree, he felt confident to tackle the task.

He earned his master of arts degree in religion, and he was surprised to find the challenge generally enjoyable, particularly the theology and biblical history classes.

But there have been some struggles along the way, he admitted, particularly with math and writing term papers.

“There were times when I wanted to quit, but I'd calm down and decide to go on another day,” he said.

Looking back, Rodriguez said he never regrets one step of the journey.

“My mind has opened to the fact that there's more than one way to see the Bible,” Rodriguez said. “I think it's making me a better pastor. I understand and love people more, and I'm more open-minded to people and understand more how they feel.”

Posted: 5/13/05

Kutless band members love to see God change lives

By Leann Callaway

Special to the Baptist Standard

When the Christian rock group Kutless performs, teenagers wearing heavy-metal T-shirts often attend their concerts with the intention of making fun of the band. But when Kutless starts playing, they usually change their tune.

“We've seen those kids come in with their arms folded across their chests and try to look all hard, and be like, 'These guys are a dumb Christian band,'” band member James Mead said. “But when they hear the music, they're like, 'This is cool. This is different than I expected.'”

But Kutless band members want to do more than change minds. They want to change lives.

“When I'm watching a person who doesn't know the Lord and then see their heart soften through the night, to the point where at the end they come to know Christ, it's really special,” Mead said. “I think the coolest part for me is watching the Lord use our band to really impact someone.”

Along with Mead, who plays guitar, Kutless is made up of vocalist Jon Micah Sumrall, guitarist Ryan Shrout, bass guitarist Kyle Zeigler and drummer Kyle Mitchell.

In 2000, the band began leading worship once a week for their peers while attending college in Portland, Ore. The following year, they signed with a record label and began touring, booking more than 200 events a year, including concert venues, churches, youth rallies and evangelistic crusades.

Because of Mead's life experiences and struggles, he relates to teenagers and helps prevent them from making the same mistakes he did while growing up. Before he became a Christian, he was searching for something to fill the emptiness in his life. This led to a battle with alcohol and drug abuse, which almost took his life.

“I did not grow up in a Christian home,” he said. “My parents got divorced when I was very, very young. There was no spiritual foundation or guidance. I had only heard some stories about God but nothing about a relationship with him.

“My mom got remarried when I was a child. The man that she married was physically abusive, so I grew up with a constant fear. When my mom finally found out about it, we packed up and moved to Oregon when I was 11. When I got to Oregon, I was a really angry kid because I felt like a part of my childhood was stolen from me. I couldn't be a carefree kid. I was really angry from having to live that way.”

By age 12, Mead was “hanging around with other rebellious kids” and using drugs. Eventually, he started dealing drugs to his peers, until he was caught at the end of his eighth grade year and placed in a drug rehab program.

“I started ninth grade clean from drugs, but I still hadn't found what I was searching for and was still angry,” he said. “So I started the same cycle, but this time, I turned to alcohol. By the time I was 17, I was a total alcoholic.”

On his 17th birthday, Mead drank so much while celebrating with friends that he nearly died from alcohol poisoning.

“Looking back, I realize that the Lord spared my life,” he said. “The next week, I found myself in church–listening to the gospel for the first time and hearing about Jesus Christ, spanning that gap. He was what I was searching for, and he reached out to meet me.”

Now, Mead tours with Kutless and tells young people about Christ's love and forgiveness.

Kutless recently performed at First Baptist Church of Carrollton, and this summer, they will perform at Six Flags in Arlington on a Christian youth day.

“I hope people leave our concerts knowing that our sole purpose is to lead people into the presence of Jesus Christ,” Mead said. “We also want teenagers to know that you can be a Christian and have fun. Jesus is the answer to what they are searching for.”

Posted: 5/13/05

Covington church says missions
project gave them 'eyes to see' needs

By Bob Perkins Jr.

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

COVINGTON–When more than 30 members of First Baptist Church in Covington agreed to participate in a mission trip, Pastor Kerry Horn believed they were taking to heart his sermons about how every Christian is a minister.

After all, the volunteers represented more than one-third of the people who regularly gather for worship.

But the real proof has been the church's willingness to continue its missions ministry locally and with Partners in Hope, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's rural poverty initiative.

Partners in Hope is the Fellowship's 20-year commitment to join forces with people in 20 of the poorest counties in the nation, all located in rural areas.

Last summer, Horn was surprised at the overwhelming response from church members who wanted to participate in a KidsHeart event–a joint project in the Rio Grande Valley between the Fellowship and Buckner Baptist Benevolences. The South Texas missions project was “an easy sell” in his church, Horn noted, and it offered a unique ministry opportunity.

“It was a partnership with Buckner, which everyone recognized, and CBF, which put us in partnership with other churches throughout the state and nation,” he said. “It gave our congregation the opportunity to learn what partnership missions work is all about in the 21st century.”

The mission trip changed lives, Horn said.

Judy Joy went on her first mission trip last summer, accompanied by her husband, James.

“We've always attended churches in the area, but we only were in and out, touch and go, nothing real permanent,” said Joy, who now is chair of the missions committee at the Covington church. “But we really felt the Spirit move us on this trip. The ability to make a difference and be a part of a bigger effort is important. I guess I just need to be needed.”

The missions work didn't end last summer. Horn has been in contact with a design engineer in Houston who is drawing up plans for an addition to a house his congregation worked on in the Valley last summer, and volunteers from the church plan to provide the labor.

Church members also have collected clothes and other supplies for a partner church in the area.

“From the time we got down there, folks from our church were interested in establishing communications with the people we were working with,” Horn said. “We want to continue our work because we've grown to love the people there.”

First Baptist Church is working to develop and implement a missions strategy that Horn hopes will include involvement with other national efforts through Partners in Hope and local efforts.

“The beauty of our trip last summer is it gave us eyes to see and ears to hear that the poverty is around us,” he said.

“The difficulty we are facing is developing a local strategy because of pride and the personal relationships people in the community have, which stretch over years and decades. It's a delicate balance. Sometimes, I think it's almost easier for someone to come into the area from the outside because of the sensitivities.”

For more information about the KidsHeart summer missions emphasis, July 18-22 in the Rio Grande Valley, contact CBF of Texas Coordinator Rick McClatchy at Cbftex@aol.com.